Scam Alert

[bwoodie]

Just a warning- if you receive a message from "airak" he/she is trying to scam you. I had posted a wanted to buy ad over a month ago. I was looking for a custom short action for a rifle build. A few days ago "airak" sends me a message saying he/she has a custom short action for sale but gave no details other than a price of $750. I figured this was an obvious scam- ridiculous "offer", no details, incomplete profile, joined a few days prior, etc.... So for fun I ask some questions regarding this "action" and he/she sends me a picture of Short Action Customs rifle. I tell him/her that is a complete rifle not just an action. So then I get a picture of a Defiance Deviant action but no details other than a price of $700. Tells me it is a Barnard action. I tell him/her no it is not. I found the exact image of the Defiance action that was sent to me on a custom gunsmith's website.
Hope no one get taken by this scammer.

 

[thekriebles]

Thank you for letting us know. In addition, let the site admin. know what you believe as well: Jay Christopherson

 

[bwoodie]

Just sent Jay Christopherson the info.

 

[carlsbad]

Thank you for letting us know but more importantly, you gave a good lesson in basic scammer recognition techniques.

Scammers often use photos they can find on the internet. Found a car on ebay once, googled the license plate. Found it in a used car lot on Long Island. Same photos on ebay were on the website. Called the dealer, he was at a Yankee's game and had no idea his car was listed for sale on ebay.

--Jerry

 

[hogpatrol]

Here's my m.o. when I post a WTB, deal only with those with proven positive trade history. May not be 100% foolproof but probably as close as you'll get.

 

[nakneker]

Another scammer on the prowl - send him to the firing line.

 

[robinhood]

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Buck300]

Tried to scam me the other day also on a wtb add. I asked him for photos never heard back from him. I then looked him up a few times each time he was searching wtb adds. What a scumbag.

 

[rkittine]

Although I try to only deal with people with multiple posts and positive trade history, I would have missed out on some good deals if I did not occasionally vary from that. Very few forums that I am on even have a rating system for sellers and purchasers, which is one of the things that I like here. I just do like most and ask for more and more information, including a phone number, address and some type of new photo which I specify it should included. Although a few have tried to scam me, I have yet to be bit.

Bob

 

[Dale700]

I got one the other day in a reply to a barrel I am looking for in a pm from ggun29742 . I gave the info to jay and sure enough they appeared to be a scammer.

 

[Jay Christopherson]

Thanks for the heads up @bwoodie and @Dale700.

It looks like we are on some scammers radar - I want to say Nigeria because a lot of the IP's originate from there, but they are also using a lot of proxies, mostly in Chicago, Kansas and New York it appears. As a brute force step, I've blocked access to the forum from Nigeria, but that may have little to no effect.

In general, the profile seems to be: user signs up for an account. Might even be an account that has existed for a month or two. They will have little to no posting history and if they do, it will most likely be a classified ad. They do appear to login often, I suspect to send PM's to people, though I haven't verified that through yet. If they DO send you a PM, it appears that they are asking people to contact them at an email address that is not associated with their account - that should be a clear red flag.

 

[Wildcats]

I weed them out real quick
Normally i won't deal with a new member specially when they are trying to unload a high ticket item
without a complete profile or even a pic of the item.
just my policy

Now days their are to many scammers out there.hard to trust anyone.
So far i've been very lucky and have dealt with many good people.

 

[snert]

thanks jay!

 

[ctrickett]

Same thing here got an email yesterday, details of what he had. It's a wanted ad from at least 8 weeks ago.

 

[joshb]

Thanks bwoody and Jay. Clear the range of those snakes!

 

[hunter243sgk]

Maybe we should post fake want to buy ads to try to draw these low lifes out. Then they could be banned from this site.

 

[joshb]

I wouldn't. There are thousands of them out there and they multiply like rabbits. We'll attract a horde. It could be fun, tho. Post a wtb for something rare or non existent and see who shows up. Say, like a Daisy short action with 50 cal. bolt face.

 

[STRSRLVR]

Just a warning- if you receive a message from "airak" he/she is trying to scam you. I had posted a wanted to buy ad over a month ago. I was looking for a custom short action for a rifle build. A few days ago "airak" sends me a message saying he/she has a custom short action for sale but gave no details other than a price of $750. I figured this was an obvious scam- ridiculous "offer", no details, incomplete profile, joined a few days prior, etc.... So for fun I ask some questions regarding this "action" and he/she sends me a picture of Short Action Customs rifle. I tell him/her that is a complete rifle not just an action. So then I get a picture of a Defiance Deviant action but no details other than a price of $700. Tells me it is a Barnard action. I tell him/her no it is not. I found the exact image of the Defiance action that was sent to me on a custom gunsmith's website.
Hope no one get taken by this scammer.

He just sent me a message yesterday saying he has a used defiance deviant for $750. What a piece of *#~%.

 

[hunter243sgk]

I wouldn't. There are thousands of them out there and they multiply like rabbits. We'll attract a horde. It could be fun, tho. Post a wtb for something rare or non existent and see who shows up. Say, like a Daisy short action with 50 cal. bolt face.

I think it would be fun and help get rid of them. Then post all the ones that we catch so new ones can see.

 

[hogpatrol]

Be aware that scammers can use Tor and pick an IP from a list. You'll think you're dealing with a guy in the U.S. but he's really in Pakistan, the new and improved base for scammers.