Scammed on 24 Hour Campfire Forum

[andrews1958]

Please be careful of this man. I was scammed on the 24 Hour Camp Fire Forum even after going through all of the protective steps prior to buying anything on a for sale forum. The Postmaster, Police and the FBI are now involved. Please be carful

 

[Rick Richard]

I believe someone was scammed by the same guy on the Long Range Hunting forum too.

 

[joshb]

Please be careful of this man. I was scammed on the 24 Hour Camp Fire Forum even after going through all of the protective steps prior to buying anything on a for sale forum. The Postmaster, Police and the FBI are now involved. Please be carful

More info helps!
What is his user name?
Scope?
Gun?
Hunting trip?
A screen name would be helpful.

 

[6.5 forever]

I hope it is resolved in every victims favor.

 

[ShtrRdy]

Did you send payment to that address?

 

[Ringostar]

DOB on license says he’s 81. The pic on license has got to be an old pic. Not just 5 years ago. Looks like a fake license to me.

 

[Ron IA]

The new world we get to live in

 

[Downeast]

When I get an address I go to the county/municipality online tax data base and check the owner of the address. Then do a street view. If the address is an empty lot or the owner's name does not match up with the location I run away, quickly. This can be done without the seller even knowing about it.

 

[Forum Boss]

We've seen those same images used before by scammers. If that was indeed Dennis Obrien, he may be dead now.

With any Forum sale.

1. Always do a VOICE Phone call. NO exceptions.
2. Insist on custom photos of the item in a DIFFERENT location with something tied around it.
3. Look carefully for photo-shopped notes in the photo. If buyer says "put a note in photo with my name on it", scammers can do that with photoshop and AI.
4. Do a web search for the photo of the item. Scammers steal product photos from the web.

Do a search on "data breach 24-hour Campfire Forum".

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Pic is definitely Photoshop (not square/centered) on lic. Address is apartment building, hopefully actual lic holder is ok. Identify theft is investigated hard by most LE agencies.

 

[andrews1958]

[td]A little long but you should take a few minutes to read. Scammers are getting smarter

I have been a member for 19 years on 24 Hour Campfire Forum and years on 6br , Rimfire Central, Sniper Hide and Long Range Hunting forums and never been scammed until now.

Tuesday August 8th

Posted in the classifieds that I was looking to buy a Vudoo 22

A member contacted me through a message. $2100 Note low post count

Asked and received pictures of the seller holding his license with his face showing Also a picture of the gun showing his license. Also a picture with the date and his initials on the gun

Had a number of real good long conversations about the rifle. Guy seemed nice and professional . Mentioned numerous times about his belief in God and his religion

Tuesday August 19th
Sent 3 postal checks 1- $1,000 1-$1,000 1-$100 by registered mail

Thursday August 21st
Seller said he had received the checks and would package the gun up for shipment

Later received a call from the seller and he said he was unable to cash the checks as his Post Office as their system was down. Gun was not shipped

Friday August 22nd seller called and he said the post office system was still down and he was unable to cash the check. Gun was not sent

Saturday August 23rd Checks were cashed but gun was not shipped. Promised to send it on Monday August 25th

Monday August 25th Could not send as family issues came up

Tuesday 26th Heart problems could not ship

Wednesday 27th Sent gun .. Sent me a partial receipt showing costs but tracking number was left off

Thursday 28thTried to reach seller for copy of tracking number but seller said he was on his way to Europe for a family funeral. Said he would send it to me when he returned

Jump to ahead to Wednesday Sept 3rd No gun. Seller said he would be home this morning and send me the tracking number. Did not send tracking number

Thursday Sept 4th Again promised to send tracking number. Did not receive. No gun received

Friday Sept 5th Again promised to send tracking number Did not receive number or gun

Today Received email from him saying see attached tracking number. No tracking number was attached. Have sent the seller numerous emails, texts and phone calls . No response.

I have been in touch with the post master and they have recommended that I put work with them on a fraud report where if found guilty legal charges will be put on the seller.

Lessons learned

Do not buy off of members with low post counts

If your gut says something doesn’t sound right back away from the seller

Don’t use USPS checks. Use your own bank checks

Look at the pictures requested very closely to make sure they are real and not modified I had experts look at the pictures and they feel that the seller manipulated the pictures . They say that the license and pictures were all photo shopped

Are there any member who live in Henderson Nevada that could please go check in with him and get answers on where my gun is[/td]

 

[Ron IA]

Here's one more POS to stay way from John Miller 9710 county line road Willis TX. 77378 ripped me off for $128 pinkpanterinbox472@gmail.com

 

[hogpatrol]

I'm as guilty as the next person but a WTB ad is an invitation for scammers. Fortunately, have dealt with many honest forum members on those ads. IMHO, would never put a WTB ad for anything more than a couple hundred bucks and definitely not a firearm of any type. High dollar scopes and firearms are number one on the scammers shopping list. FYI, if one absolutely wants a specific firearm, deal with an escrow company such as Guntab

GunTab: GunTab is escrow

The reason GunTab can guarantee both sides are fully protected from scams and chargebacks is because GunTab is escrow.

www.guntab.com

 

[ShtrRdy]

This is a little off topic but I recently bought a used scope for $2100 from a member with zero reviews on a different forum. I used GunTab to manage the transaction and it worked out great. GunTab is an escrow service.

 

[Knotwild]

I first used escrow 15 years ago. I would post about it but nobody listened. That’s fine with me. I have also backed away from a sale when the seller would not use escrow. It protects the buyer and the seller.