Just avoided a scam,....I think.

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Nomadic Pirate 66

Nomadic Pirate 66

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Mar 28, 2022
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Hawaii, United States
So I had a WTB ad on the classified and I get a PM from a member passing on an Email of what I supposed was a friend,

so I start to Email back and forth, the Emails seemed short and pushy,..but everybody is different, then I decided to PM back to the member and asked if his friend was a member on Airgun Nation to look him up and check his history,

When the member didn't PM me back in a few days I went to check his profile and was deleted, and the member only joined around the day he PM me.

Now everything started to smell fishy.

Anyway just sent an other Email to the seller telling him that I smell a scam and what does he think ? :) :)
 
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heavy-impact said:
It's a shame we can't have a 100 post minimum without spamming that will actually stop this problem. 10 posts of "great" or "I agree" is no deterrent whatsoever.
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You can always tell when it’s someone just trying to get their ten non quality posts, when an old thread of like a year ago gets brought up and the last response from the person that brought the thread to life responds- “nice” or “how cool is that”
 
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AirArcher66 said:
So I had a WTB ad on the classified and I get a PM from a member passing on an Email of what I supposed was a friend,

so I start to Email back and forth, the Emails seemed short and pushy,..but everybody is different, then I decided to PM back to the member and asked if his friend was a member on Airgun Nation to look him up and check his history,

When the member didn't PM me back in a few days I went to check his profile and was deleted, and the member only joined around the day he PM me.

Now everything started to smell fishy.

Anyway just sent an other Email to the seller telling him that I smell a scam and what does he think ? :) :)
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I had a similar situation on another forum. Everything seemed cool until I started asking questions. Interestingly enough the mod pulled his response at almost the same time. Hmmm. I get our gear is pricy but there have to be easier ways to scam someone. Oh wait I gotta go. This exiled price I just met needs my bank info.
 
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Bigragu said:
You can always tell when it’s someone just trying to get their ten non quality posts, when an old thread of like a year ago gets brought up and the last response from the person that brought the thread to life responds- “nice” or “how cool is that”
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Me=Trying to get a 10 post min. :). But that does not make me a scammer, just a chronic lurker who decided to finally clear out some bits from the safe. Haha
 
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hawkeye69 said:
Any time someone talks about a friend, I'd back off.
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I see that a lot on other forums. I agree w you but my dad, who has a sizeable collection, he is slowly selling off. He is 86 and living in the technology Stone Age so I end up doing the same thing for him. I guess my point is there are no categorical rules in dealing w people, only sensible precautions and communication.
 
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@AirArcher66 I think that’s a logical approach. I was contacted out of the blue via PM earlier this year with a similar message including an email address of a friend who was selling a gun I hadn’t been looking for. I think it came from some comments in a thread where I got curious about some cheap guns while trying to help another member. After staff got involved, turns out that it may have been a legit transaction attempt. Either way I wasn’t taking a chance. I posted about it because the proposition looked very similar to the existing pattern of scam attempts. I definitely understand your apprehension. Thanks for sharing your experience. Hopefully it helps save other members the headache of getting scammed and a few hundred bucks.
 
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Mt Airgunner said:
I see that a lot on other forums. I agree w you but my dad, who has a sizeable collection, he is slowly selling off. He is 86 and living in the technology Stone Age so I end up doing the same thing for him. I guess my point is there are no categorical rules in dealing w people, only sensible precautions and communication.
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You are correct, there are no absolutes. It is good to be aware that sellers claiming that it's a friend's gun is usually an excuse for not having proper photos and actual firsthand knowledge of condition, etc..
 
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Bigragu said:
You can always tell when it’s someone just trying to get their ten non quality posts, when an old thread of like a year ago gets brought up and the last response from the person that brought the thread to life responds- “nice” or “how cool is that”
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What’s even funnier is when the response doesn’t warrant the year old topic discussion. The ending comment from a year ago say, on a compressor fix problem may have been like “ thanks to the OP for letting me know about using Royal Purple”

Then the comment from the guy trying to get his 10 posts in has this response- “Wow”
 
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First red flag was when I asked him to send me a photo with the serial number so I could tell if it was an older 220 BAR model or the newer 250 BAR

He said he had a .50 but was stamped .45

when I asked he avoided the question while pushing for a quick PayPal ff transaction, ....eventually said the stamping was a mistake after I asked if that might be the case,
second red flag was that he didn't mention a price but asked me to make an offer, i offered 550 bucks and he jump into it without even try a minimal haggle.

the final red flag was when I checked the guy that PM me and was deleted and was from London


Anyway, the guy was super quick communicating before but has gone radio silence since I called him out on the last Email :)
 
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This type of scamming tactic has been addressed many times here. I've also been contacted the same way before about so and so has something I'm looking for and to contact them. I like to mess with scammers so I just replied back and said "I did contact so and so and he told me to tell you that his stuff isn't for sale and to stop trying to sell all of his stuff without his permission." It made me smile anyhow.
 
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Mt Airgunner said:
Me=Trying to get a 10 post min. :). But that does not make me a scammer, just a chronic lurker who decided to finally clear out some bits from the safe. Haha
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Yes, it does not make you a scammer, I agree. But the seasoned vets on here will first check post count on a seller, then check the quality of their posts. If the guy has 10 posts inquiring about say pcp threads differences on fittings, and maybe has a thread that contributes towards knowledge, then a buyer is more apt to check this guy out as “he’s in it for the long haul” by the quality of posts.

Someone with the “wows” and the “cool”’s I don’t even bother reaching out to, but that’s me
 
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Agree. I’ve bought many guns and items on other forums over many years and I always do a bit of research on user before I reach out. Then I always ask for a specific pic and talk to the person first. I’ve never been scammed but I know it happens to even the best. As for post count, I’m not a Chatty Cathy. I am only posting now because of the post limit and I decided it’s time to thin the herd. Well wife decided but I still want to preserve my dignity so I pretend it was my idea. For those who wouldn’t buy from me because I’m newer to this group or not engaged, I totally respect that. I do love free will. :).
 
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I have a WTB posted. I had two attempts this week from two different new members trying to scam me. It was the typical brand new member giving me a persons name and email to contact because they had what I was looking for. I was wise to it because I got scammed when I first joined. Thank goodness it was not for much.

I sent Michael a PM for both of them a day apart and he quickly disabled their accounts.
 
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I had a credit card bill come to me last month with a balance of an extra 3,045 dollars and a late fee.
I pay all my bills at the end of the month, so the bill should have been paid off.
Well it wasn't and upon further investigation, we discovered someone had washed the check and cashed it.
It has been turned in to the police fraud department, but, they said don't be surprised if we don't get our money back.

So, I wasn't scammed. I was robbed and I will now pay bills by a call and a debit card.
 
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