Gunbroker scammer

[Mikej]

The scam seller has nothing to ship and no way to prove to GB that they actually posses the item. The sale just sits in limbo waiting on payment and eventually dies. Scammers do sometimes email and demand payment via PayPal (which is another red flag) and I simply respond by telling them to go pound sand or whatever it is they have in their crap hole country. I've called their bluff at that point. End of story

I have "bought" well over a hundred firearms this way. I know another guy who has over 500. We have never received a negative rating or been flagged. The item simply sits in my "items won" folder for about a month and then just drops off. I do know of one guy who received a negative rating from a scam seller. GunBroker removed it when they deleted the scam sellers account a day or two later.

-E-

I think what you're doing here is really interesting. What do you make of the gun above showing "Sold". Is the bid winner out there now wondering what happened? Is the scammer going to shine the winner on for awhile? That guy DID have 1 positive feedback.

 

[xtratoy]

The scam seller has nothing to ship and no way to prove to GB that they actually posses the item. The sale just sits in limbo waiting on payment and eventually dies. Scammers do sometimes email and demand payment via PayPal (which is another red flag) and I simply respond by telling them to go pound sand or whatever it is they have in their crap hole country. I've called their bluff at that point. End of story

I have "bought" well over a hundred firearms this way. I know another guy who has over 500. We have never received a negative rating or been flagged. The item simply sits in my "items won" folder for about a month and then just drops off. I do know of one guy who received a negative rating from a scam seller. GunBroker removed it when they deleted the scam sellers account a day or two later.

-E-

Thanks for the info. I always thought there were penalties on both sides for not completing a deal. Good to know.

 

[nehalemguy]

That guy DID have 1 positive feedback.

Scammers will often have multiple accounts and leave themselves fake feedback to look more legit.

The bid winner (if legit) will be approached by email to send payment, typically by PayPal to a email address different from what is shown on GB. Buyer sends payment and then gets ghosted by the scammer.

-E-

 

[nehalemguy]

Here is some past "Operation Death to Scammers" action.

SP5K Scammer on GB - He's Baaaack

www.hkpro.com

 

[Mikej]

Here is some past "Operation Death to Scammers" action.

SP5K Scammer on GB - He's Baaaack

www.hkpro.com

That's enlightening!

 

[nehalemguy]

Just took down a scam ad here on NWFA for a 1942 Garand. Funny thing is I found a duplicate ad on Florida Gun Trader with the identical description and serial number which is also a scam ad ripped off from a legit ad on GunBroker.

-E-

 

[Camelfilter]

Just took down a scam ad here on NWFA for a 1942 Garand. Funny thing is I found a duplicate ad on Florida Gun Trader with the same serial number and it itself is a scam ad ripped off from a legit ad on GunBroker.

-E-

Appreciate the leg work!

 

[AMT]

If I had more "extra" time on my hands I'd love to get in on this too. This sounds like something fun to do.

Kudos to you, @nehalemguy

 

[nehalemguy]

That's enlightening!

Here is a thread from yesterday. Had to dig a little deeper on this one but I finally got a hit on a ACOG he had listed. We gave him four "F" ratings to warn others off and Gunbroker deleted his account about two hours after I reported him.

Need help

www.hkpro.com

-E-

 

[Mikej]

Here is a thread from yesterday. Had to dig a little deeper on this one but I finally got a hit on a ACOG he had listed. We gave him four "F" ratings to warn others off and Gunbroker deleted his account about two hours after I reported him.

Need help

www.hkpro.com

-E-

That looks like a real nice forum. A lot like this as far as moderation and friendliness of the membership. That Admin seems to have Hutzpah!

 

[pogi]

Happened to me and two others here last fall. Thankfully I was able to get a hold of one winning bidder, report all three scams, and get in touch with the other two posters on NWFA.

 

[RobMa]

I just looked to see if some of my gun ads were there, I did not see any thank goodness. No wonder people here are leery of buying guns with all the scammers lurking around. It screws it up for us honest sellers...

 

[RobMa]

That looks like a real nice forum. A lot like this as far as moderation and friendliness of the membership. That Admin seems to have Hutzpah!

"That Admin seems to have Hutzpah!"

Oy!

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

Unrelated to the scammer that has been ousted.. is it normal for large accounts on Gun Broker to run scams?
I had a bid on 2-25rnd HK93 mags..
Arizona Gun Runners.. I placed a bid, was in the lead.. watched the item.. somehow item was sold/won by some guy with a generic screen name with an hour to go despite there not being an immediate checkout option. No big deal, I lost so I wrote it off.

Keeping an eye on HK93 stuff..
Now, the item is for sale again.. these are the same exact mags from Arizona Gun Runners.. The scuffs are almost exactly the same.. these have to be the same mags.. but how? They were won/sold.. but here they are again for sale. Is this common on Gun Broker? Do these guys have sock puppet accounts and bid in their own items to bolster their trader ratings? Admittedly Im not super familiar with gun broker, is this a common thing? I get price reserves and whatnot.. but Im talking about won items. Anyone else noticed this?

 

[billdeserthills]

Unrelated to the scammer that has been ousted.. is it normal for large accounts on Gun Broker to run scams?
I had a bid on 2-25rnd HK93 mags..
Arizona Gun Runners.. I placed a bid, was in the lead.. watched the item.. somehow item was sold/won by some guy with a generic screen name with an hour to go despite there not being an immediate checkout option. No big deal, I lost so I wrote it off.

Keeping an eye on HK93 stuff..
Now, the item is for sale again.. these are the same exact mags from Arizona Gun Runners.. The scuffs are almost exactly the same.. these have to be the same mags.. but how? They were won/sold.. but here they are again for sale. Is this common on Gun Broker? Do these guys have sock puppet accounts and bid in their own items to bolster their trader ratings? Admittedly Im not super familiar with gun broker, is this a common thing? I get price reserves and whatnot.. but Im talking about won items. Anyone else noticed this?

Couldn't they have just used the same pic over again?

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

Couldn't they have just used the same pic over again?

Very good point.. They could have, but the description of the items makes it seem as if these two 25rnd (uncommon) HK93 mags were found in their warehouse and placed up for sale. Still in a pair, still for a price too good to be true, without a reserve.

I suppose they could have had dozens of these 25rnd Hk mags from a box (of true, its the mother-load).. but the description is quite misleading if that is the case. Their description for the 40rnd Aluminum mags is exactly the same as well.. which just seems odd. Curious if anyone else has had odd experiences on GB.

 

[billdeserthills]

Very good point.. They could have, but the description of the items makes it seem as if these two 25rnd (uncommon) HK93 mags were found in their warehouse and placed up for sale. Still in a pair, still for a price too good to be true, without a reserve.

I suppose they could have had dozens of these 25rnd Hk mags from a box (of true, its the mother-load).. but the description is quite misleading if that is the case. Their description for the 40rnd Aluminum mags is exactly the same as well.. which just seems odd. Curious if anyone else has had odd experiences on GB.

I had an odd experience on Gunbroker about 12 years ago--I bought a BFR in 444 Marlin. They sent the gun to my FFL & I was denied on my 4473. I asked my FFL to return the gun to the seller who promptly stated that since they had a 100% restocking fee due to my failure to transfer, he would be keeping my gun and all my money.

Fortunately a dif FFL I knew told me he would send in a copy of his license & insist the gun be transferred to him instead. I wound up paying shipping a second time but the second FFL wound up with my BFR & I asked him to sell it & get my money back.

Gunbroker didn't give two poops about my money or my gun, in fact everybody but the second FFL treated me like I was a criminal as soon as they found out that I had been denied. A year later the ATF/FBI sent me a copy of my file showing that I had been unfairly denied as the feds had zero reason to deny me the right to own a gun

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

I had an odd experience on Gunbroker about 12 years ago--I bought a BFR in 444 Marlin. They sent the gun to my FFL & I was denied on my 4473. I asked my FFL to return the gun to the seller who promptly stated that since they had a 100% restocking fee due to my failure to transfer, he would be keeping my gun and all my money.

Fortunately a dif FFL I knew told me he would send in a copy of his license & insist the gun be transferred to him instead. I wound up paying shipping a second time but the second FFL wound up with my BFR & I asked him to sell it & get my money back.

Gunbroker didn't give two poops about my money or my gun, in fact everybody but the second FFL treated me like I was a criminal as soon as they found out that I had been denied. A year later the ATF/FBI sent me a copy of my file showing that I had been unfairly denied as the feds had zero reason to deny me the right to own a gun

WOW! 100% restocking fee?!

 

[ma96782]

A year later the ATF/FBI sent me a copy of my file showing that I had been unfairly denied as the feds had zero reason to deny me the right to own a gun

And yet there are plenty of people who want Universal BGCs.

Aloha, Mark

 

[nehalemguy]

Unrelated to the scammer that has been ousted.. is it normal for large accounts on Gun Broker to run scams?
I had a bid on 2-25rnd HK93 mags..
Arizona Gun Runners.. I placed a bid, was in the lead.. watched the item.. somehow item was sold/won by some guy with a generic screen name with an hour to go despite there not being an immediate checkout option. No big deal, I lost so I wrote it off.

Keeping an eye on HK93 stuff..
Now, the item is for sale again.. these are the same exact mags from Arizona Gun Runners.. The scuffs are almost exactly the same.. these have to be the same mags.. but how? They were won/sold.. but here they are again for sale. Is this common on Gun Broker? Do these guys have sock puppet accounts and bid in their own items to bolster their trader ratings? Admittedly Im not super familiar with gun broker, is this a common thing? I get price reserves and whatnot.. but Im talking about won items. Anyone else noticed this?

I have heard reports of this happening to others with firearms but hard to tell in your case with the magazines. Also possible that it was a non-paying bidder. ???

Small stockpiles of the 25 rounders do sometimes pop up. I got really lucky about 6 months ago when someone sold a pile of misc. magazines to Baseline Pawn in Cornelius. They were all separated into gallon zip lock bags and in that pile was a bag with 5 new looking HK 93 25 round mags. I bought them all at $25 each and danced the happy dance out the door. Couple days later I sold two and recouped my money.