I got scammed on NWF

[RVTECH]

and an amazing number of people crave finding some other way to pay for stuff

This has me 'shaking my head' as well.

MY 'theory' on 'other ways of paying for stuff' are potentially methods to attract people who have NO credit ( and possibly no credit cards) and therefore some of these 'other ways' while probably legal are a bit 'sketchy' and have 'built in' methods to in effect to 'cheat' the user if they 'deviate' or otherwise do not use the method properly and have no recourse.

I could be wrong as I have NO knowledge of how these 'other ways' operate. Just a guess.

In the 'past' when I was buying and selling a LOT on Ebay I was using Pay Pal - but it was in it's 'early days' and pretty simple with no hassles. Heck I even had a credit line with it (I didn't request) but regardless it was pretty fool proof. I have no Idea what it's like now. I recently logged into my account and it's now all 'foreign' to me....

 

[Alexx1401]

This has me 'shaking my head' as well.

MY 'theory' on 'other ways of paying for stuff' are potentially methods to attract people who have NO credit ( and possibly no credit cards) and therefore some of these 'other ways' while probably legal are a bit 'sketchy' and have 'built in' methods to in effect to 'cheat' the user if they 'deviate' or otherwise do not use the method properly and have no recourse.

I could be wrong as I have NO knowledge of how these 'other ways' operate. Just a guess.

In the 'past' when I was buying and selling a LOT on Ebay I was using Pay Pal - but it was in it's 'early days' and pretty simple with no hassles. Heck I even had a credit line with it (I didn't request) but regardless it was pretty fool proof. I have no Idea what it's like now. I recently logged into my account and it's now all 'foreign' to me....

Yep. In the early days of it I sold and bought a LOT from them. If some item would not allow me to pay with a Credit Card I just moved on.

 

[Nosferatu]

I sent over the money through Zelle

This is why you only leave them cash in an envelope under a rock by the bus stop.

 

[arakboss]

A FTF meet up likely, would have prevented this. With AI people will be able to generate a photo of the item in their AI fridge.

 

[trevi]

I feel like i could have gotten scammed from a guy here, claiming to live in California. Listed several unsecured money transfer options to send me money. But then again, i am the seller and when i asked about FFL, he went poof.

 

[Lilhigbee]

If there is any question go to the member's page and check out their site presence. Note that the seller hadn't posted anything since 2021 until Saturday;
~140 messages in ten years, then nothing for four years and now a sale that's "too good to be true." Indeed it was...

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

I'm sorry brother, I did too.
Not by the same guy, however mine was some dude in Washington.
Burned his bridge on this forum for a mere $40.
Some humans are low-down disgusting creatures.

 

[gmerkt]

The sad one is elderly who are taken because they just are not as sharp as they used to be.

Mrs. Merkt has been telling me for 50 years that I'm suspicious by nature. I don't know if I've ever been sharp, but I'm still highly suspicious.

I'm still wondering what a T2 is.

There are still trusting people around. I've been selling lots of stuff on Gunbroker. I don't have any way to take CC, GB doesn't allow for internet funding options. So people send me checks and postal money orders. A few people on NWFA have even trusted me to do them right. The feedback history on sales venues helps enormously. Talking to people on the phone can also be a confidence builder. Nothing is entirely infallible nor crook proof.

 

[aasbra]

I encountered something similar on here once within the last year or so. Was an account takeover. A "member" was listing a nice, somewhat scarce S&W revolver for a really good price. Started communicating with "them", saying I'd take it if we could meet/coordinate the details. Quickly moved to they would only ship it to my FFL and I needed to send an electronic payment. The "member" lived an hour away, but n the same State, so I suggested I would rather meet in person. The "member" had some feedback (all positive) and wasn't brand new, but wasn't someone I'd dealt with prior. The communication escalated with them applying some pressure, noting I was the first person to respond, but there were others who followed, and if I sent an electronic payment they would meet me a few days later when I requested.

I wasn't comfortable so I paused conversing for a couple hours. During that period, I received another message from the actual member, apologizing, noting his account was compromised, and saying to disregard any messages sent from his account over the prior 3-4 hours.

 

[peteNW503]

The bad is starting to outweigh the good. This site is starting to go down hill drastically. To much BS. Start requiring a photo I.D approval to become a member. It would limit the scammers and you could actually hold people somewhat accountable. There are some cool cats in here but I'm starting to see less and less specially as people wise up and decide to leave Oregon/washington

 

[orygun]

The only thing is that, I always get email notifications from any reply or comment on this forum. I wished that the account owner would've seen it and stopped it.

Also, the scammer has already stolen over $1300 per what the vendor has stated and was intending to send upwards of $6000.

If there is any question go to the member's page and check out their site presence. Note that the seller hadn't posted anything since 2021 until Saturday;
~140 messages in ten years, then nothing for four years and now a sale that's "too good to be true." Indeed it was...

View attachment 2152789

An account that hasn't had any activity in 4 years is likely an account of someone who has no interest in being here, or a member that has passed away.

 

[nehalemguy]

Recently got scammed by Amnesiac503.
This was a man in the middle type of scam. He offered up a T2 for $400 which is pretty much too good to be true. I saw his positive feedback and thought that it would've been good to go. I sent over the money through Zelle and he ghosted me. I contacted the number associated with the Zelle and the person told me that he received 3 transactions like this from the same person for an in-game currency. He said that "my friend will Zelle you" Those other payments he received was most likely through a scam as well.

Lesson learned, always go through goods and services through PayPal, even if the person has positive feedback. Never too young or too old to be swindled.

It can happen. Not long ago I got scammed for $135 bucks when I responded to a for sale posting on the CMP forum. It that case, the scammer had cloned or hijacked a legit user account and even answered a PM that I sent on the forum.

Scammers are becoming more sophisticated and with the added use of AI, it is becoming a mine field on the net.

-E-

 

[Alexx1401]

Nothing is entirely infallible nor crook proof.

For the buyer? CC. As long as you are buying things in the US you get your money back if someone tries to burn you. Now for the seller? This can be a real problem. If they can't take CC's they have to be real careful how they get paid. When I first found E-bay I sold a ton of "stuff" and got burned a couple times. Nothing to me as I was selling stuff I would have tossed if I had not found a way to sell it. Only time I was leery was when the great mag ban was getting ready to sunset. I unloaded a LOT of mags for a shocking amount of money. On those after I had sold a lot of them I stopped really worrying as by then I had made enough that if one went out for free I was still WAY ahead.

 

[lucusloc]

Start requiring a photo I.D approval to become a member.

That is not going to help with account theft. The only thing that helps with that is good data hygiene, which obviously not everyone is good at.

Not trying to be disrespectful to anyone here who got scammed, but scammers target the lowest demographic in any population; the slow, the greedy and the lazy. Some of that can't be helped, we are all ignorant about something, and many times education has a price. But some of it is under our control; do due diligence, don't let the opportunity for a good deal cloud your judgement, don't think it can't happen to you because <egotistical reasons>.

And low prices are not the only warning flag (nor are they required for a scam), scammers will craft their ads to pull in a target demographic, and low prices are just one aspect of that. This biggest flag is payment methods and the requirement for one-way trust. This includes sketchy payment methods which are already discouraged on this site. There is only so much any site can do to protect people from themselves, and if you are going to entertain deal that requires some kind of pre-deal one-way payment there is not much hope for you, and nothing this site can do to stop an opportunistic scammer from hooking you.

Now there are a few things I can think of that would help with account theft, but I also question if the membership here would put up with them. I am not sure anyone wants to deal with mandatory MFA, even if it only triggered to post an ad, and other forms of enforced security may require the action of someone who just does not care anymore (like someone who has walked away from their account for whatever reason). About the only thing I can think that would only help a tiny bit is to put old accounts on ice, and require that they re-verify their email to post ads again. But that will only help if the scammer has not also compromised the email (which they often do) and comes with the added wrinkle that if you lose that old email you effectively lose control of the account (without going through some kind of manual support process).

In short there is no silver bullet here, and anything that can be done site-side would still require some amount of due diligence from the buyer to cover any technological shortfalls. At the end of the day some people just have to learn from the school of hard knocks.

Or, you know, we start implementing the death penalty for scammers, deliverable by the marines if they are foreign nationals. I could be an advocate for that. . .

 

[equin68]

Not at all, the worse feeling is the anxious nous. Money can be made back, but the feeling that someone took advantage of me is something else. Faith in humanity is wavering.

Dad was a cop … never had faith in humanity to begin with

 

[equin68]

I feel like i could have gotten scammed from a guy here, claiming to live in California. Listed several unsecured money transfer options to send me money. But then again, i am the seller and when i asked about FFL, he went poof.

It is tricky to vet these

Why I only do FFL when F2F is not an option

 

[MannyGlocks]

...and why I buy from a retail store when there's a 'sale' on.

I've never been burned...

 

[RVTECH]

but scammers target the lowest demographic in any population; the slow, the greedy and the lazy.

AND the overly zealous as well.

Far too may times I have read about people (this forum and others) describing having been scammed (or close to it) yet their descriptions of what took place suggested they were overenthusiastic about the items(s) and were willing to agree to almost anything the seller was requesting to get it paid for with what seemed like very little interaction with the seller.

For me, interaction is very important and I have passed on many 'deals' in my life (as buyer AND seller) because of one's unwillingness to communicate in a respectful manner.

 

[oa98pistol512]

I always offer to sell my items on gunbroker. As for the greed thats why I quit even trying to sell items on here. Even if my deal is really good someone always wants it cheaper.

 

[trevi]

It is tricky to vet these

Why I only do FFL when F2F is not an option

I understand. I am willing to ship but i must verify the FFL can receive said goods. And, payment up front first. I do want to sell but not desperate.