I got scammed on NWF

[bennyl]

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.

Read More

 

[tac]

I got scammed here, too. Not a good feeling, is it? If I could lay hands on him he'd never walk the same way.

 

[bennyl]

I got scammed here, too. Not a good feeling, is it? If I could lay hands on him he'd never walk the same way.

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.

 

[L0C0]

On another site here in Nevada, there's someone hacking into accounts and selling these T2's as well at the cheap price. The real member re-posted that he was hacked and it is not him that placed the ad. The administrators looked into it and verified it was not him.

 

[1775usmc]

It happens. Looks like he hasn't had any feedback since 2001…..

Accounts get hacked. I always ask for a phone number and a photo of something random. Like send me a photo of the item with your user name and the date hand written on an index card next to it. Or send me a photo of the item set inside of your refrigerator.

If they refuse to do so I move on and no longer proceed with the transaction. I've been asked to do the same over at TacSwap.

If it sounds to good to be true….. it normally is. Sorry you got burnt.

 

[hongkong2]

Trust but verify.
Ronald Reagan

 

[bennyl]

On another site here in Nevada, there's someone hacking into accounts and selling these T2's as well at the cheap price. The real member re-posted that he was hacked and it is not him that placed the ad. The administrators looked into it and verified it was not him.

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.

 

[Alexx1401]

<Sigh>, If something is "too good to be true" that is the first HUGE red flag. Next is them wanting someone to send them money by some form of payment that does not mean paying with a Credit Card. If the deal is too good to be true its hard to feel bad for those who then get scammed like this.

 

[Joe Link]

Sorry to hear about this @bennyl

We have notices all over the site to remind people, but I'll remind everyone again, please be sure to read and re-read the first four items on the Using the Classifieds System help page:

Using the Classifieds System

www.northwestfirearms.com

These scammers are getting more and more sophisticated. For example, with the use of AI, someone from the other side of the world can now communicate as if they grew up next door (slang and all). If a deal is too good to be true, it probably is (how many times have we all heard this?), especially if they're insisting on insecure payment methods.

One thing most of these scammers have in common is coming up with an excuse to move communication off-site (text, email, etc). I've spent years working on tools which allow our staff to proactively catch these guys (and we do catch the vast majority before they're able to scam our members). Unfortunately, once communication has moved off site these tools no longer work.

If I recall correctly, we've never seen an account "hack" here that wasn't due to a member using a weak password or a member having their email compromised. These scammers generally aren't "hackers", they're just taking advantage of people with poor security habits. I can't stress enough how important it is to use a password manager to generate and keep track of strong, unique passwords for each single site or service you use. Anyone reusing passwords these days is just asking for trouble.

Thanks to our dedicated staff and continual development of tools and detection methods, we're far better at catching scammers than most websites. Unfortunately, this will always be a cat and mouse game

 

[RVTECH]

These scammers generally aren't "hackers", they're just taking advantage of people with poor security habits.

Ditto this.

I am a member of another gun forum with a somewhat different 'demographic' than this forum and unfortunately I read of MANY members reporting being scammed however it's mostly by them doing biz with online retailers (of gun related items) they fail to recognize even the basic 'clues' of a scam site and just 'roll over' and order from them and realize later what happened.

 

[.45's and .38's]

The T2 were too good to be true the Acro was too good to be true

Come on guys
$300-$400 bucks that's your red flag

It doesn't happen guys ever .

 

[1775usmc]

The T2 were too good to be true the Acro was too good to be true

Come on guys
$300-$400 bucks that's your red flag

It doesn't happen guys ever .

I saw the P2 twice at like $325. P1s don't even get listed that low.

Dreams rarely come true.

 

[Kruel J]

FTF or nothing for me. Electronic payment to someone you never met for an item priced too good to be true is a recipe for disaster.

 

[Kruel J]

If I could lay hands on him he'd never walk the same way.

At least buy him dinner first.

 

[Alexx1401]

At least buy him dinner first.

Last meal?

 

[Alexx1401]

FTF or nothing for me. Electronic payment to someone you never met for an item priced too good to be true is a recipe for disaster.

There are two "types" of "victims" that keep scams alive. The sad one is elderly who are taken because they just are not as sharp as they used to be. The other is simple greed that makes those who should know better do REALLY dumb crap. The "I bought some gold by meeting a guy at a parking lot", and such. People know this sounds fishy but tell themselves they are really going to make out on this "deal". Then of course the only one making out is the scammer.

 

[Kruel J]

Last meal?

With those magic hands I was thinking a first date?

 

[ma96782]

And yet some people would like to do business via the mail.

Aloha, Mark

 

[Alexx1401]

And yet some people would like to do business via the mail.

Aloha, Mark

There is zero "problem" with doing business by mail. The ONLY time this becomes a problem for the buyer is when they choose to pay in some way that is not safe. LONG after the net came along I have never been able to understand the huge number of people who go out of their way to find some way to pay for stuff that leads to them getting burned. I have LOVED mail ordering all my life. Before the net came along Wife bought my a Fax Machine one year to make it easier. What I have never done is use something to pay other than a Credit Card and or buying stuff from out of the US. Now we have the "information age" and an amazing number of people crave finding some other way to pay for stuff then of course cry when they get burned.

 

[1775usmc]

I buy and sell all over the country. You just have to do your due diligence and vet the seller. Simple steps go a long ways.