Very Thorough Scam

[DirectDrive]

Howdy all. I recently posted a WTB ad for a Galil Ace. Well, a new forum member messaged me saying he had purchased a scope from a guy in Texas that had one for sale. Cool. The new member had also posted in the introduction area so not a bot. The Texas man sends me his DL picture, many pictures of the firearm, and a picture of the rifle next to a note with my name, sale price, etc. All good.

The fishy thing is he would only take payment via cashapp or venmo and neither would go to him, but to a "niece" or "financial advisor" instead. His DL first name is also spelled differently than in his email. He also misspelled his advisor's name a few times. His Facebook shows a man matching the DL picture as well as the man shooting at events, a legit account. I've never seen a scam this initially convincing. It seems like a stolen license and firearm are involved here. Be cautious out there. Note, the new member deleted his messages to me after I mentioned the seller's suspicious activity.

Turn him in to the Texas DA's Office !
They're going after Cheaper Than Dirt for gouging and they might like to have a crack at this moron as well !

 

[clanhanson]

Turn him in to the Texas DA's Office !
They're going after Cheaper Than Dirt for gouging and they might like to have a crack at this moron as well !

I got a hold of the real guy. Definitely somebody using his ID and selfies from his Facebook page. It also seems the scammer actually has the Galil in his possession but uses it to lure in buyers. The new member on here was likely him or an accomplice, but since the scammer's time stamp indicated the west coast, could be the same person. I feel bad for that Texan!

 

[WTC]

Unfortunately a few (more than a few these days) bad apples have ruined it for the others. For me there are too many local buyers, sellers and traders to mess around with electronic payments, shipping, verifications, etc. On top of that it's great to meet with members face to face once in a while.

I'll be back in Washington in the spring/early summer. Will buy something from you then just to meet the legend himself

 

[SUPER X]

I'll just say. K8 brown, ginny burDICK, PETER courtney, floyd prozanski, tina kotec, earl blumenauer. Etc.
I hope that helps some? I do feel your pain.

you forgot one . KOTEX

 

[JuglansRegia]

Scammers are always scamming.

 

[spookshack]

One way to avoid these scammers is to do face to face, cash only deals. I have only done a couple of deals with members that were not face to face but they were long time members with plenty of good feedback. I understand that is limiting but there are too many ways to scam people otherwise.

The "boss" is legit. Deal in confidence!!

 

[308]

Turn him in to the Texas DA's Office !
They're going after Cheaper Than Dirt for gouging and they might like to have a crack at this moron as well !

One of our members here told me there is no such thing as gouging. Tx DA must not know what they are talking about.

 

[trekkerpaul]

This is the same scam that was being used on Armslist. Ive dealt with it myself. The seller sent me a picture on ID, ffl license copy, but wanted cashapp or zelle payment to another name. Was advertised local in portland, seller said they were in some other state. Email for zelle traced back to some inner city woman from Ohio or Michigan that was clearly involved in drugs and other illicit things. I even went so far as to call the local ATF. They told me they were aware of the scams, but the FBI fraud department was who I needed to call. I spent a week screwing with the scammer. Even had them call my "ffl" at two different numbers. One was the FBI fraud department and the other was the ATF. The scammer wasn't happy, needless to say.

I would add that the ATF agent also told me there are gun related websites being set up, totally fake, but look totally legit. They get your money and never send anything, then vanish down the road. Make sure to Google reviews for websites if you aren't sure.

I've even found fake ads here. I new guy posted a bunch over a short period of time, all gun ho like. Then posted some ads up for below market prices. I did some searching using the text content and pictures. All the ads were stolen from other sites. Reported them and the new member to @Joe Link for a proper ban.

 

[jackrv]

Another example is credit card theft at gas stations in Oregon.

The very reason I use cash for everything. That and card readers on the pumps.

Jack

 

[WillametteWill]

You can use Google and I believe Bing to search by image (i.e. you save and image and then load it into the browser for a search) to see how and were it has been used. So if you are dealing with Fred in Montana and you see all the photos originate from Buddy and Florida...might call that a clue. For those posting your firearms (and you with firearms pix) on social media...this is where they end up.

 

[The Heretic]

Another example is credit card theft at gas stations in Oregon. They steal your credit card info and make online purchases. This happened to me twice. They know there is no accountability and the credit card companies will just replace the card. I went to the gas station manager and told him because that was literally the only place I ever used that card. He couldn't find evidence on the camera butat least I tried to make the thief accountable. Watch the gas station attendants like a hawk!

This is why I no longer hand attendants my card - I put it in the pump myself.

A couple years ago I had my CC number used to buy something online. I caught it immediately (within a few minutes as I have all purchases texted to me from my CC co.), called it in and got a new card. I am pretty sure my CC # was stolen at a Costco gas station (I buy almost all my gas there). Gas station attendants come and go and it is easy for them to put your card into a reader/etc. and steal its info.

 

[The Heretic]

You can use Google and I believe Bing to search by image (i.e. you save and image and then load it into the browser for a search) to see how and were it has been used. So if you are dealing with Fred in Montana and you see all the photos originate from Buddy and Florida...might call that a clue. For those posting your firearms (and you with firearms pix) on social media...this is where they end up.

This is very common on CL - lots of stolen images and items for unbelievably low prices almost assuradly a scam. Usually want $ sent to them then they will deliver.

 

[RedneckRampage]

I got a PM just like the OP, telling me a shop they use had a barrel I had a WTB ad for, it included the "shops" email. It disappeared from my inbox.

 

[RedneckRampage]

Just looked through deleted emails, and it had the PM in there - Hi if your still looking, I can help out with a lead, you can reach out to steve in Texas he has the Remington 1100 12ga Barrel for sale this is his email address [email protected] good luck

@clanhanson is this the same person you were referred to?

 

[Member 5605]

Howdy all. I recently posted a WTB ad for a Galil Ace. Well, a new forum member messaged me saying he had purchased a scope from a guy in Texas that had one for sale. Cool. The new member had also posted in the introduction area so not a bot. The Texas man sends me his DL picture, many pictures of the firearm, and a picture of the rifle next to a note with my name, sale price, etc. All good.

The fishy thing is he would only take payment via cashapp or venmo and neither would go to him, but to a "niece" or "financial advisor" instead. His DL first name is also spelled differently than in his email. He also misspelled his advisor's name a few times. His Facebook shows a man matching the DL picture as well as the man shooting at events, a legit account. I've never seen a scam this initially convincing. It seems like a stolen license and firearm are involved here. Be cautious out there. Note, the new member deleted his messages to me after I mentioned the seller's suspicious activity.

This scam is easy to pull off.
Easy to request information from somebody and then run with it.

 

[Mikej]

I got a PM just like the OP, telling me a shop they use had a barrel I had a WTB ad for, it included the "shops" email. It disappeared from my inbox.

When you are in the "Conversation" mode with another person and one of the participants clicks to "Leave Conversation", their messages are gone at that point. When I've gone through my conversations to see which ones I can delete, I'll see conversations with only my content, because the other person has left the conversation.

Good thing you had emails!

 

[ilikegunspdx]

This is very common on CL - lots of stolen images and items for unbelievably low prices almost assuradly a scam. Usually want $ sent to them then they will deliver.

The newest scam on local CL is somebody advertising something like an old motorcycle in the free section. Sounds pretty convincing. Then when you contact him/her they say they will send you a code (I think it was a "google code") then you are supposed to hit that code and that lets them access your phone (or something like that).

 

[The Heretic]

I got a PM just like the OP, telling me a shop they use had a barrel I had a WTB ad for, it included the "shops" email. It disappeared from my inbox.

Ditto on barrel WTB ad I bumped yesterday - except the PM disappeared before I could read it - got an email notice. Can't find any posts by user.

 

[clanhanson]

This scam is easy to pull off.
Easy to request information from somebody and then run with it.

Sure, but typically they're pretty obvious.

 

[TNThomas]

Would also avoid using paypal for money transactions for firearms and ammo.

It's against Paypal TOS to use paypal for buying/selling firearms and ammunition and they will not help you if you have a claim related to it and they'll likely terminate your account.

Interesting, good to know. I wasn't aware of this, but it is not surprising.