Scammers trolling our forum. "Djokovic0" and "Craway9203" for starters

[brokemyback]

Hi friends,
I just got scammed by some "members" here. I broke every rule, so I don't expect any sympathy. However I'd like to share my experience so you can be forewarned. Consider it my contribution to the forum.

Two users here with very low post counts contacted me in response to a WTB item I posted. Their only posts are generic "wow, nice" and "happy Fourth of July". They both sent me private messages saying: "Forum member xxxx has the part you want. He can be reached at yyyy@gmail.com".

I followed up with emails to both gmail addresses. One sent me a photo of some crappy motorcycle part. Scam failed.
The other sent me some great photos of the Chainstay I was looking for, sitting on a kitchen counter. Scammer win!
Anyone recognize them as your stolen photos?

Lessons:
Be wary of low post count members, with generic posts. ("Happy Fourth of July!" or "Good Luck!")
Be wary of contacting a referenced gmail address, outside of the forum.
Don't send paypal money as "friends". (Yeah, I already knew that)
Don't send paypal money to Philippines. ("It's my wife's account. I don't have one myself." hahahaha)

If you find these tips helpful, please send crowdfund money to my PayPal account in the Philippines.
...or send me a shiny V2 chainstay!
Happy Fourth!

 

[ratz]

I killed both accounts. Now that I'm digging out of my life backlog, we'll get that back under control like it was 5 years ago. This place has stay amazing all these years; it didn't get that way on accident. Time for some daily TLC.

 

[Maria Parker]

I killed both accounts. Now that I'm digging out of my life backlog, we'll get that back under control like it was 5 years ago. This place has stay amazing all these years; it didn't get that way on accident. Time for some daily TLC.

So grateful Bob!

 

[brokemyback]

Thanks to both of you for following up!

 

[brokemyback]

To close this out, I got some good news. Paypal refunded my money! Even though I sent money as “friends”, I filled out a problem report. I reported I had sent money to the Philippines address in error. It took about 4 weeks, but they returned the funds to my account!

(And I’m still looking for a medium V2 chainstay. If anyone has a chainstay like the scammers posted above, please message me!)

 

[ratz]

Just as an PSA.... Look below people's names. They have to make ten posts over before they say "active" member, and you can check their status via their profile. When they say "well-known" or something clever, they have been here a long time. I suspect it will take me six months to find all the lurkers and promote all the regulars; that's a very manual process. We get about 20 sign-ups a day and about 1 real one every 5 days, and I do error on the side of offending real people on error. I'm the one person at a computer all day, so now that I'm back to health, we should not have that big of back-log after I whittle it down. I consider this one of the 3 best biking forums in existence, clean up should be simple now we just need to wake up some of the olde guard now that COVID is in the mirror from a fear standpoint and health is coming back as people rediscover mobility.

 

[CuHead]

just saw this thread yesterday. admin could pin a warning in the Marketplace when someone gets scammed; maybe use all caps. would've saved me a three week headache.

 

[ratz]

Let me noodle on it; the problem we get is when we ban them, the posts come down, and they vanish so at that point it's a bit late, but there might be some warning and guidelines we could post.

 

[Velocivixen]

It’s also about the temptation of desiring something to the point of forgetting common sense safety strategies. Refreshing to hear about your refund too. Good luck on your search - I’ve got a feeling you will find what you need. Cheers.