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Old 08-09-2020, 08:24   #1
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WARNING- SCAMMER ON FORUMS

I posted this in the classifieds section:

Just a warning-

I posted an ad about wanting a used D400 wind generator.

I was messaged by a fellow member:
"churchwilliam"

He said his friend had a D400 and to e-mail him:
"Hey, my good friend Rob want to get rid of his. You can contact him on Robinsonmicheal83@gmail.com for it"

I contacted the seller who sent me detailed photos of the D400. I sent him money via paypal for the unit, after which he tells me he is in the hospital and won't be able to ship the unit. He e-mailed me stock photos of a man in the hospital that looked like they were literally taken off of a hospital's website. I filed a complaint with my bank and credit card but I have not seen a return on the money.

Moral of the story- I am not as wise as I thought regarding purchasing a used item online, but I thought buying a D400 wind generator off of a cruising forum would be far from a scam. I was wrong. Be aware of member churchwilliam.
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Old 08-09-2020, 14:09   #2
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Re: WARNING- SCAMMER ON FORUMS

I did a search under our "search members" tab and came up as no name exists.
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Old 08-09-2020, 14:13   #3
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Re: WARNING- SCAMMER ON FORUMS

A couple of tips to help improve your success rate is to look at the number of posts they have on the forum. Newer members you should beware of. Also make sure you can speak to someone on the phone and ask for specific angels of the item to "prove" they have the item in question. Also try to secure a reference if you are not familiar with the poster. Also, if it seems like too good of a deal to be true, it usually is!
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Old 08-09-2020, 14:13   #4
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Re: WARNING- SCAMMER ON FORUMS

I banned him.

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Old 08-09-2020, 14:45   #5
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Re: WARNING- SCAMMER ON FORUMS

Another tip; if you wire the funds via PayPal under the payment to a merchant with the exact description of the product and the delivery time, there is a PayPal buyer protection arrangement, where you can dispute the transaction if the product has not been received and get a refund. I had to file a dispute twice over the last months and it worked.
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Old 09-09-2020, 08:47   #6
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Re: WARNING- SCAMMER ON FORUMS

Can we get the police involved?
This is fraud.

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Old 09-09-2020, 08:48   #7
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Re: WARNING- SCAMMER ON FORUMS

Seems that a lot of scammers use gmail addresses
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Old 09-09-2020, 09:01   #8
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Re: WARNING- SCAMMER ON FORUMS

I opened a case with both my bank and Paypal.
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Old 09-09-2020, 09:03   #9
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Re: WARNING- SCAMMER ON FORUMS

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stewie12 View Post
Seems that a lot of scammers use gmail addresses
They use all kind of free (at least to them) addresses and hacked/stolen legitimate corporate addresses.
Google could help in tracking the owners of such emails, as any email subscriber need to provide some additional personal data upon registration. We have tried that in the past with a hacker and got absolutely zero from Google (Gmail). The best you can do is flag them but that wouldn't help much as they switch all the time between email accounts.

Unfortunately, at least in the US, the police wouldn't do anything without a clear information of the suspect: name, address etc.. - even with that, probably not much.
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Old 09-09-2020, 09:26   #10
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Re: WARNING- SCAMMER ON FORUMS

Churchwilliam should have been banned weeks ago before this happened to Ddabs. On August 17 I received a similar pm from him regarding my Aries windvane wanted add. Same MO with his ( so-called) friend Robinsonmichael ( one and the same person as Churchwilliam I believe). He sent me stock pictures of an Aries vane that had been sold some years ago. I declined the offer suspecting a scam and reported the incident to the Webmaster as a potential scam that same day. Obviously nothing was investigated and no action was taken even though I noted in my note to the webmaster that the individual had no posts and had had his profile checked numerous times.


Only banning this scammer is pointless as he can easily appear again under another name and different ip.
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Old 09-09-2020, 10:59   #11
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Re: WARNING- SCAMMER ON FORUMS

Bumped up.


Do press on PayPal as they offer some protection.


Too bad such things happen, perhaps there should be no trading allowed via the forum.


b.
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Old 09-09-2020, 11:11   #12
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Re: WARNING- SCAMMER ON FORUMS

I disagree about not having a trading section on CF. We are all adults of some sophistication as to the ways of the world. A few bad apples do show up anywhere in society.
The mods have to be on top of listening to credible complaints and ban the nomme de ruse when appropriate.

A possible filter might be to require any trader to have a minimum amount of posts on general topics before allowing a trading posting. This might go a little way on establishing at least minimal bonafides.
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Old 09-09-2020, 11:20   #13
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Re: WARNING- SCAMMER ON FORUMS

Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyEss View Post
......The mods have to be on top of listening to credible complaints and ban the nomme de ruse when appropriate.

A possible filter might be to require any trader to have a minimum amount of posts on general topics before allowing a trading posting....
That
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Old 09-09-2020, 11:30   #14
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Re: WARNING- SCAMMER ON FORUMS

You can find out a whole lot about someone if they have a facebook page. Many people do. Scammers don't.
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Old 09-09-2020, 11:52   #15
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Re: WARNING- SCAMMER ON FORUMS

Thanks for the heads up!

You paid using Paypal, which means the scammer also has to have a PayPal account. File a complaint with them...they recently refunded money I paid to someone who turned out to be a scammer. Don't know if they ever got it back from him.

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