Nigerian Scammer
- Thread starter 556ARs
- Start date
If a seller wants F&F for a high priced item. I asked for a state DL pic.
and name has to match paypal. address too if listed.
Honestly, that ad would not have triggered me at all.
English was fine. He had details. price was good, but not impossible.
and most scammers would not take the time to make 100 posts. and in this case over a year.
Great catch. I better step up my screening
and name has to match paypal. address too if listed.
Honestly, that ad would not have triggered me at all.
English was fine. He had details. price was good, but not impossible.
and most scammers would not take the time to make 100 posts. and in this case over a year.
Great catch. I better step up my screening
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I know we have the good guys list, is there a way to search in that list to find a specific seller? Is that the only list we have of previous trustworthy members? Is that the best method we have as well? Thank you for your input.
You can search any sub forum (or the entire forum) by member. Start by typing in their name in the “Search by Member” box and it should auto populate their complete handle.
damn, this posting is a real eye opener & kinda pisses u off. luckily, i havent been scammed. im curious how sum1 would trade jail for afew thousand $$$. i prefer NOT to have my a-hole stretched.
Thank you everyone who have chimed in on this. This is all great information that we need to keep sharing with each other. We have to all look out for each other. I have learned a lot just from reading this.
I also get a phone number so I can talk to them. I ask lots of questions. I feel you can kinda get a guy feeling about a deal if you actually speak to someone. Ask for pics texted from that number as well. I read too get a pic of a driver's license, that's a great pointer as well. Another member brought that idea up and I thought I would share that again.
Scammers are getting more and more sophisticated all the time. I almost fell for one of those stupid third-party check scams more than 10 years ago. Ever since then I've been extremely wary about doing deals online. There's even been a couple of deals on here that I've backed out of because the seller just felt off.
That being said, I've always tried to use USPS money orders because I've considered them, and always heard, that there's a bit more of a safety margin with them. But on here almost everyone I've tried to use USPS money orders with seems to insist on PayPal. And then the sense I'm getting from this thread is that people think Paypal is actually safer?
Am I missing something?
That being said, I've always tried to use USPS money orders because I've considered them, and always heard, that there's a bit more of a safety margin with them. But on here almost everyone I've tried to use USPS money orders with seems to insist on PayPal. And then the sense I'm getting from this thread is that people think Paypal is actually safer?
Am I missing something?
I don’t understand the safety of money orders. They are basically cash. If I cash it their is no recourse after the fact to reclaim your “stolen” funds. With PayPal besides firearms purchases, I have some security that they will guarantee my purchase if it truly isn’t what it was supposed to be.
With a money order all you are doing is making it possible to recover your money with the receipt stub, if the check is lost or the funds never collected.
With a money order all you are doing is making it possible to recover your money with the receipt stub, if the check is lost or the funds never collected.
Not a fan of MO or checks of any sort. My bank and post office are both a bit of a drive, and are both closed when I get off work. My bank is closed on Saturday, so to take either one as a payment will cost me a couple hours off work.
I find it ironic that some people boycott Dick's and Yeti, yet continue to use PayPal. I guess convenience wins.
I hear that! I had that same argument with people that said they were going to boycott businesses that don’t allow any type of carry. The power and internet company doesn’t allow it. I didn’t see them shutting that off! ?
Their response, “I can pay online”.
Don’t talk the talk...
Their response, “I can pay online”.
Don’t talk the talk...
Are you thinking of traveler's checks? I've always thought of those as basically cash. With a money order at least there's a trail if someone tries to disappear with the money. They either have to cash it at a Post Office or deposit it in an account, and in my experience the USPS Inspectors take accusations of fraud fairly seriously.
Is there really any protection with Paypal? Not only do most sellers insist on F&F but everyone here knows that Paypal is pretty unfriendly towards anything firearms related. I hear people on forums like reddit always talking about trying to get their money back but I've never heard of anyone doing it successfully.
Honestly, I appreciate the convenience of Paypal a lot, but as far as buyer protection goes, it's the same as Bitcoin to me.
Is there really any protection with Paypal? Not only do most sellers insist on F&F but everyone here knows that Paypal is pretty unfriendly towards anything firearms related. I hear people on forums like reddit always talking about trying to get their money back but I've never heard of anyone doing it successfully.
Honestly, I appreciate the convenience of Paypal a lot, but as far as buyer protection goes, it's the same as Bitcoin to me.
I've never liked Dick's and I don't like Yeti's either, the good news is there are alternatives. Tell me a good alternative to PayPal that is reliable and used by so many? In a way you are correct - convenience wins, I don't like Starbuck's either, but when on vacation sometimes its the only place I can get a coffee for my wife without driving 20 miles, so I suck it up and buy a $10 hot water for her
Well some of us get to have it both ways by using the PayPal services in such a way that they don't get extra fees from us (such as F&F).
There was a raging debate sometime back where certain virtue signalling folks were rather indignant that others of us didn't contribute to the bottom line of PayPal.
Others of us were of the opinion that it's virtuous to find a way (if one must use) to use the services of those that hate us without giving them extra funds...
The apparent inconsistency in behaviors you point out is largely driven by the fact there is no parallel tech industry founded, chaired and run by conservatives with conservative value systems. There is no large, industry leading right-leaning equivalent of Apple, Google, intel, Microsoft etc that we can turn to as an alternative.
If such an industry segment appeared tomorrow, they would instantly capture roughly half the market share from their left wing counterparts. Same goes for banks and other industry types.
I use PayPal for the convenience and protection/recourse it offers to buyers in transactions. I would jump ship in a heartbeat if a conservative “Paypal” existed. Unfortunately it doesn’t but that may change as the divide in the country deepens and conservative entrepreneurs step into the market for various services like internet browsers, eft, etc..
My .02
Just an observation, I’m an FNG around here so excuse me if this already exists. I don’t know the first thing about website design, but I am on several different forums and have bought and sold items on them. One of the forums I’m on has an itrader attached to your profile. You buy or sell something and there is a positive or negative itrader score left behind with a comment and a link to the item that was sold. Another, you pay a one time $5 fee with a CC and it makes you a verified seller, in hopes to eliminate making more Nigerians wealth off of unfortunate American victims. 1 USD is worth $363 Nigerian dollars. Someone looses out on the wrong deal say a $2000 optic, that $726000 Nigerian dollars. You’re making some asshole wealthy.
Calguns has an itrader system on there. It's not perfect because it doesn't work if people forget to leave feedback, which has happened multiple times to me. But it's better than nothing. And it looks like we've got one on here now too. Hopefully it works.
The biggest problem is that the scammers are constantly evolving their techniques. That one time $5 fee? It doesn't cost the scammer anything when they are using an American victim's credit card. We've already seen them working with people in the US to receive or redirect packages. They either hack existing accounts or take the time to build up a fake profile. The issue is that no matter what we do, they can come up with a way around it. We have to be vigilant every single time, but because of the economics of the situation, they only have to succeed once in a while.
