BEWARE: jhall5754, gunsgoner12, kthom116

[colin.lee.williams]

Mods, Please make keep this information public....moderated as you see fit so we don't start a 'hate club' or anything but others need to know this ASAP! Widest dissemination recommended.

In the past 48 hours I have been scammed, or at least they have tried to, in response to a WTB ad I have placed...in this case WRA receivers.

Jhall5754 contacted me thru the forum email..I tried to click on his profile to see his name and it said I do not have 'sufficient privileges' to see the user's profile-CONCERN #1.

His English was broken and he was pushy. The broken English part not such a concern this day & age, but I noticed. However, he was insisting I get the money order Sunday & Monday-both days the Post Office is closed. -DEAD GIVE AWAY #2.

I explained that to him. I said he was too pushy for me continue to the transaction and wished him luck in the sale of his two WRA receivers. He emailed about 15 times in the two hours that followed...including his broken English...ie. 'if you want these please reply me.' -ANOTHER TELL TALE

His payment address was a woman's name at a commercial address on the 'first floor.' -AGAIN DOES NOT ADD UP...TOO MANY ODD THINGS...

So, while I was at work today I got two more PMs and emails....one even included a phone number....in area code 501 'Arkansas.' I emailed and called to both offers....kthom116 'Kelvin Thompson'. The phone call took over a minute to connect and the connection was horrible. I suspect it's a valid number that is forwarded to wherever, my new best friend Kelvin, with his nice Russian accent (yes I know the accent as I speak it too) and he had no clue what I was talking about at first...he insisted I email him even though he emailed me. Sooo, I clicked on his name on the forum and it was a repeat warning of ' do not have sufficient privileges to view the user's profile.'

The third user is gunsgoner12.....all three of these guys (or possibly all the same person) have corresponding matching emails.

Be careful out there.

I consider this site to consist of reputable honest members...but we now have others among us.

Lastly, I suspect after I post this, it will not be popular with my new best friends....so, if you get an unbelievable offer from me...asking you to send payment to Jersey....please don't believe it.

Good luck....hopefully the administrators can clean this up......

r/
Colin

[YellowSled]

I got this today.... Very shady...

Originally Posted by gunsgoner12

Hello,i saw your post,have got one for sale,message me to my email so i can send you some pictures and more details about it.here is my private email,
gunsgoner12@outlook.com

Thanks

[Lynus448]

I was contacted by gunsgoner and james3 from my wtb post. Since they didn't have a single post and wanted a direct email, I didn't respond. I hope no one gets scammed.

Thanks Colin for the post! We have to ban together.

[B747crew]

Originally Posted by Lynus448

I was contacted by gunsgoner and james3 from my wtb post. Since they didn't have a single post I didn't respond. I hope no one gets scammed.

I got messages from gunsgoner but didn't respond. This jerk wanted me to contact him via his email

[rickplayer]

Jeez!!!

[Kestrel4k]

Thanks for the heads-up, but this is a pretty typical MO that has been happening in gun forums for a while now re: WTB adds. We need to stay vigilant with respect to new users along these lines. I have rec'd attempted scam contacts to a few of my WTB's on Rimfire Central as well.

[KarlJ]

I recieved one the other day in response to a barrel wtb. He emailed me from jhall5754 at g mail dot com.

And just now I recieved another to my email address from a wtb of an EmCF stock from a "Kay jay" at kayj78 at g mail dot com

[hat trick]

I've received pm's from both gunsgoner12 and james3 in response to a WTB ad. They both requested I contact them through email. Both show 0 posts and "Banned" usernames.

[Big_Red]

Originally Posted by Kestrel4k

Thanks for the heads-up, but this is a pretty typical MO that has been happening in gun forums for a while now re: WTB adds. We need to stay vigilant with respect to new users along these lines. I have rec'd attempted scam contacts to a few of my WTB's on Rimfire Central as well.

^^^
This...and not just gun forums...this pervades ANY forum where there is a marketplace/buy & sell section...AKA money involved!

To clarify some of the concerns here and provide SA for everyone, these particular "users," and many like them register just as every one of us did when we first started.
Many are bots, some are real humans. The bots are relatively easy to stop with basic verification procedures. Humans are not...some even get registered and then turn over the log-in info to bots.

With the vBulletin software used for this forum (and many others), new members wanting access are moved to an "awaiting moderation" group after they submit their request for access, where admin reviews their information to try and ensure they are not either bots and/or spammers.
With so many spammers attempting access, as many as 1,800 in a week, it takes a while to get through them.
New members can certainly attest to this frustration of waiting weeks to post, but this is part of the reason it takes so long to get accounts activated.

BUT...while awaiting moderation (and forum account approval), vBulletin allows these users to send PMs and use the "send e-mail" link.
Reasoning is they can then check status of their account with admin and/or mods...I generally get at least a few of these type PMs a week from new members asking for help with account activiation.

Unfortunately, those with ill intent have the same capability and use it to perpetrate stuff like this, or just send spam! And just like the spam/scam e-mails or phone calls we all see, they do this across many fronts, and/or forums.
Even in the military, with all of our firewalls and blocks, some of these type e-mails get through to our .mil addresses occasionally!
We are working with admin to do what we can to stop this. However, just like Jeff Goldblum says in Jurassic Park, "Nature (and scammers) find a way."

Majority are dead giveaways as their messages are garbled, or come across like the "Greetings, I am advisor to Prince of Nigeria and I am wanting you to safeguard $10M for our mutuals benefit.." e-mails. And usually have .ru e-mail addresses (Russian), or obviously foreign e-mail addresses.

However, the users mentioned here and in my fellow mod's sticky, have outlook, gmail, hotmail or yahoo addresses like most do, and they were fairly articulate, though the example in Yellowsled's post not so much. Not to mention, these chuckleheads obviously "cased" the forum and some users as they were able to solicit information specific to what the user was wanting, as evidenced by posts above, and other evidence we've received.

And yes, we know of 2 members here who actually did get scammed out of money by one of these guys!

So...it is an unfortunate part of forum life, and given that this is a basic version of vBulletin, which makes it free for everyone...said everyone should exercise some basic procedures to ensure they don't get scammed if contacted by one of these dudes...


1. If you get a PM from someone soliciting funds for a purchase, etc, first check to see if they are an approved member here.
- Just go to the Community tab at the top and search their username.
- If it does not come up, or you get the message Colin mentioned ("You do not have sufficient privileges"), then that means they are either banned, or are in the group I mentioned earlier (Users awaiting moderation). If they are an approved member, you will at least be able to see their profile and basic account info, depending upon what info they have entered and what is available to view.

As such, if you do proceed, do so with the utmost caution. We do have this happen time to time from new members with honest/good intentions; HOWEVER, in all cases it was a new member wanting to buy...not sell!


2. Feel free to contact a mod or admin to see what the situation is with this particular user if you think it might be legit (had this happen in one case and it worked out for the buyer and seller...but again, this was a new member wanting to BUY something!).


3. Beyond that, heed Colins' advice as to the other warnings/red flags, as you would if you received the same solicitation via your personal e-mail:
- Being pushy
- Name on e-mail doesn't match owner's name or person with whom you talk.
- Description doesn't match pics and/or what they write.
- Person can't answer basic questions about the product they supposedly have. Remember, ask alot of questions!
- PO Box address for payment, or addresses not matching up.
- Name for payment doesn't match name of person
- Using a 3rd person, or different address for receipt of payment
- Or asking you to meet a friend or acquaintance of theirs for payment FTF (NEVER do this!)
- Phone calls that sound like what Colin describe...yes, they are using a US # as a proxy for an international number, or another location. Either way, will take a while to connect, you may hear cross-talk, and the connection will be poor.


Oh yeah, as hat trick mentions, I have banned all the users mentioned here, along with any associated username aliases.

But, it will happen again. As with many activities in life...protect yourself!

Good shooting AND surfing!
Rob

[B747crew]

BTW. Using Gmail is a major give away for scammers. If anything comes to me with a gmail account I trash it.