Home Forums Gear Free Classifieds RECENTLY SCAMMED HERE

i recall one fellow send me a picture of the item with a local newspaper with the date showing. Course he can still do that and take your money and keep the item. Post office boxes can be opened in closed in a heart beat. I recall one scammer having UPS deliver the item to a house that was vacant. He waited for confirmation that the item had been delivered and then drove over and picked it up off the front porch. I have not been scammed. Sadly my son was when he was younger and dumber.

Some people work pretty hard to get fooked.

Have an update.
Seems both scams are related. Police are on it. The scammers basically reach out to someone vulnerable, convince them to help with getting money sent. They build a relationship with lonely or old folks, build trust, then prey on them.
One of the scammers has been working the person for over 2 years and slowly bleeding them with sob stories. Then, the scammers see an ad like what I placed here, build a story and fake email addresses, then con the go between to "help" them.

The police and FBI are on this now and at least this scam will get shut down. However, the scammers will reboot and be back.

I did learn that there is no safe way to send money with protection unless something from Bay or an entity that offers protection. The problem is sites like 24hrcampfire and accuratereloading are not set up to do any "protecting", nor should they.

At the end of it all, buyer beware. Know who you are sending money to. Better to do face to face every time.

Agreed. Don’t know why some of you guys feel the need to go out of your way to INSULT the guy. Yes, he messed up giving contact info in the open forum. That’s what PM’s are for.

Obviously, scammers ARE looking the classifieds over pretty hard and trying to scam folks. USE PM’s. Check the seller’s post count. Check if the seller’s username has been inactive for some time, and all of the sudden is now looking to sell stuff (a sign that an account has been hacked and high-jacked).

I had a seller get all pizzy with me a while back when I pointed out that their account had been inactive for the last 6-8 years. Buyers beware.

Good luck with the end result. It’d be good to see the FBI actually serve the shooting public. Think I’ve read enough of these threads to never post a WTB anywhere.

Another update -

I have located the scammers with the help of a friend and law enforcement. I have spoken to each and am getting my money back. I have receive partial payments and will get the rest.

I have done a lot of investigation on this type of scam.

In summary, a loner, a retiree, a person who answers "peronal" ads on the internet or someone that appears vulnerable via posts on Linkedin or other platforms are targeted by scammers.

The scammer reaches out to them, makes "friends" and cultivates a fake personal relationship. Over time, the scammer then asks the victim for a small amount of money or "help" in getting money. During this process, the scammer gets phone numbers and email addresses and home addresses. They then troll websites like AR or 24hrcampfire or others looking for "want to buy" ads, like the one I placed.

They then reach out to the "want to buy" person, posing as person they have befriended on the internet. They act like that person and post pics of what you are trying to buy.

Once the buyer agrees to buy, the scammer then calls their internet friend with a story about getting money and that they would give the "friend" a portion of money sent if that friend would forward the rest to them via bitcoin or moneygram.

So, money is sent, the "friend" picks it up, cashes the money order or cashiers check, keeps a portion, then forwards the rest to the scammer.

This leaves the "friend" with all of the legal problems as the money that is forwarded is lost to the internet scammers.

Police are aware and know how it works. I was very fortunate in that, with help, I tracked down the "friend" of the scammers. These "friends" are nice folks, usually in need of quick cash and very vulnerable. I threatened legal action to each and am getting repaid. Most of the time, according to police, this does not happen.

In talking to police, they said "if you buy on the internet outside of very protected sites, you will get scammed sooner or later".

They did not offer any advice to avoid getting scammed other than to know the seller and be sure of what you are doing. They said face to face is always better.

Do you know Vito the Legbreaker?

I am glad you are getting your money back.

Please post if and when you receive the full amount.

Thank you for this thread.

long story short DO NOT ADVERTISE WTB period

Do it all of the time. Had one that was a scam but easily sniffed out.

WTB has been beneficial to me

I might not be understanding the situation correctly, but if you posted a WTB ad here, and then tried to buy things from people who aren't members... I don't think you got scammed here. You got scammed on the internet.

It would help a lot to clarify if the folks in question have usernames here or if you included your email in the WTB ad and they just reached out to you directly.

The FBI is on the case, they’ll take care of it.

Exactly what I was wondering. . .

Sorry you were ripped off

Yep, this. Sounds kind of naïve on OP's part

When I was working I did many deals on the campfire from hotels and Rv parks. That’s not that odd really there are a ton of people working a lifestyle to keep our energy flowing
However if the guy wants to just email. And not do busyness on the campfire pm. You better shy away

some people work extra hard just to scam some one too

Before I buy, I vette everyone unless I’ve done business with them.

1. Get their name and address and go online to the town or county real estate records. Find out if they own the property. I also like to know how much in property taxes they pay. Do they really live their, either rent or own.

2. Go to your state judicial website. Lookup any previous criminal activity, arrests, convictions, incarceration. THE LEO guys on this site can chime in and fine tune this thought.

3. Look them up on the white pages.

4. Google their names and addresses and see what comes up.

5. Tell them you live in the next town and will meet them. Likely they won’t.

6. How many posts. Ask if they are on other sites or advertising elsewhere.

Get there phone number and give them a call if you have a question. It’s super easy. Most scammers can’t hold a conversation about firearms stuff. Get on to fishing or camping or some other topic. You can tell guys that hunt and shoot in a matter of minutes normally. Figure out there location and google there area and pull up a couple of LGS that are in there area and ask them which shop they normally go to. It’s not fool proof but most scammers won’t talk on the phone.

Photos can be doctored pretty good these days. You can run a reverse image search by uploading a photo that they sent you. I have had photos come back from years ago that someone posted and a scammer used.