I got scammed - a warning to all!

MauriceN

MauriceN

Gold Member
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Oct 9, 2019
Messages
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So, I need to inform everyone here of a nice, elaborate scam. I just got taken here on the forum.

I have been a forum member for over 5 years. I replied to an ad for a member named Kal-El. Since I had not paid this year's membership fee, he could not directly message me back - the scammer took advantage of the forum forcing you to pay to message people - he knows this forum well and was most likely a past member.

Here is the ad:

Kal-El

Thread 'Spyderco, Boker, Massdrop, MKM'

Thanks for looking!
All knives are New/Unused unless otherwise noted.
Shipping via USPS. Payment via PPFF.

Take the Lot for - $500.00

1. Spyderco Kapara - CF scales, S30V steel. (New/Unused) - $175.00

2. Spyderco PM3 - G10 scales, S110V Steel. (New/Unused) - $175.00

3. Massdrop Perpetua by TJ Schwarz - G10 scales, NitroV steel. Comes with 2nd Millet clip. - (Used Once/ Looks New) - $85.00

4. Boker Plus Roundhouse by Lorian Arnold - Carbon Fiber Scales, D2 steel. (New/Unused) - $70.00

5. MKM Maniago Knife Makers...

I didn't understand why he couldn't PM me. I tried to message him back. I didn't know that the forum ops don't allow messaging unless you pay. He took advantage of this.

A few hours later, I got an email from a Kal-El from bmoody10@gmail.com, He said he searched my past transactions and found my email since I couldn't PM him on the forum. We chatted back and forth - he was knowledgeable about knives. I saw he had a well established profile and he sent me photos of himself in Florida - older gentleman. He told me a little about his collection. I was feeling comfortable as he posted on the forum with photos with a sticky and the date as the forum requires. Kal-El just finished a transaction at the end of November with someone on the forum, so it all seemed legit.

I couldn't paypal him as his account had an account issue. He asked me to pay with Apple Pay. I bought him a $400 gift card. He acknowledged he got it and said he would ship the knives and send me the tracking info.

After that - he stopped replying.

It seems he scraped my name and contact email from the forums and created an email address and pretended to be Kal-El, a member in good standing. He took advantage of the fact that if you didn't pay to be an active member here, you cannot PM someone back. He knows this system, the users and the knife market.

I since spent $30 this week to become an active member again just so I could research what happened here and how I got scammed.

I feel stupid for being so trusting. I have done several transactions here over the years and everyone has been so nice and trustworthy. Now, I am out $400 for being trusting... plus another $30 to buy membership just so I could email people.

Attached is the photo he used

Beware. Learn from my mistake (I am sure this scammer is reading this post too)
 

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You mention several times that he took advantage of the fact the site makes you pay to message. OK, but I word it like this: He took advantage of the fact that you didn’t want to pay to get the benefits of being a member.

Plus you’ve posted this in the wrong forum. I’m sure the mods will be along to put it in the right one any minute though.
 
BP Green said:
You mention several times that he took advantage of the fact the site makes you pay to message. OK, but I word it like this: He took advantage of the fact that you didn’t want to pay to get the benefits of being a member.

Plus you’ve posted this in the wrong forum. I’m sure the mods will be along to put it in the right one any minute though.
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Yes - but as a person on here for years, often people are not active and don't up their memberships every year until they are actively involved. I want to let people know how this happens
 
MauriceN said:
Yes - but as a person on here for years, often people are not active and don't up their memberships every year until they are actively involved. I want to let people know how this happens
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I get it, but that’s like going to a cafe that lets you hang out and use their Wi-Fi, but then complaining because they want to charge you for the coffee.

Not to mention that a quick search through your history here shows just about every transaction involves the sales section which tells me you’re primarily here to do business, not engage in knife talk. Which again is fine, but the site is a private one and has the right to charge for certain services also.
 
To protect yourself from future attempts, search the entire BF website for your email address and you will likely find it posted in a public place. You should remove it immediately. Many sellers note in their posts that they will NEVER contact you via email, and this is the reason. Sorry you got scammed, but seriously, the old pay with a gift card is one of the oldest scams in the books. If someone requests that, 100% it is a scam.
 
That's terrible, man. Could have been worse than $400. You bought him $400 worth of bad karma, probably a bargain by the time the universe is done with them. :)

My rule of thumb is absolutely no communication outside of PM's. Doing so, for any reason, opens up lots of opportunity for the trash to stink.
 
Well, 100% admitting I was foolish and stupidly trusting. It is one of my character flaws
 
This scam has been going on for a couple of years and we get these posts regularly from members who had no idea about it. I think if this site had a prominent warning or banner about this specific email imposter scam on the main page or on the exchange subforums, it would benefit a lot of people.
 
I’m sorry that you got scammed. That really sucks. If you’ve been a member for as long as you say has anyone ever asked you to pay with gift cards? That’s a quintessential scammer move and should be a huge red flag.

Main lesson here: just pay to use direct messaging. It’s inexpensive, supports the site, and helps you avoid the vast majority of scamming attempts.
 
Fonedork said:
This scam has been going on for a couple of years and we get these posts regularly from members who had no idea about it. I think if this site had a prominent warning or banner about this specific email imposter scam on the main page or on the exchange subforums, it would benefit a lot of people.
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There’s a large banner at the top of the page warning everyone against these said scams with links to provide even more info.
 
sorry for you loss, that being said I purchased the gold membership as soon as I registered here, I feel we need to support the platform that enables our hobby and also protects us from being scammed. "makes us" pay for messaging but they pay for staff and servers and hosting and everything? 30$ once a year is peanuts even if you only do a 300$ transaction IMO
 
Bigburly912 said:
There’s a large banner at the top of the page warning everyone against these said scams with links to provide even more info.
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It doesn't mention being cautious of emails claiming to be members, which is how OP was scammed and how I keep hearing about other people being scammed. I'm not sure how the timestamp rule addresses this at all.
 
Fonedork said:
This scam has been going on for a couple of years and we get these posts regularly from members who had no idea about it. I think if this site had a prominent warning or banner about this specific email imposter scam on the main page or on the exchange subforums, it would benefit a lot of people.
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I want to buy you a beer.
 
Fonedork said:
It doesn't mention being cautious of emails claiming to be members, which is how OP was scammed and how I keep hearing about other people being scammed. I'm not sure how the timestamp rule addresses this at all.
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REMOVE YOUR PERSONAL INFO FROM YOUR PROFILE PAGES
Seriously, don't leave your phone number, email address, paypal info from your public facing profile pages, so scammers don't spoof valid buyers or sellers. If you are conducting transactions and revealing your sensitive information in publicly viewable profile comments, you are leaving yourself open to social engineering. Stop being an easy target


That’s pretty much it.
 
The 30.00 a year is well worth the price if your going to buy on the exchange.That gift card is like Zelle : its good for the reciever but the sender is screwed if anything goes wrong …..
 
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