Good Safe To Buy From Photoman12001 - Account Hack Resolved

Lone_Wolfe

Lone_Wolfe

Mrs G.
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May 3, 2011
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I'm posting this at Photoman12001's request, he contacted me on Facebook this morning explaining that his account here is hacked. The hacker is posting fraudulent sales. Until he gets the account back, avoid offers by that account. I'll update when he's cleared.
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My account was hacked this morning but I’m in control of it again.
I’m very sorry for any inconvenience.
This is really embarrassing.

If I can offer another tip for avoiding a scam, look at the seller’s previous sales posts if you’re suspicious. Mine are always lengthy with lots of details and usually have links to videos of the items for sale on YouTube. It would have been a red flag to see one like this that was so short and lacking details. But I know the Exchange rating is what most people look at. I do the same thing. I’ll be more cautious in the future. I’ve also substantially increased my security posture here and all over the web today.

Fraudulent sales posts:

SOLD

I did look at your previous sales posts, especially the one where you stated you didn’t want to do PP G&S anymore. That’s why I guessed this was likely legitimate. I find it interesting that this hacker seemed to know enough about knives to pick a model that is highly sought after, find...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com

SOLD Chaves Redención 228 Stonewash Ti

Some staining on blade, shown in pictures. $OLD shipped PP F&F or Zelle. not trades at this time. Thanks.
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
 
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As someone who was cheated from this sales post, I would like to add some feedback:

1. This would not have been a concern if G&S only rule had not changed.

BF used to be a relatively safe platform for buying and selling knives. Now that the G&S rule has changed, it has left the door wide open for scammers. Now it is about as safe as buying/selling knives on Reddit.

Why was this rule changed? How does it benefit BF to make changes to provide a more unsafe trading environment?

This was the first time I used F&F to purchase a knife on BF. Why? Because it is now COMMON for sellers to ask for payments via F&F, and the only safety we can use is either a. not buying or b. relying on the feedback of the user, which is what I did.

2. Don't blame the buyers.

Whoever this scammer was, they did not post 'lack of details.' The details they provided was in line with what is typical for a sales thread. While it is possible they copied/pasted from another sales thread, adding details such as "snail trails" and "perfect centering" is not exactly something that a non-knife nut would post.

You can't blame the buyer for agreeing to F&F when it is now COMMON that legitimate sellers are asking F&F, Venmo, and other method of payment that offer 0 buyer protection.

It is also unfair to blame it on the Too Good to be True price. Cheap deals do come up on BF from legitimate sellers. They aren't too common, but they do happen.

3. No evidence provided

There is no evidence presented to any buyer of a hack. Anybody who wants a little free $$$ for Christmas could have logged into a VPN, posted a few "fake" sales threads, collect cash on a second Paypal account and THEN reported it was a hack. Again, I find it surprising that those of us who were cheated are supposed to just have faith that this is what really happened with NO evidence and NO accountability other than "I was hacked" and "I'm sorry."

I submitted a dispute with Paypal yesterday evening. Luckily, they sided in my favor and refunded the money. Going forward, I will not be renewing my Gold membership until BF starts taking the safety of their members into consideration.
 
Cosmik001 said:
As someone who was cheated from this sales post, I would like to add some feedback:

1. This would not have been a concern if G&S only rule had not changed.

BF used to be a relatively safe platform for buying and selling knives. Now that the G&S rule has changed, it has left the door wide open for scammers. Now it is about as safe as buying/selling knives on Reddit.

Why was this rule changed? How does it benefit BF to make changes to provide a more unsafe trading environment?

This was the first time I used F&F to purchase a knife on BF. Why? Because it is now COMMON for sellers to ask for payments via F&F, and the only safety we can use is either a. not buying or b. relying on the feedback of the user, which is what I did.

2. Don't blame the buyers.

Whoever this scammer was, they did not post 'lack of details.' The details they provided was in line with what is typical for a sales thread. While it is possible they copied/pasted from another sales thread, adding details such as "snail trails" and "perfect centering" is not exactly something that a non-knife nut would post.

You can't blame the buyer for agreeing to F&F when it is now COMMON that legitimate sellers are asking F&F, Venmo, and other method of payment that offer 0 buyer protection.

It is also unfair to blame it on the Too Good to be True price. Cheap deals do come up on BF from legitimate sellers. They aren't too common, but they do happen.

3. No evidence provided

There is no evidence presented to any buyer of a hack. Anybody who wants a little free $$$ for Christmas could have logged into a VPN, posted a few "fake" sales threads, collect cash on a second Paypal account and THEN reported it was a hack. Again, I find it surprising that those of us who were cheated are supposed to just have faith that this is what really happened with NO evidence and NO accountability other than "I was hacked" and "I'm sorry."

I submitted a dispute with Paypal yesterday evening. Luckily, they sided in my favor and refunded the money. Going forward, I will not be renewing my Gold membership until BF starts taking the safety of their members into consideration.
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Not sure what rule change you are referring to. F&F has always been allowed, but strongly discouraged. The only change was no more "net to me" where the buyer had to do the math to account for the fees.
 
Hmm interesting. I never used to see F&F requests on sales threads. Now its all over the place. Point still stands; it should be a rule if it keeps the marketplace safe. Otherwise make 2-factor authentication a requirement for anyone posting in a sales thread.
 
Barbara Streisand on that Cosmik001- Caveat Emptor. Rushing into a deal that's too good to be true is solely the responsibility of the Buyer.

There's never been a "Rule" against F+F But it's been openly discouraged from the beginning. The 2 biggest reoccurring problems in the GBU are F+F and paying for a knife that hasn't been made.
 
Tax laws have changed in the US, many sellers either are no longer accepting G&S, or will stop at the end of the year.
 
Unfortunately it will become more common as more and more states require companies like PP, eBay, etc to report such transactions as income for purposes of taxation.
 
My memory could be wrong but I don't recall there was ever a BF rule saying that if PayPal is used, it must be through G&S. I do agree that it seems there are more PP F&F sales ads nowadays than ever before. The reason for that has been discussed in length in another thread.

I don't see anyone is blaming the buyers who got scammed. However, it is a good piece of advice to be extra cautious with "too good to be true" prices (yeah I know if you do not jump quickly you lose it). In this case, the posted pictures and the text are nothing close to the real photoman's. It shall be easy to tell something is fishy if one checked one or two previous sales ads by photoman. I actually PM the guy that I'll take it and asked if he is the true photoman who takes great pictures of knives. The guy never got back to me with his PayPal info ;)

I have never dealt with photoman12001 photoman12001 but based on his activities and contributions to BF discussion, if he AND a mod said his account is hacked, I believe it's hacked.
 
While BF does what it can to protect us, in the end we're each responsible for our own safety in making deals. Here's something I wrote up that might help. It's mostly oriented to Facebook, but some of the tips will help here too.

https://www.facebook.com/Lone.Wolfe.G/posts/5607172979322852

-https://www.facebook.com/Lone.Wolfe.G/posts/5607172979322852- (Remove the dashes)
 
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Yep, it's never been the case only GS was allowed. I do think it would improve the place because clearly some folks can't help themselves stay protected, and scammers are around to take advantage.

Blaming BF when you pay with PPFF and get burned is interesting mental gymnastics to get over one's own gamble not paying off.
 
I appreciate linking the write-up, Lone_wolfe. I did most of these things other than reverse picture look-up and questioning if it is priced fairly.

My understanding of taxable income is that if you sold something you used for less than you paid for it, it is not taxable. I am not sure what about this has changed.
 
kreole said:
Yep, it's never been the case only GS was allowed. I do think it would improve the place because clearly some folks can't help themselves stay protected, and scammers are around to take advantage.

Blaming BF when you pay with PPFF and get burned is interesting mental gymnastics to get over one's own gamble not paying off.
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No reason to be insulting. We are not stupid. Multiple gold members got burned from this. And again F&F is normal nowadays and we based our risk level off the member having 100+ positive feedback and being a member since 2008.
 
Cosmik001 said:
........... and we based our risk level off the member having 100+ positive feedback and being a member since 2008.
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This is exactly why scammers are hacking accounts, because it's an effective way to scam. We have people creating accounts on FB, 'borrowing' the name and profile pics of a reputable member with the same intent.

As for the tax laws, it's best to look up the changes than me try to explain.
 
Cosmik001 said:
Now it is about as safe as buying/selling knives on Reddit.
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On the G&S front, it's arguably less safe than Reddit because r/Knife_Swap requires G&S and forbids F&F. They also have a bot that posts a link to a list of known scammers on every sales post, and their flair system is a rough analog of the feedback system here.

I still feel safer transacting on BF because I can get a better "read" on a potential buyer/seller from how they behave, and where and what they post, here on the forums. But the uptick in non-G&S sales posts -- be it F&F or some other payment method without buyer/seller protection -- is definitely frustrating. Although on the bright side, it's good for my wallet because I can ignore more sales posts. ;)
 
Cosmik001 said:
My understanding of taxable income is that if you sold something you used for less than you paid for it, it is not taxable. I am not sure what about this has changed.
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Correct, but you have to prove it. Some states have lowered the threshold to $600 (from the federal threshold of $20,000), so many people are/will be getting 1099K's, and it's up to the recipient to show whether there was any profit or not, via Schedule C.
 
One problem you run into even in places that require sales to be posted with G&S is that people change the terms via PM, and the buyers go along with it. There's no way to police that.
 
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