Scammed on BF sale section: But Not By the Seller As It Turns Out

K

KenHash

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Sep 11, 2014
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Received my $185 and after confirming receipt, next day claims the funds came from somewhere else,
My Paypal shows payment made and linked bank account shows money debited,
This scammer adds constant confusion to the discussion, and repeatedly asks for screenshots to prove payment, All of which were already sent.
BF User name: rperillo05
email: removed by staff
Alternate email: freemanlo187@gmail.com (fake address just closed)
Paypal email: nicholas.bell1994@gmail.com

This BF user is a scammer.

To Bladeforums, Spark, Moderators:
It is good of you to "suggest" that Paypal F&F not be used. But that is not sufficient. It should be made a forum site policy.
Not doing so permits scammers to operate here on BF with a free hand. BF as the authority to implement such a policy.

To those Sellers who advocate and continue to request F&F in your sales listings:
Paypal F&F is for Friends and Family. If you have done transactions with someone and feel comfortable wth them, then use F&F.
But first time transactions between strangers do not fall into that category,
Sellers can simply add the small % difference to their asking price and accept G&S. No skin off anyone's back.
Under F&F a seller doesn't even have to send the knife after receiving the money.

I am so disgusted with BF after many years of buying/selling knives here that I will never do so again.
In fact I will probably resign from this site.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The user is not the scammer. A scammer impersonating the user emailed you to scam you. This could have been avoided if you used PM with a paid membership. Buyers should always do their due diligence before sending money, nobody needs to babysit. G&S triggers 1099-k forms so many sellers won’t take it.
 
So you're saying that the Seller did not do this, and that a scammer hijacked his account?

I use to be a Gold member but since I moved out of the US I no longer sell on BF, hence no point in higher membership.
And I tend to think my contribution to BF more than makes up for any membership level,

Whats wrong with triggering 1099-k forms? I don't advocate or accomodate tax evasion.

BF enforcing a G&S policy on their own site is a far cry from "baby sitting".
 
I don't know anything about this particular transaction, but from the "best practices" link at the top of this page:

"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"
 
r8shell said:
I don't know anything about this particular transaction, but from the "best practices" link at the top of this page:

"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"
Click to expand...
Yeah, OP clearly read it and the advice to not use F&F but still foolishly chose to use it anyway and now is shirking any responsibility and instead blaming the forum. And, to boot “I support this forum with my mind”.
 
Ken, when your email is exposed on the site via your using it in a profile post or within a sale thread, a dishonest individual can send an email to you posing as the seller of the item you seek to purchase, and provide you with a means to pay via PayPal, Zelle, or other method. If you are not careful, you can fall prey to this con.

Such scams are not the fault of the seller, but are enabled because of your having exposed your email address to the public, where anyone can grab it.

The ability to send a private message would have prevented this particular method of scamming honest members. (It is not a safety net against all methods of swindling members, but we are only discussing this one particular vulnerability here.)
 
I feel bad for anyone who gets scammed, and my heart sincerely goes out to those who do, but I also understand that the recommendation to not use Friends and Family is really “Don’t use friends and family”. Period. Full stop.

If it’s not clear, “friends and family” means “friends and family”- for use with people you know and trust. This scammer was clearly neither of those things. It’s not Blade Forums’ responsibility to validate that for you, just like they can’t make sure that you lock your car at night.

I feel sorry for your situation, but blaming Blade Forums isn’t right. We all make poor choices from time to time, and we have to own it. This is just another classic example of why we don’t use payment services that don’t provide protection for the transaction.
 
I AM glad that the pendulum has swung back the other way at least. It used to be that G&S was the norm and then the whole1099 thing came up and lots of people thought that they would take a chance with F&F. Turns out there was good reason to use G&S. I'm sorry you seem to be getting scammed Ken. I would encourage you not to leave, you do contribute around here for sure! Just don't use F&F anymore. If I'm interested in something I contact the seller and ask if they will take G&S if I pay the fees. No one has ever turned me down, but if they did I would just move on. No harm, no foul.
 
Off topic posts regarding the G&S vs F&F debate have been moved to a separate thread. This thread is about a member being scammed by a thief...and how to avoid being taken.
 
Blues said:
Off topic posts regarding the G&S vs F&F debate have been moved to a separate thread. This thread is about a member being scammed by a thief...and how to avoid being taken.
Click to expand...
Sorry boss.

Also, just so we're clear, does K KenHash realize that the "seller" he gave money to was not the same person he intended to buy from?
I'm not completely sure, based on the contents of this thread.
 
EngrSorenson said:
Sorry boss.

Also, just so we're clear, does K KenHash realize that the "seller" he gave money to was not the same person he intended to buy from?
I'm not completely sure, based on the contents of this thread.
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I think I made how that happens clear in my first post in this thread. But he'll have to read it if he cares to know.

I've been doing everything I can to get the word out, and to find and eradicate these parasites, but in the end, it's up to the members to be vigilant and responsible for doing their due diligence...as well as the right thing.

We can only do so much...and it's getting pretty frustrating to watch people repeat the same mistakes over and over.

(Yeah, I'm a bit chapped about it too...truth be told.)
 
Blues said:
I think I made how that happens clear in my first post in this thread. But he'll have to read it if he cares to know.

I've been doing everything I can to get the word out, and to find and eradicate these parasites, but in the end, it's up to the members to be vigilant and responsible for doing their due diligence...as well as the right thing.

We can only do so much...and it's getting pretty frustrating to watch people repeat the same mistakes over and over.

(Yeah, I'm a bit chapped about it too...truth be told.)
Click to expand...
In case you haven't heard it lately, I appreciate what you're able to do to help mitigate the issue.
 
Regardless of the F&F vs G&S debate, I’ll add one piece of advice based on years of buying and selling on various forums:

Keep all communication within the PM section of the forum.
If a buyer or seller says to “email me at” or worse “text me at”, just DON’T. Or if you receive an email directly from a buyer or seller, you should only reply through the PM section of the forum.

Have a wonderful day all.
 
Thank you, Dan, we appreciate your support. We do it because of members like yourself who are what make this community special.
 
Blues said:
I've been doing everything I can to get the word out, and to find and eradicate these parasites, but in the end, it's up to the members to be vigilant and responsible for doing their due diligence...as well as the right thing.

We can only do so much...and it's getting pretty frustrating to watch people repeat the same mistakes over and over.
Click to expand...
Not much more you can do other than to keep a sticky or banner of best practices. It's already been noted that F&F, Venmo and Zelle have no recourse for the buyer. At this point, it's almost like you have to wait for these scams to become as common as the Nigerian prince scam before people get it.

If I was going to send a large amount of money:
1. Bladeforum messaging only. No outside email correspondence.
2. Have the seller provide a photo with the item and a piece of paper with my name/user name.
3. Have the seller confirm the payment address with Bladeforum messaging. Google search the address in question. Forum search the address in question.
 
karnaknives said:
Regardless of the F&F vs G&S debate, I’ll add one piece of advice based on years of buying and selling on various forums:

Keep all communication within the PM section of the forum.
If a buyer or seller says to “email me at” or worse “text me at”, just DON’T. Or if you receive an email directly from a buyer or seller, you should only reply through the PM section of the forum.
Click to expand...
They can't keep it to PMs unless they pay for, at minimum, a "Basic" membership. If they're unwilling to do even that, then there's really nothing we can do to protect them from themselves.

I just got off the phone with Spark after discussing this very issue for the umpteenth time. A Basic membership costs $10. Is it not worth $10 to protect your investment of hundreds of not thousands of dollars in a year?

I don't know what more I can say or do to drive this message home.
 
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