being scammed by a pledge member. please help

[subtona]

Sorry to read this.
Terrible.

Health is wealth may your new year be full of health and happiness for your family.

[Jim Smyth]

Why would the thief have a friend with no posts and friended 1 day after the wire? Seems pretty fishy to me. This may be the leed to the overseas crook.

[epc2]

Originally Posted by Jim Smyth

Why would the thief have a friend with no posts and friended 1 day after the wire? Seems pretty fishy to me. This may be the leed to the overseas crook.

That's true ,any username that appears as his friend must be the same guy, I bet this is the same guy that has been scamming and trying to scam people for a while using different accounts , he uses the same method, short replies, fake email references, bank accounts with different names, always have the same SS desired watches at lower than market prices.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by AK797

Very sorry to hear about this, but it is imperative you only send a bank transfer or paypal gift to someone well known on this forum and with basically more to lose than you, ie a reputation or a business selling here in volume. Also ask the seller to give you the name of some well established members here as references.

As watches are going to be scarce at ADs more members will be lured into "attractive " price traps, so be extra careful these days, it is a seller and scammer's market. Always pay a premium for trust now, never go on price.

Words of wisdom

OP, very sorry to hear this. I hope you get it sorted.

[AndyS]

This is just a shame, and during the holidays no less. TRF is a wonderful forum and it’s obvious that we all care and feel for the OP. It’s truly unfortunate. Myself, like many of you here enjoy this forum and all it has to offer. It’s a shame that this has happened. The federal crime of wire and bank fraud should get the attention of the proper authorities and get the ball moving forward for you quite quickly OP.


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[Justinmg]

Very sad to hear, keep us up to date.

[Ballaratboy]

Hope this works out for you!

[bdex75]

Sorry to see this OP. I am in Indy area and get to Evansville and Muncie for work fairly often. If you need me to do some snooping or visiting or drop something off for you let me know.


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[49ers101hitters]

May this serve as a lesson to everyone here- don’t wire money unless you know the person is trustworthy.
https://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consu...fer-scams.html


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[Shan77]

Sorry to hear this and hope it works out.
Some really good people here helping with good info to help ������

[Onikage]

This post has put a bad taste in my mouth and got my day off to a bad start. I must leave so I wish the OP the very best of luck with this turd.

[Jim Smyth]

Originally Posted by Old Expat Beast

Done. Recently discovered scammer polowatch was also the same scammer.

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=572731

Well as Adam had pointed out this seems to be happening on this forum at a alarming rate. Thats twice in less than a month from the same crook. Were talking very Large dollars being scammed here. There has to be a better/safer way to buy and sell watches IMO.

Should all wires be not allowed? Should people that sell have either there bank account/credit card etc tied to there name like in Paypal? Maybe donate $5 via your Credit Card or Bank account to this forum to be able to sell to prove who you are and be verified some way thats pretty full proof?

There has to be a safer way so people here are not taken advantage of and loose there hard earned money. This is also making me sick thinking about it!

[AK797]

Originally Posted by Jim Smyth

Well as Adam had pointed out this seems to be happening on this forum at a alarming rate. Thats twice in less than a month from the same crook. Were talking very Large dollars being scammed here. There has to be a better/safer way to buy and sell watches IMO.

Should all wires be not allowed? Should people that sell have either there bank account/credit card etc tied to there name like in Paypal? Maybe donate $5 via your Credit Card or Bank account to this forum to be able to sell to prove who you are and be verified some way thats pretty full proof?

There has to be a safer way so people here are not taken advantage of and loose there hard earned money. This is also making me sick thinking about it!

The main thing is to really Buy The Seller, esp in these scarcity days. Patience is a real virtue now, don't fall for the hype and rush to grab a "bargain". Really cash on collection at your bank is the best method for both if unknown parties.

TRF is for enthusiasts so it is unregulated and anything else would probably create too much work.

[Jim Smyth]

Originally Posted by AK797

The main thing is to really Buy The Seller, esp in these scarcity days. Patience is a real virtue now, don't fall for the hype and rush to grab a "bargain". Really cash on collection at your bank is the best method for both if unknown parties.

TRF is for enthusiasts so it is unregulated and anything else would probably create too much work.

I understand the buy the seller part. I usually like to have product in hand before forking over cash but that isnt always practical. Here you have to be a Pledge Member to sell a watch. You have to make a donation to this forum for that privilege. I get it that it takes money to run the place and have no problem with that at all.

We are all here because we love watches. We would like to think everyone is honest and trustworthy but that isnt the case. With all of our collective minds isnt there a way thats not labor intensive to be able to secure a better way of doing transactions to protect the buyer and seller?

I think input from some of the bigger trusted Sellers here could enlighten us all on how to protect ourselves. They have the most experience with buying and selling watches. At least they could give you there ways on how they protect themselves that we may also incorporate into our transactions to make them safe.

[jrs146]

Originally Posted by Jim Smyth

I think input from some of the bigger trusted Sellers here could enlighten us all on how to protect ourselves. They have the most experience with buying and selling watches. At least they could give you there ways on how they protect themselves that we may also incorporate into our transactions to make them safe.

You have to remember that the mods on this forum volunteer their time to run this site. Unfortunately it would be way too time consuming for them to have to take the t responsibility to verify every member who tries to sell here. That responsibility ultimately falls on the buyer.

My rule of thumb is to trust my gut. If even the smallest part of the deal feels fishy I walk. It’s saved me from being scammed several times. I’ve had scammers send bogus references that upon first glance would look very credible. But something just didn’t seem right and there was a reason.

A few rules of thumb I use.

-I need to verify that the seller or a buyer is a real person that I can find on my own. Facebook and LinkedIn is a good start. I connect with them and send them a message through these sites. This would help in a situation where a TRF account was hacked.
- I look for consistencies in location and contact information. Again, these outside sites help.
- obviously post count and forum history is important.
-as a seller references must be provided and I follow-up on every single one. Most likely at least one will be a forum member I know from the past which really helps.
-I’ll ask for a copy of their drivers license. Again, looking for consistency with location etc.
-it never hurts to have the seller send you a pic of the watch with a specific time/date setting.
-a phone call/FaceTime goes a long long way
-I’ll often ask for a business email and contact them through there. One time I had a scammer on this forum provide me with what looked like a legit business email. I used that to find the his website and I called his office. Low and behold it wasn’t really him.

typically after all of these safeguards I’m able to get that feeling of good or bad in my gut. Obviously it’s never foolproof but I’ve managed thus far to do many deals with great and trustworthy people as both a buyer and a seller.

It’s such a shame when good people get scammed on this forum. Obviously it’s devastating for them but it also makes it even harder for us enthusiasts who are honest people to gain trust of suspicious buyers who rightfully so are concerned.



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[Chiboy]

Originally Posted by Jim Smyth

I think input from some of the bigger trusted Sellers here could enlighten us all on how to protect ourselves. They have the most experience with buying and selling watches. At least they could give you there ways on how they protect themselves that we may also incorporate into our transactions to make them safe.

I hate to say this, but these scams only lead honest folks to just trade their watches in with Trusted Sellers. I am not sure that they are going to be interested in making it safer for us to buy and sell without utilizing their services.

If I ever get my SS Daytona, and choose to sell it, I will price it such that a buyer will not mind flying into Chicago for a F2F sale.

[bdex75]

This is a tough deal.

Knowing TRF and its mods cannot be in the middle of endorsing a sale or transaction or seller.

An escrow type site with a fair way to settle disputes is about the only answer. But sites like PayPal put the sellers at risk to the scammers and they have just as much to lose.

Just another reason why I would only send thousands of my dollars to one of the big 3 sellers on here or my AD.


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[Bublik2002]

Filed a report with my police department last night. What caught me off guard was that he was a pledge member. I was under the impression that there had to be some sort of verification in place in order to become a pledge member. I guess I should have looked into it further :/

[tbonesteak]

A mod in another watchout thread just noted that users on proxy servers are banned...

Maybe a mod can help him out and let him know if the user was posting from an Indiana IP?

[Tony64]

Originally Posted by Chiboy

I hate to say this, but these scams only lead honest folks to just trade their watches in with Trusted Sellers. I am not sure that they are going to be interested in making it safer for us to buy and sell without utilizing their services.

^^^This is a great point.

Scams like these are probably the main reason for using a trusted seller in the first place. Not that anyone wishes bad fortune on a fellow enthusiast, but hard to deny it's great advertising for the TS.

[Jim Smyth]

Lots of good ideas here but some of them were followed and the guys still got burned. To sell here you have to become a Pledge member. You Pay with Paypal. From what I remember setting up Paypal was a real PITA back in the day. So the people that run this forum have some control on how this works.

Do the Moderators give the Paypal info of the Seller to the person that got scammed? Can there instead be say a $15 Paypal fee and also a $10 Credit Card fee? Make it multiple charges where the person's identity has to match on each one. Or make it a 1-2 year stay here with say 100+ post with content (not just smiley faces building up post counts) before they can sell anything. If they love watches they will stick around.

There's plenty of other venues for selling other than here. We should protect the guys here at all costs without making it labor intensive for the mods. There has to be a safer way. I want to feel comfortable buying and selling here and this one just hit me the wrong way.

[tbonesteak]

Originally Posted by Jim Smyth

Lots of good ideas here but some of them were followed and the guys still got burned. To sell here you have to become a Pledge member. You Pay with Paypal. From what I remember setting up Paypal was a real PITA back in the day. So the people that run this forum have some control on how this works.

Do the Moderators give the Paypal info of the Seller to the person that got scammed? Can there instead be say a $15 Paypal fee and also a $10 Credit Card fee? Make it multiple charges where the person's identity has to match on each one. Or make it a 1-2 year stay here with say 100+ post with content (not just smiley faces building up post counts) before they can sell anything. If they love watches they will stick around.

There's plenty of other venues for selling other than here. We should protect the guys here at all costs without making it labor intensive for the mods. There has to be a safer way. I want to feel comfortable buying and selling here and this one just hit me the wrong way.

It isn't the mods jobs to protect users from scams... I'm sure they put as many safety nets in place as they can, but there is only so much they can do.

I don't say that in a "they don't care" sorta way, I'm sure it pisses them as much as us, if not more. I'd assume the issue is liability - if they were to take on the risk of being liable for scam artists, they would prob put the entire site in jeopardy.

[mtime87]

I hope things works out for you

[Fjweld]

Originally Posted by Jim Smyth

Lots of good ideas here but some of them were followed and the guys still got burned. To sell here you have to become a Pledge member. You Pay with Paypal. From what I remember setting up Paypal was a real PITA back in the day. So the people that run this forum have some control on how this works.

Do the Moderators give the Paypal info of the Seller to the person that got scammed? Can there instead be say a $15 Paypal fee and also a $10 Credit Card fee? Make it multiple charges where the person's identity has to match on each one. Or make it a 1-2 year stay here with say 100+ post with content (not just smiley faces building up post counts) before they can sell anything. If they love watches they will stick around.

There's plenty of other venues for selling other than here. We should protect the guys here at all costs without making it labor intensive for the mods. There has to be a safer way. I want to feel comfortable buying and selling here and this one just hit me the wrong way.

I think that is a great idea of having a min requirement of legitimate post counts but better yet a probationary period of at least 1 year of membership to be allowed to sell. There have been too many people scammed here lately and with the high demand for these watches now the scammers will get more aggressive in their ways.

If we have a min/mandatory rule in place that “may” deter some of the dirtbags.

I have been thinking about selling a watch I purchased on here from a longtime poster, but since the high volume of scams I will enjoy my watch and possibly one Day do a trade with a TRUE trusted seller on here, which we all know who those handful of people are.

Happy holidays and mostly sorry OP for this, it absolutely SUCKS! Keep your head up and know that we are all on the lookout for these criminals.

[Eric88]

Ugh, this is terrible and makes me absolutely nauseous!

I am a very occasional buyer/seller and had a few weird things happen over the years. All of my purchases over the past few years have been from the main volume sellers like DavidSW, Oscar, Jacek. I'm even a little spooked trying to sell my own watches because there are buyers that try to pull weird tricks post sale...so I've been doing trades as applicable with the known sellers.

[Eric88]

double post

[jph4387]

Originally Posted by Fjweld

I think that is a great idea of having a min requirement of legitimate post counts but better yet a probationary period of at least 1 year of membership to be allowed to sell. There have been too many people scammed here lately and with the high demand for these watches now the scammers will get more aggressive in their ways.

If we have a min/mandatory rule in place that “may” deter some of the dirtbags.

I have been thinking about selling a watch I purchased on here from a longtime poster, but since the high volume of scams I will enjoy my watch and possibly one Day do a trade with a TRUE trusted seller on here, which we all know who those handful of people are.

Happy holidays and mostly sorry OP for this, it absolutely SUCKS! Keep your head up and know that we are all on the lookout for these criminals.

I obviously am new here and wouldn't be able to sell which is not a bad thing based on that. On some other sites I frequent related to golf clubs, it requires a minimum of 10 posts to see the classifieds to buy and 75 posts before being able to sell.

[Fjweld]

Originally Posted by jph4387

I obviously am new here and wouldn't be able to sell which is not a bad thing based on that. On some other sites I frequent related to golf clubs, it requires a minimum of 10 posts to see the classifieds to buy and 75 posts before being able to sell.

I’m apart of the same golf forum- exactly where I got the idea but due to the significant higher values of the timepieces I think there should be more work in order to sell/buy. Just my

[roaddog359]

I have said this before and I will say it again. NEVER WIRE MONEY TO ANYONE, you are assuming all the risk. You have little to no recourse to get it back if the deal does not happen. Its an easy scam to pull off. I do not care who you are or how trusted you or anyone else says you are I will NEVER wire you money period! If a seller does not trust sending you the watch before you send money, then why should you trust them and send them a wire before they send a watch? YOU DONT WIRE MONEY TO AMAZON? Do you? I am sorry but I am going to have some protection on my side in the event of a scam or bad deal. Those that think the buyer should assume all the risk are foolish. If a seller will only deal with a wire, move on find a better seller that is affording you some protection.

Being a pledge member on here means NOTHING! Except you sent some money to be able to sell or in this case SCAM someone.

[Welshwatchman]

Originally Posted by tbonesteak

A mod in another watchout thread just noted that users on proxy servers are banned...

Maybe a mod can help him out and let him know if the user was posting from an Indiana IP?

You misinterpreted my statement.

We can't just stop proxy servers or VPNS. All we can see, after investigation is where the IP of the poster resolved to.

If it happens to be a proxy server, then it will never reflect the user's actual location.

This user used a proxy server for all his posts and we can now guess why. Plenty of other members here use VPNs for valid reasons.

Every request from the authorities for Paypal info will be met by the site admin.

It is heartrendingly unfortunate that the combination of unwarranted trust and predatory natures end up this way.