Potential Scammer

[JoshT]

Posting this here to notify site admin and warn other members, but at the same time making it public so this user has the opportunity to defend themselves if legitimate.

I posted a thread last week expressing interest in purchasing some parts for my truck. Saturday a user named @Whitebenjamin185 sent me a PM inregard to this thread.

Shawn doug has a Edge grill assy and 06-07 front bumper trying to part out with and it's in excellent condition. You can contact him through. <omitted>@gmail.com. You thank me later!

Of course everything about that meessage screams FAKE! To start with I'm sure that there is a "Shawn doug" out there somewhere, nut in thisd contact it sounds like a random name generator from some nigerian pricnce email scam. Second, What's the likely hood that the same guy is going parting a vehicle with exactly the combination of parts that I'm looking for in excellent condition. Then there's the fact that this Shawn Doug fella doesn't appear to be a forum member, but some rando out there with a gmail address. Yeah, like 90% of scams and spammers are associated with gmail address. Don't get me wrong I like using gmail myself, but that doesn;t add to the trust worthiness. All of this followed by the fact that @Whitebenjamin185 joined the forum at the end of december, has no posts to his/her name, and decided to contact me through private message rather than publically.

Smells fishy to me. Not going to follow up on that one without a LOT more information and convincing. IE this Shawn Doug fella joining the board and agreeing to meet me at a sheriff/police department a few cities away with the goods. Be careful out there folks.

 

[JoshT]

And will you just look at that. Apparently Whitebenjamin185's brother @chetan decided to join the forum today and follow up on the offer.

hello are you still interested in getting this?.
you can contact Frank he has a 2005-2007 Front bumper assembly with fog lights, for sale........... PM him @ <omitted>@gmail.com

They really need to get together and figure out which cunkle is trying to sell these parts. I tell ya he must want to sell them bad, chetan wasn't even a menber of the forum for an hour before he was following up on ole Benny's offer and asking if I was still interested.

 

[Angie]

that name sounds familiar. i was contacted with a wanted ad i placed a while back, asked for pictures of the part(s) he had and was 100% wrong. told them this, then they sent a second wrong part picture. and you are correct, not a member here. shawn doug

 

[Uncle Gump]

We just had another report about Chetan.

I banned him and I'm going to ban the other.

I sure hate scammers.

 

[Uncle Gump]

All gone...

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Ban a poor dude just tryin to off parts

 

[Blmpkn]

Super common scam over on the new truck forum.. probably every popular forum. Every time I've posted a WTB ad over there I get those types of messages from 0 post count "users" within a day or so.

 

[NakedDucks]

I got the same type email from a guy saying "ShawnDouglas".....

5 pics of different types of shift stuff......all of it wrong. And he kept saying, send paypal "Friends and Family" only....

Nope.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I know this happens often and Jim and his crew won't tolerate the members being scammed on this site.

I guess any way you folks can bring this to our attention is good. However this isn't really the appropriate forum to do it. It's more for true site issues.

If they post in the open forum... report the post and add your comments in the report. Same applies to a DM if that's how they contact you. Just hit the report button and again add your comments. That way we get to see the information which helps with our determination of how to handle it. Also by using the "report" button... all the mods see it and can address the issue for faster results.

A dead giveaway for me on these two were they had zero posts but were both TRS event participants. So be aware of that simple to see tell tale sign while trying to buy parts here.

Last note... be careful out there. Lots of folks would rather scam you out of your hard earned money then to just earn it themselves.

 

[sgtsandman]

I want to second on letting us know if they are only sending direct messages. The staff can’t see your DMs unless invited in. The open forum is a different story.

Chetan was reported earlier but I had nothing to look at other than his profile since they did not post anything. The only flag I saw was the Event Participant banner. The staff can sort that one out pretty easily.

The Ham Radio Operator and Firefighter banners, we have to take their word they are telling the truth.

So, if you get a suspicious message, let us know and share a copy of the message if possible.

 

[JoshT]

I know this happens often and Jim and his crew won't tolerate the members being scammed on this site.

I guess any way you folks can bring this to our attention is good. However this isn't really the appropriate forum to do it. It's more for true site issues.

If they post in the open forum... report the post and add your comments in the report. Same applies to a DM if that's how they contact you. Just hit the report button and again add your comments. That way we get to see the information which helps with our determination of how to handle it. Also by using the "report" button... all the mods see it and can address the issue for faster results.

A dead giveaway for me on these two were they had zero posts but were both TRS event participants. So be aware of that simple to see tell tale sign while trying to buy parts here.

Last note... be careful out there. Lots of folks would rather scam you out of your hard earned money then to just earn it themselves.

Noted. If we had a buyer/seller feedback forum, I'd have posted it there. Instead since I saw it as a forum issue I posted it here. I could have just hit the report button, but then others wouldn't have gotten the laugh and there wouldn't have been reports that there are repeat offenses towards other members.

I get the message though and next time I'll just hit the report button.