- Joined
- Oct 17, 2014
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Hey guys, kinda new to this forum. I posted this thread on a few other forums I belong to as something to beware. Hope you guys don't mind, just like to pass on some encounters I've had to avoid scams.
Now I know the rules about posting live auctions on the forum. But since the gunbroker auction has been up for several months and when an armslist listing expires you can no longer view it, I wanted to see if I could get a waiver from that rule to point something out.
I've bought one rifle on armslist. It was a great deal with 60 rounds of ammo, but I took several measures to try and protect myself from scamming. Since a FTF wasn't possible I used a brick and mortar gun shop local to the seller to handle the transfer, plus several e-mails of feeling the person out to see if he was acting shady. It turned out to be a great deal and I was thrilled. But I've had several inquiries that made me extremely timid where I backed off, never to know if it was a scam but just didn't feel right. I thought I'd post something I ran across here to maybe help some other people out.
I do routine searches of a lot of military firearms (mainly 1903s on various forums and online classifieds) here's on that turned up.
http://www.armslist.com/posts/352860...eld-dated-1911
Pay attention to the item location, price, pictures and description...
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=453847016
Here pay attention to the starting bid, location, and particularly pictures 2, 5 and 7. Not to mention the description is spot on (minus the contact information)
Personally I will still look over armslist but I will continue to be very very careful. They require a waiver from liability as well as have no feedback system.
Again, I apologize for doing the taboo of posting live listings. But I wanted to do it as an example of obvious fraud. I've seen this several times I just wanted to throw it out there as an example.
I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir that many people have seen stuff like this before. But the obvious read flags I've seen are
1. Seller never signs a name to their e-mails.
2. Refuses to communicate via phone but will text.
3. Has non standard e-mails on yahoo, gmail, etc such as random letters my most recent one looked like [email protected] (I changed it a bit, just in case but it looked like that)
4. Usually request a wire transfer
5. E-mails are usually brief, non egaging
6. Usually use formal replies such as "Hello sir, how do you propose we proceed?" "Hello Sir, Do you want to buy my firearm?" Not many people talk or ever write like that...
I can understand refusal to do FTF for personal security so I omitted that one.
I'm obviously no expert. And I'm sure this is common knowledge I'm just hoping people look at these two and pay attention to detail and see how easily you can fall into a scam.
Now I know the rules about posting live auctions on the forum. But since the gunbroker auction has been up for several months and when an armslist listing expires you can no longer view it, I wanted to see if I could get a waiver from that rule to point something out.
I've bought one rifle on armslist. It was a great deal with 60 rounds of ammo, but I took several measures to try and protect myself from scamming. Since a FTF wasn't possible I used a brick and mortar gun shop local to the seller to handle the transfer, plus several e-mails of feeling the person out to see if he was acting shady. It turned out to be a great deal and I was thrilled. But I've had several inquiries that made me extremely timid where I backed off, never to know if it was a scam but just didn't feel right. I thought I'd post something I ran across here to maybe help some other people out.
I do routine searches of a lot of military firearms (mainly 1903s on various forums and online classifieds) here's on that turned up.
http://www.armslist.com/posts/352860...eld-dated-1911
Pay attention to the item location, price, pictures and description...
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=453847016
Here pay attention to the starting bid, location, and particularly pictures 2, 5 and 7. Not to mention the description is spot on (minus the contact information)
Personally I will still look over armslist but I will continue to be very very careful. They require a waiver from liability as well as have no feedback system.
Again, I apologize for doing the taboo of posting live listings. But I wanted to do it as an example of obvious fraud. I've seen this several times I just wanted to throw it out there as an example.
I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir that many people have seen stuff like this before. But the obvious read flags I've seen are
1. Seller never signs a name to their e-mails.
2. Refuses to communicate via phone but will text.
3. Has non standard e-mails on yahoo, gmail, etc such as random letters my most recent one looked like [email protected] (I changed it a bit, just in case but it looked like that)
4. Usually request a wire transfer
5. E-mails are usually brief, non egaging
6. Usually use formal replies such as "Hello sir, how do you propose we proceed?" "Hello Sir, Do you want to buy my firearm?" Not many people talk or ever write like that...
I can understand refusal to do FTF for personal security so I omitted that one.
I'm obviously no expert. And I'm sure this is common knowledge I'm just hoping people look at these two and pay attention to detail and see how easily you can fall into a scam.