WTB Scam: Live by the sword, cut by the sword

[Rockrivr1]

Hi, my name is Troy and I was scammed..... I really thought I was smarter then that and had taken all the necessary precautions, but in the end they got me. This is a cautionary tale so take from it what you will.

On Gunboards.com I posted a WTB thread to find a Swiss K11 Carbine that I've been looking for. In fairly short order I received a PM from a new user on the forum indicating they had one they'd sell me. I sent my email address and asked for pics, which the guy sent. After some negotiations through email we agreed on a price. The "seller" preferred a money order and a hard copy of my 03FFL. Not an unusual request, but in return I asked for his phone number so I could call and confirm who he was. The number was sent and we had a 15 minute conversation on the rifle.

After the conversation I felt pretty good on the sale so I sent a priority letter with my FFL and a USPS Money Order. Well, the day the letter arrives at the guys PO Box I get an email that he's heading out of town and that he hadn't receive my letter yet, but would take care of it in a week when he got back. I got suspicious and called the post office, who confirmed the letter was picked up and that the Money Order was cashed. (Damnit!) After that call I called the guys number again and I get a message the cell number is no longer in service. Been a couple days and no return on email either.

Yep, I got scammed and pretty good for that matter. Fairly well thought out and detailed scam for a $300 gun. Wonder how many people he got for much bigger cash then that. So at this point I've filed a complaint with the local PD in Arkansas as well as with the Post Office. Not sure if I need to let the Gov't know due to the FFL being involved or not. I'll have to check that. Not really expecting to get this money back as the "We'll look into it" comment from the PD didn't sound like it would get any attention soon.

At this point I've done well over 30 of these transactions buying an sell and this is the first time I've been fooled. Doubt I'll stop it as I've made some great deals, but I'll have to think up some extra precautions so it doesn't happen again.

Be careful out there!

 

[DrBurnsides]

I'm pretty sure that fraud involving firearms transactions is even more super felonious.

 

[lancecolonel]

postal fraud is (supposed to be) a big deal. did you talk to the postmaster where you bought the money order?

 

[snax]

Dont use money orders. Use a cashiers or bank check thst forces him to go to a bank. If u use bank of america, and he cashes it there, they make him finger print it i believe if he has no account

Ask for a copy of his dtivers license or gun license to be sure that who you make the check out to is the same

Dont send to po box. I think you can fond out wjo owns the po box from usps

 

[dhuze]

The WTB section of Gunboards has been trolled by scammers for years. Never deal with the new guy who has what you want for sale. Did you report this to Vic? They will ban him, of course he'll be right back with a new name in a day of so.

 

[Rockrivr1]

The WTB section of Gunboards has been trolled by scammers for years. Never deal with the new guy who has what you want for sale. Did you report this to Vic? They will ban him, of course he'll be right back with a new name in a day of so.

Yeah, this was something I didn't know, until now that is. Did talk to them and they did ban him, but as you said they will be up with another name shortly.

 

[Dennis in MA]

Yeah, the PO is going to do about as much as your CC company does when you get a fraudulent charge.

Better to be out the $300 than have some dope steal your gun via a similar scam. (The old "I'll send you $400 and you write me a check fro the difference" scam - although in this case with a false 03.)

Sorry this happened. I got scammed by a tenant out of nearly $5,000. (After court costs, atty, serving papers and lost rent during the whole she-bang.) All because my business partner fell for her tale of woe. I called a reference and got a bad vibe, but he didn't want to leave the unit empty and was afraid we'd never rent it. (Did I mention HE was in charge of finding tenants and did NOTHING to find tenants except this serial-scam-artist???)

The silver lining is I put the house up for sale and got to separate myself from a partner not willing to do his end of the work. The silver lining for you is you won't feel bad acting like "a dewsh" to ensure someone is legit on a gun deal.

But the sad sad sad thing is - some guy that knows about guns did this. Not some 3rd world scammer or crack-momma. One of our own.

 

[Hardwired]

Sorry this happened.
id pursue it further since he has your 03. Once a slimeball...

Newbie member is a big red flag.
If you google the pics provided do they come up?

 

[92G]

this has nothing to do with firearms, and everything to do with common sense. Troy sends money order to random tard on interwebs and is surprised to get scammed?

there was an instructor here (can't remember who, David K?) who posted their system for purchasing from out of state. it was rather clever. he basically withheld payment until the person showed up at the shipping FFL. then he called that FFL to confirm the person was actually there with said firearm. once confirmed he then sent payment. me thinks this is a good strategy.

 

[Rockrivr1]

this has nothing to do with firearms, and everything to do with common sense. Troy sends money order to random tard on interwebs and is surprised to get scammed?

My surprise was that I had a 15 minute phone call with the person who was actually very knowledgeable on the gun I was buying and easily answered my questions. While his profile only had a few posts, he seemed to be legit. Yep, I got scammed, but just putting it out there for others who may fall for the same thing. If it wasn't for the phone call I would have not done the deal. That's the kicker.

 

[cockpitbob]

Thanks for your cautionary tale. With the 15 minute phone call I think I would have fallen into this trap.

 

[Kevin_NH]

Yeah, the PO is going to do about as much as your CC company does when you get a fraudulent charge.

The Postal Inspection Service takes their job seriously, they can at least pull the record created when the box was first registered.

 

[Dennis in MA]

I've never once heard a story of some guy that got defrauded using a mail scheme, the PO investigating and prosecuting someone. I mean, we are talking thousands - if not tens of thousands - of potential cases a day. I think they target big offenders. I'm betting he'd have a better chance of getting the bike stolen from his front yard back than seeing this person get the justice they deserve.

 

[The Anchor]

you might try reaching out to the local PD/ state with all your documentation. they might help you out...sorry you got taken...

 

[BeerGuy]

Sorry to hear this. Whenever I deal with someone out of state I always ask for a picture of the item with their thumb in the photo, or a penny, or something common that wouldn't be in a photo they grabbed from someone else. You'd be surprised how many requests go unfulfilled, and email converstaions suddenly cease....

 

[UNSUB]

Hey OP I'm not being a jerk when I post this, I'm more concerned for you in the long run. This is not something I have done before so my suggestion may be dumb but if he's asking for your FFL I would ask for him to email you a copy of his DL same day so he has no time to photoshop something and then Skype/facetime that way you have several points of contact and a face to give to the Feds/PD should something wrong. Even if you cant skyoe you can take his DL and look him up on the internet to see if hes a real person/ social media etc. And like someone said earlier if he's got a copy of your FFL you don't want him using it any way to scam someone else of you could have the ATF coming to talk to you. Better to let then know in advance so you could help them with the investigation then look like a donkey when he misuses it and then they show up and you say "oh this guy scammed me ripped me off and has a copy if my FFL I didn't think to report it". CYA its your FFL.

Sent from my SM-G928P using Tapatalk

 

[TomMontana]

Thank you for sharing this Troy. It's unfortunate that there are people who take advantage of others trust. Their own words and good name mean nothing. I've sent money orders on Gunbroker, which is risky but at least there is a feedback system. Hopefully the police can help you or karma catches up with the scammers.

 

[Asaltweapon]

The PO is a joke on this stuff. I learned that lesson right here on a guy who eventually made it right after a year on a GB.

 

[Tyke]

Anytime I hear "money order", "western union" or similar, massive red flags immediately fly high. Don't care how much they know. Anytime anyone insists on an irreversible, near untraceable transaction, I'm out.

 

[Len-2A Training]

Agreed PD will do nothing with the report.

PM sent to Troy with alternative action that might get some results.

 

[22lr]

Ugh.. thanks for sharing and sorry you got hit. Yet another wake up call. He will have to give an account one day, you can count in that.

 

[enbloc]

Hi, my name is Troy and I was scammed...

Welcome, Troy.

 

[Skeeter]

Sorry man that sucks.

 

[KMM696]

Another good tool to help avoid getting scammed is the TinEye reverse image search site.

https://tineye.com/

You give it an image, and it searches for identical ones on the web. A lot of the time scammers will use someone else's image since the gun doesn't really exist.

Not a 100% solution, but another confidence check anyway. Sorry to hear you got scammed, Troy.

 

[Snora]

What's required to open a PO Box? Seems like there should be some record of who this is.

 

[drgrant]

I've never once heard a story of some guy that got defrauded using a mail scheme, the PO investigating and prosecuting someone. I mean, we are talking thousands - if not tens of thousands - of potential cases a day. I think they target big offenders. I'm betting he'd have a better chance of getting the bike stolen from his front yard back than seeing this person get the justice they deserve.

This guy was slick though, there's probably thousands of dollars in mail fraud here, not just $300.

-Mike

 

[lowbuckbob]

Don't feel too bad. A good friend got taken when he was looking for a Porsche. He answered an ad from a guy who said he was teaching in England but his Porsche was in a garage in PA. They went back and forth and settled on a price and the guy said you can put the money in escrow.com until you get the car. The guy then linked a phony escrow.com site and my friend lost $18k to the Romanian mafia!

 

[drgrant]

Another good tool to help avoid getting scammed is the TinEye reverse image search site.

https://tineye.com/

You give it an image, and it searches for identical ones on the web. A lot of the time scammers will use someone else's image since the gun doesn't really exist.

Not a 100% solution, but another confidence check anyway. Sorry to hear you got scammed, Troy.

This is a good idea, too.

 

[Len-2A Training]

What's required to open a PO Box? Seems like there should be some record of who this is.

Yes, but it requires a special form and court case citation or subpoena from a lawyer or PD investigation (which they won't do).

 

[Dennis in MA]

This guy was slick though, there's probably thousands of dollars in mail fraud here, not just $300.

-Mike

For sure. But a s-ton of work for scamming $300. I wouldn't do it for less than $2K. Think if he used his knowledge for good versus evil. Gosh. Now I sound like the last page of a bad comic book.

But seriously, he knows enough about guns to get pix and post them, to know the pricing. Discuss condition. So he nails this guy for $300. Maybe a couple others the same day/week then close that box and start a'new. Lots of work. Honest work would actually be easier.