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PRIVATE MESSAGE SCAM ALERT - don't fall for "Leoliam" or email drextimmy at gmail


jgkspsx

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Yes, I've banned the account, but before I did I logged on as the individual and sent a PM to everyone he or she already contacted, warning them that it's a scammer and the account was about to be banned.  I'll now send everyone another message from my own account. 

 

Typical scam, which is becoming increasingly common on forums.  They'll create an account, look for "wanted" posts of items that have high value, then send a private message to that person stating someone they know has the item, along with an email address to contact them directly, where their communication cannot be monitored.  They may also just directly ask for PayPal payments on the forum, which is what happened last time, and they'll also want you to pay with Friends & Family, which does NOT protect he buyer.  NEVER pay someone with a PayPal Friends & Family payment if it's someone you do not know and especially if they have no history on the forum.  Unfortunately, last time an existing account was hacked, airing more legitimacy to it, but the person still asked for Friends & Family payments. 

 

Also, if someone does send you photos, do a reverse image search for the image, and also look at current and completed auctions on eBay for the same item or items.  Invariably the image will turn up if it's a scammer, as they will not (obviously) have the item(s), so they will simply have searched for the item to find a relevant photo (that's another way to find the images, search for "laser gates atari 2600" in Google images and see if the same image(s) pop up.

 

And if you're suspicious about dealing with someone, feel free to write me and I can investigate to see if it's an obvious scammer, and if it's a brand new user (as was the case here), I can look to see if they have sent a ton of PMs to various people, as happened here (looks like they sent PMs to some 15 different people in the span of an hour, all about different items).

 

Screen Shot 2022-05-02 at 9.05.51 PM.png

 

Screen Shot 2022-05-02 at 9.05.48 PM.png

 

imageproxy.php?img=&key=f4dcc336a70d5c68imageproxy.php?img=&key=f4dcc336a70d5c68imageproxy.php?img=&key=f4dcc336a70d5c68Screen Shot 2022-05-02 at 9.05.43 PM.png

 

I took these screenshots when I was logged in as this scammer.

 

Not really an easy way to combat this unless you prevent brand new members from using the PM system.  That won't help, though, if someone manages to hack an existing account, although that's far less likely than these scammers just signing up for new accounts.  I am open to suggestions, though.

 

 ..Al

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Thanks I got essentially the same message for my wtb request.  Also had similar dealing with user Ryanm0, also a user with 0 posts here wanting me to talk through email about a deal. He did provide pics of the item so might have been legit but it was too fishy for me.  Shortly after I told him I was passing on his offer I got pmed by leoliam. Made me wonder if they are the same person

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4 minutes ago, jgkspsx said:

The funny thing is that Laser Gates may be expensive for a 2600 cart but it's still only like $20! It must have sounded pricey :D 

Yeah, the items offered (which you can see above) are rather random.  But, hey, even suckering a bunch of people for $20, across a whole slew of forums, does add up, and someone may not think twice about sending someone $20 versus, say, $200 or more. 

 

 ..Al

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11 minutes ago, sirlynxalot said:

Thanks I got essentially the same message for my wtb request.  Also had similar dealing with user Ryanm0, also a user with 0 posts here wanting me to talk through email about a deal. He did provide pics of the item so might have been legit but it was too fishy for me.  Shortly after I told him I was passing on his offer I got pmed by leoliam. Made me wonder if they are the same person

Yep, looking at that account, it's certainly another scammer, from Nigeria, even.  Now I have to warn people about that account, and it looks like at least one person may have sent them money.

 

 ..Al

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I probably should have brought this to management earlier but I fell victim to his scams unfortunately and lost a rather large sum of money. he gave me his email and we had a back and forth regarding a potential sale. I made sure to take precaution and reverse image searched the images of the item he was selling and nothing had came up. I insisted on Paypal GnS, but I gave in and we made a "deal" through Friends and Family for me paying a part of the lot before and the rest after I received the package.

 

After paying, radio silence ensued for a month after, despite his very prompt responses before the money was sent.

 

But oh well, lesson learned I guess.

Edited by mehguy
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1 minute ago, mehguy said:

I probably should have brought this to management earlier but I fell victim to his scams unfortunately and lost a rather large sum of money. Same case as unoclay, he gave me his email and we had a back and forth regarding a potential sale. I made sure to take precaution and reverse image searched the images of the item he was selling and nothing had came up. I insisted on Paypal GnS, but I gave in and we made a "deal" through Friends and Family for me paying a part of the lot before and the rest after I received the package.

 

After paying, radio silence ensued for a month after, despite his very prompt responses before the money was sent.

 

But oh well, lesson learned I guess.

yea private emails and Friends and Family are 2 huge red flags as a buyer, hate it for you though ... what were you looking for (doubt I have it but ...)

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7 minutes ago, mehguy said:

I probably should have brought this to management earlier but I fell victim to his scams unfortunately and lost a rather large sum of money. he gave me his email and we had a back and forth regarding a potential sale. I made sure to take precaution and reverse image searched the images of the item he was selling and nothing had came up. I insisted on Paypal GnS, but I gave in and we made a "deal" through Friends and Family for me paying a part of the lot before and the rest after I received the package.

 

After paying, radio silence ensued for a month after, despite his very prompt responses before the money was sent.

 

But oh well, lesson learned I guess.

That sucks, sorry you got taken. 

 

I may need to put a warning at the top of a PM composition window with some important things to watch for when receiving PMs from new accounts with no to little prior history (public or private).  I could also restrict the ability for new members to use the PM system at all, although that creates other problems (many developers of hardware and software offer products here that require the ability for parties to use the PM system).  It's not a trivial problem to solve, unless you want to greatly inconvenience people. 

 

But given I've been alerted to two such accounts just today (possibly run by the same person or people), I feel I will need to do something to try and combat this.

 

 ..Al

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6 minutes ago, Albert said:

  I could also restrict the ability for new members to use the PM system at all, although that creates other problems (many developers of hardware and software offer products here that require the ability for parties to use the PM system). 

I came from the world of integrated CMS systems, but it seems that there could be an application form for those situations, in my past administrating though it just causes DillHole@booger.net to spam in order to reach quota, but hopefully the reports flood in 

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Wow Nigerian atari scammers! Now I've heard of everything.  So glad I didn't give Ryanm0 money. His offer price for the item was about 80% of what the asking price on ebay was, so it was semi-believable and I was slightly tempted to move forward until he said he didn't have paypal... and then things got fishier from there.  In our brief e-mail correspondence, Ryanm0 revieled he had no feedback threads on other websites and was not part of any forums other than AA, and that he had previously tried to sell things on FB marketplace but his account got hacked lol. 

 

He was also supposedly from the USA but used non-US expressions like "hey mate" and "you'd do well to respond to my email".  He did appropriately use game selling lingo though, like "complete in box" and listing the contents of what the item contains, though he probably just got that info off of ebay or another for-sale site.

Edited by sirlynxalot
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50 minutes ago, sirlynxalot said:

 

 

He was also supposedly from the USA but used non-US expressions like "hey mate" and "you'd do well to respond to my email".  He did appropriately use game selling lingo though, like "complete in box" and listing the contents of what the item contains, though he probably just got that info off of ebay or another for-sale site.

Yea there were small things like that that I picked up on too. He referred to an Atari 520ST computer as a “keyboard” and tried to get me to pay with a bunch of different methods before settling with PayPal. 
 

the initial email where he describes what he’s selling also akin to an eBay description.

 

but I was too eager for an ST and let my guard down :(
 

I don’t know where he got his photos from though. Reverse image search came up with nothing. 
 

 

 

Edited by mehguy
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I second (or third) the notion of denying new accounts the ability to send PMs, or at least severely restrict them as Thomas mentioned.

 

How possible or desirable would it be to hide the Marketplace forums from non-members and brand new members entirely?

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37 minutes ago, frankodragon said:

There is a listing of Nigerian IP addresses at https://lite.ip2location.com/nigeria-ip-address-ranges

Anyone with these addresses should be carefully watched. 

I suppose they would use VPNs to circumvent this.

 

How about honeypots? Automatically created requests (only visible to new accounts) in the market forum from fake accounts.

Edited by Thomas Jentzsch
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