Please be careful

tatsu

tatsu

Joined
Oct 2, 1999
Messages
1,835
Thought I had found the deal of the year.

Hacked Account

D3V Utility Fighter 2 with Double Red micarta. From a Friday sale a little over a year ago. Never used, carried, sharpened, etc. I haven’t been around much lately, and I don’t remember what I paid, so let me know if I’m off at $250 shipped. Zelle or Venmo FF only.
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com

Instead I was scammed for $250. Thought I was dealing with a standup member. Checked their feedback, (all good), and proceeded with the deal. As you can see, the account was hacked. Unfortunately, I had already paid before it was caught. Hoping I can save others the stress and heartache.

Do not deal with:

mtxrqyarth@hotmail.com
Name is Stanley Zimowski

J.
 
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Lorien,

I agree. I've been around here 24 years and never had an issue like this. BF is a place I visit to relax and enjoy the company of Knuts from around the world. Like others here, blades are a passion of mine. Crazy how one shitty thing can ruin one's "happy place".

I'm no rich man by any means. I usually sell a blade to purchase another. Now I'm out a knife and $250, bullshit indeed.
 
Tatsu:
I am very sorry you got screwed. I couldn’t believe the price listed for that UF and thought it strange the poster didn’t know what it was worth. At first I thought ‘damn, someone got a sweet deal’, the saw 2 SDFK’s listed cheap by same person and had a bad feeling. It was then that Blues was all over it shutting it down. I hate thieves and I hope karma pays them a visit.

I also hope that you will hang around the cpk threads and see certain names are frequent posters who sometimes list a knife for sale. After reading of several scamming incidents, I personally will only buy from a maker or a short list of folks I interact with. I appreciate you posting in order to let others know scumbags lurk everywhere.
 
Sorry to hear about this. It’s too bad the banks can’t do more - like pressing fraud charges… or something beyond just recovering the money. Something that follows these POS humans and makes their life more difficult. There’s no real deterrent to this behavior.
 
tatsu said:
Thought I had found the deal of the year.

Hacked Account

D3V Utility Fighter 2 with Double Red micarta. From a Friday sale a little over a year ago. Never used, carried, sharpened, etc. I haven’t been around much lately, and I don’t remember what I paid, so let me know if I’m off at $250 shipped. Zelle or Venmo FF only.
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com

Instead I was scammed for $250. Thought I was dealing with a standup member. Checked their feedback, (all good), and proceeded with the deal. As you can see, the account was hacked. Unfortunately, I had already paid before it was caught. Hoping I can save others the stress and heartache.

Do not deal with:

mtxrqyarth@hotmail.com
Name is Stanley Zimowski

J.
Click to expand...

That is not the scammer’s real name and that gmail address is a burner.
 
Very sorry to hear this happened (again). I remember seeing that listing and thought the listed price was a bit odd.

I'm always leery of any seller/vendor who only accepts Zelle or Venmo. There is no recourse with either of those payment methods, which is why scammers love those platforms. Only use Zelle or Venmo with people you know and trust, period.
 
Interestingly, the guy refused to send email, but did provide a PP email adress. "I can't send email. Please send pm. If it's a problem, I can sell it to the next one".

Also, it was Easter Sun evening, a time when moderators might be busy off the forum.
 
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Smithhammer said:
Very sorry to hear this happened (again). I remember seeing that listing and thought the listed price was a bit odd.

I'm always leery of any seller/vendor who only accepts Zelle or Venmo. There is no recourse with either of those payment methods, which is why scammers love those platforms. Only use Zelle or Venmo with people you know and trust, period.
Click to expand...

I think when they list these as THE ONLY methods, it shoots a big red flag for me. Even people who won't use PP often have something about money orders or "we can work out payment arrangements."

But, there's been a lot of scammers getting people on several forums with everyone trying to get away from PP goods and services. Reminds me of the early days of ebay when scamming seemed common with empty boxes getting shipped, weird claims, and all that crap.
 
I've said this umpteen times but it bears saying again in abbreviated form:

If the deal appears to be too good to be true, it probably is.

If you think that you are going to take advantage of someone's ignorance over the value of a knife (purportedly) for sale, you yourself may end up being the ignorant party. (These thieves are not stupid and know that appealing to one's greed or desire for a great deal can overwhelm common sense and precautions.)

If you send money to someone you don't know and have no recourse to reclaim those funds, you are setting yourself up for failure. You'll have no one to blame but yourself for getting burned, despite having legitimate grounds to be angry at the person who hustled you.

And remember, technically we are in the wrong for sending F&F for purchases. Yes, I know that all of us have done so, but it still violates PayPal's terms of service, and they are within their rights to blow you off if you try to make a claim. That's a separate issue from whether these dirtbags should be prosecuted or held accountable by other means.

Caveat Emptor.
 
Thank you all for your thoughts and tips. As always, hindsight is 20/20. I was caught up in the excitement of the moment. When dealing in the exchange I've relied on the feedback system in the past, which is pointless if the account has been unknowingly hacked.

It will be a while before I am comfortable dealing in the exchange again, not knowing if an account is hacked or not. This lesson cost me $250. Hard pill to swallow, but if I can help others not make the same mistake, it's worth it.

J.
 
tatsu said:
Thank you all for your thoughts and tips. As always, hindsight is 20/20. I was caught up in the excitement of the moment. When dealing in the exchange I've relied on the feedback system in the past, which is pointless if the account has been unknowingly hacked.

It will be a while before I am comfortable dealing in the exchange again, not knowing if an account is hacked or not. This lesson cost me $250. Hard pill to swallow, but if I can help others not make the same mistake, it's worth it.

J.
Click to expand...
You're not the first and won't be the last.

Let me recommend something. If it's a person that you believe to be a member in good standing here...and is someone who has posted in the past...you can try to engage the person via PM, ask some innocuous question and see if there is something "peculiar" in the way they express themselves in their reply, specifically their command of the language etc.

If it seems like their reply is coming from "Google Translator" and stilted, and the person has posted in the past like a native English speaker, you may be right to walk away.

It's just one technique among several...but the big tell is often their offering something that is greatly undervalued for a quick sale. Don't fall for it.
 
Blues,

Ignorant party? I wasn't trying to take advantage of anyone. What appeared to be a member in good standing, listed a knife that I have been searching for at a great price, so I claimed it.
This is a shitty situation that I went through. Being called ignorant on top of it doesn't help, especially coming from a moderator.

J.
 
tatsu said:
Blues,

Ignorant party? I wasn't trying to take advantage of anyone. What appeared to be a member in good standing, listed a knife that I have been searching for at a great price, so I claimed it.
This is a shitty situation that I went through. Being called ignorant on top of it doesn't help, especially coming from a moderator.

J.
Click to expand...
Ignorant of facts, value etc. It's not meant as an insult but as a description.

If I sold an HDFK for $200, I'd be ignorant of the value of the knife I was selling...and if I was a huckster, the buyer would be ignorant of my intent to lure him in... or if it were actually a legitimate sale, taking advantage of my ignorance of its true worth.

It's simply referring to states of mind. Don't get sensitive on me. I've been in your corner from the start of all this.
 
Blues said:
You're not the first and won't be the last.

Let me recommend something. If it's a person that you believe to be a member in good standing here...and is someone who has posted in the past...you can try to engage the person via PM, ask some innocuous question and see if there is something "peculiar" in the way they express themselves in their reply, specifically their command of the language etc.

If it seems like their reply is coming from "Google Translator" and stilted, and the person has posted in the past like a native English speaker, you may be right to walk away.

It's just one technique among several...but the big tell is offering something that is greatly undervalued for a quick sale. Don't fall for it.
Click to expand...
This might be a silly question..... how do we as members know if WE ourselves are hacked?
would it be apparent to us?
 
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