Attention all members! Please read about scamming.

[revhtree Verified Admin]

ATTENTION all members! Please read about scamming!

Dear members recently we have had people sign up to the forums and then purchase corals from other members. They are scamming and you need to be aware and protect yourself. DO NOT ship to addresses that are not Paypal Verified. Be careful of who you are dealing with. Take all precautions in selling to protect yourself from scammers no matter where you sell your frags and equipment at.

These scammers are paying for coral, having the coral shipped to other addresses or unverified addresses and then filing claims through paypal and getting their money back.

Please refer to our i-trader system here and do your homework when dealing with people and money over the internet. Also use the trader and seller feedback forums to find out more about people you are dealing with.

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/itrader_main.php

Thank you.

 

[Breakin Newz]

Amen! I like that you posted this Rev shows you care about the community..

 

[TANKSALOT]

It is so unfortunate that we have these con artisits out there making such a mess of a great hobby.

Thanks Rev..... this is what needs to be on everyones mind when they are selling over the internet.

TANKSALOT
aka - Steve

 

[007]

REV, don't you have access to their IP address and the location of their ISP? I would hunt them down and go to local law enforcement and put them in jail. One reason I only deal with local reefers, and even then you can get scammed. Paypal has loop holes(that favor thiefs/crooks to get money back) and is not 100% safe either.

 

[thewackyreefer]

Can someone tell me how to check on Paypal to make sure I'm verified?

 

[TopNotchCorals]

Can someone tell me how to check on Paypal to make sure I'm verified?

When you sign in where it says "welcome" and then your name to the right of your name should say "status".

 

[agent462]

I know with coral we mostly ship overnight but ensure you keep the tracking number. I was scammed off ebay for a non-coral item I just shipped regular USPS with no tracking info. Paypal doesn't care to help you unless you have a tracking number.

Some rules to live by:
Always ship to verified paypal members only (and only ship to the verified address)
Check their Itrader for feedback
Don't sell/trade to new members without evaluating the risk. Google their username, name, email, address, etc and see if they have a reputation on other forums. Possibly only sell to active members with a reputation to lose.
Always get/keep tracking information
Never ever ship if the item is in dispute with paypal

 

[doughboy]

REV, don't you have access to their IP address and the location of their ISP? I would hunt them down and go to local law enforcement and put them in jail. One reason I only deal with local reefers, and even then you can get scammed. Paypal has loop holes(that favor thiefs/crooks to get money back) and is not 100% safe either.

unless you are a celebrity or some hot shot, the police could care less if you got scammed, and scammers know this.

 

[secretreefer]

Amen REV! you should ban the scam!

 

[Sula]

Wow - thank you for this thread, this type of scam would have never occurred to me.
Makes me sad to realize there really are such people in the world :squigglemouth:

 

[Breakin Newz]

unless you are a celebrity or some hot shot, the police could care less if you got scammed, and scammers know this.

+1 hes right...

 

[nivram]

If you are scammed. Please contact your local Postal Inspector's Office. They handle investigations/crimes perpetrated via the mail. Your local PD more than likely could care less and you will be lucky if they do anything more than just take a report (especially if you are dealing with a large municipality.)

 

[Acroholic]

Also, always pay for any PayPal purchase with a Credit Card. You have dispute privileges with your CC Company, so you are not at the mercy of the paypal dispute process, which is useless, IMO.

I don't file PP disputes any more. I just dispute the charge directly with Amex now.

 

[Troylee]

Okay well this can be a great thread....
Let's post ways to protect ourselves so we can have a list here....
I would say people who just joined or have very little or no post count should throw up a red flag.... It sucks for the lurkers who buy stuff but hey we gott. Do what we gotta do.... It's not bad to post and get to know everyone..;)
also I would say if using paypal make sure the funds have been withdrawn from paypal and in your account before shipping a item...
Sure there is more so it would be great if us as a group put a list together.... I'm sure buyers would be fine waiting a week or before it ships to protect our community... I always wait a week or myself just to make sure the frags have healed before letting the seller ship to me.... I have been waiting on a package for a couple months right now lol.... I'm not sweating it one bit I want my corals happy and healthy.... If I can do it I know others can, because I am the most impatient person there is lol....
Look at my builds if I want a new tank I build one and it's rocking in 2 or 3 days lol lol..

 

[agent462]

Okay well this can be a great thread....
Let's post ways to protect ourselves so we can have a list here....

Totally agree which is why I tried to start my list

also I would say if using paypal make sure the funds have been withdrawn from paypal and in your account before shipping a item...

I do sort of disagree with this though because I know what happens. When you remove the funds from your account and you lose the dispute you will be hit with a negative on your account. Essentially you can't use paypal again without becoming positive again. The one part of this I don't know is if you can just bail forever being negative. I don't know if paypal will try to charge you or not. In my case I just added money back in my account to become positive. Stupid scammers.

 

[Troylee]

What would you suggest doing then??? Maybe we can contact paypal to figure out a solution????
I know what your saying...:(
since I am a mod on other boards I have posted announcements pertaining to this problem so he don't get other boards...:(

 

[agent462]

What would you suggest doing then??? Maybe we can contact paypal to figure out a solution????
I know what your saying...:(
since I am a mod on other boards I have posted announcements pertaining to this problem so he don't get other boards...:(

I don't know if there is a good solution really. I mean you can do that but if you get a negative you might never be able to use paypal again without funding money in.

Paypal really needs to improve the dispute process. It's too easy for a seller to get screwed. Tracking numbers and ship to the verified address only can help a lot though.