PSA: Exercise caution in the marketplace to avoid getting scammed!

[Crabs McJones]

Please be aware of scammers trying to steal money from members.

Users who post wanted to buy ads receive a PM from a new, or newer account with no posts on the forum.
The PM looks something like this;

Update: New messages are having members text a phone number. Anytime a third party is involved avoid at all costs!

It will always be a third party member that you have to contact through email or text message.

In short, the email or text will have you PayPal, cashapp, venmo (ect...) them the money (likely asking through Friends and Family, or another unsecured means) and then vanish never to be heard from.

UPDATE:
Please keep an eye out, scammers are getting smarter in trying to trick good members out of their money.
If you get a new account reaching out to you via PM trying to sell you something, please report it to a staff member or hit report on the members account.
Anytime they request a screenshot for proof of payment, or the account is in a different name, or they use the word "kindly" it's likely a scam.
Also if there is a sense of urgency where they try to persuade you to pay immediately, likely a scam.
Or if they require a deposit to mark the item sold, it's a scam.
Also please note, it is not a good idea to post your personal phone number, or email address anywhere publicly on the forum. Scammers then use this information to contact you off platform (text, email ect..) when they see you respond to a sales thread. The message you pretending to be the seller, get you to pay for the item and then block you.

Another update!
Never post your email or phone number publicly on the forum. Scammers will contact you off platform claiming to be a member on R2R and try to scam you.

Stay safe everyone!

We are doing our best to ban all these accounts but we need your help.

Should you receive a PM similar to this, or if you suspect a scam, please report it to a member of the moderation team.

Thank you and stay safe!
Crabs

 

[Daniel@R2R]

just a reminder

 

[Crabs McJones]

Bump! Had one of these occur this morning. Luckily the member reported it and we were able to get it taken care of.
Stay safe everyone!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Bumping again as we had another one this afternoon.
Reminder if you get a PM like this from another member report it to R2R staff immediately.

Thanks!

Crabs

 

[Crabs McJones]

Monday bump, had one pop up this morning. Please exercise caution with unsolicited PMs

 

[SimbaAnto]

I too got this one. Unfortunately I fell for it. But only saviour is I did through Goods and services as I feel suspicious. PayPal got back the money for me.

Message I received

'I purchased some stuff from Rich some days ago and Reefled 90 is among what he showed me that he wanted to part out with. Maybe you should contact him to know if it is still available.. His email is [email protected]'

 

[SimbaAnto]

Email came from user Germantown001. But user was not found

 

[Crabs McJones]

Email came from user Germantown001. But user was not found

I cannot find it either, user may have already been caught and banned. But thanks for sharing :) glad you were able to get your money back. helps bring more awareness to other users.

 

[Eric aaa]

Please be aware of a scam that has been popping up more as of late.

Users who post wanted to buy ads receive a PM from a new, or newer account with no posts on the forum.
The PM looks something like this;

It will always be a third party member that you have to contact through email.

In short, the email will have you PayPal them the money (likely asking through Friends and Family, or another unsecured means) and then vanish never to be heard from.

We are doing our best to ban all these accounts but we need your help.

Should you receive a PM similar to this, or if you suspect a scam, please report it to a member of the moderation team.

Thank you and stay safe!

Crabs

Thank you it's been a while since I've been n r2r. Just been trying to find a pistol shrimp, they seem impossible to find right now!! :(

 

[_AV]

Another hit on my ad today:

User registered 3 hours before my WTB post, which suggest he was likely already active with others before me.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Another hit on my ad today:

User registered 3 hours before my WTB post, which suggest he was likely already active with others before me.

Make sure to report the message to a current moderator so they can ban the account

 

[169468]

I've had one definite and one possible scammer reply to my wanted ad in the last 48 hours.

Wanted ads are notorious for being feeding grounds for scammers, so be extremely careful!

 

[Cell]

I got a similar PM a few days ago. Hallhomes was the username. [email protected] was the email address I was directed to contact.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I got a similar PM a few days ago. Hallhomes was the username. [email protected] was the email address I was directed to contact.

Report the PM so the mods can ban the account if you haven't already

 

[_AV]

Another one. Reported.

 

[H@rry]

How do you have a broken Apex in good condition?:rolleyes:

 

[_AV]

Had another fun altercation with a scammer. This one went into a lot more trouble pretending to be legit.
PM came from a legit r2r member since 2011 with over 7000 messages in response to my WTB ad for an EB832:

$150 each, shipped. Comes with one AquaBus cable.

This is too much for a broken unit, so replied clarifying that I'm looking for a broken one and those he has are likely in a working order

He responded almost immediately:

Of course they are in working condition.

No problem.

I kept playing along and said that I'm only interested in broken equipment.
He responded again:

There are 4 broken ones.

That's great, I offered him a good price for all four. He agreed and I asked for his paypal.
Things finally started getting interesting:

My Paypal account was closed for selling guns.

I can get paid with Zelle, Cashapp, crypto.

I told him I don't have any of these but will look into it. He replied:

Thanks.

[he provided a link to legit zelle page here]

Check your bank and lmk.

Notice that his English is fairly good so far, uses typical acronyms, etc. Aside from a couple of odd statements...
At this point its game over. None of the proposed payment options have buyer protection. I looked up his profile, which is impressive given that the member has 7000 messages on this board and is a member since 2011.

The only problem is that this member last posted anything meaningful in 2017 and then again yesterday, just 20 minutes after an update to my WTB and before contacting me he posted two for sale ads and a couple of meaningless responses to random threads.

So just for fun I responded asking to provide some pictures of the four units he is selling with a paper that has his username handwritten on it.

He responded:

Ok, how are you going to pay?

Sure, I said. I'll find a way to pay, just get me the pictures.

And again from him, finally in some odd English clearly no longer copied from his playbook:

I will send you a picture user my friend.

What are you worried about?

At this point I just flat out told him that I'm worried that he is a scammer who hijacked a legit user account. Then reported him.

His final response:

Dude I'll send you a picture, what a ridiculous answer.

All of this over a $300 scam. They must be getting really desperate over there...

 

[169468]

Another one.

 

[169468]

Another one. They don’t even have the intelligence to change the message :rolleyes:

 

[102ttran]

Report.