Warning: scammers amongst us. (@mrwizard421)

[Beau_B]

I was asked to make a public note about my recent transaction gone wrong.

There is a member here @mrwizard421 posing as someone else. The account has been hacked or something. They offered to sell me, and some others, various goods at attractive prices. They had good knowledge of the items, reef systems, and the English was passable. I fell for it.

They supplied a PayPal.me link that I sent money to. I was unfamiliar with .me pages, but a brief google told me it was legit. What I didn’t know is there needs to be a checkbox to make it “goods and services” and this link didn’t have it.

So, I had funds out, and no recourse. @mrwizard421 asked for a screenshot of the transaction and for it to be sent to some odd Swiss email account. Bad... I didn’t comply.

Through some careful searches I tracked the PayPal account to a lady in Missouri, and through her Instagram I DM’d. She had no idea who I was or what happened.

She has fortunately had the funds in her legitimate account (unexpected) and refunded the money. PayPal is investigating the situation, though no explanation has yet been given.

No one knows how the scams work yet, but please... everyone be extra careful.

This is coming off the heels of another deal gone wrong for me where a seller only sent half what was promised months after payment. I was able to use buyer protection on that but still lost a little and still don’t have any lights for my tank!!

Be well everyone, play nice together.

 

[HotRocks]

Thank you for Sharing this!

Also the Moderation team is investigating this member.

-Team R2R

 

[jlts21]

I ALWAYS send it as goods and services. If there isn't the option there then I know it is not legitimately PayPal. If a seller has a problem paying the 2.9% fee, then I see it as a small red flag.

 

[Beau_B]

Agreed, but when I googled it before payment, the results (errantly) suggested .me links default to goods and services. I have learned that is NOT the case. My advice is not to use the .me portal!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Thank you for sharing with us! Hopefully this helps prevent something like this happening to someone else

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Anything over $20 i use goods and services. I tend to trust sellers selling multiple items . they are of small value so I often do gifts so the seller receives all the funds. I do this knowingly though .

 

[ca1ore]

Yes indeed, thanks for sharing/alerting. Gets harder and harder to avoid falling for one of these scams.

 

[jay06705]

Thanks for sharing!!

 

[LadyMac]

Thank you for sharing! I’ve never paid attention to the .me thing but now I will. It’s because of scammers that I only take and pay via cold hard cash, verified paypal and postal money orders.

 

[Brad Vaughn]

Thanks for this! Helpful!

 

[will25u]

So glad you shared your experience. We all need to be aware. Thank you.

 

[Mark Gray]

Thanks for sharing I am a PayPal sort of hater. Long storry.