Thinkpads Forum

Hi

So, some person on here recommended I contact "someone" because of a spare part I needed. As soon as I sent the money (a massive $35) they went silent. I've had one, short email since "will send tracking soon".

These all have the tell tale signs to me of a pathetic scammer and I suspect the person on here is the same person I've sent the money to. Am I allowed to publicise the member who directed me towards this person? I don't want other people suckered into these pathetic little thefts.

Thanks

Alex

This has been going on for some time on many unrelated forums.

Post a Looking For or Want to Buy thread and these scumbags come out of the woodwork looking for a mark and a pocket to pick.

Chargeback.

If anyone is suggested sending anything to nicholashenry283@gmail.com then I'd consider it a scam.... unless this palmrest miraculously turns up. $35 - pretty pathetic really...

Username: richydon suggested this person. Can anyone vouch for richydon?

solidpro wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 11, 2022 1:29 pm

Username: richydon suggested this person. Can anyone vouch for richydon?

A newly registered user with 0 posts sends contact details of a supposed third party in PM to arrange a sale? This has all the classic forum scam signs written all over it.

I banned user, IP and email. Now that I think of it, perhaps it is time to research into a setting/plugin that will require a certain number of posts before users are allowed to send PMs. It does deter some legitimate cases, though, so I don't know...


RBS addition: richydon registered on the Forum with this email: abrahamrichard1213@gmail.com (this email also banned)

I'm a moderator on another forum and I came across this exact thing 2 days ago.

A newer member posted a WTB related to a topic I had made a lengthy contribution to, and that member PM'd me asking for "expert advice" when a 3-hour-old account responded to his WTB with an offer.

The new account grabbed an image of the part in question from a previous post on the forum (from a fellow admin, no less) and claimed he was that admin on a new account! And they said they would ask for 50% down through Google Pay as a "good faith" payment.

Doing an IP lookup of the user, it came up as a known VPN host. Yeah, that one got banned.

We used to have a 50-post minimum requirement to be able to list WTS ads, but lifted it years ago. But that doesn't prevent people with 0 reputation from PMing others. Spam prevention tools have gotten better, but as one could say - build a better mouse trap, and the mice get smarter...

When in doubt over someone's "legality", this is a good source: https://stopforumspam.com/search
Search there for username and/or email address and/or IP address.
That is also the place where the Forum 'registers' scammers and other unwanted members when we ban them.

It was totally my mistake to be too trusting. I did notice the 'zero' posts after I'd got concerned about the lack of reply. I guess I wasn't expecting anyone to be putting so much time and effort into haunting a very quiet forum to hustle someone out of $35. I can only hope they really need it.

Can you dispute the charge with your bank?

TPFanatic wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 12, 2022 9:42 pm

Can you dispute the charge with your bank?

In US? Nah... You can't, they won't care anyway.

That's not as true any more. Banks are wanting to encourage the use of their services and you might be able to get them to reverse that charge, especially as it's only $35 and they'd rather keep your business.

TheForgottenKing wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 03, 2022 3:45 pm

That's not as true any more. Banks are wanting to encourage the use of their services and you might be able to get them to reverse that charge, especially as it's only $35 and they'd rather keep your business.

Indeed. Cards (including the labels that issue them like VISA and including debit cards) have also been much more willing to conduct chargebacks when the appropriate forms and evidence are filed, and potentially with some waiting period, but you can definetly get your money back.

This, at an extreme, can even extend to those grocery store VISA gift cards when you get scammed on PayPal, etc., so I imagine the banks are feeling the pressure.

The key is, of course, to not make a habit of conducting risky transactions, but to learn from your mistakes and make sure that these sort of incidents are as one-off as possible (as the process to get the money back is still rather time and paperwork intensive).

Good luck OP.