What's new

MORE Suspicious activity.

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
Gents, a member was just booted from the forum for running a scam via PM.
Dozens of PM's were sent to people looking to buy items, and this fellow just "happened" to know someone who had for sale exactly what they were looking for.
Thanks to our sharp eyed brothers and sisters who notified the Team, this individual is no longer a member.
This is why all sales must be initiated in the BST, and why sending Spam PM's to people is a bannable offense.
If you get a PM from someone initiating a sales offer, please report them to the Moderator Team. Maybe it's legit, and if it is, the guy will be asked to make a BST post about it, but our experience has been that the "too good to be true" offers usually are too good to be true.
 

Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker

Likes a fat handle in his hand
Oh man! I would be so uncomfortable if I got a PM from somebody who wanted to sell me something. In my first month here, somebody wanted me to PM them, just so they could send me free blades, and I was instantly made uncomfortable from that too. I knew that it was just a member who wanted to do something nice for me, like a PIF deal and all, but I was uncomfortable with it. So I would be especially uncomfortable if someone was trying to scam me into buying through PM!

I am so glad that people reported that person and got that stopped. Cause you never know, in a group of many, it only takes one person who doesn't know their being scammed, and then they get scammed. We get those phone scammers from India all the time, just hoping we give them all our identifiable information. We just got one the other day infact, as soon as he realized his game was up, he hung up on us before we hung up on him! lol

I really don't like scammers of any kind. 😡
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
Oh man! I would be so uncomfortable if I got a PM from somebody who wanted to sell me something. In my first month here, somebody wanted me to PM them, just so they could send me free blades, and I was instantly made uncomfortable from that too. I knew that it was just a member who wanted to do something nice for me, like a PIF deal and all, but I was uncomfortable with it. So I would be especially uncomfortable if someone was trying to scam me into buying through PM!

I am so glad that people reported that person and got that stopped. Cause you never know, in a group of many, it only takes one person who doesn't know their being scammed, and then they get scammed. We get those phone scammers from India all the time, just hoping we give them all our identifiable information. We just got one the other day infact, as soon as he realized his game was up, he hung up on us before we hung up on him! lol

I really don't like scammers of any kind. 😡
This guy did his legwork, made a bunch of nice posts about different products he said he liked. Posts in the Brown Leaf, the Speakeasy, the Mess Hall.
Thank goodness we have sharp eyed members out there.
B&B is an amazingly generous group, and there is ALWAYS someone giving something away to new members. Guys like this scammer make it hard for people to be generous because people get suspicious when they see generous behavior from a total stranger.
I always try to make a post in the public forum when I want to PIF something to someone unless they know me from past experience. Nothing wrong with being suspicious of someone if you get an unsolicited PM from them.
 

Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
I had someone PM me out of the blue because I asked a question about Ethos soaps/creams. He is sending me some samples of Ethos and one other unscented soap. It caught me by surprise. The generosity of the people here is rare but lovely.

It's sad that scammers show up and put a damper on that.

Thanks, luvmysuper, for keeping things on the up and up here.
 
Oh man! I would be so uncomfortable if I got a PM from somebody who wanted to sell me something. In my first month here, somebody wanted me to PM them, just so they could send me free blades, and I was instantly made uncomfortable from that too. I knew that it was just a member who wanted to do something nice for me, like a PIF deal and all, but I was uncomfortable with it. So I would be especially uncomfortable if someone was trying to scam me into buying through PM!

I am so glad that people reported that person and got that stopped. Cause you never know, in a group of many, it only takes one person who doesn't know their being scammed, and then they get scammed. We get those phone scammers from India all the time, just hoping we give them all our identifiable information. We just got one the other day infact, as soon as he realized his game was up, he hung up on us before we hung up on him! lol

I really don't like scammers of any kind. 😡
“I really don’t like scammers of any kind”

A good policy to live by SWCT. A good one indeed.😊👍💈
 
As Glen Frey said, "It's the lure easy money, it's got a very strong appeal."

I was part of a forum where there was a long-time established member. Trusted by all, respected, knowledgeable, helpful, a beacon of light to newcomers--model citizen. One day he made a very large sale on the forum's Buy/Sell sub-forum, didn't deliver the goods, never to be seen again.

Terrible news. Thank you, @luvmysuper
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
As Glen Frey said, "It's the lure easy money, it's got a very strong appeal."

I was part of a forum where there was a long-time established member. Trusted by all, respected, knowledgeable, helpful, a beacon of light to newcomers--model citizen. One day he made a very large sale on the forum's Buy/Sell sub-forum, didn't deliver the goods, never to be seen again.

Terrible news. Thank you, @luvmysuper
It has happened here. There's only so many precautions one can take.
 
I was part of a forum where there was a long-time established member. Trusted by all, respected, knowledgeable, helpful, a beacon of light to newcomers--model citizen. One day he made a very large sale on the forum's Buy/Sell sub-forum, didn't deliver the goods, never to be seen again.
Wow. I wonder how some people sleep at night with these kinds of things on their conscience. (Perhaps they don't...)
 
I am very sorry if I sent anybody unsolicited PMs, but I thought that was what it was kind of for. Threads frequently go off the rails between two people and one of us PMs the other to continue our discussion. I am not sure what the apprehension is about non sales PMs as you are still on the forum, your security hasn't been compromised. If I PM somebody to offer something, I would take a chance and offer my personal email first to try to make them feel at ease. I admit that I have a mailbox and giving out my home address on the internet makes me uncomfortable, not from the person, but because it's "out there."

Maybe I am overdue for another reading of the terms or maybe I am OK. 🤷‍♂️
 
I am very sorry if I sent anybody unsolicited PMs, but I thought that was what it was kind of for. Threads frequently go off the rails between two people and one of us PMs the other to continue our discussion. I am not sure what the apprehension is about non sales PMs as you are still on the forum, your security hasn't been compromised. If I PM somebody to offer something, I would take a chance and offer my personal email first to try to make them feel at ease. I admit that I have a mailbox and giving out my home address on the internet makes me uncomfortable, not from the person, but because it's "out there."

Maybe I am overdue for another reading of the terms or maybe I am OK. 🤷‍♂️
I understand. I run a bunch of blade PIFs (along with some amazing B&B'ers) and am VERY PROTECTIVE of the personal information sent to me. There's a level of trust that's been built up over time that situations like what @luvmysuper is dealing with can have a dramatic impact on. One bad apple can spoil it for the bunch.

That said, I haven't had any of my personal information abused or had any bad dealings with any here. I love B&B and hope events like in the OP stay the very rare exceptions.
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
I don't think starting an innocent chat with someone via PM falls under a dark cloud at all. That's what the PM system is for.
But if there's a buy or sell element to it that is not a response to a comment in the BST, that's problematic.
Any suspicious PM's should be reported.
 
Wow. I wonder how some people sleep at night with these kinds of things on their conscience. (Perhaps they don't...)

Perhaps they don't have a conscience!
About 3 years ago I got a phone call from a scammer. He said he was from publisher's clearing house and I had won blah blah blah. While doing his pitch I told him that I had one quick question. I asked him if his conscience bothered him at night knowing that he was trying to steal from innocent people. He blew a fuse and started cursing and yelling at me. Maybe his did and I struck a nerve. Who knows?
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
About 3 years ago I got a phone call from a scammer. He said he was from publisher's clearing house and I had won blah blah blah. While doing his pitch I told him that I had one quick question. I asked him if his conscience bothered him at night knowing that he was trying to steal from innocent people. He blew a fuse and started cursing and yelling at me. Maybe his did and I struck a nerve. Who knows?
Or he was Steve Harvey, you really won $5000 per week for life, and now HE is getting your money!
 
I got a PM, did not reply. Now it is gone :) It seemed a bit dodgy that someone wanted to redirect me to someone else's email who is selling something (a cheap handle) I needed.
 
I've sent PMs to people who were asking where to buy something, so I sent them the names of some shops. No affiliation, etc. I thought it was a friendly thing to do and not suspicious (at least I hope not). If I posted the name of the shops publicly, that could come off as advertising, which was not the intent.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
I've sent PMs to people who were asking where to buy something, so I sent them the names of some shops. No affiliation, etc. I thought it was a friendly thing to do and not suspicious (at least I hope not). If I posted the name of the shops publicly, that could come off as advertising, which was not the intent.
Nothing wrong with what you've done, as far as I can tell. Folks (maybe even you?) have done the same thing for me.

This member that did this particular thing though really saddens me. So little of this happens here, that it's shocking when it does.

I guess (I suppose I know!) that this is a testament to the hard work the Mods do behind the scenes.

Now maybe I'll be a little more apt to extend grace to the Mods if I think they come across a bit heavy handed.

Thanks for all you dudes do, dudes.
 
Top Bottom