Be very aware of scammers

All in all fairness someone who would join this forum simply to sell their XS650 is in the wrong place and to me would have been a red flag to delete the F/S thread until they made more posts (at least 10) that are relevant posts.

It might be best to require a 10 post minimum before you can buy/sale/trade on the forums. This is common practice on other forums. Post history has to be manually reviewed before access is given. The reason for this is that the spammers use some software to automate posting to get around this. They will just reply to a thread programmatically with things like "I agree" or "Thanks for the tip". They have to be real, engaging posts and spammers don't take the time to do this.
 
I forgot to mention, that on other forums... you cannot even view the sale/trade/buy forums until you are approved. This is to prevent scammers from using software to "scrape" the threads to find contact information and contact you outside the forums to scam you or even do it via PM.
 
Maraakate said:
All in all fairness someone who would join this forum simply to sell their XS650 is in the wrong place and to me would have been a red flag to delete the F/S thread until they made more posts (at least 10) that are relevant posts.

It might be best to require a 10 post minimum before you can buy/sale/trade on the forums. This is common practice on other forums. Post history has to be manually reviewed before access is given. The reason for this is that the spammers use some software to automate posting to get around this. They will just reply to a thread programmatically with things like "I agree" or "Thanks for the tip". They have to be real, engaging posts and spammers don't take the time to do this.
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But I'm guessing he wasn't here to sell his 'XS650', doubt that he really owns one. If you go to some of those links in the search results I posted you'll see that he tries to fit in wherever he joined - says he owns a BMW in one of them, a Mitsubishi Galant in another and a Toyota GR86 Base RWD 2D Coupe in yet another to name a few. He didn't post at all, he was only here for 2 minutes but went straight to the Parts Wanted section to see what members were looking for so he could cook up some fake responses for having the parts they need in a few days after we forget about him for a minute. I've seen it too many times already.

This forum software does not have a limitation adjustment for certain types of posts so we can't set a minimum. That's why I watch them very closely and do my research to see what they've done elsewhere.
 
Maraakate said:
I forgot to mention, that on other forums... you cannot even view the sale/trade/buy forums until you are approved. This is to prevent scammers from using software to "scrape" the threads to find contact information and contact you outside the forums to scam you or even do it via PM.
Click to expand...

But he WAS approved - I did it late, right before going to bed, because everything about him checked out clean. It was THEN that I noticed where he went immediately upon being able to navigate all forum sections and saw he went to the Parts Wanted section, just like so many in the past. So I made it a point to further investigate this morning. Also, when a username is also the exact same as the prefix of his email address that's often a clue too, and his was.
 
LongDistanceRider said:
In fairness, I approved him Tom. One more demerit added.
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Thanks, but unless we did it simultaneously, it was me - I was working on both of those when you emailed and (pretty sure) I had already marked them as Registered Users when your email came in. But it was right after that I noticed him in the Parts Wanted section so I had a feeling he might be up to nefarious stuff. No matter, when I saw the search results this morning it was immediately obvious so he got the boot.
 
Since we have a steady stream of new members each day, it's important to stay vigilant about being aware of potential scammers in our midst. No matter how thoroughly Jim and I vet new members, once in a while one gets through by using a fresh email address that has never been associated with any spam abuse or bot activity.

So again, if you get an unsolicited PM (private message) from anyone about your Parts Wanted ad here, check their profile immediately to see if they have ever posted. If not, DO NOT answer them and DO NOT fall for anything they might have said. And if you have any questions about anything in this regard, do not hesitate to PM either me or Jim (LongDistanceRider).
 
Well, it's Christmas Day here in the US and another scammer came out from under a rock, thinking we wouldn't notice... bye bye @Robertlee2, you'll need to be a lot smarter to pull that crap around here. Not a surprise that he and his cohort 'fredflintstone' have tried this elsewhere.

 
Just a reminder to all that scammers never give up, and are always trying to find new ways to get past our careful vetting of new members. We haven't had any incidents recently, but it's an ongoing battle as they never give up trying to steal from honest people in forum situations like ours.

If anyone sends you a PM (private message) offering you a part you're looking for but insists on cash or any payment that is of the "friends and family" nature (which have no recourse for you if it's a scam), do not engage or fall for it and immediately PM me or Jim (@LongDistanceRider) to let us know about it so we can take the appropriate action.
 
This may have been mentioned in this thread but a handy tool to use when browsing for bikes or parts is Google Images. Back in December I ran across a nice SL350 (I think) here in North Carolina but the price was a bit too good so grabbed a copy of one the images posted on Craigslist and then dropped the image file into the Google Image search box. It immediately popped up a Craigslist ad in Dallas that was almost word for word the same as the one I was looking at. Nuff said moving on.
 
RobMan said:
This may have been mentioned in this thread but a handy tool to use when browsing for bikes or parts is Google Images. Back in December I ran across a nice SL350 (I think) here in North Carolina but the price was a bit too good so grabbed a copy of one the images posted on Craigslist and then dropped the image file into the Google Image search box. It immediately popped up a Craigslist ad in Dallas that was almost word for word the same as the one I was looking at. Nuff said moving on.
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Rob, that's a great idea and one I hadn't thought of to use modern tech to eliminate the frauds.

I bring this thread up fresh now and then because each time I discover a scammer that got past us, or tried to join and was denied, I post links to their other attempts found on other forums. These guys are slick but not necessarily smart.
 
Talking of scammers, yesterday morning (Saturday 27th April) I was woken up early by an Indian (Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc) gentleman who said he was from Publix Pharmacy updating patient information.
As it's where I get my prescriptions (plus being half asleep) I just said yeah.
Then he started on address but repeated his updating patient information which made me think 'that's odd'
I started asking him questions.
He just repeated same thing so I said I'd update things when I called in later.
Repeated 'update yaddah, yaddah' so I hung up (and went back to sleep, Jaxon had been running around all night)
Few hours later, woman from Indian sub-continent rang, 'I'm from Walgreens Pharmacy, updating patient information'
Was properly awake so thought I would play the game, but, got bored real quick and told her I was reporting number to police.
Don't think she could disconnect fast enough.
:ninja:
 
crazypj said:
Few hours later, woman from Indian sub-continent rang, 'I'm from Walgreens Pharmacy, updating patient information'
Was properly awake so thought I would play the game, but, got bored real quick and told her I was reporting number to police.
Don't think she could disconnect fast enough.
:ninja:
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Sadly because caller ID is a joke reporting a number is futile.
 
A few years ago there was a scam here in Canada whereby the scammers would call claiming to be from the CRA (equivalent to the IRS is the US). They said that there was a big issue with my tax return and that I needed to pay immediately otherwise the police would be at my door to take me off to jail until the fine was paid. They told me to hang up and that I would soon be getting a call from the police and to avoid going to jail I would have to explain to them that I made arrangements with the CRA fellow to pay the fines.

Sure enough about a minute later the "police" called and said they were going to be over within 30 minutes. Funny that the CRA agent sounded exactly like the police man. Anyway I explained that I was going to pay the fine and he hung up. The CRA agent called back and started to explain how I should go about paying this fine. Needless to say I knew from the start it was a scam but wanted to keep these jokers on the line as long as possible. I played along asking how I could pay and he insisted I had to go to the back to get cash. I explained there was a raging snowstorm going on and that it might take some time to get to the bank. There was a lot of back and forth.

A long story short I kept him on the line for a long time and finally said to him "how long have we been talking?". He replied about 40 minutes. I then told him that I think I wasted enough of his time and to go f@#k himself. He said he was going to send the police and I told him again to go f himself. He was quite angry at having someone on the hook for that long just to get away at the end.

No need to report him, I never got another call like that again. I think my number was taken off the list.
 
crazypj said:
'Do not call' is another joke since Verizon's chief lobbyist started running FCC
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Well sadly thanks to the internet we can be harassed by phone calls from foreign countries with virtually no accountability. The phone companies could identify and block that traffic but they have no incentive to do so.
Even when the FCC does manage to fine phone spammer/scammers they have very little ability to actually collect those fines.
 
That reminds me of that hacker who hacked some scammers whilst on the phone trying to scam him. That was a funny watch. (can't find the video now with all the youtube clickbaits)

Once I had a woman calling me and telling me that she was from Microsoft and she has detected issues with my Microsoft Windows and I need to follow her advice in order to fix them.
I entertained that call for a while, as she was trying to make me install some virus from a site named "migrosoft.something" by giving me detailed instructions on what icon to click, what to type on the address bar, what to download and double-click to open it.
I was not even close to my computer and she gave up when she realized I was mocking about.
 
LOL I had a bunch of those 2016~17 ish.
The 'great Microsoft scam' we all fell for (and kept upgrading Windoze)
Mostly just hung up but couple of times I was waiting for Jaxon to wake up so had time to kill
Just went along with it for fun, never could get what they told me to do to work though?
After30~40 mins or so (or I heard him moving around, he was a terror at two and three) I told whoever I was talking to it didn't seem to be working on Linux.
Often, that didn't phase them, doubt they knew what Linux was?
 
Gunbroker as well. Seems like a hell of a lot of work for a scam.
 
crazypj said:
LOL I had a bunch of those 2016~17 ish.
The 'great Microsoft scam' we all fell for (and kept upgrading Windoze)
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To this day, I ask spammers and scammers of all types "..can you help me with my Window?". Or I ask them if they want to buy long-term life care insurance.
crazypj said:
Often, that didn't phase them, doubt they knew what Linux was?
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(y)(y)(y)(y)(y) I use Xubuntu... and I have used this exact tactic ( I am NOT trying to sound smart. Xubuntu is less difficult than Windows 98 was. It's only Linux if you "lift the hood").

My record for keeping a spammer "on the line" was nearly two hours of baiting a texter who was eventually "trying to recruit me" (?). They had eventually claimed they were working at a cafe in Florida before it was over.
At the end, my partner and I sent extremely gross and nasty photos with macabre and "funny" captions. He sent us enraged (and prob ably well-earned) threats on and off for I think around 90 minutes.
 
ancientdad said:
No matter how thoroughly Jim and I vet new members, once in a while one gets through by using a fresh email address that has never been associated with any spam abuse or bot activity.
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I'm still new here, and haven't posted much, or even done much on my bike (which is coming along at a snail's pace).
As a newer user, I want to thank you VERY MUCH. I appreciate the vetting you did. I wondered at first if maybe you guys were being paranoid, or if there was some kind of weird conflict with the other forums, but I just sat back and read posts until I got a good picture of why there was a split.

I've been participating in online forums (not always productively, or functionally), since 1996. I've been using eBay since 1999 (not always frequently). I resisted PayPal as long as I could, and, fortunately, avoided getting scammed (I was using Western Union's competing service first).

In modern times, when one chooses a vintage project of any sort, they should be taking into account *as a future user* that they also need to vet that project's online culture. Moped culture is akin to monkeys throwing umm banana peels at each other. Non-Vespa scooter culture is much more civilized.

Yamaha SR500 forum culture taught me how awesome internet communites could be. I never saw the like. But from what I've seen so far, you're doing an even better job here.
Scams are worse, bots are better, and it's always been a lot of work keeping up with it. One of the reasons I am (so far) keeping this project is because of the community here. Will I be a good fit? Who knows. It won't be because you guys don't work to make it safe for the members to participate.

Finding a good community for bikes is hard. If I walk from this bike, I'll probably find another CB350. Thanks for fighting ther scammers. I have a had quite a few real-life mod friends, and I know how much work it can be.

<I edited some typos>
 
SRgoThump said:
I'm still new here, and haven't posted much, or even done much on my bike (which is coming along at a snail's pace).
As a newer user, I want to thank you VERY MUCH. I appreciate the vetting you did. I wondered at first if maybe you guys were being paranoid, or if there was some kind of weird conflict with the other forums, but I just sat back and read posts until I got a good picture of why there was a split.

I've been participating in online forums (not always productively, or functionally), since 1996. I've been using eBay since 1999 (not always frequently). I resisted PayPal as long as I could, and, fortunately, avoided getting scammed (I was using Western Union's competing service first).

In modern times, when one chooses a vintage project of any sort, they should be taking into account *as a future user* that they also need to vet that project's online culture. Moped culture is akin to monkeys throwing umm banana peels at each other. Non-Vespa scooter culture is much more civilized.

Yamaha SR500 forum culture taught me how awesome internet communites could be. I never saw the like. But from what I've seen so far, you're doing an even better job here.
Scams are worse, bots are better, and it's always been a lot of work keeping up with it. One of the reasons I am (so far) keeping this project is because of the community here. Will I be a good fit? Who knows. It won't be because you guys don't work to make it safe for the members to participate.

Finding a good community for bikes is hard. If I walk from this bike, I'll probably find another CB350. Thanks for fighting ther scammers. I have a had quite a few real-life mod friends, and I know how much work it can be.

<I edited some typos>
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Thanks very much for the kind words, we certainly try. When Jim and I were getting started here we talked about manually vetting all new members because we'd seen so many frauds get through the automated system our current forum software (and what HT was using about 6 months before we left) uses, so we've checked each and every new member that way since day 1. We've rejected a few hundred spammers/scammers in the last 4 years and we've gotten used to their typical tactics.

I still check HT pretty much every day to see if there are any members there with obvious enough usernames that I could find elsewhere on the internet so I can try to find a way to invite them here, and while watching there I often see new users who are pretty obvious frauds. When I see a scammer there I make mention of it here so the community will know about them on the off chance they might slip past our vetting.

If your current project doesn't work out for you, we'll be here when you find another CB350.
 
This one is still at it. Different usernames at each forum, but the same email address - [email protected] (and then there's always the "m" added one space away from the email address as if it's just a typo)

www.swedespeed.com

P1 C70 Nordic Oak Trim

www.swedespeed.com www.swedespeed.com

www.rangerovers.net

Looking for Lower Dash for '92 County

www.rangerovers.net www.rangerovers.net

www.vwvortex.com

Piston Rod Bolts

www.vwvortex.com www.vwvortex.com

Sad part is, I can't tell this guy he's falling for a scammer... and the fine admin there might get to it in a day or so. Or maybe not, since this same scammer's previous posts are still there now.

Pamco ignitions
 
Boomer343 said:
AD I put a posting on Honda twins about the scammer.
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It's a double-edged sword... we like to help people, and of course no one wants anyone to get scammed, but if the few of us that still go and help there just stopped that place would die off pretty quickly. Glad you mentioned it there, it's obvious Keith missed that one the first time he went through.
 
ancientdad said:
This one is still at it. Different usernames at each forum, but the same email address - [email protected] (and then there's always the "m" added one space away from the email address as if it's just a typo)

www.swedespeed.com

P1 C70 Nordic Oak Trim

www.swedespeed.com www.swedespeed.com

www.rangerovers.net

Looking for Lower Dash for '92 County

www.rangerovers.net www.rangerovers.net

www.vwvortex.com

Piston Rod Bolts

www.vwvortex.com www.vwvortex.com

Sad part is, I can't tell this guy he's falling for a scammer... and the fine admin there might get to it in a day or so. Or maybe not, since this same scammer's previous posts are still there now.

Pamco ignitions
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Same guy again? I just threw a comment on the post. He was on Gunbroker claiming to have hard to find optics for AR’s for unreal prices. Oddly, he gets really quiet when you will only do PayPal for purchases and not friends and family.
 
LongDistanceRider said:
And this is why Tom and myself vet each new member carefully. Some are easy to detect like saying they're in Kansas when they're actually posting from Russia while others are more difficult.
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Does 'Inspect page source' help?
I use Firefox or DuckDuckGo so return addresses are easier to trace.
 
crazypj said:
Does 'Inspect page source' help?
I use Firefox or DuckDuckGo so return addresses are easier to trace.
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I don't use it. We've found many sources of confirming location and VPN use among other stuff we look at on every new member. It's time consuming but the results are worth it.
 
It's that time again, time to remind everyone about the potential for scammers who last long enough here to get to the post limit so they can PM unsuspecting members with "parts for sale" that they or their "friend" has. Under no circumstances should you EVER use "Friends and Family" through PayPal to buy something from an individual, you will have NO recourse. Do not give in to pressure from the "seller".

I watch these things very closely, but I can't be here 24/7 so be aware when a new-ish member replies to your Parts Wanted ad with a suggestion that his buddy or friend has what you need and offers their email address for contact.

I will out them every time I see one, but STAY VIGILANT and do not get scammed.
 
Another couple weeks, another scammer. Saw this one at HT this morning, seems they haven't been as busy as some. Only found a couple other sites they posted on and it seems both of them already booted them.

Air box to carb boots ~ source?​


Keep your eyes open for the username "weketa" and this email address they "refer" you to - [email protected] m (and be sure to note the gap between co and m, it's intentional to try to avoid detection).

If you somehow see either of these above, DO NOT RESPOND OR ENGAGE.
 
And with respect to the above, sadly the OP of the thread actually responded to the scammer with a "thank you". Hopefully he does not fall for it, but it seems there's no admin support there lately...
 
Totally off topic but I did want to call out how much I appreciate the lack of freaking ads all over the forum pages here. I thought I recognized that name from one of the Chevy forums - I’m still trying to clear pop ups from checking there.
 
Hey kids! THIS is why we manually vet each new member, require an introduction (because the bad guys don't like to talk about themselves truthfully), require manual approval of any new member's first 10 posts, and keep a close watch for new 'members' using the same IP address as someone who is already banned. :rolleyes:

And look - he's in the Parts Wanted ads.

1757185734480.png
 
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As an ongoing followup, the daily fight against scammers in our midst continues. It's been a busy last couple weeks for the crowd who doesn't want to work for a living.

Of the last 40 new registrations since late January, 18 of them have been banned.
 
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