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Scammers

Unfortunately there's not much that can be done to make sure the forum is completely free of scammers, just do enough to put them off. I like the idea of having a post count before getting access to the classifieds. Sure this might put off people who only want to buy/sell but if they're not engaging with the rest of the forum are they going to be missed?

Imo the most effective way of staying on top of any scammers is to have admin who are quick to deal with any who rear their ugly heads and a community who look out for each other and aren't afraid to call out bullshit. Fortunately this place is pretty good at that, especially compared to other forums or social media platforms 

 
Daveoc33 said:
On another forum there's a 50 post minimum before you get access to the classifieds section. It's not a bad idea I don't think. It's a pain if you're new and want to buy/sell stuff but it would definitely prevent a few scammers like this guy. Also I can't be the only one who gets a bit nervous when someone with 0 post count who joined 5 mins ago wants to buy something of mine. 
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The problem is this dickhead is going through Pm's

 
Jez_Armstrong said:
6 hours ago, Daveoc33 said:
On another forum there's a 50 post minimum before you get access to the classifieds section. It's not a bad idea I don't think. It's a pain if you're new and want to buy/sell stuff but it would definitely prevent a few scammers like this guy. Also I can't be the only one who gets a bit nervous when someone with 0 post count who joined 5 mins ago wants to buy something of mine. 
Expand  
Click to expand...
The problem is this dickhead is going through Pm's
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Sure, but if he doesn't have access to classified section he can't see anything wanted or for sale. So he won't know who to pm. If that makes sense.. 

 
The reality is that there's a hard core of determined scammers who are determined to scam.  They'll come back again and again and again, and jump through any hoop in order to get access to victims.

So I'm going to be a little contrarian and suggest that - while it's great that accounts are getting squished when they're spotted - ultimately this is a caveat emptor issue.

Could we add a big warning on signup, or on the first post in the classifieds?

90hrw7.jpg


 
Very true, & regarding "buyer beware", I wonder how many buyers that get scammed, primarily on here as it's probably the busiest UK forum, are the types who just sign up for the classifieds access, without reading other threads, in particular the horror stories & warnings regarding scams & sending money ?.

One might argue that those are the people that bring it on themselves, & are technically the "enablers" that the scammers rely upon ?.

 
Just throwing this out in a devil’s advocate kind of way:

If you enforced a post count and a scammer abides, would we then be giving them some kind of false legitimacy? A questionable PM from a new user is a slam dunk, you might think a bit longer if they’ve got 50 posts.

All buyer beware at the end of the day though.

 
As much as you can try and lock down a forum and add as many hoops as possible for a scammer to jump through, someone who knows they can get free money from people will become an athlete at jumping through hoops. 

The best defence is you becoming suspicious of absolutely everyone you don't know personally. 

If someone came up to you in the street and said they would give you a watch in 3 days of you gave them £200, would you hand over the cash, no of course you don't, but some people do, that's why this guy is sending everyone a Pm because 1/10 people will bite but wouldn't you feel a bit more comfortable knowing that money has a string attached to it and if things went sour you can pull it back?

That's what PayPal goods and services is.... 

I don't know how many times I've seen posts from people saying they sent some random person money through friends and family or via bank transfer because the seller wanted to save on fees, those fees are there to protect you... Not them 

I don't wish to toot my own horn or jinx it but in the 20 years I've been playing and the 700+ guns and countless bits of equipment I've bought no one has ever scammed me but maybe that's because my due diligence is so high, before I send anyone money I read their full profile, I scan all their posts, I see what guns they've sold in the past, I read all their feedback, I see how long they have been in the site, I try and find their Facebook profile..... I want every single bit of information I can find before I hand my hard earned money over to a stranger and if that person is new to the site but genuinely might have that product, I'll ask them to take a photo of the item with them holding a can of spam.... A literal can of spam, you want my money, go buy a can of spam, is that over the top? Maybe but it's my fucking money 

(this came up from a car forum over 15 years ago, guy claimed he had some super sick car and no one believed him and someone threw out this stupid idea to hold up a can of spam next to his car and he did, forum blew up, spam photo became a thing to prove said item was yours) 

Scammers will always come and go, you'll never get rid of them but please do everything you can to cover your arse by using G&S

 
The way I see it, a country or regional ban would potentially lock out a large percentage of scammers, & it's not that drastic when you consider the number of viable posts we get from the likes of china/india/Russia etc etc, pretty much zero.

Then add add a post count before classifieds access is granted, again that would deter many, but even if some are persistent & attempt to spam posts or waffle about airsoft, it's likely we'd soon weed them out by their lack of knowledge & possible poor grammar  ?.

That then just leaves the relatively small number of uk based scammers who play, or at least used to,  think Steven Glennie etc, who may have the knowledge, but probably not the persistence to try to accomplish the post count access, but it's a lot of work to get there knowing your first dodgy deal would probably get you banned & back to square one, which will hopefully be made more difficult by members keeping their wits about them when it comes to paying for stuff, ALWAYS GOODS & SERVICES VIA PAYPAL, & if its swaps, insist that whoever has the lower feedback needs to send their item first. 

 
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It’s about to get worse!

Discord has banned the sales of anything gun shaped!

Our classifieds are going to get busier!! 

 
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With VPNs being so common would country or region specific bans actually do anything?

 
Cannonfodder said:
With VPNs being so common would country or region specific bans actually do anything?
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Possibly not, maybe the less technically minded jizzbuckets will be kept out ?, but then the post count limit would hopefully befuddle those using vpn's,  to be fair whoever thought that an airsoft forum would be a good place to offer the services of a witchdoctor & his potions, but doesn'tstop them trying.

Multi layered is the way to go, just like irl, make your place look more secure & less attractive than your neighbours,  so the scrotes go elsewhere........send em to zin, they need the business lol ? 

 
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Tbh I hadn't even considered the voodoo witch doctor stuff as to me that's more of an annoyance as it's pretty obvious they're bullshit and they usually just spam all sections rather than sticking to the classifieds. Admin do a pretty good of removing them quickly too but if they're unable to spam the forum anyway then that can only be a good thing.

I agree that any approach needs to be multi layered and there's no 1 magic solution. As I've posted before the best deterrent to scammers is for all users to use common sense, stay vigilant and, possibly most importantly, call it out when they smell bullshit.

 
Enid_Puceflange said:
It’s about to get worse!

Discord has banned the sales of anything gun shaped!

Our classifieds are going to get busier!! 
Click to expand...
Annoyed that this has happened. I'm in a few Discords and all but one of the smaller ones have suspended their sales channels. They were a great place to hang out and casually chat with people or ask for advice. I suspect without the sales channels being active they'll die off pretty quickly.

 
Isn’t scamming the second oldest ocuppation? 
 

Sadly money brings out the worst in people. I’ve been lucky I think but I always try to communicate with people offline as well, if they have a mobile number great but not always fool proof. 
 

I think the ratings system works well and if people actually contribute on the forum is a green flag. 
 

But as always buyer beware, do your due diligence and if it’s too good to be true it likely is. 

 
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