Warning ⚠️- I was close to being scammed on the Classified Forum

[HadaDaytona]

I reached out to forum members in hope of finding parts for a Daytona RS build.

I was contacted with a lead. The lead was an email of a guy named Leo. When I sent him an email he responded calling himself Sean and asked what I needed. I replied a Sport 1100 fuel tank and maybe a V10 engine right head. He sent me great photos of the tank with a great price $350 including shipping and said he thought he had a V10 engine. I said I would take the tank and he followed with information to wire money from to him (Basir Morgan) from my bank. My bank thought there were some red flags 🚩 

I replied and asked if the V10 came out of a Sport 1100 ? He said yes. 
at this point I grabbed my wallet and ran. That night I was on EBay Germany looking for Guzzi parts when I saw all the photos he sent me for the Guzzi Fuel tank in an ad. Instead of $350 including shipping it was EUR 700 !

Just an FYI - I was getting scammed and almost lost $350 . eBay protects its buyers as well as PayPal.

[docc]

If anyone is contacted on the forum's Personal Message system with an email contact, please go to that message a click "Report" so the Admin can deal with the user.  The tip-off is always "I have a friend" or "I have an uncle", rather than "here is my email address."

All members, please note this post pinned in the "Wanted" classifieds:

 

[p6x]

9 minutes ago, docc said:

@HadaDaytona, were you contacted on this forum's Messaging system?

Please go to that message a click "Report" so the Admin can deal with the user.

Also, you can "Message" me the name of the member that contacted you.

All members, please note this post pinned in the "Wanted" classifieds:

 

I donc think this is coming from this forum; I looked up his messaging activity, and did not see a request for Daytona RS parts.

Wiring money in a bank to bank transfer is safe, buyer's account to seller's account. This is because it is impossible to open a bank account without the necessary credential. Especially now. To open a bank account, you need government identification, a verified address; in the USA, you need a social security number too.

Scams are easier using those new methods of payments, even if they are some security checks, such as PayPal requesting a bank account backup. But PayPal is not as secure as a bank account.

 

[docc]

2 hours ago, p6x said:

I donc think this is coming from this forum; I looked up his messaging activity, and did not see a request for Daytona RS parts.

Wiring money in a bank to bank transfer is safe, buyer's account to seller's account. This is because it is impossible to open a bank account without the necessary credential. Especially now. To open a bank account, you need government identification, a verified address; in the USA, you need a social security number too.

Scams are easier using those new methods of payments, even if they are some security checks, such as PayPal requesting a bank account backup. But PayPal is not as secure as a bank account.

 

I know this is just a matter of semantics and terminology, but to clarify:

When a member uses "Message" on this platform (within the forum structure), no one else can see the content besides the participants. This is also referred to as "PM" (Personal Messenger or Private Message) and sometimes "DM" (Direct Message). Even as a Moderator, I cannot see this content.

What we can all see is each member's topics, posting, and replies. An unwelcome, registered member may (likely) have seen @HadaDaytona's "Wanted" topic ( . . ."Just bought a front fairing for a 1997 Daytona RS" . . .) and two other inquiries seeking parts on Classifieds. In this case, the unwanted user likely "Messaged" our member with the external email contact information. Again, this is strictly a Red Flag and should be reported by clicking the "Report" button on the message.

Also, for clarification, please know that your email address is only seen by the Admin and the Moderator.  No member can see another's email unless a member posts it here. Further, please know that software developers can parse our paltry attempts to veil our email or phone numbers when we post something like "bobseven- at_geewhiz-mail-" or whatever. Or phone numbers mixed with words and numerals: seven 5 one two 3 4 eight nine 7 6 (for example).

A senior software engineer once looked at me quizzically and said, "You don't think we can figure that out ?"

[p6x]

@docc

I have been part of an IT department towards the end of my career. I am certain you are aware that whatever is on your email server can be scrubbed, unless it is encrypted.

I do believe that the private messages can be read by Jaap if he wanted to. Because he manages the forum.

But it is not a big deal. Most of us have multiple email addresses, and we should also be aware that there is most likely very little confidentiality with either yahoo, Gmail, or what not.

Anyway, the scammers have the ability to create whatever email address they need in an attempt to fool their targets. I receive a lot of phishing attempts on one specific address.

See the one below; my ISP is actually Xfinity; each month, I receive that same email. It looks authentic, only my Xfinity bill is automatically drawn from my bank account. 

They don't know that. I keep telling Comcast about it, but they don't seem to be worried about it. Whoever is sending that email, is in Thailand, and there is nothing I can do about it.

[Admin Jaap]

HadaDaytona contacted me about this scammer. I told him to put up a warning on the forum for everyone to read. 
If the scammer turns out to be a forum member I will name & shame him and take all appropriate measures.

Fwiw: I can’t read personal messages either. Maybe if I go directly into the database, but then I still have to decode them. Let HadaDaytona reply to this thread or send me a PM. Then we can do something about it

[audiomick]

10 hours ago, Admin Jaap said:

Fwiw: I can’t read personal messages either.

I thought so. I'm one of the Admins on a German forum, and we can't see personal messages there either.

I doubt that one could see them in the database either, actually.

[docc]

Offender identified and blocked. Account deleted.

Do not hesitate to report this kind of activity so that we can act on it swiftly.

Thank you @HadaDaytona for the assistance!