Warning - be careful of con artists and scamsters

[shabbar]

Hi @shabbar

I'm sorry what happened to you, but there is really nothing we here on the forum can do except shut this guy out and warn people of his actions. As for my "taking care" of things that I mentioned, I was merely joking and I'm not into those kinds of things. (although I also feel like doing things like that sometimes to scammers).
I suggest you open a fraud case against this person and once the case is open, the ip address can be revealed to the police and they can take action.
What I can do is help you with your statement to the police to make sure we cover everything. I can do the statement for you in the correct format and make sure all the relevant information is in the statement. It's all I can do mate, as the crime did not happen in my area, you know, jurisdiction issues.

I do understand , I just thought you might have some contacts being in the force.
I would appreciate if you can help with the statement as I plan to take it further as im hust gatvol of crime. In 2 years I've been a victim of crime 5 times and this has just pushed me over the edge where people keep taking things we work hard for.

 

[shabbar]

Can I ask what was purchased?

I look at the classifieds daily so I can understand your frustration in getting ripped off especially if it's something u really want or a bargain.

Post count will be a good option to prevent fly by night sellers. The way the forum is designed is good in terms of notifications, maybe new comers should also be forced to introduce themselves before posting anything else.

Hey bro, long time...

It was a noisy cricket v2

 

[zadiac]

I do understand , I just thought you might have some contacts being in the force.
I would appreciate if you can help with the statement as I plan to take it further as im hust gatvol of crime. In 2 years I've been a victim of crime 5 times and this has just pushed me over the edge where people keep taking things we work hard for.

I will pm you tomorrow with everything you need to send me via pm. Cannot now unfortunately as it's already late for me and I have to get up at 3 am tomorrow morning. You can start by getting all info you can think of together. Chat tomorrow then.

 

[shabbar]

I will pm you tomorrow with everything you need to send me via pm. Cannot now unfortunately as it's already late for me and I have to get up at 3 am tomorrow morning. You can start by getting all info you can think of together. Chat tomorrow then.

Really appreciate it

 

[Spydro]

Hi all

Just a reminder to all members on the forum

When you purchase anything, make sure you are dealing with a reputable party and someone that you trust.

When in doubt, we suggest you only deal with well-known retailers or in the case of the Classifieds, a member with a longer history on the forum.

The Admin & Mod team have been made aware of a few instances where members have been taken for a ride. I.e. Have paid their money and the person vanished without sending the goods.

There is not much we can do after the fact in these situations. You buy and sell from each other at your own risk. What you can do is take precaution and do your checking beforehand.

Discussing potential purchases with other experienced forum members before you buy is a wise move - especially if you are dealing with an individual that is not well known or if something makes you feel a bit uncomfortable.

Take care and vape on

I'm not going to weed thru 4 pages of posts on this. But another thought if it hasn't been mentioned is make sure your form of payment is well protected as well.

What I use for all my vaping buys is specifically just for them. And it is very well protected when most of my buys have been from strangers. Recently an attempt was made to steal $500 from me, to pay a court fine to stay out of jail. He made the payment, but sortly after with the protection in place no money was stolen from me. With the undeniable proof from documented mistakes this moron made in the attempt, the process to prosecute him for the attempt has been added to his crimes. He will be nailed for it (if he's not already in jail for not paying the fine).

 

[Rafique]

Hey bro, long time...

It was a noisy cricket v2

Hey buddy yeah man it's been a while hope u get sorted out. Hate con artists especially when it comes to this forum because it really unexpected

 

[Lurkzilla]

Looking at the responses and atmosphere as a whole, this community is really a great place and a stark contrast to other forums I visit for various other hobbies. You guys are awesome.

I'll be giving the offending seller a day or two more to get his act together in case it is just a case of no or miscommunication then will follow shabbar's course of action. I have no time for dishonest folk.

 

[kev mac]

Funny thing is I didn't take note of the post count I was busy with work and only after I done the deal and paid for it I saw it, still it didn't bother me as I trust my fellow vapers and now this.


The thing is he could have sold it to a few interested buyers and just kept the mod.

@shabbar sorry to hear this bull crap has happened to you.Like you and most members I am a trusting sort when It comes to the forum especially. I can see how you just don't think in these terms when it is not part of ones character.

 

[SAVaper]

This is very sad. In all the years I have been buying online and from strangers, I have only been robbed once.
But it is a good reminder to be careful.

 

[shabbar]

Looking at the responses and atmosphere as a whole, this community is really a great place and a stark contrast to other forums I visit for various other hobbies. You guys are awesome.

I'll be giving the offending seller a day or two more to get his act together in case it is just a case of no or miscommunication then will follow shabbar's course of action. I have no time for dishonest folk.

I gave @R_str till Friday the 7th to sort his k@k out and have my goods sent to me , i will in the mean time get my statement in order with the help of @zadiac so Saturday morning i can pop in to the Saps to open a case.

@R_str you can still clear your name by doing the right thing and restoring faith in the community .

 

[Feliks Karp]

The one thing I have noticed is that lately several dubious members have switched their profiles to private/limited so you can't easily trace their interactions or their ratings, is this not hindering new members' abilities to be more cautious when dealing with other members?

 

[Rob Fisher]

The one thing I have noticed is that lately several dubious members have switched their profiles to private/limited so you can't easily trace their interactions or their ratings, is this not hindering new members' abilities to be more cautious when dealing with other members?

Didn't even know it could be done... but that would be a red flag for me!

 

[shabbar]

Didn't even know it could be done... but that would be a red flag for me!

neither did i , these things need to be visible and not be protected by privacy settings.

 

[OnePowerfulCorsa]

The one thing I have noticed is that lately several dubious members have switched their profiles to private/limited so you can't easily trace their interactions or their ratings, is this not hindering new members' abilities to be more cautious when dealing with other members?

Seriously, didn't know it was possible.

 

[Silver]

Guys, guys

Please can I just re-iterate what has been said by us all along...

You use the Classifieds at your own risk.

There is no way we as the Admin and Mod team can police it and make sure that no one gets conned. As it is, we have very little time to allocate since we are all doing this part time - and I think we do a pretty good job at making the Classifieds as clear as can be - with all the info there and we try our best to make sure members have all the info. Heck, you guys often remind members of things missing when we as the Admin and Mod team miss it.

You need to consider carefully the counterparty in your transaction. Have a look at their post count. Ask around. Ask some of the more experienced members if they have dealt with the person before. Be more sceptical who you deal with. Speak to the person on the phone. Suss them out before you part with your cash. And finally, remember that if you get conned or scammed, there is very little we as the Admin and mod team (or the forum) can do to remedy the situation. So rather be cautious beforehand than upset afterward.

And if you have a bad dealing, make constructive and clear use of the Post Sales Classifieds Reviews subforum, so that other members can learn and benefit from it.

 

[shabbar]

in other words GLWS = Good luck with that scam

 

[OnePowerfulCorsa]

in other words GLWS = Good luck with that scam

I think you are making this personal against the mods / admins. You trade / sell / buy at your own risk as do all of us. We use our scam radars as best we can and if we don't know the person or can't trust them we walk away. You weren't forced into this transaction.

 

[shabbar]

I think you are making this personal against the mods / admins. You trade / sell / buy at your own risk as do all of us. We use our scam radars as best we can and if we don't know the person or can't trust them we walk away. You weren't forced into this transaction.

No im not man , that was meant as a joke .

 

[OnePowerfulCorsa]

No im not man , that was meant as a joke .

Poor form bud. I really hope you come right though.

 

[Arno "NoxFord" Steyn]

I've been following this thread for the last few days and to be honest the fact that this post/thread needs to exist is what the hell is wrong with people today.

The Classifieds tells you from day one to be careful and that you use it at your own risk. Membership on the Forum is not Pay to Join so the fact that there is even admin being done means people like @Silver love vaping enough to spend their own time moderating and monitoring the Forum.

The fact that there are individuals having a fit about the classifieds and constantly trying to blame someone else for something that happened to them is a pointless waste of the admins time in my honest opinion. There is no way you can blame another site like BidorBuy or even Junkmail if you were not happy with what you bought or you got scammed.

@Silver Could we please remove this post as this is a serious reminder of the lack of inelegance that we have to deal with each day, there is a warning up on the classifieds and having this thread is seriously only handing some users a platform where they can dump their garbage.

 

[shabbar]

I've been following this thread for the last few days and to be honest the fact that this post/thread needs to exist is what the hell is wrong with people today.

The Classifieds tells you from day one to be careful and that you use it at your own risk. Membership on the Forum is not Pay to Join so the fact that there is even admin being done means people like @Silver love vaping enough to spend their own time moderating and monitoring the Forum.

The fact that there are individuals having a fit about the classifieds and constantly trying to blame someone else for something that happened to them is a pointless waist of the admins time in my honest opinion. There is no way you can blame another site like BidorBuy or even Junkmail if you were not happy with what you bought or you got scammed.

@Silver Could we please remove this post as this is a serious reminder of the lack of inelegance that we have to deal with each day, there is a warning up on the classifieds and having this thread is seriously only handing some users a platform where they can dump their garbage.

The nerve.

 

[Cespian]

I've been following this thread for the last few days and to be honest the fact that this post/thread needs to exist is what the hell is wrong with people today.

The Classifieds tells you from day one to be careful and that you use it at your own risk. Membership on the Forum is not Pay to Join so the fact that there is even admin being done means people like @Silver love vaping enough to spend their own time moderating and monitoring the Forum.

The fact that there are individuals having a fit about the classifieds and constantly trying to blame someone else for something that happened to them is a pointless waist of the admins time in my honest opinion. There is no way you can blame another site like BidorBuy or even Junkmail if you were not happy with what you bought or you got scammed.

@Silver Could we please remove this post as this is a serious reminder of the lack of inelegance that we have to deal with each day, there is a warning up on the classifieds and having this thread is seriously only handing some users a platform where they can dump their garbage.

Woah, I generally stay away from these posts, but wow, your write up moved me a little. In essence calling certain forum members STUPID (lack of intelligence) for asking for more security? The scammed individuals in no way blamed the admin team nor the forum from what I picked up (and actually explicitly said so) and rather asked what could be implemented to better the security.

Imagine renting a place... the landlord states in the contract that any break ins would not be his responsibility. But in the best interest of his tenant, he would install a safety gate and burgler bars. If he didnt and just told the tenant to deal with it, what would you think of this landlord? Thieves will still be creative, using crowbars and vehicle jacks, but at least there was preventative measures put in place to make the burglary difficult.

I think that forumites should force the use of PayPal as a payment mechanism as they support buyers protection (monies can be reversed). I personally feel that the mods do not need to implement any further changes (I'm generally a very picky buyer so this doesnt affect me), however I do understand the request for beefed up security.

 

[Feliks Karp]

I've been following this thread for the last few days and to be honest the fact that this post/thread needs to exist is what the hell is wrong with people today.

The Classifieds tells you from day one to be careful and that you use it at your own risk. Membership on the Forum is not Pay to Join so the fact that there is even admin being done means people like @Silver love vaping enough to spend their own time moderating and monitoring the Forum.

The fact that there are individuals having a fit about the classifieds and constantly trying to blame someone else for something that happened to them is a pointless waste of the admins time in my honest opinion. There is no way you can blame another site like BidorBuy or even Junkmail if you were not happy with what you bought or you got scammed.

@Silver Could we please remove this post as this is a serious reminder of the lack of inelegance that we have to deal with each day, there is a warning up on the classifieds and having this thread is seriously only handing some users a platform where they can dump their garbage.

The irony - shit posting about people dumping their garbage.

Both the people involved in this specifically said they don't blame the forum, they both admit to being taken off-guard and understandably asked if there was anything to be done about it. Should we all just shut the **** up except for when we talk about stuff that falls in to your box of relevancy?

 

[Normz]

I had to post here. I always meet up and pay cash for goods, but I do understand the risks, even with a meetup.

However, the need for this thread is clear, and @Arno "NoxFord" Steyn is out of line. Silver never insulted or spoke down to the forum, but merely stated to proceed with caution. A landlord not securing HIS OWN property for the sake of the tenants is one thing, but these folks are making this forum a reality for US.

[USER=64]@Silver and the rest of the team do not have unlimited resources, so it also falls to us, the community, to help where we can with these scammers.[/USER]

 

[Cespian]

I had to post here. I always meet up and pay cash for goods, but I do understand the risks, even with a meetup.

However, the need for this thread is clear, and @Arno "NoxFord" Steyn and @Cespian are out of line. Silver never insulted or spoke down to the forum, but merely stated to proceed with caution. A landlord not securing HIS OWN property for the sake of the tenants is one thing, but these folks are making this forum a reality for US.

@Silver and the rest of the team do not have unlimited resources, so it also falls to us, the community, to help where we can with these scammers.

For the record, @Silver and the rest of the team are well aware of how much I personally value and respect them...

I was horrified by @Arno "NoxFord" Steyn remarks - hence my response. Forumites have all the right to voice their opinion and ask for improvements. Did I once make a remark about anyones intelligence/integrity/character? If anyone perceived that to be my intention, please know that it wasnt.

I work in the development field. The only way I know if something is working well or not is from someone elses experience/findings. Sometimes we are too close to our own creations. This is in essence what this thread is about, us (forumites) making suggestions to make our experience better (that is the purpose of an open forum, no? Not just a select few dictating but rather what the community wants). Are we stupid for requesting beefed up security? Are we attacking the admin team for not implementing it? Are we devalueing our admin team. No, absolutely not. Heck, I dont even think anything should change, and now I am bathed in the same water as someone calling another member stupid?