Scams and Scam Sites - Please list here

"You can't cheat an honest man."

.455_Hunter said:

My 85 year old Dad, who passed in January, would laugh at the notion of being a "digital immigrant". He had been an active PC based computer user since 1990.

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I am 67 and was introduced to computers when the TRS80 was state of the art and I carried my operating system on a 5-1/4" floppy disk between classes. Still, I do not consider myself 'expert' by any means when it comes to computers and the digital world. I use them out of necessity and would do without them if I could.

These types of scam situations are adapting to the medium. Unfortunate that there are these types of people who do not have a conscious and deceive others: Amazon refund scams, Microsoft tech support for virus removal, etc.

Many of us are in the age group where articles from AARP have tips on avoiding common scams online, phone phishing and snail mail. This info is also available readily online. If you know of people that may be swayed by these types of money grabbing scams, pass the info forward so they can be aware.

Yesterday I received a message that my Amazon account had been locked and to verify the billing info with a click link. The return address doesn't even originate at an Amazon address but some other host site.

One of the times I think of Sharia law and thieves.

My sister-in-law had her identity stolen twice, and lost a few thou. She was a bit of a whiz with computers. In an artful con, my sister was scammed out of 30,000.00 bucks. (No typo there.)

I'm 67, but took computer science classes and repair computers, etc. So far I've not been scammed, (luckily!), even though I shop a lot on the net.

In this case, I read/watched some reviews, and decided I wanted a 410 upper. I did not know the price had doubled, and that they were very hard to find. So when I found one for $238.95, which was around 20 bucks more than the reviewers had paid, I was ready to go for it. Until I spotted the snakey payment methods at checkout that is.... Some research opened my eyes further.

This is a bit different than the all too common, "Too good to be true" scenarios. If ya find primers in stock and for half price, with cash payment, and ya "bite", well then you almost deserve to get bit!

Vettepilot

unclenunzie said:

No legit seller will ask for payment in the form of untraceable money (money order).

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A private firearm sale almost has to use a MO or a personal check. PayPal will lock your account and keep your money if they find out you violated their terms of service by buying a firearm. A legitimate business should be set up to accept credit cards, but if you buy something from me I’m going to want a MO.

Elkins45 said:

A private firearm sale almost has to use a MO or a personal check. PayPal will lock your account and keep your money if they find out you violated their terms of service by buying a firearm. A legitimate business should be set up to accept credit cards, but if you buy something from me I’m going to want a MO.

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Sure, but this was about scam website "businesses".

Paying attention will prevent being scammed, in many cases.

I received a phone call from a heavy accented, foreign individual claiming to be from Amazon, verifying my order information. I have NEVER ordered from Amazon.
I kept his POS on the phone for 30 minutes, he was continuously trying to get my credit card number, to "confirm my identity, to allow him to cancel the fraudulent order."

When I asked him why his phone number was a sell phone in Washington, not a business landline and Amazon fraud division was in New York, he offers to call me back on another line "to prove he was legit". I said no, about 15 more seconds and it would have him pin pointed, with cops enroute. He hung up, quickly.

unclenunzie said:

Sure, but this was about scam website "businesses".

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It was also about GunBroker transactions. The one time I sold a gun on GB I requested an MO and the seller sent one after we had a phone conversation. As a practical matter I think it’s never a bad idea to talk to an actual human before sending large sums of money.

Not guns, but outdoors: knifesilo.com has every Spyderco knife listed at $66.49, including some dealer exclusives costing over $200. They actually list an address on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hill LOL.

All good info BUT with 1099ks as a "reward" for receiving more than $600/year, the rules of the game have changed. For small sellers regular PayPal or any credit card go the way of the do-do. Been watching many GunBroker payment options go to only USPS MO's , Cashiers Checks and even some resurgence of personal checks. Bet PP F+F will be on the block soon adding to all the other drawbacks. Heck even the much touted (by them) GunBroker Pay is not looking good due to traceability. Add in out of control fuel (and shipping surcharges) taxes and fees and its gonna tend to be a rich man only game and possibly a scammers paradise.

Was going to order some ammo at this place: https://cheapammostore.com/
500 rounds of Hornady American Gunner .38 Special 125 Grain eXtreme Terminal Performance for $230 sounded way too good to be true. I started inspecting their site and found at the bottom of the main page it says Illinois, USA, but if you click the CONTACT US tab at the top it shows an address in Oregon. The Oregon address led me to a different company: https://www.gunrunnerarms.com/index.html and they have a scam alert on their page:

Ever since the last ammo shortage started scammers have stepped up their efforts to separate you dishonesty from your money. Several months ago a online scam called Sega Ammo Shop started using the address at GunRunner Arms (93244 HWY 99 S). Through pressure from the FCC and the Internet Crime reporting system Sega changed their address to another gun shop in Michigan. Now there is another site using our address (more on them later) If you see our address listed on another website and they claim it as theirs it is not. All communication will be done at https://www.gunrunnerarms.com/ or in our store and nowhere else.

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Pays to be cautious.

I have bought on gunbroker a couple of times, both from a dealer who I found listed with a matching address and phone number as well as a current FFL. (I didn't go looking for the same dealer the second time, but was happy to see it was him.)

I'm curious to know, if a person "buys" on gunbroker from what turns out to be a scammer, does gunbroker help get the money back?

Insignificant bill said:

Scams would end if people used their brains and tempered their impulses. Most of the scams are not even very sophisticated.

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Or just similar to "I saw it on the internet, it must be true."

Elkins45 said:

If you’re in your 40’s then you’ve spent a good portion of your life in the connected era and have lived thru the evolution of these scams. I wonder if many of their victims are 60+ and only became exposed to online commerce much later in life and it’s such a foreign environment they don’t even know what they don‘t know.

Digital natives vs digital immigrants, to use the popular phrase.

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Well past 60 here but a former systems analyst.

Elkins45 said:

Not guns, but outdoors: knifesilo.com has every Spyderco knife listed at $66.49, including some dealer exclusives costing over $200. They actually list an address on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hill LOL.

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Probably at a mailbox & fax place.

bdickens said:

"You can't cheat an honest man."

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I don't know who first said that but there's no truth in it. Sadly, often times honest men presume others share their same high ideals and pay the price for being ignorant. Honest people aren't always smart people-I'm a good example.

The 1099k issue may have some strange side effects for small guys like me. . Today i got paid thru mail in cash. Less than $100 each but first for me. Neither asked in advance. I would think a bank check would be best alternative but since a dollar in now worth a dime i guess not. Others are begging me to take PP F&F!!!. Not sure how that will work out. I have zero interest in cheating anyone not sure about everyone else.

murdocksguns.com has all the markings of a scam site. Among the many red flags is the extensive listing of transferable machine guns, including an M14 for $10k. It lists a physical address but Google doesn’t seem to think it exists.

My last five-six guns came from Gunbroker, mostly because feedback is posted and prices seem more reasonable than so many on Armslist, even with tax, shipping, FFL fees.

And partly because west TN is the comparatively Poor part of Tennessee regarding gun selections/variety, compared to around Nashville and the Chat-Knoxville-Tri Cities "clusters".
The contrast is stark. Almost anything I ever wanted in TN involved either guns way out in East TN, or sellers near Nashville either too short of time, or too lazy to drive over 30 minutes for a meet.

Gun Broker must be really feeling the pinch from scammers and those who don't pay. They stepped up leaving automatic negative feedback and suspending accounts for bad bidders (all without input from sellers)

Another scam site. Hard-to-find items at too-good prices, payment via zelle or venmo.

https://guardianarms.net/

armsgunshop.com looks suspicious. Only the usual scam payment methods.

blackmarketarmsales.com, with the same scam pay methods. Easy to find these places. Just search for “Ruger American Ranch 7.62x39”

That “knifesilo” place’s street address in the Google Maps view says “Palm Beach Tan.” Amazing how many scam sellers there are. Almost as bad as trying to find a locksmith on the internet…