Scammer on AH?

[Rell]

I tried to buy a scope on AH, I’ve bought 3 or 4 things on AH and this is my first problem.

Not sure if someone hacked the members account but I thought an AH Veteran would be safe.

willbaforce​

AH veteran

I reported what I believe is the scam three days ago and I’ve had no response from AH, another member said he’s been approached by this same guy and he suspects it’s a scam as well. He reported it as well.

It’s buyer beware, but the lack of response from the forum administrators is tremendously disappointing.

Especially when I posted about two terrible fraudulent interactions I had with Splitting Image Taxidermy and that post was taken down in about 15 minutes. Protect the sponsors l guess, not the patrons.

 

[Jgarner197]

I am the other member that suspected this as a scam and reached out to Rell asking if he had issues. I had PM’d asking to be put in back up position to buy the same scope. I got a response back stating that he actually had a second scope that his brother got him as a gift… That’s when it began. Long story short there were way too many red flags for me so I searched the images he sent me and sure enough they were pulled from the web from another forums classifieds from 2019. I’m not sure if this was a long play scam or if this members account got hacked but everyone needs to BEWARE of willbaforce’s account until this gets figured out.

 

[C.W. Richter]

How many posts did he have? the less, the sketchier if selling...have purchased a lotta bullets, a scope and a gun from AH members with no issues (after a lot of back and forth) but one. One demanded money, with a very specific and sketchy address/too specific non-traceable payment method (and in the span of time I'd have lost my $ by sending he "sold" to another AH member, which was very sketchy. I was just lucky, too busy to send the greedy bastard $ until after the weekend!) If they're pressuring, have 18 posts, demanding $ or other mission-impossible inspired behaviors-just walk away.

 

[Rell]

 

[Jgarner197]

How many posts did he have? the less, the sketchier if selling...have purchased a lotta bullets, a scope and a gun from AH members with no issues (after a lot of back and forth) but one. One demanded money, with a very specific and sketchy address/too specific non-traceable payment method (and in the span of time I'd have lost my $ by sending he "sold" to another AH member, which was very sketchy. I was just lucky, too busy to send the greedy bastard $ until after the weekend!) If they're pressuring, have 18 posts, demanding $ or other mission-impossible inspired behaviors-just walk away.

The account had 134 posts and had been a member since 2020. I believe the account got hacked. I didn’t suspect it until the payment methods started changing, the stories kept coming, and he wouldn’t give me his cell number to talk or text…

 

[C.W. Richter]

Willba may have run into some transport chain issues (awaiting tube repair patch from MMM-MX's AAA), but rest assured your shipment is on the way Amigo. Could also be the Nigerian guy needing
a place to keep all his $ or the russians awaiting their IRS returns...

 

[Rell]

 

[Red Leg]

@BRICKBURN or @AfricaHunting.com please look at this thread.

 

[rookhawk]

Looks very much like a scam / compromised account to me. The sentence structure is bizarre and not cohesive:

1.) Driving to his parents. (Away/travelling)
2.) They won’t say why. (Looming bad news for more delays)
3.) Stopped by the UPS store and shipped it. (It was sent)
4.) Dropped his non-driving wife off at work. (why does this matter? It doesn’t in the tale yet)
5.) He has the item in his bag. (But in point 3 he shipped it already.)

Not looking good. I feel bad for the real person that owned the original account and the buyer.

 

[BRICKBURN]

I reported what I believe is the scam three days ago and I’ve had no response from AH, another member said he’s been approached by this same guy and he suspects it’s a scam as well. He reported it as well.

It’s buyer beware, but the lack of response from the forum administrators is tremendously disappointing.

Are you actually in complete control of your own keyboard?

Disappointing?!

You are a liar and a muppet.

In researching this BS, I have a reply from Africahunting to you within two hours of your "report" and your reply: "No artificial rush. Thanks for the update."

Here is the screen shot of the log.

In that reply, yesterday, further information was requested from you by Africahunting detailing the concern beyond "I think I have been scammed" and you NEVER PROVIDED anything.

Provide the details of your bloody concern in a PM with a thread Link, the specific member, time/date and every detail you can.

If indeed you have been scammed I feel for you. I still don't know who you feel you have been scammed by.

 

[BRICKBURN]

@Jgarner197 - I have temporarily banned @willbaforce​

The thread you purport is a scam has been deleted.


https://www.africahunting.com/threads/report-scam-in-ah-classifieds.66298/

https://www.africahunting.com/threads/consumer-tips-to-avoid-internet-classified-scams.62870/

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

@Rell, As @BRICKBURN mentioned to you I replied yesterday to your first report to us less than two hours after you reported it. I'm sorry that this has happened but scammers are more then ever virulently using the internet to defraud people from their money.

@willbaforce has been permanently banned.

 

[Rell]

Last time I’ll buy anything here I guess. It’s just to dangerous with no recourse. On Gun Broker there is at least some protection and recourse through your credit card company.

 

[PARA45]

The reply you got about traveling to Pennsylvania, is the same BS story Chickensh*t gave me. I wonder if it’s the same guy?

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Last time I’ll buy anything here I guess. It’s just to dangerous with no recourse. On Gun Broker there is at least some protection and recourse through your credit card company.

@Rell, The first sentence of the Classifieds section reads: PLEASE READ RULES BELOW & Consumer Tips to Avoid Internet Classified Scams BEFORE PARTICIPATING IN THE CLASSIFIEDS!

The link goes to the Consumer Tips to Avoid Internet Classified Scams thread at the following link: https://www.africahunting.com/threads/consumer-tips-to-avoid-internet-classified-scams.62870/. Following some of the tips and advice from members in this thread would have tremendously reduced the chances of you being regrettably taken by this scammer. Doing some due diligence prior to sending the funds is a must when doing any sort of online transaction.

I will say it again, scammers are more then ever virulently using the internet to defraud people from their money and AH is just another platform that they use.

 

[gbflyer]

I’ve had all successful transactions here. Good group. I lost out on a scope on a different forum as the member didn’t want to wait for a US Postal Money Order. I don’t think it was a scam (certainly wasn’t on my part), seller was just in a hurry.

 

[rookhawk]

I manage risk for a living. Let me remind everyone that most people are enticed by the "illusion of safety". There is only limited safety in cashiers checks, money orders, gunbroker.com, paypal, venmo, zelle, and anything else.

This forum has the lowest scam-to-legit threshold of ANY classified on the Internet. I promise you that.

Here's a simple way to not get scammed:

Pick up the phone. The buyers and sellers on this forum are a friendly fraternity and I've yet to encounter someone that didn't want to make or receive a call. You can also observe the other party's posts and track record on this forum. Scammers do not like the telephone and they'll avoid it because it divulges a foreign location or their accent/age/sex doesn't align to the story.

If you follow the policy of doing your due diligence that the person is active on this forum and has an established track record, the only thing you need to do to mitigate your risk is to use a phone call to give you confidence that the legitimate account hasn't been compromised by a hacker/scammer. Hackers and scammers won't take a call and if they did certainly cannot give you basic info on the product or service to a level that would seem legitimate.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

I manage risk for a living. Let me remind everyone that most people are enticed by the "illusion of safety". There is only limited safety in cashiers checks, money orders, gunbroker.com, paypal, venmo, zelle, and anything else.

This forum has the lowest scam-to-legit threshold of ANY classified on the Internet. I promise you that.

Here's a simple way to not get scammed:

Pick up the phone. The buyers and sellers on this forum are a friendly fraternity and I've yet to encounter someone that didn't want to make or receive a call. You can also observe the other party's posts and track record on this forum. Scammers do not like the telephone and they'll avoid it because it divulges a foreign location or their accent/age/sex doesn't align to the story.

If you follow the policy of doing your due diligence that the person is active on this forum and has an established track record, the only thing you need to do to mitigate your risk is to use a phone call to give you confidence that the legitimate account hasn't been compromised by a hacker/scammer. Hackers and scammers won't take a call and if they did certainly cannot give you basic info on the product or service to a level that would seem legitimate.

I could not agree with you more and all excellent points that you made!

I would add that no reasonable/real seller has a need for a rush to payment, like "first to pay me gets the deal". Most of our sellers are gentlemen and will respect that you are doing your due diligence and will honor "I will take it" agreement and let you make sure that the offer/seller is legit afterwards.

 

[speedfire]

The account had 134 posts and had been a member since 2020. I believe the account got hacked. I didn’t suspect it until the payment methods started changing, the stories kept coming, and he wouldn’t give me his cell number to talk or text…

maybe the forum should find ways around things like this.... maybe with the photos of what's been purchased its how i get things from hkpro

 

[rookhawk]

maybe the forum should find ways around things like this.... maybe with the photos of what's been purchased its how i get things from hkpro

@AfricaHunting.com Jerome, this is a good bit of feedback. About every site on the Internet is dealing with the existential crisis of leaked credentials. I can guarantee that some of the fraud is from hacked accounts. All a perp has to do is find an email and password match on the dark web and then try them out on various forums. (people reuse their passwords on many sites)

The cure to this problem of hacked accounts is MFA / 2FA. (Multifactor authentication) This is where in order to log in you must receive an email, text message, or put a code in on an app on your phone. It ensures that a log in requires three things: something you have (A user name), something you know (a password), and something random that cannot be stolen (a one time pin code).

You could certainly pass on the costs of such technology to your user community. To buy or sell on this forum, you need a "premium" account that has this safety feature. That costs $10 a year to cover MFA security.

A cheaper alternative to the above is credential passing using a trusted password. (typically Facebook, Apple, and Google) You log in with those credentials and when you change those credentials, it changes your info here. The assumption is that if you're hacked, you forget about your 200 Internet passwords and focus only on the "main one" being FB/Apple/Google. Those three in turn allow MFA so they provide further security.