To be clear, I am not alleging any fraud from a member here. I have a WTB ad looking for an LCR, and I just got an email from Karl Ford, with the email address "karllingard11@gmail.com" The email said to email another guy as he could help.

When I googled karllingard11@gmail.com I saw a thread on ARFCOM which talked about a similar scenario and questioned fraud.

Of course I would not send any money to someone who I cannot properly vet, but I was wondering if someone here could confirm that nobody on the forum uses that email address.

I just want to protect the membership, as maybe someone here is more gullible than me. But I also don't want to throw accusations around. I'm just looking for confirmation that it was not a member, and a suggestion on warning other members.

Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by honestlou:
When I googled karllingard11@gmail.com I saw a thread on ARFCOM which talked about a similar scenario and questioned fraud.

Also listed as fraudulent here: http://www.911uk.com/viewtopic.php?p=1427629 and here: https://www.s2ki.com/forums/wa...-sales-scam-1005059/

Seems to be a scammer who's targeting WTB ads across a wide variety of forums.

I don't have any info on the particular email address you've posted, but several years ago I posted about receiving emails from non- forum members supposedly interested in items in my forum Classifieds ad. My ad was only listed on the forum and my email address is only listed in my profile so either there are forum members mining/ distributing email contacts off forum or we have forum members who are part of scam cells.

The vast majority of my dozens of deals on the forum have gone very well, however there are a couple suspect forum members that I've had deals go bad with, and I still see them occasionally posting in the Classifieds, and I can't help but wonder how/if the deals go through to completion, or whether they are legit. As infrequently as they post, I just saw one post in a forum Classifieds ad recently.

The other situation that often occurs is that a brand new member joins the forum specifically to buy an item listed in the Classifieds, presumably the transaction goes well, then the new member disappears. I can't help but wonder what happens to member contact info in those cases...although to be fair, email contact lists can be hacked/ exploited.

Surprisingly I got a follow up email saying the gun was sold. I surely expected some BS with a request for PayPal or Western Union or some other payment means with no recourse. I hadn’t thought about the fact that a non-member can’t see my email address.

quote:

Originally posted by honestlou:
Surprisingly I got a follow up email saying the gun was sold. I surely expected some BS with a request for PayPal or Western Union or some other payment means with no recourse. I hadn’t thought about the fact that a non-member can’t see my email address.

You've been here since 2006. It was some time after I joined that Para locked the member's directory. But if you post WTB ads regularly, it seems such a long time that your email's been available and no one's thrown you a bait.

In April of this year a guy with the email address samueljollygarmins@gmail.com was responding to WTB Listings and contacting people who responded to WTB listings with offers to sell things.

I asked a question in a WTB Listing and he contacted me with an offer for the item.

He was a fraud and ripped off a few members.

People do and have registered here just to perpetrate fraud. Some even post to build a history.

Use caution as you would anywhere on the Internet. Ask for their forum name, phone number and vet them.

We have to always be vigilant and cautious.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: braillediver,