[BaldyDave]

In view of recent events the moderator team thinks it would be useful to give you a general idea of the scamming attempts that have happened on the forum, as there is a common tactic that appears to be getting used (so far).

The established forum member is contacted through Private Conversation and offered parts that they were asking for in the Want To Buy/Trade forum section. In both confirmed instances so far the scammer was a zero post member (i.e. joined, but had never posted publicly on the forum) who offered the parts being seeked and then the transaction was taken off-site and concluded via email with a "friend" who allegedly had the item. Once the money was paid the scammer and the "friend" stopped responding.

This is an illustrative example of one type of scam, but there are doubtless many other types too, so please members, the Moderator Team urges you to be very vigilant and careful. We would also urge you to consider protecting your money when making a payment, and taking out insurance when sending items to buyers. If you are selling something very valuable (e.g. your motorcycle) then please take extra-careful measures to ensure a protected, trouble-free and successful transaction.

Remember, you use the Marketplace at your own risk, so please mitigate any potential issues by taking prudent precautions and be cautious with transactions.

The forum will not be held responsible for any loss of any kind and it is up to the buyer/seller to resolve the matter themselves.

 

[asparaguspee]

Thanks for the heads up Dave.
Would it be feasible to restrict new members from sending private messages until they've made a few posts? Inconvenient for genuine new members though.

 

[BaldyDave]

I do not think this is possible at present, the forum is still actively under development by the site admins.....

I honestly think that if members take prudent steps to protect themselves and carefully consider any contact from another member before entering into any transaction, successful scams on this forum won't be a big issue. The forum can only do so much to protect members, members themselves have also to do their part.

There are other changes in the pipeline, please stay tuned for further announcements...

 

[Dirtmerchant]

I am a noob on this site but have been on other MC specific boards like ADV for 15-years or so. During that time I have bought and sold a lot of parts, gear and a bike or three. As in life it is up to a user to do their due diligence on the item and seller. If something doesn’t look right or is too good to be true than it probably is. I will normally google their screen name, email address and etc as many people use the same across different boards.

I will normally not us PayPal Friends and Family as it affords you no protection if the deal goes sideways.

Scammers gonna Scam, don’t rely or expect the board to protect you!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BaldyDave]

Keep on your guard! Two scamming attempts similar to the one described above reported over the last day. Be very wary! Both members reported the issue (before any sale was started) and the scammer has been banned.

If you have any suspicions at all about any unusual marketplace activity please do not go ahead with any transaction but reach out to a a Moderator and we will investigate. Better safe than sorry!

 

[BaldyDave]

Just to let you all know another alert member reported another scamming attempt following the described scam above.

The scamming member has been banned.

Keep on your guard!

 

[Ken.B.]

Don’t know whether it’s good or bad to be able to say this, but, in 11 years of participating in forums (4 motorcycle and several others of different interests) this is only the 2nd time I’ve heard of people being the victim of attempted or actual scamming attempts.
None has happened to me. I once advertised an optical device and said it had a scratch on the body...How bad is the scratch? Asked a potential buyer. Very subjective the severity of a scratch! Sent the £650 device to the guy and told him to pay for it if he wanted it, if not, to return it on his own £.
The money came.
Ken.

 

[Whitegeronimo]

I do not think this is possible at present, the forum is still actively under development by the site admins.....

I honestly think that if members take prudent steps to protect themselves and carefully consider any contact from another member before entering into any transaction, successful scams on this forum won't be a big issue. The forum can only do so much to protect members, members themselves have also to do their part.

There are other changes in the pipeline, please stay tuned for further announcements...

Thanks fir the notification. Cheers!

 

[IslandFalconer]

I still can’t get over how people are willing to screw anyone in any way they can. I feel bad for the people who got taken advantage of.

 

[BaldyDave]

Yes it is very unfortunate that these criminals (for that is what they are) try to prey on the decent folk of this forum. I wonder how they sleep at night...

Please keep alert, everyone. There has in the last day been another scamming attempt aimed at two forum members. Thankfully both were wise to it and reported the activity. The scammer has been banned by a member of the moderator team.

 

[Manyakus]

Can you also ban their I.P address?
What if they open new accounts and restart scamming again?

 

[BaldyDave]

Yes the IP address is banned.

There is only so much that the forum can do to protect it's members. In the end it is up to the member to perform due diligence on any transaction. As it clearly says in the marketplace guidelines/rules, members use the forum marketplace at their own risk.

 

[BaldyDave]

Update, 2 further suspected scammers identified by an alert forum member today. Both scammers have been immediately banned. Please keep alert everyone!

 

[Uncle Meat]

Embarrassingly this happened to me a few weels ago.
I lost $140 for a Rizoma screen using the method Dave described in his first post.
I'm very angry and embarrased at the same time.

I have supplied Dave with the relevant information.

 

[gristle]

Whenever I've posted a WTB ad, I've been hit by numerous messages from scammers. Perhaps someone can tweak a setting and not allow private messages unless someone has made at least a single post (or 10 or whatever).

 

[BlitzSchnell]

Update, 2 further suspected scammers identified by an alert forum member today. Both scammers have been immediately banned. Please keep alert everyone!

Hey Dave, is it possible that ALL those scams AND scammers are the same guy just signing up again and again under different names ..... it’s not that difficult to get his physical address if you ask the right people, a GPS location does the trick, the country and address are then pretty easy .... I know in the USA there is a police division in most major cities whose single focus is cyber crime. If the posts are originating in the states they will track him down raid his location prosecute and jail them, even under age juveniles get jailed. I think everyone posting about this has the right idea ... if you want to do a deal get as much verifiable personal Information as it takes to make you confident enough to take a chance. No matter what you do its always going to be chancy with a stranger. Be suspicious .... then take your chances. Good-Luck .....Blitz

 

[BaldyDave]

Whenever I've posted a WTB ad, I've been hit by numerous messages from scammers. Perhaps someone can tweak a setting and not allow private messages unless someone has made at least a single post (or 10 or whatever).

As I understand things, this is being looked at by the forum developers. I agree this would be a great help. The Moderator team has asked for this before. I will request a status update from the Site Admins.

 

[BaldyDave]

I have supplied Dave with the relevant information.

Thank you, I have banned the member by a technique which should also block/flag the IP address.

 

[BaldyDave]

Hey Dave, is it possible that ALL those scams AND scammers are the same guy just signing up again and again under different names ..... it’s not that difficult to get his physical address if you ask the right people, a GPS location does the trick, the country and address are then pretty easy ....

Yes it is possible, but as I understand the banning process we normally use with such scammers, the IP address is blocked and flagged so further attempts from the same IP will not reach the forum. There are various ways of getting around this which I won't describe in a public forum.

Suffice to say the key weapon to combat such criminals is member vigilance, and any member suspecting a scam attempt should immediately reach out to a Mod (or me) and we will investigate, and will ban the "attacker" if we suspect suspicious activity.

DO NOT proceed with any transaction until we complete our investigation.

 

[ThatKasper]

Thanks for the heads up Dave.
Would it be feasible to restrict new members from sending private messages until they've made a few posts? Inconvenient for genuine new members though.

Not a good idea. There are many who come here just to find specific things and if you bar them from contacting someone directly about the only thing they are interested in they'll simply go away, and probably annoyed af at that. That and the fact that posting here is a crapshoot at best...If you enjoy getting slapped once because your n00b post didn't meet someone else's ambiguous definition of whatever that thread's rules are, you're gonna be ecstatic having that happen multiple times just to be able to contact someone. They'd give up before getting the chance to message someone they might need an answer from right away (from my own experience being a 2-week old 9T owner with an issue preventing me from riding my new bike and came here for the answer).

Locking everyone down because one or two people fell for a scam is actually a horrific approach to me, especially from a site that boasts to be "the premiere community" for fellow BMW R9T riders. That would be like shutting down your Gmail ability to send messages because my grandmother fell for the "your computer is infected, please send $$$ for us to fix it" scam.