One of our members has had a scammy response to a WTB post in the Used Instrument Exchange (UIE). It came via email, rather than PM, from the following email:
This email address has been reported by numerous other music sites as sending inappropriate or scammy emails. It has also been reported on Stop Forum Spam and other such anti-spam sites.
This Announcement is a specific heads up to members about the above email address, as well as being a more general warning to be wary of scammers. One of the ways they can do this is simply to read a post on the site and email the member who has made the post. There is nothing we can do to prevent this, as it is outside the bounds of the site. If you, as an individual member, feel vulnerable to such things, you may consider changing your email preferences so as not to show your email address publicly on the site. In any case, please be particularly wary of emails in particular from people you don’t know, who may well not be members here.
I believe that I was contacted by a scammer about my WTB post this week. The person said they had an instrument that I wanted to buy, but it was something else altogether… when I mentioned that, the person pivoted the conversation without any explanation and sent photographs that could have easily been lifted from the internet… what is the appropriate protocol for sharing about scammers here?
Really, though: Outright targeted fraud is rather a new issue here, at least discussion-wise. For all we know, targeted scamming’s possibly been going on longer than this, and for whatever reason nobody ever spoke up publicly until lately; we’re learning, Angela, that your scammer appears to be only the latest attempt brought to our attention. So we’re relieved that you were able to smell a rat, and we’re grateful that you spoke up and alerted the community.
As to protocol, Board policy seems to be adequately covered in CCCP 18: In the case of scamming, email addresses and private correspondence may be divulged to the public; our united purpose here is to bring scammers out of the shadows and into the light. Take care with this, though; be absolutely certain that you are exposing a fraudster, and not someone who is merely inept. It would be best to consult with the mods first; we tend to get in a tizzy otherwise. So let that be protocol.
Once discovered, a scammer is likely to abandon the email address they were using at the time even if their contact info isn’t published, so posting this info probably has a limited effect at best. Nevertheless, the real point is that we have a record (which could be useful), and that we are looking out for each other. Also be aware of the suspect’s Board history: If they’re a member without a posting record (especially after a year or two) and are contacting you by email - as they must, and this has happened - while it’s not definitive, it’s reason to be cautious. Also, bear in mind that the public C&F forums can be read by any and all regardless of membership or login status, so an outsider can attempt a scam too, simply by dint of window-shopping. There is nothing we are aware of that can be done about this at the Admin level, so it falls on the members to look out for each others’ welfare, as well as their own. At that level of activity, Admin will do our part, too.
The only ways for a general member to do this is 1) If the other party identifies themself as a member and offers their username, then a C&F search on the username will probably tell you about their board activity; 2) Absent that, do an internet search on their email address - it may be inconclusive, though; and 3) If you have suspicions, you can certainly ask a mod to dig deeper on your behalf; it’s a fairly quick process if the other party says they’re a member. And remember that C&F membership has little bearing; a scam’s a scam wherever it comes from, so all Admin can do is deactivate an account if there is one and it proves ill-intended, but we are certainly invested in keeping bad actors out of the roster.
You can ask for all responses to be by C&F PM (thus giving you their C&F membername & being able to view when they joined & all their previous (if any) public posts.
Definitely. That way you call the shots. If they haven’t posted yet or received full permissions - which include the privilege of sending and receiving PMs - then either they must get on the stick, or they must offer excuses or refuse outright, and that’s going to tell you something.
When I had a scammer email me a while back I googled the email and found someone on a sax forum reporting him as a scammer. So its not like these scammers are an actual member of the community, its just someone trying to abuse music forums. Very likely a foreign scammer.
The safest thing is to set it so they can only forum PM you and not email. Then you can see if they have any activity. Will be problematic if its someone who doesnt post. But at least if its someone with some history, even a few posts, that will generally mean its a real member, which means its not a scammer most likely, seeing that the scammer shouldn’t actually be a member of the community.
Pretty much spot on, this one, Narzog. It is, indeed, generally people from outside the forum. It almost always is if the first contact from them is by email.