Beware of scammers - even on this forum

[pancho]

Hi Guys,

Just a word of caution for those in the community.

I posted on here in March that I was after some AR items. Last week I was contacted by a guy called Larry Fisher from the UK who had a NOS stepnose bootlid and bonnet. He was happy to sell to me for a total shipped price of 350pounds! - his terms were either Escrow or Western Union. I played along with him and amazingly when asked to go Escrow, his account was hacked and he was unable to use that service! - what a coincidence..... he could only use Western Union.

Now Larry wouldn't pay my fees for making the Western Union payment, so I guess our business went south quickly as I have had no response since.

So be careful out there guys, these stupid Nigerian scammers are watching everything - even our Alfa forum.

If dealing with an overseas seller always do a search for your sellers internet nickname and get some background info, ask for trade references, if they provide an address or number look it up on google and if you can always pay with Paypal as they have buyer protection for certain items. Also - ask the seller for a phone number where you can call them.

Do your research, use your noggin and you'll mitigate the risk of losing your cash.

[Evan Bottcher]

Good advice Pancho.

Just to be clear - this was not a regular forum member who scammed you, but he contacted you because of the request you posted here?  Even though we're a pretty close community and we do our best to make sure there's no scammers and spammers on here, the Internet is full of these a***holes who'll take your cash.

I've had fraudulent charges on my credit card twice in the past, presumably through the use of less-trustworthy and secure means of transmitting credit card details.  In both cases the bank has refunded all charges and issued a new card, but it's still a pain in the bum.  I now stick to very secure means of doing online transactions, preferring paypal if buying goods from an individual.

[pancho]

Yes, that is correct.

He is not part of the community but saw my post and consequently contacted me about it.

[pancho]

Yes, exactly the same as mine.

[wankski]

good post guys...

needless to say - NEVER pay by western union - that thing is dead to me.

[wankski]

LOL!!! just read the email.... it's obviously a pro-forma, he doesn't even refer to the item in the text...

'your posted wanted item'.... LOL!!!

straight to spam, post details on websites to warn... what a laugh!

obvious phishing.

[Ash Gordon]

Bad luck Pancho.

Googled " Larry Fisher scam / fraud " unfortunately it looks like it and variants of Larry Gold / John Fisher are fairly widely used name by scammers from lottery wins to inheritance claims...

They have also been known to send false messages & emails from reputable online parts stores with special offers.

The sh1t they try to get away with in unbelievable.

Pays to be very careful and usually if the offer is too good to be true it is..