Scammer On The WTB Forum

[Ripton]

I think most of us are good at spotting these guys by now. Yesterday I received a PM, the sender had a friend who had the stereo I was looking for in the WTB section. He told me to email mathewfrank705@gmail.com, he said he was in Kansas.

The user who messaged me has since been deleted. I sent him an email anyway just for fun, here is my interaction:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12MRXfs ... sp=sharing

[Ibmotoren]

Yep, he tried that with my WTB thread too. When he said, “I know of a Frank”... I knew the scam was on. Good job f’in with him

[stuartinmn]

Whenever there's a new board member (usually with no actual posts) who wants you to contact someone offline, 99.9% of the time it's a scam. This method is getting to be pretty common on car forums across the 'net.

[Mike W.]

I think most of us are good at spotting these guys by now. Yesterday I received a PM, the sender had a friend who had the stereo I was looking for in the WTB section. He told me to email mathewfrank705@gmail.com, he said he was in Kansas.

The user who messaged me has since been deleted. I sent him an email anyway just for fun, here is my interaction:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12MRXfs ... sp=sharing

Flippybot and Beepyboop? Well played, well played.

Reminds me of a story here long, long ago about a Nigerian scammer. Supposedly he kept up with a "my religion requires" routine and eventually got the scammer to send a pic of himself with a red circle painted on his belly. But Flippybot and Beepyboop may be destined to be a classic themselves someday.

[Shawn D.]

The user who messaged me has since been deleted. I sent him an email anyway just for fun, here is my interaction:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12MRXfs ... sp=sharing

Hahaha, thanks for that!

[douglasM5]

Thanks for posting. Your transaction had me laughing out loud.

[thhaar]

I'm happy for those of you who figure out when it's a scam. I wasn't as insightful and just got scammed after I posted searching for a part. I received a response via PM. I had some suspicions, but I went ahead, emailed the supposed seller, then got a string of vague responses after sending $105. I've been fortunate buying parts and even cars over the years, but this time I was scammed. I'm glad it was only a relatively small amount. Life goes on. Most people are good, but there will always be some who are deceitful.

[gadget73]

Happened to me too, should have known better. 100 bucks for a vaporware glow plug controller. Ended up getting one on Ebay in mostly-working shape. Glow plugs work, the light does not. I'll have to poke at that this winter, have a controller that the light worked but the relay melted in so I should have donor parts.