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Firearms *** POSSIBLE SCAM ***

Seekers

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 8, 2009
630
18
Newman Lake WA
I had a WTB ad and was contacted by Hide member
Normantx who said he had a "friend" that had the item and included his email, [email protected] ,
here is the email and replies.

ME)
A friend of yours on SnipersHide saw an ad I have, looking for a Smith and Wesson 686+ Pro and said you had one.
I'm a member in good standing with lots of good feedback. also on ebay.
If you have this item and are interested in selling please let me know.

Hello Michael, thanks for reaching out.
This is Smith & Wesson 686+ Pro Series in .357 mag & .38 S&W Special +P. Features include stainless steel construction, 5” slab side barrel, full tapered lug, round butt frame, semi target hammer, combat trigger, 7 shot fluted cylinder, Cylinder Cut for Moonclips , adjustable rear sight, Patridge type front sight and rubber combat grips. I’m asking $600 shipped kindly email back and let me know if your interested

Kind regards
Chris

erry Chris <[email protected]>
Thu 10/1/2020 3:32 PM




To:
  • You

I accept zelle for payment, kindly let me know if your ready to make payment so i can give you the zelle address You make payment to. And I’ll be needing your contact information and address for shipment. Thanks for your time

Chris


How about an address, phone and copy of drivers license first.
You don't expect me to just send off money to a stranger do you?
🙂

This last email was thursday @ 4:57pm and he had been responding promptly until then.
Then... Crickets!

I then checked on SnipersHide for this member to find out he has been Banned!

Posted for information, to post names of member and email address.

Seekers
 
Last edited:
Go here and find the gun you want


Scammers everywhere, but if you want a S&W, might as well get scammed on the S&W forum :)
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Seekers
Lol I sent that user over to Rob01 and he brought the ban hammer down on him. Keep reporting these users so the less attuned users down get scammed.

That being said it is really fun to mess with these guys and waste their time when you know it’s a scam.
 
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Reactions: DIBBS and Seekers
i had one of the scammers email me saying his friend had the gun i was looking for. i knew right away it was a scam.
 
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Reactions: Seekers
Real reply by actual sniper's hide buyer.
1601678437449.png
 
we ought to all flood his email asking to buy the same pistol and see if he ever catches on that we all know.
Hell we could do a little fishing ourselves. Put out the old WTB notice and wait for the thieving bastards to respond. Call it the scammer round up and whoever snipes the most scammers wins a cool title.
 
time must be hard.. i kept seeing these fucking scammers on different forum too. It is spreading from automotive forum, to guns forum, and even blade forum..
 
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Reactions: chooter
Hell we could do a little fishing ourselves. Put out the old WTB notice and wait for the thieving bastards to respond. Call it the scammer round up and whoever snipes the most scammers wins a cool title.
The Master Baiter.

Besides Kindly it always seems like they say things repeated. Kindly provide payment, so my address can see your payment and my payment can payment. We heard you like payment so we payed your payment to pay you!
 
I came across what I think was a scam the other day. Was bidding on a rifle on GB ( https://www.gunbroker.com/item/878396570) missed out on it but found the same rifle on Armslist (.https://www.armslist.com/posts/12584377/ohio-rifles-for-sale--wilson-combat--tactical-hunter--6-5-creedmoor) And by the same rifle I mean the same exact pics (1st Red flag). Guy wanted half the price (2nd Red flag). Then the broken English started flying. At this point I’ve already checked but still try to get an address to send a Postal MO. No luck, only wanted digital payment. I could be wrong but it definitely didn’t feel right. Scammers everywhere.
 
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They need a beat down. There’s no consequences for their actions. The courts need to whip their ass, literally. Yep, public ass whippings and hangings would definitely be good deterrents.
 
Yep, public ass whippings and hangings would definitely be good deterrents.

Good Start! And drag their parents out to shame and watch for how they brought them up!
 
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From personal experience any one that uses the word “kindly” in a message is a scammer. I get texts all day long from scammers for my business
It’s a common European phrase, but not common to American English learners. Its a key indication of a foreign national trying to pass as American.
 
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Reactions: Seekers and mgrs
It’s a common European phrase, but not common to American English learners. Its a key indication of a foreign national trying to pass as American.
I hear it quite a bit in the south but always like “Thank you Kindly” or “Thank you kind sir”. It’s typically the older folks that use it. The younger generation are using Ebonics more and more. Kindly send your payment using bit coin
 
Wouldn't 600.00 for that 686 be "too good to be true," or am I wrong on that one? Anyway, good looking out on not getting taken and thanks for letting us know.
 
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I actually found one, a S&W 686+ Pro 5" Barrel, the week before for a friend for $700, so it wasn't that far off. Yes, they are worth more but sometimes you can find a deal or a swindle. ;)
Seekers
 
I had a WTB ad and was contacted by Hide member
Normantx who said he had a "friend" that had the item and included his email, [email protected] ,
here is the email and replies.

ME)
A friend of yours on SnipersHide saw an ad I have, looking for a Smith and Wesson 686+ Pro and said you had one.
I'm a member in good standing with lots of good feedback. also on ebay.
If you have this item and are interested in selling please let me know.

Hello Michael, thanks for reaching out.
This is Smith & Wesson 686+ Pro Series in .357 mag & .38 S&W Special +P. Features include stainless steel construction, 5” slab side barrel, full tapered lug, round butt frame, semi target hammer, combat trigger, 7 shot fluted cylinder, Cylinder Cut for Moonclips , adjustable rear sight, Patridge type front sight and rubber combat grips. I’m asking $600 shipped kindly email back and let me know if your interested

Kind regards
Chris

erry Chris <[email protected]>
Thu 10/1/2020 3:32 PM




To:
  • You

I accept zelle for payment, kindly let me know if your ready to make payment so i can give you the zelle address You make payment to. And I’ll be needing your contact information and address for shipment. Thanks for your time

Chris


How about an address, phone and copy of drivers license first.
You don't expect me to just send off money to a stranger do you?
🙂

This last email was thursday @ 4:57pm and he had been responding promptly until then.
Then... Crickets!

I then checked on SnipersHide for this member to find out he has been Banned!

Posted for information, to post names of member and email address.

Seekers
I believe we have seen the exact same format scam....a friend who has the wanted item....quite a few times here recently and posted by members.
 
I believe we have seen the exact same format scam....a friend who has the wanted item....quite a few times here recently and posted by members.
I’m not sure but I think selling for a friend is against the rules because it’s always a scam.
 
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Reactions: Baron23
Another giveaway is that they copy paste the item description from some other retailer’s site in full, instead of listing only the relevant upgrades or features like a normal person would.
 
I am wondering if I am doing something wrong or are there some shady gun dealers making phony bids on some of their auctions on GunBroker to get their prices up. I tried to bid on a rifle at 2:00am, not exactly the time you expect to see many people bidding on long distance shooting rifles online. The current bid was $1,095.00. I tried to bid $1,200.00 and the message came back "Your bid was unsuccessful - current bid is $1,175.00". I tried to place three more bids in less than a minute and a half, and got the same message each time, with the last message stating the current bid was $1,400. I am not suggesting it is impossible, but I cannot picture that many gun shoppers sitting with their fingers on their keyboard immediately reacting to each of my bid attempts within less than ten seconds and out bidding me. Has anyone had a similar experience?
 
I am wondering if I am doing something wrong or are there some shady gun dealers making phony bids on some of their auctions on GunBroker to get their prices up. I tried to bid on a rifle at 2:00am, not exactly the time you expect to see many people bidding on long distance shooting rifles online. The current bid was $1,095.00. I tried to bid $1,200.00 and the message came back "Your bid was unsuccessful - current bid is $1,175.00". I tried to place three more bids in less than a minute and a half, and got the same message each time, with the last message stating the current bid was $1,400. I am not suggesting it is impossible, but I cannot picture that many gun shoppers sitting with their fingers on their keyboard immediately reacting to each of my bid attempts within less than ten seconds and out bidding me. Has anyone had a similar experience?

Sounds like the previous high bidder placed his/her highest bid @ $1400 or more.So the system automatically places there bids until there highest bid amount runs out.
 
I am wondering if I am doing something wrong or are there some shady gun dealers making phony bids on some of their auctions on GunBroker to get their prices up. I tried to bid on a rifle at 2:00am, not exactly the time you expect to see many people bidding on long distance shooting rifles online. The current bid was $1,095.00. I tried to bid $1,200.00 and the message came back "Your bid was unsuccessful - current bid is $1,175.00". I tried to place three more bids in less than a minute and a half, and got the same message each time, with the last message stating the current bid was $1,400. I am not suggesting it is impossible, but I cannot picture that many gun shoppers sitting with their fingers on their keyboard immediately reacting to each of my bid attempts within less than ten seconds and out bidding me. Has anyone had a similar experience?
Gunbroker is like slickhou said. Now if it said your bid was successful and you were the highest bidder and then a few minutes later you got out bid that would be different. However I think it would be easy for someone to do that on GB. When I want something on GB I enter my max bid about 10 minutes before the auction is over and I rarely go higher if I’m out bid. The 15 minute rule kicks the time remaining to 15 minutes if you’re the highest bidder. If you get out bid after that you know you’re actually bidding against someone. I don’t like the way GB does their auctions because you can’t snipe but that’s just the sniper in me 😂
 
please use the report button so we have details and can act,

you REPORT A PROBLEM,

you don't opine on it, this way we fix it, and nobody gets scammed

if someone contacts you via PM to "sell you" offer it from a "Friend" or any other ODD random contacts, report them

By the time I contacted Sniper Hide the contact was already Banned.
The reason for not reporting.
Seekers

eta: then I made post
 
Thanks guys for the info. I should have thought about that and realized that was the purpose of the "Maximum Bid" feature on the site. I'm embarrassed to have missed that. You can tell I have some experience selling on GB, but no experience buying.