Scam Report (Updated) - Elizabeth, Metodick33, avalanjche, Forza


Glad I didn’t trust them.

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Ha, they made it easy to out them.

For future reference:

Does anyone else have the paypal info for the others noted here?
This one is for user Forza from the person who reported scam today.

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When bro can’t reply with just the emoji :sob:

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Why is this the second or third time I see a scammer on here with a Slavic name? Is the forum BST being targeted by Russian expat trolls or something?

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Ummm, NO, these are not expats. That would imply they do not live in that region. All of the people noted here are residents of the region in question.

Please don’t generalize. I know of a number of “Slavic” members that have been reliable traders here. They have earned their respect and should not be disrespected because of their location. As a matter of fact, in my recollection, there have been few “Slavic” scammers here.

The key is traders feedback. All of the people I am referring to have good feedback. If you are unsure of a deal with ANYONE, use paypal G&S. In fact, use it all the time. If the deal works as expected give them a positive feedback. Likewise if the deal goes sour.

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Region? Did I miss something?
I mentioned expats specifically because it would burden the joke to imply that people living in Russia are somehow using PayPal despite PayPal’s refusal to work with Russian banks and payment systems.

I didn’t say anything to the contrary. Indeed, any observed commonality between the few scammers on here is most likely coincidence, and obviously does not give us the tools to predict who is a scammer; and any such tools would ultimately lead to discrimination. All that is to say, my comment was intended to be taken as a silly joke and not any kind of serious demographic analysis or ‘how to avoid scammers’.

BST posts with ‘USA only’ have been allowed to stay up, and I have personally been treated pretty rudely and unfairly by a number of users because I don’t live in the USA, and I also know that I’m not the only user on here who has experienced that kind of treatment; so forgive me if I feel like these are empty words.

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I wish I saw this sooner Forza took me for 300+ like 2 weeks ago

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So now that you’ve stepped up and announced that you got burnt… That raises a few questions.

300+ dollars isn’t Trump change… Unless of course you use thousand dollar bills for toilet paper.

So let’s build a story out of this one for future reference.

First of all, what did you think you were buying for 300+ dollars?

What was your method of payment? And if you step up and say PayPal friends and family… Then even praying for a miracle is pretty much worthless.

Since we don’t know how you paid… It kind of limits anybody from making any suggestions as to what recourse you might have in this particular instance.

This is it a spank me thread. This isn’t the part where you say yes I use PayPal and I used Fred and family. And then I say oh what a dope how many times have we told some of you people never use friends and family unless it’s your friends and family.

I’m asking because the more we know the more we have to work with. And if nothing else, you can save some other kid on this forum…the same kind of problem you’re dealing with now.

If you have no recovery options… Then that’s just the way it is. But if you would care to share some details, you may help somebody else reading your response to stay out of getting in the same predicament you find yourself in.

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I only use F&F if the user in question has some faces I see on here regularily; preferrably with a Regular role and that I see talk lots around, in their feedback thread. Unless I have that and not asked about it at all, I will always pay G&S. Got to keep yourself protected. Even what I do is risky. Protect yourselves everyone.

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I paid Forza 365$ f&f for an RSO 303 Bowl with all the extras and a boxless RSO ti bowl with some marks on it, They showed me more pics of each of them, humoring all of my questions about quality, vibe, if they had the boxes and certs. They gave me all the answers I wanted and said they’d do bundle deal, since pretty much everyone else that had reached out about selling me anything ghosted me. I got impatient and sent the money their way. they showed me, them filling out the packing label asking if everything was correct and said they’d be sending it out soon then a few days went by I asked for an update or tracking got no response and then saw on their profile today that they were suspended for scamming. The PayPal address they had me send too was @camranhlj. It sucks but it’s my own fault for putting that much good faith into people. You win some you lose some.

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I got a question for you.

By any chance have you contacted PayPal about this?

I could probably do a thesis paper on the finer points of goods and services versus Prince and family. But this has very little to do with what I know about both options. This has more to do with a micro brainstorm that I just had, lol.

Contact PayPal and tell them basically what happened. Tell PayPal that the person or persons you were communicating with, frequent the same skilled toy forum that you do. You have never met in person, but you used the friends and family option, because these guys were to keep it simple just say a single person… Hopefully you know the exact name of the person or at least when they told you blah blah blah. OK back on track because you’re playing this by ear. I’m just loading you an ear to play with.

Tell the PayPal representative, that you have had conversations with this individual, overtime and actually felt comfortable, considering the person a friend. Too far away to meet in person most likely, but a friend nevertheless.

It wasn’t until a few days after you sent the money when you attempted to contact the person to ask a question about the shipment and at that point realized that person wasn’t gonna send you anything.

Now you realize that the person was never your friend, but just pretending to be until you made a deal involving a considerable amount of money.

Ask the PayPal representative if they can check on the name that you sent the money to to find out if they’ve kind of vanished from PayPal now or if their username is still active?

Because if it is, they can’t prove they sent you anything because they didn’t.

Even though more often than not, if you use friends and family and you get fleeced, PayPal will do nothing because if they covered everybody who screwed up a deal, they probably have to work overtime.

I realize, even though you messed up using friends and family, there’s always an exception to the rule. And in this particular instance, if you study what I told you and then put together in your own words… If you get the right person on the phone to look into this matter… They may be able to fairly wrap their head around the situation and squeeze the money back out of the scammer?

If it was 75 bucks… I would just say oh what a dimwit I am and chalk it up to experience.

But over 300 bucks? That’s a serious chunk of change. And if there’s one thing that I personally hate it’s thinking I’m swinging a good deal and I get hosed and end up feeling like a sucker fish. Homie don’t play that..

Realize… That often in life nothing is free. That being said and understood, if you decide to put on your best acting face… Practice your story… And then explain it to the representative calmly and with confidence. Do not tell your story like you’re ready to cry like a baby because you got jacked out of 300 and change. You can’t make the representative feel like they have to help you because you’re whimping out. You have to speak in a way that the representative may be inspired not to save you, but to help you by making things right.

If you just challenge PayPal that you got hosted and you want your money… Obviously they got the leverage. They don’t have to help you with Jack.

Just present your case and away where you where giving them the opportunity use their experience to help you out a one-sided deal.

Just read over my message two or three times like you’re studying for a test. As you wrap your head around the methodology adapt your own words into the explanation. Because if you try to sound like me, it’s not gonna sound like you. Of course they don’t know either one of us but nevertheless. If you if you fly as they say off the cuff and try to sound like what I think you should sound like it’s not gonna sound like you.

You have to use your own style of speaking within the vocabulary you have at hand. Remember, just don’t sound like you’re playing violin. You’re not calling for mercy. You’re calling for fairness. Especially if you’ve used PayPal over the years. As long as there’s no marks on your record, that means you will be recognized as a good customer. Of course, if you use friends and family for everything and they scan your activities and they see that then just forget everything I said and go to Starbucks.

Think… Practice your pitch… Down a monster drink… And call them up…

Good luck..

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Crap. I got scammed on some bus tickets but Ive been lowkey bitching on the phone to paypal for my money back​:joy:. Maybe I should change my approach. Ive used them for 6 years

G&S always. I insist on it. I hate losing a friend because somebody messed up. I just say, “This protects both of us in the sale.” Generally, I also pay the fee if I’m the seller. I always appreciate the absolute heck out of any buyer who says, “I’ll tack on 3 per cent for the fee.” I generally do that myself, if I’m buying. As noted, it’s three bucks on a hundred-dollar sale – just kinda disappears into the cost of getting other go-withs (strings, pads, change the SEs, whatever).

Probably very few here run an actual business all registered-like. Being a good citizen is pretty easy when it’s just a few dollars; then everybody walks away happy.

rEvolve

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