Thread: Scammers and Cheaters

Being a moderator on this forum, unfortunately I see a lot of the worst in people. Here's the latest story, I thought I should share, so that hopefully more members learn to not fall prey to unscrupulous scammers.

There was a member who was one of the most active 'restorers' and 'experts' on one of the other forums. He posted here occasionally, but since this forum has always been about real expertise, he felt at home at another place, where he and others like him would pretend to be more than they were and take advantage of the lack of knowledge of the new guys.

Anyways, everybody is free to be themselves, as long as they remain civil.

So, about a year ago, said member posted some stuff for sale in the Classifieds here. Apparently one of our members bought $150-$200 of it and they arranged the payment to be done via 'personal paypal payment', to avoid the paypal fees.
Over a month later the items were still not shipped and there was no communication from the seller. So the buyer was screwed because he was nice and agreed to the 'personal paypal' which means that he told paypal "I'm just sending money and it is not to buy any goods".

Now, you would think that that would be the end of it, the buyer has learned his lesson, the seller has stollen $150-$200 from somebody and has moved on. But that is not the end of the story. Yesterday the seller comes back to SRP and lists a bunch of 'leftover washers'.
I removed his ad, and while I am composing the PM he lists again this time using slightly different options, then clicking on the 'I sold it' button. I removed that ad as well, and he tried few more times, my guess is he is wondering why is the system broken.
At this point I completed the PM and requested that he contact us with details of that transaction of the last year. As soon as he saw the PM he logged out and my guess is that he is not coming back.

Now, what is the moral of the story? There are few, but I would hope that you realize that we like to run SRP as an open forum, which means that plenty of jerks will continue trying to take advantage of others. So, it is best to use common sense and not bend over for people who you do not know. Then those scammers will have fewer chances to abuse you, and I will see less of the worst in people.

Wow, that dude had some cajones. I guess he figured enough time had passed and he could scam again. It's good to be vigilant and have a good memory.

I think sometimes we don't give the mods here enough credit. They do a lot to help. They also are gentle when one of us puts our foot in our mouth and makes a mistake if we didn't do it intentionally. (Been there)

I just want to say thanks to you and all the other mods we rely on. I realize that it's kind of a behind the scenes, thankless job that you all do because you love this site and the good that most bring to it. I understand how much time it takes and personal grief as well. I know you take a lot of s$#t at times for no reward. Please know that most of us out in cyber-land do realize the time you put in, and how it benefit us all.

Thanks gugi for the professional moderation.

Thats garbage, people like that always end up getting what they deserve in the long run.

Seems like common sense to me not to go out of your way to make a seller avoid a fee, but hey I'm pretty pessimistic for a nice guy.

Its nice to know that the Mods here are active. I've been a member here for some time and have tried being active on forums for all sorts of hobbies. This is one of the few where the Mods are truly active in their duties and in replies to threads as well.

No, it is not a thankless job - at the end of it we get the best shaving forum out there

Also there is no problem with making a mistake, or having a lapse of judgment, we all have bad days and that's simply part of life. But unfortunately in small number of cases it is way beyond that. And then some of those people go to other forums boasting that they have been banned from SRP. I am actually amazed that most of the time they seem to be embraced as heroes who stood up to the 'evil SRP'. I'm happy to say that that's one thing that you will not find on this forum - we take the high road and would rather enjoy this hobby than badmouth others.

Just a thank you for your vigilance. It's nice to have people around that remember the past and can act on that memory.

Thank you Gugi,a job well done.