I just got scammed!

[Alphasud40]

A couple weeks ago I got a PM from neverknowe on the forum stating a guy he just bought wheels from has a used steering box I was looking for. I emailed Keith Hubbs hubbskeith2@gmail.com and we worked out the details and I sent him money. I knew I got burnt when I asked if he shipped the part when I received his rely that he didn’t get a tracking number and to be patient for the part to arrive.

Totally my fault for not vetting this person on the forum who sent me a PM. I just wanted to expose this person hopefully preventing him from scamming another forum member and to be on guard for any transaction. Especially one that comes in the form of a PM.

 

[gsxr]

Very sorry to hear that, Alphasud. What form of payment was sent? Can you recover it?

While this doesn't always work, try Googling the email address of a "new" person before sending funds. Looks like Herr Hubbs has been phishing for a number of months:

Southern California - Scammer Alert

Scammer alert https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/members/barnardronald.282795/ hello are you still interested in getting this?. you can contact Christopher he has a Leadmaster 350 g vertical speed jig 10 inch for sale........... PM him @...

www.bdoutdoors.com

Wanted to buy: Roadmaster, Western Flyer or Columbia reproduction bicycle | Wanted: Bikes, Trikes, Parts, Accessories, Etc.

Hello everyone. I'm looking for a boys Roadmaster Luxury Liner, Western Flyer or Columbia reproduction bicycle in excellent to like-new condition. I live in Colorado, so must be willing to ship. Thank you very much.

thecabe.com

 

[Alphasud40]

Money was sent PayPal friends and family. Guy is a smart scammer. Originally it was another form of payment that would not go through on his end. Then we switched to PayPal. I need to be more aware next time.

 

[gsxr]

Money was sent PayPal friends and family. Guy is a smart scammer.

Another option is to insist on standard (non-F&F) payment, and you cover the ~4% fee... a legit seller will be fine with this.

 

[R129 UK]

Never use PayPal F&F it’s only 3.4% more (I think) and just isn’t worth it.

Sorry you lost $$$ on this one. Personally I would only buy parts I collect and pay with cash in person or get someone local I know to collect on my behalf.

I’m not trying to be a smartarse here just fed up with seeing so many scammers on FB groups.

In fact, I’ve started to weed out and leave a number of R129 groups specifically because of this.

 

[R129 UK]

Very sorry to hear that, Alphasud. What form of payment was sent? Can you recover it?

While this doesn't always work, try Googling the email address of a "new" person before sending funds. Looks like Herr Hubbs has been phishing for a number of months:

Southern California - Scammer Alert

Scammer alert https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/members/barnardronald.282795/ hello are you still interested in getting this?. you can contact Christopher he has a Leadmaster 350 g vertical speed jig 10 inch for sale........... PM him @...

www.bdoutdoors.com

Wanted to buy: Roadmaster, Western Flyer or Columbia reproduction bicycle | Wanted: Bikes, Trikes, Parts, Accessories, Etc.

Hello everyone. I'm looking for a boys Roadmaster Luxury Liner, Western Flyer or Columbia reproduction bicycle in excellent to like-new condition. I live in Colorado, so must be willing to ship. Thank you very much.

thecabe.com

You would think they'd change email address fairly frequently, I would if I was a scammer...

 

[TimL]

Sorry you lost money on this - it’s very unfortunate

Be super careful with any PM from a newbie account that claims that some email dude has the part you’re looking for. Happens frequently to me and I just ignore and report it.

 

[2phast]

Don't use F&F when using PayPal. Always insist on the standard payment and offer to pay the fee. If they still refuse, then you know its a scam.

 

[R129 UK]

A couple weeks ago I got a PM from neverknowe on the forum stating a guy he just bought wheels from has a used steering box I was looking for. I emailed Keith Hubbs hubbskeith2@gmail.com and we worked out the details and I sent him money. I knew I got burnt when I asked if he shipped the part when I received his rely that he didn’t get a tracking number and to be patient for the part to arrive.

Totally my fault for not vetting this person on the forum who sent me a PM. I just wanted to expose this person hopefully preventing him from scamming another forum member and to be on guard for any transaction. Especially one that comes in the form of a PM.

Which forum? I couldn't see that username on here.

 

[doolar]

Which forum? I couldn't see that username on here.

Probably swiftly deleted by Gerry or a mod/admin to prevent further scammery.

 

[doolar]

PayPal F&F is perfectly fine here with good known members IMO.

When I price items here I have on some of them priced them with the fee in mind, I simply add a bit more to my asking price to cover for the cost.

 

[jhodg5ck]

PayPal F&F is perfectly fine here with good known members IMO.

When I price items here I have on some of them priced them with the fee in mind, I simply add a bit more to my asking price to cover for the cost.

My thoughts exactly..!

 

[Melville]

Thanks for posting about your experience. While it won't get your money back, there's a good chance someone out there will find this before sending that scammer money.

 

[2phast]

My thoughts exactly..!

Well, I agree but when I sell something I always tell the buyer not to use F&F, its just not a safe way to do business AND that is also not the purpose of F&F.

 

[daantjie]

Yup PayPal actually pretty good if you have a legit claim but only of course if you use the "paying for goods or services" option. I've had a few issues with vendors and they've always ruled in my favour. But yeah as others have stated with "friends and family" you'll be left holding the bag unfortunately.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

This happened to me not too long ago. However, Paypal did refund my money and went after the scammer, and, I hope, clawed the funds back.

 

[gerryvz]

Look,

This is nothing new. This is the VERY FIRST POST in the "Announcements and Admin" sub-forum, per below.

"Scammers" on 500Eboard | Announcements and Admin

It has come to our attention that several of our members were recently scammed out of several hundred dollars relating to parts sold by a new member of the forum, who offered the parts for sale, and then used a "fake" shipping company. This shipping company supposedly then held the products and...

www.500eboard.co

It is VERY prominently posted in MULTIPLE THREADS on this forum, to watch out for scammers.

In fact, every member is REQUIRED to read a post on scammers, and also on forum policy, when they register (and for those who are longtime members, they were REQUIRED to read these posts).

There are a few rules of thumb that folks need to watch out for, as numerous members have indeed been scammed in the past.

1) If you received a Private Message telling you to e-mail someone else because they have the part you are looking for, there's about a 80% chance it is a scam. This is a common scam here and I get reports about it every few weeks.

2) If you receive a message from someone, VET THEM. Meaning look at their profile to see how long they have been a member here. If they are a new member within the past few days or weeks or months, B E W A R E. DO NOT do business with anyone here who is not an established member and/or who has a track record of many posts (i.e. look at their profile to see how many messages they have posted here). BOTTOM LINE -- DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH ANYONE WHO IS NOT AN ESTABLISHED MEMBER HERE WITH A DEMONSTRATED TRACK RECORD.

3) DO NOT send payments to anyone for parts via PayPal "Friends and Family" unless YOU KNOW THEM AND/OR THEY ARE A WELL ESTABLISHED MEMBER HERE. Do not trust other sketchy payment schemas other than things like PayPal, Zelle or Venmo -- AGAIN ALWAYS WITH ONLY ESTABLISHED MEMBERS HERE.

4) As said, if you insist on NOT using Friends and Family via Paypal, and the seller insists that you have to, and they are not a well-known member here, then run for the hills.

All scammers, when known, are banned immediately.

I did not know about this scammer UNTIL JUST NOW. NOBODY REPORTED THE SCAM POST / PRIVATE MESSAGE. Why ?!?!?

There is a button at the bottom of every PM / post to "Report" the post/poster to the site Admin. USE THIS FUNCTION.

SEE SOMETHING??!!?? SAY SOMETHING !!!!!

 

[Alphasud40]

Totally agree Gerry. What happened was I got the PM when I was in a hurry to get to work and as they say life happened. I was very specific in my post that I take full responsibility and despite all the warnings I screwed up. I’m one of those people who learn the hard way. If it happens again it won’t be because I was reckless.

 

[gerryvz]

It may make sense to set the forum to require that members must read the "Scammers" post and acknowledge it every time they log in. This would perhaps help keep people from succumbing to these scammers.

@xfadmin?

 

[500AMM]

I posted in the Classifieds subforum Wanted for rear brake parts exactly two weeks ago today, and over the first few days I received 5 PMs with invitation to send email to someone. Various member names, email adresses, recent sign-up on all, and zero record (postings). I abandoned the messages and ticked off "Ignore future messages" on each of them. But I didn't bother to report them, next time I'll do so.

 

[gerryvz]

PLEASE REPORT EACH AND EVERY SCAM ATTEMPT.

THIS IS THE ONLY WAY WE CAN GET RID OF THESE INDIVIDUALS, IS IF THEY ARE REPORTED.

When we get rid of them, then their scam messages are also removed from the forum along with everything else they post.