As you know we have spent considerable time and resources protecting our community from scammers, particularly in the Classifieds 2.0. For the most part, this has been very successful. Almost all of the features introduced in regards to posting, reporting, contacting etc have all revolved around the security and protection of the members.

 

However with the highly requested and demanded Wanted section, which came later, scammers have shifted their focus to that area now. I am referring specifically to scammers answering posted Wanteds Ads (not posting them).

 

I outlined the process on how they go about it, but have decided to remove all that as we don't want to give too much away for obvious reasons. Needless to say, we are making some changes to the processes to combat this further, but this is all custom coding, and not out of the box stuff for the software we use for the forums. 

 

We have many steps and processes in place to weed out scammers in For Sale ads, but unfortunately this is much harder to monitor in Wanted Ads, and that is why scammers have shifted their focus to these ads.

 

Be cautious, be suspicious. If a Wanted Ad is answered, apply the usual checks.

 

• Do they have Trader Feedback?
• Most often, they will PM you and say their friend has the item, along with the email address to contact them on.
• Do they offer pickup? (they will never offer Pickup, but may initially say yes and then do a bait and switch - all of a sudden they are away for work!)
• The price is usually somewhere between too good to be true, or just better than market value.
• Are their photos stolen from another ad somewhere on the internet (Google Reverse Image Search).
• Can they show a receipt with their name on it? (they often say they have a receipt and will find it later)
• We have even see cases where they offer a copy of their drivers license, but this cannot be trusted as they have hijacked a user's email and often find material like that within emails.

 

If any doubt whatsoever, walk away! If any suspicion, report the PM conversation to us immediately!

This is often how we are alerted to scammers in the Wanted section in the first instance.

 

We are doing all we can to protect this community and continue to weed out scammers, and we've been very successful at this already. Most of them do not even get through the New Member Introduction process before we are on to them. Unfortunately, they never give up trying, and as we implement more security methods and processes, they shift their tactics. Right now, it's Wanted Ads. We continue to evolve our processes, and are always implementing more tactics, but this is a never ending battle and they will look for new loopholes or workarounds.

 

Again, with Wanted Ads, be cautious, be suspicious. If any doubt, back away and report their PM contact to us.

Please, if you post WANTED ADS, be very vigilant with those who contact you.

We have not had a scammer in the Classifieds in over 12 months, yet we have had three attempts via the WTB Ads (which is essentially the only way they can potentially get in now).

We display a BIG RED message to the OPs on Wanted Ads, which lands on this very topic. We have made it very clear what you should look for. Yet, some are too easily blinded by what seems like a very good deal. One member was unfortunately scammed this week via their ads, just minutes before we were alerted to their account - they were dealt with swiftly, but just minutes to late to stop an EFT transfer taking place.

Working through my checklist above it was blindingly obvious they were a scammer! We cannot help once a transfer has been made, in these cases.

The last resort will be simply to stop offering Wanted ads here within our Classifieds.

Another Scammer caught out in response to Wanted Ads this morning.

Be alert to anyone responding to your Wanted ads please.