So in two of my for sale threads a scammer is posting, they are using a username very close to my own and trying to scam potential members.

example here: Selling a bunch of random FD parts (OEM and aftermarket) Part 7 - RX7Club.com - Mazda RX7 Forum

These accounts are brand new, but they have the ability to post!?

New accounts should not be allowed to post, especially in the marketplace section.

Please admis can you do something about this, we need to keep the forum a good place for members.

Thanks

 

@Spalato, thanks for reporting. The scammer was banned. You can use the "Report Post" option. Look for the icon that looks like a silhouetted person with a cog. It's found below the user profile, usually below city/country.

 

Thank you!

 

This kept happening to me and others in rx8club. One buyer sent money thinking it was my phone number posted. The sad thing is it’s too late before most people notice and could notify a mod

 

@Gen2n3 , can we go back to the time when there was a minimal post history requirement and time as a member before a new member could see the Marketplace and post? I saw another member post the same issue today of another impersonator (but probably the same) using very similar user names to post their phone number. That is the same M.O. a scammer attempted to impersonate me in 8club’s marketplace, once successfully.

 

@av8r01 , I am sorry to hear that your threads here and in other forums were infiltrated by scammers. As I recall, the reason to remove that restriction was to be competitive with other social media marketplaces, such as the Book of Faces. While most of us are mature and can treat others with respect, there are others who want to disrupt the social norms in the quest for easy money. As the saying goes, it's easier to steal $1 from 1 million people than $1 million from 1 person.

My best advice: report scammers or report suspect posts as they appear. It's best to not engage a scammer because it gives them legitimacy to engage you and others. My fellow mods or I will review the case and take the appropriate action.

Reporting a post should be easy: Look for the "Post Options" icon in the bottom right corner of a member's name field. It's right of the member's online status and looks like a silhouetted person with cog. Select "Report Post" then fill out a brief description.

 

@Spalato, I did some additional editing in your Marketplace thread - deleted the scammer's original post and edited any phone numbers associated with it.

 

One scammer used the phone number: 859 339 2793.

Is this number used in other cases?

Can such number be reported to the telephone company as a number being used for fraud?

By making this marketplace more susceptible to fraud so that it can be competitive with other marketplaces is counterproductive imo.

In a sense this marketplace was a safe haven from the rampant fraud on the larger social media sites.

Plus one for the return to requiring a posting history before allowing participation in this marketplace.

 

+1

Marketplace is a service to members. Thus require a minimum postcount should be 100% fine.

 

and now it’s happened to me today so it’s clearly just going to keep getting worse here on 7club. What other sites are y’all using to sell your stuff that has stricter policies to reduce the potential of scammers?

 

We have a local Whatsapp chat group specific for trading and talking about sourcing parts. We have about 100 members, all of whom we know very well.

The Buyee site for parts in Japan seems very secure and efficient. It is designed for buyers outside of Japan to access Japanese on-line auction and seller sites.

 

The NSX forum, admin requires all for sale postings with item picture and your forum user name and today’s date written on a piece of paper, or the post will be taken down by admin. Also newly registered members can’t post anything under for sale section

 

Good idea!

 

just want to point out the scammers are getting better. they are following people off the forum now. i had one message me on facebook from a WTB that i posted here. i like that they are actually working for the money now lol

 

Scammer strikes again! @Gen2n3

https://www.rx7club.com/market/11723...t#post12648134

This time he used the name Spalarto *facepalm*

 

Also, we have another scammer on your thread, well, Danny0. I was looking for an FC floor pan, and he commented on my thread, saying to hit up Tholmes9738@gmail.com and that he's a reliable seller lol He got me for $430, so guys, be careful, for all we know, it could be the same *******, low-life.

 

Damn, sorry to hear that. Its a shame we have to deal with this.

 

Is isn't a single person. It is a coordinated effort by organizations that do fraud. Same **** on FB, IG etc. Report any and all posts that look like that. No legit person posts their emails or phone numbers.

 

It seems the scammers got someone in my thread: Selling a bunch of random FD parts (OEM and aftermarket) Part 3 - RX7Club.com - Mazda RX7 Forum

This is becoming a serious issue. I do not feel comfortable making new for sale threads until the forum does something about this. The problem is easily solved by limiting new members with low post count to post in the For Sale section.

 

yea man sucks big time we definitely need to do something it’s becoming a bigger issue

 

it’s all over the place need to start requesting pics with the part with your name on it real time or something don’t know

 

I totally agree we need to do something and quick cause we need to help each other out buying parts

 

Thankfully -- at least here (very different story on Facebook) -- we don't have problems with scammers posting sale ads of their own. So it's not the potential sellers doing the scamming, so making the sellers jump through hoops upfront to make a sales post isn't going to do anything.

There's LOTS of things that buyers could do -- like verifying the person they're sending money to actually has the part like you said. But, any buyer that sends money over Zelle to a user with a different name than who posted the ad and has no post history... is probably going to end up being a victim regardless. And once they get them off platform and onto SMS or email, any attempts at protecting them goes out the window.

Which is why the only way of hoping to mitigate this to any degree at all is to simply make it so that these scammers' posts cannot be seen. Because if their posts are seen, regardless of what you do, there are people who are going to fall for it. If people don't notice that the guy responding to them has zero post history then they most likely aren't going to notice how closely (or not) the usernames are to the OPs. And they certainly aren't going to have the foresight to ask for proof of identity before sending funds.

Ideas about requiring numbers of posts or age of accounts would actually only potentially make things worse as it would become harder to identify the scammers. Because the scammers will create accounts and wait for them to age out and/or create spam to get post count up, making it more difficult to ascertain at-a-glance that the account is 'fake'.

The idea about a 'purgatory' where posts by newer accounts can go to for review by a moderator prior to posting is probably the most effective potential idea I've heard so far. But also not the easiest thing to implement if post moderation is not part of the iB software.

 

Why not do both? This is a page for enthusiasts. Its a "club". The for sale part are a service to members, and imo not something that should be available to everyone. Having a post requirement for the for sale section and a cooldown period for posting there is a very good option. We dont need this to be available to everyone. And having people jump through hoops are the point. Why should you be able to sell **** here if you are not contributing? If you want to dump parts, use facebook or craigslist.

Then add the layer of moderation to screen their first 5 posts to for sale sections.