We've seen a huge uptick in people making fresh accounts that looks nearly identical to real sellers username and posting a phone number saying posing as the original poster. This has become such a regular scam.

Can we please lock out the marketplace visibility for anyone who doesn't have at minimum 5 or 10 posts? Not allowing any new accounts access to see the marketplace will provide better safety for our community.

@Robb M. @gracer7-rx7 @Pele

 

this is not a tenable solution.

 

Then they will simply get those posts and then continue the scam. Unfortunately, scammers adapt just the same as the people getting scammed. We just need to be more diligent and work together to curb and deter the problem.

Is there a way to moderate posts in such a way that low activity, low post, new account, can be held for review or something to that effect? A threshold of sorts where "if x and/or y then [hold posts for (review/publish delay/disable private message)]"?

Something to at least slow them down or make it wildly inconvenient to run the scams? Of course it would suck for real new members but... whatever. Get your weight up son lol

There could also be some sort of "real" verification process to circumvent the new hold so REAL new members don't have to suffer with the restriction?

Just throwing out ideas

 

@Robb M. Are you going to do anything?

 

We have to work together. It's easy to ask someone to do something but we also need to at least ask and propose ways forward. Whether feasible or not, at least we offer solutions to get shot down lol it could just be time for an update to the matrix.

there are some websites that require verification videos before you can start posting. Although a lot of work, this place is worth protecting with a strict wall of entry. I think a progressive multi stage approach is whats needed. Something inconvenient but also not aggressively deterrent to real new members.

A scammers time is more valuable than the scam itself. Waste their time and the heard thins out until they realize it's just not worth it at all. Especially if failure means having to start over.

 

Software that compares new account names to the existing data base and flags names that are obviously imitation names and disallows creation of such imitation names.

 

So there's Redbul but there can never be a redbul or a Redbul1 or something like that. So basically changing the username requirements to something closer to password requirements: length, case, punctuation, numbers.....

I think that's a good one. keeps the usernames from being copied but then forces people to be Zetadr1v3er!_88 lol

 

I used to use heatware for this on tech sites: https://www.heatware.com/
Let's you see people's review history for personal sales.

 

Its kinda not really worth doing anything from the software side of things. These scam organizations will just move onto the next approach at a scam.

Keep reporting the various scams that you see and we will keep whacking the moles as they pop up as we have been for the last 20+ years. Same **** happens in the financial industry.

Be mindful and careful dealing with new accounts in the marketplace. Always use paypal goods and services. Some new accounts are legitimately new users coming from reddit or fb or whatever.

 

The point is to get them to move away from here, to the next easier target.

 

Yea.... like rx8club