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Another "dishonest humans" rant...

RunOutGroove

RunOutGroove

Addicted Member
I realize that this subject has come up a lot here, but recently for me the issue has reached epic proportions and I feel like I need to rant about it a bit...

I've been selling several items, both home audio stuff and musical gear, both through Craigslist and FB Marketplace. I have over years of doing this come up against some folks that seemed to be (and in once case turned out to be) scammers, but just recently I got a deluge of messages on FB from folks that I'd be willing to be are ALL scammers... and in less than a 24 hr period I've gotten something in the neighborhood of 15 of them. The first ones that responded to my ads, as soon as I messaged back requested that I text them, but then when I did they wanted me to deal with some kind of "verification code," which seemed pretty fishy to me and being that I'm selling locally and not through the mail seemed totally unnecessary. I told each of those folks that I'm not dealing with codes and after they tried to convince me that I needed to do so for their protection, they gave up. Other folks soon followed and some of them asked for my phone # first thing (before giving out their own). None of the numbers that were provided appeared to have local prefixes; a lot of the language that was used in each was similar, down to the same kind of grammatical and punctuation errors and when I started looking up folks' FB profiles, they were either very minimal or there was an issue that they wouldn't even open up. Very likely it seems that all of these messages originate from the same couple of people or even the same person, but why would someone even waste their time with all of that if the person that they're trying to scam (me) isn't taking any of the bait? Not that I really believe that it'll do any good, but I think that going to report all of them to FB as scammers.

What happened to folks being honest... I tell ya!

Is it really getting worse out there for this kind of thing, or am I just experiencing some kind of tear in the fabric of reality where everyone around be seems to be a crook?
 
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I don't know much about the way they can scam but giving your personal phone number can be risky. I have read there is a way they can scam you by getting into your phone service once they have your number.
Might want to check with your phone service provider to make sure you didn't provide the scammers with a way to scam you by giving them your number.
My guess is it would have something to do with the verification code they wanted you to type,you probably saved yourself by not doing that.
 
whoaru99 said:
It pays because it's not just you and people fall for it.

There have always been con games, it's just easier to target more people these days.
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I realize that folks like this never really seem to ever give up, but I'm just struck by how many of these messages I've been getting recently...

triple20 said:
I don't know much about the way they can scam but giving your personal phone number can be risky. I have read there is a way they can scam you by getting into your phone service once they have your number.
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I'm usually pretty loose about giving out my phone # but maybe not anymore. I'm not sure that just having a phone # though is enough to scam someone (phone #s are easy enough to find anyway), but it does seem like agreeing to this "verification code" thing is a bad idea.

I'm VERY careful with this stuff and haven't gotten burned in any kind of a scam in years of selling stuff on the internet, but I can see how some folks who are less vigilant could... Sad, really.
 
It may not even be a person per se. Or, it might be but help is cheap in some places. If it's all you did all day long one person can play lots of people.
 
People suck.

/thread

In all seriousness, I only give out my cell number (and I no longer have a landline) to people I know. EVERYONE else gets a number that works on my tablet or phone via an app. TextNow is an app that provides a working number, free, and lets you text or call from that number, receive calls or texts, and has a voicemail function. There are some ads, but they are not NEAR as bad as most free apps.
 
It gets old. In the past (way back), I could sell gear without all of this crap. I wanted to upgrade and the buyer was usually upgrading. A win win. Lately it's been like someone will say they're super interested, set up a day to meet and then crickets. Am I expecting too much? I've been loose with my address and phone number. Always think the best of people. No more.
 
I’ve experienced everything RunOut has. The other day I posted an ad on cl selling my Oceanic 77 gallon aquarium. I received an email asking me if I am the original owner ( I posted that I was ) and to email at such and such because he doesn’t answer cl emails. Oh, and he’ll buy it.
F you.

A day later I get another with the same request but from another sender.

F you too.
 
RunOutGroove said:
I'm usually pretty loose about giving out my phone # but maybe not anymore. I'm not sure that just having a phone # though is enough to scam someone (phone #s are easy enough to find anyway), but it does seem like agreeing to this "verification code" thing is a bad idea.
Click to expand...

In this day and age, you can get a free disposable phone number that can be forwarded to your real phone number for safety purposes.
 
FB seems to be getting worse. I see countless ads for used vehicles priced tens of thousands less than what they're worth. When you open profiles they seem legit or faked so not sure if they're copying them or creating them but the member since date goes back 10 years or more.

You can report them as a scam but there doesn't seem much point. Same car or truck shows up in multiple cities under different member names too. You'd think a big org like FB could thwart this. Not sure why they don't or what the scammers angle is.
 
As long as you can instantly recognize a scammer from an interested party - you shouldn't end up too inconvenienced. Keep your spidey senses up!
 
I really dislike thieves and dishonest people.
Reading the OP's first post makes me glad I am "unable/unwilling" to sell anything.
 
There is a SCAM for everything ..Ever see a facebook post that says "Name all these things about you, I'll go first"...and it says hometown, high school, mothers name, on and on. You have basically answered (if you did) lots of personal information that can be used to steal your identity.

Got an email that LOOKS real? Hover over the id...you will see its NOt the real source but some scammer and if it really really looks real, NEVER click anything ever. Go to the source (like your bank, apple, netflix, etc) and see if it says the same. But NEVER click a link to an account in email.

Here is a good one. Your bank calls and says they are from the fraud unit and they want to stop a transaction against your account from a foreign IP address (this is a real scenario). They may ask questions to identify its really you like your telephone support pin, etc. This one is VERY hard to tell if its real or not but the key is question them. If you are not sure, hang up and contact the REAL fraud department at your bank and see if it jives. Had this happen recently and they almost had me
 
Scams are easy enough to avoid when just doing local business. No one is getting anything from me unless they show up in person and pay cash. Makes scamming difficult. I don't mind giving out my phone number as long as the person asking isn't speaking in poorly translated engrish. I already get tons of scam calls on my phone and have become good at ignoring them, so whatever.
 
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