PSA: Active informed scam attempt

[CaliBrit]

Cliff notes: there’s a well informed scammer scraping gear swap posts. Stay frosty!

Yesterday Gwat posted up some liners for sale.

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...Grandprix-26-5

I was PM’ing with him but hadn’t given any contact details yet when I got a text allegedly from him identifying his TGR name, they knew my real name too. I was a little confused but the details seemed correct. They also supplied pictures of the item Gwat was selling (he didn’t in his post). Extra flags such as language used had me thinking and then they requested a PayPal address switch, I already had one from Gwat via PM.

So yeah absolutely not Gwat. I don’t know how they got my phone number or name and how they tied them to my TGR handle. They seem to know what’s going on, like adding the a Zipfit shoe horn as an extra to the deal. Really pretty freaky but just be aware our beloved gear swap is being targeted.

[gwat]

^to clarify, I am not the scammer and my forum posts are (so far) legit.
The scammer somehow started texting Cali as him and I were dealing through PMs and the scammer asked him to redirect his PayPal payment to the scammers email address.
Scary how he knew Cali's cell# (BEFORE Cali sent it through PM) and having the knowledge to text him pictures of fairly identical liners. The ESL language is thankfully a dead giveaway.

[Ottime]

Fuuuuuuuuck.

[CaliBrit]

^to clarify, I am not the scammer and my forum posts are (so far) legit.
The scammer somehow started texting Cali as him and I were dealing through PMs and the scammer asked him to redirect his PayPal payment to the scammers email address.
Scary how he knew Cali's cell# (BEFORE Cali sent it through PM) and having the knowledge to text him pictures of fairly identical liners. The ESL language is thankfully a dead giveaway.

And yeah. An otherwise flawless transaction with Gwat.

[hick]

Shit, this same thing happened to me and a couple others a couple months ago. Posted about it in the FS thread and I believe a mod or admin was notified, but maybe a little more noise has to be made. The phone number thing was very disconcerting as I still have no idea how the scammer got some of our phone numbers which had not been shared. The language they used and their persistence was the give away that I was not dealing with person I thought I was.


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[ASmileyFace]

Had gwat sent pictures of the liners to someone else yet? It seems like whoever this is can maybe see old DMs or has access to a few profiles (to scrape pics & phone numbers) and is trying to sneak in once a piece of gear is spoken for? No matter how this is happening it is best to stay vigilant. This forum is an amazing resource and stuff like this can really fuck it up for all of us.

[MakersTeleMark]

Perhaps it's time to engage the Leroy Jenkins protocols.

[stealurface831]

We may even have to get the cyber police involved.


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[Danno]

I don't know for sure, but I don't think they have access to things like PMs. I think they find out things like phone number and email address from social engineering, reviewing old posts of yours, (maybe) prior data breaches, etc. If you google, it seems like these kinds of scams are rampant, not just on TGR. Described here: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...11#post7022211

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Perhaps it's time to engage the Leroy Jenkins protocols.

Shoot everyone?


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[stealurface831]

Shoot everyone?


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And survivors once more.


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[Dromond]

I know of someone else who was scammed on gear swap in a similar fashion. He got an email purporting to be the seller. I don’t know if he posted about it here

[SKIP IN7RO]

AI has infiltrated Gear Swap

[mrkbrnblm]

Perhaps it's time to engage the Leroy Jenkins protocols.

Is that thoughts and prayers?

[stealurface831]

to anyone that gets contact from a number claiming to be a seller, paste it into the search bar of facebook. if the number is registered to an account, it will pull up the account.

[AK47bp]

“When the son of the deposed King of Nigeria e-mails you directly asking for help, you help. His father ran the freaking country, okay?”


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[skinipenem]

I like to talk in the phone with sellers prior to closing the deal. Well, at least for anything of significant value.

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[Doremite]

I PM’d on a jacket (seller was a long time poster), didn’t provide the seller my # and got a text about the sale including pics from the post. The text wasn’t very mag like in tone, hence fishy and sure enough did not come from the seller. Not sure how the scammer bot knows my cell # but they do. Didn’t ask for money but I am sure it would have gone that direction had I relied. Stay vigilant.

[Rideski]

Humans are doomed.

[Danno]

I added an update to the warning thread at the top of Gear Swap.

[t-the-east]

I bet that ZipFit shoe horn would’ve been sweet though

[Muggydude]

Pretty nuts. Seems like they must have some sort of backdoor access to PM’s. Guess we’re going to have to start some GS FaceTime dates lol. I’ll show you my ski collection if you show me yours? [emoji18]


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[MakersTeleMark]

Just always ask if it comes with the powder skirt and you'll be fine.

[Doremite]

Bots are evolving fast. If they take down the trustworthiness of GS, I will officially fear them.

[Doremite]

Just always ask if it comes with the powder skirt and you'll be fine.

Stop teaching them