A Cautionary Tale: Closest I’ve Come To Being Scammed in 20 Years

[bambam]

Like I said earlier, good catch and glad you didn’t get scammed.
What is good practice to stop others falling into this type of scam?
Like others have said, there are some members on here many people would deal with without hesitation. That’s no use if their account has been hacked.

[Christian]

Like I said earlier, good catch and glad you didn’t get scammed.
What is good practice to stop others falling into this type of scam?
Like others have said, there are some members on here many people would deal with without hesitation. That’s no use if their account has been hacked.

Even when it was looking very likely a scam, I found it difficult to ask the awkward questions just in case there was an innocent explanation.

With the current increase in hacking of accounts, I think we shouldn’t be afraid of asking for as much proof as you feel you need before committing to a purchase even if its a member with thousands of posts who has been on here since the beginning. Similarly, I wouldn’t take offence to someone asking for proof...some ID for example.

Some people say speaking on the phone is a good idea. I’m not so sure about the effectiveness...I think these scammers would have taken a phone call. They seemed very well prepared to answer questions an supply pictures with usernames written by a watch etc.

To be honest, I skirted so close there that it has put me off even going secondhand at all for expensive watches now.

[JohnnyE]

vBulletin that the forum runs on has a facility for 2 factor authentication. That would knock this on the head once and for all (but probably be a nightmare to administer for Eddie alone - but a support thread would allow others to give peer support).

Using Google authenticator on your phone as the 2nd factor... would lock us all down safely.

[craggie]

Well spotted, that was close.

[Sonos]

Interesting read thanks for the heads up.