Beware of FRAUD !

[ag1234]

I was duped out of $570. trough Zelle, "Bradley 924" and Tobey Maguire !  I stupidly relied on a link from Bradley to purchase TA
 Rover heads.                       The crooks are out there !   Art.

[MGBV8]

Here on this forum, Art?

[BlownMGB-V8]

For $574? Art. You really should have known better.

Jim

[ag1234]

Carl, yes "Bradley 924" on this forum. Of course he is long gone. Jim, you should known better. It was  $570. Neener neener,

[BriansMGBV8]

I'm assuming the pm to you went like, I know a guy who has heads for sale. Email him at ......

Also, never, never use Zelle unless you know them. I always use PayPal which backs your money.

[MGBV8]

I can not find a Bradley 924 on here.  Maybe Curtis has removed him.

[turbodave]

Seems like anyone who has ever put a wanted ad on here gets an email like this. I had contacted Curtis (the moderator here) about this, and he said he would nuke him, but I just looked and the PM from Bradlye924 is still there in my inbox - screenshot here.

Curtis - if you read this, is there no ability for all PMs sent from nuked users to be deleted?

For all others, my one assured way of making sure things are real, is to ask for a picture of the item with a random object of YOUR choosing placed on top of / next to it. Could be a pen, a mug, a set of keys - the kind of 100% everyday stuff that absolutely any normal person will have in-hand. If they can't provide something so incredibly simple, it's almost assured the item doesn't exist.
Now, that's not to say just because it exists you won't get scammed, but 95% (or more) of the times, this is the case.
You can also ask for a number to speak with the person, but this usually raises reasons why that's not possible - phone audio is broken, etc. Alarm bells should now be ringing loudly!

If they do manage to convince you the item is real, and insist on payment via Zelle, or paypal friends and family, then it's likely a scam. You have ZERO come-back with these payment options.

I always insist on paying with paypal, but state that I will send extra 6% to cover the fees (which don't get charged with friends&family), and then they will start squirming, and coming up with other reasons. That is the point alarm bells start ringing, and your only course of action at this point is to ignore and block them or start messing with them to waste their time.

[ag1234]

Same line for the heads.  Of course there was picture of heads and nothing else. How about picture with " Tobey's" drivers license ?
                                                                         Thanks Dave.

[MGBV8]

Thanks for the PSA, Dave.  It's treacherous out there!

[Moderator]

Curtis - if you read this, is there no ability for all PMs sent from nuked users to be deleted?

I can either delete or deactivate a user's account... but neither of these actions will delete already-posted messages.

I chose to deactivate Bradlye924 back on 12/7/2023 because (a) that way I can review their information such as email address later, and (b) they won't be able to come back later and register the username or email address again.

Another thing I can do (and have done many times) is proactively block whole or partial usernames and email addresses. For example, I could block anyone from including "Bradlye" within a username regardless of what suffix they put on it.

If anyone is curious, Bradlye924 used email address "curtiscutter@proton.me" back when they registered their username.

[Moderator]

In Dave's screenshot above, I see the email address Tobay-Maguire@outlook.com (except with that first part spelled with an "e".)  

So just now I set up a ban on that first word. If someone writes it in a message board post now, it should be converted to look like a swear word appears in a comic strip. I'm not sure whether the ban applies to the private message system.

Anyway... here's a test:    Tobey-Maguire@outlook.com

I'm going to set up a ban on that other weird name too. The one that ends "monkey".

[ag1234]

Curtis, I wonder if I have any legal recourse ?  My bank/Chase and Zelle are not interested in justice.
                                                                                           Thanks,  Art.

[Moderator]

For justice to be served, the person or business that defrauded you would have to be positively identified.

I don't think you'll discover the real identity of Bradley 924 on your own. Zelle could probably do so with relative ease, but Zelle was created by banks for banks, so they're only interested in protecting themselves and banks. Don't waste your time going after them.  Even if you discover who Bradley 924 was, there's not much you could do with that. I think all you can do is learn from the experience, share your learning, and move on.

[MGBV8]

If you actually knew the identity, you could possibly sue them in Small Claims court.