Found a FB ad for a streeter stack stand, arranged to send funds, but both PayPal & Venmo won’t process. My bank shows no fund requests or denials, & the balance is sufficient, so it’s not the bank. Bank rep said it might be the 2 services, other customers have had same issue wuth sending funds. So, seller says buy a gift card in the amount & send f/r pics of it. I surmise that the QR code allows him to claim the funds, but is this a legit transactional arrangement?
Gift card = Scam. End of story.
2 Likes
I had a feeling. Thx.
Be thankful the Venmo didn’t work. I’d still keep a close eye on both your PayPal and Venmo accounts over the next months.
I managed to stay away from Facebook for years, I joined a few months ago for access to marketplace kart groups. I am stunned by how many fake/scam posts there are!!
I feel like I can usually tell by the lack of members location and the join date is very recent. Mychrons seem to be a popular item for these guys to post. Some of them post pics of all the wiring and a few I have spotted a euro wall plug/charger, not American. I feel that’s a pretty good indicator:man_shrugging:
@DTwerks A lot of them regurgitate the same items:
- MyChrons
- Scales
- Clutches
- Oval karts, for some reason
- Electric kart stands
I’m declining and banning these accounts daily from my Facebook group, but they’re pretty proficient at cloning accounts. Join date or account creation date is a pretty obvious tell.
Yeah, it’s on a used kart FB group. He has a number of stands & Mychron 5’s fs. Look up “Mason Brown” in Used Shifter Karts fb group. Not sure what to make of it.
Too funny, I conversed with him about a stiletto stand he listed. I was skeptical from the start but sealed the deal when he couldn’t provide any pics that I couldn’t find online myself.
Claimed to be is San Diego area.
A few other obvious tells are:
- eagerness to ship / unrealistically low shipping cost for bulky stuff like a kart stand
- minimal description followed by “PM me for info”
- Inconsistent backgrounds in the images. A screenshot of a screenshot gets really pixely, so sometimes a picture or two will be an obvious screenshot
- If they have pictures of karts on their profile, look to see if the names match the stickers
- Comments disabled is a huge red flag
- If the only person to “like” their post is them, probably a scam, but I have seen some desperate sellers do this, too.
I wanted to see where this would go, so I just sent him a link to this thread, asking him about your post. Here’s his reply:
“Hey bro, like I said, I’m not pushing you to make a payment. You can do your research on the parts I’m selling. If you see any duplicate posts, that’s usually a scam. I know you’re worried about getting scammed, but you gotta trust me on this. A video call can help clear things up if you’re still unsure.”
So I tried to vid call, but no reply. Now FB says he’s not available to text msg.
No. No you don’t. Bro.
2 Likes
Yeah, he’s blocked. Sketchy as hell.