[t-ray]

If you get PM'd by the account AUTOREPLY, ignore it / report it. Dude's a scammer.

Original post follows:

I don't know if someone took over this guy's account, or what. This user listed Sc3's for sale. I replied to his for sale thread, and received a pm to respond to his email address.


We moved the discussion to email, and he asked to pay via venmo. I stated I would mark the transaction as a purchase instead of a gift, and I would make a separate transaction to cover the seller charge. He suggested I pay half, he would ship the tires, and I would pay the other half when received.

It was a huge flag but I was stupid and ignored it. I venmo'd him and he has not provided shipping information and has ignored further inquiries. Beware.

[kropscamaro16]

still got the link to the for sale post?

[mlee]

No user by that name has ever been on this site.

Are you sure it's spelled right? And Ya... a ton of red flags there

[t-ray]

Sorry, typed this from my phone. Updated the thread title with correct username.

Original thread: https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=620576

And let me repeat - I was totally dumb here and ignored the flag. I wanted a good deal so bad that I ignored the risk, and that's on me. I'm posting here to try to help inform others about this dude.

[kropscamaro16]

yea no pics is a red flag but hes got 120 posts so hes not some guy that just joined but weird maybe somebody hacked his account

[jimmyp]

I don’t know who you were in contact with, but it wasn’t me. I don’t even have Venmo. I would be meeting the buyer in person with cash only. The tires are still available, they were posted as local pickup, Birmingham is not local to me. If you were really scammed, I hope you get your money back, but I’m calling BS on this story

[mlee]

Post up the discussion e-mails. Maybe someone just used that name.

Better yet... what was the e-mail address you were corresponding with?

[jimmyp]

Or maybe this whole story is a figment of t rays’ imagination. The guy never even messaged me.

[mlee]

Originally Posted by jimmyp

Or maybe this whole story is a figment of t rays’ imagination. The guy never even messaged me.

In-coming....

[t-ray]

Ok, I have to apologize for creating this drama. I'm a complete dumbass.

The original seller posted 4 tires for sale, local pickup. I responded that I was interested if he was willing to ship. ~20 minutes later I got a PM from an account named `AUTOREPLY`, stating the user was not active in the forums and I should use email instead.

I guess this AUTOREPLY dude just watches the want ads and just messages people?

I haven't purchased anything on car forums in over a decade. I literally thought it was some kind of out-of-office attendant or something. And for the record, I'm in IT and should totally spot these things.

So the whole email exchange, transfer of money, all of that stuff was because I was duped. And then I proceded to leave negative feedback on what I believe is a legit user, *and* I created a thread about it.

My apologies to the original seller. I did not mean to affect your reputation and I will try to correct the negative rating.

Picture attached of original PM.

[arpad_m]

You got scammed all right, unfortunately this is a typical switch and scam technique I know it's difficult to come clean after this and you have my maximum respect for doing so. Next time you will certainly spot the initial red flags like the random email, the 0 post count and the lame excuse.

If it were up to me, these scammers would not get away with this completely or even with a slap on the wrist... but I won't hijack your apology thread.

[mlee]

Except you didn't report it... This is a very common practice of scammers. They find people looking for an item and send them a PM. Most, like AUTOREPLY, have zero posts which is another dead giveaway.

The only way he got removed from the site is I happened to be on your profile and saw you were looking at his profile so I went there and banned him. Catching them quickly is the best way to protect others from the same.

Very sorry you got taken and unfortunately probably no way to get your $$ back but here's the e-mail he used on this site if it helps any. zinizax@gmail.com

[khorn45]

Have seen this happen sadly in lots of forums. Someone sets up a site scraper looking for things like "still available?" etc. and then they pm you trying to get you to email a separate one. Lots have been banned before, sadly lots come back