Scammer Alert - MBCA

[strikefreedom]

Hi, I'm new to this watch scene and looking to purchase my first Rolex, currently checking the 116610LN and 114060. Needless to say, I'm trying to be extremely cautious when it comes to sending this large of amount of money to a stranger, especially coming across the first scammer here.

So this listing appears too good to be true, a 2019 for $9500. The seller, with only 10 posts, has several listings and is a pledge member (which I learn doesn't mean anything aside from the $30 donation) so I kept researching. I contacted the email and received a response asking where I'm located. I said I'm not local so it'll need to be shipped. But after asking for more pictures at different angles and one that shows the watch set to a certain time with his name and date written on paper, there was no reply. Then I did a reverse image search, and of course I found an another listing at a different forum over a year ago with different contact info.

If I have this all wrong, please delete. Otherwise, please ban this user and remove all his posts. Finally, perhaps implement some sort of test/verification before a user can post a for sale listing?

[Maxy]

Great job OP. This is what's expected from every buyer to do before purchasing something online. Looks like scam as you can't have 1 year Sub without selling.

[433]

Shouldn't you report his for sale post to the moderators?

[214270Explorer]

strikefreedom, you are actually someone who DID his homework.

Yep. Run from that listing.

Hopefully others will read and learn from strikefreedom's post and diligence. Too many simply jump on something and lose their money.

[illiguy]

Buy the seller first.

[tuffness9999]

Great job, I've purchased 2 watches from resellers and I went through similar checks with my dealers.

BUT.... It doesn't matter how much homework you do, the day you wire $15k or more to someone you've never met, and don't have the watch in your hands is nerve wrecking.

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[strikefreedom]

Originally Posted by 433

Shouldn't you report his for sale post to the moderators?

Just did it.

It upsets me that people are losing their hard earned money to scammers, who get away with this and just repeat again under a different name. It really should be mandatory to post a picture showing the watch set at certain time with their username and date written on paper next to it. This is a common practice at many classifieds forum, and I'm very surprised it's not here given the transaction value.

[Nikrnic]

Good thinking on your part for the time setting verification pics, similar to Chrono 24.

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[ZOOK]

Originally Posted by strikefreedom

Just did it.

It upsets me that people are losing their hard earned money to scammers, who get away with this and just repeat again under a different name. It really should be mandatory to post a picture showing the watch set at certain time with their username and date written on paper next to it. This is a common practice at many classifieds forum, and I'm very surprised it's not here given the transaction value.

strikefreedom,

How did you report MBCA's sale ad? It is still available! You should return to the post and click the exclamation point in the triangle and explain your experience with the seller.


Also add any personal info you have on the seller, here. So if scammer re-uses them others may find this post.

[strikefreedom]

Originally Posted by ZOOK

strikefreedom,

How did you report MBCA's sale ad? It is still available! You should return to the post and click the exclamation point in the triangle and explain your experience with the seller.


Also add any personal info you have on the seller, here. So if scammer re-uses them others may find this post.

That's what I did. Either I'm wrong about this or the mods need more time to confirm.

We didn't get that far, no reply since I asked for more info.

[strikefreedom]

Originally Posted by Nikrnic

Good thinking on your part for the time setting verification pics, similar to Chrono 24.

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I've seen mods here asking the same thing during random audit, along with written username & date. IMO, it should be mandatory.

Like this, scammer found:
https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?p=10973967

[Nikrnic]

Thats seems like a great idea and a good tool to have a mandatory signed time check. Why not... one scammer is one too many.

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[cop414]

Thanks guys, taken care of.

[GGGMT]

Originally Posted by Nikrnic

Thats seems like a great idea and a good tool to have a mandatory signed time check. Why not... one scammer is one too many.

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Disagree. So DavidSW and a bunch of amazing, high volume sellers should be forced to do a signed time check with literally 100s and 1000s of listings because a certain few buyers can’t take even the most basic, elementary steps to protect themselves? Forget it. I say: put the burden on the buyers, let them beware, do basis due diligence, and then find sympathy elsewhere if they don’t take commonsense steps to protect themselves. The Vast majority of buyers have no problem transacting safely in the modern world.


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[zruvalcaba]

Originally Posted by GGGMT

Disagree. So DavidSW and a bunch of amazing, high volume sellers should be forced to do a signed time check with literally 100s and 1000s of listings because a certain few buyers can’t take even the most basic, elementary steps to protect themselves? Forget it. I say: put the burden on the buyers, let them beware, do basis due diligence, and then find sympathy elsewhere if they don’t take commonsense steps to protect themselves. The Vast majority of buyers have no problem transacting safely in the modern world.


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Nope, for guys like DavidSW, Takuya, OCWATCHGUY etc. that obviously move volume through this website, there could be exclusions. For guys like me with 100 posts, 15 or so feedback, and 1 year of membership under our belts, it should be mandatory. At the very least, force 2FA on the seller (although I've been told it's not possible). If the seller doesn't have 2FA enabled, they can't post....simple as that. That pretty much guarantees the seller is at least who they say they are.

[nucleon]

Worked with Matt at WatchExchangeCompany. Great experience. Even though he had references and an established shop, I was skittish enough to pay the fee and use PayPal for part of the transaction. That might be one way to establish a level of comfort for those new to the game (like me).

[Old Expat Beast]

Originally Posted by zruvalcaba

Nope, for guys like DavidSW, Takuya, OCWATCHGUY etc. that obviously move volume through this website, there could be exclusions. For guys like me with 100 posts, 15 or so feedback, and 1 year of membership under our belts, it should be mandatory. At the very least, force 2FA on the seller (although I've been told it's not possible). If the seller doesn't have 2FA enabled, they can't post....simple as that. That pretty much guarantees the seller is at least who they say they are.

It doesn't. We've had scammers phishing accounts here are then enabling 2FA.

[Nikrnic]

Originally Posted by GGGMT

Disagree. So DavidSW and a bunch of amazing, high volume sellers should be forced to do a signed time check with literally 100s and 1000s of listings because a certain few buyers can’t take even the most basic, elementary steps to protect themselves? Forget it. I say: put the burden on the buyers, let them beware, do basis due diligence, and then find sympathy elsewhere if they don’t take commonsense steps to protect themselves. The Vast majority of buyers have no problem transacting safely in the modern world.


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OP was referring to a private seller

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[steeevvvooo]

Originally Posted by zruvalcaba

Nope, for guys like DavidSW, Takuya, OCWATCHGUY etc. that obviously move volume through this website, there could be exclusions. For guys like me with 100 posts, 15 or so feedback, and 1 year of membership under our belts, it should be mandatory. At the very least, force 2FA on the seller (although I've been told it's not possible). If the seller doesn't have 2FA enabled, they can't post....simple as that. That pretty much guarantees the seller is at least who they say they are.

Surely if a scammer gets into an account through the means they do normally, they can then activate 2fa if not already enabled and list for sale ads under a pretence of being legit? This would only work if 2fa was implemented at sign up of the account right?

Not being negative towards your post, just trying to think about ways to better the process as it's in everyones interest (who is a genuine WIS).

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[zruvalcaba]

Originally Posted by steeevvvooo

Surely if a scammer gets into an account through the means they do normally, they can then activate 2fa if not already enabled and list for sale ads under a pretence of being legit? This would only work if 2fa was implemented at sign up of the account right?

Not being negative towards your post, just trying to think about ways to better the process as it's in everyones interest (who is a genuine WIS).

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Getting into a TRF account doesn't necessarily mean that the user's email was compromised along with it. In most cases it's not. Typically the way that user's hijack a forum account is by creating a fake log in page that looks identical to the real page that they're imitating. Then they send out a bogus email to the user, saying that their account has been compromised, and ask them to click the link to log in and change their password. The user thinking the link and email are genuine, click the link, are redirected to the malicious page, they enter their credentials, and then those credentials are sent back to the scammer. At which point the user is redirected back to the real TRF login with parameters in the URL string to indicate failed log in attempt. This is when the user gains entry to the user's account. Assuming they never hijacked the real email address, enabling 2FA at this point would prove fruitless because the real account holder would get an email to verify their intention to enroll in to 2FA. They would be aware instantly that something was up. Of course, if the account holder had their email AND their TRF account compromised, then they could enable 2FA without any problems. My suggestion would be to not list an email anywhere in a public forum. And if you do, be very cautious of emails that come through from public forums and learn how to read URLs in hyperlinks to make sure you're clicking on a correct URL and not a phish attempt URL.

[steeevvvooo]

Originally Posted by zruvalcaba

Getting into a TRF account doesn't necessarily mean that the user's email was compromised along with it. In most cases it's not. Typically the way that user's hijack a forum account is by creating a fake log in page that looks identical to the real page that they're imitating. Then they send out a bogus email to the user, saying that their account has been compromised, and ask them to click the link to log in and change their password. The user thinking the link and email are genuine, click the link, are redirected to the malicious page, they enter their credentials, and then those credentials are sent back to the scammer. At which point the user is redirected back to the real TRF login with parameters in the URL string to indicate failed log in attempt. This is when the user gains entry to the user's account. Assuming they never hijacked the real email address, enabling 2FA at this point would prove fruitless because the real account holder would get an email to verify their intention to enroll in to 2FA. They would be aware instantly that something was up. Of course, if the account holder had their email AND their TRF account compromised, then they could enable 2FA without any problems. My suggestion would be to not list an email anywhere in a public forum. And if you do, be very cautious of emails that come through from public forums and learn how to read URLs in hyperlinks to make sure you're clicking on a correct URL and not a phish attempt URL.

That's makes sense. Thanks for explaining . I guess if your email account that registers your logins is secure you have an advantage in protecting your wider accounts. Appreciate the insight :)

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[GGGMT]

Originally Posted by zruvalcaba

Nope, for guys like DavidSW, Takuya, OCWATCHGUY etc. that obviously move volume through this website, there could be exclusions. For guys like me with 100 posts, 15 or so feedback, and 1 year of membership under our belts, it should be mandatory. At the very least, force 2FA on the seller (although I've been told it's not possible). If the seller doesn't have 2FA enabled, they can't post....simple as that. That pretty much guarantees the seller is at least who they say they are.

Where do you draw the line? ‘Guys like you’? 100 posts? 500? Any dude can just run up his post numbers. 10 entries in who’s who? 20? 30? What about a negative posting? And why not put some parameters on buyers, who can be scammers too?? 200 posts for those guys to buy? 150? Endorsements on who’s who? Ultimately there’s no substitute for buyers being careful. Onus is on us!!


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[GGGMT]

Originally Posted by Nikrnic

OP was referring to a private seller

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Versus an AD? Who’s a private seller? Under 20 sales? 30? No store front?


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[Nikrnic]

Originally Posted by GGGMT

Versus an AD? Who’s a private seller? Under 20 sales? 30? No store front?


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Ya that sounds about right

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[Humble michael]

Ha No substitute for using CC for payment! Nice to check out sellers f2f etc but ultimately you must protect yourself just common sense. :-)

[VintageVagabound]

Originally Posted by james272

Ha No substitute for using CC for payment! Nice to check out sellers f2f etc but ultimately you must protect yourself just common sense. :-)

I second this. Many sellers say they’ll only take wire transfer but many many more will take PayPal and CC. Especially if they’re selling a common watch Id rather find a seller willing to take CC or PayPal. If they don’t trust you why should you trust them?