Yes I got that same one about the stepdad asking to get pictures emailed. Scam. I also got a scam from howardjones.
1 Like
Howard Jones loves me too. So much that he kept trying to get my personal email address.
1 Like
That’s because most people don’t care what it is, as long as it is available and the right color. If they don’t ask what color it is, it is probably a scam.
I just created an account here to sell my Eddyline Fathom and received a scam attempt from howardjones99
It’s so unfortunate this kind of thing is so prevalent. Here is “Howard’s” scam…
My parting words to Howard…
I will be reporting you as a scam and advising the hosting site of your deceptive tactics.
On Wed, May 31, 2023 at 4:18 PM Howard Jones <howardjones8612@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks for the update am ok with the price and condition currently out of town due to the nature of my job military now at Fort Carson Army Base Colorado my mode of payment will be an eCheck and only have access to email for now.I need your name and address so that the check can be send to you also my shipper will come for pick up after check clears at your bank.Let me know how you will like to proceed with this and get the payment. Howard
3 Likes
“Howard” is a waste of skin and air. There’s a special place in Hell for his kind.
1 Like
I got the same nonsense from a howardjones99.
2 Likes
Thanks for keeping an eye out for this guy.
Just report anything else you see from him.
Jeff
2 Likes
There is a new version of scamming that has become an annoyance in searching for used boats. I regularly scan Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for used kayaks and canoes (mostly to direct friends looking for boats to good deals but also to snag good ones myself). But there is a new scheme that overseas (probably, since the names attached tend to be Middle Eastern or African) scammers are using to try to rope people into clicking onto on line sales sites which have nothing to do with paddling. The images that come up in the searches for “kayak” and “canoe” will include many that were lifted from legit “for sale” ads mostly for higher end or popular boats, like NDK and Eddyline kayaks and Hornbeck canoes, often posting no price or one that is ridiculously low.
If you open the listing they all have the same boiler plate : “I suggest you go to this website, xhfadacai.com, to order your product. I ordered eight products from their website. Receive all products within 5 days, they are doing a campaign, all products are the lowest price, when I received the products, I checked and the exciting thing is that all products are brand new, with warranty cards” The China based site has nothing but crap or listings that are clearly sucker bait scams.
The listings are amateurishly transparent ripoffs, but they are so plentiful that I waste time opening them (and I report each one as a scam or “no intent to sell” or “promoting commercial listing”. ) In recent weeks I would estimate that 1 in every 4 listings that came up in most of my searches for big ticket items was one of these scams.
I notice the tactic has expanded to home furnishings and even riding mowers, both of which I have had need of seeking on the for sale sites.
At this point when I search on “kayak” I also paste into the search bar the first line of the boilerplate. That will bring up every kayak listing that is part of the scam so I can see which ones to ignore before I start working my way through the listings,
All that said, searching on behalf of a friend looking to upgrade from her Pelican pool toy, I found a legit local listing yesterday for two nicely kept 14’ RM light touring boats, a Dagger and a Necky, including paddles and PFDs for $300 each. She’s arranged to pick up one or both this coming weekend. So it is worth enduring the “used boat” ad slog.
Update: I just learned the seller of the used Necky and Dagger kayaks nicely held them for my friend until this morning when she was off work and could drive an hour to look at them. She picked the Manitou and I’m joining her Sunday morning on the Monongahela for her maiden voyage in it.
4 Likes
Thanks @willowleaf. I have wondered about those listings with suspiciously low prices, but never clicked on one to investigate further.
I guess the old axiom “If it sounds too good to be true …” is alive and well.
1 Like
Dannyad sent me a fourth msg with almost the same verbiage as the previous ones. I stopped replying.
2 Likes
Useful thread. I’ve been in communication for several days with “dannyad” about a kayak I was trying to sell. The interaction has been a bit “off” and I was getting suspicious. The information here confirmed my decision to end the interaction. Regrettably, I had already shared my cell phone & email…
2 Likes
I have noticed that when I repeatedly report those ad to the FB admins they eventually disappear. But, like cockroaches, there are always new ones that show up to replace them from the automated scam sources, with a new batch of profiles attached to them, probably stolen from unsuspecting FB members.
2 Likes
Well, today I got a notice from my ID security/ID theft protection service that some info I’d transmitted to “dannyad” was showing up on known suspect sites. Coincidence? Maybe, but it’s been over a year since I’ve gotten a similar notice from them. I think that it is more likely than not there is a relationship between my “dannyad” interaction and this development.
2 Likes
Seems Phipjones993 is another name that can be added to the list of scam profiles. Didn’t see a way to report him on his profile, how/who do I contact about this?
1 Like
Yes, same here. Wants email and when advised I thought the messaging on the site was fine relied his job does not allow him to always be on the site.
Yest a reply here gets an email notification- sigh.
1 Like
Beware of georgebenson99. Same offer:
“ Thanks for the update am ok with the price and condition currently out of town due to the nature of my job military now at Fort Carson Army Base Colorado my mode of payment will be an eCheck and only have access to email for now.I need your name and address so that the check can be send to you also my shipper will come for pick up after check clears at your bank.Let me know how you will like to proceed with this and get the payment. George ”
Yeah, not gonna happen.
2 Likes
I’m curious what y’all might think. I’ve bought things advertised in the classifieds here before. I was just going to make a fairly long trip for what seems to be a nice tandem canoe, and at the last minute I felt really unsure about it. This is why. So I messaged and even talked to a gentleman on the phone and we agreed to a date to pick it up. I spoke to him again the day before I planned on leaving. I was preparing and fully planning on going. Speaking to him the day before leaving he said he tested positive for covid a couple days earlier, so he would be wearing a mask, but wasn’t feeling all that bad, which seemed normal enough. He asked me to text him when I left, and to text him when I was 20 minutes away. The thing that threw me later is that when I looked up the address he gave me, it was for a construction site, an empty development. So now I’m thinking about the messages letting an unknown person know where I’m at on the road (nothing really abnormal), a seller who has asked for cash (nothing abnormal), who will be wearing a mask (perfectly good precaution for someone who may be contagious carrying covid), and an address of a construction site. Talking to him earlier, everything seemed normal. He said he would send some more pictures both times we talked. That day before I said yes, that would be great. But I never received more pictures. Again, this really didn’t hit me as a concern in and of itself. But then seeing that the address was bogus made me think through these other things, and putting everything together left me with a bad feeling. Perhaps I overreacted. But it seemed he was left holding all the chips. If all went wrong for him in the transaction, the buyer commits a really strange crime of somehow managing to load and steal a canoe from a seller without paying. If the buyer is just a person with bad intent, they could commit a violent crime or steal from anyone. Someone selling a canoe seems a ridiculous target for a thief. Really, on so many levels. You know who would be a perfect target for theft? Someone selling a canoe or kayak! I just don’t see it? But I suppose crazier things have happened. On the other hand, I’m six hours from home in a strange place with cash meeting a guy wearing a mask at a bogus address that’s a construction site. So what I could have done was called to try to see if I could iron out my misgivings over the phone, but then I sort of feel like I’m asking for it. I wasn’t sure what to say or how to approach a conversation that would leave me feeling good about everything. So I just messaged with an apology saying that when I looked up the address, I got spooked, so I’ve cancelled my plans to travel down for the canoe. He responded saying “that’s ok. It is a long drive.” I I truly hope it’s just a stupid misunderstanding on my part. But no one has ever given me a false address. I’ve met people in a public place before with the understanding that that’s what we were doing. But having phone conversations, being given an address where the canoe will be in the garage, and seeing it’s a construction site made me start to second guess everything. Could be as innocent as I wrote the address down wrong. I just felt like I was careful with that. Something just told me to hold up.
What do you think?
Here’s the ad.
1 Like
You’re calling the shots. You came clean about your concernd, yet he made no effort to allay your fears.
georgebenson99 is gone but no doubt another scammer will pop up.
1 Like