Ongoing battle to keep scammers out

[Alpine 1789]

Another scammer recently got through our screens and tried to rip off one of our members. I don't want to be too specific because we learned something from how he got through and will add that knowledge to our screening process. In this case, he was caught because the member he tried to scam was suspicious and reached out to one of the Board members to check on him. That was the right response and this guy has been banned from the forum and his previous posts removed.

Keeping them out is an ongoing battle and others will undoubtedly slip through from time to time. The best way to protect yourself is to be careful about who you attempt to do business with. So far, there have been two tells that most of the scammers have used:

1. They use the private message function to contact a member who expressed a need for a particular part.
2. The "part" is owned by a friend of theirs and they are happy to put the buyer and seller together.

The vast majority of our new members are legitimate Sunbeam owners or fans who come here to connect with other owners and we don't want to ever do anything to discourage them or treat them like second class members of the club. But, please be careful if someone who hasn't yet established themselves as an active member of the club offers to sell you something. When in doubt, please check with one of the Board members to be safe.

 

[Warren]

Certainly this bears repeating. Remember if the club requires a minimum 5 dollar paid by a credit card or some other means of payment that will do a preliminary vetting of a newer member. If they have avoided this paywall be suspicious. Other forums have larger pay walls or a minimum amount of content or postings required to post for sale items. Looking at a members content tells a story of their involvement and expertise.
I've told others that content is King and it's a mighty lonely place with just crickets chirping without postings.

I've been slammed in the past elsewhere for suggestion box stuffing if I wasn't the guy doing the work. But I'm not brilliant I just see what has worked for the big forums.

Now time for a little story.....

Back in the day's when there was no Internet I had a car painted. I told the shop don't bother taking the windows out. The promptly lost year specific parts for the car. I went to numerous swap meets for years. Tromping though Pomona, a massive one and others. I also scoured TheRecycler and other rags like the Pennysaver with no luck.
Then Al Gore invented the Internet and...
TheSamba.com a VW forum seller got my bits to me for 40 bucks to my door.