Report Scammers on Pinkbike HERE *Read 1st Post* then contact captainbringdown directly

PB Forum :: Scams & Stolen Bikes
Report Scammers on Pinkbike HERE *Read 1st Post* then contact captainbringdown directly
Author Message
flag jwon1
O+
Posted: Apr 5, 2023 at 10:04 Quote
Sleepycapybara wrote:
Old, real accounts coming back like zombies is my biggest fear on this forum now.

Yep. Not a lot that can be done with those people except ask for some proof of possession and talk to them personally and see if they really know what they are talking about.

BTW I have submitted a feature request asking to display the member join date on the search page to at least make it easer to screen for recent accounts on borderline ads.
flag jpmccrash
Posted: Apr 5, 2023 at 10:28 Quote
Sleepycapybara wrote:
Old, real accounts coming back like zombies is my biggest fear on this forum now.

for me, it's the sheer volume of scam profile accounts being added daily, no way for a human to keep up with the bots
flag Sleepycapybara
Posted: Apr 5, 2023 at 10:37 Quote
jwon1 wrote:
BTW I have submitted a feature request asking to display the member join date on the search page to at least make it easer to screen for recent accounts on borderline ads.

Member join date is not shown when you open a profile on mobile. Annoying. In fact profile page of a user on a mobile device is pretty crippled in general. How do you submit these requests? I see a thread for Trailforks website feedback but not for Pinkbike or may be they both are the same?

jpmccrash wrote:
for me, it's the sheer volume of scam profile accounts being added daily, no way for a human to keep up with the bots

I think join date, suspicious pricing, AI generated usernames with a specific pattern should alert regular users here as far as bot accounts are considered. Those bots I can filter out fairly easily now but almost got bamboozled by a nearly 10 year old account recently.
I mean there is still a chance someone REALLY wants to offload stuff at extraordinarily low prices but since old accounts aren't sacred anymore I don't know how to sail these treacherous waters Madder
flag jwon1
O+
Posted: Apr 5, 2023 at 10:42 Quote
Sleepycapybara wrote:
jwon1 wrote:
BTW I have submitted a feature request asking to display the member join date on the search page to at least make it easer to screen for recent accounts on borderline ads.

Member join date is not shown when you open a profile on mobile. Annoying. In fact profile page of a user on a mobile device is pretty crippled in general. How do you submit these requests? I see a thread for Trailforks website feedback but not for Pinkbike or may be they both are the same?

I submitted here which is for buy/sell features: https://www.pinkbike.com/forum/listcomments/?threadid=157603]

This might be better for that: https://www.pinkbike.com/forum/bug-reports/
flag Sleepycapybara
Posted: Apr 5, 2023 at 11:02 Quote
jwon1 wrote:
I submitted here which is for buy/sell features: https://www.pinkbike.com/forum/listcomments/?threadid=157603]

This might be better for that: https://www.pinkbike.com/forum/bug-reports/

Many thanks. I almost never venture out on the forum except this thread here. Just checked some other sections and hot damn its infested with spam. Not really surprising the scammers are taking over left right and center. Pretty sure there is awful shortage of staff and a dire need of moderators in general.
flag koa14
O+
Posted: Apr 5, 2023 at 11:33 Quote
I just had a very suspect communications from user JamesGriffo regarding some pedals.
We agreed on price, I sent money via PayPal goods. was messaged something about insufficient funds by "James". I inquired what was meant and offered to resend the payment once they figured out their PayPal issue, additionally I queried the seller on the PayPal account name Rayan Charaa> to ensure that this was the correct person.
The sale posting and entire pinkbike account was immediately deleted.
I am working to ensure a refund through PayPal...


I now see 2 new sale postings for the same m8120 xt pedals at the exact price that I was interested in (about $40 less (shipped) than the other ads...)-though this time they are charging shipping (the same $8.50 for both accounts)

When comparing the current and past sales of these two users they are also both selling the same code r brakes with the same (non-stock) photos being used.

https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/3597821/
&
https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/3597773/

This is suspect enough for me to post it here... I have also reported the listing (not sure what this does)
un: Jamesgriffo - account now apparently closed
additional accounts:
un:citizenchan https://www.pinkbike.com/u/citizenchan/
un:benmaclay https://www.pinkbike.com/u/benmaclay/

all 3 accounts started in the UK and then now have US locations.

I always assumed that scammers were after higher dollar amounts but not in this case...

-if I am wrong and just getting paranoid please call me out and I will apologize to the account holders above.
Cheers
flag jpmccrash
Posted: Apr 5, 2023 at 11:41 Quote
koa14 wrote:

you are not wrong, both are hacked accounts, same phone number listed for both.
flag koa14
O+
Posted: Apr 5, 2023 at 11:46 Quote
jpmccrash wrote:
koa14 wrote:

you are not wrong, both are hacked accounts, same phone number listed for both.

Good Catch.
Thanks for the confirmation
flag dajones9
O+
Posted: Apr 5, 2023 at 11:46 Quote
At this point is the recommendation to completely avoid purchasing off of this site? Seems there’s nothing in place to protect the users.
flag jpmccrash
Posted: Apr 5, 2023 at 11:49 Quote
well this may explain some things:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65180488
flag koa14
O+
Posted: Apr 5, 2023 at 11:57 Quote
geez, yet another confirmation that riding bicycles has "made it" to the big table of consumer fraud...

What concerns me more than a little about Pinkbike is that the entire account to include messages can be deleted by just one side so that there is no recourse or ability to send proof of sale listing to PayPal/bank as the first (instructional) post recommends.

I never thought about it until today.
flag jpmccrash
Posted: Apr 5, 2023 at 11:59 Quote
koa14 wrote:
geez, yet another confirmation that riding bicycles has "made it" to the big table of consumer fraud...

What concerns me more than a little about Pinkbike is that the entire account to include messages can be deleted by just one side so that there is no recourse or ability to send proof of sale listing to PayPal/bank as the first (instructional) post recommends.

I never thought about it until today.

captainbringdown can get you any deleted information you need for a case, this is why they advise to keep all correspondence on PB
flag koa14
O+
Posted: Apr 5, 2023 at 12:01 Quote
jpmccrash wrote:
koa14 wrote:
geez, yet another confirmation that riding bicycles has "made it" to the big table of consumer fraud...

What concerns me more than a little about Pinkbike is that the entire account to include messages can be deleted by just one side so that there is no recourse or ability to send proof of sale listing to PayPal/bank as the first (instructional) post recommends.

I never thought about it until today.

captainbringdown can get you any deleted information you need for a case

Great to know,
Thank you so much of that Information!
flag lylemaasdorp
Posted: Apr 5, 2023 at 12:37 Quote
That's the way I'm feeling. If I cannot physically see the item in question I think I'm going to avoid buying from here. In the past week I've tried three listings that have all turned out to be fraudulent.
dajones9 wrote:
At this point is the recommendation to completely avoid purchasing off of this site? Seems there’s nothing in place to protect the users.
flag kwanjangnihm
Posted: Apr 5, 2023 at 16:07 Quote
dajones9 wrote:
At this point is the recommendation to completely avoid purchasing off of this site? Seems there’s nothing in place to protect the users.

Can't agree more! Started using the "near me" function and will try to do the in person purchase.

Appreciate the work you Mods are doing!

 


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