Scammers in our midst

[JohnCh]

We had a report of an attempted scam on the forum. A member seeking a specific part received an unsolicited PM from a new member who “helpfully” provided the contact information for someone who supposedly had that part for sale. A quick internet search of the email address and name revealed this is an active scam in the online car community where payment is made to said individual, but parts are never received.

 

Unfortunately we are not immune to scumbags on this forum, so please practice care when performing sales transactions or providing any personal information. If the person has little or no history here, use extra caution. Stick with verified, trackable payment options such as PayPal that provide some protection if goods are not delivered or as advertised. If in doubt, do a search. It's amazing how many of these people don't bother to cover their tracks.

 

Thanks,

John

[xcarguy]

Thanks for the heads-up, John.

[Canadian 7]

Had the same pm. Should we post his username?

[JohnCh]

Please PM me his user name and the name & email address of the friend. If they match up, I'll ban the user and post the name and email address on this thread.

 

Thanks,

John

[JohnCh]

We now have proof that cowboy7 has tried the same scam on here twice so he is now banned. If he decides to register under a new name and try this again, please report anyone who PMs you about a potential seller or buyer named Jon Sonnhalter with an email address of jonathson96@gmail.com. These match with the name and email he's used on other forums for the scam.

 

Thanks,

John

[RichardSIA]

Any chance gmail might cancel his account if notified?

Or are we better off knowing his current email?

[JohnCh]

This was nearly a year ago and he has not attempted to register again using that email address.  Given no one here was scammed, we can only report third-hand information to Google, which won't suffice.  Besides, he would just change email accounts so no more than an inconvenience to him.

 

-John