Want help identifying scammer who is (was) a member

[kevman65]

I don't think they are asking that an admin turn over IP information - but to look at and analyze said information to see if there was a sudden change in the pattern of IP vs posts.
Can be really tricky in the days of cell data - my IP address says I'm posting from WI, then from IL, then from SD, and it looks like I'm all over the country - but there should be patterns a good admin can recognize.
If the IPs are pretty much from one group or from one provider, then all of a sudden appear to come from another provider in another place........ there's a flag - maybe not red, but not far from it.
There's no need for an admin to turn anything over - just LOOK.
I've done that - and even here, I've done research on phone numbers and other stuff and found people who have contact me have a history. Last one who said they had the dash cubby pad would have looked legit except for the low posts - and when I ran their phone number, it showed up like the Christmas tree at Times Square. A person can search email addresses, too - or run them through forum spammer lists. It's free.
If someone tries to join the forum I admin and their email address shows up in a list - the forum software automatically blocks them from joining (at least using that IP address) and similar for IP addresses - although VPN can get around that....... it at least filters out the dummies who aren't smart enough to cover tracks or try to hide under some blanket.

Yes, the OP wants info on the person in question.

From his initial post " Rex3rd's profile said he was in Utah, but I'm certain that's a lie. Just wondering how a member with those stats was able to be on the forum for so long and then run a scam like this. Also, would like anyones help in finding the jerk(s) and getting our money back. I know it's a long shot, but I have faith!"

Which is why I posted what I did.

Like you, I have been involved in the "Admin" side of several forums. This isn't the first time, nor will it be the last, that this has happened. One of the rimfire boards I was involved in the Admin gave personal information about one member to another. They then confronted the scamming member and caused physical harm. The board was implicated and the Admin charged. The board is gone, erased from the internet and the Admin was fined substantially.

As I said, this is Federal charges, wire fraud over the internet falls into the same category as wire fraud using the United States Postal Service. Press charges and then write it off as you won't find anything out and likely won't recover lost funds or goods.

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[Barnaby’sdad]

Ya beat me to it - the admin can see the IP address of every post - at least I can on the AMC forums. The IP address is visible to admin account, PM or forum public message.
It's not easy at all to hijack a forum account with the software I'm used to - the password is encrypted on a SQL server and even the guy who wrote the software can't break the encryption. The account is associated with an email address, so to get a password changed, you have to have access to the email account. (the only way I'd know of is if someone sent me a request to change the email address because the member changed email hosts and the new email was placed in the forum account).

I’ve lost track of how many data breaches…to include email account and password information…have occurred over the years. It’s absolutely not a stretch to assume that the forum account was compromised via a compromised email account.

I.e. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data breach. The government flat out had no idea how long they were rooting around in the systems or what happened with the stolen data (at least what was released publicly). The last I saw, the data hadn’t turned up anywhere yet, but who knows what they intended to do with it.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Like you, I have been involved in the "Admin" side of several forums. This isn't the first time, nor will it be the last, that this has happened. One of the rimfire boards I was involved in the Admin gave personal information about one member to another. They then confronted the scamming member and caused physical harm. The board was implicated and the Admin charged. The board is gone, erased from the internet and the Admin was fined substantially.

I find that odd because in today's world where doxxing and exposing of names, address, phone numbers and more happens all of the time, it's extremely rare there's ever any trouble over it because when you join anything on the web, there's no expectation of anonymity or privacy.
Things like that happen all the time on FB pages - someone comes into the group asking about a scammer, another member gives the name and town they live in because they were also scammed by that person - and that's that. Nothing comes of it nor would it be expected to.
There has to be more to the story.

Is doxxing an address illegal?
Even though doxxing itself is not illegal, it could contribute to a different offense, such as harassment, stalking, or fraud if the information is used to constitute that specific offense.

So it would have been the "personal harm" that led to the real trouble. Not the disclosure of the information itself.

Is Doxxing Illegal?
It depends. Releasing personal information that's publicly available and obtained legally is generally not a crime. But doxxers can run afoul of laws against harassment, stalking, or intimidation, and authorities have prosecuted people for doxxing based on illegally obtained documents.
Doxxing can also violate the terms of service of websites; Twitter, for example, prohibits the posting of another person’s private information without permission. (not illegal, just against the rules)
Doxxing has become a concern because it opens up the victim to various forms of harassment – something that 41% of U.S. web users experience in some form, according to a Pew Research Center report.


Anyway, my contention is that an admin can, and maybe should, check the pattern of use - IP addresses, etc. and if the account has been hijacked, deal with it in that manner, and if not - then boot that member. Heck, you can be banned for far lessor "offenses" that cause no financial harm.
We boot anyone who has been shown to have acted in bad faith. Buyer or seller - if they act in bad faith, they are gone.

 

[fishburger]

Maybe check EXIF data on the photos?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I’ve lost track of how many data breaches…to include email account and password information…have occurred over the years. It’s absolutely not a stretch to assume that the forum account was compromised via a compromised email account.

I.e. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data breach. The government flat out had no idea how long they were rooting around in the systems or what happened with the stolen data (at least what was released publicly). The last I saw, the data hadn’t turned up anywhere yet, but who knows what they intended to do with it.

Once an email account is hijacked, there's access to almost anything because that's used for verification - like a phone number.
And what's crazy is that a few years ago when a "famous" person's email account was supposedly "broken into" and data downloaded, that data included passwords to their apartment building's wi-fi, and the admin account info for that building's security system! Yeah, I grabbed the gigabytes of data and browsed it back then and was appalled at how stupid those people had been - sending passwords back and forth between husband and wife email accounts, storing ID and passwords in email messages and even sharing the email account. The "famous person" and their employee actually shared an email account - and the employee kept passwords in the email.

 

[Lunentucker]

I see the same profile was on Wrangler Forums.
Everything I see indicates it was a legit member for years. I'd love to see the IP history.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/supplier-affiliate-discounts.26286/

 

[ShadowsPapa]

A"PS" - I am not and was not in any way commenting on the ethics, morality of, decency of, right or wrong of or any other "synonym" you can think of as far as is it right or wrong to give out such information. I only was commenting on legality under various circumstances. The ethics, morality, decency - whatever - that discussion could quickly devolve into a thread that got locked post-haste and members warned.

If I were any sort of admin or moderator here (LOL - laugh about that one for a while) I personally could never and would never expose any sort of information - not even a county as far as location, unless that person already made that public in their public profile.
I, too, would love to see the IP history, etc. - but for my own curiosity, not for public consumption.
Face it - we too often have no clue about what's happening in a person's life.
(and yet we still judge, hmmmm)

Anyway, scammers need to be dealt with - be it a person who was not hijacked and simply turned to the dark side for whatever reason, or a scammer who hijacks a profile for nefarious purposes.
Maybe best course of action is to let the admin(s) know of the problem, let them deal with it, and in the future, bite the bullet and use PP or some other method that at least has some protections built in.

 

[ecidiego]

Horse left the barn I know....but always use PayPal for these transactions. 0 risk.

 

[Lunentucker]

Horse left the barn I know....but always use PayPal for these transactions. 0 risk.

ONLY if you pay the fees and do goods and services. F&F and you're screwed.

 

[ecidiego]

ONLY if you pay the fees and do goods and services. F&F and you're screwed.

Yes I should have specified....don't evade the fees. Worth them though.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

ONLY if you pay the fees and do goods and services. F&F and you're screwed.

I only use F&F for people I know. And people pay me that way because I'm east to find, and the web has known about me since the early 1990s.
I was saved once by PP when a guy shipped me a performance oil pump for an engine I was building. He shipped it in the shelf box - the thin cardboard box that's thinner than your cereal boxes material. He put a piece of tape across each end and mailed it out. I got the remains of the paper box, empty, and ripped to shreds.
PP agreed the seller didn't take any care at all, never even tried to package it and I got my money back.
Also was saved on a couple of other bigger things - including the down payment for a car sale. The guy tried to get his down payment back and I provided PP with all of the communications back and forth - including pics of the car being loaded for transport!
I frankly think the kid made a mistake, I believe him when he said he had no intention of trying to get money back and he wondered if his wife, not knowing how to use PP, and done it somehow.
If people wish to pay me for restoration work but are gun shy about PP's F&F, I simply tell them then add on the percentage PP takes for their fee and they'll be protected - it's like paying for insurance. Most are ok with paying another 10 bucks or so for protection of a couple hundred. I get my full money, they are protected by PP.

 

[sharpsicle]

Assuming you were able to get definitive information on who it was (which isn't as easy as it sounds, IP addresses don't hold weight in identifying an individual on their own), what's your next play? Try to hash it out in small claims court? I guess I'm having trouble seeing the endgame to this.

Finding out who the user was doesn't do much for you unless you have a lot more than you're letting on. $500 is considered a relatively small amount that authorities won't likely care about so you'd be on your own. And small claims turns into a drawn out 'he said she said' debacle if you go that path, with no guarantee of a return of money.

I applaud your desire to exact justice, but this is just one of those things that I think needs to be chalked up as a learning moment for all.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Assuming you were able to get information on who it was, what's your next play? Try to hash it out in small claims court? I guess I'm having trouble seeing the endgame to this. Finding out who the user was doesn't do much for you unless you have a lot more than you're letting on. $500 is considered a relatively small amount that authorities won't likely care about so you'd be on your own.

I applaud your desire to exact justice, but this is just one of those things that needs to be chalked up to a learning moment for all.

I've said this before, I'm pretty sure - but will you cut it out with the logic BS?

Sometimes all that is needed is a PSA - beware - I was scammed (and you'd better be right)
It's like I've seen in other situations - sometimes just the fact that the game has been exposed, and people now are aware to beware, is enough.

 

[sharpsicle]

I've said this before, I'm pretty sure - but will you cut it out with the logic BS?

Sometimes all that is needed is a PSA - beware - I was scammed (and you'd better be right)
It's like I've seen in other situations - sometimes just the fact that the game has been exposed, and people now are aware to beware, is enough.

Yep, right on track with you.

Was just wondering what "next steps" this might be leading to if the questions posed were answered.

 

[TOOBSOCK]

You paid with Zelle, there is no recovery through the bank. They warned you about that when you sent the money.

Agreed. There are articles out there warning against using Zelle because of the lack of buyer protection.

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