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Groot Scam?

VeryVon

VeryVon

Miner 2049'er
Staff member
Joined
Oct 21, 2021
Messages
326
Location
Land of the Cheesesteak
Hello, sorry if I'm jumping to conclusions here, but I received a PM from a new member "Groot" who claimed that a person named "Dinesh" had an XT Keyboard for sale (something I posted up as "wanted" awhile ago.) I was told to contact them at email love2sailcaptain@gmail.com.

I contacted this person, and they're acting a bit suspicious. For one their gmail says their name is "James Robert" and IMHO they're acting a little strange in email chat. They claim to be from California.

Hopefully I'm just being paranoid, but I thought I'd post this in case "Groot" has also contacted others with similar promises about items.
 
Avoid.
I had a similar incident last May where I was looking for a Sony CVD-1000 and a new member signed up and immediately PM'd me saying they knew one that was for sale and then provided an email link to continue the transaction off-forum. You get someone who might or might provide pictures, agree on a price, then say to pay as a gift to get around paypal's fees. Red flag right there and whenever you send money as a gift you can't file a claim if the person disappears. Seems to be an increasingly common one these days.
 
Cool thanks guys, I suspected as much. I've gone ahead and blocked that email as spam.

I wonder if it's possible to configure the forum so that a person needs a certain # of posts before they can PM members.
 
You can, but I've found in practice it causes communication issues between lurking members. Just practice the same precautions you do when something similar pops up in your email.
 
Having someone contact you soon after you post you're looking for something is a huge red flag in itself.
 
I still think you shouldn't be able to PM until you've established your credentials with say 5 posts. Otherwise you're likely to get spammers who create an account then spam all and sundry via PM. And, as you've found, it lets the scammers run riot too.
 
We’re definitely considering how best to deal with issues like this. We don’t necessarily want to block communications, but if the community thinks that requiring participation before sending PMs the the best way, we can do that.

- Alex
 
VeryVon said:
Cool thanks guys, I suspected as much. I've gone ahead and blocked that email as spam.

I wonder if it's possible to configure the forum so that a person needs a certain # of posts before they can PM members.
Click to expand...
I made a suggestion many times in the past that would fix this issue: do not show the Marketplace to new members or to guests. This is how most forums handle it. If you aren't a proven member of the community (e.g. x posts minimum and a member for at least y months), you should not be able to see or post sale/wanted threads.
 
I think, in this case, the protection of members from potential scammers and cr*p PMs outweighs the benefits of new joiners sending mails.

Dave
 
I just got yet another PM about the XT keyboard from a new member that registered yesterday... XT keyboards are a hot scammer item or something I guess?

I also noticed the conversation is "closed for new replies" I wonder how they do that.

1641079069445.png
 
Posssibly an Admin moderated that message and just closed it? New members should not be able to PM others.
 
I'll just put my two cents in as I know there are strong feelings about this. I was able to acquire that massive Pentium Pro haul when a new member with only one post advertised it in the marketplace. Because of that I was able to redistribute 80% of that NOS vintage hardware to collectors and preservationists in the VCF and Vogons communities at just the cost of shipping. If that new user had been unable to PM me, the deal would have never gone through and much of that hardware could have been tragically recycled.
 
@liqmat that's a great example of how PM's can be used for good!!

btw, I just registered at VOGONS, and tried to send a PM:

"We are sorry, but you are not authorized to use this feature. You may have just registered here and may need to participate more in discussions to be able to use this feature."

1641149431236.png
 
Yeah, like any forum it has its own unique challenges. Vogons doesn't allow most commerce other than giveaways so you really don't miss anything too critical while you build up your posts for PM privileges. I have had some issues with that forum, but overall a good experience. I mean, it's the DOSBox HQ after all. This hobby is already niche enough so having a few forums available is always a win for all of us. I love Discord like the next guy, but all the info gets buried and lost there. At least with these forums, a quick Google search on an issue will usually pull up an old VCF or Vogons post on a particular subject you're researching.
 
@VeryVon, you're not being paranoid. I was also contacted by "Groot" via PM regarding my post looking for PDP-8 items. Same thing: Groot said to contact "Dinesh" at an email "love 2 sail captain". So I contacted them and they responded via email, and the name on the email reply was also James Robert (same thing you received). The asking price was insanely low.

So, I asked that they send photos of the machine, which they did. I did a google reverse image search of the photos they sent and found the exact same images at a site dvq.com. Clearly the love-2-sail-captain aka Dinesh aka James-Robert scammer, friend of Groot, copied the photos from dvq and said they were his machine.

Also, "James Robert" told you they're from California, but your profile says Land of the Cheesesteak. They told me they're in Maine, but I'm in California. Seems they make up a location that's far away from the potential buyer.
 
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