Wow, elaborate little fucker using different emails so if one gets shut down he can pull from the others quickly.
- Thread starter thereal astro_zombie138
- Start date
For Sale
So who was affected and how much was lost? Keep us updated, hope you can recover your payments.
Many have done good by me in the community over the years and I am thankful for good deeds, friendships, etc..., so I try to pay it forward when I can.
I know @-Ace- lost out on getting that X3 unit the scammer had for sale so I would like to send him an X3 unit if he is willing to accept it.
Many have done good by me in the community over the years and I am thankful for good deeds, friendships, etc..., so I try to pay it forward when I can.
I know @-Ace- lost out on getting that X3 unit the scammer had for sale so I would like to send him an X3 unit if he is willing to accept it.
GeekMan1222
Grand Master
they are probably stolen emails as well.
This should be a great reminder to people that theres a reason you dont reuse passwords and you should make strong passwords etc etc
This should be a great reminder to people that theres a reason you dont reuse passwords and you should make strong passwords etc etc
astro_zombie138
Champion
That is seriously generous of you man!
You're the best, but you know that already
elaborate passwords for each site makes you mad?
use this and regain your sanity https://keepass.info/
use this and regain your sanity https://keepass.info/
Yes, so far burned for $355 unless my bank can help out. As Mitsu pointed out, Paypal has been next to zero help- they just pushed the burden onto my bank to figure out. I spoke with (2) different people yesterday and then again this morning. johnstoneverett94377@gmail.com was the email used by the scammer. As soon as Paypal provided me with that info, I immediately tried contacting whomever it was at this address, but knew it would just bounce back, which it of course did. I normally wouldn't just jump at using FF like I did- I guess lesson learned.
I'm one of the fellas who got stung on Garegga but my payment went through as an eCheck. My gut was right I guess.
PayPal basically told me too bad, but if it fails to process they won't ask for the money again. Nothings been taken out yet so I put a block on anything PayPal via my bank. Now we wait and see I guess. Hope this doesn't mean PayPal is going to lock my account up, we shall see.
XtraSmiley
Legendary
Guys, it SUCKS you got scammed, but I really need to ask, you're talking HUNDREDS of dollars, why the hell would you send F&F or Venmo to someone you don't know? I mean, this isn't how to buy online 101 here, we all know that's not smart right?
I ONLY send F&F to people I know AND if I'm willing to lose the money. If it's someone I know, I still ask for their PP address. Why? It's not b/c I forgot it, it's because I want to compare to what they gave me before to see if anything is fishy. Only person I know who changes PP addresses is Sheepnova, and I honestly have no idea what's going on with him, but he always comes through!
Anyway, I'm sorry about the lost funds, but come on, don't do F&F!!!!!
I ONLY send F&F to people I know AND if I'm willing to lose the money. If it's someone I know, I still ask for their PP address. Why? It's not b/c I forgot it, it's because I want to compare to what they gave me before to see if anything is fishy. Only person I know who changes PP addresses is Sheepnova, and I honestly have no idea what's going on with him, but he always comes through!
Anyway, I'm sorry about the lost funds, but come on, don't do F&F!!!!!
Yeah lesson learned. I'll be honest years of paying F&F via shmups forum and here made me rather complacent. On top of that; an American who ships overseas? oo la la.
Of course it was too good to be true :') My gut was telling me so the entire time.
Of course it was too good to be true :') My gut was telling me so the entire time.
kinooshi823
Professional
I've been burned in the past with F&F, always do goods and services no matter who it is, imo.
XtraSmiley
Legendary
I think I was just stung thinking I paid $1500 for a BG and here was one for sale for only $500! Too good to be true alarm bells... let alone that BB for $500.
Come on, no one sells shit that cheap anymore!
kazuo
Champion
Ugh, I accidentally hit the back button on my browser and lost the whole essay I'd written... so here's the short version: stop reusing passwords, turn on 2FA for everything, BitWarden is free, and those emails are most likely fake and purchased by the scammers from a 3rd party. Also possible they're legit and from hacked PP accounts with the information changed (which the scammers then purchased and used for the scams).
Sucks for everyone who got hoodwinked, I hope you all can get proper compensation from PayPal. Make sure you document everything, and consider filing a police report as well (the police won't do anything, but the report may be useful when submitting PayPal cases, cases to your bank, etc.).
This most likely won't be super helpful as the typical attacker running these scams has access to a large pool of proxy IPs; rate limiting is very easily bypassed.
Doing checks for abnormal country login attempts would likely be more successful, but an attacker running a targeted scam can likely figure out which country the target is based in, and then just use proxies from that location... anyway, agree something is better than nothing, though.
Sheep likely switches emails all the time because Chinese nationals based in China are only supposed to be using PP for sending funds or buying, not receiving/selling. Or that's my understanding, anyway.
Sucks for everyone who got hoodwinked, I hope you all can get proper compensation from PayPal. Make sure you document everything, and consider filing a police report as well (the police won't do anything, but the report may be useful when submitting PayPal cases, cases to your bank, etc.).
This most likely won't be super helpful as the typical attacker running these scams has access to a large pool of proxy IPs; rate limiting is very easily bypassed.
Doing checks for abnormal country login attempts would likely be more successful, but an attacker running a targeted scam can likely figure out which country the target is based in, and then just use proxies from that location... anyway, agree something is better than nothing, though.
Sheep likely switches emails all the time because Chinese nationals based in China are only supposed to be using PP for sending funds or buying, not receiving/selling. Or that's my understanding, anyway.
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kinooshi823
Professional
PayPal doesn’t often side with those that paid with friends. Even if a person does a chargeback, PayPal would step in and provide documentation that the user paid using friends and not goods which would then reverse the chargeback.
Even if police reports etc are made, the affected persons still had the option to pay with goods. So strong change those that were scammed will have to eat the loss. But to those affected, it’s worth a shot regardless.
Brizzo checks for anomalies regularly. When fishy stuff happens we usually know while it's happening.
Btw if you have a KLOV account go ahead and check it as well. Astro_zombie's klov account was taken over as well and it used a totally different password.
astro_zombie138
Champion
I have full control of my KLOV account. The only thing posted or done on it was to taunt @Darksoft. My credentials, linked email were changed and 2FA added after. Just being clear that account is still me and being monitored as well.
Any knowledge of how/where AZ and Statix account passwords, info was compromised from? Its just weird that they both happened to be in FL, so maybe a local group website/service/business? But agree must be someone that frequents or has knowledge of arcade scene possibly.
