A New Scamming Model Arises

[deppo]

Every week or so there is a new Google Ads Account thread coming up from a "marketplace seller".

Since these accounts are medium to high ticket items, the ROI of those sellers paying just $750 to list is probably through the roof.

By the time the victim realizes they got scammed, submit a dispute and let this thing play out, the "marketplace seller" is already out, way ahead and just preparing their next account with another $750 investment. Just look at the Dispute section, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out how the same people just buy new marketplace seller accounts after they get banned and "rebrand" themselves.

Suggestion?

Do NOT allow new "marketplace sellers" submit threads for products costing more than 5% of the $750 marketplace seller subscription fee.

You want to post a $100 product for sale after you joined this forum? Good, here's your fee Sir, $2,000.

This way you discourage this "business opportunity" for scammers, make the marketplace somewhat more trustworthy and unclog dispute section too.

 

[Rimperio]

Do NOT allow new "marketplace sellers" submit threads for products costing more than 5% of the $750 marketplace seller subscription fee.

You want to post a $100 product for sale after you joined this forum? Good, here's your fee Sir, $2,000.

This way you discourage this "business opportunity" for scammers, make the marketplace somewhat more trustworthy and unclog dispute section too.

You do see how this may sound like racism, right ?

You cant really apply this only to new users, they pay the same fees as you do.

People get scammed because they are dumb and dont use escrow and / or pay in crypto.

Best thing that could be done is to make every seller here accept atleast one of the mainstream payment options from which buyers can get a refund in case of a scam.

 

[Salamouna]

They will buy aged accounts and get around that
What i suggest is that those sellers pay more than 30$ to open a thread

 

[roydan]

I'd just not allow TG communication, or at least the combination of TG and Crypto.



If people can't use common sense, at some point we got to force it on them.

It wouldn't have bothered me that much if it hadn't harm BHW's rep and took so much resources from the staff.

 

[OccultKingdoms]

I'd just not allow TG communication, or at least the combination of TG and Crypto.

Add warning box above every marketplace thread.

 

[roydan]

Add warning box above every marketplace thread.

And gifs of fire

 

[Carnaged]

lets be honest here, BHW is a forum that makes the owners money and makes its customers money. they dont want to up the fee as it will deter their own current customers.
completely understandable.
but in the last 6 months+ there has been an influx of account spamming to 100, opening a thread for a huge amount and then scamming them.
my suggestion? atleast 12 months old & 200 comments & active for the past 6 months.
will they stop? no. but it'll surely cut down alot of easy come, easy go scammers.

theres always other ideas of checking the IP's of the accounts, checking the crypto accounts, etc but we all dont know what goes on behind closed doors.
due diligence is still left up to the buyer in the long run.

 

[Starblazer]

The only way to stop scams is to establish legit communication & payment systems. Even Escrow can resolve the problem to some extent. But preventing new sellers from entering the market or making the price of seller accounts too high will make BHW exclusive for some sellers. We should make the site accessible to everyone and still prevent the scams. The mods are doing a great job at handling disputes, warning new members, creating awareness about scams, etc. The scammers will eventually find a way even if you take too many precautions. It's better to train and alert members about the pattern of scams instead of completely preventing new sellers from accessing the marketplace.

 

[LilMosey]

Scams should slow down once the escrow system is in place and when the seller will not be allowed to take the buyer outside of BHW, to Telegram for example, where he can delete the whole conversation, change their username unlimited times and what not.

 

[Arpito]

There is a way to use virtual currencies within the forum, it can be an addon for xenForo.

This can be the solution to avoid many of the scams that occur, it does not guarantee anything but the user could deposit in the forum, and then transfer the coins to the seller, if something goes wrong, then the scammer is blocked the funds and that's it.

If everything goes well, then the seller could withdraw his money to his payment method, a slightly safer way to do business.

 

[OccultKingdoms]

And gifs of fire

Maybe those warning messages / reminders could be added in some smart way.

Maybe there could be an animated flying pilot in a funny airplane flying across the site with a nice sound saying "BEWARE!!!!" with an echo effect.

Then this pilot would appear in every marketplace thread until a user would click "I'm notified, shut off the pilot".

And then there would be 5 notifications showing one after another saying "MAKE SURE YOU READ IT! Scammers are... scammers that...".

 

[roydan]

Maybe those warning messages / reminders could be added in some smart way.

Maybe there could be an animated flying pilot in a funny airplane flying across the site with a nice sound saying "BEWARE!!!!" with an echo effect.

Then this pilot would appear in every marketplace thread until a user would click "I'm notified, shut off the pilot".

And then there would be 5 notifications showing one after another saying "MAKE SURE YOU READ IT! Scammers are... scammers that...".

Maybe not go as far as this, but putting more responsibility on users. Stating that crypto transactions over TG are excluded from the dispute resolution section can make users avoid it, but it can also cause scammers to stay on the forum for longer without being scammed.

It's a real problem and I'm really not sure what we should do other than not allow crypto payments over TG, but it's also not enforceable, so it basically sais that it won't be covered under dispute resolution.

 

[myplaysoft]

And then we wonder why big players keep relentlessly banning accounts. Here obviously an escrow system will exclude scammers from the system.

 

[deppo]

Scams should slow down once the escrow system is in place and when the seller will not be allowed to take the buyer outside of BHW, to Telegram for example, where he can delete the whole conversation, change their username unlimited times and what not.

It's a real problem and I'm really not sure what we should do other than not allow crypto payments over TG, but it's also not enforceable, so it basically sais that it won't be covered under dispute resolution.

Since this KEEPS being brought up not only here but on other threads too, I have to mention that personally, since I have been a seller on this forum, I have exclusively been dealing with TG + Crypto. Literally 99% of transactions.

Why? Speed + Convenience.

If I were to post here screenshots with the amount of money people have sent me because they trust me it would make your skin crawl but for privacy reasons I do not and won't.

It is not about TG + Crypto. It is about making due diligence who you are dealing with and exercising patience rather than hurrying to get a transaction done.

 

[roydan]

It is not about TG + Crypto. It is about making due diligence who you are dealing with and exercising patience rather than hurrying to get a transaction done.

To me, it is about TG and crypto, and I think that you're an exception and not a representation of how it usually works.

You can't really enforce people to do decent due diligence.

 

[antonbg]

To me, it is about TG and crypto, and I think that you're an exception and not a representation of how it usually works.

You can't really enforce people to do decent due diligence.

yes TG is mainly used by all scammers

 

[BNB]

I am posting something I wrote recently under one thread:



BHW staff should consider removing off-forum contact form, as a rule.

All BST threads should lose off-forum contacts, re-edit by moderator, and all BST active owners should be notified about the same.

This rule affect all membership levels, which means, you are unable to post your TG anywhere on the forum, no matter who you are.

Applying this rule would allow sellers and paid members, even free tier ones to exchange their TG contacts, but only inside of BHW DM.

 

[Lukmat]

So many people want to make more and more restrictions for sellers.
This will only harm legit sellers because scammers will get around.

What BHW should do is the mailing campaing and visible warnings how to not get scammed.
... and thats all. You got scammed for Google Ads account? It's your problem.
Everyone is only blaming sellers but not themself.

 

[hexagonal]

I suggest doing KYC for high ticket items or adding a escrow recommendation on top of each high ticket item.

So many people want to make more and more restrictions for sellers.
This will only harm legit sellers because scammers will get around.

What BHW should do is the mailing campaing and visible warnings how to not get scammed.
... and thats all. You got scammed for Google Ads account? It's your problem.
Everyone is only blaming sellers but not themself.

Someone who gets scammed won't come back to the forum and that's worse on sellers than making higher restrictions.

 

[roydan]

yes TG is mainly used by all scammers

When I say scammers, I mean both buyers and sellers that are scamming on TG.