Note to Administrators: This message is for staff to understand better how a typical scammer operates in your community. I urge you to ban the following person and set a lesson for future scammers. I also urge you to ban his IP address so he cannot sign on with a different user name. If you give this more visibility on the forums, you will be protecting members who enjoy the community (as I do) and keep the many, many of his kind, roaming around the forums and souring the experience. Second, Digital Forums can offer you amazing deals, that will help you get your feet off the ground as long as you stay away from the scammers and find the winners. I've a lot of GREAT transactions here. Steps to Fight the DP scam artist First, I'll give you an example of a true life scammer He uses the name: lfclfc lad mab lfc1988@hotmail.co.uk. He claims to be able to clone any website. Make sure you document everything from the moment you begin to conduct a discussion. This is so you will have an entire papertrail with CONFIRMED PROOF (more on this later) that he is conducting fradulant activity and scamming others. 1) Here is the paypal statement and proof that he accepted the payment. - This email confirms that mabz has accepted the $105.00 USD you sent. Payment Details ---------------------------------------------------------------- Amount: $105.00 USD Subject: Payment details Note: $105 for site clone ----------------- What’s key here is that he tries to befriend you from one e-mail address and then create a slightly different e-mail address to accept your paypal payment. Here is his Paypal business profile, Business Name: mabz Email: lfc1988@hotmail.co.uk Business E-mail 2) His profile - He claims to have created the following "professional websites" For example, www.wiganlatics.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Welcome www.dcfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Welcome www.aldi.co.uk/ www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/i.home www.ibid4u.co.uk/ Keep these addresses that he sends you. If he scams you, call the owners of those websites to let them know the scammer is using their sites and taking credit. 3) Here are snippets of emails he sent me: After I made him and he accepted the payment "i think you have got me mixed up with someone else i am ment to be doing a clone for you and you have not sent the payment to the right person who fault is that not mine if you have sent to someone else get it sorted and you trying to get something for free are we saying you have paid don't fucking make me laugh get it sorted mate." “I have had nothing at lfc88lad@hotmail.co.uk i swear i have had nothing you must have sent to someone else†“So you didn't send it how old do you think I am for a start I have not got the money I can send you a screen print that I have had none and I won't refund you because I have not got your money send me the money if you are interested still “ “did you send to this address lfc88lad@hotmail.co.uk because i have nothing†“had no payment still waiting†6) He creates a story about himself: i cant ring you i am in the uk at the minute that why i asked you to ring me i am on my way back to my hotel now i can not ring you untill i am back in the us i wont be back till 25 maybe later i am not sure yet i really need to no if you wont to go though with this because this is wasting my time you say you wont now you say you need to see project before i cant do i dont work for free sorry if you are willing to agree the and send the 150$ i am willing to start while i am here and i can have it done by wednesday or friday by the latested. 7) His timeframe of complettion “about 2 to 4 days depending what ajex i need to run it with and i when to college to studie web designing remember depost of 38%†8)His false promises “sorry i never got back earlier my clone are the same as the website and you get a admin area to change colour or banners i would not use joomla i have heard bad stuff about it but its up to you if you have someone else then leave it but I'm telling you now joomla is bad for cloning i only do clones in php and Ajax so i no i can ad the stuff the people need get back to me if you still would like it.†9)He manipulates with precise numbers: hi there I don't have yahoo but I have MSN messenger is you can add me on that Now you want to go forward with this now I could do you a deal on 2 websites but I would need a 38% deposit though paypal if that would be ok you would be looking about 410$ but I would do for 380$ so you save 30$ well if you are interested get back to me 10) He gives advice and makes you doubt yourself (I was using Joomla) 11) How he makes you think he is giving a good deal Now you want to go forward with this now I could do you a deal on 2 websites but I would need a 38% deposit though paypal if that would be ok you would be looking about 410$ but I would do for 380$ so you save 30$ well if you are interested get back to me It’s not necessary to send you every single e-mail, but other emails from him were a “fake telephone number†and “he lwered the price to $105†How to fight back: Begin formulating a papertrail. You need confirmations that he read all your e-mails. There is a program that allows you to insert a “pig†into the email that will allow you to see how he is responding with confirmation. I forget the name of the site with the pig, but I will find it. 2) File complaint with Paypal with a strong case. Paypal will conduct an investigation (if the scammer loses his ability to use paypal, he is screwed) 3) File a complaint with your papertrail to digital forums (if he loses his ability to scout out victims on Digital Forums, he is screwed) 4) Post your papertrail on this forum so others can learn how to avoid scammers and fight back. 5)(For US citizens) File with the BBB.org (This works, even with people overseas. I was scammed by those in India and I filed my case against the company they work for in America. Their business rating was hurt after they weren’t able to deny what had been done) 6) (For US citizens) File with your local official. A senator, a congressmen, a governor. No matter where in the world the scammer comes from, if an official gets the information, they will have the power to do something about the situation. Watch out for some other dangerous signs: -They “refuse to accept any alternative of payment except Western Union†- this is key. This means they know how to avoid getting caught to the point where they will only take payment from Western Union. Please add to this list for others to benefit! Thanks…. Make friends with others in the community, so you can get opinions on someone before making a decision. I will update you on whether I get back the money and I encourage you all to add more tips and advice. Make sure you give a negative rating, and follow this formula of "gathering your papertrail"
5 posts... double account? Also, someone who says they can clone any site is blaintantly a scam... why would you even think that. Ok clone me Google.com... pffff
if you wanted someone to clone a website you can consider yourself a scammer and like dopiitv said, what transaction u did here? only if u have other account.
I think we are old enough to take care of ourselves and also DP's admins and mods are experienced enough to protect the forums. As members I guess all we need is to report suspicious threads to assist the mods whatever we can. startup advise seemed to be a bit redundant.
Dear Dp Members, I Am Not Cheating Any One And To Clone I Won't Take Any Payments. If Anyone Have Doubt On Me Just Pm Me And I Will Suggest You How To Clone Site Legally By Yourself. This Is One Of My Amazing Idea Group. That's It. If You Have Still Doubt Just Pm Me I Will Ask Admin To Close This Post. Thank You
This is not the place to advertise, this is not the thread to advertise you are hijacking others thread.
Haha funny.. Oh well, bottomline, we just have to be careful on our deals. if something smells fishy.. then maybe something is indeed fishy..
Hold on here. We're talking about one person to watch out for? I've bought 32 times from dp and got ripped off a little to a lot from 27 of them. More than 50% of deals, services, and sites for sale are manipulated. Anyone have a list higher than one person......
Wow! Being a newbie here and reading the entire thread gives me the goose bumps... Like what happened to GraveTzT. Need to be more careful with our businesses here. Thanks for the info.