Please continue to be careful. Today, and almost daily, there are trolls on the BST. So far every scammer has had very, very few, if any posts, and has just joined. They seem to have a brother with all of the cards!! LOL
.

Still the same MO, huh?. Well, obviously they don't read the front page or they would have changed it up. :)

This morning, just now, I received a PM from Howard C (hi Howard)., He had been contacted by someone saying their ID is Moonlight Graham. Unfortunately for him I have registration info on file and he IS NOT moonlight graham.

So the new scam seems to be telling a member they are an id that they aren't in order to scam them. Please be checking with me on ANYTHING in the BST areas that just doesn't seem right. Caveat Emptor!
.

Details
 

Hi All,

Thank Leon. Figured I would share some of the back and forth to possibly help prevent others from being scammed. Here is part of the Email exchange:

1) "Hi Dave,

I heard back from Leon. Seems you are not the registered user for the "Moonlight Graham" user ID.

Howard"


2) "PM me to confirm then"

3) "Did that before I reached out to Leon. Going to need you to work it out with Leon first if you are who you say you are. All threads that I looked at started by Moonlight Graham are signed "Joe K"

4) "Okay then"

5) "I have different email addresses so you have no worries
Just make the payment and get the card."


The guys email is "DaveHunk107@gmail.com" and has been interacting as "Dave" for anyone interested.

Gotta love this response. Just pay me bro. No worries. Right, sounds good. :rolleyes:



.

I'm lost. Did he pretend to be Joe K or was he just using a similar username? Or both?

Joe's username is Moonlight Graham. However, other similar usernames that are currently registered are MoonlightGraham and moonlightgraham062905.

Which username did he use to contact you?

He emailed me directly
 

I often post my email and or phone# directly into threads. He emailed me directly from the email address I posted above saying he saw my post on Net54.

While I often share my number and email publicly, I am also cautious to check people out before completing a transaction - I asked for his Net 54 user id to which he replied "Moonlight Graham" I 1) looked up the id (saw the others as well - but who doesn't know their own user ID?, 2) reached out to Leon - who said the name and email the guy gave me were not associated with "Moonlight Grahams" account, 3) I PM'd "Moonlight Graham" (heard back later this afternoon that he (Joe) hadn't emailed me and 3) checked a few "Moonlight Graham" started threads and saw the name discrepancy - "Moonlight Graham" posts signed "Joe K" vs. the guy emailing me as Dave Hunk.

On a related/unrelated note - my phone number was "spoofed" twice today - just learned about this - a scammer can call someone trying to scam money from them having your phone number show up in the caller id!! Filed a report with the FTC.

This evenings follow up.....
 

He sends me another email a little while ago:

"Purchasing???"

I respond:

"Nope. Try scamming Someone else!"

He responds:

"Ok, thanks. "


You can't make this stuff up!!

I’d be suspicious enough if the guy’s email was “Dave Hunk”. Who calls themselves a hunk? :(

Looks like Nigerian scammers have invaded net 54🤭🤭

Guys on other sites? :eek:.
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Howard, did you contact him first about a card he allegedly had for sale? If so, what thread were you responding to and what was the username he used when he posted the card for sale? In other words, did he post something for sale on BST and if so, under what username?

Or, did he just reach out to you by email, randomly, asking if you wanted to buy a particular card he “had” (ie he did not post a card for sale on BST)?

I've gotten this message as part of the communication from two board member a toal three times between the two:

This is a message from xxxxx xxxxxx at Net54baseball.com Forums ( http://www.net54baseball.com/index.php ). The Net54baseball.com Forums owners cannot accept any responsibility for the contents of the email.

Ryan and Howard,
Same guy emailed me as well offering to sell me the Green Goudey 181 I’ve been seeking in BST. Seems they’re snagging anyones email they can on here to solicit.


Josh

I posted
 

a "WTB" listing with some cards listed as well as my phone# and email. He emailed me pics of one of the cards with an asking price (A 1953 Mays PSA 2.5).

Interesting. This a great thread to help stay vigilant

He emailed me as well with a Goudey Green Ruth photos with a to good for be true price as well.

Leon, thanks for your work to keep the BST area a safe place.

I've not wanted to say anything about it before, because I don't want to come across as preachy...but for general information - it's a good idea not to post you email address or phone number on a public forum (here or anywhere). That's not intended to be a criticism of anyone...I just wanted to point it out for those who may not know.

Members can use the Private Messaging to reach out to you. If you want to give your email address/phone number to them via a PM, that shouldn't be an issue. (Often it's easier to exchange high res scans etc via email.) But by using a PM to give out your email/phone number you have control over who gets your details and when.

Leon, I'm sure you don't want to give too much info away so you don't encourage other scammers, but I've wondered how the scammers get through?

I remember when I registered, I could create a login but couldn't use it until I sent you some details to verify.

We have some antiquated s/w that still needs to be updated. But the pain to do it is a lot....so if we stay vigilant and be careful we should still be fine.
Always ask for someone's Net54baseball ID and check it with me....that will bust them immediately
.

Just got hit up by a different scammer
 

Interesting that it was from the same BST post (WTB 1953 Willie Mays) the first one used. This email is from:

johngoldberg679@gmail.com

At least the 1st one made me think a little - A PSA 2.5 for $2K. This one is a joke - An o/c PSA 2 for $500!

While I agree it is much safer to not post an email or phone#, this is my business and both are easy enough to find - as in this case I do take steps to check people I do not know out.

I received an email at 3:05 AM this morning from this same email address with an offer for a card I had posted a WTB for a little while ago. Just before seeing the updates to this thread, I had emailed him back asking for his net54 ID. One thing that made me suspicious was that the pictures of the card he sent me look exactly like the ones of the same card (including a print defect which helped make it pretty obvious) that I am watching on eBay listed by Kit Young Cards so I was pretty sure they weren't contacting me directly to offer me the card at a slightly higher price than they were selling it for on eBay and their website. I am curious to see if I get a response.

I received a pretty quick response to my email back to the person who had contacted me. He didn't answer any of my questions about the card other than to say it was in "a good condition" and he didn't provide a net54 ID. However, he did say he would accept PayPal G&S. Definitely will be passing on this offer.

I go by this motto... if it is too good to be true, it probably is.

Be careful and ask for references.

Jay,

Similar occurrence for me. No posting history, card was not in his possession, did not provide his name, but was happy to accept PayPal G&S.

In all my time on here I had never encountered a scammer until about a month or two ago, and just had this person today. The last guy seemed like a fraud so when I asked him to “coin” the card I think he photoshopped a coin on to the card.

Adam

Coining a card doesn't make me feel anymore secure. Facetime is better than coining. Don't understand why people don't use Facetime instead.

As for on this forum, the 1st question to these scammers should be what is your Net54baseball user id? That is a 100% certain way to weed them out, especially if you check with me too. And be careful they don't use someone else's id. If you are doing a deal they should give you their full name. Then it's just a crosscheck...
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Paypal G&S??
 

Something that stands out to me with my interaction as well as the 2 others posted - these guys were willing to accept Paypal G&S - How do they get away with that?

Howard, I didn't really understand that either. I guess they could take all their money out of a PayPal account before someone who paid them reported not receiving a card to PayPal and PayPal would have to issue a refund and then not get the money back from the "seller", but unless they find a lot of people willing to send them money in a short period of time, it doesn't seem like that plan will work for very long.

No Nigerian Princes have more morals than these guys...said so on facebook...:p

It took ten years for you to develop his conscience.

lol

…
 

A couple weeks ago I had posted in the B/S/T looking for a 14 CJ Wajo. Sadly, I put my email in the post to have someone email me as another way for communication. I received this morning a offer to buy a PSA 3 14 Wajo for only $700!!!. I knew immediately it was a scam so I decided to play along and ask for it to be coined. Said he couldn’t due to selling for his brother..lol

This guy has emailed me 4 times asking if I am still interested in the card even though I didn't respond to him after he first answered me and didn't provide any more information or his net54 ID. I'm surprised he's being so persistent.

Request that he pp/ffs you one dollar to show good faith, then tell him thanks for the buck for the time it took to read his emails.

Why not someone tell this guy they don't have a Paypal account, and ask if you can just send him a check instead. If he bites and actually gives you an address, you can act real surprised and tell him that you have a real good friend that lives near him, and instead you could simply have your friend stop by to drop off the cash for you and pick up the card at the same time. See what he thinks and says to that. And if he still plays along, you can actually try to get him to give you a time for your friend to drop the cash off.

Now if he hems and haws about not wanting to meet someone in person, you can reassure them not to worry, your buddy just happens to be a local cop so he should have no qualms about meeting up with him.

Hopefully that will get the point across!

Steven Hurley - stevenhurley92@gmail.com - just offered me a T206 Evers Port, SGC 8 for “$1850 (negotiable)”.

I asked for his user name for reference:

“Sure thing. My username is “wazoo”
Been on the forum for a while now”….

I don’t think Steven is very bright.

Wazoo has been on here for awhile, but I know for a fact that Wazoo’s name is not Steven Hurley!

Me too.

Per Phil’s post above I tried to get him to send me $10 as buyers collateral as “that’s the norm for 4 figure deals between members who’ve never dealt with each other before”. His response was great:

“Of course, we both want to be safe but this way is not safe for me. What’s the assurance that you’ll send it after i send the collateral.
Lately, lot of people have been getting ripped off thru this way”

Scammed again..
 

Another member got scammed this morning out of almost $400. The scammer had ALL of the red flags we talk about daily, and didn't check with me for a reference. The member has been here a few years with over 150 posts. There just isn't anything I can do when people are not being cautious. It's the freaking internet. Be alert or learn the hard way. Always sorry to hear it happens.
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Not to hijack this thread away from its' BST focus, but noticed the recent posts by two brand new forum members in various unrelated threads which are apparently pitching some Chinese warehouse based mining equipment. The latest user just posting in the last 24 hours is Stefaniamine, and the original poster from a few days ago was Dianamine, so obviously whoever is doing this is related, or the same person(s), based on the username similarity. Found it intriguing in that both users posted just four times, listing the exact same ad for their mining equipment, and am now wondering if there is some specific reason they didn't post a fifth time with either username.

Given the issues with scammers and hackers, I would advise everyone to NOT EVER CLICK ON A LINK in such obvious scam posts. The possibility of some malware or virus threat is very real, especially in the world today.

I know that the goal of Net54 is to be friendly, open and welcome to all interested parties, but the potential of such an obvious threat has to make one wonder if the need for some type of a vetting process before allowing new members to post may now, and going forward, be necessary to at least try and reduce/eliminate the threat of scammers and hackers. I do not know if that is even possible.

But the fact that once something like these scam ads are posted, they cannot just simply be removed and deleted by the average Net54 member, like they can from their own email and inboxes. So, if these scam posts are harboring some virus or malware, it would behoove the entire forum community to have them permanently removed and deleted ASAP. In the interim/alternative, I would again strongly advise against anyone clicking on any of the links in such posts!!!

This thread is working :) I am getting pm's almost daily about scammers on the BST. Just today someone gave an id of someone I know and they are a scammer. So their recent MO is to give a good Net54 user id but the id isn't who they are. The latest was a Ralph Houk....he said his id was Rholmes, except I know Ray and he isn't Ray LOL... Yawl be careful on the BST. Check the number of posts they have and when they registered. Check with me if there is any doubt. Be careful!!!
.

Wait, so I should rethink this PM I got just today??? I was just about to give them the info they requested...


Subject: PLEASE HELP ME TODAY NOW AMERICA PAL
Dear finest friend:
My name is Tenami Wazooli, son of the CEO of Lion King Bank of Nigeria. Due to Political strife, I am unable to move family’s baseball collection of worth $20,000,000 (TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS) without cardboard likenesses being traced by rebel forces.

I am soliciting your help in transferring these cardboard heroics out of country in boxes once filled with shoes. If you would provide your bank account information (PayPal friend/family preferred), (PWCC vault number also acceptable), and address for verification, I will transfer these cards to your home for safekeeping.

For your help, my family will allow you keep Tobacco Card Wagner (on my oath swear NOT TRIMMED) and 1989 Topps Gregg Jefferies card of rookie (EIGHT MIL- LION DOLLARS VALUE, which can be used to purchase two gallons petrol). These cards you would say, UNDERGRADED!! DEFINITE REGRADE!!
I await your response.
Sincerely,
T. Wazooli

Why does everyone want to be wazoo????

Hey Wazoo

I’m assuming the answer is youth and (likely) hair.
Those are two things many of us have lost :-) Lol

Wazoo's fame and reputation has made it all the way to Nigeria! Nice going Waz!



.

Good to hear from ya my man!

Now this made me laugh pretty hard…

They are trying to get more sneaky.

My WTB Jackie post got a $300 offer on a 54 PSA4, no post and brand new. Obvious scammer but wanted to see what else he had to say (after immediately notifying Leon).

He said paypal g/s was good and then I asked for a coined picture and got a photoshopped coin over the original scan.

Slick. He's banned now.



Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

I still say someone should play them and pretend to go along with the deal and maybe ask where they're from, because if they're close, you could swing by to pay in cash and pick it up in person. Of course they won' do that, and will probably tell you they live somewhere else, like in another state. But if you continue to be friendly and press them as to an actual city they live in in that other state/area, you can then act surprised and say hey, that's great, you just happen to have a real good friend/relative that lives in that same city that would be glad to swing by and pay for the item and pick it up for you. You can tell them that you were going to be seeing that friend/relative in the next week or so, and it would save the seller the time/cost of shipping it. Plus they'd get paid in cash. And then you finish off by telling the scammer to not worry about meeting up with your friend/relative, they're a cop, so they wouldn't need to be concerned about someone trying to rip them off.

Can only imagine how quickly they'd then cut off communications, or what new BS they'd come back with. LOL

Thanks Leon
 

Recently I received a pm from someone that said they had a card listed on my signature want list. When I checked his profile he was already banned.
Thanks Leon.

Maybe scammers from now on should be called "Wazoo." As in, "Some Wazoo just emailed me a ridiculous offer..." etc.

With this guy, I'd have told him to keep the Wagner but could he send pictures of the Jefferies rookie.

I have received two suspicious responses to my post in the BST saying I wanted to buy a Cracker Jack Gavvy Cravath card.

One was from an email (no PM) from willamhouck@gmail.com and the other was a PM from member "hendrickson_zz" (who has zero posts) asking that I email karinahendrickson@gmail.com

When you google either willamhouck@gmail.com or karinahendrickson@gmail.com both appear on a website called "Stop Forum Spam" as having Nigerian IP addresses: https://www.stopforumspam.com/country/ng
https://www.stopforumspam.com/country/NG/4

Anyway, just a reminder to google suspicious email addresses.

It must be hell to be a legitimate baseball card collector in Nigeria...... :)

I had one of them going for a good part of the day a while back. I BCC'd Leon on most of it. The guy kept sending me pics of different cards and when I called him out he said the previous one had sold! lol

Good for you! LOL

Only wish there was some way to really get back at these people. Local law enforcement is virtually worthless, and they aren't really big enough for the feds or other proper authorities to spend the time going after them. And they know it.

With such an overwhelming base of baseball fandom in Nigeria, you'd think Topps would have hit that market with the same gusto that made the cardboard dreams of kids in Venezuela come true. :rolleyes:

A market ripe for the JollyElm baseball card set.

Or a generous prince who just wants to share his fortune :D

Paypal has their real name/address information (at least when they receive the funds into their account) but don't seem to care. :(

Leon,

Add a William Houck to the Scammer list and I had an interaction with Johngoldberg679@gmail.com. When I asked for his Member ID, he replied back sb1. While I don't know many people on here, he happened to give the ID of Scott B, who I recognized. So even though he coined the item, I am sure I would have never received it. So to concur with Leon, they are using valid member ID's.

Bob

Exactly! One would think this would be a more productive use of our tax dollars to have local police doing this kind of investigation and research to get after these criminals, rather than pulling over buses with college lacrosse teams for a supposed minor traffic violation, and end up searching all their luggage for drugs/marijuana.

Low hanging fruit Bob, gotta get to the donut shop while they're still warm.

I wish they could focus on things that are more criminal and do something about it. The internet is something that local police don't get involved with, not normally their jurisdiction. And the federal and other groups that maybe do have jurisdiction, not worth their time. Yet the bulk of law enforcement's manpower is at the local level. Technology is great, but at the same time it is also way ahead and beyond local law enforcement to really do anything about it. Instead of worrying about some college kids smoking MJ, how about at least trying to do something about the Nigerian princes robbing our elderly and other folks. The levels to which law enforcement will go in some instances to investigate and catch people is amazing, and at the same, oftentimes totally mind boggling, as to what they ultimately choose to go after.

I'm just throwing this out there as an idea, Leon. But maybe there could be a time limit before a new member can access the BST forums, since many of the scammers seem to go straight there after joining up. That and perhaps a minimum post count or something along those lines. That way at least some of them would be deterred, a weeding out process.

He lost me at the mention of Greg Jeffries.

Since Prince Wazoo is far too modest to broadcast it, it should be noted that the Prince's baseball team, the Lagos Lions, won the All African Baseball Championship 39-0 in a cliffhanger against Mozambique. The Prince hit 12 home runs and made many spectacular plays in the field.
But the very good news is to celebrate the victory the Prince has just published a full 100 card set of the Lions, featuring 71 of himself playing his, er, favorite positions.
But the best part is that each card is backed by one barrel of Nigerian crude. When the energy crisis comes, as it will, you will feel secure knowing that the Lion's cards is your fail safe.
Prices and availability are shown on the Prince's website. Absolutely first come, first served policy.
Finally, in a gesture of humility, the Prince has generously agreed to autograph 1 out of the 71 cards featuring him in each set, and if that wasn't enough, 1 card out of 10 packs, or 1,000 cards, will have not only the Prince's autograph but a sacred lion's tooth insert. Overwhelming, just overwhelming.
Don't wait. Order now.

these scammers are getting personal here...waving an imaginary dots miller in my face????

That's just crossing the line Pete, plus the double buddy reference to ingratiate himself is hilarious.

Yep, I just had a Willam Houck email me in regards to a WTB post of mine. Luckily he’s not very savvy, clearly a scammer.

I have looked into this and don't see a way to do it. Everyone needs to be careful and I never mind seeing this thread bumped. It has saved more than a few members.
.

Jack Corrigan is another name who’s emailed me from BST I found suspicious.

I figure it's a good time to bump this thread again. I have had 3 scammer situations this morning (with other members). The last one asked our member for a Whatsapp number. If anyone does that, I would tell them to F off. No good comes from that while doing a card deal. Everyone should be careful. Even if someone gives a good User ID they can be faking it and be someone else. Someone posed as Scott B (sb1) one time. I laughed when he said his name was something other than Scott......

.

Not sure if this is the "correct" way to do this, but please add this idiot any kind of banned list we got going......

niabirk74

Contacted me regarding a post I had under 50-59 WTB regarding 1959 Homerun Derby cards. Definitely a scammer. I worked in corporate IT for over 20 years, lol.

Just a friendly FYI otherwise........thanks!

If I really want to draw out the scammers for an entertaining back-and-forth, maybe I’ll post a WTB ‘54 Topps Mantle or something similar.

Woops. I was slacking on this scammer.
I appreciate all of the heads up I get from members... Please be careful! and PM with any concerns. Thanks!
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davidbassett003 is on the phone. He wants to sell me a Verne Clemons card for $15.00. Should I pull the trigger? He wants to use paypal. Pretty good deal for a V61 SGC 60.

He got a hold of me today as well. Sending him $42k in cash in the mail as my preferred method of payment.

I had a simple payment option COD, and I just asked him to coin the card picture.

I second this.

He emailed me yesterday, I found it sketchy so I reached out to Leon and found out that he has been banned. I will stay away from his guy. He is actively trolling our BST.

Heads up all