Scammer that gets my phone number and texts me?

[slim9300]

I sent a private message to a member here that had a Pure Bow Sight listed and then a week later received a text message claiming to be that person. I had provided my phone number in the PM and not in the thread.

I have no idea how they got my phone number, because I only provided it to the seller via private message. I contacted the seller after I was scammed and he had no idea who I was and had never responded to my private message. Tradslam has been a member here since 2016. He had sold the item nearly the same day it was posted but I had no idea since he never contacted me until after I asked him why he didn’t ship the item via PM.

Is this a common thing? I have now been blocked by this phone number but it’s still active if someone else calls it.

I realize I messed up with F&F but keep in mind I have bought hundreds of items on forums in my life and this is the first time I was scammed after texting someone first by PM’ing them and asking for them to reach out. Normally I talk to them, so that my mistake.

Thank you for the feedback!

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[BBob]

You've posted your full name, email in the past and your location is front and center so my guess a scammer used a person lookup site and drummed up a phone number. It's not all that expensive to pay for one of those lookup research site's so maybe the scammers are utilizing that.

Pondering: You've also bought and sold a lot of stuff so what if a scammer has reached out before and you "innocently" gave your number to them to discuss something in the past?

 

[slim9300]

Yep. The only thing I could think of is the first part since I posted on the original thread I was interested.


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[slim9300]

I did private message him the day it was listed, but I followed up with a message on the original thread just to check it had actually sold. Painful.

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[eamyrick]

You also fell into and interviewing technique trap by giving him the answers. Were you on Archery Talk under same name, is this your wife’s account etc. Instead, asking questions like What other forums are you on under what name and why can’t you see the payment?

 

[CorbLand]

Your number is in a thread from 2017 selling a Kifaru bag. That’s how he got it.

 

[LongWayAround]

"I'll never indulge myself in such an illicit act"

 

[BBob]

Your number is in a thread from 2017 selling a Kifaru bag. That’s how he got it.

You read deeper into his old threads than I did

 

[CorbLand]

You read deeper into his old threads than I did

First page of results, about half way down.


If you want to know how easy it is to get people’s numbers. Go to the classifieds and run this search.


The vast majority of the threads have numbers posted in them. Took me less than 5 seconds to run the search. Now imagine having a bot doing it for you and spitting the information into a file. Then another bot watches for key words posted from the poster (I will take it, pm sent, etc) and spits that information to another bot/person that sends you a text.

 

[BBob]

I searched “phone” and “number” obviously “call” did better results wise. I didn’t want to spend time digging any deeper than that.

 

[CorbLand]

Everyone needs to run this search for themselves. This type of scam is newish, and like OP, you could have posted your number once, 8 plus years ago, and it can come back to bite you. Run the search and edit it out. Be on your toes going forward, as your number very likely is saved for future use already.

 

[traildust]

Dammit....I hate fuggin thieves!

 

[Ryan Avery]

I sent a private message to a member here that had a Pure Bow Sight listed and then a week later received a text message claiming to be that person. I had provided my phone number in the PM and not in the thread.

I have no idea how they got my phone number, because I only provided it to the seller via private message. I contacted the seller after I was scammed and he had no idea who I was and had never responded to my private message. Tradslam has been a member here since 2016. He had sold the item nearly the same day it was posted but I had no idea since he never contacted me until after I asked him why he didn’t ship the item via PM.

Is this a common thing? I have now been blocked by this phone number but it’s still active if someone else calls it.

I realize I messed up with F&F but keep in mind I have bought hundreds of items on forums in my life and this is the first time I was scammed after texting someone first by PM’ing them and asking for them to reach out. Normally I talk to them, so that my mistake.

Thank you for the feedback!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No one has hacked Rokslide. People's information is everywhere, and we are lazy. A quick look at the email you use reveals 17 data breaches. Use 2a if possible; at a bare minimum, use a unique PW on every account you have. 1Password is worth looking at.

 

[CorbLand]

No one has hacked Rokslide. People's information is everywhere, and we are lazy. A quick look at the email you use reveals 17 data breaches. Use 2a if possible; at a bare minimum, use a unique PW on every account you have. 1Password is worth looking at.

View attachment 940893

Remember the dude that got the dragonbyte email and argued with you about it meaning that Rokslide got hacked? That was a fun one.

 

[Ryan Avery]

Remember the dude that got the dragonbyte email and argued with you about it meaning that Rokslide got hacked? That was a fun one.

Yes, it was, a 70 IQ is undefeated!

 

[ianpadron]

"I'll never indulge myself in such an illicit act"

How was that not a red flag lol

 

[slim9300]

You also fell into and interviewing technique trap by giving him the answers. Were you on Archery Talk under same name, is this your wife’s account etc. Instead, asking questions like What other forums are you on under what name and why can’t you see the payment?

100% agree. I thought about this after the fact.


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[slim9300]

How was that not a red flag lol

I swear it was but I was just thinking “the guy was old” and remembered him from A-T.


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[slim9300]

Everyone needs to run this search for themselves. This type of scam is newish, and like OP, you could have posted your number once, 8 plus years ago, and it can come back to bite you. Run the search and edit it out. Be on your toes going forward, as your number very likely is saved for future use already.


View attachment 940737

Thank you for this! This is probably the most helpful thing anyone said.


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[slim9300]

View attachment 940718
First page of results, about half way down.


If you want to know how easy it is to get people’s numbers. Go to the classifieds and run this search.
View attachment 940729

The vast majority of the threads have numbers posted in them. Took me less than 5 seconds to run the search. Now imagine having a bot doing it for you and spitting the information into a file. Then another bot watches for key words posted from the poster (I will take it, pm sent, etc) and spits that information to another bot/person that sends you a text.

The good news is this isn’t my phone number. It’s my buddies. I’ll have to look if there are other **** ups.


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