Anyone stupid enough to fall for these scammers probably should not be allowed to own guns. Definitely should not be hunting. I once had a similarly brain dead guy hunting with me walk up on my pointing Lab with his gun shouldered. He almost had to walk back to town. I should emphasize he only hunted with me ONCE!
Don't be in a hurry to buy or sell online. Check it out. Recently saw a successful sale on here to a newby one-timer. It happens. But vendor was very cautious, almost to the point of accusing him of being a scammer. The prospective buyer took it well and made efforts to establish his authenticity. As I recall he eventually drove a substantial distance to make the transaction in person. Vendor expressed his appreciation on the forum. It seems the "wanted to buy" ads get hit hard by scammers. Presumably these fraudsters conclude the poster is in a pinch for something or other. Items for sale by new posters are always suspicious and mods usually key in on them quickly. Anyone answering to a classified with "Hey buddy ..." should automatically go in the trash. Those clowns just as well paint a bullseye on their
Not sure where you are going with this, but scammers are sophisticated and getting harder to spot all the time.
I was scammed on 24hrcampfire. Here is how it happened.
Someone post an ad for a scope. The ad looked fine and had pictures. Price was reasonable.
I contacted them and got a solid response, then sent the money order. Then nothing.
Turns out they had been lurking there for a bit, over 6 months, had sold a couple of items, and had 100 posts. This scope was $1000.
Turns out that this was a set up and I was not the only once scammed. The "seller" was a guy in a mobile home in Colorado who was not connected to the website. He was told by his online romance that she was expecting some money and that he would get the money order. He was to cash it and send it to her keeping $100 of it.
"She" was from India or Pakistan as it turned out, and had been doing this regularly on various websites. She copied pictures and descripbtions from successful sales that previous occurred, then created a posting. When someone reached out, they we given the CO address and then nothing happened.
My good fortune was that I knew a former cop in the area, called him and had him go to the scammers address. The poor guy had no idea what was going on and told the cop the story - met her online, was in love, she needed money and this was how she got it. He had no idea he was part of the scam.
I got my money back but most are not that lucky.
So, all of this to say, be careful.. Check out everything you can. If there is a doubt, do not send money.
So - Ontario, I don't feel stupid, don't act stupid and have a lot of guns. Yet, nearly got scammed. So please don't paint everyone with the "you are too stupid" brush.....
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