SCAM ALERT

[Siggle et]

I got a pm from this user cole717 to send a mail to colethomas717@gmail.com . After trading few emails. I figured he doesn’t even know anything about fountain pens. He is just out to rip people off their hard earn money. Please be careful.



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[Chrissy]

Please see this thread and be sure to report the sender

[McKool]

I was just approached by this person on selling me a Visconti Magma from my Want to Buy ad. BEWARE!

[Jon Szanto]

When I want to buy a pen, I look for one, I don't ask for unknown people to sell me one. "WTB" is so loaded with problems in any venue where you don't have verification of sellers, that you have to be pretty desperate to go that route. Caveat emptor doesn't even begin to describe it.

ETA: I've given some thought and addes a small, later post.

[Chrissy]

Every time I've put up a WTB ad on here I've received at least one message from some scammer or other saying they have one. I know to completely ignore them and assumed everyone else did too. They used to say they knew someone who had one but apparently now they say they have one. Just a variation on a theme and one of several common scam attempts. Don't give them any attention and hope they go away.
The problem is that unless they actually post in forums on here and are seen outside of PM's, no-one knows they are there, so reporting them to the admin is the one thing you should be sure to always do. Unless you do that he won't know they are there to be removed.
This particular scammer has effectively succeeded in getting his email address on two threads in the forum. Hopefully Eric will remove him.

[TSherbs]

Jon, I would be willing to put a WTB ad here at FPG if only to alert the members I know that I am looking for something in particular. I would ignore any other offers from anyone else. But I get your point.

Some of you have been so helpful and thoughtful with me (and others) over the years that I would not think twice about purchasing from you.

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[penwash]

If the forum is maintained properly, scammers won't even be able to respond to WTB if they don't build up real reputation first.

But, there is no point lamenting something that we don't have (and probably won't ever get).

We just have to take care of each other.

[724Seney]

Jon, I would be willing to put a WTB ad here at FPG if only to alert the members I know that I am looking for something in particular. I would ignore any other offers from anyone else. But I get your point.

Some of you have been so helpful and thoughtful with me (and others) over the years that I would not think twice about purchasing from you.

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I agree completely! As best as I understand it one is not under any "obligation" to have to reply to any of the responses they receive. They can be simply ignored.
I think putting out a "WTB" as a means of communicating a need for something which may be difficult to source is a very helpful strategy because there is no other way to effectively communicate that need to as group such as the members here or on FPN, etc.
At least in my case, I have twice found something I had about given up upon. And, each time, it came from a well known / highly regarded member AND at a good price.

[Jon Szanto]

Ok, I can see where some of you are coming from. I can understand that smart people, acting with due caution, can find it useful to ask about potential private sales when sourcing a particular pen. As long as any new people are alerted to the lack of guardrails, I suppose I shouldn't suggest to anyone else how they should proceed. Fair enough.

[TSherbs]

Ok, I can see where some of you are coming from. I can understand that smart people, acting with due caution, can find it useful to ask about potential private sales when sourcing a particular pen. As long as any new people are alerted to the lack of guardrails, I suppose I shouldn't suggest to anyone else how they should proceed. Fair enough.

Your warning is wise.