Ref; Scam alert! Scam aimed at BBQers.

[TomKnollRFV]

I recently got an email about reviewing wireless probes. Sounded great!!

They asked if I used amazon to post reviews. <I had assumed it was some one who perused SMF and saw I did reviews of sucklebusters etc etc and had commented on wanting a new thermal probe set up or some such>.

After I replied, their follow up told me it wasn't a problem, because I could of course post a review here, and on Amazon. Except they wanted me to buy the product on Amazon to be a 'verified buyer' and I'd get ..half of it refunded on purchase..and half after the review was posted.

They also never told me their amazon name yet, despite wanting me to use amazon, and they accidentally said 'buy the dashcam' and followed up another email saying they meant thermal probe.

This is clearly a scammer to me, and I suspect if there is an amazon account associated, it's full of cheap imports and bot accounts padding their reviews.

Please be careful if you get any emails like this.

 

[fivetricks]

Amazon has been getting quite bad lately for this sort of thing. Not that I blame them directly or anything but it's becoming more and more flooded with cheap, unreliable, untrustworthy products with so many fake reviews it's hard to sort out what's real and what's not.

For someone like me, I'll just stop using it, similar to how I stopped using eBay for 80% of the stuff i used to use it for way back when.

When the spammers take over, everyone leaves the party eventually

 

[crazymoon]

TKRFV, Scams in online shopping and phone calls etc. It is absurd and out of control!

 

[HalfSmoked]

Agree with the above comments but how do we stop it the gov is no help. emails and phone calls all day. Its terrible.

Warren

 

[xray]

If people put as much effort into scamming people as they would into honest work, this world be a much better place.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Amazon has been getting quite bad lately for this sort of thing. Not that I blame them directly or anything but it's becoming more and more flooded with cheap, unreliable, untrustworthy products with so many fake reviews it's hard to sort out what's real and what's not.

For someone like me, I'll just stop using it, similar to how I stopped using eBay for 80% of the stuff i used to use it for way back when.

When the spammers take over, everyone leaves the party eventually

Well I got another message from the guy..and I don't understand the scam honestly.

They don't tell me a product, just a picture of a product to find on Amazon and 'it'll be the first one in the search I told you to do!'

They even hid the name on the picture they put in the email. So I'm well and truly confused on their angle, but I don't think there even is an amazon page.

The email this all was sent from is:

[email protected]


I still think judging from how selective item in question is etc, they're actively looking for members of BBQ groups. I bet the end game is they tell me 'I'm sorry Amazon won't let us sell our product with out enough reviews before hand. Can we have your credit card to do this directly?'

 

[fivetricks]

My guess is that they are mining for genuine, non bot reviews. Many products on Amazon that have stellar reviews are actually reviews for different products if you take the time to do your research.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

My guess is that they are mining for genuine, non bot reviews. Many products on Amazon that have stellar reviews are actually reviews for different products if you take the time to do your research.

There wasn't any product to review. He never provided me a link etc and then tried to get me to buy a dashcam vs a bbq probe when claiming to represent a company that made bbq thermometers..well. Kind of fishy.

That and 'If you can't find it on amazon if you give me your credit card number' bit..

 

[EdP]

most viruses get to your pc through email links, not websites

 

[fivetricks]

There wasn't any product to review. He never provided me a link etc and then tried to get me to buy a dashcam vs a bbq probe when claiming to represent a company that made bbq thermometers..well. Kind of fishy.

That and 'If you can't find it on amazon if you give me your credit card number' bit..

Seems legit. I'd ship him your debit card number and bank account number post haste if it was me.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Seems legit. I'd ship him your debit card number and bank account number post haste if it was me.

The sad thing is, some people wouldn't think twice about it.

 

[rc4u]

above post says he needs gov. help??? well no more regs and laws people can do it. the criminals do it anyway so whats the use ?? like other laws ignored and ect ……… that's why this post was started ..info not gov..

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Sounds like a scam or phising attempt.
I never responded to unsolicited emails.
I delete the email and add the sender to the blocked list.

 

[mooncusser]

I got a similar message from an almost identical email address. Really curious how they got the address they used to contact me. Feels scammy.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

I got a similar message from an almost identical email address. Really curious how they got the address they used to contact me. Feels scammy.

Really does make me think these scam groups are watching niche forums like SMF now.

 

[mooncusser]

I wondered about that too. Odd thing is the email I use here on SMF is different from the one they contacted me on.

At best they're trying to buy reviews on Amazon. Or they're up to something worse.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

I wondered about that too. Odd thing is the email I use here on SMF is different from the one they contacted me on.

At best they're trying to buy reviews on Amazon. Or they're up to something worse.

Well they informed me due to a lack of verified reviews on Amazon they had to pull it off amazon and the only way to 'test' the product was to give them my credit card info to place an order they'd refund over time.

You know, after telling me to buy a dashcam over a BBQ thermal probe.

This is likely a non American who will run up charges on your credit card, and then disappear. He'll get the stuff he ordered and resell it locally and there's nothing you can do because he's likely in an area with little law enforcement available for this stuff.

It's basically the 'A nigerian prince left you..' sort of deal. Just now for BBQ lovers.

PS: I'd suggest if you have alternate emails to make sure any thing you use them for hasn't had a security breach. They happen occasionally. Along with making sure any thing you throw out with personal information on it isn't easy to read. <Some areas have major issues with that>

 

[mooncusser]

But the nice Nigerian prince is just trying to help me get that inheritance from my distant relative out of the country.....

 

[Fueling Around]

Have you ever looked at the online status?
When I post this reply,
Total: 714 (members: 17, guests: 547, robots: 150)

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

^^^^ THIS ^^^^

I've wonder about those "robots"?
I'd hate to say this because it would add another step to logging in, but adding a CAPTCHA would wipe those bots out.