Warning to Posters on this Forum: TRIANGLE SCAM

[Lutiana]

The mods have observed some behaviour on the forums that suggest some of our users are being targeted by scammers who are trying to leverage a triangle scam against them, so we figured we'd make this announcement to bring some awareness to these actvities and this particular type of scam.

Also, please remember that VCFed and the forum are not responsible for any trades or sales that happen here. So please be careful when considering buying something from someone on here. We won't act as mediators for deals gone wrong, but please do report any scams or scammers to us via the reporting tools.

This type of scam is often referred to as a "triangle scam" or "triangle fraud." In this scam, a third party (the scammer) inserts themselves between two legitimate parties who are looking to buy and sell an item. The scammer pretends to facilitate the transaction, often by using fake pictures and creating a sense of urgency or legitimacy, but ultimately aims to steal money from the buyer without delivering the promised item.
Here's how it typically works:

1. Buyer posts a "want to buy" (WTB) request on a forum or marketplace.
2. Scammer contacts the buyer, claiming to know someone (often referred to as a "friend") who has the item.
3. Buyer reaches out to the supposed seller, who is actually the scammer or an accomplice.
4. Scammer provides fake photos and details to make the item seem legitimate, sometimes taken from real listings on platforms like eBay.
5. Buyer sends payment for the item.
6. Scammer disappears, leaving the buyer without the item or their money.

It's essential to be cautious and verify the legitimacy of sellers, especially when dealing with transactions initiated through indirect contacts.

Thanks @VeryVon for this great explanation of what a triangle scam is.

THREAD UPDATES :

1. Also see konc's better description of triangle scam below
2. Also see kobura's strategy for debunking fake sellers

We very much appreciate the community weighing in on this, so TY all for your commentary and help.

 

[Agent Orange]

Good reason to insist at least on PayPal.

 

[alank2]

Good reason to deal only with long time members with post history.

 

[pkhoury]

The mods have observed some behaviour on the forums that suggest some of our users are being targeted by scammers who are trying to leverage a triangle scam against them, so we figured we'd make this announcement to bring some awareness to these actvities and this particular type of scam.

Also, please remember that VCFed and the forum are not responsible for any trades or sales that happen here. So please be careful when considering buying something from someone on here. We won't act as mediators for deals gone wrong, but please do report any scams or scammers to us via the reporting tools.

This type of scam is often referred to as a "triangle scam" or "triangle fraud." In this scam, a third party (the scammer) inserts themselves between two legitimate parties who are looking to buy and sell an item. The scammer pretends to facilitate the transaction, often by using fake pictures and creating a sense of urgency or legitimacy, but ultimately aims to steal money from the buyer without delivering the promised item.
Here's how it typically works:

1. Buyer posts a "want to buy" (WTB) request on a forum or marketplace.
2. Scammer contacts the buyer, claiming to know someone (often referred to as a "friend") who has the item.
3. Buyer reaches out to the supposed seller, who is actually the scammer or an accomplice.
4. Scammer provides fake photos and details to make the item seem legitimate, sometimes taken from real listings on platforms like eBay.
5. Buyer sends payment for the item.
6. Scammer disappears, leaving the buyer without the item or their money.

I've seen this on several other forums, namely TDIclub and cpu-world. Thankfully, it hasn't happened to me here, but I haven't posted in the buy/sell forum. Of course, one of the dead giveaways is also the account history (joined within the past week or less usually). Sometimes I troll them asking for photos (knowing they can't provide - they send one message and move on).

Should we click the report button, or message one of the moderators directly?

 

[konc]

Thanks for the heads-up, just wanted to say that the described scenario is not exactly what the "triangulation fraud" is.
The described scenario is the classic "you pay a scammer - he disappears and sends nothing", there is no second legitimate party in it, just the buyer and the scammer/accomplice

In a triangulation fraud case the buyer
-pays the scammer/middleman
-the scammer buys the product from a legitimate seller using a stolen card and puts the buyer's address
-the scammer keeps the buyer's legit payment
-the buyer receives the product
-if nothing goes wrong, nobody understands anything and the scammer can keep doing this as none is after him
-if the stolen card owner notices and manages to reverse the transaction, the legitimate seller loses his money and product, the buyer might get in trouble for buying with a stolen card, but the scammer is invisible in all this.

 

[kobura]

This has been tried with my twice here, and also on other sites.

The validation path I use is:

• Ask specific details that you know aren't true about the item and the scammer gives an answer
• Reverse image search and check worthpoint.com history (doesn't always come up in image search, but it's a scammers favorite image repository)
• Lastly I ask for a video or photo of them next to a new photo.

They usually bolt after all that.

 

[pkhoury]

This has been tried with my twice here, and also on other sites.

The validation path I use is:

• Ask specific details that you know aren't true about the item and the scammer gives an answer

They usually bolt after all that.

I always ask specific details and some of the responses I've seen are pretty funny. At that point, you know it's BS/a scam.

 

[Hugo Holden]

One idea I heard was when a Physicist went to a car dealer and explained to him that the electrons around the Nuclei of the atoms that made up the car were a probability function, and that some of them may well not even be there and could very well be orbiting around the sun or elsewhere and be on their way home, So they suggested there should be a discount for the amount of the car that was not there some of the time. But the car dealer didn't fall for it and explained that part of the money they were being paid with was not there some of the time either and that balanced out the deal.