I am putting together a "AVOID SCAMS" guidelines post

[sitm1914]

Here's the start -- if there is interest in this, I'll continue adding to it. I haven't actually gotten to the "avoid scaps" chapter but here's what I've put together so far as a rough draft. If anyone likes the style of writing and would like me to continue, just let me know and I'll be happy to make this a major project for these forums.

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AVOIDING SCAMS

Most of us have been there at least once. “Hey, just wanted to ask once more – do you have tracking #?” and then radio silence for 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, etc. The next day we send another email and still nothing. After paying a few hundred for an order with this great new vendor that a few people recommended, there is no package and there is no tracking number. If you have USPS Informed Delivery, nothing pops up there, either.

No matter how much we try to deny it and push the thought out of our heads – WE’VE BEEN HAD. Swindled, Duped, Conned, Taken in – Taken for a ride. There’s a lot of ways to express it but the feeling is equally disgusting no matter how we phrase it. We’ve paid hard earned money for a service via someone who has no intentions of honoring the agreement.

This document is for everyone out there who has been taken for a ride (or wants to avoid taking one for the first time) and wants to make sure they take every possible defensive measure in the future from getting scammed again. I cannot promise you that you will never be scammed after reading this guide. The possibility is always there – even from the most trusted vendors (via exit-scamming). Sometimes the most trusted vendor in the world will see the writing on the wall and then decide getting maximum value from every client as possible is the best way to leave the scene. Some vendors mentally justify this with thoughts like, “I’ve taken countless risks for these people – they owe me a parting gift.”

The first thing you need to understand in this game is that a lot of these interactions and transactions revolve around things that are either illegal or “quasi-legal.” You are not buying cat food from Amazon – there is real risk involved in every transaction (usually 100% on the vendor side unless you are purchasing 1 kilogram of F direct from China – in which case this guide probably isn’t for you). Economic theory demands that any person entering a transaction involving heightened risk needs to be rewarded monterally.

Getting back to avoiding a SCAM – what are some ways we can mitigate risk when searching for a new vendor?

(To be continued if there is interest)

 

[player72]

Good stuff please keep it coming!

 

[WTF7218]

Yes please! Thanks for doing this.

 

[Millson]

I’m looking for new ODSMT, fxe and 4f vendor(or anything comparable). Looking for comparable US to US and this preorder seems promising. Is JWBoof still active too? was thinking of testing him out as well among others, but it's a bit difficult to navigate the forums without having that sponsor access

 

[sitm1914]

Thanks for the encouragement. I'll start work on this now and should have some fun / interesting reading material for you all by the Thanksgiving holidays next week (Thursday for those not in the US).

 

[sitm1914]

When you are researching a possible new vendor, it is extremely helpful to have two different email accounts at your disposal. The two accounts should have different names so that they can't be linked together. You don't necessarily have to have two different email providers, but if you do that is even better.

The goal here is to make contact with the new vendor and after getting their listing / menu, you want to ask them for a total and the bitcoin address for sending funds (it doesn't matter if you usually don't pay via Bitcoin -- we just want to get the wallet address from them). You are going to do this twice from both of the email accounts but not at the same time. Stagger them at least several hours a part. Be careful that you don't have any email footers turned on that would give away that these two emails are from the same person.

What we're interested in is the following:

1) Does this vendor provide a different wallet address for each order or for each client or do they use the same wallet address for all orders?

2) What kind of activity can we see from these Bitcoin wallet addresses from blockchain explorer websites that allow you to see activity for specific wallets. An example site for this is https://www.blockchain.com/explorer

After you email them from both accounts, compare the wallet addresses. If they are both different, it may mean that they use a different wallet per order or per client. If the two addresses are different, that is actually a decent signal that they may be on the more legitimate side. Generally a scammer won't be setting up different wallet addresses for each scam (but they could). Part of evaluating a potential new vendor is evaluating multiple things at once and coming up with an overall score.

After checking both email replies, you notice that this vendor has sent the same wallet to both of your emails. At this point, we want to use the blockchain explorer website to see what kind of historical activity we can see. Here's the overall scoring we can apply:

1) You pull up the explorer and notice there is either no activity to these wallets or only a couple transactions. This is a possible red flag and warning that something may be amiss with this vendor. Between no transactions and a couple transactions, the latter may actually be worse as this may indicate a couple people have been scammed already. You want to see how long this wallet has been involved in transactions, etc.

2) The most positive sign would be if you see multiple transactions from one wallet to the vendor's wallet. Generally if a person gets scammed, they aren't going to transact any future business with that vendor. If you see a wallet that has made multiple money sends to the vendor, that is a very strong signal that the vendor may be legitimate. Of course, the vendor could always send transactions from another bitcoin wallet they own, but that's REALLY planning ahead and I doubt most scammers would go to such lengths. Also, you want to see the entire history of transactions and get a feel for what is going on with that vendor.

There is a lot of very interesting analysis that can be done with blockchain explorers and this is just one of many methods you can use to create an overall score for a possible new vendor. Bitcoin wallets can also be used as a proof of identity for vendors.

Assuming the vendor wasn't royally screwed over and lost all of their bitcoin wallets to a hacker, the community could then be reasonably confident that the person is who they claim to be.


(More coming next week)

 

[sitm1914]

Ok -- one more while I'm here.

Psychology
This could be an entire chapter because there is so much you can do with psychology to shake out important information from someone, but I'm going to share a specific tactic that is highly effective right now.

The mindset of an active vendor and a scammer and how they approach comms is very different. A successful vendor doesn't enjoy spending time in email conversing with clients. It isn't that they are rude or disinterested, it is simply because a highly recommended vendor could deal with dozens or even over a hundred clients. Anyone who has been in a business role of interacting with the general public will attest to the fact that some people need a lot of "hand holding" for lack of a better way of putting it. There is also another term in the business world called the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 rule). What this means (or one of the meanings) is that 20% of your clients will require 80% of your resources. It is a fascinating economic principle and I highly recommend everyone reading this to check it out more on Wikipedia. This rule also means that 20% of your client base will account for 80% of your sales, etc.

Anyway, getting back to psychology -- after you get the listing from the possible new vendor, look it over and ask them to give you a price for whatever.

"Hey there, I'd like to put in an order. Can you send the total and BC address?"

At some time in the future, you get back a reply.

Most vendors (especially if you are a NEW client or someone they've never interacted with before) will tell you that their price is the price and they don't do individual deals. On the other hand, a scammer wants your money NOW so they will either say, "Sure, of course -- I understand!" or they will try to negotiate.

What you are trying to do here is exploit the mindset of a scammer because their objectives are vastly different than a reputable vendor. The goal is to make a play knowing that a scammer doesn't give a shit about anything but getting you to send bitcoin, Monero, etc. to their wallet.

Again, you just might find a legit vendor who would work with you but that is exceedingly rare. You could also have a scammer refuse to drop the price (again, exceedingly rare). The point is to use a bunch of different tactics to come to an overall score to better help you figure out who the scammers really are.

(more to come next week)

 

[Atlantaxan]

This is extremely well thought out, well written, and useful. I REALLY appreciate you’d go to the trouble to do this and look forward to the next installment!