Joeg Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 It seems with cases like these, it is very difficult to tell if someone has bad intentions or not. https://backpack.tf/profiles/76561197961452664 Very recently banned for scamming several thousands of dollars in unusuals and keys. Before this spree, he had a relatively clean looking record, apart from a bp.tf ban for gambling with scammers. This was a red flag for me, but a lot of people would see past this, as he had around 17 +rep for cash trades with reputable users. He obviously used this as a way to convince people to do something against their will, i.e. go first in a "paypal trade". While these sprees generally only last a few days, as people start to realise the money is never going to arrive, the amount of devastation that can be caused in this time is shocking. And without very close inspection, or even, just by being an extremely cautious person by nature, it's very easy to trust someone just based off rep. As seen in past cases, with people like Merp, anyone with the morals of a toad could use their reputation and influence to go on a $10000 scamming spree, before the leave the community forever. Although he's banned now, he'll probably never be seen or heard from again. Although in a lot of cases it's extremely hard to tell; when doing something completely based on trust, like a paypal trade, do your research. It pays to be suspicious. If someone is truly interested in one of your items, enough to pay real world cash, they wont be put off by you taking your time, and doing some research on the buyer. Are all their trusts recent, and based on very small transactions? How old is their steam account? Do you think its likely that they would spend that much money on tf2 if they have an inventory of very little of value? If they do have an inventory of value, is there a reason why they cant use a secure site like mp.tf? While none of these are concrete evidence, its up to you to make your own judgement. But if someone is insisting, that the only method of payment they are willing to use is paypal, and they refuse to go first, this is a major red flag. With the user mentioned above, he claimed he couldn't use mp.tf because of his bp.tf ban for trading with scammers. This was a lie. If someone is banned on mp.tf, it's for a good reason. The only situation I'd recommend paypal over mp.tf, or similar sites, is where the buyer is very obviously trustworthy in any way you look at them, and you are happy to use paypal to avoid losing 5-10% to fees. While most of this is just basic scam awareness, I feel something had to be said. Because people continue to be scammed by community members "going rogue", before they leave for good. Stay safe, and do your research. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bekfust Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 My dream KE is in his backpack lmao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeAncient Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 The guy added me for my scorching snowcapped for paypal. he looked clean and a gambling addict. when i said i only do cash transactions through websites (mp and bitskins), he said he was banned there too. i thought we was banned for his addiction and offered him to buy it with keys (he had 1400+ at the time). he thought for a bit and said he wasn't interested The guy wasn't desperate and knew when to end the conversation when it didn't favour his scams. Pretty smart guy. This kinda people are the hardest to suspect that they could be scamming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wsdea Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 I am pretty aware of what's going on with scams, and I still got scammed by one of these. Thankfully it was only 105 keys, but my scammer also took really high unus such as a Sunbeams Polar Pullover and a Spellbound Virtual Viewfinder. Here is his profile. You will see he has good trusts until a day. Also you can see that most of his good trusts are when the scammer was going first and therefore was not the one being trusted. I think that's a good indicator, but still hard to detect. If you want to have a look here's his profile : https://backpack.tf/profiles/76561198170989539?time=1512345600 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoranoGuardias Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 This is why I don't do random adds or trades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SVENNEN123 Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 12 minutes ago, Wsdea said: I am pretty aware of what's going on with scams, and I still got scammed by one of these. Thankfully it was only 105 keys, but my scammer also took really high unus such as a Sunbeams Polar Pullover and a Spellbound Virtual Viewfinder. Here is his profile. You will see he has good trusts until a day. Also you can see that most of his good trusts are when the scammer was going first and therefore was not the one being trusted. I think that's a good indicator, but still hard to detect. If you want to have a look here's his profile : https://backpack.tf/profiles/76561198170989539?time=1512345600 Scammed me for my spellbounds peak. This was my very first paypal trade and will forever be my only one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wsdea Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 2 minutes ago, SVENNEN123 said: Scammed me for my spellbounds peak. This was my very first paypal trade and will forever be my only one! It was also my first paypal trade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wsdea Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 7 minutes ago, SoranoGuardias said: This is why I don't do random adds or trades. It was not a random add, he was actually offering me on Vatican City Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.Alex Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 How exactly are we supposed to "be carefulf" if BP admins always remove all acquired +trusts? There is nothing to learn from this anymore. IMHO this removal only helps scammers to come back with another account and do the same thing again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajdislikesyournamingpolicy Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 I presume it would be nice to know who had done business with these users before as it would give a hint as to who trusted them. Still, I see several cases of some new kid just trading and selling keys to high profile traders and new traders but their rep is only spanning a few weeks. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's fairly obvious that anyone you don't initially have noted down as interested in your stuff and have talked with them for a while, just use marketplace kek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeklyn Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 Rip my PE Tipped Lid I guess, 200 bucks gone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Ol Bessie Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 How is everyone so fucking stupid your going to give a random person you’ve never met in your life your item that could be worth a thousand dollars before he gives you the payment. Are you people fucking dumb? Use your brains you morons. If your going to PayPal trade use a steam rep middle man or receive the payment first through friends and family so you don’t run into charge back. cmon I hear these story’s every day now this is is getting ridiculous. PUT SOME TIME INTO RESEARCH ON WHO YOUR TRADING WITH. Mans who who lost the 1 of 1 secret KE. GG ya fuckin dumbass now that items gone forever. You get no sympathy from me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Ol Bessie Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 This same person added me trying to get my pullover. I’m surprised some idiots fell for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maui Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 27 minutes ago, Big Ol Bessie said: How is everyone so fucking stupid your going to give a random person you’ve never met in your life your item that could be worth a thousand dollars before he gives you the payment. Are you people fucking dumb? Use your brains you morons. If your going to PayPal trade use a steam rep middle man or receive the payment first through friends and family so you don’t run into charge back. cmon I hear these story’s every day now this is is getting ridiculous. PUT SOME TIME INTO RESEARCH ON WHO YOUR TRADING WITH. Mans who who lost the 1 of 1 secret KE. GG ya fuckin dumbass now that items gone forever. You get no sympathy from me. Harsh words but I completely agree. Wouldn't do this with my 30 keys worth unusual, imagine with a 1000+ worth one. Expecially after this already happened in the same community. Ironically, you can't trust trust ratings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgecake Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 Just wanted to add, he is a constant gambler and I feel like that should have been a sign. Honestly stuff like this is just going to keep happening which is really sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
🔥Master Throne Crimson🔥 Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Yet another scammer who i genuenly thought was a decent guy. They always commit a scam and then remove everyone on their friends list. Thank god he didnt target me, which is a surprise, since we spoke quite a bit. As a side note, his current name is very accurate : ') Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs TS Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Because a person with a backpack worth a $1 is going to suddenly drop more than $5K in a month into a dying game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Delicious Cashew Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 1 hour ago, Mrs TS said: Because a person with a backpack worth a $1 is going to suddenly drop more than $5K in a month into a dying game. Yeah, I've been around for quite some time now and this is one of the more common trends when a person goes rogue and scams If you see some combination of these traits in the user, I recommend being cautious in trusting the user with brokering or paypal trades - Backpack value less than ~$10 in the past 2-3 months - Large amount of +trusts in the same timespan - Low hours - New account / No prior backpack history - Trying to rush users into trades/force them to trust them There are definitely more red flags, and I don't know what was the case here, but I can see at least the first two at a quick glance. But these are always signs to watch for when choosing whether to trust people. If you are ever unsure, it's better to just not go through with the trade - be safe instead of sorry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Ol Bessie Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Guys. THIS IS TEAM FORTRESS 2. You can literealy scam someone out of thousands of dollars and feel no reprocutions in real life. Why the fuck are you going to trust anyone on a gaming community with your $. Seriously. Use this as an example. Say i'm cashin out and i'm not lookin to play anymore. I can easily post a trade saying i'm looking to buy unusuals with paypal I have rep and a reputable account. Then proceed to scam you and gain and easy couple thousand dollars to pay some IRL bills. and feel no possible reprocutions other than a banned account I wouldn't use any longer. Guys, your seriously handing some random person you've never met before your items worth real $ trusting their word and other peoples words that he wont easily run off with it without any problems. Damn, if something is to good to be true it usually is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bekfust Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 6 hours ago, Big Ol Bessie said: How is everyone so fucking stupid your going to give a random person you’ve never met in your life your item that could be worth a thousand dollars before he gives you the payment. Are you people fucking dumb? Use your brains you morons. If your going to PayPal trade use a steam rep middle man or receive the payment first through friends and family so you don’t run into charge back. cmon I hear these story’s every day now this is is getting ridiculous. PUT SOME TIME INTO RESEARCH ON WHO YOUR TRADING WITH. Mans who who lost the 1 of 1 secret KE. GG ya fuckin dumbass now that items gone forever. You get no sympathy from me. Nah he had da KE before he started scamming. Just upset that it prob wont hit the market again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Ol Bessie Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 ^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apollothelion Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Honestly if you aren't sure if someone is safe or not, literally just ask around. HELL. We can make a thread post, and I'll turn notifications on and respond to each one whenever I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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