Daddy, what did you do on Valentine’s Day? Well honey, I sat in a hotel room in Tucson and read 40+ pages of forum stuff about a scammer that hit the WRONG person…

If you dont feel like reading the whole 49+ pages at SVT Performance, here is a summary of the scammer takedown:

E-thug ripped a guy of for a cell phone to the tune of about $400. The problem is the guy is a member of a car forum so he posts up that he’s been ripped off. He is in Kentucky, the perp is in New Jersey; within a few minutes, folks in New Jersey get to work and all his stuff (his address, phone number, email, drivers licsense, and social security number) is posted up, along with his picture and myspace location. This guy has apparently ripped off many people, including a bunch of students at Howard Univ in DC.

As things progress, the scammer is innundated with email, pictures of his house show up in the thread, and the linking begins…

First it goes to the other Ford Mustang sites, then starts branching out- Chevy, Dodge, Pontiac, Buick and motorcycle forum people start dropping in. Next it starts hitting the gun forums and who knows where else it is by now…

In five days, over 136,000 hits, 1212 replies, action by everyone BUT the local police, even after a few calls. The scammer begs and even sends the phone he promised the guy, but as of yet, no confirmation of delivery.

Moral of the story, scammers CAN be brought down by people working together… Car forums especially have large diverse memberships that pretty much cover the US (in fact one of the SVTP members literally lives down the street from the scammer); if not the world. Most forums are usually close knit groups, bonded by a common interest (cars, guns, who knows what). They are also adept at assisting others in the forum to get items, trade items (some of which are ‘quite’ expensive), trade tips and tricks on any number of things.

Also, none of them like to be ripped off, and usually have ways of dealing with scammers either officially or un-officially. However, this one is one of the only ones I have seen go this wide-spread in such a short period of time.

I, on the other hand, am the beneficiary of the positive side of forums…

As some of you know, I won a turn-in M40A1 stock in a drawing, and was convinced (beaten about the head and shoulders repeatedly) to build it out to a replica M40A1.

Trying to find pieces/parts for something like that is a near impossibility, or so I thought. When word went around the forum that I was going to build the stock out, I got emails not just from friends, but from people I had never met offering advice, parts or locations of parts, suppliers, etc.

I had one gentleman email me that I needed to email a guy in Vegas, that he had the correct bottom metal, and I could have it instead of his buying it…

I literally had one gentleman from Alaska sell me the action out of his rifle, because it is the correct period and type; he also threw in a period correct scope mount. When I asked him if it was a spare, he told me, “Well, I was planning on trying a new action anyway.”

This was a man I have never met, and only talked to on the phone after we made the deal!

A friend in Arkansas, whom I had not told about winning the stock, got an email from someone else, and found a period correct sling for the rifle- (needless to say, I caught a little crap about not telling him).

Bottom line- Forums can help you with ANY number of problems, and can put paid to a lot of these scammers if people will ask for help!!!!