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ALERT: Fraud!
Fellow members please be on the lookout for a member named Eduardo Wardan. He is a con. He offered a Albion Agincourt to me and didn't send it once paid. I'll admit in my desire to obtain a Agincourt I did something I knew was a bad idea but I didn't think I would find a fraud here. It makes me sad that someone like that is here. But he or she is watching this and the other forums. They tried to contact me through a post on SFI. I have contacted the FBI as this is a interstate issue due to the payment made. I'll let y'all know if anything becomes of that. Feel free to ask questions

ChristianShort
Needless to say, I'm super upset by this. In 13 years, I've had three other truly fraudulent things reported to me and they were all eventually worked out. We had some other instances that I"m aware of, but they weren't this fraudulent and generally got caught quickly before doing damage. The biggest issue was with a guy who sold his swords and then held onto them for way, way too long before shipping them out. From what I know, they eventually got to the new owners but the process was a big pain in the butt.

This one is bad, though, and so I have to take time to remind people to look for red flags:

1) Make sure you all vet all members involved in your transactions. This means doing research on the person's participation on this site. Look to see if that member posted on the Marketplace before and ask for references if you feel that you need to do so.

2) Look at the date the person joined this site and pay attention to the number and type of posts that he or she has made. New members deserve special critique.

3) Pay attention to the payment methods. The use of checks and money orders is a red flag to me. Receiving them requires you take your time to make sure they clear with your bank before you send the items. Checks can bounce and money orders can be counterfeited. Sending a check or money order affords you zero protection and not much recourse so be very cautious of this. PayPal and credit cards offer additional layers of protection for both parties. Escrow services for large dollar items are another option.

These things and more are detailed in our Marketplace Rules and Help topic. There's important stuff there. Make sure you read it and follow the advice.

I recently posted a Reminder about this sort of thing because I became aware of this same fraudulent member emailing people. It was reported to me that he was emailing multiple times and essentially spamming the same person about a want ad. He was already warned and his account disabled for the spamming. I did not know at the time that he was going for fraudulent behaviors but it was a red flag for me. I'm just sorry I was not informed quicker so that I could have taken faster action.
Fraud
I didn't check the date he joined. If I had I would not have done it. My bad.
This is terribly sad to hear, and I hope it all works out. The Marketplace is one of my favourite features of this forum, and I have bought and sold dozens of items, both here and on Armour Archive. For those considering buying/selling, I hope that rotten apples like this do not spoil people from using this feature. In all my transactions, I haven't had any serious issues!

Best of luck!

--Hadrian
I agree, Hadrian. I just made a transaction with a -super-nice-guy- here in the Marketplace. He actually sent me the item *before* I paid him for it. My payment to him is on its way--btw. ;) It's terrible that there is almost always a crook hiding in the shadows. I also hope this will not dissuade anyone from using the Marketplace. We here are truly a circle of friends from around the world---and friends DON'T do that to friends. :mad: .......McM
Fraud
He's posing as Eduardo Wardan He is also posing as other people on SFI.
Not cool. @Nathan, just throwing an idea out there - would it be possible/easy to restrict the marketplace access to people above a defined threshold of posts counts? These sort of fellow usually don't post at all, save for luring someone into a buy.

ps: assuming the deal was made through the mkt place
Thanks to Christian for posting this alert.
Informing the collecting community is critical to sniffing out these charlatans.
Nathan's detailed response is much appreciated and very useful.

Per Hadrian & Mark, I too have had only pleasant experiences with the 'Marketplace'.

Regards, Jon
Julien M wrote:
Not cool. @Nathan, just throwing an idea out there - would it be possible/easy to restrict the marketplace access to people above a defined threshold of posts counts? These sort of fellow usually don't post at all, save for luring someone into a buy.

ps: assuming the deal was made through the mkt place


No. I do not like this idea at all. If we had a problem with people posting items and not shipping them, then I would of course limit a person's ability to post to their post count/join date, etc. But that isn't the case here.

The problem in this case is the person reading the forum and sending email / private messages to people looking for items.

I would not want to restrict the viewing of the forum to people with a low post count. This would serve to limit the audience for people's listings. The beauty of the Marketplace right now is that people have access to a large, on-target, topic-specific audience that would otherwise be unavailable to them. Google searches and other things lead directly to the Marketplace, etc. and this is a good thing.

The solution here is not for me to fence off the area so only those in our private club can see it, but for people to do online transactions on this site and any other sites responsibly by taking the advice and guidelines given in our "Rules and Help" topic.

We all need to take advantage of the protection that is already given to us by services such as PayPal or our credit cards, etc. and approach these things in a pragmatic way.

I'll also add that I'm glad we are discussing this.
Nathan Robinson wrote:
Julien M wrote:
Not cool. @Nathan, just throwing an idea out there - would it be possible/easy to restrict the marketplace access to people above a defined threshold of posts counts? These sort of fellow usually don't post at all, save for luring someone into a buy.

ps: assuming the deal was made through the mkt place


No. I do not like this idea at all. If we had a problem with people posting items and not shipping them, then I would of course limit a person's ability to post to their post count/join date, etc. But that isn't the case here.

The problem in this case is the person reading the forum and sending email / private messages to people looking for items.

I would not want to restrict the viewing of the forum to people with a low post count. This would serve to limit the audience for people's listings. The beauty of the Marketplace right now is that people have access to a large, on-target, topic-specific audience that would otherwise be unavailable to them. Google searches and other things lead directly to the Marketplace, etc. and this is a good thing.

The solution here is not for me to fence off the area so only those in our private club can see it, but for people to do online transactions on this site and any other sites responsibly by taking the advice and guidelines given in our "Rules and Help" topic.

We all need to take advantage of the protection that is already given to us by services such as PayPal or our credit cards, etc. and approach these things in a pragmatic way.

I'll also add that I'm glad we are discussing this.


Actually I've bought a few items from members with low post counts with no problems and perhaps a bit of risk on my part. But they were good and easy transactions...maybe I was lucky or maybe there's a few more good apples than bad in the marketplace (that's what I'd like to think.)

I also like that myArmoury keeps it simple in the marketplace by not allowing outside responses to posts--keeps it cleaner, on topic and focused. What I think might help is a roll of positive transactions or vendors. I'd be happy to list some member names who've I bought from...like the ebay star rating system...something simple, but useful.
J. Nicolaysen wrote:
I also like that myArmoury keeps it simple in the marketplace by not allowing outside responses to posts--keeps it cleaner, on topic and focused. What I think might help is a roll of positive transactions or vendors. I'd be happy to list some member names who've I bought from...like the ebay star rating system...something simple, but useful.


I've got an idea simmering for that right now. It's just a matter of me finding time to put something together. I sure wish this was a paying job!
Thanks Nathan. As one of the low-contribution people (my post count doubled when I hit submit!) I want to be able to participate in the marketplace, but understand how buyers/sellers might be uneasy.

I very nearly pulled the trigger when Patrick sold his Vigil (wish I had) but I'd also read this thread and didn't know the best way to establish credibility. Other solutions like SBG's members feedback are helpful but only exist after a transaction has occurred - in Christian's case here or David's in the other thread they could leave bad feedback, but the poor experience already happened.

I've concluded that if I buy something from a reputable member here I will expect shipment only after all payment clears, and upon receiving the item if it's in good order I'll send an email to that effect, with details, for the seller to have on hand. That way they won't be wondering if i'm going to come along later claiming a defect or something. Buying from a non-reputable/unknown member...not sure what precautions other than common sense.

I look forward to seeing what you're planning Nathan. Thanks for that and for making this site available to us.
Brian M. wrote:
Thanks Nathan. As one of the low-contribution people (my post count doubled when I hit submit!) I want to be able to participate in the marketplace, but understand how buyers/sellers might be uneasy.


Thank you for adding to this!

I would never limit participation like this based on post count, etc. I'll leave it up to the members of the site to vet people they way they see fit. I just want to provide information and tools so that members can be empowered to do that.

Quote:
I very nearly pulled the trigger when Patrick sold his Vigil (wish I had) but I'd also read this thread and didn't know the best way to establish credibility. Other solutions like SBG's members feedback are helpful but only exist after a transaction has occurred - in Christian's case here or David's in the other thread they could leave bad feedback, but the poor experience already happened.


I'm working on something right now that will provide further empowerment to the members to do their due diligence in these types of things.

I've never been a big fan of simply throwing out yet another forum (or worse, a huge topic) and making members have to search through it all to figure out what is relevant to them. My solution will be easier than that to use. After all, if a solution isn't easy to use, people won't use it. The thing at SBG is just messy and difficult to use in my opinion.

Quote:
I look forward to seeing what you're planning Nathan. Thanks for that and for making this site available to us.


Thank you. I look forward to seeing what I come up with, too. Haha.. I never quite know how the end is going to look. I just know that this recent report has really lit a fire under my butt to do my part. I'm gutted that this happened.
I buy/sell/trade here fairly often and feel a bit nervous about the low counters, but just because people have a low count here doesn't mean they haven't left an internet trail. I recently did a trade (a rather risky business) with someone with a low count, so I searched around a bit first, confirmed his back story, and confirmed that he was a member of another historical community. It turned out to be a difficult trade that might have gone very wrong. The low point was when he received my sword while his was returned to the sender, leaving both of them on another continent across an ocean from me. However, he was very embarassed and dedicated to seeing it through. In the end it worked out, with some additional expense and effort from both of us. So, here's to all the honest low counters!
Fraud.
Indeed I agree with the comment regarding low count. I'm at this point a "low count". This happened but I was a bit over eager to acquire the Agincourt. It's one I've wanted above most others for a while. I let my guard down. It won't happen again. This was 100 % my fault. It hasn't given me pause regarding other deals. I know for the most part I can trust the people here. Cest' la vie
Re: Fraud.
Christian Short wrote:
Indeed I agree with the comment regarding low count. I'm at this point a "low count". This happened but I was a bit over eager to acquire the Agincourt. It's one I've wanted above most others for a while. I let my guard down. It won't happen again. This was 100 % my fault. It hasn't given me pause regarding other deals. I know for the most part I can trust the people here. Cest' la vie


Don't beat yourself up so much. Through the course of living 53 years I've noticed that dishonest people tend to assume the worst in others and honest people tend to assume others are honest...at least until stuff like this happens.
Re: Fraud.
J.D. Crawford wrote:
Christian Short wrote:
Indeed I agree with the comment regarding low count. I'm at this point a "low count". This happened but I was a bit over eager to acquire the Agincourt. It's one I've wanted above most others for a while. I let my guard down. It won't happen again. This was 100 % my fault. It hasn't given me pause regarding other deals. I know for the most part I can trust the people here. Cest' la vie


Don't beat yourself up so much. Through the course of living 53 years I've noticed that dishonest people tend to assume the worst in others and honest people tend to assume others are honest...at least until stuff like this happens.


No man, it wasn't your 100% your fault. They made the choice to cheat, fraud and steal...that's at least 80% or whatever. JD has it exactly right, some try to game the system because they figure someone else will do it to them.
Hello
I`ve been buying and selling on this forum and others for longer than i care to admit to myself,and except for a couple of misunderstandings have allways had a fair shake from everyone.Sorry to hear the scammers have infiltrated. If you paid by paypal you might be able to get your money back through them. Its a thought.Good luck.
Fraud
I had a raver concerning situation occur after selling on the marketplace. I sold a sword to a member who paid the amount I was asking via PayPal in three instalments spread over a few months. He said that he was using his partners PayPal as he didn't have one (which I didn't have a problem with, all was paid). I then send the sword to the US from the United Kingdom via Royal Mail (the main delivery service here). The 'gentleman' sent repeated emails saying that the sword handnt been delivered (it was held up by a few days as postage was only a week or so before Christmas). He then made a claim again the three payments on PayPal saying that the sword hadn't arrived, even though the tracking on the item said it had been delivered to the address he gave. PayPal then reembursed the man the money and took it back out of my account saying, as the delivery address and the address they had registered for the person were different they had to find in his favour. This, in my book was equal measure stupidity on my part and thievery on his. After a few months worth of wrangling, I finally got the money back. I certainly have had my fingers burned.
Good luck everyone
Re: Fraud
Martin Buckley wrote:
After a few months worth of wrangling, I finally got the money back. I certainly have had my fingers burned.


1) Did the money come back from PayPal or some other method?

2) Will you private message me the member's name??? Why haven't I heard about this? If this was fraud on his part, this type of person should not be a member on this site.

Of course there's two sides to every story, but it deserves an investigation. Help me help you.

EDIT: Thanks for the PM. I'm not sure this was fraud but a problem with shipping carriers and all that crap. Frustrating for all.
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