# 2 many scams - a warning



## spidersnake (Dec 1, 2009)

Iv been usin this site since I started keepin reps but in the last few months iv heard of a lot of scams bein uncovered. Its good that ppl r findin them, naming & shaming the bottom feeding pond life responsible but there is a danger here. This site cld soon b under threat due 2 all the scumbags on here.
My wife & I jst dnt no who 2 trust anymore. Does any1 remember the trouble Ebay had a few years ago due 2 all the scams on that & the demands 2 close the site?
Ebay escaped due 2 its popularity but RFUK is not oven close 2 the size of Ebay & my concern is that it might b forced 2 shut dwn. Where will all us rep keepers go 4 advice then? We dnt trust pet shops, most of them r jst in it 4 the £ & a lot of breeders wld lie through their teeth if asked something they dnt know.
Cld we hav a seperate catogory 2 name scammers & their scams? At least that wld show any nosey authorities that RFUK is keeping tabs on the filth that choose 2 drum up business here.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

Every user profile and post that somebody does has their post count and 'member since' date on it. When somebody is selling something it's up to the buyer to make sure they're ok dealing with them; nobody forces people to buy from somebody.
A lot of scammers work on people being gullible and going after a bargain because they know people will jump at it.


when i'm thinking of buying something i'll check:
Location - can i collect it
Username - do i recognise them
Member since date - are they new
post count - how often do they come on
price - if it's too cheap then it could be suspicious.

If somebody has a low post count, not been a member long and selling too cheap then i'd probably avoid it unless they had good feedback.

the site won't get closed because of a few scammers. eBay may have been threatened with it because of the size of it; millions of people buy and sell and the scammers make a massive amount before getting caught.

If you want to name and shame then there's classifieds chat, but if you get ripped off report the user and they can get banned from the classifieds so they can't sell anything else (sometimes they'll get banned from the site but if you do that nobody can get hold of them).

and i pretty much doubt that the authorities are keeping an eye on the site to see if somebody gets ripped off for £20 here and there. If people getting ripped off became too common then they'd probably remove the classifieds section although that's only there for people to make private deals between themselves and any sale made is between private individuals and not RFUK.


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

It's pretty easy to work out who's genuine and who should probably be avoided, check the seller's feedback for a start, if it's all good then chances are your buying experience will be a good one. 

If they're a new seller check to see if anyone else knows them, look to see how long they've been a forum member and how regularly they post, read what they post, you can tell a lot about a person by the content of their posts.

Ultimately though just ask yourself if what they're offering is too good to be true, if it is then there's a good chance it's a scam.

It's never going to be foolproof as some scammers are clever, the majority are pretty stupid though, especially on RFUK it seems as they get caught out all the time! Just by keeping your wits about you you should be able to avoid all but the cleverest, and even then there are often warning signs.

As Meko says the "authorities" are not going to be interested in the few petty scams we get on here, not enough to intervene and close the site down.


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## jamess& Alice the beardie (Nov 14, 2010)

hii this has nothingg to do withh that  but it is true we should sort it outt
anywayy i noticed you have some beardies 
i have 2 and there my firstt and i just wondered they are both in the juvenlike stage and one letss me pick it up and stroke it butt the other lets me stroke it but not pickk up and when i was stroking it (in shred) it puffed out its beardd is this okayy ? 
and how should i go aboutt picking him up :/ ?


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## Shellsfeathers&fur (Jan 18, 2009)

jamess& Alice the beardie said:


> hii this has nothingg to do withh that  but it is true we should sort it outt
> anywayy i noticed you have some beardies
> i have 2 and there my firstt and i just wondered they are both in the juvenlike stage and one letss me pick it up and stroke it butt the other lets me stroke it but not pickk up and when i was stroking it (in shred) it puffed out its beardd is this okayy ?
> and how should i go aboutt picking him up :/ ?


I'd recommend that you repost your beardie question over in the Lizard Help Section, or ask a mod to move it!


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## Kaouthia (Sep 30, 2010)

This site is not dependent upon the classifieds. Even if they disappeared, it wouldn't be the end of the site.

The best thing you can do is contact some of the people they've traded with in the past, or others that might know them personally.

I've only been ripped off once on here (and he has 8 or 9 positive feedbacks), for a few thermostats, but the dispute with PayPal is ticking away, and he's ignoring their emails too, so hopefully should get my money back. I've since found out he's tried to sell these thermostats before, but they didn't leave him negative feedback for some reason.

The one thing to make sure of, is if you're paying with PayPal, *NEVER* do it as a gift. If they decide to rip you off, you have no recourse at all if you send the payment as gift.

The site wouldn't actually get shut down either, as this is simply a venue for people to place ads and the site is not part of the transaction (which is why eBay wasn't shut down either, it was nothing to do with being "popular"), authorities wouldn't really have a leg to stand on. You could post a bunch of ads in the local paper purely with the intention of ripping people off, but nobody could take action against the newspaper for it.


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## Mujician (Mar 7, 2007)

When all is said and done, there isny anything that can be done about it apart from being cautious. IE, not paying as a gift if you're using paypal etc.


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