1. New account (usually created within the last 3 months, plus or minus)
2. Low-medium message count with vapid posts of little to no contributory value
3. Use of a seemingly realistic first/last name as their forum account name
4. Signs posts with full name
5. Straight out of Newbie mode right into Lending (requesting a loan of course)
6. Straight out of Newbie mode right into Currency Exchange (PayPal, Liberty Reserve, Western Union)
7. Straight out of Newbie mode and selling gift cards/codes/Steam games of any kind (they'll often be purchased with stolen CC info, leaving you holding the bag later on down the road)
8. Any user blatantly claiming to be female
9. New user trying to sell an Apple iAnything
10. Sob stories asking for handouts
11. Never send to a Bitmerch.com address for escrow!!!
12. Scammers will try to scam you out of amounts as little as BTC.001 or even less. Do not think that just because the requested amount is trivial that it's any more legit than a 1000 BTC loan request.
13. Any user who tries to get you to use escrow through Escrow.com is a scammer, PERIOD.
1. Check
2. Check
3. Check
4. Check
10. Check
Exhibiting any one of the typical scammer characteristics is enough to raise a red flag, and you've managed to nail 5 of them. I'm not saying you're a scammer, but without collateral, you could just take the money and walk away and what would you lose? A generic forum account name that took all of 3 clicks to make?