Topic: Fraud Prevention For Newbies. (Read 438 times)

I feel you OP with your post being scrutinize by other users. This is why I barely do not want to start a thread anymore just to get merit. I am only doing replies now and will just start a thread if it is really necessary.

However, you can still start new threads with your ideas but try to improve it and be more professional before posting it. There are many users here that will just going to say anything about it and that would be either negative or positive.

I admire you in the title of the topic because it clearly imposes awareness to all newbie here in the forum to be careful doing transactions with other users. But the content was not the exact idea that I was looking for. There could be more than that by using examples. Sometimes a good post needs a time doing it. So, if you feel like you have good idea then give more time on creating it by providing more details that could support the claim.

I was looking more on your post OP. If you were just able to give more details and had supported it by some claims like an article then for sure you will get merits from merit source.

I wonder what counts as a questionable username.

Everyone on here, myself included, has a weird username. Even Becky666 doesn't fill me with confidence.

In fact, given everyone has a weird username, the guy with that has a common name but would count as an uncommon username like 'Tom' or 'Jess' would look more questionable to me!

One of the (non-moderated) weapons that the forum has to try to avoid people getting scammed on the forum is through the Trust score and feedback (viewable on each user’s profile, and the scores are shown explicitly alongside each poster’s profile summary on some boards that are more commerce related), providing you are logged-in to your account.

Now Trust is certainly not a safeguard, and will be by nature much more reactive than proactive (i.e. people are tagged after a wrongdoing, not before). It is also used for more purposes other than commerce and scams, so it must be looked at with care and detainment if considered.

To get a general view of how many accounts have some Trust information, back in November 2018 I took a look at the DT Depth 2 - Profile Distribution, which basically analyses the trust scored for each forum account.

In summary, the Trust Score distribution was as follows at the time:

The rows with negative numbers correspond to the profiles with negative DT trust score. For example, the table shows 208 Legendries with negative trust score with a value between -1 and -10, 522 Hero Members, 1.027 Sr. Members, 1.443 Full Members and  1.486 Members. It also shows 7.607 Newbie accounts in the same situation and even 1.897 Brand New accounts in the same negative trust range. Bear in mind that scammers try to delete the evidences, and often may delete posts and, in the process, de-rank their status.

It shows that all ranks have a fair share of members with negative Trust, and although Newbies and Brand New have a higher concentration, rank is not a decisive factor.

Well there are some sense in your tips to prevent fraud but I don't necessarily think all newbie are scamster you can still do business with any other rank and fall victim of scam

I see your point. In other words... "better safe than sorry".

This is not right. In some regions, they consider 666 as evil or something like that. You'll most likely feel disrespected if people don't want to have any kind of deal with you because you have those numbers attached to your username. 

How are people supposed to earn trust if they are gonna be labeled scammers the minute the sign-up - just because they are "newbies"?! , what nonsense.

Remember a person IS defined by his or her actions not by their Name!

I was also a newbie and people did business with me and did not get scammed. This doesn't apply to each and every newbie. A must is the use of escrow.



This can be a high alert point but then ranks don't matter.


Spamming is not the same as scamming.



I don't get this point as even the most trustworthy users choose horrible usernames but that doesn't make them suspicious.


Yes, they are always tagged by DT members.


I was a newbie and started selling my old gift cards. It doesn't make a newbie look like a scammer.


I don't thing gender makes such a huge difference and this is just being a sexist.


They anyways aren't trusted.



Users try to trick buyers to use their own escrow and one should never do this as they end up dealing with an impostor.


Sure shot scammers.

I would like to add my points based on my experience.

1. Don't trust with newbies while dealing with a reversible payment option and in this case even escrow can't help.

2. Don't trust users who ask you for an ID proof (unless they are reputed but still avoid) or make you use a screen recording software.

3. Don't deal with newbies outside the forum like on skype or telegram as it's better to deal on the forum publicly so someone could warn you.

4. Always check their telegram or skype ID or payment address for any previous scam accusation.

5. Always check whether the user's email address/password has recently changed as it could be a hacked account.

6. Don't install any unknown software on your PC or visit suspicious links.

7. Before sending money to any address, double/triple check it as once money is sent, it can't be recovered. There are software that can change the address if you have by mistake installed a virus on your PC.

It is not just Newbie accounts that can scam you. Any rank can be behind an illegitimate business transaction. The first rule of thumb is to be wary and suspicious of all when it comes to trading.

Obviously there are lots of legitimate business deal taking place here. Just be prudent and consult both the trust score, and specially the trust ratings, of the profile you are going to do business with, in order to get a general idea of previous transactions performed by the profile.
You may also search the reputation and scam accusation boards to see if the profile crops-up.

Again, new and old accounts can be used for wrongdoing. Bear in mind that people buy and sell accounts (allowed, but frowned upon and even red tagged). The mere rank is therefore unfortunately purchasable, so it is not a decisive factor to look at.

Posts may give you an idea of what the person behind the account is like to some extent, but it won’t tell you if he is a scammer necessarily. There are some rather good posters around that have been accused of being associated to some sort of scam or other, and really, it’s the reading of the trust feedback that can guide you. You also need to interpret the trust correctly to your interest, as some feedback is mere retaliation and not business related.

Difficult to say what type of person is behind an account, regardless of the username.

Any person of any rank that wants to lend normally requires some sort of collateral, unless there is some near to personal trust between them developed over time. Newbies asking for loans will have no track, and therefore likely more subject to a decent collateral as a guarantee.

Again, any rank, but certain profiles will have a solid legit track behind them, which makes them perhaps a better choice.

Or male sex-symbols, or nerds, or whatever. I guess you can scout the associated social media channels to get more clues on the person you are dealing with, but those are pretty easy to fake.

Alias crypto beggars. That is actually against the forum rules.

No comment.

Basically, any kind of guaranteed crypto profit is more likely to be a scam. Every month a few threads are created about a scam of a kind (i.e. send x ETH and get 10x in return; x% profit guaranteed, etc.). Shame that people fall for it, but unavoidable it seems due to (some) human nature. All that can be done is give fair warning to create awareness, although it is common sense.

I must say it not only newbies that victims of the scam activities of scammers any one can be scam if you are not careful and don't get too greedy, before going into any investment always make sure you do a strong research on what you are about to invest into and don't get carried away with the promise of big return.

It's more like a poser, guess what's Becky trying to imply. I've seen some of these that a guy was easily lured by a female profile and had some chitchats and sending some photos of that alleged woman.  Later on, sent some money and the "woman" blocked him.
Though this has nothing to do in the forum as that was happened on social media.

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OP should be more specific on those given examples like giving a short yet detailed explanation. Anyway, we have numerous thread like this that's more informative, however, still appreciated the effort.

Can you give us some data on why users like this have a higher potential to scam you instead of those who use no picture or claiming to be male while actually a female and so on?

To be honest, I find this a bit surprising, I can understand some users might fake admin accounts by any means but using a female picture to scam? Like what? Are they promise you they'll send nudes if you send BTC or what?

I think this has become a common and recurring menace because a lot of people think that by using the picture of a female on their social media profiles especially telegram they are bound to meet more empathy when trying to appeal for monetary donation or funds however 90% of the time these people are scammers and you should be very careful of them.
Scammers are getting smarter in their ways.

Scams are not just arranged from Newbie accounts, users should be aware that also high-ranked accounts are used to scam because the scammers use the reputation of high ranks. It's a big misunderstanding that people have an impression that a "Legendary" won't scam you.
The bigger scams are done from high ranked accounts when the accounts are bought and the new owner is not the original owner anymore. The new owner uses the rank and the positive trust score (if existing) to deceive potential trading partners.

Trusting an account blindly just because it's a high rank is dangerous and it's recommended to trade every account with caution. Above all, if the account has a high rank but just woke up from a longer period of inactivity.

In this digital world; fraudsters have taken it upon themselves to scam Newbies and individuals with less technical ability. While Newbies are out hustling for their daily bread, fraudsters also follow in order to deprive them from their rightful possession, which on the part of these victims, is as a result of unawareness. I was scammed last year although outside the forum, because of my greediness through investment and I regretted my actions and never want any Newbie to be a victim of this circumstance.

Things to look out for:

1. Never do business with other newbies on this forum
2. New account created for illicit business on the forum.
3. Low contributing post by users in the rank of Newbies and above
4. Questionable username
5. Out of Newbie rank into Lending (loan request)
6. Out of Newbie rank into codes selling and gift cards among others
7. Users claiming to be female with female pix on their social media
8. Users asking for handouts
9. Never allow the use of escrow outside the forum.
10. Bogus investment profits.
 

Have your tips, feel free to add.