Compromised Account - a cautionary tale

Hi everyone,

Apologies if this isn't the right spot to post this but thought it would be beneficial to share so that others hopefully would not go through the mess I have been going through.

It appears that a couple of my accounts on various watch sites have been compromised (or in some cases cloned or created/established without my knowing so) and someone has attempted to sell a Rolex Explorer. I have contacted several of these forums to try and get some clarity as to how this could happen as well to get an idea of the severity of the privacy/security breach. Unfortunately I have yet to have a response from anyone (fingers crossed this happens soon as this is a very serious issue).

This serves as an important reminder to change your password often and make it very difficult to crack (which I thought I had). It also serves as an important reminder to be very careful when purchasing something online. I had been a member of TimeZone (I say had because my account is terminated as of right now) since 2011 and had 300+ posts. That just goes to show that someone's history/duration is no substitute for getting further verification.

I don't know if that means having the seller send you independent pics showing specified/requested time/date combos on the dial, additional pictures showing serial numbers or what but either way it shows the importance of buying the seller first and foremost. Not only that but using a secure payment method, getting ID, as well as a verified and insured shipping method. Perhaps overkill isn't a bad idea these days if it means protecting yourself from getting ripped off.

I'm unbelievably angry, frustrated, and disappointed that something like this could happen. I certainly hope it doesn't happen to anyone else so please do be diligent in protecting your account, your wallet, and reputation among these otherwise wonderful watch communities.

Thanks for the heads up...terrible thing to happen. Will you be trying to get re-instated by TZ? There must be a way to prove it wasn't you—IP addresses, time zones, etc.

Due to the prevalence of forums and social media, I always do a "2 factor verification" using one of those other platforms. Sellers are completely understanding why I would do that.

I've emailed a couple moderators but have yet to hear anything back unfortunately. I would assume it would be easy enough to show it wasn't me. The language in the ad was worded very weird and nothing like any other posts I've ever made. The email address used on there was also quite similar to mine but obviously different.

Either way this whole ordeal has been very annoying!

Appreciate the kind words. It was my watchnet and TZ that was used (apparently) both of which had different passwords which is why it's so bizarre. And no one has gotten back to me with any answers how this could happen or what they've done to either prevent it or ensure other accounts info/data hasn't been breached. As you can imagine I'm not impressed.

They then used my screen name to set up accounts on other watch sites that I was not a member of (and in some cases never heard of).