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Scam reference checks

Archer
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Got another one today...





These started coming in maybe 8 months or so ago, and it's always a watch on TZ, and it's always a Rolex. Similar sort of wording in every one. Of course the links are sketchy as hell, so I'm not clicking on those.

Just wondered if anyone else gets these, or has seen a rise in the number they are getting.

I'm also getting reference check requests (with no links in the email), and it's always for a seller I've not heard of before - Takuya...not sure who that even is, and I'm pretty confident I've never bought a watch from anyone by that name.

Cheers, Al
 
perks713
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At least the bot from today hopes you're in good health, probably has something against ripping off sick people.
 
Dan S
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I do think I got one of these a long time ago and ignored it because it wasn't a name I recognized. How does this scam work, I wonder.
 
Archer
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Dan S Dan S
I do think I got one of these a long time ago and ignored it because it wasn't a name I recognized. How does this scam work, I wonder.

I'm guessing the link takes you to a site to sign in to TZ (which I have been banned from) and they want to steal your login information...
 
perks713
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Archer Archer
steal your login information
And hope that you're one of the 2 billion people that use the same password for every site 😀
 
padders
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Archer Archer
I'm guessing the link takes you to a site to sign in to TZ (which I have been banned from) and they want to steal your login information...
I'd love to know how that came about!
 
Archer
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Dan S Dan S
You bad boy!
padders padders
I'd love to know how that came about!

Well, that's a bit of a story...

Here's the short version - Jessica.

Here's the longer version - was contacted by a customer of mine who was very upset, and said that site manager there (Jessica) had threatened to ban him, and me, because he posted good things about my work in I believe 2 separate forums there. He asked if there was some sort of dispute between myself and TZ, which there wasn't. In fact I wasn't aware that I was being threatened with a ban, so I had no idea any of this had gone on.

I contacted Jessica, and asked her why she was threatening to ban my customers, and to ban me when I wasn't even aware of the posts. I also asked why they didn't contact me or tell me that I was going to be banned for these posts, or that these posts were even a problem.

Now to be honest by that time TZ was a place that I rarely even visited, so if they banned me I really didn't care, but I didn't want my customer to be banned.

She accused me of shilling, despite having no evidence that I had anything to do with the posts. She went on to tell me that 10% of my customer's posts were about my work, which was quite a bizarre claim since he had hundreds of posts. I quickly provided evidence that this wasn't the case (cited the posts that mentioned me and the total number of posts he made - it was of course a very small fraction of one percent) and then I questioned her math skills. 😀

And that was that. There as some back and forth but she clearly wasn't going to listen to any reason. In the end my customer didn't end up getting banned, which was my main goal, and I was happy to take the hit for him if it kept him out of the line of fire.

Cheers, Al
 
Archer
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perks713 perks713
Annnnd there it is lol

I suspect I was going to be banned anyway, so I don't think it would have mattered if I tried to play nicer.

Once she had decided I was getting people to shill for me, the ban was inevitable.
 
padders
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Yep decimal places and significant figures can be a bitch. The truth is 1000% of his posts were about you. No wonder she was mad.
 
Dan S
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There's a guy on WUS who shills incessantly for a particular watch repair shop. It's hilarious, more than half of his posts simply consist of the name of that shop. The mods don't seem to mind.
 
Archer
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padders padders
Yep decimal places and significant figures can be a bitch. The truth is 1000% of his posts were about you. No wonder she was mad.

Before I was shown the door, I recall there was another thread on there that was puzzling. I actually think it was her that started the thread, about a particular maker of some kind (can't recall who it was - maybe a German company) had made a dial out of mammoth ivory, which she took great pains to point out is perfectly legal (she is a lawyer of some kind).

People replied that it could be mistaken for elephant ivory, so it just wasn't for them. She went on a tirade about how ignorant that idea was, because there's an "easy" test that can be done to prove it's not elephant ivory (I think it involves using a photocopier and looking at the grain or something - can't recall the details more completely) so if you were stopped at a border, there was always a way out of any charges or confiscation of the watch.

She seemed oblivious to the fact that many posts people made were basically just saying they wouldn't want that hassle, and eventually the thread was shut down. I actually wondered if she was shilling that brand...
 
Dan S
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Moderators on some forums seem to do a lot of banning. To be fair, if I were a moderator, there are some people I would probably ban, just because they are a waste of bandwidth.
 
abrod520
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Archer Archer
I'm also getting reference check requests (with no links in the email), and it's always for a seller I've not heard of before - Takuya...not sure who that even is, and I'm pretty confident I've never bought a watch from anyone by that name.

Wonder if those are actual requests, then... Takuya Watches is legit, I've done business with him and he's as above board as it gets, in my experience.
 
dsio
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Archer Archer
Well, that's a bit of a story...

Here's the short version - Jessica.

Here's the longer version - was contacted by a customer of mine who was very upset, and said that site manager there (Jessica) had threatened to ban him, and me, because he posted good things about my work in I believe 2 separate forums there. He asked if there was some sort of dispute between myself and TZ, which there wasn't. In fact I wasn't aware that I was being threatened with a ban, so I had no idea any of this had gone on.

I contacted Jessica, and asked her why she was threatening to ban my customers, and to ban me when I wasn't even aware of the posts. I also asked why they didn't contact me or tell me that I was going to be banned for these posts, or that these posts were even a problem.

Now to be honest by that time TZ was a place that I rarely even visited, so if they banned me I really didn't care, but I didn't want my customer to be banned.

She accused me of shilling, despite having no evidence that I had anything to do with the posts. She went on to tell me that 10% of my customer's posts were about my work, which was quite a bizarre claim since he had hundreds of posts. I quickly provided evidence that this wasn't the case (cited the posts that mentioned me and the total number of posts he made - it was of course a very small fraction of one percent) and then I questioned her math skills. 😀

And that was that. There as some back and forth but she clearly wasn't going to listen to any reason. In the end my customer didn't end up getting banned, which was my main goal, and I was happy to take the hit for him if it kept him out of the line of fire.

Cheers, Al
Ironically its pretty much a dead site these days that exists just to shill for Antiquorum
 
vitriol
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Archer Archer
[...] it's always for a seller I've not heard of before - Takuya...not sure who that even is, and I'm pretty confident I've never bought a watch from anyone by that name.

Looks it is genuine heavy-weight dealer who sells on TZ, TRF and ebay.
Either Takuya is a fan of you😉 , or the scammer is using him to leverage the credibility.
takuya.JPG
 
dsio
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vitriol vitriol
Looks it is genuine heavy-weight dealer who sells on TZ, TRF and ebay.
Either Takuya is a fan of you😉 , or the scammer is using him to leverage the credibility.
takuya.JPG
Yea it’s the latter, they use a real dealers name on the request to make it seem more legit but it’s a scam.
 
Archer
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abrod520 abrod520
Wonder if those are actual requests, then... Takuya Watches is legit, I've done business with him and he's as above board as it gets, in my experience.

It would make sense had I ever dealt with the person or business, but since I haven't I'm guessing it's not legit.
 
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