# Sticky  !!! SCAMMER WARNING !!!



## Restless Acres

I was targeted by a scammer today who saw one of my "Wanted to Buy" postings. I have been jerking them around for a couple of hours trying to get more information but figured I should finally warn people here.

Look out for "Iblis45" on HF, [email protected] gmail.com, [email protected] yahoo.com (where they tried to get me to pay).

I don't have time to post the entire exchange, or even sum it up in detail, but they pm'd me as Iblis45 (which is now gone), saying that they had recently purchased a number of items from someone named Mike ([email protected]), and that they knew he was also trying to sell Demon Guard. I emailed the person (thinking it was legit, initially), and mentioning that I knew it would be expensive to ship (I cited $285 as an amount I once spent for shipping on a comparable prop). mikescott (but who used Scott as their given name, a mistake someone from China, for example, would make) immediately replies back that it would cost $370, shipped. Took me a minute or two from there to realize this was a scam (if it sounds too good to be true, it is, and if you don't understand that...). Demon Guard would probably sell for $5-600 or more, plus shipping. I inquired about the condition, asked for photos. They said condition was excellent, didn't even respond to my requests for photos. Said they would ship immediately after I paid. They gave me the jamesmokay yahoo address (which I think I may have seen warnings about before, it sounds familiar). They of course asked for "PayPal with no fee", i.e. friends and family, for which I would have no recourse.

Anyway, this is clearly a scam. Ignore any contacts from the above screen-names, email addresses, etc.

Mike


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## Restless Acres

[email protected] is also an email he is using. I managed to string him along for 27 messages until I tired of it. Good times


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## Jerseyscare

i got a similar contact based on a november wanted to buy.
Same, i just bought stuff and this person had what you were looking for.
Jerseyscare


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## Frankie's Girl

*PINNING THIS into the wanted to buy section.*

*BUYING/SELLING WARNINGS*

*Please do report anyone scamming/suspicious Halloween Forum accounts. We can investigate/ban accounts on this site that try this sort of thing if we can trace back to any scammer or blacklisted accounts.

There are probably dozens of scammers every day that target folks with the hopes that you'll be tempted to trust them unfortunately. Many use our wanted to buy or for sale posts as invites to direct you to a "friend" or recent seller they know has the exact item you're looking for, usually for less than what you'd expect to pay to tempt you into falling for the great deal, and then ask you to pay using means that are unable to be traced/refunded. They may have names and emails that don't match the original info, most refuse to provide an actual phone number or speak on the phone as they are not located in your country, and will not provide additional photos/proof they have the item in question in their actual possession (because they don't; they've stolen images from someone else). 

Everyone should always operate on the basis of "buyer beware" and don't trust anyone they don't actually know or doesn't have safeguards offered through sites such as Amazon, Etsy, or Ebay. Would also strongly advise never do any transaction (like the paypal friend/family or a zelle request) that leaves you no protection/recourse if you do not know for sure this is a person you can trust completely. *

*WORD OF CAUTION: DO NOT POST YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HERE in the wanted item section. Scammers can email you without even registering on this site, and we at least have the ability to ban/stop the ones that register here and try to scam members if they are reported. If you don't give all your info to them, it makes it a tiny bit harder for them to scam here!*


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## 1000th Happy Haunt

Random words (including names) followed by a few numbers is generally a sure sign of a scam email address.

Thanks for the heads-up on this one.


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## IowaGuy

Yeah that jacka** DM'd me about a guy named Mike who wanted to sell the walk-through castle inflatable I'd love to own someday. I never sent any email and now I see the conversation is completely gone now


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## Restless Acres

Frankie's Girl said:


> PINNING THIS into the wanted to buy section.
> 
> Please do report anyone scamming/suspicious accounts. We can investigate/ban accounts on this site that try this sort of thing.
> 
> There are probably dozens of scammers every day that target folks with the hopes that you'll be tempted to trust them unfortunately.
> 
> Everyone should always operate on the basis of "buyer beware" and don't trust anyone they don't actually know, and never do any transaction (like the paypal friend/family or a zelle request) that leaves you no protection/recourse.


Thanks for doing that!!!


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## gemmydoge73

I've had to deal with a user named "Mertze" on this website before. I caught them years ago trying to scam me on craigslist for products they didn't have. If you shot them down to a lower price they would make up some excuse like "sold them all to a pawn shop". Mind you this was at 6am I received this message so it would of been impossible to load up 50 something gemmy figures and sell ALL of them to a single place.

I tried confronting them on the forum a while ago but they seemed to deflect whatever I said and stopped replying to other buyers.


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## lzg

I have been trying to find the zombie girl props to purchase for a long time, and I got an email from someone claiming to have two of them. After much back and forth, I agreed to pay him (at least I think it's a him) and, natch, he disappeared after I sent the funds. I'm writing this with the hope that nobody else gets cheated by this guy. I posted that I was looking for the items and got an email from someone on this site saying that he knew of someone who had been advertising the zombie girls. I thanked him and emailed the guy who was allegedly selling them. 
He went by several names, so I'll list them here so that you can be careful not to interact with him.
Names are:
[email protected] gmail.com
joseph mutavi
@Micha657
[email protected] yahoo.com

..and if anyone reading this actually has the zombie girls and is ethical, please LMK. Thanks.


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## Frankie's Girl

lzg said:


> I have been trying to find the zombie girl props to purchase for a long time, and I got an email from someone claiming to have two of them. After much back and forth, I agreed to pay him (at least I think it's a him) and, natch, he disappeared after I sent the funds. I'm writing this with the hope that nobody else gets cheated by this guy. I posted that I was looking for the items and got an email from someone on this site saying that he knew of someone who had been advertising the zombie girls. I thanked him and emailed the guy who was allegedly selling them.
> He went by several names, so I'll list them here so that you can be careful not to interact with him.
> Names are:
> [email protected] gmail.com
> joseph mutavi
> @Micha657
> [email protected] yahoo.com
> 
> ..and if anyone reading this actually has the zombie girls and is ethical, please LMK. Thanks.



I've merged your post into the existing scammer warning thread. Please message me if you have this person(s) Halloween Forum member name.

Scammers have been praying on folks for decades all over the internet - anyone posting that they are looking for items and scammers hope are desperate enough to not notice it's too good to be true. It is very easy to go find a few stock art images or other people's collections and tell you they know someone that is just trying to sell the exact thing. 

I personally would never purchase from anyone that has zero interactions/reputation on any site (like this one) and just happens to say they know of a seller or friend of a friend or something similar. If it isn't being sold on an actual seller site such as Amazon, Ebay or Etsy, then you have no protections. FB ads are also usually scammy it seems, so it really is using extreme caution and don't trust anyone that contacts you out of the blue or has zero reputation or asks you to pay in advance using something like Zelle or Paypay friends/family (none of which are able to be refunded if you are scammed). 

Buyer Beware, unfortunately and it's just gotten worse since scammers can access any number of images and target anyone now days.


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## jimmyace2006

Restless Acres said:


> I was targeted by a scammer today who saw one of my "Wanted to Buy" postings. I have been jerking them around for a couple of hours trying to get more information but figured I should finally warn people here.
> 
> Look out for "Iblis45" on HF, [email protected] gmail.com, [email protected] yahoo.com (where they tried to get me to pay).
> 
> I don't have time to post the entire exchange, or even sum it up in detail, but they pm'd me as Iblis45 (which is now gone), saying that they had recently purchased a number of items from someone named Mike ([email protected]), and that they knew he was also trying to sell Demon Guard. I emailed the person (thinking it was legit, initially), and mentioning that I knew it would be expensive to ship (I cited $285 as an amount I once spent for shipping on a comparable prop). mikescott (but who used Scott as their given name, a mistake someone from China, for example, would make) immediately replies back that it would cost $370, shipped. Took me a minute or two from there to realize this was a scam (if it sounds too good to be true, it is, and if you don't understand that...). Demon Guard would probably sell for $5-600 or more, plus shipping. I inquired about the condition, asked for photos. They said condition was excellent, didn't even respond to my requests for photos. Said they would ship immediately after I paid. They gave me the jamesmokay yahoo address (which I think I may have seen warnings about before, it sounds familiar). They of course asked for "PayPal with no fee", i.e. friends and family, for which I would have no recourse.
> 
> Anyway, this is clearly a scam. Ignore any contacts from the above screen-names, email addresses, etc.
> 
> Mike


I posted a WTB thread on mylespaul.com. I got an email from the same guy with a fraudulent offer. His mistake was two fold:

1) he joined the same day he made the fraud offer; that was a big red flag for me.
2) the photos he sent me of the guitar are pics of a guitar that I own!!!!! LOL What a clown


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## Restless Acres

1000th Happy Haunt said:


> Random words (including names) followed by a few numbers is generally a sure sign of a scam email address.
> 
> Thanks for the heads-up on this one.


My pleasure. Though I will say that my Gmail is my forst name followed by five numbers that would appear random, so...;-)


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## 1000th Happy Haunt

Restless Acres said:


> My pleasure. Though I will say that my Gmail is my forst name followed by five numbers that would appear random, so...;-)


So.... You're one of them! Quit calling me during dinner asking if I want to extend my car's warranty or demanding that I pay off my student loan! (Which I did from 1986 - 1991. 😇)


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## GureuchoDuweudo

Frankie's Girl said:


> That's true !!!


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## WannabeLordOfHalloween

Seeing these "instead of posting in my original post for the item, they PMed me and told me to email someone else" warnings has piqued my interest. No replies to my seeking a Rubies grave walker post, but I've gotten private messages telling me to email people. Not saying that can't ever be the case, but I'm definitely second guessing now.


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## Frankie's Girl

WannabeLordOfHalloween said:


> Seeing these "instead of posting in my original post for the item, they PMed me and told me to email someone else" warnings has piqued my interest. No replies to my seeking a Rubies grave walker post, but I've gotten private messages telling me to email people. Not saying that can't ever be the case, but I'm definitely second guessing now.


If you've been contacted by anyone recently registered on this site telling you they have a friend/person and providing a secondary contact (like email) do please hit the alert on their message or you can private message me their user name (either copy their name or their profile URL in the address bar) so I can trace their info and see if they're on any blacklists. If so, can ban them and force them to re-register and come up with another round of emails and if we make it a hassle without any rewards, they may stop coming to scam people on our site.


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