Is this SS Helmet in the Classified for real???

**Wagriff** · 07-19-2012, 12:45 AM

Scammers have gotten through before-it's no large task to simply register with a new IP and name. People have gotten badly burned and will always continue to do so, despite the most strict vigilance and efforts. I, personally, don't know how this can be prevented 100%.

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 07-19-2012 12:45 AM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**Adrian** · 07-19-2012, 12:58 AM

As I've said many many times, use common sense.

Again, a scammer was caught and banned and no-one here will get ripped off because of it. The system has worked again. There haven't been threads started by members who've bought something from a new member with no posts bemoaning the fact they bought something here and got ripped off. Has anyone bought an item from the classifieds from a member such as the one trying to sell this helmet with no posts and no history here?
Unfortunately it's members who have been established who've let ripped fellow members off but the forum can't legislate for those types until the deed is done.

It's not ridiculous that a scammer can join a forum, this forum, any forum. Pavel Nowak might be reading this now as a member, how are we to know? Anyone in the world can join the forum with the intent to scam people but how can we know that until they try it on?
How can scammers be prevented from joining the forum in the first place? Ideas on a postcard please.

Everyone is very quick to condem and moan about the fact a scammer was here but no-one has actually said that how good it was that he was picked up and kicked out and no-one got stung. Something must be going right!

Making a member join as a paying member and a minimum post count is a good idea but it's only a deterrent against a chancer. If a real scammer wanted to have a go here, a $25 fee and adding a few posts around the forum would be a very small thing to do if he could make a few thousand £/$/€ in short order.

You cannot stop scammers from joining!

**Wagriff** · 07-19-2012, 01:04 AM

Exactly. It's just a fact of life here as well as any other forum or site.

**SSamir** · 07-19-2012, 01:36 AM

Where is the seller located? If he was here in NY, I would agree to buy it in person, then f**k him up, take pics of him messed up & bloodied wearing the helmet and post the pic up as a warning to other scammers.

Is this SS Helmet in the Classified for real???

**MD Helmets** · 07-19-2012, 01:38 AM

Just like traffic accidents. They can write speeding tickets, put more cops on the roads, make commercials and advertisements about being good drivers, levy fines, etc, and in the end people still crash and die. Always has been, always will be. You can't idiot proof the world. People will always be taken advantage of despite everyone else's best efforts to help them avoid it. let's be happy we got this guy, whoever he was, and keep vigilant in our policing of the forum.

**davejb** · 07-19-2012, 01:45 AM

I agree with what your saying Adrian but a deterent is still better than nothing and it may reduce the chancers, these people want to make a fast killing and move on, by enforcing a deterent and a minimum or maximum post count, the true chancers and avid con men will not want to waste time and risk being tracked or recognised, they prefer the hit and run scenario, and i agree, perhaps we will never be able to stop them all, but if we stop some from being able to even ply their wares then that surely can only be a good thing, i applaud the eagle eyed members who find these people and the action taken by the moderators, but could a trial period not be initiated and see if the amount of scammers are reduced, when i joined i certainly dont remember having seen so many as there are now, although they might have been members and subsequently banned but that was only because of members who had been conned reporting the matter, but they were few and far between but this seems to be happening every couple of weeks, it was purely a suggestion and one that i felt i should share

**Adrian** · 07-19-2012, 02:10 AM

It might be easier to have a 'No Buy' policy until you've paid to be a member or made X amount of posts!

Or be made to read all the 'What's it worth' threads on the forum before their membership is accepted and then add a disclaimer to their signature saying *the member* understands how much items are worth and wont be daft enough to buy one below a given price........

**sam1chlt** · 07-19-2012, 02:24 AM

I am glad I started this thread. All I wanted was someone not to get burned. I have collected for about a year this coming Oct and was burned right off the bat. Not by someone here, but someone who emailed me from here. I learned a $1000 lesson and haven't been burned again. I just know how it feels and don't want anyone to be discouraged due to lack of knowledge. I am pretty sure we have all made some bad buys, even the most seasoned collectors.

Regards,

Sam

**BOB COLEMAN** · 07-19-2012, 04:20 AM

Any idiot who let his greed get in the way of his brains deserves what he gets. Thanks to CGP1066 for making me aware of this idiot. The thread was deleted and the member banned. Frankly, that is all we can do. There is no 24 an hour, 7 day a week thread monitor on the Forum. When you see an item offered at a price it would have sold at 35 years ago, alarm bells should go off. It had nothing to do with ignorance as the poster knew how to acurately describe the helmet. It was also his FIRST post on the Forum. He also wanted payment in a manner that nothing could be reversed. Anyone who does not recognise that as a problem should change hobbies and collect Pez dispensers or beanie babies.

**Wagriff** · 07-19-2012, 05:40 AM

Out of curiosity, just How many classified ads are there, I wonder? Could the experts/moderators of each category do double duty and take a look over the ads as they are posted and weed out the more subtle fakes, just as a matter of course? What I mean is, how bad could it be? When signing in each afternoon, could they take a look at "their" category and see what if any new ads have been posted in it and peruse over the new ones? If an item throws up red flags to them, they could pull the ad until they heard more in depth from the seller. It sounds more complicated and involved than it would be in reality, I would say. Something to consider,at any rate. It would definitely be a draw for the Forum and it's reputation if it were known in the collecting world that it's classifieds were 99% safe to deal with.
Having said that, I do also agree that there needs to be some sort of rules for the ability to post sale objects as has been mentioned above. Certainly, no one should be able to sign up for a basic membership and post for sale items 10 minutes later. That's just trouble waiting to happen.