Community,
I know this may seem obvious, but I cannot stress enough the importance of verifying anyone you do business with. /u/GreenSnapper2120 has been kind enough to do the community a favor and report people in the community who are either breaking the rules or outright scamming.
One scam that seems to be repeated on this sub and has the air of authenticity are new Reddit accounts that link to an established and known vendor on a well known market. Then they'll post an email address and offer incentives for doing a direct deal through email instead of going through the market on the Darknet Deals thread. You think you are dealing with a reputable dealer but you may not be! Its a fairly simple confidence scam but it works. If we start seeing too much of this shit, we may start banning email addresses, period. In order for that not to happen, please report any suspicious vendors. Just because a Reddit account posts links to a Grams profile and an Alphabay account does not mean they are actually that vendor!! Especially if they really steer you towards doing a direct deal through email.
Another variation of this scam is to impersonate a vendor by changing a letter in their username to a similar letter. For instance, using a capital letter i instead of a lowercase L (I vs l). Its easy to miss. Watch this EXTRA carefully.
For this particular scam, ways to avoid getting scammed:
- Go to the vendor's market store or Grams profile on your own (don't necessarily follow a link provided). Find the vendor. Check their email addresses on those profiles and use those email addresses.
- Verify the vendor using PGP. Use a PGP key from the vendor's Gram's profile or a known market account.
- While there is a business reason for a legit vendor to want to do a direct deal instead of on market, realize that email addresses are cheap/free and do not authenticate the vendor! Send the vendor a message on the market, use a known PGP key to a known email address.
- Check the Reddit account - is it brand new? While age does not guarantee anything and you should still double check, be extra vigilant of new Reddit accounts and do your due diligence.
- Report threads where a vendor says to message them or PM them. This is not allowed on this sub. While the primary reason is due to Reddit rules, a secondary reason is to help the community from getting scammed.
- Watch out for the letter swaps. Common tactic is to impersonate a well known vendor who may have a Reddit account by changing a letter or two. Again, click on the account age, check the spelling extra carefully and do the above steps to verify who you are dealing with.
Be safe and keep an eye out. Never assume anyone is who they claim to be simply based on links they provide. Verify the person you do business with.
The result of all this might be a ban of the mention of email addresses on the DnD thread or any vendor related post. We've allowed them as a secondary form of contact but I've always been wary of allowing them for various reasons. Scamming might tip the scales. So you can thank certain scammers for shitting on your parade and pissing on your cheerios.
~Econ
/u/GreenSnapper2120 thank you again for keeping your head on a swivel and steering us clear of shit like this.I just knew you were one of the good guys the other day when you won that invite!!
Thank you /u/Theeconomist1 for bringing this to everyone's attention and creating the stickied post. We gotta stick together!!