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Thread: DP Members: Beware of the "Scam-and-Burn"

  1. #1
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    Default DP Members: Beware of the "Scam-and-Burn"

    Anyone who happened across THIS thread in Buying & Selling may have noticed a bit of sketchiness afoot... I usually don't ip-check people unless they set off a series of alarms in my head, and this guy managed to trip just about all of them.
    • No feedback or references
    • Disposable/temporary-sounding username
    • "YOU must pay first", defensive
    • Also doesn't help that he's "new". This is something I would only ever discriminate against in a place like Buying & Selling or Everything eBay, due to the very nature of those kinds of forums.
    So, I ip-checked him. Here's what I found.

    me_good39
    IP address for this post
    adsl-70-141-6-6.dsl.sgnwmi.sbcglobal.net [ 10 Posts ]

    Users posting from this IP address
    me_good39 [ 10 Posts ]
    NiNtEnDoNuT1983 [ 6 Posts ]
    It's not uncommon to find more than one username on a similar ip, especially in regards to the larger ISPs out there. Still, the guy rubbed me the wrong way enough to search for the matching user's more recent posts. Luckily NiNtEnDoNuT1983's last few posts were made in Buying & Selling, so I was able to do just that. Here's what the IP profile looks like.

    NiNtEnDoNuT1983
    IP address for this post
    adsl-70-141-6-6.dsl.sgnwmi.sbcglobal.net [ 6 Posts ]
    Now, what we have here is an exact ip match between two different users, both of which having posted today and yesterday with this same ip intermittedly, hours or at times minutes apart. The odds of this now being mere coincedence at this point are pretty much null. They're posting from the same internet connection, which means they're either in the same house, using the same computer, or they're the same person. The connection became even more doubtless when I found something overlooked previously in the thread -- He retroedited it out of his original post after I said something, but he neglected to do the same to the quoted version of that post that he quoted himself on in a later post...

    Quote Originally Posted by me_good39
    The URL to his perhaps now conveniently broken photobucket image.

    So now, let's look at what we have here: two presumably seperate users, now unquestionably connected. Nintendonut is the first to the scene on the thread in question, posting a mere minute after it's created, presumably as a sort of "curious spectator"... this person who is connected to me_good39 who himself offers all kinds of rare and must-have collectors item games out of the blue... this person who has all kinds of positive feedback and a fairly upstanding reputation here at DP, in terms of Buying & Selling anyways... yet mentions nothing indicating a connection, nothing to the effect of "Hey guys, me_good39 is a personal friend, you can trust him!", nothing to vouch whatsoever as to the credibility of this person, nothing to indicate he even knows him at all. In a genuine situation like this, it would make infinitely more sense for someone like Nintendonut, with all kinds of good feedback and references, to sell these rare and especially expensive video game items FOR this guy... or at least vouch as to his credibility... I've moderated Buying & Selling for a good while now, and every case I've ever seen of genuine friend-referred business here happens this way... yet in this case, none of this happens. Do you see what I'm getting at here?

    NiNtEnDoNuT1983 was trying to pull a scam-and-burn.

    Let me interupt this "Back and to the left..." moment to apologize if this seems like conspiracy theorist-type rambling, but these "6-month scam-and-burn" people really get under my skin. You know, the type who hang around here for about 6 months, leveraging a measure of positive feedback, then utilizing it to line up all kinds of deals in one fell swoop, collecting up on the money, and then splitting town. They take advantage of our peer feedback system to sap hundreds out of game collectors. They're scumbags, pure and simple. I'm not going to hunt these people down, and I'm not going to find their home address or anything like that, but if I can find a way to nip these people in the bud before they get a chance to make off with the loot, I'm damn-well going to do it.

    I'm 99.999% convinced that this is the same person. Look at the posting style. Excessive use of exclamation points... they even both make use of an identical bold green type.

    It's the same guy.

    I think this case actually pisses me off more, as rather than the standard "6-month scam-and-burn", this guy was actually trying to do so WITHOUT needing to blow town. With all of this info now in-hand, I posted a warning in me_good39's thread stating I knew exactly who his ip-shared user was, whereafter he predictably then proceeded to clam up to any offers stating he was "going to ebay", which was the exact intent I had behind posting that. Defused, for the moment. But what happens now?

    Well, shortly after all of this blew over, I brought the matter before my fellow moderation and administration staff here, in a message eerily similar to this post(read:verbatim) and asked about what should be done. Those who responded unanimously agreed that a) NiNtEnDoNuT1983/me_good39 should be banned immediately, and b) that I should duplicate my message for everyone else here to read. So, that's just what I'm doing right now.

    I think it's safe to say that in the future, anyone caught trying to perform a "scam-and-burn" on DP Members here will subsequently find their situation resembling that more of a "crash-and-burn", at least in regards to their ability to participate in these forums. Myself along with the rest of the DP forum staff will no longer sit by quietly while our fellow DP members, collectors and gamers get sapped of their hard-earned coinage by those who would try to manipulate the way we do things here to screw honest people out of a quick buck.

    If you suspect someone here is trying to perform a "scam-and-burn", please contact a moderator or an administrator here first; we ask that you do not post your suspicions in the public forums without having first consulted with us -- that way, upon reaching agreement of convincing evidence, we would be able to back you up in terms of being able to do something about it, with regards to these boards anyway. A member's reputation is important here, and we won't want to sully it without sufficiently convincing evidence that they're trying to scam fellow members. So if you suspect something is up, hold the phones on it for a bit, collect the evidence you need and state your case to a mod or admin. If your evidence is convincing, we'll back you up on it. Thanks.

  2. #2
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    I want to throw something in, if you don't mind. If you do, just edit it out.

    Anyway, as one of the senior sellers here (not in terms of tenure, but I've stockpiled a ton of feedbacks), there's a couple things I'd like to add.

    First off, just having a bunch of good feedback is meaningless, unless you know *what* was sold. It's like eBay, a guy could have 400 feedbacks just from selling a penny, then he lists a Lexus or something. Seems pretty normal, a guy with seemingly good feedback selling something expensive.. and then you're trapped. If you can find out, at all, some of the things that the person sold in the past, it could help with your judgment. I'm not saying to turn tail and run if all they've ever sold were common Atari carts, but it's something to look out for. It just seems to me like someone who sells a lot of rare or expensive stuff wouldn't really want to rip people off for a couple $50 games, but that's just my opinion.

    Another thing I look for if I'm buying is the attitude of the seller. If they seem unwilling to work with you, or they're just being a total tool, it might be wise to buy from someone else. I'm not saying to avoid people who won't give you a dollar off, but you should just be aware of how he/she conducts him/herself during the first stages of your transaction. If you just can't seem to trust them, then by all means, move on. There will be another coming along. The exception to that would be something ridiculously rare (NWC or around there), but in that case you wouldn't be buying one from anyone other than someone with an absolute bullet-proof reputation, so that shouldn't be a problem.

    Let's face it, folks. There are scammers out there. There always will be. Everyone is out to make money, but some use underhanded tactics to get there. If you can identify potential warning signs, you just might save yourself some money in the end. And like Berserker said, if anything seems fishy, contact a mod immediately. It's better to make sure you're completely safe than to dive in blindly and get screwed.
    Come on, take a trip with me, across the bridge of lunacy...

    Jed - The Fearless Leader of JedMart. Fighting the war against high prices, one sale at a time.


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    Pear (Level 6) scorch56's Avatar
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    Those of us who lost money to BigGeorgeJohnson.. thank you.

    I don't even consider buying from anyone anymore who has less posts or hasn't been a member; longer than I.

    There's been an awful lot of people with one or two post coming in. and posting B&S stuff the day they join.. lately. I'm not saying they aren't legit.. but I've actually been surprised how many old-timers around here still answer threads of newbs with NO seniority and NO post count.. when the newb posts selling something highly sought after. I won't.. anymore.

    His using NiNtEnDoNuT1983's photobucket account to host HIS photo is a DEAD giveaway; even more so than having matching dynamic ips (IMHO). That's some DAMN good detective work.

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    damn!!!!

    Nintendonut just got exposed hardcore.
    too bad too. we know he is a serious collector, wonder why he turned to the dark side. i really want to think he just wanted to do kind of an interest check sorta thing but had no intention to sell and thats why he did it, but i always give people the benefit of the doubt.

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    Pac-Man (Level 10) smork's Avatar
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    Wow! Thanks for posting this! I'm really glad you mods keep on top of things this much...

    I've never bought or sold anything from/to anybody here, but it's good to know ya'll are keeping your eyes open for our protection. I just don't get why someone who's obviously a serious collector would be such a scamster... Seems like he should understand how much it sucks to get scammed!

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    Good job - a well deserved thanks.

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    Good job Berserker!

    There's nothing worse than getting ripped off online, because really... what do you do? It's usually too hard to go to the guy, you can't really sue them, you just have to be able to trust them.

    Hopefully your good work will teach scammers to move elsewhere (or just screw off completely).

    Thanks again!

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    Great Puma (Level 12) Darth Sensei's Avatar
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    Berzerker, I'm impressed. You and I haven't always agreed, but I'll give credit where it's due.

    I'm surprised since I've dealt twice with Nintendonut successfully.

    However, Berzerker, if I were you, I'd edit out the IP's you listed as it leaves him open to attack for which DP would be blamed. Personally, it's enough for me to know you checked the IP and they were identical.

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    Apple (Level 5) ckendal's Avatar
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    In case anyone wants to get a laugh out of his myspace.com page. Here you go.

    NiNtEnDoNuT1983

    I guess he was trying to con us all so he could 'smoke!'


    On another note, Thanks to Berserker and all the other admins/mods for catching this fool. We really appreciate the hard work.
    Feedback: eBay DP CAG GTZ

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    how do you know it's him?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Lady Jaye
    how do you know it's him?
    It's him because I've talked with him before.

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    WOW! Excellent detective work!

    I've seen NiNtEnDoNuT1983 post here and on other forums, and am shocked to find his name in this thread. He has been a member here for only 8 months. But still..

    I've been scammed only once (thankfully) and it did happen on this forum.

    So thanks for trying to clean it up.

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    Pac-Man (Level 10) jcalder8's Avatar
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    Thanks Berserker for keeping a look out for everyone. I did have a transaction with Nintendonut1983 which went ok apart form the cost that he charged me on shipping so I am surprized that this has happened but I would say that its better safe than sorry it when it comes to stuff like this.

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    That was real good work. It's just sad that it makes new people (like myself) look like we can't be trusted, as video games are the reason I joined anyway.

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    Thanks for posting this, you should always be suspicious when dealing over the internet, especially on a forum.

    He seemed kinda fishy from the start. I mean, he said he wanted to sell the flintstones game beacause he didn't think it was fun to play And, to top it of, he also had a Caltron 6-in-1 and a sealed Cheetahmen and only 10 posts.

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    Berzerker, please delete if this isn't allowed.

    I had a chat with Nintendonut on AIM this morning and got his permission to post it. I replaced his AIM name to protect him.

    [09:09] Sensei Fu: That was smooth dude.
    [09:11] NintendoNut: what?
    [09:11] Sensei Fu: The whole DP thing.
    [09:11] NintendoNut: what u talking about
    [09:11] Sensei Fu: Oh c'mon.
    [09:11] Sensei Fu: Have you not been to DP yet today?
    [09:13] Sensei Fu: Apparently you didn't put a lot of thought into that, huh?
    [09:14] NintendoNut: i dont know why eveyone is thinking im a scammer lol
    [09:14] Sensei Fu: Oh c'mon...
    [09:15] NintendoNut: fuckem lol i dont care
    [09:15] Sensei Fu: Why would you do that?
    [09:16] Sensei Fu: ARe you that hard up for cash because of the car thing?
    [09:16] NintendoNut: no my insurance covered it all
    [09:16] Sensei Fu: Well, then why did you do it?
    [09:18] NintendoNut: i didnt do anything
    [09:18] Sensei Fu: Dude.
    [09:18] Sensei Fu: At least admit it.
    [09:18] Sensei Fu: Jesus. You were nailed to the wall.
    [09:19] Sensei Fu: And you really hurt your ability to collect NES and such.
    [09:19] NintendoNut: ok!!!! i did it...just go see what kind of offers i would get for my nes stuff....because everytime i try to sell one of my rare items everyone rip's on me saying im not a collector and all...anyways i WAS NOT PLANNING ON RIPPING PEEPE OFF ON ANYTHING
    [09:21] Sensei Fu: You expect me to believe that you'd have better luck selling stuff from a new, no feedback name than your established name with good feedback?
    [09:21] NintendoNut: i wasent going to sell it
    [09:21] NintendoNut: i just wanted to get offers and see what i would be able to sell them for
    [09:21] Sensei Fu: You weren't asking for offers. You demanded prices.
    [09:22] Sensei Fu: And why didn't you ask from your established name?
    [09:22] NintendoNut: well if you are going to think less of me because of this then i can understand, but u you to believe me i was not going to try and rip anyone off im an honest guy i have never stolen my whole life and i always try to help peep
    [09:23] Sensei Fu: You haven't answered my question.
    [09:23] NintendoNut: because i know then eveyone would be saying i gay for selling it...i got a huge speal about it at NESWORLD from a fer guys when i was going to sell my uforce demo
    [09:24] Sensei Fu: And as far as values go, why wouldn't you just look on ebay?
    [09:24] NintendoNut: there hasent been a CIB f2 in along time
    [09:24] NintendoNut: plus i like selling rare games in foruims to help out fellow collectors
    [09:25] Sensei Fu: Yes, but you just said that you didn't intend to sell them.
    [09:25] NintendoNut: just believe me man i was not running a scam......i just was trying to do a lil research undercover lol
    [09:25] NintendoNut: i know i was trying to see how much i can gt in the foruims not ebay..
    [09:26] Sensei Fu: Because?
    [09:26] NintendoNut: i have been thinking alot, and i might be selling my games in the near future, i need to pay my bills and get a house
    [09:26] NintendoNut: i also plan on selling my vitage baseball cards too
    [09:26] Sensei Fu: And how do you intend to do that when you've ruined your rep?
    [09:27] NintendoNut: i guess i will ebay them i dont care lol o
    [09:27] NintendoNut: ican make a new name at foruims and sell then
    [09:27] NintendoNut: if this ruined my rep then o well just gives me more reason to sell me games sooner
    [09:28] Sensei Fu: What makes you think people are going to be willing to buy from a "noob"?
    [09:28] NintendoNut: lol they have b4 and so have i
    [09:29] NintendoNut: so do you believe me at all or what? dude seriously i was not trying to scam....
    [09:29] Sensei Fu: Mind if I post this chat in Vbender? The DP guys in there would like to know what happened.
    [09:29] NintendoNut: go for it lol i banned there anyways
    [09:31] NintendoNut: please believe me too man i dont want everyone to think i was running a scam...i was just trying to find out how much i can get for me games and tried to do it discrete without having to deal with people talking shit to me about saying im not a true collector and all that
    [09:31] Sensei Fu: Well, you were fair with me before but seriously after this I would require you to ship first.
    [09:31] Sensei Fu: If it looks like a duck, smells like a duck.. etc.
    [09:32] NintendoNut: lol yeah but we have traded b4 and i have traded with many other member on the board and i have never onec ripped anyone off or have had one unhappy customer
    [09:32] NintendoNut: can u post this in NESWORLD T2?
    [09:32] NintendoNut: thank
    [09:32] Sensei Fu: I'll post it on DP.
    [09:32] NintendoNut: nesworld?
    [09:33] Sensei Fu: Yeah, I'll post it there. I need to go there to talk to Gundam Pilot anyway.
    [09:33] NintendoNut: ok thanks and i hope you understand that im not a bad guy and was just trying to do a simple lil project and it turned on me
    [09:34] NintendoNut: dont u think if i was running a scam to i would of wanted to get rid of the stuff ASAP and i was beating around the bush trying to see how high i could go
    [09:34] NintendoNut: i would think if i was running a scam i woud want to get the cash soon as possible
    [09:35] NintendoNut: brb i need a smoke im all worked up now lol
    [09:35] Sensei Fu: I'm posting it to DP now.

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    I've actually seen people on the site here change their "handles" (for some reason) and then sell the same stuff they were trying to get rid of weeks before under their other name, the exact same stuff, it's weird and makes you wonder "what's up". This has happened twice in the last month here.
    Cheers
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    The only reason i can think of why he would do this is because he said earlier he needed money for the car repair. 1-2 months ago he tried to sell his U-Force demo cart and someone started to bash him because he just bought it and was already trying to sell it. Therefor i thought he might make a new account and try to hide his identity.

    But the chat log cuewarrior posted he said the insurance covered it. So why would he be selling his stuff?

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    Thank you for exposing this guy.
    My Gaming Collection (Now at Google Drive!)

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    I had a chat with Nintendonut on AIM this morning and got his permission to post it. I replaced his AIM name to protect him.
    isn't his AIM listed on his myspace page? ckendal might want to remove the link to his page. back on topic IMO he doesn't seem like the scammer type

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