Seasonal Reminder (year-end edition) - Pernicious Scams

[Cyclofiend Jim]

Hey all - 

As the year winds down and we dream of living in the southern hemisphere where the rides are warm, I just wanted to remind everyone of the possibility of nefarious intent during transactions.

One common vector is direct emails to group members in response to "want to buy/trade" posts. While some of these get filtered in the moderation queue, many times these emails go directly to your inbox - in other words, outside of any moderation on this list. 

As a reminder:
There have been instances of non-group members emailing members who have posted "wanting to buy" or "want to trade" listings. These emails often have very good descriptions and contain very believable photos.

They have largely been scam attempts. Other group members have recognized images that were theirs or belonged to riding partners. These are believable attempts and through the excitement of saving a few bucks or getting a model which is currently unavailable, it would be very easy to fall for the scam. 

And we do not fall for scams because we are stupid. We fall for scams because we are human. (Give a listen to the "World's Greatest Con" podcast if you don't believe me...) 

This is reason I have a bottleneck for new members posting "For Sale" items. If you haven't been an active member in any discussion, and your first post is a "For Sale" listing, it will not be passed through. (I changed the group description to reflect that. And if you are a new member who wants to post some items for sale, I'm happy to be convinced that you are completely legit. Reach out and let's talk).

At this point, I am advising anyone who is approached via email to:
- Search the other person's email in the group archives, to see if they have a track record of posting. If they have no posts, it's likely a scam.

- Search their email in the group member section, to see if they are actually a member. If they are not a member, it's likely a scam. 

If you do choose to proceed with any transaction, you do so at entirely your risk. Due diligence and paying with a protected method are always good practice. 

And, yes, I do realize that there are a number of folks who have lurked on this list for a number of years and may not have ever posted. So, the above method is not foolproof. The vast majority of folks in this group are solid citizens who act in good faith. I don't want to lose site of that. 

Thanks for your contributions to this group. 

Jim / List Admin