Cybersecurity

This area is for posting Thunderbirds and Thunderbird parts wanted. All other posts will be removed. No vendors please......they will be removed
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Yoda
Site Admin
Posts: 169
Joined: Wed May 05, 2004 1:11 pm

Cybersecurity

Post by Yoda »

Hi Everyone-

I was recently made aware of two instances where a 3rd party emailed a member directly based on a Wanted or other forum post with a suspicious offering related to parting out of a collection due to health reasons and including pics of a car.

In general, use caution if you are not absolutely sure who you are dealing with.

Specifically, I would recommend that you NOT post your email address/phone/address on any forum board (or include in your signature). If a registered user clicks on a member's name, they should have an option to send an email or a private message through the forums. This is the best first line of communication for someone that you don't know because if the communication is suspicious, it can be reported and we have options to ban scammers.

If you post your email or other contact info on any of the boards, then scammers can completely bypass the forums and scam/phish you directly and we can do little to help or ban.

If you have any other tips/questions, please reply.

Thanks!
-Brian
Brian E. Pangburn
VTCI Administrator
1965 Convertible
User avatar
Alan H. Tast
Posts: 4214
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2003 10:52 pm
Location: Omaha, NE

Re: Cybersecurity

Post by Alan H. Tast »

I should add that the scammers/pfishers have also been going through 'wanted' ads going back to the beginning of this iteration of the VTCI Forum, which started in 2003. One person sent me an email for a 'Wanted' ad that I ran in 2003-2005! That immediately set off my 'crap detector' and made me suspicious. You may want to go through your old posts and edit them to delete email addresses, phone numbers or other contact info and, as Yoda recommends, let them contact you through the Forum's Personal Messaging system.
Alan H. Tast, AIA
Technical Director/Past President,
Vintage Thunderbird Club Int'l.
Author, "Thunderbird 1955-1966" & "Thunderbird 50 Years"
1963 Hardtop & 1963 Sports Roadster
Jlbaumann16
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2023 8:25 pm

Re: Cybersecurity

Post by Jlbaumann16 »

I wanted to make everyone aware of another scammer out there today.

I was PM'd by a user "Laura051" saying that a person by the name of Frances Buyers had some fenders and other parts that I was looking for. After a few email exchanges with "Mr. Buyers", I thought I found a great member who was going to help. After my inquiry of sending photos along to accompany his available parts, he happened to send me photos of a fender that is currently listed on Ebay and some photos from a photo here on the forum that was posted back in 2011! Seriously!

Just warning everyone out there on these people. Luckily I have been doing a ton of research (like you all) when it comes to our cars, and knowing that this is the place we go to first, stealing images from past forums to try and scam people is not going to fly. Funny enough, I asked for parts for my '63, and he was sending me images from a post about a '66. Dumb.

Beware everyone and think twice before you send money. Ask questions...many questions...and ask for photos.

Cheers!
Jack
merccougbird
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2019 12:33 pm

Re: Cybersecurity and Laura051

Post by merccougbird »

I too had been contacted by Laura051 on behalf of one 'McKay Ford', in response to my ad looking for the front signal / parking light bezel for a 1970 T-bird. An email 'address' for McKay Ford was also provided ( @ outlook.com ). I was suspicious from the start as Laura051 had only been a member for a month or two before I posted my Wanted ad ( and with no activity on her profile ). When I made contact with McKay he wasn't too quick to provide images, although that was the first request I made. He finally posted some images - and they were ( also ) from an active ( ! ) eBay listing for the entire signal lamp assembly ( bezel included ) located in Washington state, and yet he had told me that he was in the mid-west. It was an obvious scam, more so when he continually asked for payment / how was I going to make a payment / when could I make the payment, etc. even before I'd said I'd buy these bezels from him !
I finally had enough of him and told him that he was a fraud and what he was doing was criminal He apologized, saying he was legit, and said he was sorry for any misunderstanding. I never responded to this phony 'mea culpa'
Weird that almost a year later ( only a couple of months ago ), he emailed me again and asked if I had got the bezel yet !!! He either was hoping to pick up where he left off, or had totally forgotten about my exposing his fraud. What a dim-wit.
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