Buyer beware ... fraudulent websites offering MTH and other products

Hopefully, the voided the card and are sending you a new one.

And those sites, if you created an account, now has a possible username and password that you might use other places.

@Tony H posted:

And those sites, if you created an account, now has a possible username and password that you might use other places.

Exactly, so I have changed a password or two.  thanks for your reply.  Tom

When I sign up for a new site, LastPass generates a random password for the account.  It never sees another account.

Thanks for sharing your story.  Sometimes, we get so caught up about a hard-to-find item that we let our defenses down.  It happens.  This is also a reminder why a debit card should never be used for anything other than getting money from an ATM - the additional protections when using a credit card come in handy.  Hope that you've saved others from being burned by this.

There are nice websites for fake hobby shops. Some of the websites are better than those of real hobby shops.

I've ran across this myself. An online hobby store that just-so-happens to have what I can't find at a "legitimate" hobby store.

I've found  that "googling" a fake hobby seller and their reviews, will give indications that its a scam.

This is not unlike the response to a WTB forum ad from an unknown member( thats not even a member) who also just-so-happens to have what your looking for.

I'll never forget Mike Bradys advice for Greg when I was a kid....... "Cavet Emptor"

It is too easy for Internet bad guys to set up very realistic looking fake businesses so I buy only from Forum sponsors or if I have to from Ebay sellers who have excellent histories.

And along these lines identity theft is a real thing. Several years ago my wife had hers stolen and it was no fun to straighten up that mess. The best guess was that the bad guys got her data during the Home Depot database break-in. Our credit card company caught it because we had just moved and changed billing addresses. Someone "used" our card and gave the old address. The computer flagged that transaction and they called us.

The head of our cyber security at work gave us this advice for the home. All of this applies to your phone and pc.

1) Use a password manager software as GRJ suggested. McAfee and Norton provide this now as part of their package.
2) Use VPN. This way your are hidden online. A Virtual Private Network can be purchased for a couple bucks a month. Then setup via your device or Cyber Security package.
3) Make sure to setup your Cyber Security package on your phone just like you do your pc.
4) Have two networks in your house. One for your Internet of Things devices, Security cameras, Smart Home thermostat, Alexis etc. Then one for any personal devices. The reason for that is IOT devices are widely used and hackers are more used to getting into your network with them.
5) Lock your credit with the big 3 credit bureaus.

Hope that helped!

While not directly related to surfing bogus websites, the number of folks who continue to expose their phone number and/or email address in posts continues to astound me.  Put your contact info in your profile, keep it current, and refer people to it.  It's not foolproof (nothing is), but a scammer at least has to create an account in order to see it.

@Mallard4468 posted:

the number of folks who continue to expose their phone number and/or email address in posts continues to astound me.

Are you saying that I, or others that have commented to this post, have exposed their phone number and/or email address?  I scanned the content and didn't see this herein.  Am I missing something.  Oh, and do you recommend not using one's real name?

@ChiTown Steve posted:

The head of our cyber security at work gave us this advice for the home. All of this applies to your phone and pc.    ................

Thanks ChiTown Steve for the detailed advice.  Tom

@Tom Jasper posted:

Are you saying that I, or others that have commented to this post, have exposed their phone number and/or email address?  I scanned the content and didn't see this herein.  Am I missing something.  Oh, and do you recommend not using one's real name?

No, merely replying to this thread doesn't expose the info.  I was referring to posts in other threads, often in the "want to buy" category, where people will say "contact me at my.name@xxx.com" or "call me at nnn-nnn-nnnn".  Such posts are visible by anyone, including scammers who scan sites like this.  And using one's real name anywhere on the internet isn't necessarily a good idea.  We can't stop all of the scammers, but we can do our best to not be a soft target.

Edit:  Shortly after posting this, I looked at the two newest "for sale" posts.  One post included the seller's email (the wrong way), and the other said "see my email in profile" - the right way, since one must be a registered user to see that info.

You hit the nail on the head, Mallard....I've been seeing many Forumites provide their phone numbers; email addresses; office email addresses more and more often. I appreciate your reminder...yet, if these peeps willingly provide this info...the results for them could be terrible. And Allan keeps posting warnings not to add that info to ones' post...

@redjimmy1955 posted:

You hit the nail on the head, Mallard....I've been seeing many Forumites provide their phone numbers; email addresses; office email addresses more and more often. I appreciate your reminder...yet, if these peeps willingly provide this info...the results for them could be terrible. And Allan keeps posting warnings not to add that info to ones' post...

Yeah, Alan has been out in front of this many times, but people don't seem to get it.  For awhile, I would report FS and WTB posts that contained the info, but I gave up.

mallard,

Thanks for the tip.   I will change the way I post contacting me for items I post for sale in the future.

Thanks again!

Tom email me it is in my profile I think I have one and no longer need it as I converted everything over to GRJ BCR’s.