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Meso

Seller Scammers

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Over the last two weeks there has been an increase in seller scams on the classifieds, and we've done our best to disable these users and to remove their ads.

If you responded to any of the following user's ads, we recommend ceasing communication with them, as they are scammers and will not send the gear you paid for, but will gladly take your money.

- Flydeleo
- Divebenn
- Btyty
- Barbara356

Attached are images showing examples of what these ads looked like. If you see the same, similar or the same formatted ads please be weary, and remember to be diligent in your purchasing, and preferably work through a rigger if possible.

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Before finding this thread I responded to the attached ad by systemxx. This ad needs to be removed if the seller is truly a scammer. I have also had email communications with this seller (which language contained therein is what made me suspect). Moderator(s): PM me if you would like to see a copy of said emails.
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Would it help you to make a "Report as Scam" Sticky at the top of the forum showing people how to report scam?

Don't you get those quicker?
Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

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It may be worth doing.

Usually the only delay is office hours. Scams reported on the weekend may only be picked up by me on the Monday, or a day later due to timezone differences. Usually when there is a scammer present we receive a good handful of the reports via e-mail.

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Mods,
Please do something about these scammers. So far, I am 5 for 5 just on AAD seller scams in 2 weeks. And I have reported them all as scams thru the classified scam button- yet only one of them has been removed???? What are you waiting for to remove these criminals' posts?? There has GOT to be a better way to control this, no??
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Hi,

Sorry to hear you're having to deal with these scammers.

It may be worth explaining how the current scam report system works. It is currently an automated system whereby your scam report is dependant on other site users to also report these scams.

Every time more than one person reports a scam ad, there is a calculation done based on their certainty of it being a scam. After that stage, the username is disabled. So that they cannot ad any more ads.

The problem is then that since it's an automated process (and a fairly outdated one to be honest), we don't get alerted as to when a user has been disabled for the scam. And it doesn't actually remove the ads that have been posted.

If you notice a scam ad in future, feel free to private message me the link and I'll remove it myself manually.

We're aware that the current system is flawed, but we're busy working on a system already that will ensure that the process becomes far better in the future.

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Hello everyone.

I'm Andrew Bubniuk from Ukraine.

That was the first time when I wanted to buy parachute equipment on dropzone.com and I was cheated by scammer at once. :(

That was partly my fault as I had to check out more information about the seller. I just want to describe situation that appeared.

Scammer: Leonila Siman. She (or maybe he in real life) wrote that she is from Chandler, USA

23th or 24th September she added advertisement about Safire 2 -149 in mint condition (05/2013, 90 jumps) with low price (1200$). And I was looking for exactly that canopy. Certainly l contacted with "seller" and asked her to send me more photos of Safire and soon she have sent me another pics also with label. I decided that if she sent them so quick it was okay - she was an owner.

I informed her that I was ready to buy parachute and we made a deal. She sent me account id in PayPal - [email protected].
I'm not sure that it is her own account, it could be hacked.

When I transferred money only after three days she sent me tracking number AZ6368220878MA and the link on shipping company website - www.skycargoaz.ga (Gaboon!!!). There are no contacts and information about company is too poor. I didn't find information about this on Internet at all. On this website it's possible to track shipment but I think this was done for delaying so the time of PayPal deal will be off. When I checked the IP of this site I found that it was registered in Netherlands for Gaboon LTD...

I was trying to contact with "seller" but there was no response...

Here are photos of that Safire. Maybe someone will recognize his own parachute...

Hope I can find her with your help.

That's all. [:/] Be careful...

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Guys at SkyDance Skydiving asked Mike from NZ Aerosports about that Safire and here is Mike's response:

This is the third time I've heard about this canopy. I reported it to Dropzone and two others that where trying to purchase it. I have not had a reply from Dropzone.

That's sad...[:/]

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Just for some input here...

I manage the support accounts, and I don't recall seeing any e-mails from Mike regarding this canopy. Not sure what address he sent it to?

It's possible of course that this ad/images are getting used by various users that upload it - which would make it impossible to track it, and even if we disabled one user that listed it, another could return and do the same.

I'll continue to do what I can this side.

Can you please provide the username of the user that the scam belongs to, the name provided isn't tied to an account on dz.com, and neither does the PayPal address.

Though I will add that I'm currently working with a developer here to find some new ways at fighting scam ads, that would result in them being removed from the listings far quicker than current, where we need to manually take action each time it's reported.

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I should have done the screenshot of her advertisement, but I didn't. I remember her username was like "real" name but in one word. But I'm not sure.

This is her email [email protected]. Maybe it will help.

I understand that one man can't follow all scammers at one time. l don't have any complaints. I just want to show canopy screens and PayPal id what she using for scam and to create worse conditions for it.

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turbocuda

Hello everyone.

I'm Andrew Bubniuk from Ukraine.

That was the first time when I wanted to buy parachute equipment on dropzone.com and I was cheated by scammer at once. :(

That was partly my fault as I had to check out more information about the seller. I just want to describe situation that appeared.

Scammer: Leonila Siman. She (or maybe he in real life) wrote that she is from Chandler, USA

23th or 24th September she added advertisement about Safire 2 -149 in mint condition (05/2013, 90 jumps) with low price (1200$). And I was looking for exactly that canopy. Certainly l contacted with "seller" and asked her to send me more photos of Safire and soon she have sent me another pics also with label. I decided that if she sent them so quick it was okay - she was an owner.

I informed her that I was ready to buy parachute and we made a deal. She sent me account id in PayPal - [email protected].
I'm not sure that it is her own account, it could be hacked.

When I transferred money only after three days she sent me tracking number AZ6368220878MA and the link on shipping company website - www.skycargoaz.ga (Gaboon!!!). There are no contacts and information about company is too poor. I didn't find information about this on Internet at all. On this website it's possible to track shipment but I think this was done for delaying so the time of PayPal deal will be off. When I checked the IP of this site I found that it was registered in Netherlands for Gaboon LTD...

I was trying to contact with "seller" but there was no response...

Here are photos of that Safire. Maybe someone will recognize his own parachute...

Hope I can find her with your help.

That's all. [:/] Be careful...






This canopy is for sale right now on the classifieds by a guy name Wilson smith. Feels like another scam. Can you guys look into it somehow?

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