Hi guys, I have been away from this hobby for quite a while, and it makes me very sad that this is the type of activity was that brought me back onto the forums. My account was hacked and my inbox was flooded with activity from the scammer, but I was able to sent out warnings to everyone he was in contact with. I also added flag warnings all over my account as I am not currently planning on selling any gear.

Thank you to @AxelCloris for catching the suspicious activity and reaching out to me. My account should be secure now.

The good news is that most members he was in contact with were very familiar with head-fi protocols and declined to proceed when the scammer refused to use paypal.

Some additional notes on how the scammer operated & these behaviors should be HUGE RED FLAGS:
1) asked for payment via Zelle or Skrill ONLY
2) refused paypal even when buyer stated they would cover fees
3) stated that paypal was blocked because of "gun sale"
4) stated that phone camera was broken when asked for confirmation pictures and said would send later, but still requested payment first
5) used random emails and had alternative emails available that were from "friend or father or relative"
6) was juggling multiple people at the same time, promising them that the listing was closed for them in particular.
7) tried to make the sale time-sensitive stating multiple people trying to buy, was rushing to try to get the money transferred
8) replied with very short answers, no discussion on the headphones or the hobby.

Here is a list of the scammer email accounts. Please do NOT trade with anyone asking for money to be sent to these accounts:
lulinote@forexlist.in
bmakunyi@gmail.com
brandon_c_olson@yahoo.com
Peemoney996@icloud.com
timothyharris069@gmail.com
cedlark90@yahoo.com

If I ever trade on this website again:
1) I ONLY and ALWAYS use PAYPAL for buyer/seller protection and my paypal email address is the EXACT SAME as my head-fi username. I do NOT sell guns and my paypal works perfectly fine.
2) I ALWAYS am able to send confirmation pictures prior to the money being sent. I do NOT ask for funds until the buyer is satisfied with the images and states they want to proceed. I NEVER rush potential buyers on sending money until they are sure they want to proceed.
3) I ALWAYS give courtesy 24-48 hour decision time for people who respond to my post first to discuss the transaction, and I NEVER rush people to send payment. I follow-up with people in the order that I receive the messages, and let each person know that they are in queue, so I am only discussing the sale with one person at a time. I have never really "lost" a sale operating that way, and most people are very appreciative knowing they have time to confirm that the item is what they want, and that I will be following up with everyone in a set order based on initial inquiry.
4) I do NOT close my listings until sale is finalized and buyer receives the item, and I updated my listings with the item being shipped out. I also often post the person's username who I have sold the item to on my listing to prevent confusion who the item is being sold to
5) I usually ask people a bit about their headphone background / what they are looking for to make sure that the headphone I am selling is going to the right home.


I am very sorry for all the people negatively affected by this incident, but thank you to the admins for catching it quickly. I would advise everyone to add 2-factor-authorization their accounts as well, and to be very suspicious of strange seller behavior regardless of the seller!! Sellers with very high feedback on this community only get that way by following the protocols set within the community and will NOT be asking for unusual payment methods.

Stay safe & happy listening.

Also, I do NOT sell any other items on any other platforms, so if someone refers to my account as feedback for prior activity, that is completely false.

I almost got sucked in thanks for the heads-up!!!!!

Hello everyone. I also have been away from this hobby for a while. With over 40,000 posts, over 400 headphones (which I have not sold any [yet at least!]), and two brain surgeries really made me rethink my life. I rarely posted since the surgeries, went to a couple of CanJams, and was fortunate to be alive. Then a couple days ago I found out that my account was hacked. Also, all of my About Me info was deleted and review links were deleted (which basically meant my reviews were moot). Huge thanks to @jude and @AxelCloris for restoring my info.

My sincere condolences to anyone who was wrongfully scammed, that’s not cool at all. Simply a-hole moves on the part of those scammers. Not saying what I would do they were in my immediate presence, but it wouldn’t be much too nice.

I wholeheartedly agree with @money4me247 and his tips to combat fraud, mainly after you read this, to use two-factor authentication (if you haven’t already), as well as a very strong password for extra protection.

I wish those who are abiding by the rules prosperity, and immense auditory love.

Blessings,
Maurice

Has anyone else been affected by hacked accounts or suspicious listings? I have not seen any lately, but if you have, please notify the administrators and report!

money4me247 said:

Some additional notes on how the scammer operated & these behaviors should be HUGE RED FLAGS:
1) asked for payment via Zelle or Skrill ONLY
2) refused paypal even when buyer stated they would cover fees
3) stated that paypal was blocked because of "gun sale"
4) stated that phone camera was broken when asked for confirmation pictures and said would send later, but still requested payment first
5) used random emails and had alternative emails available that were from "friend or father or relative"
6) was juggling multiple people at the same time, promising them that the listing was closed for them in particular.
7) tried to make the sale time-sensitive stating multiple people trying to buy, was rushing to try to get the money transferred
8) replied with very short answers, no discussion on the headphones or the hobby.

Click to expand...

These are good to know. As a new head-fier, I was worried about account hack scams like this, so this gives me some common scam strategies to look out for.

NeverExpectedSoundSoGood said:

Has anyone else been affected by hacked accounts or suspicious listings? I have not seen any lately, but if you have, please notify the administrators and report!

Click to expand...

I have nothing to report but if I do how do you get hold of the administrators??????????

Stu Paddasso said:

I have nothing to report but if I do how do you get hold of the administrators??????????

Click to expand...

You can currently PM @AxelCloris and he should be able to assist sufficiently.

Unfortunately 2-factor is not supported by all websites out there, however what you can do instead is to have unique password for each online website you are on and then a secure password manager to maintain them.

@AxelCloris Could we get some of these new details/information/red flags from @money4me247 and @moedawg140 added to the Trading Advisory thread? @wormsdriver has done an excellent job of getting this new warning out there and making it visible on the classifieds, but I worry that without constant bumps, it will slowly get buried with new sales listings. The Trading Advisory is at least pinned and highly visible. Just my humble suggestion. Thanks.