phthora said:

@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.

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I personally definitely wouldn’t want to be forever blacklisted for something that I didn’t even do. I and @money4me247 safeguarded our sites enough to where this should never happen again. That is my request.

As others have already mentioned in the comments, compromised accounts can be prevented by following standard internet security techniques. We strongly encourage that everyone enable 2FA (via Authy, Microsoft, a password manager, etc) on their profile and use a strong, unique password for every site they visit online. Since many people use the same email address for multiple logins, you can visit https://haveibeenpwned.com/ to see if your email address was compromised in any of the myriad leaks and breaches that have taken place around the web over the years. If it has, it may be worth considering changing all passwords on sites where that email address is registered.

When buying from anyone online, never use direct payment methods that do not offer payment protection. Head-Fi has warnings in multiple places on the site to help prevent scams and accidents from happening. It is our strong recommendation that only PayPal Goods and Services - never PayPal Gift - be used due to their buyer and seller protections, which almost all other payment services lack. Using any payment service other than PayPal G&S is opening the door to potential headaches.

moedawg140 said:

I personally definitely wouldn’t want to be forever blacklisted for something that I didn’t even do. I and @money4me247 safeguarded our sites enough to where this should never happen again. That is my request.

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Right, I definitely wouldn't want to do that. I just found it helpful to hear about what sort of things the scammer said and did that made the whole arrangement seem suspicious. Your name and @money4me247 's name don't have to be included at all. In fact, putting that information over on the Trade Advisory thread would mean that your names aren't associated with the information like it is here. There is a list of recent scammers on that thread, so it seems reasonable to put the email addresses that @money4me247 provided up there. Those first 8 bullet points he has help clarify the norms between buyer and seller, so that's helpful. It may be common sense or obvious to a lot of us, but with potential language, cultural, and experience differences, those red flags might not be noticed by everyone. That kind of stuff might be worth spelling out explicitly, as @money4me247 has done. The worry isn't about your particular accounts, but other people who might have their accounts hacked in the future.

There do not appear to be any hacking attempts on the compromised accounts that we've found, so calling these hacks can be misleading. The outside party had access to the profiles' passwords and either their username or email address. This type of thing can occur anywhere login information is reused, usually taking place after data from a breach has been published.

The best method to prevent compromised accounts is to never reuse login information and to secure accounts with 2FA whenever possible, which can be setup on your Password and Security settings page. The best ways to reduce the likelihood of falling victim to a scam are detailed in our Classified Rules & Guidelines and Trading Advisory, which are always just a click away at the top of Head-Fi Classifieds.

Jokes on them cuz those idiots must not know scammer’s personal info gets exposed for the entire public to see!