What is a scammer?

[Nopenada]

I have what I’ve been thinking is a legit source for grey. I put in the exact website indicated to find the vendor and from there found the WhatsApp number. Once I contracted that number they gave me another number to chat with someone else to have them handle my order. I have placed two orders at this point. Both orders have shown up as expected and everything appears to be smooth sailing.

Then somewhat by accident I stumbled upon a second website that claims to be this same vendor but the Whatapp number is different. This website appears to sell lots of the same stuff but definitely not all of the same stuff.

So, my question is, if everything has gone smoothly and I’ve received kits from CN as expected, is it safe to believe I’m dealing with who I think I’m dealing with? Scammers just take money and disappear into the night, right?

 

[CNCCurrency]

Why not use vendors on this site? All have happy customers from what I have seen

 

[ZippityDooDah]

I'm presuming by "grey" you are referring to overseas suppliers, where having a website is generally considered a bug, not a feature. While some do have websites, the vast majority do not, so the chances of a website being a scam (often in the form of an impersonation scam) are closer to being a guarantee as opposed to a chance.

You're not shopping on Amazon. Everyone needs to completely adjust their concept of the B2C relationship and experience when buying in this arena.

Then somewhat by accident I stumbled upon a second website that claims to be this same vendor but the Whatapp number is different. This website appears to sell lots of the same stuff but definitely not all of the same stuff.

That's what scammers count on. Stop stumbling.

In addition, some of the more sophisticated scammers will even arrange for a small order or two to actually be fulfilled in order to set you up for the big money order where you get nothing but a lighter wallet.

 

[Nopenada]

Why not use vendors on this site? All have happy customers from what I have seen

I’ve picked a new vendor from this site now. The previous vendor would take both crypto and bank transfers, so that allowed me to not have to try to figure out crypto right away.

 

[Nopenada]

I'm presuming by "grey" you are referring to overseas suppliers, where having a website is generally considered a bug, not a feature. While some do have websites, the vast majority do not, so the chances of a website being a scam (often in the form of an impersonation scam) are closer to being a guarantee as opposed to a chance.

You're not shopping on Amazon. Everyone needs to completely adjust their concept of the B2C relationship and experience when buying in this arena.

That's what scammers count on. Stop stumbling.

In addition, some of the more sophisticated scammers will even arrange for a small order or two to actually be fulfilled in order to set you up for the big money order where you get nothing but a lighter wallet.

One of the things that makes me a little more confident is the pricing they gave me when I contacted them was less than the pricing on their website. I think I got lucky and by originally typing in the address exactly I did find the real supplier.

My biggest concern is whether the five kits I’ve ordered thus far are from who they should be from. Because if they are, then using them is within my level of risk tolerance. However, If I got vials of heaven-knows-what white powder just so they can do as you said and rob me blind later, that’s a whole other story.

 

[byefatlicia]

However, If I got vials of heaven-knows-what white powder just so they can do as you said and rob me blind later, that’s a whole other story.

This is a really good reason to send one of the vials for testing

 

[Nopenada]

This is a really good reason to send one of the vials for testing

Absolutely! But it isn’t all the same stuff. I’ll need to decide how much I’m willing to extrapolate that it is all probably ok based on one vial or if I should send one of everything. Expensive but well learned lesson in any case.

 

[randompersonrandom]

In addition, some of the more sophisticated scammers will even arrange for a small order or two to actually be fulfilled in order to set you up for the big money order where you get nothing but a lighter wallet.

Heh. Now I'm imagining a story about a scammer who sets up that way, and gets ready to disappear, but he's got a team of scammers who are really incompetent and they accidentally ALL order a supply of bait products without knowing that everyone else on the team already did it, so they have this enormous stock of product that the scammers have to keep selling, but they charge relatively low prices because they want to clear out the bait product quickly.

But then they hire a NEW guy on the scammer team who notices that the supply is getting low and wants to be seen as proactive, so he places a large order at a good price to restock, so now they have to keep at it even LONGER.

Then one of their team rage-quits because this is turning into a full on day job and that's not what he signed up for, so they hire someone else. But the guy who rage-quit was the guy who was in charge of getting the OTHER guys up to speed, so nobody tells the new guy that the goal is to run out of product and then take a few big orders and disappear. Nor does anybody tell the newest guy anything ELSE because they're not businessmen, they're scammers, so they don't realize that "getting the new guy up to speed" is even a thing that needs to happen.

And the new guy is confused and frustrated that he doesn't seem to have clear directions on what to do, so he then ALSO places a large order because they're starting to run low on the bait product again.

And now it's been a year, and they've got a good reputation for low prices and fast shipping and all they ever actually wanted to do was scam so they're all super depressed and also sort of bewildered in general, because they have administrative employees because they HAD to hire them, but that means they need to figure out taxes and unemployment insurance and all of that stuff.

 

[Nopenada]

And now it's been a year, and they've got a good reputation for low prices and fast shipping and all they ever actually wanted to do was scam so they're all super depressed and also sort of bewildered in general, because they have administrative employees because they HAD to hire them, but that means they need to figure out taxes and unemployment insurance and all of that stuff.

Hilarious! All reasonable except for this last part. They are definitely in CN and I can’t imagine a place known for massive human rights violations worries too much about offering unemployment insurance. Then there is the reality that they don’t allow crypto, so I doubt they tax it.

You know, as shady as these transactions are seen on this side of the pond, I’ve never stopped to consider how much more shady it is for them over there. I’m proud to support defiant capitalism!