My story of getting scammed out of $10,300 and then getting my money back....

[orangeguy]

Quite a story. Just an FYI, the Wells Fargo wire address is in San Francisco, CA.

[southtexas]

Holy wow! This is the most intricate watch scam I’ve ever heard of. OP is very lucky, and poor Donna is lucky to be free of this, even though it cost her dearly. At least the bleeding has stopped. Good luck to all.


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[GADNYC]

I am ready to buy Donna a dozen roses. What an incredible story.

[SeeDweller]

Zak! Thank you for sharing this story!!

I just finished telling a new buyer (on a different TRF thread) that if you really talk with someone on the phone, you can get a good feeling if things are legit or not. Then I read your experience. I feel pretty foolish now....

No one on this thread has asked you to elaborate on what 2FA means. I'm assuming it stands for "2 Factor Authentication" or something like that. But can you give some examples of what that might look like?

Thanks!!

[Old Expat Beast]

Originally Posted by SeeDweller

Zak! Thank you for sharing this story!!

I just finished telling a new buyer (on a different TRF thread) that if you really talk with someone on the phone, you can get a good feeling if things are legit or not. Then I read your experience. I feel pretty foolish now....

No one on this thread has asked you to elaborate on what 2FA means. I'm assuming it stands for "2 Factor Authentication" or something like that. But can you give some examples of what that might look like?

Thanks!!

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=747721

[SeeDweller]

Originally Posted by Old Expat Beast

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=747721

Awesome, Adam.

I'm about to download it, but making sure . . . is it "Twilio Authy" that Steve is referring to?

There's a few "Authy" apps . . . thanks!

[SeeDweller]

It's done. . . . . now called "Twilio Authy".
Works (that is, hooks in with TRF) pretty seamlessly.

Now. I'll just need to know what to do, when I next buy something from a seller on TRF, like DavidSW, Jacek (Tropical Watch), or Cam (Craft & Tailored), but I don't need this for those guys. Guess I need to look for some more "private" sellers, right?

[Old Expat Beast]

Originally Posted by SeeDweller

It's done. . . . . now called "Twilio Authy".
Works (that is, hooks in with TRF) pretty seamlessly.

Now. I'll just need to know what to do, when I next buy something from a seller on TRF, like DavidSW, Jacek (Tropical Watch), or Cam (Craft & Tailored), but I don't need this for those guys. Guess I need to look for some more "private" sellers, right?

You can ask any related questions in the thread I posted the link for. Tim and Steve know more about this stuff than me.

[G-Web]

I'm glad it worked out for the OP.
And forgive me if I missed anything over the last few pages, but did the seller have any references? And did the OP check them? That should always be the first step.

Be safe out there,
-GW

[zruvalcaba]

Originally Posted by G-Web

I'm glad it worked out for the OP.
And forgive me if I missed anything over the last few pages, but did the seller have any references? And did the OP check them? That should always be the first step.

Be safe out there,
-GW

OP did have references. He had been a member on TRF since 2007. His account was obviously compromised and the scammer was posting WTS ads using his account. What I failed to ask was why the OP hadn't made any posts in a 4 year period. I just assumed he got out of watches and then got back into them or something. Had this account had 2FA enabled, the original account holder wouldn't received a message on his phone stating that the user was trying to log in to his account (depending on the service used). Without the original phone used to enabled 2FA with on TRF, there's little to no chance of the user logging in.

[zruvalcaba]

Originally Posted by SeeDweller

Awesome, Adam.

I'm about to download it, but making sure . . . is it "Twilio Authy" that Steve is referring to?

There's a few "Authy" apps . . . thanks!

I'm a big fan of DUO by Cisco: https://duo.com/
Followed closely by Google Authenticator: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...hl=en_US&gl=US

I have both installed on my phone and use them both for various work-related services. I use DUO mainly and use DUO for TRF.

[zruvalcaba]

Originally Posted by SeeDweller

Zak! Thank you for sharing this story!!

I just finished telling a new buyer (on a different TRF thread) that if you really talk with someone on the phone, you can get a good feeling if things are legit or not. Then I read your experience. I feel pretty foolish now....

No one on this thread has asked you to elaborate on what 2FA means. I'm assuming it stands for "2 Factor Authentication" or something like that. But can you give some examples of what that might look like?

Thanks!!

Agreed. It's scary how I spoke to this pieces of trash for over 30 minutes about watches and cars and this whole time this guy knows he's just going to scam me. Reminds me of the turn-of-the-century snake oil salesmen that would go to town-to-town selling serums that they knew wouldn't do squat but they would sell it anyway damn well knowing they were scamming people out of their money. Really sad that that now I feel I can't do business with someone unless I'm certain it is who they say they are, they come highly recommended, and they're willing to do a Zoom call with me with the watch in hand. Either that or bite the bullet and pay extra for that grey dealer that you know will deliver.

[zruvalcaba]

Originally Posted by orangeguy

Quite a story. Just an FYI, the Wells Fargo wire address is in San Francisco, CA.

That's good to know! I knew it wasn't New York!!

[southtexas]

What is 2FA?


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[007timer]

That’s insane. Glad it worked out... for your at least.


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[Cloudchaser]

Originally Posted by southtexas

What is 2FA?


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https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=747721

It is Two Factor Authentication. It ties an authentication app on your mobile device to an account you wish to secure so as to guarantee that you are you who you claim you are. Commonly used cyber-security process but relatively new here.

[strikefreedom]

Good thing I found this thread. I was browsing around for a 116610LN and found his listing via Google on mywatchmart dot com. I texted that number and he is still responding. I asked why he got banned and he said "broke rules, but watch is still available".

"Excellent condition Rolex Submariner 116610LN Date with all box and papers. Keeps perfect time. $10,350. plus shipping.
If interested please contact via PM or +1(838)-333-4051. "

[walds11]

Originally Posted by strikefreedom

Good thing I found this thread. I was browsing around for a 116610LN and found his listing via Google on mywatchmart dot com. I texted that number and he is still responding. I asked why he got banned and he said "broke rules, but watch is still available".

"Excellent condition Rolex Submariner 116610LN Date with all box and papers. Keeps perfect time. $10,350. plus shipping.
If interested please contact via PM or +1(838)-333-4051. "

Dayum, wow! Someone needs to locate this F off and take care of business.

[zruvalcaba]

Originally Posted by southtexas

What is 2FA?


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Two Factor Authentication. Read more about it here and do yourself and the rest of the watch community a favor and enable it.

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=747721

[zruvalcaba]

Originally Posted by strikefreedom

Good thing I found this thread. I was browsing around for a 116610LN and found his listing via Google on mywatchmart dot com. I texted that number and he is still responding. I asked why he got banned and he said "broke rules, but watch is still available".

"Excellent condition Rolex Submariner 116610LN Date with all box and papers. Keeps perfect time. $10,350. plus shipping.
If interested please contact via PM or +1(838)-333-4051. "

That is indeed the scumbag. Just did a reverse image search and the images appear to be unique. Same user name as TRF. Anyone want to ask for wire info? I'd be curious to see if the same wire info is sent....

[strikefreedom]

Originally Posted by zruvalcaba

That is indeed the scumbag. Just did a reverse image search and the images appear to be unique. Same user name as TRF. Anyone want to ask for wire info? I'd be curious to see if the same wire info is sent....

He stopped responding to my text. Maybe he saw this thread.

[16610Swiss]

These things scare me

[ocwatching]

wow...glad that all worked out...these scums should be pursued to the full letter of the law

[IamJacky]

I'm late to the party but wow what a story. Thanks so much for sharing.

I feel so lucky that I was able to complete a flawless transaction here on TRF with a private seller in 2017. I just relied on my instinct to trust the seller. Granted, he provided his FB, his website (he's a web developer), phone number, address, numerous referrals, member since 2010, etc - I just trusted him. Wired huge amount of money to him and got the watch the next morning the fund cleared.

Having read this post though makes me have second thoughts. These scammers are just too good, if I was the buyer I would have absolutely fallen trap. Thanks for sharing again!

[subtona]

Rare that we are able to hear such detail about how the scam was perpetrated on the back end. Thank you for sharing this.

Happy ending and happy new year.

[zruvalcaba]

Originally Posted by subtona

Rare that we are able to hear such detail about how the scam was perpetrated on the back end. Thank you for sharing this.

Happy ending and happy new year.

Agreed. I wanted to include as much detail as possible to serve two purposes:

• Make others aware of how detailed and elaborate these scammers are
• Make others aware that enabling 2FA helps everyone in this TRF ecosystem thrive and be a bit more safe

[Rhinomyte76]

Going the install 2 Factor now. Thank you for the info. Although it was a harrowing experience, its good that you got so much info. Sorry you had to go through that.

[SeikoBake]

Donna is probably in on the deal.

[77T]

Originally Posted by SeikoBake

Donna is probably in on the deal.

OP provided sufficient details in earlier posts that she was not.


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[77T]

Originally Posted by zruvalcaba

Agreed. I wanted to include as much detail as possible to serve two purposes:

• Make others aware of how detailed and elaborate these scammers are
  
• Make others aware that enabling 2FA helps everyone in this TRF ecosystem thrive and be a bit more safe
  

Well you have done that very well with the details of the scam.

One item I would add about 2FA.

There is a risk of remote access if your Authenticator code generator source (soft token) is on same device as your access to the forum (or any other systems one accessed via same 2FA source).

It’s more expensive but hard tokens for trusted sellers are the gold standard. Like RSA SecureID...

I’m not suggesting everyone have the hard token - just those who might be doing high annual volume. They are the targets most likely to attract more sophisticated exploits.


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