Jump to content

Be Careful of Scams


Tim Tyler

Recommended Posts

Buy & Sell in the Cinematography.com Marketplace at your Own Risk. 
Cinematography.com does not check, validate or warrant any information posted in this forum.

If the price is too good to be true, it probably is.

If you are considering buying from a forum member, please please please do some research and make sure they are who they say they are before you send anyone funds, even if they are a long-time forum member. A long time member's account may have been compromised by an impostor.

Any legitimate seller or buyer will be happy to provide you with real information. Scammers typically just try to make the sale quickly without answering any complicated questions. Don't rush it.

No item images in the post? Don't consider buying. The lack of images in the post means the seller is hiding something. It's easier to catch a fraudulent seller when everybody can see the item for sale and possibly recognize the photos. If the seller emails the photos only the potential buyer sees them.

Call the person on the phone and talk in detail about the item and transaction details. Make sure they know what they're talking about.

If they're the seller, have them immediately text you photos of the item that you can tell are current. Ask them to pose in the picture.

Bank funds transfers do not offer protection! Once you send the money you cannot get it back.
Use a payment method that includes fraud protection. Don't use PayPal's "Gift" option which does not offer any protection.

Western Union's Fraud Notice is helpful. Read it:

  • Don’t send money to someone you haven’t met in person.  
  • Be suspicious of businesses without a verified street address.
  • Don’t pay for an item or service with a money transfer to an individual. 

Change your forum password. Use the forum's Two Factor Authentication feature. This protects your account from being compromised.

If you receive an email that looks like it's from Cinematography.com, make sure the web links in the email are exactly Cinematography.com, not something similar. Scammers can make a web site that looks just like Cinematography.com but is a fake. If you log in to their fake forum, they'll have your real forum login and can hack your account here on the real forum.

If you are tricked into clicking the link the scammer will steal your forum login, change your forum password and email address, and impersonate you in the forum. They will use your account to send out fake login emails to other forum members and try to hack their accounts too.

Buy & Sell in the Cinematography.com Marketplace at your Own Risk. 
Cinematography.com does not check, validate or warrant any information posted in this forum.

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

There seems to be a rise in fraudulent sellers on this and other online forums lately.

 

If you receive an email that looks like it's from Cinematography.com, make sure the web links in the email are exactly Cinematography.com, not something similar. Scammers can make a web site that looks just like Cinematography.com but is a fake. If you log in to their fake forum, they'll have your real forum login and can hack your account here.

 

I had this exact scenario play out with a fake Amazon site a year or so ago. And I'm not easily fooled, so yes - they're good.

 

In any case, thanks for the heads-up!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

as soon as they use the word "item" and NOT the word "camera", my alarm goes off. as they do not even read the add's content they mostly don't even care what it is all about but using a "standard answer" which they use everywhere. thats an indication of a fraud.

 

be also aware of people RENTING your equippment. they pay the fee but never return the stuff. happened to me with a full moviecam 35mm set worth over 15'000$

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Please update your password and use the Two Factor Authentication option.  This helps protect your account from being compromised and used to scam other members.

I just received a report where a member had been recently scammed by a long time Sustaining Member forum account that had been compromised. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...