(Suggestion) SCAMMER PREVENTION

I don't know if this belongs here but I wanted to share with all of you what I have done to prevent being scammed this weekend and how it worked for me. I know that we are having a hard time getting trades these days because people want to be paid on green. I know that alot of you don't want to pay on approval because you are afraid that you won't get any trades. Understandable. But paying on green these days is dangerous. You can see by all the new scammer threads that we are losing money and they are getting away with taking it from us. The scammers spend more time on figuring out new, improved ways of scamming us, while we are spending our time trying to make money and the more desparate we become the more careless we get and they know it and jump at the chance to get us when we're down.
So this weekend, I tried out something that kept me from being scammed by several people. One is already listed as a scammer, one is banned on A4F and another was placed on hold on both sites they did for me but I hadn't paid them yet. What I did was informed anyone that wanted to trade with me that once they went green I was going to submit a support ticket to have their green verified immediately (this was only for the people that have no TR and just joined). I told them that I would give support 24 hours to respond to my support ticket and then I would pay them. So I am not paying on green, but I will pay within 24 hours. I would say that that is a reasonable request, waiting 24 hours. Do you know that I was turned down by the 2 people that are now banned or listed as scammers and the one that actually followed through was placed on hold because I had the site owners look into them. (Thanks goes out to CustomOrderThis for your quick response). I don't think asking a newbie to wait 24 hours for payment is unreasonable and if it keeps us for being scammed just one time it is worth it. I know that some of you won't agree with my tactics, but if I have helped anyone to prevent being scammed, it was worth my time making this thread. I love trading on this forum and I am not going to let the scammers ruin it for me. Thank you to all the good people on here who have made trading such a great experience. lol

that sounds like a good idea, the less likely we are to get scammed

That is a great idea. I have been scammed twice in the last week. I was thinking of doing something similar to this and you have convinced me it is a sound idea. Thanks again.

Jay

I too used something similar to that after getting 3 reds in one week. And no response. How are the sites gonna deal with the new support tickets if quite a few people are gonna try this for newer traders? Has anyone spoke with a site owner?

What I found is that the scammers turned me down flat when they found out that I was submitting a ticket to have their green verified immediately. They didn't want to get caught at the beginning so they wouldn't trade with me. So I only had one that actually followed through with it. I also think that it should only be new traders who have just joined within the last week. This way it is narrowing down the number we would be verifying because most scammers aren't going to risk being caught right away. Do we need to ask the site owners if they are okay with it, of course, you are right about that. Hopefully since they would have to be checking the people out when you send in for approval anyways, they will agree to doing it a little sooner. What do you think the best way to ask them is?

Pretty Smart HVAC, I hope the owners would agree to this. You would think that this would be welcome to them as well because it might help clean up some of the extra work they have to do when someone goes red.

Then again, I may be speaking out my rear with no idea what I'm talking about. Either way, I think its a good idea.

Jason

This is a good idea, but does make more work for site owners. I know some will not do this. But we will and I think all site owners should do this.

Its a good idea, and I don't think site owners mind doing it occasionally, but if we all start doing it they are going to not do it any longer. Its ALOT more work for the site owners.

Plus, some sites take longer to respond to support tickets - Trainn often does not respond to support tickets until 5-7 business days later.

Even threatening verification will scare off most of the scammers.

I've thought about this...and really that's the biggest benefit is scaring them off because even though they get verified from the site owner, when you submit for approval they could still go red for whatever reason??

I think it should just be a RULE to not pay any newbie with 0 TR until he passes approval and reaches a certain ammount of TR. Its very fishy when they ask you repeatedly...pay on green...pay on green and theyre supposed to be new, yet they know very well how things work.

I think that sounds good I am a newbie and just want to get this figured out pay on green and not on red??? shock Soon I will understand

I always gladly check users if asked but like email==csullivan1@rochester.rrcsullivan1@rochester.rr=csullivan1@rochester.rrcsullivan1@rochester.rr/email.c said it is no guarantee they will stay green (.

[quote9cf86ece2f="O4F-Manofice"]This is a good idea, but does make more work for site owners. I know some will not do this. But we will and I think all site owners should do this.[/quote9cf86ece2f]

Some support owners will also not verify greens until you submit for approval.

It would also help, even if you are paying on green, not to request TR for a new trader until after they pass approval. PostalGirl got up 20+ TR in a couple days cause people (me included) paid on green and gave immediate TR too. Leaving more descriptive TR feedback would help also. That's the one thing I like about A4F is that the feedback to really usefully to read. Here most feedback is totally useless in evaluating a trading partner.

[quote900dcc7984="egyptianruin"][quote900dcc7984="O4F-Manofice"]This is a good idea, but does make more work for site owners. I know some will not do this. But we will and I think all site owners should do this.[/quote900dcc7984]

Some support owners will also not verify greens until you submit for approval.[/quote900dcc7984]

This is correct, I believe YGF does this.

[quote4b4c34a7e3="O4F-Manofice"][quote4b4c34a7e3="egyptianruin"][quote4b4c34a7e3="O4F-Manofice"]This is a good idea, but does make more work for site owners. I know some will not do this. But we will and I think all site owners should do this.[/quote4b4c34a7e3]

Some support owners will also not verify greens until you submit for approval.[/quote4b4c34a7e3]

This is correct, I believe YGF does this.[/quote4b4c34a7e3]

No, we now will review when you ask us too.

[quote16a4871d65="egyptianruin"][quote16a4871d65="O4F-Manofice"]This is a good idea, but does make more work for site owners. I know some will not do this. But we will and I think all site owners should do this.[/quote16a4871d65]

Some support owners will also not verify greens until you submit for approval.[/quote16a4871d65]

OC does this. (

We will do everything we can to prevent the continuous fradulent activity.

I would be more than happy to review refs that seem suspicious. However, this could take some time, so I feel a 24 hour rule would work best.

Although it does create more work, I feel this is for a good cause.

Great Idea, but hopefully the greens get verified within 24 hours.

+Karma!

I've actually been using this idea since i started, but i rarely pay for greens, so i never thought to share it.
I've always had a 72 hour policy (payment after 72 hours have passed once they are green), as for trainn sites and such they usually catch scammer within that time period, but don't answer support tickets, and for other networks they usually answer tickets within that time period.

This thread should be cleaned and stickied.

TWG

I still think it should be a rule not to pay any newbie on green till he/she reaches some sort of TR.

[quoteb68e97f020="kidd2108"]I still think it should be a rule not to pay any newbie on green till he/she reaches some sort of TR.[/quoteb68e97f020]

But that is useless unless everyone will refrain from requesting TR until approval. There are alot of newbs here that can rack up double digit TR in just a few days.

I don't like the fact that all these newbs expect to be paid on green, regardless of TR. It's about impossible to get traders if you're paying on approval these days.

I just got scammed by a trader with a TR of 11. He's only been around for a week, but Everyone (including myself) was willing to dish out the TR before he got verified I won't mention names, as I'm going to give him a chance to make it right.

I'm on board with threatening Verification. Even though its no guarantee, it should scare most scammers away.

I try and use sites now that give me the option of checking the green out for fraud within a 24 hour time period. This certainly isn't full proof as every once in a while a green will turn red once the prize has been claimed, well after that initial approval check within 24 hours of going green. I think making a rule about it would scare off more potential quality trades than solve those which are problems. If people are willing to go out on a limb and pay early in this current, scam-filled environment, then that's their fault. I have no sympathy if it goes south in that situation. However, those greens that turn red over non-malicious reasons are horrible to deal with because it's difficult to feel bad when, for example, a family member signs up for the same site without the original referral's knowledge and it screws everyone involved. At any rate, the Dodgers will win the World Series this year. 1-1 odds, oh yeah.

2 weeks and scammer free. Completed and had 8 sites approved and not one referral went red. Yeah!!!

I've never had a ref go red and was scammed once back in July 06 on A4F. I turn down anybody that seems to know a lot about freebie sites and is new. As kidd2108 said, it's a huge red flag when a newbie keeps asking you if you're paying on green.

If anybody is completing any of the MJRewardz sites and need to know if a ref is good or not they can IM me or open a support ticket, but there is no guarentee they're offer will not reverse, which happens more around the 15th.

There will always be scammers unless everybody pays on approval, which would force everybody to different forums that do not have that rule, and there would be scammers again. If somebody seems suspicious at all turn them down, it's better safe than sorry.

Bumping an old post...

I like the site owners verifying accounts 'on-the-spot' as HVACgal suggested. But, I agree with ER most sites have a much better fraud detection system once the account is submitted for verification. Yet, what I'd like to know is if it would also help if FreeiPodGuide [u448bdd7e15]required[/u448bdd7e15] that you have a 'Verified' Paypal account for doing any cash trades?

I've noticed that since I'm putting the 'Must be Paypal Verified' in my PMs, I'm not getting near the responses I used to. (ie. deterring would be Scammers too lazy to take that final name-attached-to-backup-checking-account step.)

As you can see by my join date, I'm rather new around here. I've gone green for a few people and have just started dabbling in the paying-people-for-greens department. I haven't completed any sites yet, but I hope to get enough greens either this week or next week.

Anyways, I sympathize with all of you wanting to only pay upon approval, I really do. I think that from now on, when I go green for other people I'll only trade with the people who are paying upon approval, in order to further this cause. We need to keep this forum safe and productive.

Good luck to you all, and hopefully we stay safe and keep scamming to a minimum.

It would help greatly if people people left more meaningful freedback too. "A great trader" is not helpful.

payment on green FTW !