1. If its to good to be true, its not true. Most of us here know the value of the guns we buy and sell. Bargains happen but not as often as scams.
2. If the seller does not know technical information about the gun, especially rare or target guns, its a scam.
3. There is a difference between a motivated seller and someone giving you the bum's rush. If the seller tries to get you to pay quickly for any reason, take a walk on the deal.
4. If the seller asks you to mail the payment to a given address, internet search the address. Its amazing how many airguns are sold from gas stations, office buildings and vacant lots.
5. Don't use any method of payment which is not secure or reversible. If the seller insists on money orders, Western Union, personal check or prepaid cards for payment, take a walk.
6. Do your Detective Work. Check the information attached to pictures for copy write information. Internet search email address and see if it appears anywhere else. An email address that appears only here is suspect.
7. Be especially cautious of Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo email addresses as scammers can signup for fake email accounts with no accountablilty and then move on to a new email address once the scam is done. A lot of scammers use these accounts
8. Be cautious about user names that don't relate closely to the email name.

1. Do not deal with anyone that want to pay you more than the advertised price and then you send them a check for the difference
2. Do not deal with anyone that wants a third party, agent, secretary, or other person to pickup the item being sold.
3. Do not deal with anyone asking the final price and doesn't know any of the details about what you are selling.

There are several scams going on around the internet. The scammers are lurking around the various sales sites like eBay, GunsAmerica, craiglist, AuctionArms, and the various airgun forums including this one.

The scammers are posing as both sellers and buyers. The sellers will post ads on various sites using pictures and text taken from legitimate postings on site overseas like the UK. They tend to post asking prices that are much less than the going rate to get people to hurry up and buy a cheaply priced item before another buyer gets the deal. Once you send payment your money is gone forever. The FBI and ATF can't help much since the FBI is busy with homeland security issues and the AFT doesn't have much time for dealing with airgun issues.

The other prevelant scams being perpertrated by people overseas, mostly from Nigeria and some other African countries, however they are now using US serigates as well. These people have been contacting sellers on the web wanting to purchase their product. For payment they want the seller to accept a check from a third party that supposedly owes them many thousands of dollars. They ask the seller to deposit the check and then send them the difference between the selling price of the product and the amount deposited along with the product.

What happens then is that the overseas check bounces after several weeks, long after the sellers check has been deposited in their scammers bank account. Since they are overseas there isn't much recourse to get the money back. An example would be like this, Joe Blow has a TX200 for sale for $500, Scammer Bob wants to buy it and asks Joe to accept a check from a thirdparty for $6000. Scammer Bob wants Joe to deposit the check in Joes bank account and then send him a $5500 check along with the gun. Joe does this and sends his TX200 and check to the gun overseas. Then Scammers Bob's check bounces after a few weeks and Joe is now out the rifle and the $5500, which also caused his checking account to be overdrawn.

Here are some hints to avoid these scams:

• If you think the an ad on this site or any of the other airguns sites is a scam, ask the seller for more information and new/additional pictures of the item for sale. I like to ask for a picture of the serial number or a picture with a current newspaper. If they can't produce or are evasive, then don't deal with them and report the person to me via email.
• Don't accept any payment over the amount for the product being sold and it would be my recommendation to not sell anything to anyone overseas, save some of the European countries. Be very cautious and if you are contacted by one of these people, forward it to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.
• Accept or send only USPS money orders for the items for sale. Click Here for more information.
  

I am working hard to stop and block these ads and looking into ways to prevent them from using my site. Be cautious, if an item sounds too good to be true it probably is.

1. A scammer has been posting ads on this site using photos and text posted on overseas websites. The scammer posts under many names including but not limited to the following:
    
   Cherry Thomas, Scott, Zuku, Scott Zuku, Zuku Scott, Zuku Dawson, Elliot Richard, Debora Thomas or Costie Fyke and others.
    
   The scammers name is Robert L Scott Jr. from Clarksville Indiana. His contact information is listed below. He uses various email addresses typically from a gmail, hotmail, or yahoo account. He uses photos and text from UK websites like GunStar to post his ads. I have informed the Indiana State Police and Clarksville Police depts. about Mr. Scotts fraud activities as well as PayPal (who informed me taht they already were aware of Mr. Scott and has many complaints lodged against him already. I am continueing to block his access to my site and delete his ads but if you suspect that an ad is bogus check GunStar and ask the seller for additional original pictures and his personal contact information. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause my readers and I am working to resolve this issue. Thank you.
    
   Scammers last known contact info:
     Robert L Scott Jr.
     124 S Clarks blvd,
     Clarksville IN 47129
     812-725-0770
     502-640-5120
     PayPal: rip24_2000@yahoo.com
   

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2. Here is a typical email from a scammer using the overpayment method:
    
   
   Hello,
    
   How are you doing today and I'm so sorry getting back to you so late. I want to inform you that the payment as been mail to your address and also, The Amount of $2,500 has been send to you which will include your Asking Price and the Shippers price. As soon as you get the Check, I will want you to take it to the bank and have it Deposit into your account and after you might have cash it, I will want you to deduct your account price of $450 and have the remaining money wire to the Shipping Company who will be picking up the item and some other items put in their care. Also, as soon as you notify me that you have receive the Check, I will contact the Shipping Company and they will email you. I hope you understand...For any Information, do not hesitate to email me.
    
   Your Trust Is All I Want...
    
   Regards,
   Stanley
   

 

3. There are a lot of responses to for sale ads from foriegn scammers that use broken English, ask for the final price (even though the price is in the ad), use the term Postal Code instead of zip code, or say consider it sold. If it sounds fishy, it probably is.