Public Access to Adverts
Up to Website Suggestions
I have just been fished by an unknown person, calling himself Renne Marvin, who allegedly wanted to buy a mag kit I had posted on the Sales pages. The first e mail seemed OK if a little vague, and I responded with a sale price.
This is an extract of the reply !
AS FOR THE PAYMENT I'LL BE PAYING WITH A CHECK WHICH WILL BE CASHED EASILY...I WANT U TO KNOW THAT I'LL BE SENDING YOU A CHECK WHICH YOU YOU WILL DEDUCT YOUR 100 AND YOU SEND THE REMAINING BALANCE TO THE SHIPPING COMPANY THAT 'LL BE COMING FOR THE PICK UP AT YOUR PLACE...TO SEND IT OUT I'LL NEED UR FULL NAME AND ADDRESS WHERE THE CHECK' LL BE SENT TO AND PROBABLY UR PHONE #....MY NUMBER IS 206-984-1840...DO SEND THE INFO TO ME ASAP...
I responded asking where he saw the ad ( NOC pages) and he got a little shirty ! My response was very curt and to the point.
His e mail was: renne marvin [r_marvin70@yahoo.com] Look out for this guy XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
My concern is that these goons are picking up our ads and e'mail address and scamming us. I would rather that the only areas open to public view were the Home Page, Membership, Events and Branches posssibly.. In this respect E bay is far more secure.
But thanks for doing a brill job otherwise.
Re: Public Access to Adverts
Posted by
james_bason
at
February 05. 2010
Hi all,
Its a scam alright, they send a cheque for more then you ask for and you send the change and goods. Perhaps a couple of months later you get a letter from the bank telling you that the cheque was forged/stolen. YOU lose both the money plus what YOU sent back AND the goods.
I say again ADVERTS AND NAMES SHOULD ONLY BE VIEWABLE BY SIGNED IN MEMBERS NOT JOE PUBLIC.
Cheers
James
We have been listening to the views on making the message boards and classified ads visible to members only since the new site went live. We want people to feel they can post freely on the web site and if security issues are going to prevent them from doing that it will be a loss to everyone.
The meeting of the NOC Committee on Sunday will be discussing this point and coming to a decision. I will report back after that meeting.
I'm afraid I don't agree with James on this. Hans, quite reasonably included his email address in the body of his advert. This would have been the same on the old website where there was no restriction to members of the public viewing adverts. Unfortunately 'phishing' is a fact of modern life and it's not clear that this site is in any way to blame.
To restrict access to adverts to only members, would significantly reduce the appeal to other members placing their classifieds on the site. Ebay is indeed more secure in that they can post messages between members without identifying email addresses, however they can only do so by creating a massive internal mailing system outside the scope of most clubs. Furthermore they charge for classified advertising - we don't.
My solution would be that we create a 'guidance page' which provides assistance to those wishing to advertise and warns of the potential risks of publishing email addresses.
