Fraud Alert

[ihrescue]

I want to notify AMCA Community Forum members of an attempted fraud of one of our members. Our member posted a topic in the "Wanted" forum looking for some restoration parts. A person with a username contacted and gave him an email and name to contact for the parts. This person with the user name, making him appear to be a forum member, had registered for the forum but I had not approved them yet. Our member alerted me to this scam. Thankfully PayPal notified our member that they think the seller had set up a fraudulent transaction. When I looked into the person with the username I found that he had just joined AMCA using the 90 free trial opportunity. I had what I felt was a preponderance of evidence to ban the person from the AMCA Community Forum and I am sure they will be removed from the 90 day free trial membership by AMCA. I hope this person has not committed fraud on any of our other members in the meantime.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you think something in regard to transactions on the forum don't seem right. As in this case when you look at all the information together it forms a picture of whether a person is legit or not. I am only operating here from a position where I have enough info to convince me so I am not going to give out the person's name or other info. But if what I described sounds familiar let me know. Thanks and stay safe!

Mike Love
AMCA Forum Admin

[badger34]

I was unaware that a 90 day free trial AMCA membership was offered. Has this program proved to be of great benefit for recruitment of new paying membership?

After reading the above I would strongly suggest that it would be wise to place restrictions on the free trial membership, and that the AMCA Community Forum and Vintage Library should be excluded from trial membership participants entirely. If that's too harsh, I offer the suggestion that there are other forum platforms that restrict classified section participation by a new group member for a duration of time and/or until a minimum number of forum contribution posts are accumulated. Maybe something to look into.

[exeric]

Thanks for your alertness, and decisive action, Mike. As for the scammer crook; have some dignity, and just get an honest job.

[ihrescue]

I was unaware that a 90 day free trial AMCA membership was offered. Has this program proved to be of great benefit for recruitment of new paying membership?

After reading the above I would strongly suggest that it would be wise to place restrictions on the free trial membership, and that the AMCA Community Forum and Vintage Library should be excluded from trial membership participants entirely. If that's too harsh, I offer the suggestion that there are other forum platforms that restrict classified section participation by a new group member for a duration of time and/or until a minimum number of forum contribution posts are accumulated. Maybe something to look into.

They started the trial memberships a couple of years ago. I haven't confirmed the fraudster may have actually messaged our member as a guest because I hadn't even approved his Forum membership yet. We have allowed guests to have access to the forum like the 90 day free trial to interest people and hopefully recruit new members and new people to the antique motorcycle world. We need to look into some limitations as you suggested. There's always someone out there that can see a slick path to a new fraud. Thanks for your comments.