Scammers targeting gun owners on social media, offering cheap ammo and primers
Scammers targeting gun owners on social media, offering cheap ammo and primers
Because of the ammunition shortage, scammers are targeting gun owners online with too-good-to-be-true deals for ammunition and primers. We talk to one of the fraudsters via text.
It was bound to happen.
It’s a supply and demand thing.
Whenever there’s heightened demand for a product — any product — and a limited supply, the scammers swoop in.
Because of the ammunition shortage, conmen are now targeting unsuspecting gun owners via Facebook Messenger and other social media platforms.
They’re offering fantastic deals, such as $35 for a brick of 1,000 small rifle primers, and $467 for a case of 55gr Remington 5.56.
Man, if only it were true.
They’ll take your money via PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Zelle.
The only problem is the ammo and primers don’t exist.
Fortunately, not every gun owner is falling for their shenanigans.
To buttress their con, the scammers are slapping together Facebook pages by stealing photos off of legitimate gun dealers’ websites, and cloning others.
If anyone knows this poor guy, please let him know the scammers swiped his photo.
Thankfully, the pages they’re creating are full of holes, such as the name on the page not matching the name in the URL, and they have limited pictures, friends and history.
The one consistent thing that this group of scammers uses is a single phone number.
856-294-6427
I called the number Thursday morning.
It’s a cell phone from Swedesboro, New Jersey.
There was no answer — the “subscriber was unavailable.”
I sent a text and they replied — a person who said their name was “Robert John.”
Here’s our conversation:
The idiot scammer quit texting, and the address he provided is linked to a real gun shop in Michigan, which specializes in custom ARs and accessories.
They are most definitely not involved in any ammo scam in any way.
I’m sure the bad guys picked their address at random.
I called the shop. There’s a message on their phone warning folks that they do not sell ammunition, and that if you were approached on social media about ammo sales, “this is a scam.”
I hope our friends in law enforcement are reading today.
Excessive force is definitely authorized for this group of villains.
As always, thanks for your time.
Lee
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Ouch. Prices like that are now considered too good to be true. This is another example of how to keep legit owners basically unarmed. No affordable ammo for the regular guy.
It would be nice to know if there was some way to contact the FBI and reach someone that would actually pursue scams like this. You never know any more, who is selectively enforcing the law.
I'd make them send me a selfie to prove their identity and then I'd conduct and OSINT search to find out who they are and call the FBI. You can't use social media for the selfie because they strip the META data off of the pictures. The scammer has to text you the picture. I once found hackers in North Korea using GPS triangulation.