• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Need some input on a member

N

Niner

[H]ard|Gawd
2FA
Joined
Jan 13, 2011
Messages
1,211
I'm looking for an Aorus RTX 5090 Master and got a PM from this member who hasn't visited the site since this time last year. I passed on the card since it seems fishy. Thoughts?
Screenshot 2025-03-09 .png
 
LigTasm said:
If this were even a $200 item I might chance it, but for that much money and how hard the GPU market is going with scams lately its better safe than sorry. Not accusing this individual of being a scammer but you have to protect yourself these days.
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He said he was going to post it in the FS/FT section but hasn't. Kind of tells me right there.
 
I have something odd going on myself with a 5090FE.

DM from greatchap

1741558639532.png

1741558842843.png


DM from p05ta1 with the same heatware linked.

1741558790376.png

He did send a picture with date and username when asked.
1741558882624.png


Someone for sure has this card, just something fucky going on. Be careful
 
russnuck said:
p05ta1 claimed the card was purchased in Germany. My guess it both accounts are compromised.

I mean the Aorus Master is a $2750 card, that should have been the first tip off.
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It was for me right away, then him trying to get me to hurry up and buy it. Two major red flags.
 
russnuck said:
He did send a picture with date and username when asked.
View attachment 715706

Someone for sure has this card, just something fucky going on. Be careful
Click to expand...

Aside from the other glaring issues you posted....The perspective on this sticky note is off....The vanishing lines are going in completely opposite direction compared to the box/card. Perspective classes not wasted =P.
 
Have to admit, seeing this is really disheartening what HardForum has fallen into. I use to feel completely fine doing F&F payments as long as the seller had good heat. Seems those days have come to a pass =*(.
 
Ikasu said:
Have to admit, seeing this is really disheartening what HardForum has fallen into. I use to feel completely fine doing F&F payments as long as the seller had good heat. Seems those days have come to a pass =*(.
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I always look at their recent postings here first. If they haven't been around here then that's a red flag which was one of the first things I did after reading his odd wording in the PM. Turns out he wasn't active at all recently and his last posts were from this time last year.

I've had some recent dealings with long term members here and all went well so it's not all bad. Just have to be a little more diligent.
 
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Some really good information in this thread and you guys that are thinking there's something fishy are spot on....
Don't be afraid to ask pointed questions, and getting someone's phone number and talking to them is also a good idea.
Nobody should be insulted by getting vetted when asking someone to send them $2,000 ... or even $200.
 
Looking at the post it picture, the first thing is the words dont look like they were written on the paper, they look like they were printed. Second they look more like they were written by an AI, as they look very strange. The big kicker though is how big would the post it note have to be to almost be as big as the package of the card. The 5090 is a huge card, and the note would need to almost be as big as a computer CD drive.
 
Yup. There was no real doubt that it was a fake image.
 
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Ikasu said:
Have to admit, seeing this is really disheartening what HardForum has fallen into. I use to feel completely fine doing F&F payments as long as the seller had good heat. Seems those days have come to a pass =*(.
Click to expand...
I look at it a slightly different way. To me it's more an indictment of members who refuse to enforce 2FA on their accounts. This should not be optional in the mid 2020s anymore IMHO, but I understand why HardForum mgmt has been reluctant to force it. People need to take this seriously and take responsibility for their own accounts.

IIRC, when this has happened in the past it was primarily due to the fact that many people are lazy and tend to reuse passwords across sites. The same lazy or stubborn folks that don't want to bother with the "hassle" of 2FA. So when your password elsewhere gets compromised and a scammer now has it and you don't have 2FA set up here, bingo...roll out the red carpet.

On one hand, not all of this is likely due to pure laziness. I'm sure some of the accounts that have been comprormised are simply older accounts where the person hasn't logged in in a long time, and they might not even be thinking about HardForum anymore or be aware that the forum has had 2FA support for years now.

Obviously I am not a mod and can't say for sure what happened in every case, but I have been responsible for administering thousands of M365 accounts (majority were without 2FA enforced because the business owners of those tenants didn't want to deal with it) and I never personally saw an account get compromised that had MFA set up. Not saying it can't happen, but it sure as heck does greatly increase your account security.

I could be totally off base, but I thought since there is no sticky at the top of FS/T that this would be a good reminder to everyone to make sure you have 2FA set up, even if it's just the email method (although authenticator apps are preferable to that, and free).

I have had dozens upon dozens of transactions here, and have only been legit scammed once (and that was going on 20 years ago, well before HardForum supported 2FA). I still feel far safer selling here than eBay, where in addition to scammers you have to deal with absolute MORONS who don't know how to properly use what they're buying and are quick to file PP claims/disputes.

There were several red flags with that greatchap account, most of which have already been pointed out.
 
I'd pass on this.

His English proficiency doesn't seem very good at all. I've lost track of the number of scam e-mails sent to my dojo e-mail address that ask "Can you take credit card as payment?" and the inability to take the time to use proper English in such a post should be a red flag.

The card could easily sell for more than that asking price in the FS/FT if it were legitimate, and why he hasn't posted it already is another red flag.

That, plus his last post was almost a year ago, and his previous posts were three years before that.


Now, it *could* be that he simply needs a good bit of money, and is willing to sell it at a loss to get that money ASAP, but given the demand of that card, I doubt it.

I can't completely discount that he *could* be an honest-to-goodness, generous, kind-hearted person who doesn't mind losing money to help out someone else, but I'd have a better chance of winning the Pow 'R Ball lottery.


Let the mods look at his IP history...
 
I am 99.9% confident rocketr2's account is compromised as well. He also only takes FF, has broken english and is unwilling to take 25% more money as an alternative to FF. He stated something about limits on Venmo FF receiving / day ($350)?! and how no amount of money would makeup for the tax hit he/she would take - that doesn't make sense. Everything was urgent, trying to pressure people into making a decision, just like the guy above. The item he is selling is about 60% of the going rate on eBay. The thread was locked as soon as someone started questioning the authenticity, either by him or a mod.
Fishy.

Lateralus said:
I look at it a slightly different way. To me it's more an indictment of members who refuse to enforce 2FA on their accounts. This should not be optional in the mid 2020s anymore IMHO, but I understand why HardForum mgmt has been reluctant to force it. People need to take this seriously and take responsibility for their own accounts.
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Microsoft states 2FA prevents 99% of security breaches, in some of their documentation. That's probably right.

Nevertheless, what happened to common sense? Do we all have to suffer the annoyance of having to spend a good portion of our lives logging into every site, because people can't think for themselves when buying/selling?
2FA also strips away anonymity of a site (not that I really care here).
I'm not a proponent of 2FA where the only real risk is if you are buying/selling and if there is a scammer. It's kind of enjoyable playing detective with these losers anyway.
 
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sleepeeg3 said:
It's kind of enjoyable playing detective with these losers anyway.
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Unfortunately it's the world we live in now. I knew it was off from the start, but wanted to point it out mainly to put a "spot light" on the situation.
 
I have always stated in my fs/t threads that I have 2fA on for me account. Truth is I guess nobody knows unless a mod verifies which isn’t going to happen for every thread. But I keep it on none the less.

Now if we could enforce 2FA for anyone who posts in the sale forum, that would be an idea.

If you do not actively buy or sell anything and you post in the other forums, no prob. If you want access to fs/t, require 2fA. I’m almost certain xenforo has this ability through a plugin or could, but do not know for sure. Just an idea.
 
Yep. Goes without saying to use common sense, and that goes a long way but as Niner mentioned times have changed. And it is fun playing detective to root out scammers when these threads are posted in time, but if the money has already been sent and then someone posts a thread here after waiting a few days for some type of communication, it might be too late.

I agree that mandatory 2FA for FS/T (only) would be more secure, but it seems like that idea has been floated in the past and there was a reason it could not or would not be done (at the time, anyway).

Appreciate the discussion either way, guys. More awareness of best practices and a reminder to use common sense benefits everyone.
 
Lateralus said:
Yep. Goes without saying to use common sense, and that goes a long way but as Niner mentioned times have changed. And it is fun playing detective to root out scammers when these threads are posted in time, but if the money has already been sent and then someone posts a thread here after waiting a few days for some type of communication, it might be too late.

I agree that mandatory 2FA for FS/T (only) would be more secure, but it seems like that idea has been floated in the past and there was a reason it could not or would not be done (at the time, anyway).

Appreciate the discussion either way, guys. More awareness of best practices and a reminder to use common sense benefits everyone.
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I’m sure the reason is no one wants to custom code that for xenforo or pay for it. I haven’t used xenforo in about a year but it is very customizable. The caveat being most of the changes I implemented in my setups were either already done and simple, or I had to work with a dev to implement what I wanted, and pay.

Also the upkeep can be tough when updates do happen, you have to make sure everything works properly.

It’s a good idea tho. I remember being able to set properties for accounts that had access to certain forums. But in my case it required manual intervention by a mod/admin.
 
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sleepeeg3 said:
I am 99.9% confident rocketr2's account is compromised as well. He also only takes FF, has broken english and is unwilling to take 25% more money as an alternative to FF. He stated something about limits on Zelle receiving / day ($350)?! and how no amount of money would makeup for the tax hit he/she would take - that doesn't make sense. Everything was urgent, trying to pressure people into making a decision, just like the guy above. The item he is selling is about 60% of the going rate on eBay. The thread was locked as soon as someone started questioning the authenticity, either by him or a mod.
Fishy.
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rocketr2 left the chat early yesterday along with a few other suspicious characters . Ive adopted a ban first, ask questions later policy, and AFAIK no one has been wrongly removed.
If it does happen we will figure it out, but time is of the essence in these situations , hopefully everyone understands that .
 
This sucks, but overall at least it was an easy tell, for the most part. The one time that I (and a couple other people) have been scammed was from a legitimate user who, iirc, was found through other boards to be a gambling addict or something, and one day he just decided to try and sell the same parts to a handful of people, pocket the money and ghost everyone.

Most people should steer clear of any offers made from users who aren't already known for trading big money items during the first couple of months after a big new GPU release, because every reprobate after a quick buck knows that there's no shortage of people who are willing and able to pay for them.
 
The fishiest part to me is demanding F&F. I've rarely ever asked for it but if anyone has an issue with covering the fees, F&F isn't needed unless they intend to scam. They just want the easiest money with minimal recourse, hence the "need" for F&F payment, Zelle or etc.
 
I've never understood the whole "Never used, just opened to look at it. NIB". What the heck did you think was in there?
Well.........you opened it, so it's not NIB anymore, it's used, even if it hasn't been plugged in.

Also not sure I would drop that much on a used part with zero warranty (in this case, it would be zero warranty regardless, since it's from a foreign store).
 
Kelvarr said:
I've never understood the whole "Never used, just opened to look at it. NIB". What the heck did you think was in there?
Well.........you opened it, so it's not NIB anymore, it's used, even if it hasn't been plugged in.
Click to expand...

I don't agree with that. Communities differ in their terminology, but I've seen most places make the distinction between BNIB and NIB because sometimes there's a legitimate desire for confirmation that a new item isn't damaged from the factory, which absolutely can and does happen, sometimes without there being any physical indication on the outside of the box(es) because it occurred pre-packaging.

You also can't always choose to be pedantic since some items ship from the mfg. without seals, so you'd be none the wiser if anyone turned an item into your definition of used lol.

A seller being upfront and stating that they opened something, even if they left no evidence of having done so, shouldn't be a mark against an item being considered New condition unless you are explicitly looking for a sealed item and make that known before making WTB posts.
 
The main thing that jumped out at me in the post-it note picture was that the surface texture beneath the post-it note and the graphics card were not the same. The lighting and shadows were completely different, as if using an AI tool to try and blend the images together.
Lateralus said:
I look at it a slightly different way. To me it's more an indictment of members who refuse to enforce 2FA on their accounts. This should not be optional in the mid 2020s anymore IMHO, but I understand why HardForum mgmt has been reluctant to force it. People need to take this seriously and take responsibility for their own accounts.

IIRC, when this has happened in the past it was primarily due to the fact that many people are lazy and tend to reuse passwords across sites. The same lazy or stubborn folks that don't want to bother with the "hassle" of 2FA. So when your password elsewhere gets compromised and a scammer now has it and you don't have 2FA set up here, bingo...roll out the red carpet.

On one hand, not all of this is likely due to pure laziness. I'm sure some of the accounts that have been comprormised are simply older accounts where the person hasn't logged in in a long time, and they might not even be thinking about HardForum anymore or be aware that the forum has had 2FA support for years now.

Obviously I am not a mod and can't say for sure what happened in every case, but I have been responsible for administering thousands of M365 accounts (majority were without 2FA enforced because the business owners of those tenants didn't want to deal with it) and I never personally saw an account get compromised that had MFA set up. Not saying it can't happen, but it sure as heck does greatly increase your account security.

I could be totally off base, but I thought since there is no sticky at the top of FS/T that this would be a good reminder to everyone to make sure you have 2FA set up, even if it's just the email method (although authenticator apps are preferable to that, and free).

I have had dozens upon dozens of transactions here, and have only been legit scammed once (and that was going on 20 years ago, well before HardForum supported 2FA). I still feel far safer selling here than eBay, where in addition to scammers you have to deal with absolute MORONS who don't know how to properly use what they're buying and are quick to file PP claims/disputes.

There were several red flags with that greatchap account, most of which have already been pointed out.
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I don't remember why but I remember HardForum's 2FA being a pain in the ass so I disabled it (I use Bitwarden Premium for password management so my password is most likely secure). I think it had something to do with me traveling a lot for work and every time I wanted to jump on I had to re-authenticate. Either that or because of my cookies setting I kept getting logged out... whatever the case was, the number of times I had to go through 2FA a week annoyed me so I disabled it. This was about 2 years ago so it might be different now.
 
Tsumi said:
I don't remember why but I remember HardForum's 2FA being a pain in the ass so I disabled it (I use Bitwarden Premium for password management so my password is most likely secure). I think it had something to do with me traveling a lot for work and every time I wanted to jump on I had to re-authenticate. Either that or because of my cookies setting I kept getting logged out... whatever the case was, the number of times I had to go through 2FA a week annoyed me so I disabled it. This was about 2 years ago so it might be different now.
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I have to re-auth every 30 days or so. If it's not exactly a month, it's definitely a while. If you're having to do it more often than that, it's most likely because a setting is clearing your cookies. It's definitely not server-side.
 
Thanks for taking care of that person, Crosshairs.
Lateralus said:
I agree that mandatory 2FA for FS/T (only) would be more secure, but it seems like that idea has been floated in the past and there was a reason it could not or would not be done (at the time, anyway).
Click to expand...
Keepass is a great alternative. It would sure suck extra to have your phone lost/stolen/broken if you are using 2FA everywhere.
 
sleepeeg3 said:
Keepass is a great alternative. It would sure suck extra to have your phone lost/stolen/broken if you are using 2FA everywhere.
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I have used Keepass extensively and have also had my phone broken that was used for 2FA for both work and personal accounts. Losing or breaking your phone isn’t insurmountable. That is what your backup codes and secondary/alternative 2FA methods are for.

2FA has been around for a while and is recommended almost everywhere for a reason…

I was simply giving a recommendation. No one is forcing it here. Millions of people have no issue using it despite the ‘but what if’ scenarios.

A good middle ground for folks who are overly concerned about those things might be to enable 2FA and don’t use a phone at all. Use email as the method by which to receive codes. “Sure would suck to lose access to your primary email account”…well at that point you have other/bigger problems.
 
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