Impersonation of Boss Hog on other forums.

[El Presidente]

Cowards are hard to kill. They live in the shadows and in this case get their jollies from the apparent thrill of ripping off people in the cigar community (new and experienced members alike).

They use a similar name, same or similar avatar, and enter into a dialogue via e-mail.Or a new entity does the same supported by another alias as a fair trader.

They often trade off the name longevity of a member (or an aliases referral). Their may be an extra letter added here or there but the modus operadi is the same. Not simply trades but straight impersonation where the object is to belittle and do harm. Again cowards delivering nothing but humiliation/pain. They can set themselves up in a forum as respected citizens for years and then spawn a host of aliases to hoodwink trades as a 3rd party removal from themselves.

They morph. Change the e-mail, change the log in name, shift the shadows. Yet they are the same people and thankfully they are not many.

The preceding advice on previous posts is spot on. For the love of God, if you are a new member take your time in establishing who you trade with. Many see the FOH trading rules as draconian, time to wait and post counts before you can do so etal, yet it is born from experience.

I doubt we have got it right. I have realised how a thief ensconsed himself for two years + on FOH as a respected member only to spawn 4+ aliases in that time and rip members off. We changed our registration procedures, we changed our trading forum procedures, I spent $5500 of my own money tracking him down (in that instance). In the end it was my fault. Living by a forum creed of Fellowship, laughter, friendship, loyalty I was blinded to how a coward could circumvent the innate trust of a community for their own pitiful gains. Again. my fault. I was dumb as was pointed out by the perpetrator many times.

In the end 95% of all members on all forums are good people. I have no animosity to CA or any other forum. I simply hate that good people are taken, defrauded, or identities stolen with no intervention.

Protect yourselves when it comes to trades. Rush into nothing, do your checks, ask for advice from experienced members. There is no rush. Not always are you dealing with whom you think you are dealing with. Check the e-mail addy on the forum profile, check again. If in doubt, get off e-mail and use PM to long

term members undertaking the trade. They will confirm or show surprise.

Trolls are thieves. They share nothing of the camaraderie you seek...they only seek the thrill of the kill, the dispossession of your stock, the tainting of your name, the besmirching of your reputation.

[El Presidente]

Shlomo is absolutely correct. Please delete this thread and start again. PM him or me for info to reach the real one.

Incorrect Gorgeous.

Avatar, Name the same in recent trolls.

it is always a moving feast.

[shlomo]

Incorrect Gorgeous.

Avatar, Name the same in recent trolls.

it is always a moving feast.

The e-mails used for this particular scam were very similar to the BossHog who posted above. They were pretending to be him, not whoever Dave is. Unless there were simultaneous scams goin on using several different "Boss Hog"s...

[El Presidente]

It is a moving feast

If you assume it to be the person on FOH or elslewhere you are setting yourself up for a fall.

Be smart people.

[new2habano]

We are in all in this hobby because we love to share and smoke cigars with our friends and family. Ok, some guy scammed you for a few cigars, think of it as donating to charity. Don't make it worse by altering your life or making a bad decision just to get back at him. Karma is a "you know what" and that will be his punishment. What should we do shoot him? we're not animale. Now Rob, I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for 2 boxes of Cohiba Robusto Supremos today.

[Laynard]

We are in all in this hobby because we love to share and smoke cigars with our friends and family. Ok, some guy scammed you for a few cigars, think of it as donating to charity. Don't make it worse by altering your life or making a bad decision just to get back at him. Karma is a "you know what" and that will be his punishment. What should we do shoot him? we're not animale. Now Rob, I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for 2 boxes of Cohiba Robusto Supremos today.

It's not just a few cigars. The recent scam was in the thousands of dollars. I agree that making bad decisions should not be done for vindication, but being aware that there are those who take advantage of well-meaning individuals is a must. Rob is doing his best to protect his flock, and I admire that. I don't think he's trying to raise an angry mob, just educate us.

[mncz]

Hats off to Rob for a thoughtful and highly informative post.

[El Presidente]

It's not just a few cigars. The recent scam was in the thousands of dollars. I agree that makI don't think he's trying to raise an angry mob, just educate us.

They feed off the anger and the mayhem they create. Take away their oxygen, put them under the microscope and they are nothing more than coward thieves.

[canadianbeaver]

Edit: Decided to keep my big gob shut ( for once).

[earthson]

Good rule of thumb:

If you're approached via email, take it to the respective forum's PM system.

And for the love of Bob, please break up large, exten$ive trades into smaller packages. Suppose the total trading value is $3K (as this recent fiasco was), send six $500 packages or thereabouts. You send one, he/she sends one, you send the next, he/she sends the next, etc., etc., etc.

Internet: a place where everyday cowards can feel like gods (since 1995)

[kuma]

WOW I'm glad this has gotten out to the forum memembers and quests.

What a shame always happens the best laid intentions are used

for nefarious gains. Happy it is out in the open should make one and all

more aware of their surroundings when it comes to trading on-line!

[Boss Hog]

It is a moving feast

If you assume it to be the person on FOH or elslewhere you are setting yourself up for a fall.

Be smart people.

Rob,

Once again, I was the one who was unfortunately impersonated on the other forum.

Shlomo and canadianbeaver are well informed in this case and not mistaking.

We suspect that the culprit maybe the same individual that was involved with the impersonation of Shlomo several months ago.

[Maplepie]

Yes. Not sure you were on the forums when it happened.

Shlomo: this is another time where you should loosen up

If it was more than a year ago I am not sure he was out of diapers

Should listen to my own advice here

We suspect that the culprit maybe the same individual that was involved with the impersonation of Shlomo several months ago.

Back on topic:

That doesn't seem relatively clever...

-This is shocking as he's seemed able to impersonate BH quite well with little isms regarding how he talks.

-Thats bamboozling as it means he's relatively socially adept - at least on websites and everything.

-Which is especially troubling when you realise what he can do with those cigars. Either sell them or smoke them himself.

-Assuming the former and his potential social situations, it may mean there are a group of cigar smokers out there who are okay with this practice of taking cigars.

Perhaps he would just smoke them himself. Or that he's just going to sell them to unsocial cigar smokers.

Both of which make sense but not to me. My vision of a cigar smoker who would actually look for these Platinos (albeit limited) is just groups of socially adept people who know each other and want a good time.

Supporting information: I'm just thinking out loud here... Perhaps just ranting. But my other concern is what he's planning on doing with such a rare box and what that means.

Sent by the Enigma on BlackBerry.

[shlomo]

Shlomo: this is another time where you should loosen up

What? Why would you say that? I'm not "loose" because a person I consider a friend has been a victim of identity theft and a person who is liked in this community has been robbed. Problem?

[Smallclub]

I'm tempted to write something about karma…

[shlomo]

I'm tempted to write something about karma…

Karma doesn't exist. Too many assholes thriving...

[Maplepie]

What? Why would you say that? I'm not "loose" because a person I consider a friend has been a victim of identity theft and a person who is liked in this community has been robbed. Problem?

Hmmmm... very fair.

Wrong place for a right comment. I guess I've been known to detract from conversations from time to time.

Apologies here.

Sent by the Enigma on BlackBerry.

[Laynard]

We all need to remember that we are allies here. As Rob said, this is what feeds these thieves. Maybe it's the Yank in me, but unite or die. Or if you're a Shakespeare fan: a house divided cannot stand.

[Fosgate]

What I did to the last guy that took advantage of a friend of mine. Want to hide behind a keyboard and take advantage of people...fine. I'll let your entire community and friends know what kind of POS you really are, identify you to the community, about your personal life. Even mess with you a little bit by legal means.

http://www.primalrights.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=3791&hilit=guns+fx+gunsfx

[Maplepie]

Just read through the entire 7 pages. You are magical, Fos

Felt awesome to see the arrest news article.

Sent by the Enigma on BlackBerry.

[...]

What I did to the last guy that took advantage of a friend of mine. Want to hide behind a keyboard and take advantage of people...fine. I'll let your entire community and friends know what kind of POS you really are, identify you to the community, about your personal life. Even mess with you a little bit by legal means.

http://www.primalrights.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=3791&hilit=guns+fx+gunsfx

Nice! Nothing pisses me off more than people abusing others and getting away with it. Vigilance is key

[Lant63]

I was actually the person who had their cigars stolen. The scheme was very clever and no red flags ever were apparent. For christ's sake the structure of the writing is nearly idenrical. I just have to chalk it up as a learning experience. Yes it was in fact thousands of dollars of cigars and some rare pieces. Hopefully after sometime I will be able to track everything down once again. The advice I give is if you are conversing with someone by email message them on a forum as well to make sure you are dealing with the real person.

[HarveyBoulevard]

That truly blows Lant. Sorry for the loss. However, you have a great outlook and I'm glad it has not soured you on the hobby and future trading with others. I learn something new everyday...and it only serves to make me a better person. (even though it sucks to learn it sometimes). Your advice is sound.

[Maplepie]

Leo,

I just remembered one of our prior conversations... I convinced you to do the trade... Do feel partly responsible for that one. If I had just kept my mouth shut on this one, perhaps none of this would've happened and you would still have your cigars.

Didn't mean for much of this to happen but I do hope you know I did it in the best of intentions (as PM hopefully did dictate).

Shoot me your address via PM and I'll try and get a little thing to you when I can. Least I can do...

Sent by the Enigma on BlackBerry.

[leftimatic]

What I did to the last guy that took advantage of a friend of mine. Want to hide behind a keyboard and take advantage of people...fine. I'll let your entire community and friends know what kind of POS you really are, identify you to the community, about your personal life. Even mess with you a little bit by legal means.

http://www.primalrights.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=3791&hilit=guns+fx+gunsfx

Fosgate your a hero in my eyes. Way to go. I got burned over some bike parts a few years back, wish I had a guy like you on my side.