Topic: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

Unfortunately it looks like he had a great amount of success doing it. My buddy who is new to deckbox had a trade set up with him, and after vetting the guy myself I thought he was legit and gave my buddy the thumbs up. My buddy has messaged deckbox but I'm not sure how quickly anything gets done and this guy has lots of ongoing trades, so just wanted to give a heads up.

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

I suspected this might be the case - he once opened a trade with me worth several hundred dollars, but canceled it in favor of trades with people with 0-2 feedback.  I also found it suspicious that he added cards to his wishlist that were specifically on my tradelist as he was building the trade.  He stopped communicating with me, and I didn't realize how many trades he had opened up.

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

Damn that blows sad I'd suggest all new traders to only trade with reputable people with a lot of feedback until they have enough feedback of their own so that they can ask people with little feedback to send first. And always check their open trades to see if there's anything suspicious

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

perfectchaos007 wrote:

I suspected this might be the case - he once opened a trade with me worth several hundred dollars, but canceled it in favor of trades with people with 0-2 feedback.  I also found it suspicious that he added cards to his wishlist that were specifically on my tradelist as he was building the trade.  He stopped communicating with me, and I didn't realize how many trades he had opened up.

To be fair, I've always found it much easier to trade with people who have lower feedback.  They seem to communicate better and I just overall have a more pleasant time trading with them.  I've seen so many high feedback users read a message in a trade and never respond.

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

He got me too. He had a bunch of trades "sent" about a week before our trade and I hadn't read any complaints so I figured he was legit. Plus I have very low feedback and was trying to give another new trader a chance. Lesson learned I guess.

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

Whoa, that sucks, looks like he hit a lot of people. His bio says he plays at Cape Fear Games. For folks that have his address and other contact info it may be worth confirming the info, giving Cape Fear Games (http://www.capefeargames.com/) a call and see if they know who it is. If you traded something unusual give them a heads up. You may not be able to get your stuff back, but you could make things uncomfortable for him/her.

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Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

I doubt he actually plays at Cape Fear Games since a scammer wouldn't put real info in their profile. But I did file a Mail Fraud report. My main hope is that even with a fake name, he has a mailing address that can only be accessed by one household so that it is obvious who the scammer was. Wouldn't think someone would risk jail time to commit mail fraud over $200 in magic cards (and if the actual ~15 or so people who sent him cards all file Mail Fraud reports it will probably actually get looked into) but I guess you learn something new every day.

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

TheWorldHatesPaul wrote:

Whoa, that sucks, looks like he hit a lot of people. His bio says he plays at Cape Fear Games. For folks that have his address and other contact info it may be worth confirming the info, giving Cape Fear Games (http://www.capefeargames.com/) a call and see if they know who it is. If you traded something unusual give them a heads up. You may not be able to get your stuff back, but you could make things uncomfortable for him/her.

Yeah I think my buddy was one of the first, he provided a screen shot of some other trades he had done on a imgur group or something so I seemed like a lot of work to put into faking it. Called cape fear, that name is not registered with dci, and I sent them a long email of cards that he may buylist to them.

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

Xender wrote:
perfectchaos007 wrote:

I suspected this might be the case - he once opened a trade with me worth several hundred dollars, but canceled it in favor of trades with people with 0-2 feedback.  I also found it suspicious that he added cards to his wishlist that were specifically on my tradelist as he was building the trade.  He stopped communicating with me, and I didn't realize how many trades he had opened up.

To be fair, I've always found it much easier to trade with people who have lower feedback.  They seem to communicate better and I just overall have a more pleasant time trading with them.  I've seen so many high feedback users read a message in a trade and never respond.

Agreed, especially with the non-response of many high feedback users.

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

BlackAndBlue wrote:
Xender wrote:
perfectchaos007 wrote:

I suspected this might be the case - he once opened a trade with me worth several hundred dollars, but canceled it in favor of trades with people with 0-2 feedback.  I also found it suspicious that he added cards to his wishlist that were specifically on my tradelist as he was building the trade.  He stopped communicating with me, and I didn't realize how many trades he had opened up.

To be fair, I've always found it much easier to trade with people who have lower feedback.  They seem to communicate better and I just overall have a more pleasant time trading with them.  I've seen so many high feedback users read a message in a trade and never respond.

Agreed, especially with the non-response of many high feedback users.

Fair enough - I do agree that newer users are likely to be more eager to trade, and thus, would be more likely to respond to trade requests.

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

BlackAndBlue wrote:

Agreed, especially with the non-response of many high feedback users.

I'd love to look through your trade binder in person at a prerelease or FNM, and I'm sure people with more completed trades than me would agree, but I don't think I'm alone when I say that I'm tired of typing "Sorry, I took a look at your tradelist and I didn't find anything I like for the Abbott" like 20 times. 

Let's be fair.  Your tradelist is 49 pages and the highest value card is $4.  Now, not everyone needs to be trading fetchlands or tarmogoyfs, but after I've spent $50 on stamps, I'm less interested in spending 50 cents to get a couple $3 cards.

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

Timber wrote:

Your tradelist is 49 pages and the highest value card is $4.  Now, not everyone needs to be trading fetchlands or tarmogoyfs, but after I've spent $50 on stamps, I'm less interested in spending 50 cents to get a couple $3 cards.

There are pipe dreams and then there are disrespectful offers.

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

Xender wrote:
perfectchaos007 wrote:

I suspected this might be the case - he once opened a trade with me worth several hundred dollars, but canceled it in favor of trades with people with 0-2 feedback.  I also found it suspicious that he added cards to his wishlist that were specifically on my tradelist as he was building the trade.  He stopped communicating with me, and I didn't realize how many trades he had opened up.

To be fair, I've always found it much easier to trade with people who have lower feedback.  They seem to communicate better and I just overall have a more pleasant time trading with them.  I've seen so many high feedback users read a message in a trade and never respond.

I agree that the use of the chat box seems to be less and less used by high feedback users. I have a decent amount of feedback but i always use chat. I cant stand when people dont. Who want to tradecwith someone who doesnt say anything.
Now on the other topic i have a very busy life with work and kids and i open a crap load of trades at once and look over peoples wishlists and add them as i go if im after something i want because i only have about maybe 1/2 of my cards listed. I have around 30 decks i dont have listed and a few boxes with decks under construction or just simply deck ideas and cards i think i could put to use. So i pull cards from all those sources from time to time because i simply do not have the time to add them all and im always buying more. But it really grinds my gears when people take advantage of anyone on a trust based site. I find that if i am a little wary i ask for a picture of the cards im trading for and get them to send first. So i am really digging this tier system for new users. But i dont think people who have built their rep and paid their dues with time effort and postage should be bound to restrictions.

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

Hate to necro but this guy just showed up again here:
http://deckbox.org/users/HeyBlinkin

I was told the addresses matched on the scammer list. Just thought you all should know

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

Izanamiel wrote:

Hate to necro but this guy just showed up again here:
http://deckbox.org/users/HeyBlinkin

I was told the addresses matched on the scammer list. Just thought you all should know

This is a very valid reason to necro, good looking out.

Since the scammer is using the same address, if you got scammed before make sure to file a Mail Fraud report. This means this guy doesn't easily have access to other addresses or he wouldn't be using a repeat scamming address.

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

I hope Sebi sees this ASAP. This should not happen. The admins should have a scrip running hourly comparing fields in the user address table in the database to a known abusers address table. Any near matches, even on city, should be included in an hourly email to the admin for further review. Same for the name and email fields.

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Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

the worst part about all this is that almost all the trades he's doing at the moment are with brand new users. he is ruining deckbox for them, stealing from them, and taking away potential trades from those of us who use this site legitimately.

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

TheWorldHatesPaul wrote:

I hope Sebi sees this ASAP. This should not happen. The admins should have a scrip running hourly comparing fields in the user address table in the database to a known abusers address table. Any near matches, even on city, should be included in an hourly email to the admin for further review. Same for the name and email fields.

or check the ip address of users. it's not 100% fool proof, but at least make it harder to scam people.

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

Good catch, I reported another user William S. (guccimane) a few weeks ago who hadn't completed any trades but was from NC, had the same staples for trade, and was targeting new users. He got suspended before completing any trades while they investigated, and found 'incriminating evidence' (which they wouldn't share) to ban the account. Clearly enough isn't happening to prevent this though.

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

Jesus, this scares the crap out of me and makes me not want to trade with anyone. sad

I already have a limited trade list because I'm new to the game and feel embarrassed when trying to trade up with higher users who simply seem to ignore my offers... Bleh.

Last edited by TheAlexander (2016-04-09 14:04:46)

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

This is why the staff need to be diligent checking ISP for those logging on and checking addresses of members when they sign up!  Keep the scammers out Sebi..

It's a great site, but vulnerable

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

I think it goes deeper, look at this account who left this guy positive feedback: http://deckbox.org/users/MichellePhan
Are the mods/admin not watching any of this?

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

He left neutral feedback. But his profile seems fishy. And he has an open trade proposed for 3 $0.10 cards for his $9 card. Weird stuff

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

Izanamiel wrote:

I think it goes deeper, look at this account who left this guy positive feedback: http://deckbox.org/users/MichellePhan
Are the mods/admin not watching any of this?


Good catch - 5 feedback in a 4 minute span? That never happens ~

Last edited by perfectchaos007 (2016-04-09 23:37:23)

Re: User Des R. (doctorgraim) is a scammer

I see what you guys are pointing out now. Wow. Seems like a bunch of fake accounts building a fake rep. DONT LIKE!!