Possible Fraud / Identity Theft

[Jaime Castells]

I have been contacted by someone claiming to be Marc who is offering to send me a Harvey bandsaw if I will pay for shipping.  Sounds too good (much too good!) to be true and there's something sketchy about the text.  Can't quite put my finger on it, but the verbiage seems off somehow.

Anyway, the person is using a Telegram account with Marc's picture and "The Wood Whisperer" to connect to them I had to use The_Wood_Whisperer, with underscores.

[wtnhighlander]

@Jaime Castells, thanks for this report. We will do our best to make Marc aware.

@thewoodwhisperer, you listening?

[Jaime Castells]

On 1/9/2023 at 8:15 PM, wtnhighlander said:

@Jaime Castells, thanks for this report. We will do our best to make Marc aware.

@thewoodwhisperer, you listening?

It begins with a reply to my comment on this video: 

 

[drzaius]

That's become a thing now. Scammers use the comments function in YouTube to fish for victims.

[thewoodwhisperer]

Yup it's a scam. We know about it, but Youtube doesn't give us much in the way of tools to prevent it or stop it. It's out of control and has been that way for a couple of years. Learn more here: https://www.verified.org/articles/scams/youtube-comment-scams-and-fake-prize-giveaways

But yeah, if it's not from my official verified account, it's not me.

[nicolespag]

I'll piggyback on what Marc said, and tell you I try to actively report these scammer accounts to youtube but they keep showing up.  Originally they were using the Telegram account WoodWhisperer, but I was able to get that user banned and take it over to tell anyone that sees it that if anyone else contacts you saying they are us that is a scam.  It's a huge issue across all of YouTube right now.  So if anyone ever messages you on any comment you leave (no matter what channel) saying you won something but then wants you to pay for shipping. DO NOT DO IT!