A new phishing scam ?

[NFrameFred]

Suspect there was an attempt today to acquire some of my personal info.

NOT on this forum. Had an inquiry through the Gunbroker system which isolates your personal email address and contact info only if and until someone buys your item, thus entering into a 'contract to buy'.

Basically, a prospective buyer requested through the anonymous system that I inspect his files (FFL and contact info, etc.) to ensure I was okay with it and then he would proceed with the purchase. When I went to inspect his submitted attachment I found it was a link that required me to log in using a personal email account to access the documents .and offered numerous options, but all requiring that personal account requirement.
I replied I was having problems opening files under that type of process and requested a simple PDF or screenshot containing the info.

. . . . >silence< . . . . . >crickets< . . . .

So I just took it as an attempted scam and reported it to Gunbroker after giving him a reasonable opportunity to reply. Further investigation on my part turned up a couple of other red flags that made me suspicious.
Maybe I'm too paranoid but given my meager computer skills I tend to err on the side of caution. I decline to publicly share the guy's user name but if you really need to know just PM me.
If something doesn't smell quite right . . . trust your instincts.

 

[LVSteve]

For sure it would have raised flares at my house.

 

[Beemerguy53]

Fred, it sounds to me like you were indeed the intended target of a sophisticated phishing attempt. Congratulations to you on being astute enough not to fall for it, and many thanks for alerting the rest of us to it.

 

[DWalt]

I had something similar happen to me a couple of months ago regarding a sale of one of my more unusual rifles. The prospective purchaser did not want to talk on the phone. He contacted me in the same way through the Texas Gun Trader which works much like Gunbroker via protected eMail. I won't go into the details, but he said he was an FFL and lived in Florida. I said OK, send me a copy of your FFL so I can verify who and where you are. He never did, and his eMail messages just seemed strange in their wording, he kept saying the same things repeatedly, very mechanical. I decided things seemed too suspicious for me to continue, so I cut him off. I couldn't figure what game he was trying to play but I felt it was probably heading into some kind of scam attempt. Anyway, I sold my rifle to a local buyer a several days later in a F2F transaction, which I prefer.

 

[Skeet 028]

Oh Boy...just what I need to hear. I just bought my first gun in an online auction. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy about this stuff. And I got an email today asking if I still wanted to change my You Tube login password. To my best guess I don't think I have an account.