Official Luthiers Forum!

Owned and operated by Lance Kragenbrink
It is currently Fri Mar 29, 2024 4:02 am


All times are UTC - 5 hours


Forum rules


Be nice, no cussin and enjoy!




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 18 posts ] 
Author Message
PostPosted: Mon Mar 20, 2023 8:00 pm 
Offline
OLF Sponsor
OLF Sponsor

Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:26 pm
Posts: 331
Location: Craig, Alaska
First name: Brent
Last Name: Cole Sr
City: Craig
State: Alaska
Zip/Postal Code: 99921
Country: USofA
Focus: Build
Status: Professional
Last week I received a call from one of Richard Hoovers[Santa Cruz Guitars] team about a fake ASW instagram account that looks the same accept that its "Alaska Specialty Wood", instead of our "Alaska Specialty Woods". Rick new it was fake when there is a pic of Richard Hoover and Fred Turner as well as mahogany and other woods in lumber form that we don't do. I think it was someone that burned them, but I'm not sure about that. But then again Thursday a customer in Spain sent me a Paypal request for $4600 Euro. wondering what the heck is this, I find out Alberto, got scammed by this same scammer, selling ancient sitka tops that he didn't have.
Then Saturday another customer contacted me by phone that he saw the fake instagram account.
Anyway, everyone beware. Numerous folks, including all of us here, have reported the fake account, but it's still active.


You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.



These users thanked the author Alaska Splty Woods for the post (total 2): Sasamat&Trimble (Tue Mar 21, 2023 6:33 am) • bcombs510 (Mon Mar 20, 2023 10:26 pm)
Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Mar 20, 2023 8:04 pm 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:21 am
Posts: 3289
First name: Brad
Last Name: Combs
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Thanks for the warning on this. I have received numerous messages from that fake account.

I knew better than to assume you guys had the bandwidth to be sitting around messaging random builders on Instagram to drum up business. :)

I work for a little Seattle based software company and I tell people almost everyday - we will not contact you unsolicited. We do not want to talk to you if we can avoid it!

Sorry you have to deal with this hassle, Brent.

Brad


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

_________________
Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cbcguitars


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Mar 20, 2023 8:50 pm 
Offline
OLF Sponsor
OLF Sponsor

Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:26 pm
Posts: 331
Location: Craig, Alaska
First name: Brent
Last Name: Cole Sr
City: Craig
State: Alaska
Zip/Postal Code: 99921
Country: USofA
Focus: Build
Status: Professional
I just worry that more folks may get burned by the sob, and just trying to get word out so nobody does.



These users thanked the author Alaska Splty Woods for the post (total 3): windsurfer (Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:47 am) • Colin North (Tue Mar 21, 2023 2:46 am) • bcombs510 (Mon Mar 20, 2023 10:22 pm)
Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 4:47 am 
Offline
Koa
Koa

Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2013 10:00 pm
Posts: 980
First name: Josh
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Yes they message me every week or two with some malarkey. Poor English and repeatedly calling me “kind sir” are somewhat of a red flag :D


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 9:39 am 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2020 12:28 pm
Posts: 188
First name: Chuck
Last Name: Skarsaune
City: Butler
State: TN
Country: United States
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Attachment:
27B62920-419A-4DAF-9A46-5CECD1A9B426.jpeg

There’s more than one.
I got a message from this one the other day.
I was pretty sure you weren’t randomly contacting small time amateur builders.


You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 12:01 pm 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2012 12:47 pm
Posts: 2422
First name: Jay
Last Name: De Rocher
City: Bothell
State: Washington
The same thing happened to Roytonewoods. Somone was pretending to be them on Instagram since the beginning of March and contacting their followers to try to sell them wood. Probably the same scammer.

_________________
Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter



These users thanked the author J De Rocher for the post: bcombs510 (Tue Mar 21, 2023 1:09 pm)
Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 1:13 pm 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:21 am
Posts: 3289
First name: Brad
Last Name: Combs
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Yeah, that Roy scammer is relentless.

“Hello kind sir, where might you be located?”

The profile has posts about wood and whatnot. I think in his case he lost control of his account more so than someone pretending to be him.

Change your passwords and get a password manager app people! :D


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

_________________
Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cbcguitars


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 5:37 pm 
Offline
OLF Sponsor
OLF Sponsor

Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:26 pm
Posts: 331
Location: Craig, Alaska
First name: Brent
Last Name: Cole Sr
City: Craig
State: Alaska
Zip/Postal Code: 99921
Country: USofA
Focus: Build
Status: Professional
Skarsaune wrote:
Attachment:
27B62920-419A-4DAF-9A46-5CECD1A9B426.jpeg

There’s more than one.
I got a message from this one the other day.
I was pretty sure you weren’t randomly contacting small time amateur builders.


This is the sob that burned Richard Hoover last fall. I recognize the brent woods. Because the email thread I was finally included in, and I'm going what the heck? I had no idea there was an instagram account like that.
I never had an account anything like that name. They obviously stole pictures off a real account and created the fraud.
I just looked and this account is still active yet as well. What the hell?, surely folks have reported the fraud.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 7:42 pm 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
User avatar

Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2005 10:11 am
Posts: 2142
I have been getting the messages as well.

Also every time I list a new guitar on Reverb I get the some scammer trying to bid on my guitars.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Mar 29, 2023 6:22 pm 
Offline
Koa
Koa
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:14 am
Posts: 1011
Location: Newland, North Carolina
I got an email a little while ago, appearing to be from ASW, that was actually an exact duplicate of an email I received from them 3 years ago after I had bought some tops. Undoubtedly a result of the same hack/identity theft/whatever that's led to the Instagram issues. But the email wasn't asking for anything. Just updating me that my order (which has resulted in several guitars since then) has been fulfilled. Weird.

Dave



These users thanked the author ballbanjos for the post: bcombs510 (Wed Mar 29, 2023 7:17 pm)
Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Mar 29, 2023 7:20 pm 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:21 am
Posts: 3289
First name: Brad
Last Name: Combs
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Dave, that’s not good. That sounds more like data breach on ASW side than impersonation of ASW on social media. Not good. :(

Maybe Brent can chime in on this as it’s a more serious risk if customer data is compromised.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

_________________
Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cbcguitars


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Jul 02, 2023 9:54 pm 
Offline
Walnut
Walnut

Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:35 pm
Posts: 24
First name: Christopher
Last Name: Otto
City: Brown Deer
State: WI
Zip/Postal Code: 53223-2920
Country: United States
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Speaking of, I tried clicking the link on the OLF banner just now and got a malwarebytes warning for "phishing". Should I just ignore the warning?


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2023 9:10 am 
Offline
Koa
Koa

Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 8:57 pm
Posts: 735
Location: Austin, Texas
I get no warning flags of any sort from Kaspersky...I do get a few pings from Ghostery, 2 of which get blocked because they are google trackers, the other items are aspects of the site itself and are harmless...basically the site is clean


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Sep 05, 2023 8:13 am 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:21 am
Posts: 3289
First name: Brad
Last Name: Combs
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Looks like there is a new fake account :(

Image

“hello sir” :D :D


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

_________________
Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cbcguitars


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Sep 05, 2023 8:18 am 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:04 am
Posts: 5743
First name: Chris
Last Name: Pile
City: Wichita
State: Kansas
Country: Good old US of A
Focus: Repair
Status: Professional
Personally, I think all scammers should be hunted down and fed to feral animals.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince



These users thanked the author Chris Pile for the post: bcombs510 (Tue Sep 05, 2023 8:21 am)
Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Sep 05, 2023 8:35 am 
Offline
Koa
Koa

Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2013 10:00 pm
Posts: 980
First name: Josh
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Yes, I got a new message from these creeps today too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Sep 05, 2023 7:00 pm 
Offline
OLF Sponsor
OLF Sponsor

Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:26 pm
Posts: 331
Location: Craig, Alaska
First name: Brent
Last Name: Cole Sr
City: Craig
State: Alaska
Zip/Postal Code: 99921
Country: USofA
Focus: Build
Status: Professional
bcombs510 wrote:
Dave, that’s not good. That sounds more like data breach on ASW side than impersonation of ASW on social media. Not good. :(

Maybe Brent can chime in on this as it’s a more serious risk if customer data is compromised.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

There has been no data breech of the ASW data that is hosted on a robust dedicated server that I believe if it is shared with any other, it's just my web master. And Troy my web master is a stickler for high security.

The hackers are just getting info that anyone can get and creating a fake account.
The couple that I know of were both contacted regarding the ancient sitka. Both of those customers had purchased some of those tops and wanted to get more. The instagram account was created using pictures from either instagram or facebook.

When we send emails, most are auto-generated in woo-commerce and are sent using our Send In Blue account. anything to do withy orders of fulfillment.

My suggestion is if anyone questions legitimacy of identity and email, just call 855 425 3669 [855 -4 AK-WOOD] that rings to our landline number of the shop/ office and home. 907 826 3566



These users thanked the author Alaska Splty Woods for the post: bcombs510 (Tue Sep 05, 2023 9:32 pm)
Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Sep 05, 2023 7:04 pm 
Offline
OLF Sponsor
OLF Sponsor

Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:26 pm
Posts: 331
Location: Craig, Alaska
First name: Brent
Last Name: Cole Sr
City: Craig
State: Alaska
Zip/Postal Code: 99921
Country: USofA
Focus: Build
Status: Professional
ChristopherOtto wrote:
Speaking of, I tried clicking the link on the OLF banner just now and got a malwarebytes warning for "phishing". Should I just ignore the warning?


There is no phishing in our website. It's squeaky clean! there are occasional pop-up windows that offer the free ASW/ EarthTone Soundboards T-shirt once an order threshold of $300 is met. Other than that there's nothing.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 18 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 56 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
phpBB customization services by 2by2host.com