A Tale of Two Offers: A scammer story

[Reptyle]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom and it was the epoch of foolishness. The Cowju was lost, the Tsukasa found. Offers were made and scams attempted.

In all seriousness, I wanted to reach out to thank the KKF community and to share a cautionary tale.
I recently was looking for a Tsukasa after missing out on the mASSdrop. I had a member generously reach out and offer an iron-clad petty for which I am thankful and excited.

I also had another offer from a member called Hiler45 (automatic red flags). He told he me he had a Tsukasa for sale and to email him directly. I hesitatantly did and was provided with a series of nice pictures of a Tsukasa ats34 damascus petty. A quick reverse Google image search revealed them to be the stock images from Miura knives. I reached out asking for more images and was provided with the rest of Miura's pictures for that knife. At this point I replied, stating they were Miura's images and would like his own pictures(even though I was 99.9% sure it was a scam now). Unsurprisingly he never responded.


I would like to state that this is NOT normal for this community. Generally KKF seems to be filled with outstanding, generous, (though perhaps slightly deranged) individuals. I have used the BST successfully numerous times and this is my first negative experience. Normally the experience is fantastic.

However in order to help protect our community, I would like to reiterate for everyone to be wary of member Hiler45 and to not respond to anyone with the email: [email protected]


I'd like to close with a huge shout out to the folks who make this place great and helps other knife nerds achieve their silly dreams!

 

[crockerculinary]

Good on you mate. Scammers suck. Stay safe (and suspicious) out there everyone.

 

[inferno]

a good idea would be to have them photo the knife on a recent paper or with a news website as background. something that lets you date the pic at least.
they could still send you a brick though.

 

[Se1ryu]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom and it was the epoch of foolishness. The Cowju was lost, the Tsukasa found. Offers were made and scams attempted.

In all seriousness, I wanted to reach out to thank the KKF community and to share a cautionary tale.
I recently was looking for a Tsukasa after missing out on the mASSdrop. I had a member generously reach out and offer an iron-clad petty for which I am thankful and excited.

I also had another offer from a member called Hiler45 (automatic red flags). He told he me he had a Tsukasa for sale and to email him directly. I hesitatantly did and was provided with a series of nice pictures of a Tsukasa ats34 damascus petty. A quick reverse Google image search revealed them to be the stock images from Miura knives. I reached out asking for more images and was provided with the rest of Miura's pictures for that knife. At this point I replied, stating they were Miura's images and would like his own pictures(even though I was 99.9% sure it was a scam now). Unsurprisingly he never responded.


I would like to state that this is NOT normal for this community. Generally KKF seems to be filled with outstanding, generous, (though perhaps slightly deranged) individuals. I have used the BST successfully numerous times and this is my first negative experience. Normally the experience is fantastic.

However in order to help protect our community, I would like to reiterate for everyone to be wary of member Hiler45 and to not respond to anyone with the email: [email protected]


I'd like to close with a huge shout out to the folks who make this place great and helps other knife nerds achieve their silly dreams!

Yup scammer suck. Just ask photos with their KKF name write on a paper to make sure that he/ she has the knife.

Tsukasa mi casa
And thank you for letting us know and shared the name.

 

[Michael J.R.]

Thank you for informing us. Have a nice weekend
Michael

 

[PeterL]

This account reached out to me too. He had just word for word copied my “newham western gyuto” WTB. Seemed pretty sus as I spoke to him about it on KKF. Seems to have been since banned.

 

[JayS20]

Also only had positive experiences selling and buying in KKF BTS.
Even did the unthinkable F&F both ways.
The only times I had a semi bad experience was when accounts got hacked. One time I would have been interested but was a bit fishy, digged deeper and then decided to waste the scammers time. Sadly he got another one falling for him and one time it was Milan Gravier's account being hacked and since I was in talks with Milan occasionally, nothing made sense and luckily another member saw it earlier and reported it directly.
If you are unsure or just want to get reaffirmed it never hurts to ask for additional pics with kkf name and such and no good seller will deny it.

 

[ReiHamono]

When in doubt ask for a live video and references, sometimes people just don’t know how to sell their items correctly.

Sometimes people actually have the item but they choose the stock photos because for some reason they just don’t know how to take a correct photo.

You’ll see them post a knife and the pictures are just terrible the knife is dirty has a patina on it it really doesn’t make sense to attempt to sell an item this way but they do

Selling stones with no images of slurry production or finish on knife etc

Pictures are grainy and in low light

 

[runninscared]

When in doubt ask for a live video and references, sometimes people just don’t know how to sell their items correctly.

Sometimes people actually have the item but they choose the stock photos because for some reason they just don’t know how to take a correct photo.

You’ll see them post a knife and the pictures are just terrible the knife is dirty has a patina on it it really doesn’t make sense to attempt to sell an item this way but they do

Selling stones with no images of slurry production or finish on knife etc

Pictures are grainy and in low light

is selling a knife w/ patina generally frowned upon? just wondering

also best way to remove mild patina? im assuming BKF?

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

is selling a knife w/ patina generally frowned upon? just wondering

also best way to remove mild patina? im assuming BKF?

No, it's fine.

 

[M1k3]

is selling a knife w/ patina generally frowned upon? just wondering

also best way to remove mild patina? im assuming BKF?

It's fine. Just don't hide the fact (old or website pictures for example).