Yeah aside from all the other BS I've been surprised how much people get scammed, robbed and pretty much fraud.......
This happened more and more after Peterson left too or more noticeable at least to me, it became more normal and became bigger in how much money/gear people would scam and fraud others in....... more bold, more brazen, larger and larger in terms of scam/fraud.
It's worse than Harmony Central because not only is it some corporate toxic dump-hole now, it's become a bed for fraud and scams it seems and many very well know it's going on yet no one wants to take any responsibility for it on any level
You really have to do due diligence if you're going to buy a big ticket item on any gear forum. I made an account in that forum in 2016 but lurked for almost a year before joining. I was about to do my 2nd transaction for a guitar from an emporium seller in 3/2017 & requested from him to DM me his email, personal & work contact # info & I'd do the same.
In one of the DMs, he says he's selling a guitar in order to help pay for his mom's cancer treatments. I offer to send flowers for him to give to his mom & he takes the offer. I respond that I'd get to it after the transaction.
As I'm going through the motions for the transaction, I start looking for information about the guy. One of my searches yielded his dad's home phone # & also an obituary that his mom died a few years prior. After finding the obit, I call the dad's # & start asking questions about when his wife died or if she's getting cancer treatments. If the latter, I say to the dad that his son is selling gear to help pay for the treatments. The dad got all defensive then hung up.
The seller's user name, IIRC, is Evicious (sp?) or something similar.
Aside from this particular emporium seller, there has been no shenanigans from other emporium sellers.
These days, if I'm going to buy a guitar from seller on a forum or from a non-local craigslist listing, I tell the seller (s)he needs to do a Zoom or some sort of video meeting with the gear in their hands. The legit seller will make the effort & accommodate & the scammer won't respond to the request or give some bs excuse about not being tech savvy. Legit sellers also typically price gear reasonably & are open to negotiating. For me, a good indicator of vetting out scammers is the quality of the reply/replies given to specfic questions you ask about the gear. If the response(s) is/are vague/wishy-washy it's best to move on & not waste time.
My attitude with an online private seller of a big ticket item is that they're going to need earn that sale/$s from me & be able to answer specfic questions & give some personal information about themselves.
TBH, I've gotten much better deals on gear from (non-)local craigslist/offerup ads or vendors. I recently scored an MIJ Kramer Focus for really cheap that was on offerup. The seller & I agreed to meet an El Pollo Loco parking lot. i got there early & decided to buy the seller a family meal for 5. LOL. We chatted for 20 minutes & he told me stories of concerts he attended during the 1980s/90s. I said that I'd give an extra $50 above the ask price to reimburse for his gas & for taking the time to meet but he said $40 was fine.
Acquired from the original owner