I also vouched for Hoo as I have bought ammo at very good prices from him in the past. Wish my bullshit meter was calibrated when he told me shipping only. As I don’t do PayPal, I wished it GLWS.
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HACKED ACCOUNTS!!!!!
- Thread starter texcross
- Start date
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I think so.
Hoo's account password was (probably?) compromised first. I locked his thread, bringing the attention of the usurper onto me. He went after my account and got it at about 1:25pm today. With my permissions, he was able to delete any posts that were pointing out the scam, ban people asking questions, and impersonate me.
About my password - It was a decent password, something not vulnerable to a dictionary attack. There was no brute-force attempt to break it; such a thing doesn't show up in the server logs, per the initial analysis sent to texcross. Even if I had a stupidly bad password, there would have had to have been multiple login attempts to figure it out. That didn't happen. The bad actors either knew it already or were able to get it very quickly. I've already received hints via PM of some ways that might have happened and we will follow up on them as best as possible. I have my theory that I've already communicated to Texcross.
Really, though, for now it's a mystery.
If my password was to blame, I'll apologize openly and let everyone know I screwed up. But it's not exactly clear that I did, at least not yet.
Why?
Because attacks that look exactly like this one are, according to the information I've gotten so far, a new thing. They started about two weeks ago and have hit a bunch of forums. No one is quite sure what's going on.
OK, so it's not a good lead to the bad guys. You must have done something to draw their attention quickly for them to ban you so fast.
<slapping forehead>
And that explains why they changed my login info and kicked me off right before your ban. They realized that if I saw the ban, I'd know something was happening so they made sure I didn't see it.
I assume you realized I had been hacked when you saw that my account had banned you, right?
Absolutely. That’s why I picked “benenglishhasbeenhacked” for the user name. It would catch attention.
Does a mods permission allow them to see passwords?
@benenglish
@texcross
If so I think password changes are in order.
Just a thought.
@benenglish
@texcross
If so I think password changes are in order.
Just a thought.
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I think you're better off staying in the closet
That m'fker got me too. Changed some stuff in my account so I couldn't login, or reset my password. Thanks @TheDan for the text this afternoon giving me a heads up. Sucks that you got scammed Trey - hope you get the $$ back.
Not likely; I don't know of a single system (not forums; others that I set up users in) that allows the admin to see the user's password. Reset, set up (with a password of my choice) and reset (with a password of my choice), yes; once the user changes the password, no.
I'd lean towards reused passwords or a vulnerability in the forum software. If I post a Glock for sale (or offer to buy one), it wasn't me.
I think @Moonpie is the only one on the forum that owns glocks
So you're a 1911 guy, too?
Axxe55
Retiretgtshit stirrer
Okay from what I'm gathering from the information that @benenglish @texcross and @Hoji are supplying so far, this was actually a pretty sophisticated hacking job by someone.
And possibly this isn't just isolated to TGT forum as well?
I'm staying tuned to see what else develops so that as individual members we can protect ourselves.
I understand why they hacked Ben's account, but IMO that was the biggest red flag that something was really wrong that was going on. Clever in one regard, but stupid in another.
I think this is why as @toddnjoyce mentioned having lines of communication outside of the forum are important. I agree with that.
Just so it's known, I don't blame any of the Mods or Admins for what happened. These hackers have nothing but time to mess around with people if they can see making a few dollars off them.
And possibly this isn't just isolated to TGT forum as well?
I'm staying tuned to see what else develops so that as individual members we can protect ourselves.
I understand why they hacked Ben's account, but IMO that was the biggest red flag that something was really wrong that was going on. Clever in one regard, but stupid in another.
I think this is why as @toddnjoyce mentioned having lines of communication outside of the forum are important. I agree with that.
Just so it's known, I don't blame any of the Mods or Admins for what happened. These hackers have nothing but time to mess around with people if they can see making a few dollars off them.
Well, as I understand the offer - someone hacked into Ben's TGT account, took control of it and of his admin capabilities and proceeded to make an offer to sell ammo at a price that simply was too good to be true. There is an old adage that says in essence: if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it probably is a duck; then there is the other one that says if it looks like a pile of shit, smells like a pile of shit and draws flies like a pile of shit - well then it's probably a pile of shit. It is a shame so many had their noses plugged but shit happens to even the best of us.
Also, if I understand the scam correctly, whoever jumped on that deal apparently assumed Ben would do something that violated the rules at PayPal by offering ammo for sale using PayPal for payment. That seems to me to be quite disrespectful toward Ben or at least inconsiderate toward him even if unintentional. I would have thought, and still do think, he would not violate their rules in as much as he is an admin here who enforces the rules of this site and thus I think would be quite the hypocrite to violate their rules. I very much doubt Ben is a hypocrite. The whole offer seems like it was out of character for him.
Anyway, hope you all get your funds back, and your TGT accounts unhacked (if yours was hacked) because there is no good reason for anyone to wish you otherwise. Please be a bit more careful and cynical the next time you see an offer like that. By the way, that was some excellent watching out for others members by those of you who uncovered this.
Also, if I understand the scam correctly, whoever jumped on that deal apparently assumed Ben would do something that violated the rules at PayPal by offering ammo for sale using PayPal for payment. That seems to me to be quite disrespectful toward Ben or at least inconsiderate toward him even if unintentional. I would have thought, and still do think, he would not violate their rules in as much as he is an admin here who enforces the rules of this site and thus I think would be quite the hypocrite to violate their rules. I very much doubt Ben is a hypocrite. The whole offer seems like it was out of character for him.
Anyway, hope you all get your funds back, and your TGT accounts unhacked (if yours was hacked) because there is no good reason for anyone to wish you otherwise. Please be a bit more careful and cynical the next time you see an offer like that. By the way, that was some excellent watching out for others members by those of you who uncovered this.
Ben was not the member selling ammo. His account was abused to facilitate the ruse.
Thanks for the clarification but even then my premise stands about lack of consideration toward Ben. Others assumed he was facilitating the deal and thus he was okay with the seller using Paypal as the form of payment. That, at least to me, does not seem like something with which Ben would be okay.
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Axxe55
Retiretgtshit stirrer
If you had seen the thread, and the members that had their accounts hacked or were banned by the phony that took control of Ben's account to do the banning, and the dialogue that took place after the events, you might have a better understanding. Ben outside of the forum through other channels had Texcross ban Ben's account, so the phony couldn't do anymore damage than was already done.
As @innominate said, and which is what happened:
Ben was not the member selling ammo. His account was abused to facilitate the ruse.
The phony "Ben" was posting on that thread to add a level of credibility to further the scam taking place.
No one did anything wrong. It was a very sophisticated hacking of several forum members, including Ben's account to leverage some control. Using Ben's account and suing his Admin controls, the hacker was able to ban anyone that started questioning the scam. So quite possible only two accounts were actually hacked. The member that they used to set up a phony classified ad, and Ben's account to gain some measure of control and add credibility to the phony ad.
