I received this personal message:

bruno0998
Grease Monkey
Joined: 04/07/23
Posts: 0
kansas, USA.
"I got a message from Mallen990 as a local seller, it's my old friend and very honest person, message me about Steering gear part #2630811 for sale... Thought I'm still interested and I've get one few days ago, kindly check on him maybe it's still available... Here's his Email brokermills@gmail.com."

This was in reference to a posting I placed on the chat forum on March 11.

First red flag: How can this individual have a “grease monkey” rating when he has only been a member since last Friday? And no posts?

Second red flag: I made a mistake on the part number but this individual repeated my mistake. If he was a 36 chevy person, he would have noticed that the part number
was wrong. He proceeds to say he bought one but his friend has another one.

Third red flag: I contacted his friend and yes he has one and would I pay with Zelle, (the scammer’s payment of choice). I said I would pay with money order. In the
last 24 hours, he has ask 4 times if I have sent the money. I ask for a photo of the worm gear, contact stopped

I believe someone should check this individual out ( I am sure they are one and the same), before someone is ripped off

VCCA Member #: 44541
Kim Bowers
General Member
klbinwmspt.1955@gmail.com

I also got private messages from this guy on two different parts I was looking for. He's full of BS.

How did he get into the club site?

Anyone can go through the registration and become a site user which allows them to PM other users. What is his user name? I searched for Mallen990 and no one is using that name. If he's a registered user on the site I will ban him. How were you contacted? If it was an email anyone, even unregistered users, can peruse the site and view your profile just as they can any other public web site. You were right to be suspicious. There are a number of warnings in the Swap Meet area to remind people that this site is simply a place for people to contact each other. It's the individual user's responsibility to do their due diligence when buying/selling.

Edit: I reread your first post and found bruno0998. He is now banned but can still view the site as I mentioned above so continue to be diligent as you have been. Good catch.

Looks like his user name in bruno0998.

His new user name is Killerw54

A search for that user comes up empty. Can you link to one of his posts?

I don't think he posts. Just sends private messages.

He can't send PMs without being registered as a user and the user name Killerw54 isn't in the archive. If I can get his user name I can dig a little deeper.