Gun Auction Email Phishing

[Brake]

I got an email from "Operations GunAuction" saying that I was being given a "Second Chance Offer" to purchase a firearm that I had bid on several month ago but did not win on an auction site. The more I continued to read the email, the worst it got. I have sent the email to Gun Auction. Just wanted to give fellow Calgunners a heads up. Here is some of the email, enjoy...
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Dear --------------------------------



You've been given a second chance to buy Springfield Armory Semi Auto Pistol & Box , which you placed a bid on Aug 17.



Additional Information about Second Chance Offers:



The seller is making this Second Chance Offer because the high bidder was either unable to complete the transaction or the seller has a duplicate item for sale.



The selling of this item through Second Chance Offer is in compliance with GunAuction policy; you will be able to exchange Feedback with the seller and will be eligible for all GunAuction services associated with a transaction, such as fraud protection.



GunAuction Purchase Protection Coverage up to USD $20,000.00



Currently, this seller has a USD $20,000.00 deposit in an GunAuction managed purchase protection account.Transactions with this GunAuction seller are covered by purchase protection against fraud and description errors.
Purchase protection and refund - The seller is unable to withdraw any money from account, within this period. Should you need a refund for this transaction, the insured amount will be taken from the seller's purchase protection account and sent to you. The refund is sent to your bank account, or by check or money order. The way you are refunded is at your choice. You have 5 days from the above verification date to request a refund. Refund requests are processed within 3 days.



Complete your GunAuction transaction in 5 easy steps:



- First contact the seller at ----------------------------------and communicate to seller you're ready to start the transaction.
- GunAuction accepts the transaction and offers purchase protection to the buyer (if the transaction is declined, no further action is required from the buyer nor the seller)
- The buyer sends payment and the seller receives it. After the payment is received, the seller must notify GunAuction. Buyer will send the payment details directly to the seller's email address.
- Buyer receives the merchandise and has ten days to inspect it. If it is complete and as described, the buyer should accept the merchandise. If he refuses the merchandise, the buyer must ship the merchandise back to the seller within three business days.
- After the inspection period is over, the buyer must contact GunAuction with the result of the inspection. If the buyer refuses the merchandise, the refund will be sent to the buyer after the tracking number for the return shipment is verified.




Seller Notes:




Notes from Seller: (Any special instructions for shipping, payment, etc.)
- If you accept this Second Chance Offer we'll need a signed copy of the Federal Firearms License (FFL) of the business that you will be having this item sent to, or a signed copy of your C&R (if applicable).
- Payment may be by bank transfer ONLY. No forms of credit cards or cashiers checks are accepted. Full payment is required within 48 hours after accepting the Second Chance Offer. Please note that we require the payment to be made to our company's bank account from United Kingdom in order to avoid paying local US taxes (7.5%), we also have a shop in United Kingdom. This invoice must be paid in full before any/all items are shipped. All the items will be shipped from United States.
- Your item will be shipped within 1 week of receipt of good funds, usually the next day. You will automatically be emailed a tracking number by our shipping service when your package is labeled; please keep an eye on your spam folder.




Email reference ID:
Please don't remove this number. Customer Support may ask you for this number, should you need assistance.








GunAuction sends these emails based on the preferences you set for your account. To unsubscribe from this email, change your communication preferences. Please note that it may take up to 14 days to process your request. Read our Privacy Policy and User Agreement if you have any questions.










[SonofWWIIDI]

Sent by the sellers Nigerian uncle, the prince. No doubt.

Just send me $5000, your SS#, credit card #'s and your personal ID info, I'll get to the bottom of it.

[Brake]

Here is the response I got from Gun Auction if anyone is interested. Looks like they got hacked...
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This is a scam alert being sent out to all GunAuction.com users.

Yesterday afternoon Thursday 10/24/2014, a scammer fraudulently contacted some of our users via email that appears to be patterned after GunAuction.com emails, impersonating several of our well known sellers.

These emails offered something called Second Chance Offers (a feature which appears at eBay and other auction websites, but which doesn't exist at GunAuction.com) on an auction that user may have participated in.

Additionally, the email claimed to offer GunAuction Purchase Protection Coverage of up to $20,000 (again, a feature or program not offered by GunAuction.com) in an attempt to assuage users' concerns about wiring money to a bank in Britain.

Given the sophistication of the appearance of the email, and the number of GunAuction.com users contacted by this scammer, we thought it prudent to contact all of our users to make you aware of the threat.

Naturally, some very simple steps can be taken to ensure that you're dealing with a legitimate seller at GunAuction.com.

First, after the close of an auction, contact the seller of the item via telephone BEFORE sending money - ESPECIALLY if you've never done business with that person before. Speaking with a living, breathing human being will resolve any questions you might have about an unsolicited email and it's legitimacy 99.999% of the time.

Secondly, unless you've been named the winner of an auction, you shouldn't be sending money to a seller. That's called an Off-Auction Sale, and we can't protect you from an unscrupulous seller who didn't do business with you at GunAuction.com. But if a seller doesn't follow our rules, we can impact their business by removing them from the site.

Thirdly, unless you're an importer of guns with business contacts outside the country, NEVER wire money outside the country. All firearms sales are conducted within the United States and it's associated territories. If you're sending money to somewhere other than the location of what's included in the listing, start asking questions.

We are investigating how scammers came to possess the email addresses of those contacted, whether or not GunAuction.com was the only site targeted, and if any of our users actually fell for the scam. So far, none appear to have, and GunAuction.com appears secure.

The emails themselves came from the domains guns-auction.com and every1guns.com - domains registered in Great Britain. Legitimate emails for buying and selling from GunAuction.com only come from GunAuction.com.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you, but we thought you should know.

If you have any questions regarding this email, you can contact us at (877)486-2828 during normal business hours, or email us at Support@GunAuction.com. Thanks.

[dc2allday]

[The Gleam]

I got an email from "Operations GunAuction" saying that I was being given a "Second Chance Offer" to purchase a firearm that I had bid on several month ago but did not win on an auction site.

It's more than "phishing" - it was definitely some kind of hacking/data-breech.

They had already sent me a warning email just PRIOR to the "second chance" offer email I received - from something I had bid on in August. Not that it would ahve mattered as I would ahve called that seller direct anyway, not sent an email. There were plenty of other errors as well which were an easy tip-off.

What concerned me was this; look at YOUR "second chance" email offer again.

Is it using your first name? This was more than just somebody signing up as a member and contacting people through their usernames on the site for any reason you wished (like you used to be able to do on Ebay).

My personal name does not appear anywhere on the site, and likely yours does not either; which tells me this was a true data-breech, wherein you had better go to the Auction Arms site and change your details/password (which as of this morning, Auction Arms is making you do anyway).

Beware of follow up emails in the future.

[fighterpilot562]

I can also email submissions
Beware of scam!

Says the account with hidden image/gifs in all his post.

[Brake]

I agree that there was definitely a hacking/data-breech. I think those that have a credit card number attached to their Gun Auction Acct. or personal info should be worried.