Nathan Lancaster/Lamar Washington scammer, beware!

I put up a wanted ad here on fauna for a male axanthic green iguana. Nathan Lancaster (or whatever his real name is) contacted me 10/31 via text and email that he had a male available. The number he used was (757) 707-1954. He sent me pictures of the supposed iguana via skinks77@yahoo.com. The PayPal email he sent me was skydiver1208@yahoo.com (which had the name Lamar Washington instead, when I asked about the names not matching he said it was his son's name). The conversation with him felt really normal, he was really convincing of someone legitimate. The only red flag was that I couldn't find him on fauna or Facebook. It was only after the fact that I realized there was another thread here on fauna about but the thread title had a different phone number from the one he used with me. I used goods and services for PayPal and have already filed a claim. People posting wanted ads should be careful especially careful!

In the future when you research, do a Google search on the email address(es) of the seller. Had you done that you would have found the other Fauna threads about this scammer.

Originally Posted by bcr229

In the future when you research, do a Google search on the email address(es) of the seller. Had you done that you would have found the other Fauna threads about this scammer.

Yes I definitely will. Unfortunately I got caught up in the excitement, since I've been struggling to find a young male. My mistake that I won't repeat.

Originally Posted by Fatalis

Yes I definitely will. Unfortunately I got caught up in the excitement, since I've been struggling to find a young male. My mistake that I won't repeat.

Here is another thing I would avoid in the future, besides getting caught up in the excitement, not only for you but everyone else too: When you post a wanted ad, don't post your email. Instead say PM (Private Message) me. This forces a scammer to at least need to create an account where we have a chance of tracking them.

If people put an ad up that says, "WANTED: X species email me at iwantto@bescammed.com, then scammers scan classifieds for wanted ads and email them directly without an account here. Make sense?

If he contacted you via Fauna PM, let us know.

Originally Posted by Robert Walker

Here is another thing I would avoid in the future, besides getting caught up in the excitement, not only for you but everyone else too: When you post a wanted ad, don't post your email. Instead say PM (Private Message) me. This forces a scammer to at least need to create an account where we have a chance of tracking them.

If people put an ad up that says, "WANTED: X species email me at iwantto@bescammed.com, then scammers scan classifieds for wanted ads and email them directly without an account here. Make sense?

If he contacted you via Fauna PM, let us know.

He didn't contact me via PM, but I will go ahead and take that ad down. Thank you for the advice!