Also be sure to take a look at this thread:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/how-to-not-get-ripped-off-in-pinball-vids-guide/

There's a lot of good info there to help explain how some of the scams work and how to detect/avoid them.

Buying (or selling) a game remotely is always going to carry some amount of risk.

Part of the reason that these scams have been working so well is that there is some pressure to act fast to avoid missing out on a deal. Unfortunately, that sometimes leads to rash decisions. If a deal is too good to be true, it probably is--so be cautious.

Since there are Pinsiders everywhere, some members have been checking for anyone who might be nearby to where the game is being sold and asking them if they would be willing to do a spot inspection to make sure the game exists and the condition is about what is actually described.

Mr Pinball maintains a blacklist, so be sure to check there for known scammers or aliases:
http://user.xmission.com/~daina/known_scammers.html

While hits in a reverse image search do usually indicate a scammer, the lack of hits doesn't automatically mean they are legit. Sometimes scammers use images that haven't been posted in a public space that google indexes/crawls.

In chrome, just right click the image and click "search google for images".

There is also a firefox plugin that adds that same feature.

You can also go to https://images.google.com, click the camera icon to "search for images", and either upload the image or paste the link.

I can recall several legitimate sellers who only joined the site for the purpose of unloading a game they somehow acquired. Some of those sellers never came back after a sale, and a few ended up returning later at some point.

It's impossible to protect every single person from every single scam. Each person still has to use their head, apply common sense, be aware that scamming does happen, and be familiar with some of the methods/techniques that are typically used during the course of a scam.

We do try our best to keep an eye on ads that go up in our regions, investigate reports when submitted by members, and try to educate members to the possibilities of scams. Robin has implemented several features on the site to help with detection, warnings, and prevention. But, it's a perpetual cat-and-mouse game. Scammers are fairly determined when they find out they can make some fast cash by just sending a few messages and posting a few photos.

If you even suspect a scam, report it--flag the post, open a moderator feedback thread, or PM a moderator.

There's no harm in being suspicious and giving us a heads up about something--you will not get in trouble for it. We would rather see a few false positive reports rather than no reports at all. So, better safe than sorry--don't wait for "someone else" to report it. You saw it, so please go ahead and report it.

Your early heads up could mean the difference between a scam ad being taken down only a few minutes after being posted, or being left up for hours with other members potentially falling for the scam.

I'm sure you all dislike scammers as much as we do, so please keep an eagle eye out and let us know if you spot anything.

Thanks to some eagle-eyed members, we caught & banned two scammers today, each under 45 minutes of posting an ad. Nice job guys

There are plenty of red flags without getting into specifics.

This doesn't need to turn into a how-to guide for how to not sound like a scammer.

Yup, scammer. Removed & banned.

Unfortunately, the sense of urgency of potentially missing out on a deal tends to override common sense.