Understanding the system that protects you before, during, and after every trade.
What Is Scam Watch?
Scam Watch is one of the core pillars of CFS Community. It is a structured, evidence-first database of confirmed bad actors and disputed transactions — not a complaint board, not a venting space, and not a popularity contest.
Scam Watch serves three strategic functions:
- Trust infrastructure — buyers can search for a seller’s history before sending payment, reducing information asymmetry.
- Industry public good — confirmed scam records are indexed by search engines, making CFS a searchable fraud prevention resource for the entire GK / resin statue community.
- Community defense — unlike Facebook groups where posts get buried or Discord servers where chat history is difficult to trace, CFS maintains structured, searchable records that persist.
Scam Watch is a controlled publication system, not an open forum. All reports go through a structured wizard and staff review before anything is made public.
How to Submit a Report
Use the Scam Watch Report Wizard Only
No free-form posts are permitted in Scam Watch — ever. All reports must be submitted through the Scam Report Wizard, a multi-step structured form that ensures consistent, actionable submissions.
To access the Wizard, navigate to the Scam Watch category and click “Submit a Report”.
What the Wizard Asks For
The Wizard walks you through four steps:
Step 1 — Reported Party Information
- CFS username (if the person has a CFS account)
- External platform and username — Facebook, Discord, Reddit, eBay, Instagram, or other
- PayPal email or ID (strongly recommended — this is searchable for future lookups)
- Known aliases (optional — other usernames or identities associated with the reported party)
Step 2 — Dispute Details
- Dispute type — fraud, stolen photos, bootleg/recast sale, non-shipment, damage without compensation, or other
- Transaction amount and currency
- Timeline of events — when the deal was agreed, when payment was sent, what happened after
Step 3 — Evidence Upload
- Chat screenshots — full, unedited conversations showing context
- Payment records — PayPal transaction screenshots, receipts, or confirmation emails
- Photo evidence — comparison photos, listing screenshots, delivery condition photos
- At least one piece of hard evidence (payment record or shipping/delivery proof) is required. Pure text descriptions alone are not accepted.
Step 4 — Your Contact Information and Consent
- Confirm your contact information for staff follow-up
- Consent to Publish checkbox — you must acknowledge that substantiated reports will be published with transaction-relevant details
What Happens After Submission
Your report does not go public immediately. Here is the exact process:
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Report enters the staff review queue — visible only to staff, not publicly accessible.
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Staff reviews the evidence. Target review time is within 72 hours.
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If evidence is incomplete, staff will contact you via PM to request additional documentation.
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If the reported party is a CFS member, they are notified that a report has been filed (without revealing the reporter’s identity).
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Staff makes a determination. Two possible outcomes:
- Published (Blacklist) — evidence is sufficient, fraud is confirmed. The report is published in the Scam Watch category. The reported user is permanently banned.
- Dismissed — evidence is insufficient, the report appears to be a misunderstanding, or the reported party provided adequate counter-evidence. The reporter is notified privately with the reason. No public post is created.
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If the dispute resolves during review (e.g., the seller issues a refund), the report is closed with no public record and no impact on either party.
Evidence Standards
The strength of Scam Watch depends entirely on the quality of evidence submitted. These are the standards:
- Screenshots must be unedited and show full context. Cropped or selectively edited screenshots will be flagged and may result in your report being dismissed or investigated.
- PayPal transaction records are strongly recommended. A PayPal payment screenshot or transaction ID is the single strongest piece of evidence you can provide. It proves money changed hands.
- Shipping and tracking records — carrier tracking pages, delivery confirmation screenshots, or signature records.
- At least one piece of hard evidence is required. Hard evidence means a payment record, shipping proof, or verifiable platform communication. Reports supported only by verbal claims will not be substantiated.
- Multiple independent reports accelerate review. If several unrelated members report the same individual, this pattern significantly strengthens the case and may expedite staff determination.
What Scam Watch Is NOT
This distinction matters. Misuse of Scam Watch undermines the system for everyone.
Scam Watch is not for:
- Buyer/seller disputes over negotiation breakdowns. If you agreed on a price but the seller changed their mind before payment was sent, that is not fraud. It may be poor conduct, but it is not a Scam Watch matter.
- Items arriving slower than expected. International shipping takes time. Customs delays are not scams. If tracking shows the item is in transit, wait. If tracking shows delivery but you have not received it, that is a carrier issue — contact the carrier first.
- Personal grievances unrelated to transactions. Disagreements about opinions, grading standards, or community behavior do not belong in Scam Watch.
- Disputes where you used Friends & Family. CFS rules require PayPal G&S for a reason. If you chose to ignore that rule and paid via F&F, your recourse through both PayPal and CFS is severely limited.
If your situation does not involve a financial transaction where one party failed to deliver on clearly agreed terms, it does not belong in Scam Watch.
False and Malicious Reports
CFS takes the integrity of Scam Watch extremely seriously.
- Submitting a false or fabricated report is a bannable offense. If staff determines that you knowingly provided falsified evidence, invented claims, or filed a report as an act of retaliation, you will be permanently banned.
- Submitting a report with suspicious motivation — such as retaliatory reporting after a personal conflict — will result in dismissal and may trigger investigation of the reporter.
- Staff evaluates not only the evidence but the context and motivation behind every report. The system is designed to protect honest members — it will not be weaponized.
Privacy Protections
Scam Watch publishes only what is necessary to protect the community. Here is what is and is not made public:
Published (confirmed Blacklist posts only):
- Reported party’s CFS username and/or external platform identifiers
- Dispute type and summary of events
- Relevant evidence (screenshots with personal information redacted where appropriate)
- Staff determination and outcome
Never published:
- Reporter’s identity — notifications to reported parties never reveal who filed the report
- Personal addresses — home addresses, phone numbers, or private contact information are never included in any public post
- PayPal email addresses — displayed only in redacted/partial form for search matching purposes, never in full
- Real names — only included if directly relevant to a confirmed fraud case and only by staff discretion
Dismissed reports are never made public. Internal records are retained by staff for reference purposes only.
Quick Reference
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Submit a report | Scam Report Wizard — Scam Watch category |
| Staff review timeline | Within 72 hours |
| Outcome: Published | Fraud confirmed — report goes public, user banned |
| Outcome: Dismissed | Insufficient evidence — reporter notified privately |
| False report consequence | Permanent ban |
Scam Watch exists because this community refuses to accept the status quo — where scammers operate freely and victims have no recourse. Every legitimate report makes the database stronger. Every search before a deal makes the community safer.