Big list of known pinball Scam web sites. (2024)

Here are some ways to spot a scam site. Not all scam sites will bear all of these identifying attributes, but they generally have one or more of them.

Prices
The prices on scam sites tend to be significantly lower than you see anywhere else. This helps attract potential marks thinking they could get a deal, and pressures them to act fast before they miss out on it (aka FOMO--Fear of Missing Out).

Poor English
Scam sites usually feature content written by a non-native speaker. Therefore, there may be odd word choices, unusual sentence structure, incorrect verb tenses, and so on. If you read it aloud, it just sounds wrong.

Stolen Content
Often times, scam sites will lift content from websites of legitimate pinball distributors. For whatever reason, they seem to favor some of these sites:

• The Pinball Company: https://www.thepinballcompany.com/
• Fun!: https://pinballandmore.com/
• Great American Pinball (GAP): https://www.greatamericanpinball.com/

Sometimes if you do a search for a few sentences that you find on the scam site, either on individual product listings or an about page, you will see results of those same sentences found on other (and sometimes legitimate) websites.

Stolen Images
Scam sites don't take their own photographs of games. They pretty much always steal them from other sources such as legitimate distributors or private seller ads. Use google's reverse image search or https://tineye.com/ to do a reverse image search on the images. If you see results pop up elsewhere, it's very likely that the images were stolen.

Note that sometimes you might not get a reverse image result, but that doesn't mean the image hasn't been stolen--just that it hasn't been indexed by the search engine. If a reverse search fails, try searching older ads, restoration guides/threads, game room threads, or various other places where game images may be posted. Sometimes if you search for images just based on the game title, it may show up in search results, especially if the image on the scam site was altered, cropped, recolored, rotated, or otherwise altered in a minor way.

Domain Name Lookup
This is a bit more technical than the other red flags, but reveals a lot more information.

If you are unfamiliar with how domain names work, this is a quick overview: in order to use a domain name, you must buy it from a domain name registrar. Ownership information is then added to the purchased domain name's record, which is called a whois record. This record shows who is in control of a domain name and how to contact them--this is information that is completely public. However, since most people don't want their private contact and billing information made public, you can mask it using private registration information provided by the registrar. So, any information sent to the masked contact information listed in the whois record will be forwarded to your real contact information.

To check the registration/whois details of a domain, you can visit any number of domain registrar sites, but I prefer to use https://whois.domaintools.com/ because of the additional details that they provide.

The domain name used for a scam website is generally relatively new. Since these scams started appearing in late 2019, the creation date of the domain may be between late 2019 and early 2021.

Whois records may also contain contact information for a foreign entity, such as masked private registrar information provided by a company in China.

The nameservers listed in the record may also be from foreign companies, and may be based in places such as India or Pakistan. Additional technical info: Nameservers hold the routing information for the website domain, which directs the domain name to the server where the website resides. Normally, the nameserver is provided by the domain registrar or website host. If it's instead with a foreign 3rd-party, more often than not there's something fishy going on. A 3rd-party nameserver makes it easier for a scammer to pivot to a new web host if they get booted from an old one.

The hosting provider/server that is used to host the website might or might not be foreign. More often than not, it is based in the US since this is where the target audience is, and basic web hosting is really cheap here.

Hosting providers and some domain name registrars make it pretty easy to pay for services using various payment methods, and since they don't mail anything, a scammer can easily provide false contact info. So, a scammer can effectively remain anonymous.

Contact Information
If contact information is provided on the website, search for it in google and see what else comes up. Sometimes the same contact info will appear on other scam sites or scam warning sites.

Sometimes contact information will just be a phone number or whatsapp number. No legitimate retailer uses whatsapp. If it's a phone number, search for it on https://www.freecarrierlookup.com/ to determine what the phone carrier is. Beware of SMS-only carriers and bandwidth.com (aka google voice).

Many of the scam sites have a whatsapp number and/or whatsapp chat box. Legitimate distributors do not typically have this.

Location Information
Sometimes the location information will be a legitimate pinball distributor/dealer or arcade. Use google maps and the street view feature to see the building at the address. Retail distributors usually have signage on their building, so if the signage doesn't match the name on the website, then the website might not be legit. Also, if the location doesn't have street view available, it may have been purposefully picked so that you can't see the building in street view. A random nondescript warehouse without signage can also be suspicious, especially if the street view image is only a year or two old.

Automated Scam Site Checking Tool
https://www.scamdoc.com/ is a tool you can use to check a website for some of the red flags that can help identify a scam site. It uses some of the identifying markers as described above, plus various others (such as other websites or the lack of websites that are linking to the scam site).

Note that automated tools shouldn't be trusted blindly, as they can be tricked by scammers as they change, update, and use tactics to help avoid detection.

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Up until this point, this has been about the website itself. If for whatever reason you end up making contact with the scammer, here are couple things that would stand out:

Seeing a Game
Overall, a legitimate seller would typically invite and encourage you to see and play the game in person with no strings attached.

A scammer will likely come up with all sorts of excuses as to why you (or a friend/family member in the area) can't see a game in person. Excuses could include: it's currently somewhere else (at a different location or warehouse), it's being cleaned, it's on location and inaccessible, the business is closed during any proposed days/times, etc.

Sometimes a scammer will try to get you to pay some sort of deposit fee up front prior to letting you see any game(s) in person. They sometimes come up with all sorts of excuses as to why it's necessary (ie, to pay for staff) and/or that it's a standard practice (hint: it's not, and this is just another scam tactic to get you to give them money when it's clear you won't immediately click the buy button for a game on their website). However, as a minor note, making a deposit on a game is a legitimate practice in certain situations where you are specifically making a commitment to buy a specific game--just make sure it's a legitimate business and/or individual first.

Payment Methods
Most retailers will take just about any legitimate form of payment--credit cards, checks, cash, wire transfers. However, scammers don't want to run the risk of a reversed payment or a payment that can be tracked. So, they will request payment in the form of gift cards, bitcoin, and sometimes venmo/zelle or wire transfers. A legitimate seller will *never* request gift cards, and it's very unlikely they will request any form of crypto currency.

Pinball Terminology
Scammers are getting to know our hobby fairly well, and have started to become familiar with the terminology. However, they tend not to be familiar with some simple technical questions, concepts about maintenance, or generally having anything to do with repair or anything that has to do with opening a pinball machine or seeing what is inside of it. Note that this may change as they become more familiar with our hobby. But legitimate retailers generally know their products inside and out, while scammers tend to provide nonsense answers.

Unknown Freight/Shipping Company
Depending how far you are pulled into the scam, the scammer may send you to a shipping company to either arrange shipping, arrange shipping insurance, or to check a tracking number they give you after payment is made. Unfortunately, most of the time, this is a fake shipping company website being operated by the scammer (as a companion site). Giving you a tracking number to follow is a delay tactic that allows them time to get away with your money and disappear before you catch on to what happened.

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Be Aware of New or Changing Tactics
Smarter scammers tend to update, modify, and change some of their tactics as people start to recognize how they operate. So, be aware that they may attempt to minimize some of the red flags identified above.

What can you do to help combat these scammers?