ctrlpew 
Over the last year, we’ve seen several accounts pop up impersonating notable figures in the gun printing community. Read this article and protect yourself. Go armed with knowledge and stuff.
The social media platforms that love to delete our accounts have not been very helpful in resolving these fraud problems. From a certain perspective, their constant banning and deletion of legitimate accounts, have created an environment in which these sorts of fraud and scam accounts can thrive.
General advice for avoiding scams
- Dont give money (or crypto, or gift cards) to anyone because of some DM thread on social media.
- Verify the account you are interacting with via some Alternate source. Like their website. ( I use a subdomain that redirects to whatever account I am actually using https://instagram.ctrlpew.com for example).
- Check the comments on their posts and see what their following is saying about them.
If you encounter other accounts you suspect are scammers, specifically those impersonating members of the gun printing community, please email screenshots, links, and other data to scamreport@ctrlpew.com.
The Scammer List
Real – “ctrl_pew” (see the underscore) on Instagram – link
Scammer – “ctrl.pew” (see the dot) on Instagram – link
Scammer – “ctrl_pew2” (see the two) on Instagram – link
Scammer – “theguide.ctrlpew” on Instagram – link
Scammer – “@saint2A” on telegram – link
Scammer – “@saint2A” on telegram – link
Scammer – “https://t.me/ctrl_pew” on telegram – link
This account greatly offends me because he is impersonating me directly, using my own content. Despite my reports using alt accounts and the reports of thousands of other Instagram users, Instagram refuses to remove him.
Scam types
Usually, his scams consist of offering a group buy on printers but I have seen occasional merch offers. Usually for BTC. Usually at a discount. Once you send him your coins they block your account so it becomes difficult to report him. I have seen him give out his BTC wallet address, link to a Coinbase checkout portal and utilize a Linktree page to direct people. He is using a Gmail account Most recently he has started a telegram channel. (the.guide.ctrl.pew@gmail.com)
How you know it’s fake.
For starters, I love you kids but I dont have time to manage e-commerce via a platform that deleted me 15 times last year.
It’s because of this I set up a store. shop.ctrlpew.com. I accept credit cards and BTC through it. You will get a receipt and it’s on my own platform so it’s not going to get lost. You can email my team for customer service and order updates. You dont get blocked. Everything I ever offer for sale will be done via that. (including bulk orders for printers, should I ever do another one)
You can always verify you are actually talking to me by going to
*socialmediaplatform*.ctrlpew.com.
(ex https://instagram.ctrlpew.com)
It will always redirect you to my current account. I reroute the subdomains every time I get deleted and rebuild a new profile.
Also, if you get an email from me it will be from my own domain – ctrlpew.com and not a gmail address.
How you can help.
Go and report each of these pages as a scam or impersonation. Hopefully these platforms will treat a scammer worse than they treat me.
Real- “3dprintgeneral” (see no underscore) – Link
Scammer – “_3dprintgeneral” (see the underscore) on Instagram – link
This account is an impersonation of 3D Print General. A more printing-focused youtube that has covered 3d printed firearms quite a bit.
Scam types
Usually, his scams consist of offering a group buy on printers.
How you know it’s fake.
Having spoken to him on this topic He has never done a group buy on 3d printers and has no intention to. Ever.
Real- Deleted by IG and has not been rebuilt.
Scammer – “the_gatalog” (see the underscore) on Instagram – link
This account is an impersonation of The Gatalog. A community of online firearm developers.
Scam types
Usually, his scams consist of offering a group buy on printers via DM in exchange for Bitcoin or other crypto.
How you know it’s fake.
The Gatalog does not have a social media account a this time. I know this because I, CTRLPew, and the admin of said account. The Gatalog is not engaged in any sort of commerce, and does not do any level of group buys.
TLDR: Be wary of anyone selling you anything via social media. Dont have social media as your only means of communication with a vendor.