SCAMMER ALERT, Official Thread

[manasdirge]

Bad news everyone: Maltess has been back. We've banned him as soon as we've become aware of his return. Previous usernames include Ackerman, Islay, Audley, Calvay, Bech, and, most recently, Bonney.

He posts from Spanish IPs. Pls report any possible scams asap.

Unfortunately, it looks like we may have another one who posted as cooper02, arch_imp, and Mr Adamson. He mostly posts from Mexico but also a few times from Australia.

It's unfortunate I didn't read this thread before, as it seems I've also been scammed by a Spanish dude (as above) with the username Pollit, who was recently banned.

BTW, the PayPal email he used was [email protected] - everyone beware if they see that one in the future.

@Christopher Essex I got the same case as yours, however I got the package which was an empty envelop with his address on it (I'm not sure it's his real address or not) .... instead of a box of shoes.
This times he used username "Mead", please beware this member. He is also a Spanish guy and this user is still active. His PayPal user is "[email protected]"

some more leads in this threads, guess we should be on alart once the seller is located in Spain and provide a Paypal address with "77" in it, the scammer obviously have more than one account and therefore a few positive feedbacks is not a guarantee for a straight seller.

And of course, always use credit card via Paypal invoiced transaction and never personal payment.

 

[hjhr]

some more leads in this threads, guess we should be on alart once the seller is located in Spain and provide a Paypal address with "77" in it, the scammer obviously have more than one account and therefore a few positive feedbacks is not a guarantee for a straight seller.

And of course, always use credit card via Paypal invoiced transaction and never personal payment.

I was also scammed by this guy (Hewes) a couple of months ago. I made the payment via Skrill and they do not support the trust that Paypal has, so I'm of of that money.

However, I did run some background research on the mail he used for the Payment through Skill, and found the persons identification, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc. accounts. So I know his real name, where he works etc.

I also confronted him through Facebook, but then he responded by putting down his account.

I have given it some thought of reaching out to his boss and co-workers, letting them know what type of person they have hired and that are working with them. But yet, I have not done so yet.

What do you guys think about this situation? Any ideas of how/if we should take this further?

 

[stifler]

I was also scammed by this guy (Hewes) a couple of months ago. I made the payment via Skrill and they do not support the trust that Paypal has, so I'm of of that money.

However, I did run some background research on the mail he used for the Payment through Skill, and found the persons identification, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc. accounts. So I know his real name, where he works etc.

I also confronted him through Facebook, but then he responded by putting down his account.

I have given it some thought of reaching out to his boss and co-workers, letting them know what type of person they have hired and that are working with them. But yet, I have not done so yet.

What do you guys think about this situation? Any ideas of how/if we should take this further?

Nice detective work. If I were you, I'd reach out to some lawyer friends just to be safe

 

[dreamspace]

First, I'd want to be 100% sure that it's indeed the person in question, and not some hijacked e-mail account or similar. It's not impossible, but but at the same time, I find it a bit improbable that random scammers have such a specific niche (menswear, etc.).

In your case, I'd be amazed if the person you've contacted isn't the scammer - but you can't be 100% sure.

Unfortunately, I think there's a certain type of scammer on these boards (and Ebay, etc.) the people that will do 80% legit deals, and then scam 20% of the time, probably to have positive leverage. If you're a scammer trying to burn everyone, you'll get caught fast. If you're doing 20 good deals a year, but scamming a couple, it might be low enough to fly under the radar.

 

[hjhr]

First, I'd want to be 100% sure that it's indeed the person in question, and not some hijacked e-mail account or similar. It's not impossible, but but at the same time, I find it a bit improbable that random scammers have such a specific niche (menswear, etc.).

In your case, I'd be amazed if the person you've contacted isn't the scammer - but you can't be 100% sure.

Unfortunately, I think there's a certain type of scammer on these boards (and Ebay, etc.) the people that will do 80% legit deals, and then scam 20% of the time, probably to have positive leverage. If you're a scammer trying to burn everyone, you'll get caught fast. If you're doing 20 good deals a year, but scamming a couple, it might be low enough to fly under the radar.

I have given this some thought as well and I agree that it needs to be 100% sure before contacting other relatives and/or co-workers of him.

The reasons that makes me believe I have contacted the right person (the actual scammer), are the following:
- I have sent him several messages on his email-account as well as Facebook account letting him know that I have him identification as well as his place of work, social media info etc. After I did this, all the social media platforms I found him on, were put down as well as his LinkedIn profile.
In my opinion, if I contacted the wrong person, he would have responded back to me, saying he did not know anything about these scams.
- Also, this email is registered on his Skrill account, which is linked to his bank account. Managing this email-info, is not something you are able to do yourself in your Skrill account. It is simply there to make sure you are able to make contact with the person you are transferring money to via his email address. Skrill makes it possible to transfer money from your bank account to your Skrill account and then be able to transfer money back-and-forth between emails within the Skill system. This meaning that the person who receives the money, are the actual person using the email.

Anyway, that is how I see it. Please prove me wrong

 

[Caustic Man]

I think you should ask yourself why it is you want to pursue this person. It seems to me that you are unlikely to get your money, whatever you do. So there is no way to make this right for yourself. You could sue the guy but that sounds like an expensive hassle and might not be worth it in the end. So what else? Do you want to make this person suffer? Maybe they deserve it but you have to ask yourself what is meaningful to you. Is it meaningful to take revenge on this person? Maybe the answer is yes because at least then he would have a harder time scamming others. Or maybe the answer is no and revenge would only serve to give you some personal satisfaction. I'm not judging any eventuality here, just trying to give you some perspective to better make your choice.

 

[othertravel]

Ideally it would stop him from scamming others. Justice needs to be proportional.

 

[Caustic Man]

I think in that case you need ask yourself some tough questions because it's so easy to allow yourself to believe that you're pursuing someone for the good of others when, in reality, it may be very unlikely that that action will stop this person from scamming. For instance, say the person loses his job because he is exposed as a scammer. Maybe locally that makes him a pariah but he's scamming online with relative anonymity (until now). What's to say that he doesn't keep scamming with even more attention paid to covering his tracks? Indeed, what's to say he wouldn't start scamming even more since his income is now compromised? Unintended consequences are something to think about.

 

[othertravel]

@

 

[emptym]

CM, if you had a student who cheated, would you let the person get away with it? Why/why not? I think the same principles would apply here: justice and the hope for deterrence. Sure, deterrence isn't a certain consequence, but what is?

 

[Caustic Man]

CM, if you had a student who cheated, would you let the person get away with it? Why/why not? I think the same principles would apply here: justice and the hope for deterrence. Sure, deterrence isn't a certain consequence, but what is?

No. But the question is really 'would I go to that student's workplace and tell their boss that they cheated?'

 

[emptym]

^Only if cheating on a test or paper were as bad as scamming multiple people in various countries out of thousands of dollars.

What penalty would you suggest for this person? Imo, jail would be the proportionate punishment.

 

[Caustic Man]

You’re moving the goal posts. Your original question had nothing to do with severity, you only asked if I would let a cheating student get away with that infraction. My objection was that your question was not useful because it bore little resemblance to the issue we were discussing. Indeed, I proposed no punishment in any case nor did I offer a judgment on whether approaching this person’s workplace was right or wrong. I only offered a few words of caution and a slight admonishment to think hard about whether the resulting actions would be self serving or not.

By your last question you seem to want to drag me into a discussion that you would like to have but that I am not willing to pursue.

 

[emptym]

I wasn't moving the goal posts. I was just trying to keep the analogy proportionate.

But you're completely right that my original question had nothing to do with severity. My only point was that if someone has done something wrong, then there are at least two good reasons to "pursue": justice and deterrence.

 

[Caustic Man]

I totally agree with your last point. My critique was only an admonishment to carefully consider whether going to someone's workplace and outing them like this would achieve either of those things or whether it would only serve personal satisfaction on the matter. It's very difficult (sometimes people underestimate how difficult) to differentiate what seems like justice from what actually is. You know the desire to feel personal satisfaction from seeing an enemy suffer can often masquerade as a desire for justice.