Home Forums Gear Free Classifieds RECENTLY SCAMMED HERE

All,
I was recently scammed here. These are the details.

I advertised for a Swarovski Z5 scope. I posted this as a WTB and added my email. I received a couple of offers a few days apart. The scammers contacted me with offers to sell. I responded that I needed pictures and an address. I got those and checked out the addresses. One was from Colorado and the other from Virginia. I failed to get phone numbers and did everything via email. No red flags on the deals, but a couple of yellow flags. The addresses were for a mobile home in a trailer park and the other was for a hotel. I checked out the name and the hotel and all seemed legit.

I sent the payments via USPS money orders and priority tracking.

I got confirmation of delivery and from the sellers saying they would ship asap. I even got a tracking number from one right away.

Then silence. I checked the tracking number and the response was "it was purchased but not yet shipped".

The two scammers/sellers are -

Ryan Thomas
400 W. South Boulder Road, lot 17
Louisville, CO 80027
email - ryanthomasx4gmail.com

Andy Gillis
Lee High Inn
9865 Fairfax Blvd
Fairfax, VA 22030
email - andygillis177gmail.com

The "MO" was the same on both scammers. The tone and composition of the emails were not suspicious. The pictures were good and of the scope I was looking for.

I have repeatedly tried to reach them, but no response. I have been scammed.

I have reached out to authorities as I have extensive law enforcement contacts as well as the fraud division of the USPS.

I hopefully will get resolution, but want all here to be aware.

I have done hundreds of deals on the internet for purchases and sales. This is the first time I have been scammed.

Be careful.

First off, sorry you got scammed.
2nd, good luck and I got scammed here a couple of years ago. I sent the money via USPS money order, certified mail (thinking this was extra insurance) Police could not care less even though in my case it was a firearm. USPS was not help either, nobody at the post office nor the police dept. gave two hoots about it.


I hope you have better luck than I did.

Sorry to hear that. What were their usernames?

Says in his post it was all through email. Anyone who would verify a hotel room and still send money doesn't get much sympathy from me. Some people are slow learners.

If you want to get scammed, post a WTB add with your email and conduct business through email outside the forum and send payment to a motel room and trailer court. I mean seriously, WTF were you thinking? Let me guess, it was too good of a deal to pass up, twice.

Yes, sorry to hear that also. That sucks. usernames?

I never post WTB. It seems most of the scammers jump on this.

Yep, call hotel and ask if person in room # is xxxx. Better yet ask to speak to room xxx.

Yellow flags would have been enough for me.

I hate he got scammed but I tend to agree about the hotel passing the “check out and feel comfortable” test.

Can easily verify with a few questions and in asking for 1 or 2 very specific pics. Ask for those pics and then it will be crickets.

The names you listed may not be the scammers.

The scammer may be using their addresses. They have time to figure out how to do this.

Had a scammer trying to sell me a pistol but the guy at the address everything came back to had no clue.

Somebody on here did some research for me and figured out the Addy was to a retired law enforcement fellow.

Somehow these fuggers figure out how to make all of this work.

Why would you do anything once you confirmed it was a hotel room?

To eliminate what happened here.

If I tell you I am in room 231 at xxx hotel does that mean I am in that room?

Betting a Hadji run hotel and he has all of his scammers housed there. As soon as you hear the voice you know you are phu.uucked.

I grew up two blocks away from the one in fairfax.

My point being, once you discovered or were provided a hotel room for payment, only a fool would proceed one iota further.

I don't need to call and speak to anyone to know I should run as fast as I can in the opposite direction.

👍

WTB ad responses are rife with scammers these days. Anyone can find what you're looking for on the net and post a photo.

Can we all pitch in and buy OP this T-shirt?

Not hard to figure out.

At the risk of sounding as though I'm defending the OP, he never once said that the address was to a hotel...ROOM. If we exercise just a smidgen of charitable interpretation, one could infer that the seller might own a hotel, and was using that as a business address. See how I did that? Now, would I have proceeded on any of those grounds? Hell no. My trust and verify department would have nipped that idea down quick.

The lesson rests square in his lap and perfect on his tongue I'm sure.

Thanks for posting
We can all learn from others experiences

Hank

+1 Hank.
It's easy to see what went wrong after the fact. I, too, appreciate the OP's post. He is trying to help the rest of us, not make himself look bad.
donsm70