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Late last year, I posted a request for an old Weaver scope with a post reticle on another well-regarded forum. Apart from a couple of other gentlemen, a person called 'Lakes' popped up, new to the forum, advising me that he had one that his uncle wished to sell. It sounded legit, although the English in which he wrote it was not exactly standard, I agreed to email his 'uncle' and the deal was set up for $150 when he added another interesting-looking old scope to the deal.
Shortly after that, I was asked to send the money via PayPal to another name. I did so. The person said that dealt with a well-known freight company with a depot in Fresno airport CA. I'm deliberately not naming them as I believe them to be totally innocent in all the shenanagins that followed.
Next thing happened, yet another name advised me that the insurance to UK was another $50, so I asked him to send the package what was now two old scopes to Portland OR, in the hope that insurance would be cheaper. Nope, he'd already paid it and he needed the money.
But there was a problem.
It seems that somehow the freight company had found not just a third scope, but a handgun, in the package. I knew nothing about either of these two extra items. As a result of this, he said, they had declared the value to be $950 and were 'holding it in customs' and it would take another $450 to release'.
Needless to say, I refused to offer to 'help him out' and asked for my money back.
Over the last two months, that has been my request to him - pay me back or send the two scopes I paid for.
All I got was 'you don't see that you help me with this - just send money to help me out' - or variations of it.
It finally dawned on me that this guy was ripping the a$$ out of me. So I pulled the plug this morning.
Here are the names under which he operates - if anybody wants the full skinny - email addresses and so on, please PM me for them.
This is my post to him/them -
tac
To:Tommy Count
Sat, 21 Jan at 10:06
Dear Mr Lakes, Donald Sammy068, Tommy Count, William Gannon, Sammy Simonton and sampaco - it looks like you've scammed me out of a deal of money with your crooked and very clever system.
ALL these names under which you operate, including the one you originally used on [named forum], will be publicised on the following web sites later today -
gunboards.com
northwestfirearms.com
sigforum.com
canadiangunnutz.com
firearmstalk.com
muzzleloadingforum.com
Along with the names will be a strong warning not to have any dealings with you.
I'll be posting the method you used to carry out your scam, with fake 'customs holdups' and 'accidentally' putting a handgun and an additional scope in the package with two scopes to a third party.
I'm not sure how you got the [name] company involved in this scam, but it's obvious that you used their contact form to concoct a 'reason for hold' in your version of English, to try and get me to pay for some of the charges to 'release' the package - if it ever existed at all. I'll be calling them on Monday to talk directly to them about it.*
I hope that anything I do will prevent other gullible people from getting involved with you. I recommend that you use some of my money for English lessons - you sure do need a a few.
tac foley
*I actually emailed the company last week, in an effort get some clarity about this. I told 'Tommy Count' what I had done. He emailed me back to say that the company had 'fired the guy with your scopes'. Riiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Be careful, folks, they are everywhere, even on a forum like this one.
Shortly after that, I was asked to send the money via PayPal to another name. I did so. The person said that dealt with a well-known freight company with a depot in Fresno airport CA. I'm deliberately not naming them as I believe them to be totally innocent in all the shenanagins that followed.
Next thing happened, yet another name advised me that the insurance to UK was another $50, so I asked him to send the package what was now two old scopes to Portland OR, in the hope that insurance would be cheaper. Nope, he'd already paid it and he needed the money.
But there was a problem.
It seems that somehow the freight company had found not just a third scope, but a handgun, in the package. I knew nothing about either of these two extra items. As a result of this, he said, they had declared the value to be $950 and were 'holding it in customs' and it would take another $450 to release'.
Needless to say, I refused to offer to 'help him out' and asked for my money back.
Over the last two months, that has been my request to him - pay me back or send the two scopes I paid for.
All I got was 'you don't see that you help me with this - just send money to help me out' - or variations of it.
It finally dawned on me that this guy was ripping the a$$ out of me. So I pulled the plug this morning.
Here are the names under which he operates - if anybody wants the full skinny - email addresses and so on, please PM me for them.
This is my post to him/them -
tac
To:Tommy Count
Sat, 21 Jan at 10:06
Dear Mr Lakes, Donald Sammy068, Tommy Count, William Gannon, Sammy Simonton and sampaco - it looks like you've scammed me out of a deal of money with your crooked and very clever system.
ALL these names under which you operate, including the one you originally used on [named forum], will be publicised on the following web sites later today -
gunboards.com
northwestfirearms.com
sigforum.com
canadiangunnutz.com
firearmstalk.com
muzzleloadingforum.com
Along with the names will be a strong warning not to have any dealings with you.
I'll be posting the method you used to carry out your scam, with fake 'customs holdups' and 'accidentally' putting a handgun and an additional scope in the package with two scopes to a third party.
I'm not sure how you got the [name] company involved in this scam, but it's obvious that you used their contact form to concoct a 'reason for hold' in your version of English, to try and get me to pay for some of the charges to 'release' the package - if it ever existed at all. I'll be calling them on Monday to talk directly to them about it.*
I hope that anything I do will prevent other gullible people from getting involved with you. I recommend that you use some of my money for English lessons - you sure do need a a few.
tac foley
*I actually emailed the company last week, in an effort get some clarity about this. I told 'Tommy Count' what I had done. He emailed me back to say that the company had 'fired the guy with your scopes'. Riiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Be careful, folks, they are everywhere, even on a forum like this one.