I Was Robbed Monday Night in Valrico, FL

[Muzz]

Terrible!!! It is hard to believe that someone would actually do something like this to a private owner, disgusting.

I hope, along with everyone I am sure on TRF your watch is returned swiftly.

[fskywalker]

Sorry to hear this story, hopefully it is solved to your satisfaction and the guy gets nailed.

[GB-man]

Sorry to hear that. Selling makes me more nervous than buying.

Great pic of the scumbag. Hope they catch him and hit him with the taser on the testes.

[hdrazor251]

Sounds like this guy's a pro and has probably done it before. I hope they catch the SOB and he pays in spades.

Like others have said, keep and eye on ebay and craigslist. It took about 4 months, but mine finally appeared on ebay and I was able to recover it. Best of luck!

[brian89]

:( good luck

[alubin]

This is some F*cked up stuff. I hope you get your watch back and I'm clearly going to have to be more careful with FTF sales from now on. WOW

[doozyj]

So it was more of a swindle and not a robbery. As initially I thought your life was threatened when I read the thread title. Regardless the universe will work its way out and deal appropriate karma to the bastard.

[silverbullet818]

I've heard of stories where the buyer puts on the watch to 'check' it out on the wrist and just bolts out of there running like a madman.

Obviously this would be hard to stop. Yelling and screaming at him won't stop him as he sprints away with your watch.

Bottom line is, it's hard to sell high value goods.

You don't want them to go to your place of residence. You clearly don't want to go to theirs and now it appears even going to a very public place is no good.

Maybe do deals inside the lobby of the police station??!

[Saoirse32]

Originally Posted by RolexAuthority

You didn't smell a rat at any time as he gave you the money then comes back from car and says I need to see another watch locally can I have my money back? I know it's hindsight but a quick check of the watch before handing money over would have resulted in two things:
1. You confronting him but you're still holding a fake watch he has real one could have ended nasty if escalated.
2. You confront him decide to call police he takes his money forcefully and your watch and who knows what else he would do once trapped in the situation

Either way your ok that's main thing when you think of what else potentially could have happened from an escalated situation. Others will also learn from this so thank you for bravely posting - we all have your back and hope justice prevails.

And your point is...? OP, sorry this happened, could've happened to anyone. No Monday morning quarterbacking here! Thank you for sharing for awareness.

[Ruud Van Driver]

Glad you're ok and I hope you get your watch back.

It's been suggested that you put his mug on social media; sounds like a good idea but I'd check with police first.

[Rogdogg]

Sorry to hear about this. Some people are just out and out scum and have no problem just ripping off something that another has worked very hard to acquire. He seemed very confident in his scam too so he has probably done it before. It's obviously quite common as our other member had his iPhone stolen in a similar type switch. I had never heard of it before but from now on I will be very vigilant for it.
This sounds like it could turn out to be quite a delicate case so I would check everything with police before I make any other moves such as posting on FB etc.

[jeffgo888]

jesus ...as someone who used to live in Daytona/Orlando, this POS gives Central Floridians a bad name.
Joe, no worries, I am praying you will get your piece back and if not, as somewhat religious here, Lord will provide better, and more important, your health is safe. IF you cornered the guy and confronted, he MAY have been armed and READY to go to extreme. WHO knows what would have happened? Pray and thanks that your good health and ready to move forward.

[dadonn2]

I am sorry this happened at all and more sorry that it happened to you. I appreciate you telling your story in a public forum for the collective benefit of all and hopefully, some help to you. That takes some guts on its own if you ask me.

[silverbullet818]

You could post a reward poster... you know there is no honour among thieves and someone may turn him in!

[Dusko.Popov]

Originally Posted by doozyj

So it was more of a swindle and not a robbery. As initially I thought your life was threatened when I read the thread title. Regardless the universe will work its way out and deal appropriate karma to the bastard.

I thought the same thing based on the thread title. And I didn't read the entire post because the title sufficiently explained the circumstances in my estimation. After reading the post, it doesn't sound like "robbery," more a conversion or theft by deception.

Either way, I apologoze if I offended anyone with my original post. I didn't feel that my post was egregious or anything resembling it; however I understand that my particular flavor of personal protection may not be everyone's cup of tea and the comment should not have been made in this forum. So my apologies to the community.

To op, I hope that you recover your watch and the perp is caught and faces justice.

[Chris B]

Dreadful

Hoping for a swift resolution for you

[Levelpar1]

I appreciate all the support encouragement through this tough time. I keep replaying the scenario in my mind and realize that the outcome could've been completely different if this would have escalated. I'm thankful that myself and my girlfriend were not harmed. If a person is going to go to these lengths to pull off this type of robbery I'm sure they are also armed. Unfortunately this is going to change my belief in people which is not a good thing. I will not be as trusting as I was in the past and that is unfortunate that one scumbag can change that. Again thank you for your support and I will update everybody if anything changes.

[cop414]

Best of luck Joe, you're dealing with this quite well.

[VaRobot]

Prayers sent for a quick positive resolution to this bad situation.

[jnkay]

Could happen to any of us. Very difficult to guard against, except that Craigslist is notorious for this type of thing.

[dominic.warren]

Sorry to hear that he will get his. Karma is a B!@&$

[Speed]

Another thankful post that you are ok!

Hopefully it will only a very short time before this guy is picked up.

[rick101]

Originally Posted by silverbullet818

I've heard of stories where the buyer puts on the watch to 'check' it out on the wrist and just bolts out of there running like a madman.

Obviously this would be hard to stop. Yelling and screaming at him won't stop him as he sprints away with your watch.

Bottom line is, it's hard to sell high value goods.

You don't want them to go to your place of residence. You clearly don't want to go to theirs and now it appears even going to a very public place is no good.

Maybe do deals inside the lobby of the police station??!

Thats why AD's have security guards at the door :0

[lmcgbaj]

Damn scumbag!!!! I hope they get him.

Glad you are ok.

[mineral]

Sorry to hear this and hope you could recover your watch soon. Keep us posted.

[fullcourt]

that really suxs....

[Rashid.bk]

Originally Posted by doozyj

So it was more of a swindle and not a robbery. As initially I thought your life was threatened when I read the thread title. Regardless the universe will work its way out and deal appropriate karma to the bastard.

No, it was definitely a robbery. If someone steals your wallet with their light hand while you were distracted, that is robbery. It has many definitions objectively and implied.
What if he had seen the switch and confronted the individual or his girlfriend said, hey did you check the watch before I give him back this money....and he pulled out a gun....lots of what ifs....but swindle, tricked, drugged by a hot girl in a hotel, etc...all robbery.

I accept the OP's definition and thread title as accurate. Thank God he is ok. Hope they catch this guy. Huge lesson of caution for all of us.

[DeathWish]

This is my stomping ground too. Thanks for the heads up!

[Kingair]

Just noticed this post

Hopefully an Happy Ending !

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

[skprd13]

Hope that is the person, because if not oh o for posting an innocent person!