I got scammed

[dysert]

A word to the wise be careful. I responded to an ad on the timezone TZ showcase forum. The first time I ever really visited that forum but was led there by a post on this forum. There was a SD4k listed by an individual located in Baytown Texas and I asked for references and a tagged photo. This individual has over 100 posts and two watches for sale. He provided references which I contacted by email and they responded appropriately. I asked him to send me a photo of the watch and he did with a note beside the watch with my name his username and the correct date. He sent me wiring instructions to an account in Baytown Texas and promised to overnight the watch upon receipt. You know the story from there. Money is gone and no watch. User name we her00 and I am considering posting the wiring instructions, I am going to contact my local law enforcement authorities tomorrow and considering engaging one of the cybercrime private firms to see what I can learn. My bank was told by Chase there were insufficient funds in the account to return the money. What a fool I am. I have purchased several watches listed on this forum and sold a couple as well.

[tbonesteak]

Sorry to hear. Number one rule I always have:

Are you 100% sure who is receiving the funds, if you can’t verify, don’t send, you have zero recourse...

Email references are easy to fake, need to pick up the phone and make calls (with the seller & references) and also confirm they’re legit numbers through a phone validator service.

Exchanging emails through a corporate account is always useful too along with LinkedIn as extra steps.

Again, real sorry about this, I’m sure it sucks!

[cop414]

Sorry to hear.

[Jim Smyth]

Sorry to read this. I hate dishonest people! You take appropriate precautions and it still happens. I am so freaked out by this I only do FTF with a trusted seller here. I know this doesnt work for everyone but it seems this type of stuff is happening at a more alarming rate. Best of luck finding some hard answers.

[onkyo]

Very sorry to hear this. Definitively contact his local police and file a report. Let the crook know you are contacting the police. There is a small chance you may scare them into returning the money. Also, let an admin on TZ know you were scammed.

[henrylee]

Wow sorry to hear.

[MeWatchYou]

Terrible news and I'm sorry to hear this. I hope and pray you are able to recover your funds.

[Naples09]

Sorry to hear. Looks like he was banned at TZ

[mmmmp]

Originally Posted by dysert

A word to the wise be careful. I responded to an ad on the timezone TZ showcase forum. The first time I ever really visited that forum but was led there by a post on this forum. There was a SD4k listed by an individual located in Baytown Texas and I asked for references and a tagged photo. This individual has over 100 posts and two watches for sale. He provided references which I contacted by email and they responded appropriately. I asked him to send me a photo of the watch and he did with a note beside the watch with my name his username and the correct date. He sent me wiring instructions to an account in Baytown Texas and promised to overnight the watch upon receipt. You know the story from there. Money is gone and no watch. User name we her00 and I am considering posting the wiring instructions, I am going to contact my local law enforcement authorities tomorrow and considering engaging one of the cybercrime private firms to see what I can learn. My bank was told by Chase there were insufficient funds in the account to return the money. What a fool I am. I have purchased several watches listed on this forum and sold a couple as well.

Don't be too hard on yourself, your explanation of the steps you took seemed pretty safe to me. Esp. his 100 posts and pictures with personal info. However, you absolutely should have checked those references. (Sure, easy to say after-the-fact.) By checking a few or all the refs, you would have discovered he was fake. At very least, red flags would have shot up like fireworks.

Very sorry to hear the happened. As others have said: file a police report, contact the mods on that forum, if you have a computer savvy friend, maybe they could target his location or IP ID. Stay on the case, things may work out. I sincerely wish you good luck.

Let us know what happens - sometimes these things have happy endings.

Mark

I

Sent from my SGH-I547C using Tapatalk

[Razorsedge1]

That is awful. After reading your story (and other similar instances) I don't think I would buy from anyone unless it was in person or with a credit card where you have some recourse. Best of luck getting your money back.

[Tools]

Remember, scammers seldom go away. They get banned, then re-invent themselves or hijack another member account.

Be careful with new or sudden account activity and verify. Report anything that doesn't seem right wo we can compare other reports. If we don't know what is happening we can't help others.

(I have checked and we do not have that username member here)

[Chewbacca]

Feel for you. I've been there.

[denmanproject]

Very sorry to hear

[MinMay]

sucks big time.

1. Is it okay to blast his info in public now? email, name, address, bank account info, etc?
2. Can you report it to his bank?
3. If his name is reported online for scamming others, then he won't find another job again.

With today's social media, facebook, linkedin, it's so easy for anyone to find the truth.

It's time for karma to find him.

[eelpie]

. . . 100 posts before you're allowed to use a sales forum.

The most common dodge is to post 100, one or two word responses to topics on one of the discussion forums in order to run up the post count in a very short period of time with virtually no effort involved.

[VintageVagabound]

You can file a civil suit against him. You have the account info so that’s who your lawsuit should be against. If he blows it off you may get a judgement against him that will follow him for years. In 5 years he goes to get a mortgage and they’re like “you need to settle this judgement first”.

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/h...internet-fraud

[socalwatchcollector]

A list of charges could be brought... I am confident Chase bank doesn't want their customers committing fraud either so I would apply pressure to them as well. "in person"

Either way don't let it slide.. Too many times people let it slide and the cycle of horror continues.

Post the info on the scammer asap!

[mjclark32]

Man, sorry to hear

[pilotjim]

Sorry to hear.

I think you MUST get the sellers name, address, name of business etc, then google everything and make sure you're dealing with a real person. A phone call should be SOP.

There are no guarantees, but the more research, the better.

Good luck, and, again, sorry this happened.

[RedLs3]

Thats why i pay with a card. If you dont want card payment thats there problem. Plenty of sellers wanting my business

[BNA/LION]

Damn! Sorry to hear this.

[datejustrms]

I'm sorry to hear this happened to you. I hope you're able to get your money back.

[newbee1]

This is horrible, so sorry to hear this.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jagarwal]

Sorry to hear that! I hope the sucker gets caught soon

[drm20]

Really hope this has a happy ending for you (and not so happy ending for the thief). Good luck and let us know if you make any progress.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Lime]

Sorry to hear about this scam

[Lol-x]

Sorry to hear about that.

One cannot be too careful with any transaction over the internet.
Stolen accounts where the seller impersonates a long standing member are nothing new.
This kind of thing has been happening for many many years, first came across it on eBay over 10 years ago.

I'd buy a watch, get the seller's phone number, call them up and they had no idea about any watch being sold...

I hope the thief gets what he deserves x 10.

[Jinson]

Sorry to hear about this. Be sure to file a police report - both at your jurisdiction and at the seller's jurisdiction. The police report should build your case with your bank.

[77T]

So sorry to read this and hope you are able to stay calm during the upcoming tribulation dealing with the process ahead.

The incoming bank could be named imho - it is wire fraud by one of their customers, or a person who hijacked a customer’s account.

Maybe consider a federal complaint - not local alone.

Much success in your efforts




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[thomaswentworth]

Am I wrong in thinking that with all of the identity thieves out there, it would be easy for any one of the ID thieves who set up a bank account or many bank accounts to go onto forums and get a wire transfer and then disappear? Facial recognition software would need to be used to identify the face on the fake driver license, otherwise the guy would get away with it and his identity theft victim would end up getting into trouble with the law. I read a couple years ago that Nevada uses facial recognition software at the DMV and have identified a number of people trying to get IDs in new names and have also identified some already in the database before they started using the facial recognition software who had numerous identities.