Possible scam from a forum member?

[AnatomyOfARyan]

hey everybody. if you frequent the buy/sell/trade section here, you probably recognize me. i sell and swap quite a bit of stuff here, and those of you that ive dealth with know im a straight up person.

heres the story: i had two powermac G4s, one of which i sold to a local buyer. the other was placed here on the forum for sale. i am currently in mass for an internship, and found a buyer two days before i was leaving kansas city, so the deal obviously had to close quickly. the potential buyer talked with me on aim, was a good guy, etc, gave me a cell phone number and all that, but could not pay for a few days, half of it that friday, half of it the following friday for a total of $600. i was a bit pinched for time, and the guy seemed like a straight up guy, so i went with it. boxed up the powermac, and had it shipped to him in North Carolina.

ive tried contacting him via PMs, emails, and the last few days through his cell number he gave me. no answer to PMs or emails, and the voicemail is for a lady named "Mary", however, the gentlemen i am dealing withs name is "Jerry". he told me hes married, so maybe its his wife's cell or something, not sure.

his username here is VRodRider. anyone seen him around? im not gonna straight up say i got scammed yet, cause he seemed like a good guy, but i just havent been able to get ahold of him. i guess im just kinda curious as to what to do? his aim sn is macgod101, and yahoo sn is jerrysawyersr and i havent seen him online in awhile (i dont have internet at the house im staying in however and just get online at work). if anyone would like to add him to their sn to see if it pops on or something. is there anyway to check and see when the last time he logged in the forum is?

Jerry (VRodRider), if you are reading this, get ahold of me. im not mad about the situation or anything, just kinda want to know whats going on. if you need some more time to get the funds together, thats totally fine. if your funding has fallen through and you cant purchase the powermac, thats fine too. i will even pay for the shipping to get it back to me. just want to make this right, as this is a great forum, and everyone seems to trust each other, and would hate to see this sort of thing ruin it for a few people.

any help is much appreciated.

 

[Ghostshadow]

The forum says his last activity was 06-08-2007 06:17 AM

I hope you can get this resolved

 

[dtravis7]

Same here Ryan, I hope this all works out for you. You are a very honest person. Do let us know what happens in the end.

By the way the iPod and iTalk I bought from you works great. Got a new battery installed. Thanks again!!

 

[AnatomyOfARyan]

The forum says his last activity was 06-08-2007 06:17 AM

I hope you can get this resolved

thanks. i saw that, but didnt know if that was the last time he logged in or the last time he posted something. 6-4-07 was the last day i was in communication with him, as i left for vacation a few days after that and rolled right into my internship. maybe hes away on buisness, vacation, or no internet or something? trying to look at everything positively and that it will work out i suppose.

Same here Ryan, I hope this all works out for you. You are a very honest person. Do let us know what happens in the end.

By the way the iPod and iTalk I bought from you works great. Got a new battery installed. Thanks again!!

glad to hear its all working out for you. i will keep people posted. any advise on what others have done in the past about this sort of thing would be great. thanks guys.

 

[RiDE]

Man Ryan... that surely doesn't sound good. You seem to such a stand-up good guy, so I really feel for you bro. Did you get the first $300, or are you currently out the entire $600?

I knew that name sounded familiar... he's the "Apologize to the UNIT" guy. LOL.

If you have his address you can talk to his local police dept. I would assume they'd have some Internet Crime Division that you could forward the emails and info to...

 

[TheCustomer99]

Yeah, he's the infamous apologize to the unit guy here. He admitted to stupid and illegal stuff in that thread. Good luck on tracking the guy down.

 

[Aptmunich]

Hey Ryan, keep on trying to get in touch with Jerry - most likely it's a misunderstanding or he's got a situation to deal with.

If you still don't hear anything, give us a bell and we'll see if there's anything else we can help you with.

 

[cwa107]

It looks like he might have a MySpace account that he's logged into today. Maybe you can get in touch with him that way?

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=8489543

I thought his user name sounded familiar, apparently he did something to get himself temporarily banned, hence the "apologize to the unit" thread, that MacHeadCase was so kind as to dig up for me.

Good luck Ryan, I truly hope you are able to get it resolved.

 

[eric]

that sucks. hopefuly he makes it right.

if not, you're airborne aren't you Ryan? maybe you could plan a surprise party? ;P

 

[tcoletto]

Post his information and his story here!

scamstopper.org

Its really crappy that you are out 600 bucks man :-/

I got screwed over a few times too, I just don't trust the online forum trading anymore

 

[MinaMACMan]

Ryan, dude thats terrible I hate scammers. But on the other hand I really hope he didn't stand u up and its some emergency that delayed him or something.

I happen to live in NC so if u want we can make that surprise party as suggested by Eric ;P

On the other hand I think VRodRider is due for another Apology to the Unit thread... don't u think?

 

[MacHeadCase]

One day, he'll run out of apologies...

 

[macjuicy23]

Karma will make his mac FRY.... Karma always comes back so rest easy... you seem like a cool guy... The problem is we live in a society of scumbags that have no respect for people, people like Jerry make Honest sales impossible... they always seem to make people say hmmmm...
Your a more trusting person than I am... unless your a close friend or family... i wouldent give anyone merchandise upfront, my moto is if you dont have the money you dont get the merchandise... I was scammed here once a longtime ago selling an IPOD and I woke up after all of that mess... sold the IPOD via Paypal and somehow he got Paypal to reverse the sale for no reason and bam im out an IPOD.

 

[AnatomyOfARyan]

Did you get the first $300, or are you currently out the entire $600?

as of right now, im out $600...

I knew that name sounded familiar... he's the "Apologize to the UNIT" guy. LOL.

If you have his address you can talk to his local police dept. I would assume they'd have some Internet Crime Division that you could forward the emails and info to...

im in the process of looking into this right now. ive continually tried emailing/PM/calling him with no response, and its getting irritating.

Hey Ryan, keep on trying to get in touch with Jerry - most likely it's a misunderstanding or he's got a situation to deal with.

this is kind of what i was hoping it was. however, i mailed this off a month ago, and he refuses to respond to any of my communication. kinda starting to look like scam to me...

as for this "apologize to the unit thread", its like 12 pages long, and far to long to keep my attention. might someone sum it up for me?

It looks like he might have a MySpace account that he's logged into today. Maybe you can get in touch with him that way?

thanks so much for the heads up. i have contacted him, and started the process of contacting his local police dept. no one can expect to steal something worth $600 and the owner of the property to just sit back and let it go.

jerry (or whatever your name is), if you are reading this, get ahold of me. if not, i really have no option but to go further with it. if you cant pay for the powermac, then send it back my way and we will both wash our hands clean of the transaction and walk away.

 

[RiDE]

What state is he in??? Maybe a forum member could stop by and find out what his deal is.

I travel quite a bit.. I'd be happy to knock on a door for ya.

 

[cwa107]

as for this "apologize to the unit thread", its like 12 pages long, and far to long to keep my attention. might someone sum it up for me?

Basically, he started a thread offering an apology to the forum (which he referred to as "the unit") for no apparent reason. After some massive conjecture in that thread, it was alleged that he was trying to sell a stolen iBook. I used the word "alleged" because there were absolutely no concrete facts behind that statement - but that was what was implied.

Either way, I'd say he definitely has a history of being fishy.

With that said, if there's anything I can do to help you out, please don't hesitate to PM me. I hate to see someone get ripped off.

 

[dtravis7]

Ryan, I sure hope it does get solved and you either get your $$$ or Power Mac back. Keep us posted.


...Dennis

 

[AnatomyOfARyan]

What state is he in??? Maybe a forum member could stop by and find out what his deal is.

I travel quite a bit.. I'd be happy to knock on a door for ya.

he lives in north carolina. extremly close to fort bragg actually. i talked to him a bit on ichat, and even mentioned to him im out there a few times a year working with the army. youd think maybe he'd rip someone off that isnt in his backyard quite a bit. im not sure the next time ill be out there though, so if anyone is in NC and would like to ask him whats up, please do. id be more than willing to provide whatever information you might need to do so.

 

[Hustle]

That sucks dude. i've been rippied off twice. Once was with a £500 Dell laptop and the second for a £200 HP laptop. It's painful, especially as i'm 16, and it probably takes me 20x longer to earn that money then any working adult.

I hope you get it sorted out. Otherwise, pay him a little visit when you're out there next.

 

[AnatomyOfARyan]

just an update. i sent him a message on myspace. here is something interesting about messages on myspace... if you look in your sent folder, it will show whether the message has been read or if it has just been "sent" (sent but not read). he's read the message, but no response. ill give him till the end of the weekend to respond, and with no response, im calling his police department.