Hello Everyone,
I am trying to get anyone that has info on this person. He had a post for a Canon D60 for $900.00. I bought this from him but he has yet to email back since I sent him the money. Someone left a responce to him post. I can not find it on this forum anymore. Any help finding this guy would be great. He also left a phone number with the area code of (312) which is in chicago. If anyone remember this or have any info please email me at [email protected] or post it here. Thanks a lot.
Jacob Bongiovanni
Unfortunately, I was taken by this crook as well.
I bought a 20mm EF lens from him and sent money via paypal.
He emailed me that his wife had sent the lens via FedEx while he was out on a family emergency, so he didn't have a tracking #.
No lens ever arrived and he doesn't answer emails.
I reported him to paypal today but since he is not "verified" I don't know what will happen.
When I do a search here I get nothing on him anymore. Not even his posts.
WARNING TO ALL!!
THIS GUY IS A CROOK!!
DON'T SEND HIM ANY MONEY!!
BTW, I would suggest you report him as well if you haven't already.
Frank in Atlanta
Dang it!!!! He did the exactly the same thing to me. Did you get his phone #? I also reported him to paypal. Dang it!!! Did he sent you any photo of the product. I got some from him. I have his ebay account name makinbacon. I do not know how to report or get info from ebay. When did you send him the money? I sent it to him on the 23th. Thanks.
Jacob Bongiovanni
I inquired about the D60 he was selling and received an email from [email protected]. He sent a single picture of the camera he was "selling". Fotunately, I chose not to pursue the deal.
I am really sorry to hear that. I think Paypal have insurance but their liability limit is only $250. And there are certain conditions - like you must specify it as "Goods" and the other member must be verified.
For over $250, the only way that is completely safe is to use Escrow.com. I recently bought a Minolta 7Hi at $900 for my wife thru Escrow.com. The camera arrived with dead pixels, and thanks to Escrow.com, I had great leverage to ask the seller to fix the situation to satisfactory before he get paid. The process fee was 6% and they accept credit card. So, it is really only 3-4% above the credit card surcharge... it's reasonable I think.
Now, I have also bought a D30 and a D60 from Richard Tope and Thomas Stotler. While the transactions were over $900 in each case, I felt comfortable paypaling them because they both have a long history at either here or Photo.net. They also both have a personal web gallery, so it'll be easy enough to track them down...
All I can advise is... if you are buying from someone with unknown history, and the amount is over $250, then it may be worthwhile to use an escrow service.
Good luck in recovering your $$$. Hopefully Paypal will help you out. Please report back what happen. I often wonder how good Paypal really is in these situations.
From what I know of paypal - it works using credit cards. So why can't you get the credit card company to reverse the payment. You can do that here in Australia. If you haven't signed for the purchase and didn't receive the goods you can ask the credit card company to reverse the payment.
I did not use a CC. I can't believe someone would scam on a D60 and a 20mm Canon lens? Why would anyone scam with those items. Why would they not sale a 10d or 70-200mm lens. Dang, it is making me mad. Hopefully Tony is just really slow on emailing and will send the camera to me and the 20mm lens to the other guy. anyways I hope it works out.
Jacob Bongiovanni
I'm very sorry this has happened. It was the first and only fraudulent post I have seen on this board ...too bad it had to happen to you.
As soon as I found out, I immediately banned the member, but it was too late, since he had already deleted all of his posts. The only info I have on him is the IP address and email address he registered with. I would be happy to email this information to anyone who needs it for pursuing him.
I hope everyone will PLEASE only buy items from established forum members (100 posts or more) and take the time to always check references first.
Again, I feel very bad that you were taken advantage of in this way and if I come across any info that I think may help, I will be sure to let you know.
Fred, please don't. I'll venture a guess that more than 95% of the deals done here leave both parties satisfied. It's always risky dealing on the internet. People buying need to take reasonable steps to mitigate risk. Or not make deals on the internet.
I too sincerely hope that this forum board is NOT deleted. I have only just started looking at the offers here, but I would judge the quality of the offers and the sense of a smaller community of users to be far superior to the Wild West flavor of EBay. I hope that as other forum members weigh in on this issue, the wishes of the users will be taken into account before ending the board.
I appreciate Fred's sense of responsibility for his website, and his evident questioning of whether this board may devolve and cast a stain on this site's well deserved credibility. But I think a reminder at the top of the board restating what Fred has just said in his post re: precautions would be sufficient.
Absoutely terrific site in every way, Fred, and I'll be ordering up some actions shortly to show my support, as soon as I get this computer rebuilt and my new OS loaded....
PLEASE DO NOT TERMINATE THIS BOARD!! THIS IS A GREAT TOOL TO GET DEALS DIRECTLY FROM OTHER PROS... JUST NEED TO TAKE A LIL CAUTION BEFORE THE ACTUAL TRANSACTION.
Ok, Who wants to help me track this punk down. I need all the help I can get. Any info on how to track someone and how to file legal or police action aganist him would be great. Please email me at [email protected]. We can make an example of this punk. Please let me know if you can help. Thanks a lot.
Jacob Bongiovanni
I really hope you keep this board going. It is THE ONLY place where I feel absolutely secure in buying even after this crook story. This is a great tool for your community.
Jacob : I hope you nail this guy !! I am in portugal and I don't think I would be of much help.
Rgds
Vasco
Fred, I hope you won't take down this board. Although I am a new member, this is the only place where I feel secure in buying equipment from others. I think that the cautions you and others mentioned are adequate measures that we can take on our own behalf.
Fred, there are far too many reasons for keeping this forum board open and none that I can think of that would suggest it be terminated. This board has and continues to set the leading example of how to present opportunities to a select set of members.
We all share in the fact this was a very unfortunate event. In the end the punk will be caught. Personally, I applaud those who are assisting in tracking the individual down.
Fred,
I have purchased a couple of items from this forum, and have been very happy with the items. The people have been more than fair and honest. It is so sad that a couple of crooks can spoil this great forum you have set up. I would hate to see it go, but understand if it must. Thanks so much Fred for your time and effort you put into this website. I visit it often and am always inspired by the photos.
...too bad it had to happen to you.