Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

24500$ Stolen by a Red Owner, what to do ?

David Battistella said:
This thread has been ok until now, with help and advice. Please do not turn it to slander.

I dont one know what the agreement was and I do not know why there was no mechanism for you to say no upon inspecting the items.

What at I do not understand is why you did not wire the money AFTER seeing the goods? To me the approach might have been.

1. Meet with my bank and let them know I would be leaving the country and would be calling to either transfer or not transfer the funds.
2. Fly to NYC, inspect the goods the day I land.
3. Everything ok, call my bank and order the transfer
4. Recieve goods when tans fee complete. 2 days max?

the problem seems to be 2 things,
1, prepaying for goods with no protection, (PayPal might have protected you here)
2, no agreement or conditions if you did not want the goods.

There is a scammers thread database on reduser.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?121298-quot-Alleged-quot-SCAM-ARTIST-LIST-Add-yours-here
Click to expand...





Agreed !

this was absolutely the best way to do it. The problem was that none of the 3 banks where I am accepted to do this. In any way. So I thought about cash but to me ir was even less safe.

Paypal would have been a 2000$ solution, and I already had few problems with them. So I didn't choose this option too.

Now seeing what happened maybe I should have taken the camera from France and make it easyer. Butt being a long time seller and buyer, i do believe it was a reasonable choice.


Finally, I'll add the name of the person on the scammers thread later.


Thank you all again for your help :)
 
Just as a tip to others, when dealing with someone you do not trust 100%, use escrow.com, your get a lot of peace of mind for a small fee. I have used them in the past, and it was reassuring for both parts of the deal. If someone does not want to do an escrow, that would be a red flag for me.
 
Couldn't agree more, Martin. Escrow.com is great!

Martin Weiss said:
Just as a tip to others, when dealing with someone you do not trust 100%, use escrow.com, your get a lot of peace of mind for a small fee. I have used them in the past, and it was reassuring for both parts of the deal. If someone does not want to do an escrow, that would be a red flag for me.
Click to expand...
 
Escrow looks really nice, never heard of it before.

For the first time since 2 weeks they answered me, on my RU box (maybe thanks to the thread). Would love to know what you guys think about it :

"I'm really not sure what is wrong with you or what scheme you're trying to pull. The transfer is complete. But do what you feel you must we're completely confident in the validity of everything, realize if you go down this path however we'll counter."

To me they look honest, as I thought first. But they hang up on the phone when I tell who I am. And don't reply to all the rest of my mails and contacts on FB.

I haven't received anything on my account and check 5 times a day!
Therefore I asked them to which account number they transfer the money and to send me a proof, as I did many times.
Waiting for an answer that will certainly not come, but this gives me hope.

Will keep you updated :)
 
Last edited:
1st step: Ask again politely for details of the transaction.

2nd step: Check with your bank. Banks in France can take up to two weeks after receiving your money before it appears on your account. Speak with your representative.

3rd step: Document all of your discussions with them. Send a formal registered letter (avec avis de reception) requesting the refund of your money.
Do this a second time a week later if no response, with a specific time period of 48 hours for payment (proof of transfer must be furnished), informing him that otherwise, "unfortunately you will have to contact a lawyer".

4th step: Contact Lawyer, show your proof of requests for repayment, and make a police report for fraud, present all documents including transfer doc.

5th step: That lawyer will send him a letter formally asking for return of your money. Usually, this lets the other party know what they are in for and the problem is quickly resolved.

6th step: Have him served for a court appearance in accordance with your lawyer moving forward.
 
Ok, if this is a long time reduser that just keeps holding on to 24,5k USD that is not his then, I think, the order of things is not so much about if inspecting the goods first and pay after, use paypal or other safety procedures...

WTF The guy needs to be known and he needs to show a bank document that he sent the money back to you, as if things went down as you say then clearly the sale did not go trough, So let him know of this thread and that he needs to transfer back the money as of today or his name goes public.

Why should we let thieves run free here?

Possibly it´s a missunderstanding or bank issue. But as I see it that´s something he has to prove if you have documents saying that you transfered money to his account then to have the right to keep the money he needs document saying he has the right to keep them, or he needs to send them back asap. Holding on to that money is simply theft.
 
C. Burkhart said:
1st step: Ask again politely for details of the transaction.

2nd step: Check with your bank. Banks in France can take up to two weeks after receiving your money before it appears on your account. Speak with your representative.

3rd step: Document all of your discussions with them. Send a formal registered letter (avec avis de reception) requesting the refund of your money.
Do this a second time a week later if no response, with a specific time period of 48 hours for payment (proof of transfer must be furnished), informing him that otherwise, "unfortunately you will have to contact a lawyer".

4th step: Contact Lawyer, show your proof of requests for repayment, and make a police report for fraud, present all documents including transfer doc.

5th step: That lawyer will send him a letter formally asking for return of your money. Usually, this lets the other party know what they are in for and the problem is quickly resolved.

6th step: Have him served for a court appearance in accordance with your lawyer moving forward.
Click to expand...


Just saw my lawyer who told me I have to find one in the U.S. .
I'm now looking for a good one around deer park, NY state.

For all the other steps, I did it but we can do nothing in France. I tried calling his bank but they're helpless too.
We made a letter that I'm gonna send today ( I already send one 2 weeks ago, this will be the final one).

Björn Benckert said:
Ok, if this is a long time reduser that just keeps holding on to 24,5k USD that is not his then, I think, the order of things is not so much about if inspecting the goods first and pay after, use paypal or other safety procedures...

WTF The guy needs to be known and he needs to show a bank document that he sent the money back to you, as if things went down as you say then clearly the sale did not go trough, So let him know of this thread and that he needs to transfer back the money as of today or his name goes public.

Why should we let thieves run free here?

Possibly it´s a missunderstanding or bank issue. But as I see it that´s something he has to prove if you have documents saying that you transfered money to his account then to have the right to keep the money he needs document saying he has the right to keep them, or he needs to send them back asap. Holding on to that money is simply theft.
Click to expand...

Totally agreed and I'm sure the U.S. attorney will do too ! The French one did ;)
 
Last edited:
When you meet with the seller, which items were missing or damaged that prompted you to not possession of at least the camera body after releasing $25,500? After meeting and determining accessories were missing or damaged, what was the next steps discussed between you and the seller? Did he give you a timeframe that the missing items would be available, what was decision about the damaged items? Did you meet at a place of business or a neutral location?

You might try reaching out the Better Business Bureau for the Long Island Island area.

Its an awful situation to have lost that much money and equally it seems there were a number of missteps that would have kept you out of harms way.
 
David and Martin are the kings of sales and scammers...

I looked up the threadstarter a bit, and I wouldn't really say he's a longtime reduser.

Also his Facebook page doesn't seem to be too busy.

And he has 4 posts, all sales (which shouldn't really be possible? )

He has also not tried to re-list the equipment after the deal with you.
Which could be good.

And you have seen that the equipment exists, even though in not the condition you expected.
Which is also probably good.

The cheaper option for u (as you know his whereabouts) could be going to New York again and stand on his doorstep until you have an agreement or the equipment with a discount possibly. It's fully thinkable that the cash is gone from his account if he's in a bad economic shape and already has been paid to his creditors. In which case the getting the money back route can be impossible. Best bet then would be to get the gear. Not saying this is good business practice or condoning what seems to have happened. Just being practical.
 
Gandalf,

Truly sorry about all of it...

However, I would have NEVER bought anything for a Reduser with ONLY 4 posts.

Unless He would have agreed to ship first and get paid after, which is how I did all of the transactions thru the years, unfortunately you are also a very LOW post new user, so this transaction could have ONLY be done in person in CASH.
 
Gunleik Groven said:
David and Martin are the kings of sales and scammers...


I looked up the threadstarter a bit, and I wouldn't really say he's a longtime reduser.


Also his Facebook page doesn't seem to be too busy.


And he has 4 posts, all sales (which shouldn't really be possible? )


He has also not tried to re-list the equipment after the deal with you.
Which could be good.


And you have seen that the equipment exists, even though in not the condition you expected.
Which is also probably good.


The cheaper option for u (as you know his whereabouts) could be going to New York again and stand on his doorstep until you have an agreement or the equipment with a discount possibly. It's fully thinkable that the cash is gone from his account if he's in a bad economic shape and already has been paid to his creditors. In which case the getting the money back route can be impossible. Best bet then would be to get the gear. Not saying this is good business practice or condoning what seems to have happened. Just being practical.
Click to expand...


KETCH ROSSi said:
Gandalf,


Truly sorry about all of it...


However, I would have NEVER bought anything for a Reduser with ONLY 4 posts.


Unless He would have agreed to ship first and get paid after, which is how I did all of the transactions thru the years, unfortunately you are also a very LOW post new user, so this transaction could have ONLY be done in person in CASH.
Click to expand...


The thread owner is the person with whom i dealt less.

I did make the transaction finally and chat by email with:
http://www.reduser.net/forum/member.php?2664-Marque
http://www.reduser.net/forum/member.php?6592-barnstormerfilms
To me looks like a longtime Red users, especially in term of duration… (I now agree he doesn’t have so much messages)

He is the owner of a company named Illuminarium in Deer Park, Long Island.

And have a furnished IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2126707/


This is why I had confidence that the guy and the camera where real. And about this I was right. Couldn’t have imagined that AFTER having done all of this I could have been is this situation








M.Halsell said:
When you meet with the seller, which items were missing or damaged that prompted you to not possession of at least the camera body after releasing $25,500?



After meeting and determining accessories were missing or damaged, what was the next steps discussed between you and the seller?


Did he give you a timeframe that the missing items would be available, what was decision about the damaged items? Did you meet at a place of business or a neutral location?


You might try reaching out the Better Business Bureau for the Long Island Island area.


Its an awful situation to have lost that much money and equally it seems there were a number of missteps that would have kept you out of harms way.
Click to expand...

No PL Mount, the +1 was not a +1 but a simple module, broken 4 quad redvolt power part. There where also redmags but they should have been "somewhere in his car"...


We agreed on a fast refund, he should have been to the bank 2 days later.


And we met at a place where I believe he is working with in NYC: TCS (on the checkout floor for SNL) at 599 11th ave.
 
Last edited:
Soooo many alarm bells yet you went ahead with it with people with less than a hundred posts. Though heck, ten times as many wouldn't be enough to reassure me with so many red flags for such a large sum of money!

Seems to me a small dose of common sense and a caution would've saved a world of pain.
 
Agree on the red flags here.

Contact the NYC authorities give them all the details. Hire an attorney. Not much else you can do...
 
That's true,
although he did have the camera and I could have gone back home with it, so I was not that wrong in mid run. I did really think that was enough, got his Id, the company and imdb...

I will try to come back as soon as I can but its not so easy with the projects we have. I also need more than a full week if I want to be sure to solve this case.
 
You got all the info. This should not be so hard to get sorted if he is not a hardcore scammer. Check the web for private investigator in NY and pick one that looks legit and that has the right kind of "pondus" offer a bit of money upfront and a finders fee. These kind of things do not only happen in late night tv series, Manhunting is an actual profession and there is quite a few retired cops and such that has the right kind of talent to knock on doors and such. Going there your self is possibly not the best option especially since you live quite far way... Better to send a "friend" :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top