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  • 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 :)

Bummer First Post - Scammed by 'Kate Strugenko'

Jesse Blanchard

Jesse Blanchard

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I'm 99% sure I just got scammed by Kate Strugenko. It's a first for me in a long carrear of buying stuff online. I couldn't find used media anywhere else online so jumped in. As a newbie to Red, I don't understand why most of the gear is sold via this forum. It's about the most antiquated way to do business online - cutting edge cameras sold via late nineties internet. Zero protections for anyone.
 
I have bought quite a few things off this forum, some very expensive, but I always protected myself, as you should have. Either use PayPal or have the item sent to Red "prior" to purchase to be checked out, and/or put the purchase on a "good" credit card that you can do a "charge-back" on if the sale fails.

Another thing you can do, is check the seller out with others on this forum that have used them before.

Probably, the main reason people sell their stuff on this forum, rather than eBay, is that eBays fees are too friggin' high, and you can reach many more people dealing with Red equipment on this site. And, the ones frequenting this site are almost all "professionals", so they know what they want, and they know what they're talking about.

Good luck in solving your problem.

.
 
She advertised having extra Redmags for sale. We emailed back and forth and then I did a Bank Transfer. It seems ridiculous now, but several other forum members were posting and messaging her about buying drives. And, this seemed to be the way it was done.
 
Sorry to hear about this.

I second what Bob says. I would much rather buy here then ebay or anywhere else. However I follow some simple golden rules. I cross check the name to have at least 3 or more connections to well known sites, IMDB, Vimeo account etc. None of these... Red flag! I check their post histories here and see if the name or pattern comes up in a scam and cross check them with all the other places to buy and sell. Craigslist are full of them, I once found a pattern that reminded me of a lens I tried to buy a year earlier, so I sent the new enquiry to the old email I had from the scammer, and sure enough it was the same guy who responded. He had changed his MO greatly, but I was still able to catch the scam. Get a phone number and call them, at least you'll know where to send the police. The last thing is, look for people to vouch for them that you know, or know enough of them to know they are real. Two guys vouching with low post counts should put up a red flag. If you suspect anything analyze everything!!!!! look for misspelled words, patterns in the two users. Send them both message and get them to reply by email, and check the IP address to see if they are the same.

Further; If you see someone you know is posting, and you know it's 100% legit, then take the time to comment that to potential buyers. Bob G is great for that!
 
Always use paypal. I was scammed here but paypal had my back after claim was filed. They are a big company with big financial underwrite, always worth paying the fee for peace of mind. If you use them, then Reduser is the best marketplace for gear
 
I'm guessing most RED users here are professionals and being a real name forum, peoples names should show when googled. They should at least have links to their company or work they have done on Vimeo or similar. If they don't, be cautious. I was right about Bryan as I was about this Kate person. I have a few others on my list too.
 
wow the love triangle of Derryl Sims - Kate Strugenko - Ryan Boyer just got a whole lot weirder....!!!!

Hope you get it sorted Jesse.

 
I think this is by far safer than Ebay or most other trading places. But I would not buy something form anyone that:

Does not link to a company or webpage.
Does not have any interesting posts here about other things than sales / is not known to the community.
Is a person that I can not check who it is, call up or know from the film industry.

And I actually like paypal, even though it does not give much protection it's more of a hassle for the scammers when they need to open a new account for every transfer and paypal actually hold on to security money when people do large quantities of deals, big deals etc. I personally was selling modified canon cameras and then paypal went and checked me out and saw that the cameras where sold without warranty and called me up and told me that they would hold on to a quite large amount of money until they could be sure that my customers had full satisfaction with the deliveries and they felt that they wanted to give them a 3 months "warranty" period. Ofcourse paypal collects quite a bit of rent on the money they hold but I still think it's a good practice.
 
Derryl Sims said:
PayPal sucks.
Amazon Marketplace : )
Click to expand...

Why would you say Paypal sucks..? They are the safest way to do transactions. Once I called them when my dispute period was past the 45 day mark, and they just sent me the money out of their pockets to make me satisfied. Awesome customer service and so safe.

Always use Paypal. If it's a big camera purchase, have it sent to Red for them to confirm the camera quality because sending the wire.
 
Michael Dalton said:
Sorry to hear about this.

If you suspect anything analyze everything!!!!! look for misspelled words, patterns in the two users. Send them both message and get them to reply by email, and check the IP address to see if they are the same.
Click to expand...

How do you check their IP address if they are using gmail or yahoo mail accounts? Can you explain this in more detail? I read quite a bit of scams that are happening on this forum or businesses.

How do you protect yourself?
 
Thanks for all the advice. I really appreciate it. It would be really cool to see this distilled in the Sticky Marketplace post. I know I'm not the only person to get scammed on the forum so some improvement must be possible. @Simon - She posted redmags for sale, we emailed back and forth and then I wired her bank money. The drives were supposed to arrive Monday. She never sent shipping info and has not answered multiple emails asking for it. I also told her I'd post my experience here and still no response.
 
Ryan Boyer is like a persistent horse fly. He's not going away till the Feds catch up with him. I Wouldn't be surprised if "Derryl Sims" is also Ryan Boyer. He's been good at profiling the typical user on these forums. The guy is relentless, do your homework before buying.
 
Bob Gundu;1204439]I also doubt Kate is a woman either.
Derryl Sims - Kate Strugenko - Ryan Boyer.

I think these 3 are the same person. I might be wrong.
I don't have a company nor web site, but I sell/ buy small things like accessories and parts.
I would say, I am the lucky one. Till now and hope in the future don't have to deal with the scammer.
You never know for sure tho.
 
Jesse please forgive me but you've only posted 3 times & your buying or selling large SSD mags ?

How do we know you're genuine ?

If you are a newbie my apologies & welcome. But posting about being scammed without other posting history can create ..doubt.
 
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That's a great question, Mike. It echoes my frustration with the forum as a whole. It's a really difficult place to manage transactions with confidence. Here's a great test and a learning experience for me. Say I have something to sell you. How would I prove I am who I am to you?
 
Run a google search for gmail/hotmail/yahoo message headers ( or whichever email provider you use). The headers section of the email displays where the email cmae from to reach you.
 
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