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Rental Scam Alert

Michael Panfeld

Michael Panfeld

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I am passing this on from a local group. This has been noted in other threads with respect to Europe, butit has now hit the US.

Friends,


We have recently been hit by thief's, apparently a ring from the UK who has been under international investigation for some time is currently operating in the USA . I am sending this information to warn you of a possible scam and also so you can pass this along to anyone you know that might be renting gear. Everyone must be warned. The thief's just hit Fletcher in Chicago last week and we have also heard that they tried NY . They are still in the USA and trying to defraud insurance companies and steal high end video equipment. Please help us warn everyone.


Read the blog that we have created and pass it along....any questions call our production manager Chris Cardno at 301.526-0321, he is handling this for us. If they have tried contacting or renting gear from you please let us know. Chris knows the detective and agents that are trying to catch these folks.

http://stolencameraequipment.blogspot.com/

Folks, this is a highly organized ring and, from what we've learned, agencies have been working on cases that may all be linked since fall of 2009. We received an email tonight from someone who said guys out of the UK tried to get similar camera packages in New York inside of the past two weeks. We also had an email forwarded to us from a rental company in Croatia who had guys repping a company out of the UK disappear with 2 REDs and a whole bunch of Ultra Primes - the detective working our case told me today that Croatia was one of the countries linked to our theft. He also mentioned Florida, Texas and California had been hit.

The common thread is the UK....and the thief's work in pairs and all have UK accents.


The thieves KNOW what they're doing and they KNOW rental procedures. They'll get insurance. They'll give you a credit card. They'll offer to make a wire transfer. They'll argue the rental rate. They'll ask all the right questions. AND THEN THEY'LL STEAL THE GEAR.


Let your friends, colleagues and rental houses know. The best deterrent is a knowledge of the thieves' M.O.

Gonzo

Gonzalo Accame
Visual Edge Productions, LLC
301.526-0321 cell
gaccame@visualedge.tv
www.visualedge.tv
 
Sorry to hear about your loss Gonzalo. Hope they catch the B$%£$!@s!

Apparently other victims of this kind of crime have found out their insurance may class this as fraud and not theft. If your policy does not cover loss by fraud, you may be out of luck with a claim. Best to check the small print of your policies. :sad:
 
Check out my letter to you all of a week or so ago concerning the Rental house in Croatia. It sounds familiar to me.
However; I also published the picture of one of the thieves. Is it the same guy?
It may help the investigations.
Print off my picture and put it on the board at ALL rental houses.
Sadly
Tony Covell.
 
Real scum bags. They had best avoid Asia. We deal with things a bit more swift over here. Already forwarded that guys mug to Chinese border control.
 
I am passing this on from a local group. The thieves KNOW what they're doing and they KNOW rental procedures. They'll get insurance. They'll give you a credit card. They'll offer to make a wire transfer. They'll argue the rental rate. They'll ask all the right questions. AND THEN THEY'LL STEAL THE GEAR.

This is happening all over the globe, here in Canada, UK, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden Switzerland, Japan and in several US states.

We've stopped renting to foreigners unless they can show us good referrals and we make sure to check it deeply before releasing any piece of gear, not even a battery.

Those craps are getting decent people to bankruptcy and have to go to where they belong: JAIL

So, ADVISE TO ALL RENTAL HOUSES ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD: double, triple check everything BEFORE getting trapped, don't believe in nice websites neither on cash in the spot payment, get a credit card pre-charge before and ALWAYS send someone along the renters, from minute one to return, don't EVER leave the gear not even for a sec away from your sight, get it back for overnite to your facilities.
Is better to lose a hire than to lose your gear.

:mad: :emote_hanged:
 
Last edited:
MARK SVEN OLSEN said:
If you thing that an insurance policy will get you covered, thing twice, those companies will do anything they can (and what they can't too) to refuse paying you
Click to expand...

SO TRUE. I found out the hard way that my insurance policy doesn't cover for "fraud or trickery." Yes, that is the exact wording, ridiculous! So fraudulent paperwork from the renter means that you're screwed. Check your fine print.
 
Max Fischer said:
SO TRUE. I found out the hard way that my insurance policy doesn't cover for "fraud or trickery." Yes, that is the exact wording, ridiculous! So fraudulent paperwork from the renter means that you're screwed. Check your fine print.
Click to expand...

I think you might want to revisit that. Say they paid you with a dud check or a fake notice of wire transfer; that's fraud and that's not covered; you're out of pocket on the rental fee.

But when they walk off with your gear and don't bring it back, that's THEFT pure and simple, in the strict legal sense - knowingly & unlawfully taking someone else's property with the intention to permanently deprive the rightful owner, or wording very close to that.

If they were caught & tried, the charges would be fraud, for the dud payment, and theft, for the gear. Don't let the insurance try to tell you different, and name & shame that insurance company here if you're comfortable doing that!

The only get-out would be if there was a clause that said the theft had to be accomplished by violence or threat of violence in order to be covered - in other words, robbery, not theft. In which case the insurance isn't fit for purpose.

(oh and Max, that dud LCD I bought from you is now fixed and working nicely, thank you very much!)

Mike
 
Last edited:
MARK SVEN OLSEN said:
So, ADVISE TO ALL RENTAL HOUSES ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD: double, triple check everything BEFORE getting trapped, don't believe in nice websites neither on cash in the spot payment, get a credit card pre-charge before and ALWAYS send someone along the renters, from minute one to return, don't EVER leave the gear not even for a sec away from your sight, get it back for overnite to your facilities.
Is better to lose a hire than to lose your gear.
Click to expand...

Aye, and if you DO lose a hire when they realise what the situation is - report it to the police! And report it to one of the PDs investigating a previous theft. Especially if they just disappear, or make some BS excuse for not carrying on with the rental. You may just have met our gang of villains... any intelligence, CCTV, copies of ID offered, all could be valuable.

Mike
 
Wow this is terrible beyond imagination, I see i need to check the fine print on my policy. This is a hard lesson
 
Mike 'Fireman' Ross said:
I think you might want to revisit that. Say they paid you with a dud check or a fake notice of wire transfer; that's fraud and that's not covered; you're out of pocket on the rental fee.

But when they walk off with your gear and don't bring it back, that's THEFT pure and simple, in the strict legal sense - knowingly & unlawfully taking someone else's property with the intention to permanently deprive the rightful owner, or wording very close to that.

If they were caught & tried, the charges would be fraud, for the dud payment, and theft, for the gear. Don't let the insurance try to tell you different, and name & shame that insurance company here if you're comfortable doing that!

The only get-out would be if there was a clause that said the theft had to be accomplished by violence or threat of violence in order to be covered - in other words, robbery, not theft. In which case the insurance isn't fit for purpose.

(oh and Max, that dud LCD I bought from you is now fixed and working nicely, thank you very much!)

Mike
Click to expand...

Mike, I totally agree with you, but the insurance company didn't. Try sueing a big insurance company; I don't think you'll win. We ended up settling on 1/2 the insured value, so take that for what it's worth. Insurance is the biggest scam ever....
 
Max Fischer said:
Mike, I totally agree with you, but the insurance company didn't. Try sueing a big insurance company; I don't think you'll win. We ended up settling on 1/2 the insured value, so take that for what it's worth. Insurance is the biggest scam ever....
Click to expand...

Fair enough. The fact they were willing to settle at all shows they knew what the score was; for my money the thieves were more honest. Isn't there some regulator you can go to, like the SEC or FDIC for other financials? State insurance commissioner, attorney general, something like that?

Again I appeal to you to name and shame your insurers here; if the rest of us know who NOT to insure with, some good will have come of this.

Mike
 
As cheesy are they are, go to the consumer watch reporter at local TV stations. They can work.
 
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