(Topic ID: 198126)

I got scammed for $2.7K Beware

By Soulrider911

6 years ago


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  • Latest reply 6 years ago by vid1900
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There are 211 posts in this topic. You are on page 3 of 5.
#101 6 years ago

I just purchased my first pin site unseen from across the country and was a bit nervous too. He insisted on a bank wire. Luckily I had a friend nearby and he was able to stop by and check the machine out, so I felt comfortable knowing where he lived and it was an uneventful transaction thankfully. Really sorry to hear this happened to you but am glad you are sharing it with everyone. If it prevents one person from going thru what you did then your courage to post this was worth it.

#102 6 years ago
Quoted from Zippof15e:

I just purchased my first pin site unseen from across the country and was a bit nervous too. He insisted on a bank wire. Luckily I had a friend nearby and he was able to stop by and check the machine out, so I felt comfortable knowing where he lived and it was an uneventful transaction thankfully. Really sorry to hear this happened to you but am glad you are sharing it with everyone. If it prevents one person from going thru what you did then your courage to post this was worth it.

Should have wired the money to your friend to give to him.

#103 6 years ago
Quoted from Soulrider911:

So I just had a very unfortunate situation and realization that I got taken for $2700.00by a scammer on a Terminator 2 pinball machine. I will be adding a video here as its too much to type here but is the short story. But I will try to summarize.
If you have been following my recent posts at all you will see I have been searching for a T2 for a while. I did recently buy a local one from a guy in Sacramento. But what I have not posted is that I actually had already purchased one a week before from a seller out of state who sad my ad on Pinside.
I hadput up a post in the wanted section of Pinside about 3 weeks ago: https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/archive/53310.
A seller calling himself "Danny Barnes" reached out to me stating he has one. My first question was are you on pinside... He said "no" immediate red flag should have known better. He proceeded to tell me the condition and he was actually fairly knowledgeable as I was asking some technical questions, I mean this guy was good. He sent me lots of photos of the machine - I attached to this post. I was sold we agreed on a decent price he said he was going to ship via U-Ship.
At this point I was having hesitations so I asked to see a photo ID, so he sends me a photo of his passport. I was too nieve to do the math at the time… As in a text, he told me he was 56, yet on his (well the fake passport) it said he was born in 1969, which would make him 48. He continued to assure me as he stated he “was a man of age, and I have nothing to worry about.”
He kept pushing for a bank wire (another red flag) or friends and family. I said NO, ill send normal payment so I get buyer protection, which I did.
He receives the money but PayPal (because they were protecting me the buyer) was going to hold the funds for 25 days until I received the product. I talked to PayPal and the reason they do this is for sellers who either have a bad reputation/history with PayPal, OR they do not use PayPal often enough. Another red flag
He then tells me he can not wait for 25 days, and how about he gives me a refund, and that he will send me photos of the machine packaged and provide tracking to me then I pay him via wire. “Wow, ok” I'm thinking.. “he must be legit if he is going to give me a refund.” Again, this guy was good. The reason why he was giving me a refund is he knew He would never see the money through papal because the machine would never arrive to me.
So he sends me a text stating UShip was not open in his area ( i should have just called them) and that he is going to use a local “trusted” shipping company:
He sends me photos of the machine palleted and honestly looked totally legit… BUT after looking closer all the images were super blurry, if he had a cell phone of any modern age, the photos would not have been at the low quality they were… Another red flag
I get this from him:
I have successfully completed shipping.
Local shipper website : http://www.1aamotorcycleson.com/en
Tracking #: ES768990111
I check and the site appeared legit and the site did provide tracking.
I after the fact researched and found this was a fake/proxy site based off a real one: https://www.1aamotorcycles.com/ and they Looked identical!! and if you try to visit the old one its gone…. I called the legit shipping company and to my amazement, the representative says they get calls like mine all day long!! and that she has seen sites that pop up and then disappear that “copied our site” her words. Then it hit me… I lose….anyway back to the story
So he convinced me to send him a wire, and provided information to his “accountant” who handles his transactions:
Bank name :Chase bank.
Account name: Gloria Hernandez
Account number :000000561829933
Routing number :071000013
Swift code CHASUS33
Bank address : Bank address: 3451 Kentucky Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46221
Account holder’s address: Account holder address: 5351 Eel River Ct Indianapolis IN 46221
I'm like ok it's on its way… I check the next day and it still says “shipment accepted” meaning it had not left, and “Danny” the fake sealed assured me it just can take a day or so. Well, I try to check it later that day… website is gone:
http://www.1aamotorcycleson.com/en <—-fake URL
https://www.1aamotorcycles.com/ <—-Real URL
I try to track on the real site… says it was delivered:
Contract number: ES768900
Ship from: MC LEAN, VA 22102
Ship to: OAKLAND, CA 94612
Actual Pickup Date: 10/31
Actual Delivery Date: 11/08
Shipment status: Shipment has been delivered
Delivery signed for by: MIKE
After talking more with a real representative at https://www.1aamotorcycles.com/ she informed me their tracking numbers don't start with ES at all...
I'm now very confused and I contact “Danny” the fake seller, and tell him I want a refund, as it appears this is just not right. He tells me that he is in Florida helping the family in the Irma hurricane (how low is that) and that he will give me a refund this week… this week turns into later this week as I continue to text him, later this week turns into Friday (today) I contact him this morning… nothing MIA, and then it really hit me… I totally got scammed.
Without going into anymore more detail I just want others to be aware of this, as this guy used Pinside as a method to scam me. Typically this type of scamming happens on Craigslist, and if this seller had come from CL I would have bailed on the deal immediately. But I trust people on Pinside.
It's not Pinsides fault at all, its mine. I just want you all to be very aware that this is happening and these scammers are getting better and better. I feel like a total moron, and I'm such a kind trusting person that this really affected me, super bummed but the only positive thing I can do is try to warn you all. This is real, and people are not all good, trust your instincts, as I should have from the beginning. I love this hobby and Im not going to let it taint it for me in any way. Hard lesson learned, and thank god it was not like a 10K+ machine -Brady

If you have any sort clue at all as to who he is you might try sharing what info you have on him with the IRS. If they could figure out who he is and check his tax returns for 2018 if $2700.00 cash income is not shown on his returns he will be Al Capone busted.

You won't get your money back but maybe he will feel some heat.

Yeah. I know. It is a long shot.

#104 6 years ago

Hopefully, this truly never happens again for you.
It will unfortunately, happen to others again.
T2 has a 15K+ production run, so I am not sure why it was hard to locate the game, although I am unsure of the cost range you will actually willing to buy, but there was a certainly willingness to ship, so local is out of the initial consideration.

One area that would assist you in the future and primary critical step that was directly skipped was reaching out to local collectors, instead of going the process alone. This includes a courtesy inspection by another experienced collector of the game itself. I still do it regularly. This seemed absent, as I did not read every single response on this thread only circumstances.

Another fundamental step was the proper use of an invoice to include names, addresses, phone numbers, businesses, and emails. This scares some scammers (but not all) and "flippers" away from sales. Smart buyers and sellers know this is useful, not just for pinball.

Do you research on sellers, I do, especially those I have not done business before.
I am preparing to buy a WMS 1962 'World Series' pitch and bat, and just using the person's name and location of where they lived, I was able to determine: where they lived directly in personal address, all their phone numbers, family members, email addresses, work history, present employment, education, and background in the hobby all for FREE. This only took 30 minutes of my time. This did not even consider canvassing references from other collectors, technicians, and operators. The internet is a powerful tool when used properly.

In the future, I may conduct an interview and do a video to detail the process better than reading written guides, as scamming is once again on the rise due to enthusiasm in the hobby, the same as direct home theft.
Written guides will only take you so far when it comes to both evaluation of a game and individual.
People seem to disagree regarding invoices, but I reassure you it does work for many reasons.

However, not being a member PinSide is not a "red flag".
Being a member of Mr. Pinball website is not a "red flag" either.
Most of the largest and longtime collectors are not always online, online at all, or do not have time to do so.
Many do not wish to use this website.
Many older collectors still have an entry on Mr. Pinball including myself.
CL has more of its share of "flippers" (soft or hard) as much scammers.
Local collectors actually "police" CL not just for pricing but legitimacy and run people out of the sites once identified.

Best of Fortune.

#105 6 years ago
Quoted from Doctor6:

Wow, this story really pisses me off. I'm so sorry that you got scammed. Ugh.
I tried buying with paypal here from people, and everyone said they didn't want to. I am starting to see why. I guess you can never be too careful.

Yeah, PayPal puts too much power in the hands of the buyer. I regularly refuse PayPal offers. Just not worth the potential hassle.

#106 6 years ago

Dont feel to bad. A friend of my sons just bought a motorcycle the same way. Myself and a bunch of his friends told him it was a scam but he insisted it was not. Low and behold the kid sent money and no motorcycle. Going on 6 weeks now and he finally admitted we were right. Some things you just have to learn for yourself. Life goes on,keep your head up. You are a smarter man for it.

#107 6 years ago

I echo all of the others who have thanked you for posting. And thanks to all of you who have posted great tips and advice in this thread. Pinside is a great community showing support for one of our own getting scammed and then sharing advice to help spare others from more of the same.

#108 6 years ago

So sorry this happened. Since the transaction involves a bank over state lines, wire transfer and amount over $500.00 you may consider opening up a complaint with the ftc, bank and police report. Someone had to go in there with an ID and take the money out. Not sure anything will happen, but it's always worth a try. Sometimes the officers really go after these things.

#109 6 years ago
Quoted from xTheBlackKnightx:

I am preparing to buy a WMS 1962 'World Series' pitch and bat, and just using the person's name and location of where they lived, I was able to determine: where they lived directly in personal address, all their phone numbers, family members, email addresses, work history, present employment, education, and background in the hobby all for FREE. This only took 30 minutes of my time. This did not even consider canvassing references from other collectors, technicians, and operators. The internet is a powerful tool when used properly.

TBK: This is fairly well is a useless paragraph unless you wish to detail us and teach us how you do it all for FREE. Make this teachable moment and share what you know on the FREE stuff, please.

-4
#110 6 years ago
Quoted from Buzz:

Very sad to hear something like this and it's great you are sharing this to help others. Most people would be to embarrassed to warn others. Good for you and it could happen to anyone. The fever of getting a game will make you over look a lot sometimes.

It was very cool and brave of you to post your experience.

I echo @Buzz's comment, it could happen to anyone. Not only the fever of getting a game but just being a trusting person who believes folks will honor their word.

I actually get a little offensive when my integrity is questioned and therefore I am terrible about doing my "due-diligence" when things are flipped around.

Example, I just purchased a KX125 for my son a few months ago for similar value. I made it as easy of a transaction as possible for the seller and showed up on-time with a new Dodge pickup wearing my work clothes and looking like a professional (not a meth-head).

The seller (also a professional looking fellow) started to count my hundred dollar bills as I stood there as if I would have tried to short him. If I get the sense a buyer is a decent person, I never insult them by treating them like a convict transferring prisons and I got pretty insulted almost to the point where if I felt any less trusted, I would have aborted. I therefore never count money in front of someone I feel is a stand-up person. We all have our proclivities i guess. Could I easily get burned this way? Yes.

I see a trusting person who unfortunately got burned this time.

Thank you again for sharing and do not stop giving folks the benefit of the doubt, most people are good. We just need to exercise a little caution.

#111 6 years ago

sorry to hear of this.

tell him you have someone that wants to come have a look at it...

address please.

#112 6 years ago
Quoted from Rondogg:

Yeah, PayPal puts too much power in the hands of the buyer. I regularly refuse PayPal offers. Just not worth the potential hassle.

Buy/sell with well known pinsiders and paypal is completely fine--I've done half dozen paypal deals via pinside, no issues. Sending paypal to some random as hell shady character is begging to be ripped off.

Re: this scammer. What's he say if you want to look at the game in person or have a "buddy" come by and check it out?

#113 6 years ago
Quoted from BallyPinWiz:

Interestingly, he entered the name "Danny" as his last name (or surname) and the name "Barnes" as his first name (or given name).
If you look at the bottom of the passport, there are two lines of characters, which are used for automatic passport reader machines. There are never spaces used. Whoever owned this passport has an eight character name, but it was reduced to "Barnes" and there is a space before the B and after the S. Any spaces on a real passport are represented by the character "<"
And, I agree with some other posts that the font used for the name does not match the rest of the passport.

And the name would be all upper case

#114 6 years ago

Wow.
Sorry man

#115 6 years ago
Quoted from cottonm4:

TBK: This is fairly well is a useless paragraph unless you wish to detail us and teach us how you do it all for FREE. Make this teachable moment and share what you know on the FREE stuff, please.

You use a white pages backtrack for personal information including family members as a crosscheck for addressing.
Then you reset your search based on regional businesses for employment.
Linkin is your friend, as are other social networking sources such as Facebook.
Using Linkin you can determine education and often photos, if hits are not already acquired from a basic source search.
Many times based on a person's line of work they want to advertise anyway such as retail, consumer sales, investments, banking, or real estate.
Do another search using reference of photos for things like professional articles.
From education you can can determine more personal information and contacts.
Networking in pinball take care of the rest.

All free.
No secret squirrel decoder ring required here.

Read other posts recently on "conducting private sales" regarding importance of invoices and procedures.

If any person believes my posts are useless, place me on ignore, I will not be offended.

#116 6 years ago
Quoted from Duvall:

showed up on-time with a new Dodge pickup wearing my work clothes and looking like a professional (not a meth-head).

You are saying you had to go to this effort so as to not look like a meth-head?

Quoted from mac622:

And the name would be all upper case

And not a diminutive, normally a Danny's actual name would be Daniel.

39
#117 6 years ago
Quoted from Duvall:

The seller (also a professional looking fellow) started to count my hundred dollar bills as I stood there as if I would have tried to short him. If I get the sense a buyer is a decent person, I never insult them by treating them like a convict transferring prisons and I got pretty insulted almost to the point where if I felt any less trusted, I would have aborted. I therefore never count money in front of someone I feel is a stand-up person. We all have our proclivities i guess. Could I easily get burned this way? Yes.

Funny, when I hand over a big wad of bills I ask the seller to count it right then and there to "make sure I got it right." If I miscounted I want to know about it, and I don't want to hear ten minutes later that some money is missing (either because they're crafty or a $20 got stuck in their pocket) when I can no longer easily prove that I gave the right amount. Of course if it's a friend no need for public counting, but with a stranger, it's best for everyone to proceed that way. As you say, we all have our proclivities!

29
#118 6 years ago
Quoted from Duvall:

The seller (also a professional looking fellow) started to count my hundred dollar bills as I stood there as if I would have tried to short him. If I get the sense a buyer is a decent person, I never insult them by treating them like a convict transferring prisons and I got pretty insulted almost to the point where if I felt any less trusted, I would have aborted. I therefore never count money in front of someone I feel is a stand-up person. We all have our proclivities i guess. Could I easily get burned this way? Yes.

When I go to a bank and deposit a stack of bills, the bank counts them out right in front of me. When the bank gives me bills I watch the teller count them out and then I recount them in front of the teller. It is all good.

Walmart will count your bills (both ways) right in front of you. So will McDonalds.

People makes mistakes. Bills can get stuck together.

I know you will count them as soon as I leave---so just count them out while I am still here; No need to be coy about it. That way, if I did make the embarrassing mistake of handing you 19 one hundred dollar bills instead of 20 bills I can reach in my pocket and resolve the issue right there instead of you calling me a few hours later telling me I shorted you/cheated you and I now have to somehow correct the problem.

I hand you money I expect you to count it out right in front of me. Be assured, if you hand me a stack of bills I will count them out right in front of you. No offense intended. It is just good business.

#119 6 years ago
Quoted from Duvall:

The seller (also a professional looking fellow) started to count my hundred dollar bills as I stood there as if I would have tried to short him.

When buying a game I always count out the money when I'm giving it to the seller. I want them to be sure they are getting the full amount we agreed upon and make sure there was no mistake or misunderstanding.

I had one sale where the buyer and I went back and forth on a price and finally agreed. He came to pick up the game and handed me the cash. I didn't count it. After he left I counted and it was short a couple hundred. While trying to reach him on the phone (he didn't answer), I looked through our emails and I realized that we had a miscommunication/misunderstanding about the final price. He didn't intentionally short me, we just got our signals crossed when exchanging emails. He finally answered and we got things sorted out. So after that I always count out the money when buying so the seller doesn't feel put on the spot or ever get shorted.

#120 6 years ago
Quoted from Oneangrymo:

Cant someone just trace where that bank account is? I mean someone has actually get the money from their bank right? go find out who it is , go to Indiana.. find them.. and put their ass in jail and give them 15 lashes. Thats what I would do.

Likely he is using a money mule.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_mule

#121 6 years ago

Sounds like all the warning signs were in place. Sorry he took you for a sucker.

#122 6 years ago

If you contact the bank they will start a fraud investigation. That bank and surrounding bank branches will put him on a watch/ block access report and block any new access with the ID and so on he is using. It will force him to use another bank or get more fraud documents. Either way more work for the bad guy.

#123 6 years ago
Quoted from Duvall:

The seller (also a professional looking fellow) started to count my hundred dollar bills as I stood there as if I would have tried to short him. If I get the sense a buyer is a decent person, I never insult them by treating them like a convict transferring prisons and I got pretty insulted almost to the point where if I felt any less trusted, I would have aborted. I therefore never count money in front of someone I feel is a stand-up person. We all have our proclivities i guess. Could I easily get burned this way?

Counting the cash out protects both parties at the time of the transaction. I've actually had a buyer hand me a couple hundred more than we agreed on and I gave it back to him after I counted it out before he left. It's better to clear that up while buyer and seller are both present, set your ego aside in favor of a smooth transaction.

#124 6 years ago

On the subject of counting out bills in front of someone....about 30 years ago I bought a junker car from someone for $500. I handed the stack of 20's to the seller and he just sticks the bills in his pocket without counting them, I thought that was odd but I was young. He then told me "follow me about 1/4 mile to my sisters house to get the title". Again odd, but whatever. We get to his sisters house and he pulls the bills out of his pocket and THEN counts them out and states "there's only $380 here". I knew I handed him $500 as that was a lot for me back then, and I was dumbfounded and confused. Stupid as I was I left and came back later with another $120, thinking I miscounted. What he actually did was peel $120 out of the stack while he was driving, I don't know this for fact but the guy is in the newspaper every few years for getting into trouble with the law (and I always smile when reading about it).

So from that point forward I ALWAYS count out cash in front of the buyer or seller. And it's not always about trust either, we all make little mistakes sometimes when counting out cash. I have a good friend that I've done numerous deals with and I trust him 100%, but I always count it out whether it's $100 or $5000. But when I hand him cash he always just sticks the bills in his pocket without counting it, but I wish he would so I knew I didn't miscount or he accidentally drops a hundy later.

To the op; sorry about your situation and getting ripped off for that much. It's an expensive lesson but you obviously learned from it and hopefully won't let it happen again! Someone like that is always scamming people and will eventually have his day someway or the other.

15
#125 6 years ago
Quoted from Duvall:

I got pretty insulted almost to the point where if I felt any less trusted, I would have aborted. I therefore never count money in front of someone I feel is a stand-up person. We all have our proclivities i guess.

I think you're the only one with that proclivity.
Aborting the sale because someone counts the money for accuracy is just lunacy. I've exchanged money with my best friend on occasion, and we always count. We trust each other with our lives, we just don't trust that our counting is infallible.

42
#126 6 years ago

I want to thank the OP for his courage sharing this story.

And frankly, some of the responses on this thread only enable more scammers.

So before you post something like:

"You should have known better, there were plenty of red flags, blah blah blah..."

First: Re-read his post. It's painfully obvious he saw every red flag AND he fully accepted his lapse in judgement. He's not blaming pinside, Google, the banks, PayPal, FBI, Trump, Obama, or aliens for this mistake.

He fully owned it. And at the risk of looking stupid, he honestly shared his experience and should be applauded.

He's not asking for a trophy, he wants to turn his pain into something we can learn from. Well done.

We ALL learn by this terrible story. Many of us were brought up to believe that most people are decent.

But there is ZERO justification to laud it over the OP.

Why? Because the more times these stories are shared, the more everyone understands how easily any of us can be taken.

We can also learn how they are evolving their tactics. They are not stupid.

Being AWARE of red flags is one thing, and the OP was aware. BUT he was willing to ignore them because the seller seemed legitimate.

And if you really want something you will unconsciously ignore or justify away red flags ("I'm just being paranoid").

THAT is the reason we need to avoid mocking or critiquing the OP. Because we need the next scam victim to feel comfortable sharing their horror story. There will be more. Their tactics will change. Their English will improve; their photos will get more legit looking, their photoshop skills will improve.

But if we're going to "shame" the OP, YOU HELP THE SCAMMERS by discouraging the next victim from sharing their story.

So let's stop with the "tisks risks" and moralizing. By all means share links to prevention guides, share links or clues or tips on other ways to uncover a scammer, but please refrain from unnecessary criticism.

Your just making it easier for scammers.

-9
#127 6 years ago
Quoted from quinntopia:

Your just making it easier for scammers.

How so?

12
#128 6 years ago

-

Quoted from quinntopia:

by discouraging the next victim from sharing their story.

#129 6 years ago
Quoted from Duvall:

The seller (also a professional looking fellow) started to count my hundred dollar bills as I stood there as if I would have tried to short him. If I get the sense a buyer is a decent person, I never insult them by treating them like a convict transferring prisons and I got pretty insulted almost to the point where if I felt any less trusted, I would have aborted. I therefore never count money in front of someone I feel is a stand-up person.

Top 10 weirdest things I've ever read here. You must have a tough time at the grocery store

#130 6 years ago
Quoted from TheLaw:

You must have a tough time at the grocery store

It can be even tougher being in line behind that dude trying to pay for $3 worth of spaghetti and sauce when his credit card won't work.

#131 6 years ago

Ah that sucks...but you know what?
You don't have to give pleasure to a demon in hell for eternity.
So who's better off?

13
#132 6 years ago
Quoted from pinballrockstar:

You don't have to give pleasure to a demon in hell for eternity.

How do you know my wife?

#133 6 years ago

These exact pics are in an active CL listing in Street, MD right now.

#134 6 years ago
Quoted from Duvall:

The seller (also a professional looking fellow) started to count my hundred dollar bills as I stood there as if I would have tried to short him. If I get the sense a buyer is a decent person, I never insult them by treating them like a convict transferring prisons and I got pretty insulted almost to the point where if I felt any less trusted, I would have aborted. I therefore never count money in front of someone I feel is a stand-up person. We all have our proclivities i guess. Could I easily get burned this way? Yes.

I always count in front of the person -- as a buyer or seller. It is not about trust, is is about making a mistake. We are exchanging a lot of cash (e.g., lots of pieces of paper) and mistakes can happen. I'm never insulted when a person does it in front of me (often joking, this is the part that feels like a drug deal). Once I almost shorted a person $100 and once I was almost overpaid $100. I just make it clear what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. In both cases, the error was caught and all was made right.

#135 6 years ago

Thanks for sharing that story about counting money and that shady guy who pulled the 120 stunt at the sisters house. Just scum and I wouldn't have thought anything either if he just put it in his pocket.

Counting money I see is important in the sense that mistakes do happen

A older man once bought a game from me and didn't count his money correctly

He loaded up and drove off and handed me the envelope and I didn't think anything of it or count it, because as others said above he seemed very trustworthy, well he was but to a fault.

Long story short I had to call the guy and let him know he over paid me and he had to turn all the way back to pick up his extra money.

Many people may not have been that honest but it avoids that from happening too
Sometimes people mix their game money and gas money together if they are driving from ways away.

So it's best to do that I think out of plain respect and explain that you just want to make sure the amounts are correct, I don't think many would take offense to that

It's all in the approach

#136 6 years ago

I Feel really bad about what happened to you. The fact this guy had this scam all figured out means hes done it many times before. There has to be some way to setup a sting for the onshore scammers

What really scares me is all these Cash and Carry deals I see on Craigslist etc.
2k in cash is a big payday for a career criminal with little to loose. I've been tempted
on a few occasions to travel and pickup a game and wondered what might happen if things went South. I had one or two sketchy deals come my way in last couple years. Fortunately my spider senses kicked in and I asked a few to many questions for the scammers could'nt answer.

No pinball machine is worth throwing caution to the wind on. Sorry you got burnt

#137 6 years ago

Weird, Mr Pinball now has the T2 ad marked SCAM! but not the older Whirlwind ad from the same seller?

10
#138 6 years ago
Quoted from cottonm4:

When I go to a bank and deposit a stack of bills, the bank counts them out right in front of me. When the bank gives me bills I watch the teller count them out and then I recount them in front of the teller. It is all good.
Walmart will count your bills (both ways) right in front of you. So will McDonalds.
People makes mistakes. Bills can get stuck together.
I know you will count them as soon as I leave---so just count them out while I am still here; No need to be coy about it. That way, if I did make the embarrassing mistake of handing you 19 one hundred dollar bills instead of 20 bills I can reach in my pocket and resolve the issue right there instead of you calling me a few hours later telling me I shorted you/cheated you and I now have to somehow correct the problem.
I hand you money I expect you to count it out right in front of me. Be assured, if you hand me a stack of bills I will count them out right in front of you. No offense intended. It is just good business.

agreed. I expect them to count it right then and there. Because it could go the other way, where they said they didn't get it all later trying to pull one over as well. Nothing wrong with counting the funds in front of each other. Good for both parties.

when I bought my first machine 13 years ago. The first TZ I was after turned out to be a scam. I knew nothing about nigerian scams as they were relatively new at the time. The guy insisted that he send me a ebay auction BIN second chance offer to close the deal to prove he was legit. Which actually was my tip off. Since I delt with ebay for 10 years before that, he had a sentence the offer that said something on the lines, that said. Payment must be western union money order. Do not tell western union that is for an ebay purchase, or they will not complete the transaction. But they made it look like it was ebays rules on the second chance page. I already knew ebay would not tell you to falsely send a payment. Plus the second chance offer was a site that looked like ebay, but had a slight variation in the website. Forwarded that message to ebay to confirm it wasn't them. Did some research on nigerian scams and was thankful I dodged a bullet. took me 6 months to save up to buy a TZ. Found one close to my house and could pickup in person. Learned how a machine breaks down and easy to move right there as well. Learned how to take the glass off, lift the field, what things to look for. I can't stress enough how important it is to buy games in person, or from people that are well known in the community.

Ever since then. I get scam email or phone calls about twice a week over the past 13 years. I enjoy wasting their time and resources as much as I can. Nothing is more satisfying than having them fedex over a payment overnight because they think you will sell the game to someone else, when they think they have you on the hook to fork over overpayment. Costs them a fortune to fedex an overnight payment. Then you tell them you didn't get it and have them send another. It's hilarious how pissed they get. Or when they give you instructions on how the deal is going to go down, and you keep repeating it back to them completely wrong. Many times i'm extremely entertained with screwing with them. I am collecting many fake m.o., cashier checks and everything else to make a nice framed mural dedicated to their stupidity.

#139 6 years ago

Did a reverse search on that number.
Another scam.
http://www.pinballrevolution.com/threads/stern-tron-pinball-machine-huo-5950.6322/

-Mike

#140 6 years ago

I count and lay the money right on the glass. Let seller pick it up, put keys in pocket and start to load up.

#141 6 years ago

Danny Barnes, born in POLAND in 1969? Highly unlikely. Maybe Miroslav Przywara or some other typical Polish name. In 1969 Poland was a reclusive communist country, there were no Dannys and certainly nobody with the last name Barnes. As somebody pointed out, the font of the name doesn't match either.

#142 6 years ago

Thanks for posting your story Soulrider.

#143 6 years ago
Quoted from TechnicalSteam:

I Feel really bad about what happened to you. The fact this guy had this scam all figured out means hes done it many times before. There has to be some way to setup a sting for the onshore scammers

Sure, it --could-- be done. But, its not. There just aren't the resources or maybe the right attitude right now. Despite the fact that it is happening over and over to thousands of innocent people, the amounts aren't enough to sic the mean guys (like the feds) onto them and even if they caught some they probably wouldn't be punished much it at all. They know this well and that is why it goes on and on. They can keep doing this over and over all day long (its ALL they do) and if they try 100 times and fail but then get one which nets them a few thousand they are as happy as clams. This right here is a microcosm within the pinball world, but it is going on out there in all sorts of other ways, sadly. There isn't much that can be done except be aware and watch out for your own self.

#144 6 years ago

If this happened to me I would get that f**cker.Somehow ,someway.I would hunt him down.

#145 6 years ago

To anyone considering a remote sale, reading this horror story, and getting totally freaked out.....

JUST USE AN ESCROW SERVICE. JUST USE AN ESCROW SERVICE. JUST USE AN ESCROW SERVICE.
Escrow.com or Safefunds.com only! Don't use the cheapo sites.

Don't let a buyer or seller talk you out of using an escrow service to process payment. If they refuse, it's likely they are a scammer!
The escrow fee on a $6k game is $78.00 on Safefunds.com. The peace of mind you'll get from them is definitely worth it.

LOCAL CASH SALE, or ESCROW SERVICE. No exceptions. EVER.

Just my opinion.

#146 6 years ago

If you NEED your money FAST, this might be the wrong hobby for you.

Also just my opinion.

#147 6 years ago

This is helpful moonduckie78 I was not aware of this, thank you for sharing

#148 6 years ago

419 scams have been around in some form as long as people have been able to get messages to one another. Before internet they used faxes. Before faxes they used Who's Who info and postal mail. The first scammer probably used smoke signals.
OP isn't the first or last to get scammed. Be careful everyone.

#149 6 years ago
Quoted from Oneangrymo:

Here is the residents that live at this address past and present.
https://www.spokeo.com/IN/Indianapolis/5351-Eel-River-Ct
Give them a lashing!

Be very careful with this kind of mob justice. No offense, but it's naive to assume that's the villain.

It's very likely that the address belongs to either a victim of identity theft, or a victim of a "make money from home by stuffing envelopes" scam.

Harassment from random internet strangers would just make things worse.

#150 6 years ago
Quoted from apLundell:

Be very careful with this kind of mob justice. No offense, but it's naive to assume that's the villain.
It's very likely that the address belongs to either a victim of identity theft, or a victim of a "make money from home by stuffing envelopes" scam.
Harassment from random internet strangers would just make things worse.

Seriously. The scammer is easily the smartest guy in this thread and there's no way you are going to figure out who or where he is.

Just pay attention to the "red flags" and avoid similar scams in the future. That's the extent of the justice to be had here.

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