Got screwed on buying a game. Need help.

[Starcade]

ok, bottom line, I have been talking to this guy who was supposed to be a cool guy, gaming fan, ect, ect.

Well, the past few days he has been selling stuff, and offers to sell me a Neo-Geo home system, all cables and controller, ect and issue #1 of EGM for $220 total.

I think to myself, sweet deal..so we get to talking, and he mentions he wants me to send cash..not a check or paypal..so me, being the moron I am, send 220$ cash.

I wait about 3 days, IM him, and he tells me something along the lines of "You should learn not to trust people you meet online". And logs out.

Basically I am screwed out of 220$ and all I have is aim chat logs, which can easily be made up by anyone.

Is there anything I can do for myself, or did I put the nail in my own coffin by sending cash?

Any help is appreciated.

[chaoticjelly]

Go to his house and kick his ass / tell the local police

Second option probably better?

[VinnyT]

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/forumfun/negative5.jpg

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/forumfun/negative11.jpg

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/forumfun/negative17.jpg

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/forumfun/negative18.jpg

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[Querjek]

Well, possibly. You can file a claim with his local police, assuming you've got his address. I believe this goes under "mail fraud".

[Cmosfm]

:o

Your probably screwed, but seeing as how you send cash to a total stranger over the internet, I'd have to say you deserved this one.

Oh, I got a wonderful beach house down in Malibu, filled to the brim with all the rarest games you can find, even has an arcade room. Ill be willing to let you have it for 10,000.00 only! Cash only though, PM me for my address. LOL

[christianscott27]

well it wasnt the smartest thing in the world to do but i do feel bad for you. i'm sure since losing the money you've had time to consider all the lessons to be learned, i wont lecture you there. bottom line is the guy is a scammer who needs to be caught, right now you have nothing left to lose so try the police in his area first, failing that post his address here, maybe one of us lives near him and could help you out. nothing freaks out a long distance scammer like a knock on the door. its quite possible he's some punk living with mommy, in that case theres a chance you'll get your $$ back.

[norkusa]

If he gave you his home address to mail the cash too (and not a PO Box or anything like that) you may have a good chance at getting your money back. Same thing happened to me last year involving a Virtual Boy store display...I called the cops in they guys home town and a fraud detective got involved. He ended up paying the guy a visit and a couple of weeks later, the VB display showed up on my doorstep along with a pathetic letter of apology.

Don't expect any help from the US Post Office though. You can send a postal money order to someone with delivery conformation but if you were scammed, that still won't be enough proof to warrant a refund on the m.o. (which makes DC pretty much pointless to get in the first place).

[Flack]

First, you need to post this guy's name and address, so the REST of us don't get scammed!

Second, you should call the local police in his town and see if they can do anything.

By sending cash, you might have made it hard, but not impossible to get your money back.

[davidbrit2]

Hmm, was it interstate mail fraud? That would be a federal offense. You've got his address, and a bunch of chat logs. I would hope that should at least be grounds for investigation.

[kainemaxwell]

Send Sothy to the guy's house.

[Starcade]

Well, I was asking because..the thing is, he can just tell the cops he never recieved the money...what then?

[Starcade]

because there is no solid PROOF he sent the money..just chats=/

[buttasuperb]

well if you logged the comment about never trusting people online, I'd say that pretty good proof his intent was to rip you off and he got the money.

[Sylentwulf]

Well, not to be a complete ass, but I agree with vinny.

Sorry, you send cash in the mail, you take your chances 100% with being ripped off.
You send cash in the mail to someone you don't know, in the amount of $220 - You're guarantee'd to call it a very expensive lesson that you HAD BETTER NOT EVER learn again.

[LazingBlazers]

Even though my 2 cents is pointless, there are really only 2 things that you can do:

1: Take matters into your own hands.

2: Swallow your pride, and remember this experience next time.

You could call the cops, but I don't think that they can really do anything... unless the guys cracks or something.

[Starcade]

I realize I am the dumbest mofo alive.

What I am saying is, he CAN and probably WILL get away with just saying "I never got it in the mail" right?

Is their ANY way I can prove I sent it? Or that he recieved?

[Furrikain]

I'm probably not the best person to give advice on this, since there's only one thing that really pisses me off, and that's when people steal from me :angry:

But considering the facts, i wouldn't go to the police if the guy's close enough to you to pay him a little visit, assuming you have his address; hell, bring some scary-looking friends :evil:

Going to the police is a double-edged sword imo, on one hand, the guy MIGHT cave in and come clean but that's doubtful, on the other hand, once you file a complaint and it doesn't work out, there isn't much else you can do, the guy can even file his own complaint for harassment or whatever if you keep bothering him :(

Anyway, i know at least one burglar-moron who got kicked the everloving shit out of him who'll agree with me 100% that this method is very effective if executed right :D

Pardon my french btw, if there's one thing i can't stand it's guys like that; without em, online commerce would be heaven

[portnoyd]

1. Never send cash. If they ask for cash, send them a check anyway.

2. Post the dude's AIM name. Please? :D

3. Take his address, and sign him up for every and all junk mail (snail mail that is) you can find. NAMBLA works good. Then mail him some dog poop. Make him trade that $220 for several months of annoyance.

dave

[GaijinPunch]

He deserves an ass-whipping.

[Furrikain]

Your post made me wonder about what i'd do if something like that were to happen to me and basically i came up with this:

If you don't have his address, just create a new IM account, get to know the guy again some way or another until you can send him a file without him getting suspicious. While sending the file, just go to start/run and type cmd /k netstat -a . This should get you his IP address. If you don't know what provider he's using, just run a tracert on the obtained IP and send all the info to abuse@whateverprovider.com. It might help to first file a complaint with the police so you can attach some paperwork that'll convince the ISP to release the guy's address tot the proper authorities.

I Hope this helps, good luck.

[Starcade]

hmm....thanks for the tips guys.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Oh man that sucks...

Please post or PM his name and address..

Maybe someone here knows him or lives by him..


(in the likes of..Oh yea,I've heard of that scammer..he tried some crap on me,or a friend..)You never know..

[GaijinPunch]

Did you ever answer the question as to whether you had his address or not?

If you do have it, post it all over the internet and say the guy's a fraud. Other than that, I only got three words for you.
Mass Pizza Delivery.

[punkoffgirl]

I realize I am the dumbest mofo alive.

What I am saying is, he CAN and probably WILL get away with just saying "I never got it in the mail" right?

Is their ANY way I can prove I sent it? Or that he recieved?

Unless you got some kind of tracking or delivery confirmation, there's no physical way to prove that you ever sent anything to his house; even if you did have tracking on the envelope itself, there's no way to prove there was cash inside of it.

[Querjek]

I realize I am the dumbest mofo alive.

Well, you may not be the smartest, but you're not the worst. Every day, people fall for those email scams from the "Nigerian bank officer" who wants to send you millions for a couple thousand. I once saw a show on TechTV which had a few guys stupid enough to do that. This was nothing compared to $3000 lost overseas.

[tholly]

Everyone is saying how he has no proof that he sent anything. Can't he just send a random letter and put delivery confirmation on that and keep all the receipts and just say that all this was from the letter with the money in it. Maybe even send it priority and insure it for $220.

[Sotenga]

Buy a katana, go on a quest to his house, walk through his door, go Genjuro Kibigami on his ass. That's what I'd do, but a more practical way would be to somehow relocate his address and call the internet police on him. Wait, is there such a thing as the internet police? :hmm:

[Funk Buddy]

Buy a katana, go on a quest to his house, walk through his door, go Genjuro Kibigami on his ass. That's what I'd do, but a more practical way would be to somehow relocate his address and call the internet police on him. Wait, is there such a thing as the internet police? :hmm:

Man... you know there is really no need for this crap! Must you reply to every damn post made here?!?

On topic:

You might have a chance reporting it to the police in his area, but I doubt it. There is a slim chance the Post Office will do something about the mail fraud issue. Look up their number and talk to the post master and seek his/her advice. Also, do a search for what amount it needs to be for a felony issue. When all else fails, live and learn. Next time, send it registered with signature confirmation or look at the other combinations you can do to protect yourself a little more. A crook is a crook and usually are good at what they do. Please, as others have said, post his information for us to see.

[Reverend JagDiesel]

I'd be very interested in the name/location of this individual, as I guess most everyone else here seems to be. Sucks that you got ripped off by some jackass.
I guess you live and learn. best of luck getting any kind of "justice" on this one!

[Raedon]

This has to be a joke.. no one is dumb enough to send cash threw the mail.

[norkusa]

Everyone is saying how he has no proof that he sent anything. Can't he just send a random letter and put delivery confirmation on that and keep all the receipts and just say that all this was from the letter with the money in it. Maybe even send it priority and insure it for $220.

Nope. All of that is still not good enough. I sent a Postal Money Order for $75 WITH delivery conformation to someone that would later rip me off, but that STILL wasn't enough proof to get a refund from the USPS. Had all of my receipts too. Their excuse was "well, the delivery conformation showed that it was delivered to the address, but we have no proof that he was actually the one that received it". They ran a check on the m.o. and it even showed that it was cashed at the guys bank. Jesus! How much more fucking proof do you need???

Starcade, just post this assholes address. I really don't think you need to worry about offending anyone that screwed you out of $200. And if this guy lives within a hour or two from me, I'd gladly smash his windows in or egg his house for a game or two. Seriously.

[rbudrick]

Yeah, man,

Post his info....if he lives within an hour or so from me, I'll volunteer for some evilness myself.

-Rob

[GaijinPunch]

I agree. You're going to have to post his address, name, etc., or be branded as spineless.

[punkoffgirl]

Also, do a search for what amount it needs to be for a felony issue.

Over $1000 has to be involved for it to be a felony.

[bargora]

Also, do a search for what amount it needs to be for a felony issue.

Over $1000 has to be involved for it to be a felony.
Under state law or federal law? And if state, then which state?

Me, I just want to see if the guy is in Ohio so that the Sniderman posse can wreak some havoc. Heh heh. *cracks knuckles*

[SpasticFuctard]

Or, you can send me 100$ cash to my P.O. Box, I specialize in retrieval of items of just this nature. If in the event you don't get your money back, I'll happily refund you your 100$, or, if you'd like, New York City is currently selling bonds on a new toll complex they're constructing on the Brooklyn bridge, I could reinvest your 100$ and you could in fact own the Brooklyn Bridge. Your inital investment would pay offf a thousandfold and I would sleep the sleep of the just, knowing that I had facilitated your comeuppance.

SF

[bargora]

SF, I can see that you are an honorable man. And that is why I would like you to help me move $750,000 out of Nigeria. All I need from you is that $100...

[chrisballer]

Here in michigan anything over $100 dollars is a felony not a $1000

[ManekiNeko]

VinnyT, don't you have some ants to fry with a magnifying lens or something? Leave the kid alone.

JR

[BoOchan]

Of course, NEVER SEND CASH IN THE MAIL!! Here in Australia, if they recognise that it's cash in the mail, they seize it. I will not send cash at all. Secondly, I would never trust anyone of just a strickly IM Conversation, who knows who they are. I'm sorry you got burned bad, but take this into account so you don't get suckered. Oh, and BTW what a smartass saying "You shouldn't trust people online", that alone would want me to go over there and kick his ass...

[calthaer]

I agree. Post this guy's address. Then perhaps there are enough people here to have someone close by. Perhaps this someone will be willing to, if the guy is unwilling to fork over the money, take enough lawn jockeys and other things from outside his house to sell and get $220.