This guy is portraying himself as several people, using a variety of methods of contact. He posted a beautiful picture of a 1995 Harley Davidson in the free column of our local listing of craigslist. I inquired about it via his email address that he gave in the listing. The email is:
[email protected]. The day went by and I never heard from him, I checked the listing and it was gone. So I figured that for whatever reason the person was getting rid of it, someone else beat me to it. The next morning I found an email response in my inbox stating that the bike had been a gift to his grandson that he had purchased for him only last year, and now his grandson had passed away leaving him and his wife sad memories every time they saw the bike. I responded back with condolences and proceeded to make preparations for delivery of the bike. He sent me the email address of the shipping company, (
[email protected]) referred to them as "the movers." He said the movers were at his grandson's house right then, preparing the bike to be moved. The day went by and I was back & forth with obtaining information, now from "the movers." I soon learned that the bike was not in my home town, (in the Mid-west,) as "John" made it sound, but had already been transported to Porter, TX where he lives, and that the grandson was the one who had been living in my area. So now I was dealing back & forth with one of the movers, Arthur, and I insisted that I see a copy of the title, which Arthur, actually offered to email me anyway, before I mentioned it. It took him a little bit of time to get it to me...said he was busy with customers, but got it sent to me a little while later. "John" had sent me more pictures of the bike, I guess to wet my appetite even more! I should've paid attention to the fact that the picture with the license plate was from AZ! And I must say, hind sight is a bit embarrassing, that I disregarded that red flag. :-/ (But you know, people do move from one side of the country to the other.) Anyway, I'm giving all these details in hopes that it might help someone else from getting scammed. Next I'll be contacting authorities because, after dealing with him back & forth all day, snooping around on Google maps and finding that even though the address he gave me of his location, wasn't what his company name was that was in the email address (
[email protected]). I looked up the businesses, called them. One was open still, (past 6pm by then) so I inquired of the business with them. They hadn't heard of them, so I asked him to give me names of some of the businesses around him. Well he named a couple, and one in which on Google wasn't even showing, but I found it right by there when I dug a bit deeper. Anyway, some of the red flags he was able to dispel, some he did not. But the reason I ended up trusting him was his persistence even after he knew I was snooping around to learn his legitimacy. He didn't scare off! He had "John" contact me again to try and ease my "skepticism" (as he called it); he had someone (no name) contact me from his company, letting me know that "no one is scamming you,we are 100 percent legitimate and won't tarnish our image because of anything."
So with his staying with me through all the "skepticism" and all the snooping around, I ended up sending him $250 via Western Union for covering the delivery fees. The next day I received an email stating:
WE'RE BRINGING INTO YOUR NOTICE THAT WE RECEIVED A NOTIFICATION FROM ARTHUR THAT THE BIKE IS STILL IN AUSTIN, TX FOR STOP ORDER WHICH WAS INSTRUCTED BY THE CUSTOM.
THEY STOP THE SHIPMENT FOR NOW BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T PAY THE SHIPPING AGENT CHARGES.
I WAS TOLD THAT THEY CAN RELEASE THE BIKE ONLY IF YOU CAN COMPLY WITH THE SHIPPING AGENCIES TAXES AS THE BENEFICIARY FOR THE BIKE .
SO, BELOW ARE THE TAX YOU'RE TO PAY BEFORE THE SHIPMENT OF THE BIKE GET TO YOU.
SHIPPING AGENCIES TAX: 500.00USD
SO, ABOVE THE AMOUNT NEEDED TO BE PAID BY YOU AS THE BENEFICIARY OF THE BIKE. CURRENTLY, THE BIKE ARE STILL ON HOLD IN (AUSTIN, TX) AND THE STOP ORDER CODE IS: (LHR455NG).
AS SOON AS YOU TRANSFER THE AMOUNT TO THE SAME INFORMATION YOU SEND THE $250, THEN I'LL GO AHEAD AND PAY UP THE CHARGES, SO THEY CAN RELEASE THE BIKE TO THE NEXT DESTINATION (MUNCIE, IN).
ALSO, YOU'LL NEED TO ACT FAST ABOUT THIS MATTER, THEY CAN STILL RELEASE THE BIKE TODAY AND HAVE THEM DELIVER TOMORROW AFTERNOON, IF ONLY THEY HAVE THE FUNDS BY TODAY.
HOWEVER,THIS IS THE TRACKING NUMBER FOR THE SHIPMENT OF THE BIKE: 9470101699320002799581, YOU CAN GET IT TRACKED UNDER THE WEBSITE OF US POSTAL SERVICE www.usps.com
I'LL AWAIT INFORMATION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
YOURS SINCERELY
MOVER IN CHARGE.
#$%^&*()__)!@#%)*&^%#!!!
Now, I finally got "Arthur" to CALL me instead of just text. His text phone number never brought up anything. However, he has now called me twice. The first one was with this number in which this thread is found, (213 292 9130). Pretty disturbing, especially to find the latest post before mine was just less than a month ago. But even more disturbing when he called me again on a different phone, and that number is the same as the other one that Toni posted back in April!! (630 489 9130)!!!
I doubt anybody will be able to recover my loss, but if I can get the word out everywhere that I can and prevent anyone else from being taken...and taken by possibly more! I'll do it!
If only I.....