Scammer alert: buyers beware (around Austin Texas area)

Aug 02, 2019,21:26 PM
 

Hi guys,

A community service announcement about a scam artist in Austin Texas. The watch stolen was a HALIOS Seaforth Roldorf.

IT HAS SINCE BEEN RECOVERED. THIS THREAD TELLS THE STORY

The watch was stolen during a trade with a seller on Instagram. I sent him the watch; he sent me an empty box instead of his part of the bargain.

Caution: Don’t get burnt like I did!

THE STOLEN WATCH WAS RECOVERED AND CULPRIT DETAILS DELETED! Yay! NOW I AM A HAPPY CAMPER







This message has been edited by cazalea on 2019-08-14 16:21:25

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I’ve now heard from others about this guy.

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 2nd, 2019-21:44
Apparently not his first scam. He’s also been trading fake Rolexes (Date Justs) in exchange for other watches). Occasionally also uses a shipping address in New Jersey. Watch out for this a&&h01e

You misspelled . . .

 
 By: Dr No : August 2nd, 2019-21:50
. . . 'asshole'. (This isn't a laughing matter, so no smiley face.) Did the asshole perpetrate his scam from our Collectors Market? If so, please let me know. Disgusted, Art

Hi Art.

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 2nd, 2019-21:53
Thanks for the commiserations. I got scammed from Instagram not from here. But I’ve been speaking with a few fellows around Austin TX, and apparently he’s done a few dodgy trades there (on Reddit and Facebook sale sites mainly). I think I got off relative... 

You alerted the local authorities?

 
 By: vitalsigns : August 2nd, 2019-22:34
Sorry to hear of this. Makes one want to pay him a visit and provide some in-person transaction feedback...

Just gathering some information.

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 2nd, 2019-22:45
Seems like he is using a fake name. Trying to track him through PayPal and other online places. There are some local guys who were scammed worse than I who may get the police involved. Hopefully we can pin the bastard down.

Hope you nail him

 
 By: vitalsigns : August 2nd, 2019-23:07
Mail fraud Conversion Regular contractual fraud I’m sure he’s easily committed a half dozen crimes with your transaction alone. Hope you get him. Good luck!

Thank you.

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 2nd, 2019-23:20
We’ll try

Thanks, Will!

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 2nd, 2019-23:47
Much appreciated

Thanks, nico!

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 3rd, 2019-00:35
We’ll try HAGWE

Did you lodge a police? If you didn't, I think you should make a report. Maybe the police department can help you contact their counterpart in Texas.

 
 By: rolandc : August 3rd, 2019-01:27
If not, you try to email the Austin PD with your police report. Hope the scammer will get caught.

Details of culprit

 
 By: Boron : August 3rd, 2019-03:34
Hopefully that will aid the various LEAs to track him down for a nice little chat about his illegal activities. ...  

Thank you, Boron.

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 3rd, 2019-04:28
Following a few leads in trying to establish whether he is that guy or just borrowed his photo & name for the profile. Will keep the community posted re updates. Kind regards

I did think about that before posting, but I suspect it is him, as those profiles were created some time ago – before his current choice of activity.

 
 By: Boron : August 3rd, 2019-04:45
His YT channel shows he’s subscribed to WF and another watch based one. The videos themselves lend some substance to the other address he’s used also. If you find out otherwise though, make sure Bill deletes that post to protect an innocent individual fro... 

Of course!

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 3rd, 2019-04:58
Thank you again! HAGWE

I’ve become extremely angry when I hear the stories. I’m truly sorry for your loss.

 
 By: aperna : August 3rd, 2019-05:15
In the old days, I can make a phone call and someone would show up and this guy would been about 3 inches shorter

Thanks for your support.

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 3rd, 2019-06:07
I am trying a novel approach of getting in touch with his parents via their LinkedIn accounts. I think that should help us figure our whether the guys is legit or whether it is an impersonator. Lets see where this gets us.

Sorry to hear about this....

 
 By: SALMANPK : August 3rd, 2019-06:42
thank you for the heads up, I've been scammed before (thankfully a small amount and it was my fault) and it really stings but it made me more cautious. S

Thanks Salmaan!

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 3rd, 2019-08:08
Happy ending to thisnsotry (I got hold of him) and hopefully scared him s41tle33 😜 Let’s hope he never reappears again.

HAPPY TO REPORT IT’S HEADING TOWARDS A GOOD ENDING.

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 3rd, 2019-07:36
I tracked the guy down and we are sorting the return of the watch. Had to school him on the gravity of the situation. Thanks everyone for your support.

I am glad to hear you got ahold of him. Before I read this last post I wrote him an email on your behalf. I didn’t reference you and sent it anonymously. This made me mad.

 
 By: edtonkin : August 3rd, 2019-08:00
This is what I wrote: “This ain’t done. Stealing watches will at the very least get you a record and hopefully jail. You want that? We know who you are, where you live and this will be pursued to the fullest extent of the law. Trust us on this. I’ll give ... 

Thank you, Ed!

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 3rd, 2019-08:06
I’ve been overwhelmed by the community support. Really made me realise why this hobby is such a passion for us. The people are the ones to make it great! But all it takes is a couple of morons to spoil it for everyone. So: THANKS EVERYONE! You guys ROCK! ... 

+1 [nt]

 
 By: Dr No : August 3rd, 2019-08:32

+1 from me also. [nt]

 
 By: ChristianDK : August 4th, 2019-19:55

Damn i hate to hear stories like this 😡

 
 By: Watchonthewrists : August 3rd, 2019-07:50
Hope you will get it back asap 🙏🏻

Yep, should be sorted soon.

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 3rd, 2019-08:07
An “eventful day” to say the least 👊😀😜

Happy to see you will have a good outcome to this mess.

 
 By: TheMadDruid : August 3rd, 2019-14:27
By the way, Bounce-I love the way you spell"shitless"! OOPS! I mean " s41tle33"!!!

Thank you!

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 4th, 2019-19:00
Glad you broke my code! I wasn’t sure if the proper spelling would get through the sensors. 😜

That’s “censors”

 
 By: cazalea : August 4th, 2019-19:30
And unlike some AI ‘bots, we are human and we can read even your code ...

Of course it was meant to be “censors”.

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 4th, 2019-20:32
It’s the last time I write a PuristsPro post whilst in traffic. Who are we kidding. It would t be the last time. 😜

HAPPY TO REPORT A SUCCESSFUL RESOLUTION TO THIS SAGA

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 13th, 2019-15:56
Hi Everyone I am very happy to report a successful resolution to this stolen watch saga. Thanks to the amazing watchfam community, I managed to track down the fraudster and get my watch back. The fraudster turned out to be a misguided kid, who i am very s... 

Great news. [nt]

 
 By: amanico : August 13th, 2019-22:12

Thanks, Nicholas!

 
 By: Bounce781 : August 14th, 2019-00:44
Yes, a rare "happy ending" to these kind of fraud stories. the watch community has been amazing! great support!