Night Vision Scammed in PX - SOP for this?

[tinycrumb]

Hi everyone,

It looks like I've been the latest victim of fraud on this site (although this one's a pretty weird case, not your standard scammer). I'm happy to lay out all the details here if it's the best thing to do. But that leads to the question… is there an SOP for reporting this type of thing?

It's from this thread here: LINK

He's a "Commercial Supporter" so I figure there's got to be at least some way of reporting it to Lowlight and getting him banned from the site? Most forums I frequent usually have a "feedback" section or similar for these type of things to discuss an issue & resolution but I've been unable to find any section close to that here.

Also, please, have some decency, I really don't need any of the "PaYPaL GOoDs SerVICes" comments right now. I'm not trying to be flippant, but I did use PayPal G&S and the way I was scammed out of being able to submit a claim is pretty unique and something I haven't encountered before.

ETA: Here's the link for the comms. I did my best to export this and format it so it's somewhat readable. I apologize if it's still a mess to sift through. I highly doubt anyone actually wants to read all that, I know I don't, so I'll do my best to post a TL: DR; here in the OP as well as soon as I can type one up.

 

[Huskydriver]

@BurtG homie did you a favor...

Let's get these deets man

 

[1911hombre]

Use the "report" button in the bottom left corner of the post.

 

[DeathBeforeDismount]

Maybe this is Scott Berish's gay lover. Says he hasn't signed into the site since Sept 29th. @RTS Shooting Systems.

Scammed out of 9500? That's a $200 LexisNexis Sub, a plane ticket to Idaho, a rental car and gas, a stop at the local hardware store to get zip ties, a blow torch, bolt cutters and a ball peen hammer, a tvec suit, gloves and contractor bags; with plenty left over for snacks , coffee and other activities.

 

[hafejd30]

Damn!!

 

[tinycrumb]

Maybe this is Scott Berish's gay lover. Says he hasn't signed into the site since Sept 29th. @RTS Shooting Systems.

Scammed out of 9500? That's a $200 Lexus Nexus Sub, a plane ticket to Idaho, a rental car and gas, a stop at the local hardware store to get zip ties, a blow torch, bolt cutters and a ball peen hammer, a tvec suit, gloves and contractor bags; with plenty left over for snacks , coffee and other activities.

Hah. It's not quite that simple. I have the actual unit in my hand, although it's in much worse condition than was pictured. But the mount is broken and I haven't received other parts like the remote switch which is fairly valuable. He also still owes me $1250 in returned cash. So all out I'm probably out about $3-4k or so, not the full $9500, but it's still enough to be upset about… beyond just being jerked around and not having everything that I paid for.

On a serious note, I'm not opposed to going up to Idaho. I have family in Wilder (which is pretty close to Meridian) that I can stay with and I'm just down in Utah. If showing up in person to file a police report or anything would get me somewhere it's definitely a viable option.

 

[Sgp12345]

Hi everyone,

It looks like I've been the latest victim of fraud on this site (although this one's a pretty weird case, not your standard scammer). I'm happy to lay out all the details here if it's the best thing to do. But that leads to the question… is there an SOP for reporting this type of thing?

It's from this thread here: LINK

He's a "Commercial Supporter" so I figure there's got to be at least some way of reporting it to Lowlight and getting him banned from the site? Most forums I frequent usually have a "feedback" section or similar for these type of things to discuss an issue & resolution but I've been unable to find any section close to that here.

Also, please, have some decency, I really don't need any of the "PaYPaL GOoDs SerVICes" comments right now. I'm not trying to be flippant, but I did use PayPal G&S and the way I was scammed out of being able to submit a claim is pretty unique and something I haven't encountered before.

How were you scammed out of being able to file a claim when you used PayPal goods/services? Maybe I’m mis-reading that

And there really isn’t any SOP for something like this, aside from reporting the member.. at best he’d get banned but that wouldn’t do you much good.

 

[tinycrumb]

How were you scammed out of being able to file a claim when you used PayPal goods/services? Maybe I’m mis-reading that

And there really isn’t any SOP for something like this, aside from reporting the member.. at best he’d get banned but that wouldn’t do you much good.

It's hard to explain without reading the full story. I'll post the full comms here in a bit as soon as I'm done figuring out how to export them. But basically I did file a claim originally for the full $9500 which froze his account. After I did that, he finally "found" the USPS package that never got dropped off and went to FedEx instead and overnighted me the thermal. However, he told me that the remote switch, manual and other parts were still coming USPS with the original tracking number. I had no idea why he decided to use two separate boxes instead of just moving everything over to the FedEx box and sending it, but eventually both tracking numbers started to move through the system so I didn't really care.

The FedEx box showed up first and contained the thermal itself. At this point, I was trying to be a good human and since the tracking for the other parts was already moving, I didn't see any harm with closing the claim so he'd get his money unfrozen. I figured "I have the thermal, the other parts are on the way, I can at least get his money back to him now". This was before I was even suspecting anything malicious going on.

It wasn't until after I did this that I noticed the unit itself was in far worse condition than the pictures he had advertised it with. And then I noticed the mount was significantly damaged (and intentionally so, looks like someone took an angle grinder to it).

And then, finally, when the 2nd tracking number box did show up days later, the missing parts were not in the box. Instead it was some random AR-15 magazines, 4 Chinese headlamps and 2 AR-15 barrel nuts. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to receive the 2nd package and not have it contain what he had told me was in it.

Once you close a PayPal claim, you cannot "re-open" it. So unfortunately I fucked up and closed it too early on good faith that I had at least received the main unit and the missing parts were on their way.

 

[Asiparks]

Best option is to return everything to him, certified mail, and file a PP dispute for the full amount

Never mind- I cross posted when you were posting your full explanation….

That really sucks, intentional vindictive dickishness sending you that second package …..

 

[BLEE]

What a shyster. You should post up pics of what you received, to show the contrast to what he posted pics of what he was selling. Looks like he's been absent since Oct. 29.

 

[Huskydriver]

Member since 2014, 37 posts, and has clearly never read any of @Lowlight post on scans and how to report them.

GTFO.

 

[BLEE]

Member since 2014, 37 posts, and has clearly never read any of @Lowlight post on scans and how to report them.

GTFO.

You are correct. There are instructions, here for almost everything, but sometimes folks need to be pointed in the right direction.

 

[tinycrumb]

Member since 2014, 37 posts, and has clearly never read any of @Lowlight post on scans and how to report them.

GTFO.

I think you're referring to me here, not the seller, and if that's the case, no, I apologize, I haven't seen any posts from Frank on scans. I did use the "report" function on the original sale post but that's usually for reporting moderation issues so I wasn't sure if that's all I needed to do.

In terms of scans… if you're referring to the comms thread… holy hell, I don't know if I can screenshot the entire thing. I did export it and included a link in my OP. I'm happy to screenshot everything if that's required but it's not gonna be easy. It's been a month long saga.

 

[Sgp12345]

It's hard to explain without reading the full story. I'll post the full comms here in a bit as soon as I'm done figuring out how to export them. But basically I did file a claim originally for the full $9500 which froze his account. After I did that, he finally "found" the USPS package that never got dropped off and went to FedEx instead and overnighted me the thermal. However, he told me that the remote switch, manual and other parts were still coming USPS with the original tracking number. I had no idea why he decided to use two separate boxes instead of just moving everything over to the FedEx box and sending it, but eventually both tracking numbers started to move through the system so I didn't really care.

The FedEx box showed up first and contained the thermal itself. At this point, I was trying to be a good human and since the tracking for the other parts was already moving, I didn't see any harm with closing the claim so he'd get his money unfrozen. I figured "I have the thermal, the other parts are on the way, I can at least get his money back to him now". This was before I was even suspecting anything malicious going on.

It wasn't until after I did this that I noticed the unit itself was in far worse condition than the pictures he had advertised it with. And then I noticed the mount was significantly damaged (and intentionally so, looks like someone took an angle grinder to it).

And then, finally, when the 2nd tracking number box did show up days later, the missing parts were not in the box. Instead it was some random AR-15 magazines, 4 Chinese headlamps and 2 AR-15 barrel nuts. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to receive the 2nd package and not have it contain what he had told me was in it.

Once you close a PayPal claim, you cannot "re-open" it. So unfortunately I fucked up and closed it too early on good faith that I had at least received the main unit and the missing parts were on their way.

If you funded PayPal with a CC, file a claim there. I’ve done that and it worked

 

[Sgp12345]

You are correct. There are instructions, here for almost everything, but sometimes folks need to be pointed in the right direction.

Member since 2014, 37 posts, and has clearly never read any of @Lowlight post on scans and how to report them.

GTFO.

Are you guys fucking dense? This isn’t a typical scam.
What the hell would any of the directives do for this guy? “Report” the commercial vendor? He’s just looking for advice.

 

[Sgp12345]

You are correct. There are instructions, here for almost everything, but sometimes folks need to be pointed in the right direction.

What exactly should he do in this case? What do instructions say?

 

[Woodland_Wolf_M81]

Damn, that really sucks!

To be honest, I would have probably fallen for it as well after seeing the commercial supporter label.

On a serious note, I'm not opposed to going up to Idaho. I have family in Wilder (which is pretty close to Meridian) that I can stay with and I'm just down in Utah. If showing up in person to file a police report or anything would get me somewhere it's definitely a viable option.

For all we know, this guy might not even be in Idaho? I'm not seeing anything about RTS Shooting Systems in Idaho after doing a quick Google search, unless his site's SEO is that bad or it has been taken down.

Not to derail the original topic. Ignore if it is. Is there any vetting done for becoming a commercial supporter? Or could someone pay the $200 and get the label in a matter of minutes?

 

[clefairy]

try credit card again, or hit up PayPal again. Don’t be a nice guy anymore. You don’t have to be a dick but be willing to take time and check.

 

[FredHammer]

What an absolute abortion. I could tell by his 3rd post he was a piece of shit. NOTHING, NO ITEM sold here takes that amount of back & forth. I don't care if it's $10 or 10 MIL.

 

[ST42]

Man, I am very sorry that this happened to you. I almost bought that thermal from him. He is still advertising it on TACSWAP. Best of luck getting your cash back Sir.

EDIT!
The seller on TACSWAP IS NOT THE SAME SELLER! Disregard my comments on that seller and his ad. My apologies to whom ever it is on TACSWAP.

 

[BLEE]

What exactly should he do in this case? What do instructions say?

I'm on your side, man. I was trying to point out to Baron23, that you need help. Just saying, do what's suggested and everything else within your power. I feel for you. I'm blessed that I've never been taken to the cleaners, here, or other forums, where I've made transactions. I get it. I'm one of the crazies who would buy a plane ticket, or go on a long drive and get my pound of flesh. I'm not for grievous bodily harm, but I'm all for generous ass whoopins, when all more civilized options have been exhausted and come to no just end.

 

[Krob95]

Man, I am very sorry that this happened to you. I almost bought that thermal from him. He is still advertising it on TACSWAP. Best of luck getting your cash back Sir.

i tried searching it, the only cratos i found was in Pueblo for 15k

 

[Evintos]

Damn, that really sucks!

To be honest, I would have probably fallen for it as well after seeing the commercial supporter label.

For all we know, this guy might not even be in Idaho? I'm not seeing anything about RTS Shooting Systems in Idaho after doing a quick Google search, unless his site's SEO is that bad or it has been taken down.

Not to derail the original topic. Ignore if it is. Is there any vetting done for becoming a commercial supporter? Or could someone pay the $200 and get the label in a matter of minutes?

https://archive.ph/Me4xx
https://www.facebook.com/lynn.barnes.790/

https://www.facebook.com/Sharpshooterlasersunlimited/
https://www.facebook.com/sharpshooterlasers
https://sharpshooterlasers.com/
https://archive.ph/Blt5w

https://sosbiz.idaho.gov/search/business

https://fflezcheck.atf.gov/FFLEzCheck/fflSearch

 

[Sgp12345]

I'm on your side, man. I was trying to point out to Baron23, that you need help. Just saying, do what's suggested and everything else within your power. I feel for you. I'm blessed that I've never been taken to the cleaners, here, or other forums, where I've made transactions. I get it. I'm one of the crazies who would buy a plane ticket, or go on a long drive and get my pound of flesh. I'm not for grievous bodily harm, but I'm all for generous ass whoopins, when all more civilized options have been exhausted and come to no just end.

I apologize I misunderstood

 

[BCP]

Instead it was some random AR-15 magazines, 4 Chinese headlamps and 2 AR-15 barrel nuts. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to receive the 2nd package and not have it contain what he had told me was in it

Hahaha what a fucking piece of shit

 

[308pirate]

Maybe this is Scott Berish's gay lover. Says he hasn't signed into the site since Sept 29th. @RTS Shooting Systems.

Scammed out of 9500? That's a $200 LexisNexis Sub, a plane ticket to Idaho, a rental car and gas, a stop at the local hardware store to get zip ties, a blow torch, bolt cutters and a ball peen hammer, a tvec suit, gloves and contractor bags; with plenty left over for snacks , coffee and other activities.

All you need is a rental box truck, an empty 55 gallon drum, and 20 gallons each of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide.

Any carbon based material you toss in there will trigger a very....energetic.....reaction.

Standard hazmat ppe rules apply.

 

[tinycrumb]

What an absolute abortion. I could tell by his 3rd post he was a piece of shit. NOTHING, NO ITEM sold here takes that amount of back & forth. I don't care if it's $10 or 10 MIL.

Yeah, thanks man, I appreciate that. There were many times I thought I was in the twilight zone. Should have been the easiest thing in the world: I send money, next day I receive what I paid for in the mail. Certainly not a month worth of ridiculous messages back and forth.

My poor wife and friends who have had to listen to me bitch about this guy while I try to keep my wits and answer calmly to every one of his messages hoping that if I just keep my cool they'll be a resolution in the end… didn't quite work out lol

 

[tinycrumb]

Damn, that really sucks!

To be honest, I would have probably fallen for it as well after seeing the commercial supporter label.



For all we know, this guy might not even be in Idaho? I'm not seeing anything about RTS Shooting Systems in Idaho after doing a quick Google search, unless his site's SEO is that bad or it has been taken down.

Not to derail the original topic. Ignore if it is. Is there any vetting done for becoming a commercial supporter? Or could someone pay the $200 and get the label in a matter of minutes?

Yeah, I do have all 3 of his business names (Sharpshooter Lasers, 66 Productions, LLC and RTS Shooting Solutions) along with both addresses associated with him and his businesses in Idaho. I did vet him pretty well before I did the deal (at least as much as I normally do). He had a normal FB profile. His family all had FB profiles with him in the pictures. Everything lined up for where he lives, does business, etc… His FFL is active and has been maintained.

Absolutely nothing about him was fishy until the text message thread got weird, and then I just kept getting the feeling that he wasn't necessarily malicious, he was just a fudd/boomer type person and didn't know how to conduct normal peer 2 peer business. But now that's he's stopped answering me altogether I've moved on from that to "no, now he's definitely doing this shit on purpose".

 

[Islas82]

I think you're referring to me here, not the seller, and if that's the case, no, I apologize, I haven't seen any posts from Frank on scans. I did use the "report" function on the original sale post but that's usually for reporting moderation issues so I wasn't sure if that's all I needed to do.

In terms of scans… if you're referring to the comms thread… holy hell, I don't know if I can screenshot the entire thing. I did export it and included a link in my OP. I'm happy to screenshot everything if that's required but it's not gonna be easy. It's been a month long saga.

Don’t worry about that dude the hide is notorious for kicking you when you’re down in these type of situations. I bet he recently purchased some items from liberty optics and is quite salty.

 

[tinycrumb]

Man, I am very sorry that this happened to you. I almost bought that thermal from him. He is still advertising it on TACSWAP. Best of luck getting your cash back Sir.

It's not the same unit and it's not the same person. The one on Tacswap is in Colorado and it's one of the older, anodized units. This one here is one of the newer rubber-coated ones and he lives in Idaho. Also wildly difference price: the one I bought here was $9.5k and IIRC the Tacswap guy was asking $15+

 

[ST42]

Well, I stand corrected then, bad mistake on my part. Disregard my prior about TACSWAP ad. Hopefully I didn’t cause that seller any issues.

 

[DeathBeforeDismount]

All you need is a rental box truck, an empty 55 gallon drum, and 20 gallons each of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide.

Any carbon based material you toss in there will trigger a very....energetic.....reaction.

Standard hazmat ppe rules apply.

 

[Baron23]

Are you guys fucking dense? This isn’t a typical scam.
What the hell would any of the directives do for this guy? “Report” the commercial vendor? He’s just looking for advice.

Deleted my post. Was just grumpy and hurting a bit. Shouldn’t have posted.

Apologies to the OP.

 

[tinycrumb]

Deleted my post. Was just grumpy and hurting a bit. Shouldn’t have posted.

Apologies to the OP.

Honestly wasn't offended at all man, but I appreciate that. I actually did poke around on the site for some instructions on what exactly to do before I posted, it's just that this case is a little unique so I was looking for some opinions/help.

 

[tinycrumb]

Update: I went through and added the photos into the google doc export of the text message thread. Again, I don't expect anyone to read all the way through it, but if you want to browse and see the photos of the damaged mount, it's easy to do now. I think some of you will get a little laugh out of the mount… it's … quite something. I still haven't come up with a reasonable explanation of what he was trying to do to it. Only thing that makes sense to me is he didn't know how Larue levers worked and thought it was just on too tight so bubba pulled it until the lug snapped…

But then the crappy grinding afterwards in an attempt to clean it up / hide it is just… SMH.

 

[mikefraz]

Just read through the entire text thread. You are WAY more patient than I would have been given the circumstances.

 

[Huskydriver]

Whatever happened to this @tinycrumb ?

 

[tinycrumb]

Whatever happened to this @tinycrumb ?

Unfortunately nothing … at least yet.

I texted him one more time a few weeks ago asking if he was ready to conclude the deal or if I needed to seek alternate means of recovering my funds. He left the message on read.

I never received any sort of follow-up from Frank or any staff member here even though I reported the sales post and started this thread. It also shows I think that he's still a commercial member, so I'm not sure why.

I did find out his wife is a VP at a local bank in Idaho. It looks like she has a fairly public profile so I've contemplated emailing or calling her to ask her if she's aware her husband is committing financial fraud online and seeing if getting her involved might prompt him to follow-up and make things right.

But as it stands now I'm still out a little over $1k and still don't have all of the items I paid for. I've been a little busy with the holiday season but after the new year I'll work on contacting his wife and/or potentially try to stop by and talk to him in person the next time I'm in the area. I'm guessing that he's hoping I just go away and forget about it, but that's not likely.

 

[BurtG]

did find out his wife is a VP at a local bank in Idaho. It looks like she has a fairly public profile so I've contemplated emailing or calling her to ask her if she's aware her husband is committing financial fraud online and seeing if getting her involved might prompt him to follow-up and make things right

Oh I’d call her No juice. I’d call her employee. No juice id start leaving google reviews explaining the situation.

Got some dirt bag to send me money when he never shipped the glock frame he was supposed to. Sent me the slide but no lower.

Be truthful in your reviews

 

[padom]

Well until he provides further information I've banned him and instructed him it won't be lifted till he makes this situation right with you

 

[NHPiper]

Unfortunately nothing … at least yet.

I texted him one more time a few weeks ago asking if he was ready to conclude the deal or if I needed to seek alternate means of recovering my funds. He left the message on read.

I never received any sort of follow-up from Frank or any staff member here even though I reported the sales post and started this thread. It also shows I think that he's still a commercial member, so I'm not sure why.

I did find out his wife is a VP at a local bank in Idaho. It looks like she has a fairly public profile so I've contemplated emailing or calling her to ask her if she's aware her husband is committing financial fraud online and seeing if getting her involved might prompt him to follow-up and make things right.

But as it stands now I'm still out a little over $1k and still don't have all of the items I paid for. I've been a little busy with the holiday season but after the new year I'll work on contacting his wife and/or potentially try to stop by and talk to him in person the next time I'm in the area. I'm guessing that he's hoping I just go away and forget about it, but that's not likely.

As someone who works at a bank, they usually do credit checks on employees to make sure they are above board. I would absolutely push that lever.

Also small claims court. You can have him or her served by a sheriff, which will absolutely shake things up. Usually costs $100 for their time and an attorney to write a letter threatening lawsuit and damages unless XYZ are done by a specific date.

 

[shoots100]

I'll work on contacting his wife and/or potentially try to stop by and talk to him in person the next time I'm in the area.

Don't try to talk to him in person, set a meeting with the wife at the bank under the auspices of bank business and lay the evidence out to her and see what she can do.
If she's not a piece of shit like her husband, she will appreciate you trying to deal with this matter without getting the law involved.
If not, I'm sure that renting a wood chipper is going to be a lot cheaper than getting a lawyer.

 

[hero's machine]

Unfortunately nothing … at least yet.

I texted him one more time a few weeks ago asking if he was ready to conclude the deal or if I needed to seek alternate means of recovering my funds. He left the message on read.

I never received any sort of follow-up from Frank or any staff member here even though I reported the sales post and started this thread. It also shows I think that he's still a commercial member, so I'm not sure why.

I did find out his wife is a VP at a local bank in Idaho. It looks like she has a fairly public profile so I've contemplated emailing or calling her to ask her if she's aware her husband is committing financial fraud online and seeing if getting her involved might prompt him to follow-up and make things right.

But as it stands now I'm still out a little over $1k and still don't have all of the items I paid for. I've been a little busy with the holiday season but after the new year I'll work on contacting his wife and/or potentially try to stop by and talk to him in person the next time I'm in the area. I'm guessing that he's hoping I just go away and forget about it, but that's not likely.

My daughter got burned on a deal. I used my channels and tracked the perp down by calling his family and explaining that I want my daughter's money back or I will be pressing charges.

My guy was the son of a US district attorney and it got pretty sporty until junior (27 y/o basement dweller) fessed up. I had the dough in about 5 hours from my first contact.

Hopefully it works out the same for you.

 

[NHPiper]

Any updates on recovery?