sprbxr

Most of us have done this: You see an ad for a part you could use. You contact the seller, who you don’t know. You agree upon a price. You agree on a form of payment. You send payment hoping for the best. Then it happens. You realize you’ve been screwed.

Well it happened to me. I saw an ad on Rennlist for an 89 930 engine $6500. Sounded a bit cheap so I contacted the seller to get some specifics. He answered all of my questions including giving me a serial # and some pics. He knew specific details about the 89 930. I felt good about the engine. After several phone calls back and forth, I agreed to give him $6500 for the engine. The guy, Trevor Keith Player (probably not his real name) of 44 SW Fourth Ave, Delray Beach, FL, insisted that I send Postal Money Orders. No problem. Made me feel a little better about sending that much money. Mail fraud is a felony. I decide since I am sending so much $$$ I will send it Certified Mail Restricted Delivery. The Postal Worker told me a positive form of ID must be produced to receive delivery. Still felt good about the deal. After sending the MO’s, I received a few more calls from Mr. Player. Seems as though he has had a few “setbacks” in his shop, shipment will be delayed for a few days. No problem, I don’t need the engine right away. A few more days go by, so I contact, Mr. Player. I get his voicemail. I leave a message asking for a status report on the engine. Later that evening he called me. He tells me it is almost ready to ship. This is when the bad feelings start. Now his phone calls are coming from a Boston number not a Delray Beach number. Sensing something may be amiss; I call him using the Boston number. Voicemail again. He calls me back from the same number. I questioned him about the Boston phone #. He says he is visiting family in Boston for the holidays. Believable. That was the last time I heard from him. Now the Police and the Postal Inspectors are involved. I know the chances of seeing the engine or my money are basically zero, but I figured I would endure a little embarrassment for being stupid and trusting people too much by sharing my story. Unfortunately, not everyone is honest. Criminals will commit crimes regardless of the potential for being caught. I guess I should have used Pay Pal or something. I only blame myself. Don’t let this happen to you.

Steve 935

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. It could happen to anyone. I hope they catch the crook that did this to you.

JBH

You really did quite a bit to protect yourself. Big purchases are always risky - even PayPal would not have protected you.

For a straight rip off, this one doesn't add up. Most crooks take the money immediately - they don't keep calling you back. It's my bet he really did/does have an engine. You might see if anyone in the local PCA knows this guy.

Maybe I am just optimistic, but I have a feeling this story still has another chapter or two before it concludes.

Brent 930

That is an unusual scam, I would think trying to rip off someone for $10 would be alot safer but trying to sell a 930 motor??? No one would waste there time trying to hunt the bastard down, but for $6500 your going to be tracked down for sure. So I agree with JBH that this isn't over yet and things could still work out.

OVRSTR

Keep us posted please.

MitchB

I hate to hear this crap.
Sooo sorry to hear you got screwed. Don't write this off just yet. It's a huge PITA, but follow through and hopefully you'll get your money back, send this ******* to prison or both. $6500.00 is a lot of money and worth the effort.


M

Sameer

What goes around comes around. This PITA deserves to be put right in the cell. Keep your fingers crossed. You never know, luck might still be on your side.

A930Rocket

Hey! Don't forget about the guy in Europe who bought/sold some wheels from/to a guy in CA I think it was, but got ripped off. Got some local Rennlist guys and the police involved. They found him and he coughed up the money!

Just wish I was local to beat the snot out of the guy and have him cough up your engine.

Good luck.

Jim

sprbxr

Jim
Thanks for the support. After some more digging, we are discovering that these may not be people you want to deal with. The police seem to think this is possibly related to some organized crime. It should get pretty interesting if it is so. They know where I live.

JPigg34

Sorry to hear about that. Hope you get your money back or your engine.

A930Rocket

Don't tell them where I live then!

Carrera GT

Much as I dislike the credit card companies, I guess this goes to explaining why they lose so much in fraud and why they charge so much for the "privilege" of their payment services. PayPal is notorious for their behaviour toward merchants, but at least the use of a credit card through PayPal protects the buyer.

I realise this is nothing to do with Rennlist, but I'm somehow disturbed to find frauds preying on enthusiast communities. It's all but a lost cause, but I hate to see us all moving to a "trust nobody" society.

Good luck.

pig4bill

Does it really? Isn't the payee Paypal? Would your bank bounce a charge that was made to Paypal?

Carrera GT

I've been setting up an eBay marketplace for my little business and noticed many complaints directed at PayPal for apparently causing problems. Things like disputing a payment or settlement of an auction then freezing accounts or holding funds in limbo (somebody must be getting the interest) for months and needlessly prolonging disputes. The reports of problems I've read seem all to point to problems with merchant accounts.

Anyway, in this case, if the payment for the engine had been through any service using a credit card as the source of funds, the card bearer could have asked the credit card provider to charge-back the transaction and left the merchant and the escrow company, if any, to dispute the transaction. From what I've learned -- and I'm no expert -- the credit card providers are quite serious about fraud and by the time they agree to a charge-back, they're quite convinced the claim is correct and their interests (and their liability, at least in the law in the US) lie with the fraudulent merchant account, not the "customer" as the card-bearer.

That's all I know thus far. For now, I'll set up a merchant account with limited funds and use eBay and PayPal to give my customers piece of mind. If I run into trouble with PayPal, I'll sort that out on my own time. I haven't found an alternative to better protect buyer or seller, as yet.

Cheers,

Red UFO

sprbxr,

Did you contact the FBI? They usually don't get involved unless theft is over $3k. As for hoping local cops have time to solve the case. I'd hate to wait for that to happen. But my friend recently had alot of recovered stolen property handed back to him as the crooks go stupid and garage saled stolen items.

You might want to consider getting a private dective. They could look up who owned the cell phone number. 9/10 the crook is sloppy. They might have used a family members name to sign up cell service.

Plus there should be some banking records of this person cashing the MO. I wouldn't be suprised if this guy even used his real name, or part of it.