Warning! ... How I lost my DVX100

[Jim Quinlan]

Here's a more condensed version of the story Sharon posted. A story with a happy ending and some good information that everyone should know.

http://www.remodern.com/caught.html

Sorry to hear about your camera Bill. Bad way to bring in the New Year for sure.

[Sharon Fraats]

Oh my I can't believe that there was a condensed version of this story. Thank you so much as this was such an inspiration to my friends and me.

You do not know how grateful I am for your posting Jim, I thank you.

[Jeff Donald]

Mr. Hurd please note that I notice that you remove links from time to time I would ask of you to allow this one as there is good news to hear from another.

Hi Sharon, normally links are deleted only if they are to a commercial site, other than our sponsors, or to ebay auctions. These type of links are prohibited, as explained in the Dv Info FAQ. If you feel one of your links, or you know of a link that was deleted in error, please bring it to the attention of one of the DV Info Net Administators.

[Humphrey Cheung]

Hello Bill,

I would like to help you out... I am often in the area of that area and I have law enforcement contacts in South Los Angeles.

Email me with what you have found out so far. I've been hit with forgers twice before.... let's hit back.

Humphrey
www.not5150.com

help@not5150.com

[Sharon Fraats]

Mr. Donald, As I directed the question to Mr. Hurd I was asking him to let this one go that is all please let's not make something out of nothing.

What I was trying to do was to illicit a response to the people in the forum to help. Being that I read the story on MacNN and saw that many people had helped to get this guy caught was worth it, also they found a ring of people that bilked people out of their money.

Mr. Cheung Thank you for your response as I do hope and pray that something good will come of this.

Fraud hurts twice first the crime then a little bit of humanity gets hit when no one trusts others that are out there hit him or her.

[Bill Peterson]

Humphrey ... Hey thanks for the offer. I emailed you. Let me know.

Everyone ... made a little progress today. Off the tax map for that area of LA, did some reverse phone lookups and came up with some of the neighbors names. Called two of them and they said that people actually live in the house. That's sort of good news. Got a few more clues from them as well.

Talked again to the LA Detective Harned ... the case is still yet to be assigned.

Thanks,
Bpete

[Humphrey Cheung]

I've worked with LAPD detectives before... some of the best, but they are extremely overworked.

Humphrey
www.not5150.com

[Jacques Mersereau]

I thought I would pass this along.

Everyone thinks cashier's checks are good. They are NOT.

A used car dealer I know sold a car to a doctor. The doctor
paid with a cashier's check. When the attempt was made to
cash it, the dealer was informed that the check had been reported
as LOST. Sorry, we can't cash this.

The whole thing was turned over to the sheriff, who was kind enough
to call the Dr. and inform him that he'd be arrested if he didn't
make good on the "lost" check. The Dr. had been forced to sign
papers stating the check had indeed been lost by the bank to
get his money back (some day or two later).

The Dr. showed up at the car dealer's door and proceeded to
tell him that,"I'd have gotten away with it if I just hadn't signed
the paper stating the cashier's check had been lost."

What a jerk! Anyway, the moral is, the ONLY check that is
truly good is a CERTIFIED check. Before a certified check is
issued, the money is removed from the account. You lose a
certified check and that's the end of the story.

Since forgeries are getting worse, I'd still call the bank on
a certified check to make sure it is real.

[Michael Wisniewski]

Ouch, sorry to hear about your DVX100.

I know it's too late, but I always use an escrow company, my favorite is Escrow.com It is the only way that I will do business over the internet, especially for any item over US$500. It will protect you as both the buyer and the seller.

I sold an Optura Pi on DvInfo.net using it. I also traded/sold music keyboards for several years using it, never had a problem. The people I sold/bought from were also very happy with the service and the security it provided.

There's a small fee depending on the price of the item, but it will give you good piece of mind when buying or selling an item.

[Bill Peterson]

Well, finally got the case assigned today to probably the most uninterested officer in California ... or so it seemed after talking with him. I'm waiting a few days to see if anything at all actually happens. Sometimes people sound one way and act another (only sometimes, I think).

Even with info that we've supplied there appears to be little interest in the case. Too small, how are we supposed to find this person he asks me, happens all the time, what if we do trace the phone number then so what? ... things like this. Too frustrating to detail all of it at the moment. They have no database of criminal activity for locations, or streets or address. So you cannot check to see if other reported activity has gone on at a particular address.

To add to the grrrr, factor the FedEx guy is suddenly having memory loss problems. Can't remember anything about who he gave the package to now.


Talked with the SS out in LA, much nicer on the phone but ... they can only become involved if there is more than one incident attributed to person or maybe the address of the crime. But as mentioned above the local police can't help there. It also seems that the local DA's office has some agreement that the Feds can't help if the crime is below a certain dollar figure.

It has all the fixings of a catch 22 arrangement. There's more of course. But I won't dwell.

The only effective vigilante action that I can see at this point is a grass roots movement against the carriers to be more vigilant with ID, etc., or come up with a way to insure a safer shipping environment. The only way that happens is if business demands it and they loose customers if they don't do it. Another is to work to spread the word not to accept any of these forms of payment to the mass audience and thus cut off the means for the bad guys to have a pay day. But then maybe they turn into the seller of nonexistent items and get us on that end.

Of course I'm unlikely to walk into one of these again, but the thieves win if we have to all learn it a few at a time. You know, Cashier's Checks, Money Orders, COD, problems with PayPal ... insurance means little to nothing, carriers aren't responsible for any thing, do not check IDs ... then have memory loss. Law enforcement is overwhelmed and mostly not effective when they are picking us off one at a time. Deals between the various forms of law enforcement to not do this or that.

So how can that word be spread? How about a map with "hot spots" of financial criminal activity ... Don't do business here maps or something? How could I post this guys voice and see if anybody else got robbed by him for instance. (the LA detective doesn't want to hear it, and they have no email ability)

Heck I don't know. Sharp brains in the video biz ... ideas?

Thanks,
Bpete

[Nick Hiltgen]

Hey i'm in L.A. I doubt that I can help but I'm curious to know if there has been any action as of yet?

[Rob Belics]

Wish I was in LA right now. I'd drive over there and see what gives. Take a few photos or videos.

I was supposed to be there now but got delayed. Too bad.

[Peter Moore]

Just out of curiosity, and I don't mean to be critical but just want to know - why didn't you demand money first, wait for it to clear, and then only ship after? That's the nice thing about ebay - when you sell on ebay and use that procedure, it's next to impossible to get ripped off.

[Dylan Couper]

The Paypal discussion here has been split its own thread. Look a couple spaces below!

[Kevin Foristal]

Call your local US Secret Service office. Because it was a cashier's check it should fall under thier pervue. Might get you farther then the LAme PD