Beware of Credit Card Fraud from Sarah Gassett/ Chris Wanajaya!

I want to alert the reptile community of a person or persons using stolen credit card information to make purchases on high-end ball pythons. I'm sorry for the length of this post, but I want to give as much detail as I can:

On 10/17/11, Sarah Gassett placed an order for 2 ball pythons. The morphs/types were a female Crystal and a male Mystic Potion. She sent the credit card number, expiration date, security code, and billing address through email. I processed the transaction on 10/18/11 and shipped the snakes through fed ex to the shipping address in Culver City, CA. She had me ship to a different address than the billing address and had me put Chris W. as the recipient. with a note saying " Big Congrats on your first baby boy!" I have confirmation from fed ex that the package was received and signed for on 10/19/11. I also received confirmation from Sarah Gassett that the package arrived safe and sound. About a week later, I was contacted by the cardholder's credit card company and alerted that the transaction was fraudulent and there would be a charge-back issued. A couple of days after that, I was browsing the kingsnake classifieds and found Jordan Russell advertising a female Crystal Possible Het Hypo and a Male Purple Passion Possible Het Hypo. I instantly recognized my snakes in the photo as mine and I was also able to verify that through multiple photos I had on file of the snakes I sent out. The names of the snakes were altered a little as my Mystic Potion was listed as a Purple Passion (they look virtually the same), and both snakes were listed as Possible Het Hypo, which they were not. Jordan's ad said they were produced by Nerd. I contacted NERD and they confirmed that the snakes did not come from them. I had not dealt with Jordan personally, but everything I had read about him was extremely positive, so I assumed Chris either sold the snakes to Jordan or they were given to him on consignment. I googled the phone number I was given as the billing phone number and found out that Chris W is actually Chris Wanajaya. During that search, I found an ad Chris had placed trying to sell these same snakes: http://losangeles.backpage.com/PetsF...ython/18249524 As of today, the ad is still available to view. I also found the same snakes, including photographs, posted on Fauna by Sarah Gassett. She was posting them as a Purple Passion Possible Het Hypo Male and a Crystal Possible Het Hypo Female as well. I wanted to contact Jordan about this, but I didn't want to get in the way of a police investigation as the cardholder did file a report with her local police department. I did contact the same police department and attempted to give them all of the information I had, but the police were non-responsive and never returned any of my calls. My snakes were being offered for sale by 3 different people on 3 different websites. Jordan saw Sarah's ad, too, and realized they were the same snakes. He contacted NERD to verify they came from him, and was told to contact me about them. Jordan was given the snakes by Chris on consignment. He had no idea they were purchased from me by stolen credit card information. As soon as he realized this and I showed him the photos and other information I had collected, he offered to send the snakes back to me. I am so thankful and lucky that these snakes ended up in Jordan's hands or I may have never recovered the snakes. Through all of my conversations with him throughout this situation, I can tell he is an honest, trustworthy individual and a true asset to the reptile community. I realize that I should never have shipped to a non-billing address and should always contact my credit card company if there are any warning signs of a fraudulent transaction. There were definitely red flags that should have warned me and I could have easily prevented this entire situation. The main purpose of this post is to warn the reptile community about credit card fraud from Sarah Gassett and Chris Wanajaya. I believe the name Sarah Gassett is an alias that Chris Wanajaya is using to make some of these fraudulent transactions. I'm sure Chris will come up with a new alias to continue his theft, but please be careful and don't make the same mistakes I did. The pics of the snakes on the cork background were taken by me before they were "purchased". The photos with the white background were the ones Sarah Gassett was using to sell them on Fauna.

Thanks for reading,

Garrick DeMeyer

I've undeleted, and locked, the most recent version of that ad. http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=289109
Screen shots to follow.

That ad was deleted again as its not there..

screen shot + saved images (for easier viewing)

Just to expand on what Garrick posted. Here is what happened on this end.

I met Chris via the local reptile show circuit. He wound up asking for my help in brokering out some high end retics for him last season. Which were reputed to have come from a breeder who is well known in our industry. I sold the animals and all went well.

On Oct 15th I was offered (via text) a purple passion possible het hypo, a crystal possible het hypo and 3 female Coral Glows all from NERD. The Coral Glows were sold via a subsequent text he sent me shortly after.

Oct 21st we met half way and I collected the "passion" and Crystal in person, on consignment terms.

Approximately 4 or 5 days after I received the animals I noticed a Sarah Gassett posting the exact same snakes for sale on Fauna, but these animals were in my possession in my racks at home.

Nov 21st Raphy posted on my Facebook wall asking if I had a Crystal produced by NERD. I linked him to my website with the description and photo.

I received a private message from Raphy telling me that NERD has never produced a Crystal.

I immediately looked up his phone number, and called him. He explained that NERD had not produced them, and didn't want to go much further.

I immediately sent Chris a text explaining that NERD never produced a Crystal, and basically asked "what's going on?". Chris responded with, "The Crystal is from Garrick. Good that you text me".

I scratched my head at this point, as we had about a 45 minute conversation in a parking lot about him and his purchase with NERD (for these exact animals and the 3 female Coral Glows).

I sent Raphy a message, Thanking him for illuminating that I had been lied to. I was obviously concerned these animals were not possible het Ghost a this point.

Raphy sent a response to call Garrick, and there may be more to the story.

Concerned I called Garrick and had everything explained to me.

I immediately offered to ship the animals back, and did so this passed Monday.

Subsequently I have called around to do some digging. It turns out that the well known breeder the retics came from has never heard of Chris (in spite of again, numerous lengthy stories about his contact with said breeder).

The ONLY other breeder these animals could have originated from was immediately called. That breeder knows Chris, but never sold him those animals. It appears as though they were likely stolen.

I also through some digging found out, that the 3 female Coral Glows were in fact Bananas. These animals were not available any longer as the Credit Card scam did not work with that breeder, because the limit on the Card was not high enough to allow for such an expensive transaction.

Also the phone number at the bottom of the ads posted by "Sarah" was googled once this came to light, and shows it is for Chris Wanajaya.

I am happy Garrick was able to receive his animals back, and I hope there are no other victims.

Regards,
Jordan Russell

Screen shot of backpage add linked in first post....

Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

That ad was deleted again as its not there..

I restored it again; but now that the screen shots are up, it isn't that big a deal.

I remember this AD as it was posted for a long time and each time it was reposted, a snake was marked sold but the Passion and Crystal never were marked sold.

Something didnt seem right

Originally Posted by California Breeders Union

Just to expand on what Garrick posted. Here is what happened on this end.

I met Chris via the local reptile show circuit. He wound up asking for my help in brokering out some high end retics for him last season. Which were reputed to have come from a breeder who is well known in our industry. I sold the animals and all went well.

On Oct 15th I was offered (via text) a purple passion possible het hypo, a crystal possible het hypo and 3 female Coral Glows all from NERD. The Coral Glows were sold via a subsequent text he sent me shortly after.

Oct 21st we met half way and I collected the "passion" and Crystal in person, on consignment terms.

Approximately 4 or 5 days after I received the animals I noticed a Sarah Gassett posting the exact same snakes for sale on Fauna, but these animals were in my possession in my racks at home.

Nov 21st Raphy posted on my Facebook wall asking if I had a Crystal produced by NERD. I linked him to my website with the description and photo.

I received a private message from Raphy telling me that NERD has never produced a Crystal.

I immediately looked up his phone number, and called him. He explained that NERD had not produced them, and didn't want to go much further.

I immediately sent Chris a text explaining that NERD never produced a Crystal, and basically asked "what's going on?". Chris responded with, "The Crystal is from Garrick. Good that you text me".

I scratched my head at this point, as we had about a 45 minute conversation in a parking lot about him and his purchase with NERD (for these exact animals and the 3 female Coral Glows).

I sent Raphy a message, Thanking him for illuminating that I had been lied to. I was obviously concerned these animals were not possible het Ghost a this point.

Raphy sent a response to call Garrick, and there may be more to the story.

Concerned I called Garrick and had everything explained to me.

I immediately offered to ship the animals back, and did so this passed Monday.

Subsequently I have called around to do some digging. It turns out that the well known breeder the retics came from has never heard of Chris (in spite of again, numerous lengthy stories about his contact with said breeder).

The ONLY other breeder these animals could have originated from was immediately called. That breeder knows Chris, but never sold him those animals. It appears as though they were likely stolen.

I also through some digging found out, that the 3 female Coral Glows were in fact Bananas. These animals were not available any longer as the Credit Card scam did not work with that breeder, because the limit on the Card was not high enough to allow for such an expensive transaction.

Also the phone number at the bottom of the ads posted by "Sarah" was googled once this came to light, and shows it is for Chris Wanajaya.

I am happy Garrick was able to receive his animals back, and I hope there are no other victims.

Regards,
Jordan Russell

Excellent Job Jordan!

Jordan you are definitely a Good Guy in my book for all that you did.