Chael Downey (Riley Downey) stole my gecko

Hello everyone,

Does anyone of you happen to be a friend of Chael Downey on FB? Be cautious! His true name is Riley Downey, although he named himself differently here.

He's a gecko keeper, living in Canada. I know he has quite a few friends among gecko hobbyists on FB.

His address in Canada is below on the certified US check.

"131 Pringle Dr whitby ON L1N6K4 CA"

On Thursday, Oct 15, Chael received, from Mark @ Northern gecko, an "unpaid" nuu ana (leachianus juvenile), shipped from RD Select USA, with the assistance by Steve @ Leapin' Leachies. Chael was supposed to have sent a certified US check to my colleague on Oct 5. However, it hasn't been delivered yet for 10 days. On the other hand, he told Mark that the check was cashed out on "Monday" Oct 12, but it was really not the case, since Chael had continued discussions about the undelivered check until "Wednesday" Oct 14.

On the day Chael received the animal(s) from Mark on Oct 15, he blocked me on FB and also unfriended my colleague in the US so that he wouldn't receive further inquires. The certified check looked valid in a pic and the animal wasn't directly shipped to Chael at first, so I decided to ship it out even before the completion of his payment, cause the receiver was Steve. Unexpectedly the animal arrived at Mark earlier in Canada and was picked up by Chael.

Having been blocked by him one-sidedly all of a sudden, I'd assume Chael (Riley Downey) is a new scammer in the gecko hobby world. The thing is Chael got Steve and Mark involved in the procedure so that the whole process looked neatly arranged, and had them help his theft of my animal. I'm hearing he's been an okay customer of Mark's and is a new customer of Steve's.

I hope the fund will immediately be sent by either him or his mother working at a Canadian bank. She should make a paypal payment on his behalf asap. I'm going to take every possible mean to sort it out and keep you posted.

At last I hope you wouldn't want to have a contract with Chael (Riley Downey) forever, cause a stolen animal is really included in his gecko collection.


Thank you for your attention!

RD Select

I am sorry this happen. Can someone notify him that this happened?

I always cringe when I read, and "blanks mother will cut a check".

Sounds like you are dealing with a younger person. Do you know age?

Don't ship until payment received! The "common sense " approach.

The Chael is really a bad guy!

On FB, he pretended to be a different Riley Downey found on "google+". He even used the pic of the person' face as his profile pic. His born year was set as 1994 and his graduated high school was also fake. I hadn't assumed he's a boy, until Mark said so. The link below is of the different Riley Downey.

https://plus.google.com/115150332948058396891/about

I moved the gecko before the completion of payment, based on the agreement where the certified US check should deliver in 2 days to the receiver, i.e. by the evening of Tuesday, Oct 6. Having suffered tremendously a lot from his deceit, the mess and delay in payment, I'd have to refresh a disconted quote to 900 shipped by paypal as its fair value.

The animal stolen is a pure Nuu Ana, Frank Fast line, 4+ m.o. showing very nice pink. Both of the parents are stunning animals with a lot of pink, produced by Steve. Such a high end gecko with good lineage is hard to acquire in Canada.

If I'd successfully receive the fair value of the gecko in a few days, I'd feel positive about removing this thread. I'm mentioning this, cause his family will be visiting here and consider how to negotiate with me.

Once it's posted here it can NOT be deleted. You can update it to show he made good on his end of the deal but this post is here to stay.

That's informative!

I was about to put his home phone# as well, next to his home address. I hope his case wouldn't escalate into a police report, when I've disclosed some of the details of his evil conducts.

RDSelect,
Please post screen captures, rather than links to other sites, if you are posting something as "evidence" or to otherwise make your case. If he changes that profile, your claim will appear unsubstantiated

Originally Posted by RDSelect

Chael was supposed to have sent a certified US check to my colleague on Oct 5. However, it hasn't been delivered yet for 10 days. On the other hand, he told Mark that the check was cashed out on "Monday" Oct 12, but it was really not the case, since Chael had continued discussions about the undelivered check until "Wednesday" Oct 14.

Do you have a tracking number for the check? Do you know for sure if the check was made out to you or your colleague? Are you certain your colleague did not receive and cash it? (I do think that some of Chael's behavior is questionable, but my question is an obvious one that investigators may ask).

Originally Posted by RDSelect

Having suffered tremendously a lot from his deceit, the mess and delay in payment, I'd have to refresh a disconted quote to 900 shipped by paypal as its fair value.

How much was the gecko originally? Piling on a lot of damages prior to any negotiations may backfire on you. It may be that the return of the gecko to you is an idea.

Originally Posted by RDSelect

cause his family will be visiting here and consider how to negotiate with me.

You got in touch with the family?

Originally Posted by RDSelect

Having been blocked by him one-sidedly all of a sudden, I'd assume Chael (Riley Downey) is a new scammer in the gecko hobby world. The thing is Chael got Steve and Mark involved in the procedure so that the whole process looked neatly arranged, and had them help his theft of my animal. I'm hearing he's been an okay customer of Mark's and is a new customer of Steve's.

He already has a track record of being an OK customer. I think a little more research would be good prior to labelling him a bad guy with any certainty.
On the face of it, it is pretty damning that he has the gecko and you have no money, and his behavior in cutting off communications is not good either.

But this was a complex transaction with several people involved. I hope you get the mess solved and of course I hope you either get payment or get the gecko returned.

This issue is completely closed. Thanks for your attention.

What happened was I directly caught his father on the phone. Then, he realized the mess and guaranteed an immediate payment by his son. I was able to confirm a right amount of payment agreed upon the conversation with him.

I received a request to at least delete the address. Honestly, I didn't even believe the address was a correct one, when Riley blocked me on FB and disappeared. It's really his fault, not mine, cause I've given him a serious warning that I'd report to BOI unless payment was made as scheduled.

I would wait to say it's completely resolved till the cash I'd in your hand. Are you absolutely sure it was his father you spoke with and not him pretending to be his father? If you read some threads here you will see scammed will pretend to be family members and tell you what you want to hear to make you go away, especially if they are trying to scam someone else and don't want you to ruin that by posting your story everywhere. I truly hope it was his father and you get your money asap.