Inquiry- Mike Rogers aka AuthenticCobras

He has quite a few Naja sp I am looking to aquire from him.

Name: Mike Rogers

Business name(?): Authentic Cobras

Location: Portland, OR

he doesnt seem to do alot of work with people, so Im not expecting much back, but its worth a shot.

Thanks
Chris

Well, whether he would come through or not, Im not going to bother.

He would not give me any references, and he has no reputation

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Subj: Re: Cobras
Date: 6/1/03 8:15:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: HoodedSerpent513
To: authenticcobras@hotmail.com



i dont know when ill be home, apparently ill be at work a few more hours, Im at work right now...

The deal sounds good. But I still have no reason to believe that you will actually ship, not that I dont believe you, but the only good reason I have, is that you know about the animals, and your polite.

Maybe someone else would be quick to send the money, but I dont make much at all. I need something more promising. I.E. references that arent friends, like maybe buyers of your FWC babies?

Or, out of common nature, a new dealer gets his name around by shipping first. I had to deal with that for almost a year. I have tons of references for you that arent my friends.
you can even put me on the website I gave you to try.

Thanks
Chris
--------------------------------
Subj: Re: Cobras
Date: 6/1/03 9:19:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: authenticcobras@hotmail.com
To: HoodedSerpent513@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)



Well I dont have the contact info for the people I sold the FWC to but I can
give you my name my partners name and both adress for both our house you can
call my dad and my mom (CORNEY BUT THEY WOULDNT LIE) I mean I am only asking
for a half down deposit so that is as fair as I can be on the shiping
first......the cost for snakes is 289.00
american dollers sent to authenticcobras@hotmail.com that is mine and my
partners email for paypal and i will take care of the box and the heat packs
and packing material.....I will cut shiping to my cost 67.00 dollers witch I
will pay FIRST and when you recive animals YOU WILL SEND 265.00 witch will
equal the remainder cost of the snakes and shipping...............THANKS
MIKE RODGERS
Authenticcobras
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Subj: Re: Cobras
Date: 6/1/03 9:27:39 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: HoodedSerpent513
To: authenticcobras@hotmail.com



your being reasonable, but unprofessional. Im very interested, but Im not interested in gambling, you present no reason whatsoever to send you anything.

Its a great deal, but if it cant be done right, I guess I will have to deal with not having it. Your a nice person, contact info is a start, but it wont do anything. You have no reputation, and no references.

Thanks
Chris
--------------------------------------------

Correct me if I was being too hard on him, but this is rather irritable. Thoughtful that he offered to do 50/50 (almost). But what is one reason that I should send him anything?

Contact info? what does that do? If he wants to scam me, that doesnt stop him, we are on opposite sides of the country.

Being polite? So is that guy from Nigeria. Not to mention, this guy isnt so polite anymore. He had the nerve to call my house at 12AM. My mother answered the phone (Im back home for the weekend), I was asleep. He decided to come at her saying "Your son is irresponsible, and Im going to post bad things about his business."

Well, I feel that I hardly backed out of a deal, because What deal was there? he said he could give me his friends or parents as references:

--------------------------------------
Subj: Re: Cobras
Date: 6/1/03 4:36:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: authenticcobras@hotmail.com
To: HoodedSerpent513@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)



Well the (Naja kaouthia) very inteligent wants to know your every move
eating to much....
{Naja haje haje) not afraid of people at all so be carefull with these ones
they eating good also...
(Naja nigricollis nigricollis} are just ####ing nutty as all hell they spit
at everything if the water bowl
looks at them wrong they spit and they eat like monsters i tell
ya........well my name is

Mike Rodgers I live in portland Or i have been dealing with Hotts
for about 4 years i am going to school for it right now i go to CA during
summer to work at tiger island at marine world um i dont know what a BOI is
and i can get you some of my friends to as REFF but i get my snakes from
shows so i have not got from a dealer........... well let me know if you
want the snakes..........


---------------------------------------

thats the best he could do? and still expect me to just send him money?

and Im the bad guy???

Thanks
Chris

here are a few miscalculations....maybe they are just typos, maybe they are just mistakes...hell, maybe im just being tacky about it...

[url=http://www.venomousreptiles.org/classifieds/detail/4882]

He said he has 13 cobras for sale, but if you count its actually 15.

the cost for snakes is 289.00

OK

when you recive animals YOU WILL SEND 265.00

Ok...however thats equals $544

The total number agreed on was $570.

[url=http://www.venomousreptiles.org/classifieds/detail/4882]

again in the website he says $570 shipped....70 is the shipping


The only thing that could change the value would be :

I will cut shiping to my cost 67.00 dollers

That changes it by $3 which would make it $567, not $554.

Maybe its just miscalculations, but people just looking for money are often shifting their numbers. And people looking for what they ask are more precise with numbers.

Also moving or not, $38 per snake that can sell for 60-100 wholesale? Maybe its a deal, maybe its too good to be true?

thank you

Hey Chris. Well, it looks like you may have stumbled upon the same weirdo I did. Although his name is different (but doesn't surprise me) everything you have described about this person is the same. Here is the info I have on him:

Kevin Peters

AIM: USKEVIN6

Phone: 925-413-0403 (note: this is a CA cell phone)

Address: 5230 SE 57th Ave
Portland, OR 97206 (note: do a search for this address online, and you'll come up with a home that is for sale in Portland)

Address he wanted me to ship to: (father's company addy)
17311 SE Stark St
Portland, OR 97233 (note: this is the address of a gun company)

So, let's see here what the similarities are between the person you spoke with and the person I spoke with. First off, he called me at about 12:30 am, and just better be glad I was actually awake at that time. We then proceeded to talk thru AIM, during which time he told me all kinds of fantastical stories about being able to get all kinds of rare and very valuable snakes, not to mention some highly illegal Australian elapids (coastal taipans, supposedly). He even sent me a picture of one of "his" taipans, and it was the correct species, however I'm willing to bet that he just got it off the internet.

The whole reason I was speaking with him was that he was wanting to buy my adult WA green mamba. He kept stalling, over the three or four days I spoke with him, about making payment, then saying PayPal was messed up, etc. He even once said that he'd bought plane tickets to fly to the Ozark, MO hot show, which I was going to, to just pick up the snake then. When I informed him that his supposed landing site (Kansas City) was a 4 hr drive at best from Ozark, he said his uncle owned a helicopter and he'd try to just get him to charter a flight to Ozark. Now I don't need to mention here that I was laughing pretty hard at this, but still gave him the benefit of the doubt just incase some strange thing happened and he actually went through with it.

One time, when he had supposedly left to go to the office to use that computer since his "firewall was keeping PayPal from working," his "wife" got online and proceeded to engage me in conversation. This was most likely Kevin himself, because his typing was just like "hers" and even spelled the same incorrect things (like dollers, just like in one of the e-mails you, Chris, got from "Mike"). "She" asked me what he was buying from me, then started acting upset saying that they didn't have enough money, etc etc. I then asked "well, if you don't have much money why did Kevin just spend $20,000 on a shipment of foreign snakes" (this was yet another fantastical story he fed me). "She" then got angry and went offline.

The last day he and I spoke he assured me that he sent me the funds for the snake via Western Union. I asked him for the WU Number to verify that he sent it, and he said he wouldn't give me that until Tuesday and that I "would have" to ship on Wednesday (I've never been so aggressive with any person I've bought from, and I have a feeling that if I had been, I would never be able to buy from that person again). I then called my local WU places and they said I didn't need that number, just his name, my name, and an ID. Well of course when I went to the WU place to check for the funds, nothing had ever been sent by a Kevin Peters from Portland, OR. After this incident, the next time I saw him online, I told him I was finished playing his games and that he should go elsewhere if he wanted to continue that kind of crap (looks like he did, too, under a different name). He then proceeding to get all angry and actually threaten to have "some of his boys over in my area come pay me a visit." Me being the kind of person that doesn't like threats, am now trying to get in contact with OR's wildlife violations office, but their phone number is messed up (that number is 1-800-452-7888). So since that number is messed up, I believe I'll just call the normal game and fish and let them know someone is possibly importing highly illegal animals.

Chris, if he told you anything about bringing in illegal animals, I encourage you to do the same thing, because maybe if they get two tip offs instead of just one, they may actually act on it. The Game and Fish's number is 503-872-5268.

I'm pretty sure this Kevin, or Mike, or whatever his name is, is just some kid wanting to trick someone into sending him dangerous snakes. I'm really glad I saw through his guise (though I must admit, it was very easy), and didn't send him a snake that could have easily killed him. I hope that by my telling what happened with this guy, and yours as well, that maybe we can tip off others he may be contacting.

thanks chance,

I called that number and asked for mike...isnt it funny that he was the one that answered....

I also IMed him, but

USKEVIN6 [2:37 PM]: i am sorry i dont know you pal

I was just tyring to sell my reptiles and this kid started some drama he is 17 years old and it is a FELONY TO SELL TO A UNDER AGE PERSON so I will not sell to him and he got pissed and started talking #### and I sent USKEVIN6 a instant message and talked to him a little bit......He seems to be not wanting to deal with anyone anymore for some reason or another.......anyway i am not scamming anyone...... i am just trying to get rid of my herps thats all...... but not on the SHHS website anymore to many little kids to much drama......i will get a kingsnake account and post with some pics later today OH AND CHRIS BE CAREFULL I MAY HAVE SLIPED SOMEONE YOUR PHONE NUMBER I SHOULDNT OFF...........

You need to post your full name on the BOI, or risk having your post deleted.

MIKE RODGERS IS FULL NAME

Chris Foley Wrote

"Correct me if I was being too hard on him, but this is rather irritable. Thoughtful that he offered to do 50/50 (almost). But what is one reason that I should send him anything?"

I'm curious Chris...how many transactions have you actually completed online?

1.) You approached him about buying animals he had listed.

2.) You asked for references.

3.) He could not supply adequate references to satisfy you.


Step four is...walk away.

All these statements about his unprofessional and irritating behaviour are absurd. His offer of half up front and half on delivery is more than 99% of the vendors out there would offer. Take a chance or don't. Don't beat the guy up just because he can't post references. Some people have lousy record keeping skills and don't save contact info. Stupid?....yes. Dishonest?...not necessarily.


Chris Foley Wrote

"Or, out of common nature, a new dealer gets his name around by shipping first."


That is patently absurd. I have been in this business actively for over 12 years and I cannot think of a single instance I have heard of in which a seller shipped first to an unknown buyer. That is most certainly not an industry standard for new vendors.

Chris Foley also wrote


"The deal sounds good. But I still have no reason to believe that you will actually ship, not that I dont believe you, but the only good reason I have, is that you know about the animals, and your polite."

That statement alone would have stopped me from selling to you. That level of suspicion and paranoia in initial contacts is a red flag to any dealer. It generally means you have a buyer that is going to be unhappy no matter what.

Bottom line is that if the seller won't supply the references or documentation that gives you a comfort level...walk away. Conversely, if the buyer is openly suspicious and confrontational about the transaction from the get go, pass on the buyer. In most instances you will be saving yourself headaches down the road.


Other than you initial post and the opening lines of your second, in my opinion, this thread has no practical value and is a pointless slam on the seller.

Thank you for your reply I did find 2 Reff i sold some snakes to East bay vivarium in CA a few FWC and to Great valley serpentarium if anyone wants my snakes i can provide pics my adress and my phone number and delta info and fed-ex info and i also have a few other means to prove who and were i am i have a webcam i can bring the snakes in on hooks and show LIVE ....