Bad Guy [email protected] = AKA: Thomas James, hermann karaja, Tom, Tom Makinson

[Robert Walker]

All accounts use stolen pictures from the web.

Account: tokaygecko
Name: hermann karaja
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]

Account: tome1978
Name: Tom
Email: [email protected]

Account: Thomas45
Name: Thomas James
Email: [email protected]

Account: tokaymorphs45
Name: Tom Makinson
Email: [email protected]

As wise stewards of your hard earned money, you deserve it to yourself to do your homework on potential buyers & sellers. One tool is to do an email check on them here, see image below.

 

[Robert Walker]

Prime example of how deep a rabbit hole can go from a seasoned scammer. Again all accounts used stolen pictures. Do your homework on sellers/buyers first.

[email protected] goes to:

Account: silviacavalleri1978
Name: silvia cavalleri
Email: [email protected]
Other Bad Guy - Board of Inquiry Report: LINK

[email protected] goes to:

Account: snakebreeder45
Name: Manuel

Additional Email: [email protected]
Additional Email: [email protected]
Additional Email: [email protected]
Additional Email: [email protected]

 

[EA7770]

I've known Tom online for many years. Never purchased from him because he's overseas.
But he's always been a well respected and knowledgeable member of the gecko community

 

[Tombo46]

I have mixed feelings about this post.

My name is Tom Makinson and I used to run Tokay Gecko UK. I was breeding and working with a lot of Tokay morphs and had a very good reputation. Unfortunately, because of this, some have decided to use that reputation to scam people in various ways.

I understand that this post is informative but I also don't want people thinking that I am going around scamming people. I only keep 4 Tokays now so I am dealing with people very infrequently but I still don't like the idea of my name being tarnished after all these years.

So to anybody reading this. If a Tom Makinson has offered you a Tokay morph then it almost certainly isn't me. My pictures and my identity have been used by several people. At present, I am not breeding anything.

To the OP. I understand you are trying to help and agree with your efforts however in future I think it would be wise to check if the scammer is impersonating somebody else before incriminating anybodies name.

All the best,

(The real) Tom Makinson.

 

[nickolasanastasiou]

Hi, Tom.

Unfortunately, since your name is being used as an alias by the scammer, it would get mentioned regardless. It would be less than useful to say he is impersonating the name of reputable individuals in order to dupe buyers into falling for scams and not name which names he is using like a lacewing larva uses prey husks. I know it stinks, but the scammer made it so.

What is good (better than good, really) is that you came here to clear that impersonation matter up. Unless you decide to change your plans for production and sales, people can use the information in your post to realize that anyone attempting to list salable animals under your name is likely to be the impersonator.

 

[Tombo46]

I'd have to disagree with you on that one. A simple search for my name would have revealed that I am (or was) an actual Tokay Breeder. I think if someone is posting up someone else's name in a negative way they have a moral obligation to at least consider it a possibility that they are a real person with a real reputation on the line.

I'm not saying this post isn't helpful. But I would have expected it to include the fact that the scammer is impersonating a real Tokay breeder and for people to be extra careful when dealing with them (or me).

At present I get the odd message on facebook or email from angry people having been scammed out of a lot of money. Every one to my knowledge was extremely careless in how they transferred money and they could have avoided being scammed by using a little common sense. I don't think it's worth destroying someones reputation in an effort to wrap people up in cotton wool to protect them from the real world. Theoretically I could have lost thousands in an effort to save a few (for want of a better word) stupid people getting scammed.

 

[nickolasanastasiou]

You disagree with what part?

 

[DavidBeard]

I think Tom's issue is that there was no indication or even a hint of the scammer using someone else's name in his ruse, it simply states "Tom Makinson" with no context. TO that degree, I think Tom is correct in being a little perturbed.

 

[nickolasanastasiou]

I can totally sympathize with that, although there is implication with the multiple names being employed that any particular name may be falsely used since n-1 (at the least) would all have to be fakes for a single scammer. It would have been nice to be able to know what parts were fake and what part had ties to a real (and uninvolved) person at the time the thread was composed, but I understand how it manifested as it did. If Robert had gone around asking each persona if they were the real deal, all personas would have said they were legitimate and honest. Also, the hobby has seen many a good guy turn, so the concept is not outlandish in a broader sense even if that is not the case here.

That said, with it being how it is, we can only move forward. I am glad the real Tom came here to explain that he is not a part of the scammer's actions and that we can more easily see that the scammer has misappropriated his name for nefarious ends. Without his input, that would have been difficult and delayed.

 

[Robert Walker]

in an effort to wrap people up in cotton wool to protect them from the real world. Theoretically I could have lost thousands in an effort to save a few (for want of a better word) stupid people getting scammed.

I get it, you are upset. You are upset that I unknowing didn't wrap you up in cotton and protect "you" from the real world. In the real world, your name has been and is still being used in scams, a fact you have already known about previously. Had I known anything about you, I would have happily included the "impersonation" clause you are so concerned with. The fact is, you were unknown to me on the other side of the world while this avalanche of names, emails & accounts was unfolding.

You have done your part by posting here, great. Now I will continue to do my part, and try to help all the, as you so nicely put it, "stupid people getting scammed" try to avoid it in the first place. Thanks for your posts, they were insightful.

This is Google's cache of http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/available-9-different-tokay-geckos-morphs-for-sale.148587/. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on Nov 12, 2016 14:36:58 GMT.

 

[Tombo46]

https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=tom+makinson+tokay

A simple search online for all the names mentioned in the original post (took all of 1 minute) would have yielded results showing that I was a real tokay breeder. The other names however didn't yield anything solid.

While I don't like my reputation being soiled you have to understand that I can't do jack s*** about it. I have people impersonating me on facebook and facebook won't even do anything so when I see something like this where I can actually reply and speak my side I'm sure you can forgive me for maybe getting a bit het up about it.

Fortunately, my ruined reputation won't cost me anything financially. It kinda ruins my day a little when I get private messages on forums and facebook calling me a lot of nasty names but I'm learning to deal with that.

The reason I posted was to show you that these scammers do impersonate real people and by posting things like this you can do lasting damage to someones reputation and livelihood. It is because of this that I think if you are going to post up names you have a moral obligation to at least do a simple 10 second google search to see if they are possibly impersonating someone and include it in the original post. This will allow people to be careful when dealing with the "real" person instead of avoiding them completely.

Admittedly, the use of the word stupid probably wasn't called for. These people have been scammed out of their hard earned cash but when you see how it was done it's hard to believe anyone would fall for it. Perhaps I should have used the word "desperately naive".

 

[Robert Walker]

Yes, yes...I understood your grievance from your first post: my moral compass is off and my Google-fu is obviously lacking since I didn't realize you were a famous UK tokay breeder.

Within the rules of the BOI, all are welcome to come here and post. I posted the information I had at my disposal at the time. You posted yours. Together they form a better picture.

You typed "Tom Makison tokay"
I most likely typed "Tom Makinson [email protected]"
Both contain "Tom Makinson & tokay", both yield different results.

You are upset at the scammer(s)
You are upset at Facebook
You are upset at the "desperately naive/stupid" scam victims
You are upset at people sending your unwanted messages
You are upset at me and my failure to supposedly be moral.

You still have my sympathy for your situation, however, you are sorely mistaken if you think I'm going to play the part of your punching bag as result of your failed attempts to find justice elsewhere.

 

[Tombo46]

Go fuck yourself Robert

 

[Lucille]

That was uncalled for. You have apparently had a difficult time way prior to this thread and other places have not permitted explanations. Here, you have a clear searchable way to explain what happened. You should be thanking the site and moderators for affording you a chance to make explanations.

 

[tlmoon]

And........here you have a chance to show that you're better than the scammer impersonating you, and you come up with a F bomb you. Nice....I'm sure a lot of people will be more likely to think well of you now.

 

[Jo Nathan Kingfisher]

Still up to it

This guy says his wife is Japanese
and he speaks fairly broken English.
I asked where he was from and he wouldn't tell me.

Since the original Tom Makinson
kinda lashed out,
I guess the whole Tom Makinson crew
is in disrepute now.

Every time I talked to this one
he asked for money right away.

Reflection thoughts anyone?

 

[Socratic Monologue]

I've read through this three times and cannot figure out how the information copied below relates to this thread. Mr Kingfisher, would you please elaborate?

This guy says his wife is Japanese
and he speaks fairly broken English.
I asked where he was from and he wouldn't tell me.

Since the original Tom Makinson
kinda lashed out,
I guess the whole Tom Makinson crew
is in disrepute now.

Every time I talked to this one
he asked for money right away.

Reflection thoughts anyone?

 

[Jo Nathan Kingfisher]

who ever this Tom Makinson (Duriane Tenego) is I am assuming
he is performing identity theft and misrepresentation (stolen internet photos).
His email is [email protected]

Has anyone done good or bad business with him?

I'm just reporting my interactions with this one.

He doesn't seem to have any British accent

 

[Jo Nathan Kingfisher]

pics of "available" Tokay geckos

These were the exact two animals he is trying to sell me.

 

[BobO'Booey]

do you have proof that they used Tom makinsons name? If so please post it