I recently had the 'pleasure' of doing business with a scammer. I answered an add that a Sidd Sheppard had on Fauna Classified and agreed to purchase an adult female Amel Corn. I sent out the money order overnight as I told him I would and he was supposed to ship the next day (Wednesday). I asked him to send me the shipping number, he didn't get her sent out on Wed. and wrote telling me that he would send her out on Thursday. I received no emails from him since. No shipping number on Thursday - no snake - and no answers to my emails or my phone call.
Also I noticed on Friday when I went to Fauna to look at the info on his add that all his adds had been removed.
This is the email Sidd sent me when I asked for his info because he wanted me to send the money order to a different person. He had said in his add that he needed to sell a few snakes to pay a debt. So I figured he wanted me to send the money dirrectily to the person he owed so I told him I didn't mind but I wanted to know what his address and number was before I sent it out. This was his reply:
..............
Look me up on Fanna, where you found my Adds, you can see I do exaclly what I say I will. Now them My phone number is 503-788-1942, and My address is 4133 s.e. 64th ave, Portland Oregon 97202.
...............
And he gave me a link to a BOI about him being a good guy:
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15365
So I looked up the thread and everything seemed above board. Now, however, I have no snake, $150 gone and nothing heard from Sidd.
This is his e-mail telling me he would send out the snake. He had thought that I had put the wrong zip on the overnight MO and sent me this e-mail:
.............
That is the wrong zipp
You need to fix that NOW 78741
..................
(he didn't even sign this one he seemed to upset.)
when I wrote him telling him that the tracking was showing the zip where the main terminal was that it was dropped at, he checked it out and sent this reply back (because he was supposed to have sent the snake out that day)
(the number is in reference to my overnight MO)
...........
V
You entered EU81 8857 348U S
Your item arrived at 8:50 am on March 26, 2003 in AUSTIN, TX 78744. Status is updated every evening. Please check again later.
this is why I was concerned, I will get the Corn out tomorrow, sorry for the delay.
Sidd
Sidd
...............
Regretfully, too late, I found how to search for people on the web. what I found was not good.
And this is what I found on a search in the white pages on line on Friday after a friend told me how to look someone up:
Sidd Sheppard Your search has returned no results.
No data matched your search for "4133, S E 64th Avenue, Portland, OR".
Your search has returned no results.
No data matched your search for "503, 788-1942". This number is a Portland, OR based phone number, and the registered carrier is Qwest Corporation
And when I put in just his name, GEE No Sidd in Portland OR:
Search Results - 5 Records Found
Option 1 - Click on the name to get the current or historical address. (From $9.95 - Internet Only)
Option 2 - Basic address information for all 5 records ($14.95 - Internet Only) Sample Report
# Name City State Age
1 SARA J SHEPPARD PORTLAND OR 90
2 SHARON ANN SHEPPARD PORTLAND OR 60
3 SHARON ANN SHEPPARD PORTLAND OR 60
4 STEPHANIE J SHEPPARD PORTLAND OR 41
5 SUZANNE B SHEPPARD PORTLAND OR 56
Need Help?
Well, I put in the address of the person whom I sent the money order to, figuring maybe I could call them and find out something. Well to my surprise this is what came up.
Drive Thru Postal
1712 E Riverside Dr
Austin, TX 78741
(512) 443-5848
» 1 / 2
More Info for Drive Thru Postal
Map this location
Fax Number
Austin, TX 78741
(512) 443-7704
Funny thing is I would never have sent a money order out to a PO box, ever, but since this was a street address I assumed this was above board and was the person to whom he owed money. Well, was I supprised when I found that I sent it to a DRIVE THRU POSTAL.
So I called this Drive Thru Postal and spoke to a man. The person, Mari Ellis, rents a box there and the man put a note in her box telling her to contact me. I have not heard anything from this Mari Ellis though and really don't expect to.
And to beat all, Mari Ellis never even signed for the overnight - this is what the tracking showed:
.........
Delivery Status
You entered EU81 8857 348U S
Your item was delivered at 2:06 pm on March 26, 2003 in AUSTIN, TX 78741. The item was signed for by R WHEELER.
............
I realize this wasn't a large loss of thousands of dollars but to me it is a lot of money. It was an expensive lesson that won't ever happen again.
I am going to see if I can do anything about this but I doubt it.
Maybe it seems like I am jumping the gun here since I was supposed to receive the snake on Friday, but if he were intending to send her out and just couldn't do it Thursday, seems to me he would have e-mailed me to let me know.
So, beware of this man.
Dianne Bolognani
Also I noticed on Friday when I went to Fauna to look at the info on his add that all his adds had been removed.
This is the email Sidd sent me when I asked for his info because he wanted me to send the money order to a different person. He had said in his add that he needed to sell a few snakes to pay a debt. So I figured he wanted me to send the money dirrectily to the person he owed so I told him I didn't mind but I wanted to know what his address and number was before I sent it out. This was his reply:
..............
Look me up on Fanna, where you found my Adds, you can see I do exaclly what I say I will. Now them My phone number is 503-788-1942, and My address is 4133 s.e. 64th ave, Portland Oregon 97202.
...............
And he gave me a link to a BOI about him being a good guy:
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15365
So I looked up the thread and everything seemed above board. Now, however, I have no snake, $150 gone and nothing heard from Sidd.
This is his e-mail telling me he would send out the snake. He had thought that I had put the wrong zip on the overnight MO and sent me this e-mail:
.............
That is the wrong zipp
You need to fix that NOW 78741
..................
(he didn't even sign this one he seemed to upset.)
when I wrote him telling him that the tracking was showing the zip where the main terminal was that it was dropped at, he checked it out and sent this reply back (because he was supposed to have sent the snake out that day)
(the number is in reference to my overnight MO)
...........
V
You entered EU81 8857 348U S
Your item arrived at 8:50 am on March 26, 2003 in AUSTIN, TX 78744. Status is updated every evening. Please check again later.
this is why I was concerned, I will get the Corn out tomorrow, sorry for the delay.
Sidd
Sidd
...............
Regretfully, too late, I found how to search for people on the web. what I found was not good.
And this is what I found on a search in the white pages on line on Friday after a friend told me how to look someone up:
Sidd Sheppard Your search has returned no results.
No data matched your search for "4133, S E 64th Avenue, Portland, OR".
Your search has returned no results.
No data matched your search for "503, 788-1942". This number is a Portland, OR based phone number, and the registered carrier is Qwest Corporation
And when I put in just his name, GEE No Sidd in Portland OR:
Search Results - 5 Records Found
Option 1 - Click on the name to get the current or historical address. (From $9.95 - Internet Only)
Option 2 - Basic address information for all 5 records ($14.95 - Internet Only) Sample Report
# Name City State Age
1 SARA J SHEPPARD PORTLAND OR 90
2 SHARON ANN SHEPPARD PORTLAND OR 60
3 SHARON ANN SHEPPARD PORTLAND OR 60
4 STEPHANIE J SHEPPARD PORTLAND OR 41
5 SUZANNE B SHEPPARD PORTLAND OR 56
Need Help?
Well, I put in the address of the person whom I sent the money order to, figuring maybe I could call them and find out something. Well to my surprise this is what came up.
Drive Thru Postal
1712 E Riverside Dr
Austin, TX 78741
(512) 443-5848
» 1 / 2
More Info for Drive Thru Postal
Map this location
Fax Number
Austin, TX 78741
(512) 443-7704
Funny thing is I would never have sent a money order out to a PO box, ever, but since this was a street address I assumed this was above board and was the person to whom he owed money. Well, was I supprised when I found that I sent it to a DRIVE THRU POSTAL.
So I called this Drive Thru Postal and spoke to a man. The person, Mari Ellis, rents a box there and the man put a note in her box telling her to contact me. I have not heard anything from this Mari Ellis though and really don't expect to.
And to beat all, Mari Ellis never even signed for the overnight - this is what the tracking showed:
.........
Delivery Status
You entered EU81 8857 348U S
Your item was delivered at 2:06 pm on March 26, 2003 in AUSTIN, TX 78741. The item was signed for by R WHEELER.
............
I realize this wasn't a large loss of thousands of dollars but to me it is a lot of money. It was an expensive lesson that won't ever happen again.
I am going to see if I can do anything about this but I doubt it.
Maybe it seems like I am jumping the gun here since I was supposed to receive the snake on Friday, but if he were intending to send her out and just couldn't do it Thursday, seems to me he would have e-mailed me to let me know.
So, beware of this man.
Dianne Bolognani