Dantaft on Reptibid: Another lying, stealing scam artist

[Ken Harbart]

Dantaft, an associate of the confirmed thief, "Herpmanadam" has his own little scam going on.

In his auction, he's listed a purple phase albino retic with the rediculously low "buy it now" price of $1500. This is roughly half of what purple albino 'tics are selling for.

Now, the casual reader is probably thinking, "So what. The guy's selling a high end snake at a low price." In and of itself, that's innocent enough. Look at the big picture, however, and the scam is obvious.

The pic that accompanies his auction is stolen from a German website. True to his form, I'm sure he'll say that the pic was stolen from him, just as he attempted to say in herpmanadam's auction.

A few people have offered to pick up the snake in person. It should come as no surprise that he's ignoring them.

And finally, we have his ONLY accepted method of payment- Western Union. For those who aren't familiar with auction scams, WU is very popular with scam artists, as it is completely untraceable, irreversable, and unrecoverable.

 

[Ken Harbart]

Well, this one's about to get fun. I just used the "buy it now" option to end this guy's auction before someone gets duped by his scam, as well as to obtain his contact info from Reptibid.

Let's see what he says to a face-to-face cash transaction... I'll bet dollars to doughnuts he refuses.

 

[Sasheena]

Ken, do you intend to actually buy the snake? do you have someone local who can pick it up? Just curious.

I hate all these scammers. When I used to be "into" auctions, I disliked all the scumbags like this, who were unethical, and so we formed something very loosely like the BOI. Of course that led people to bid on my auctions falsely and leave me bad feedback. Scumbags whereever you go are always there to cry and sob and tell a tall tale when they are found out, but darnitall, it would be nice for the universe to be able to KNOW you can trust someone.

Just curious.

 

[my99zx9r]

Ken, please let us know what kind of contact info they give you. If he is a friend of Herpmandam (Adam Roberts) he should have a 423 area code for his phone # which is somewhere in Tenn. They may end being the smae person, who knows. Good luck.

Michael Cohen

 

[Ken Harbart]

The only contact info that I got from Reptibid was a hotmail address. It's [email protected]. I sent him an email stating there was no way in hell I'm doing anything but a face-to-face transaction, as I know for a fact that the snake pictured in his auction isn't even in the country. Something tells me he's not going to want to deal, though...lol

It shouldn't come as a surprise that: a) "adam" figures into this one as well, and b) he's using an anonymous email address.

Sasheena- if, by some miracle, he produces an albino retic, I'll take a day off to drive up to GA with cash in hand. I'll also arrange to have an interested LEO there as well.

 

[Ken Harbart]

Here's the short email exchange that took place overnight...

From: "adam pendergrass" <[email protected]> Add to Address Book
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Albino retic w/pilfered pic
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2004 02:29:36 -0400





let it die chum. was a buddies idea [adam] i wont be back there nor
will he.
im not even 18. we wont be back. everybody raves about how easy it is
to
scam there. figured it was worth a try. guess we were wrong

>From: KEN HARBART <[email protected]>
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: Albino retic w/pilfered pic
>Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2004 21:09:57 -0700 (PDT)
>
>Here's the deal...
>The snake pictured in your auction is not yours. This
>has been verified by Mike Wilbanks, who (along with
>Bob Clark) produced that snake two years ago, and sold
>it to Olaf Schal, of Pattensen, Germany. The snake in
>question still resides in Germany as of this evening.
>
>So here's how it's gonna work... there's no way in
>hell that I'm going to Western Union you money for an
>auction that's based on a stolen picture. The only
>option at this point, is for us to conduct the
>transaction face to face. I'll bring $900 cash, and
>you supply the albino retic which you are now legally
>obligated to sell to me.
>
>Regards,
>
>
>
>

 

[Jerry Dorgan]

scammers

Good job Ken.

Isn't there some type of authorities out there that might be interested in contacting this individual..??

 

[LotsaPetsGarfHt]

Hi All,
I don't even visit the other sites anymore, thats just the sort of thing that seems to be running rampent there. I've been told by some that have been scammed that the sites owners/operators/moderators/ whatever don't seem to care and don't even respond to e-mails. I will not purchase anything online unless it can be picked up and paid for personally. Get this I even was able to purchase a pair of Taiwan Beauties from Bobby P. but only after 3 of us looked them over. The female is now gravid, and I'm expecting eggs anyday now. I realize it may be the only way for some people to get some animals, but its just not the risk in MHO.

I would now insist on purchasing a lavender albino retic for the price agreed on. I would make it a point to contact his parents and make sure I got my snake even if they had to purchase it for me to buy from them. Let them take a loss, and just maybe they'll get ripped off trying to buy one online. He's probably some spoiled little brat with no supervision and too much time on his hands, a lesson now might keep him out of jail later and save someone else some headaches later.

John Chapek

 

[Mike Greathouse]

Ken,
What do you think about editing the title of this thread to include
Adam Pendergrass' name. If this young man is so willing to try a scam of this magnitude for "kicks" I have no doubt that he will continue his ways in other forums. Let's make it as easy as possible for people to identify and avoid him.

Thanks,

 

[HerpVenue]

From: "adam pendergrass" Add to Address Book
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Albino retic w/pilfered pic
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2004 02:29:36 -0400





let it die chum. was a buddies idea [adam] i wont be back there nor
will he.
im not even 18. we wont be back. everybody raves about how easy it is
to
scam there. figured it was worth a try. guess we were wrong

Ken check the ip on his e-mail
see if he is a member here

 

[Sasheena]

The kind of mentality I read here is one of the things i find the most apalling. Reminds me of a couple of my students. They were talking to one another (16 - 18 year old students). One of them was telling the other, as casual as can be, how he stole over $1000 worth of stuff from a neighbor. I couldn't believe my ears, especially at how matter-of-fact this conversation was. I am certain also, if there was a police report filed and this child gets in trouble for his actions, that he will blame myself, the police, and everyone else but himself for getting into trouble. It's something I find daunting... the lack of morals and personal accountability. *sigh*

 

[HouseOfSerpents]

Kids these days are pretty creative. I would have never thought to pull something like this as a kid.

Off the subject but it could be worse. There was an incident in Columbus,Ohio where a kid was able to fake a wire transfer and make off with a $120,000 BMW 760Li. The dealer shipped the car and never knew it until the bank was shy the $$$. He got caught coming back and trying a second time.

 

[JJFOUTZ]

What ever happened with this deal? Was reptibid notified?

 

[sputnik]

QUESTION FOR KEN

Ken,

He says he's not even 18.... maybe he is 18 or older, you might be able to verify this, I don't know.

In which case, is there enough to nail this lowlife sack of you know what for fraud.

You pretty much have a lot of info showing he admits to committing a frauduant act.

He's a criminal in my books! Regardless of age, he's a career crim is what it looks like to me.

This is a double headed problem to me. It also shows what a huge problem reptibid has on its hands. People can sign up in minutes, bid on their own auctions with false user names and rip people off and all you got in the contact info was an email address... is that correct?

I think Reptibid needs to have a compulsary address, phone and email contact before allowing someone to sell or buy!

It's a great place to sell and buy, but it's a great place for scammers and criminals too!

This kid wants to get away with trying to rip people off. He says he won't be back.... My guess is people like that look for somewhere else to try it. Or try a different way to rip people off.

 

[BWSmith]

I don't post often, but GOOD JOB Ken. LOL That definately made me smile.

 

[billybob]

A few people have asked of what can be done as far as pressing charges against these type of offenders. If anyone is familiar with the Jeremy Clark case (check the BOI for the thread), it is a good example of how the BOI is our (the honest person's) only real source of justice. Authorities don't seem to care about reptiles or reptile related crimes. It is probably hard to believe that anyone would pay anything for a reptile, let alone thousands of dollars. Jeremy Clark, even after ripping of dozens of people is still out there, still ripping people off. As a matter of fact, he lives in Tenn. as well. The best advice is prevention. If you are thinking of buying anything online, do your homework, check the BOI, ask around, get references. Sooner or later you begin to notice what to look for, such as stolen pics. I also applaud Ken and am thankful for FaunaClassifieds and the BOI.

Jason Keyes

 

[steveingram]

I got nailed hard by Jeremy clark a while back....Thanks to Bob Hammond and Dan Scroggins I got most of my stuff back.
Here is something to think about.....Jeremy clarks phone number starts with a 423 area code......?..... I know the number works, because I called him and talked to him earlier today, beacuse he still owes me 1400 dollars. Believe it or not, he is actually paying me back! Anyway, I know that this thread is not about him,
I read somehing about a 423 area and I just wanted to let people know that that is Jeremys area code .
Thanks.

Steve Ingram