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David aka [email protected]

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This gentleman is located in California. He has a 0.1 Argentine Boa for sale on KS. He has only one picture of the snake, and will only accept money orders. Has anyone dealt with him in the past?
 
I don't know him, but if you decide to go through with the deal.... make SURE you only send him a BANK M.O..... do NOT send him a POSTAL M.O..... if the snake doesn't arrive within 2 DAYS.... IMMEDIATELY put a stop payment on the M.O. with your bank.... DO NOT WAIT to stop the M.O....

I'm always weary when someone ONLY takes M.O.'s.... you should be too....

Good luck....

Neil
 
feds

regardless of the type of money order (granted, a bank MO will allow you to stop payment on it) any time it is sent through the US Postas Service for good or services and the other party defrauds you then you can get the Feds involved. I always tell my buyers that if they're going to send money that they should use MO's or Cashier's Checks (to avoid delays waiting for it to clear only) and to make sure they send it through the mail, preferably with some sort of receipt as this provides them the best protection...then I explain that one to them as well. A delivery confirmation receipt requiring a signature is a very inexpensive investment to keep yourself safe.

David Jobes
 
I'm not quite sure what Neil is aiming at but since you would be sending payment up front, the money order would have been long sinced cashed by the time a problem became evident so the ability to stop payment would be moot.

A stop payment can only be effective prior to the instrument being cashed.

I'd stick with the postal money orders as someone else suggested. The penalties involved with a fraudulent transaction with a Postal MO as the payment source carry some real teeth.
 
I found out that Richmond, CA is very close to San Francisco. I have a nephew in San Francisco that has offered to go and look at the snake for me. I'm trying to set up details for that visit. I will let everyone know what happens with that.
 
In the meantime, does anyone recongnize this picture?
 

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John.... what I forgot to mention is that he should send the Bank MO via the USPS, NEXT DAY AIR Return Receipt Requested.... THEN if he doesn't receive the snake in 2 days, to put a stop payment on it.... I've done that a couple of times, and have never had a problem (I had to strop payment once)....
I'm just very leary when that's all a seller will accept.... it just sounds too fishy.... personally, I would leave skid marks getting away from that deal.... there will always be another deal around the corner, if you have enough patience....

Neil
 
You missed my point Neil. If the guy was out to screw someone, he would obviously cash the money order immediately upon receipt. Once it is cashed you can't stop payment. If the animal did not then arrive for a day or two and you suspected youy were being had, itwould be too late to do anything.

The only way a stop payment would work in that instance is if the crook were dumb enough to hold onto the money order uncashed.
 
John.... you're right, I did miss that point.... I would just forget about that deal altogether and move on.... why take the chance, unless someone knows him and his particular circumstances....

Neil
 
Whatever you do, DO NOT send a Postal Money Order thinking Uncle Sam or the Feds will get involved if you are scammed.
They would love you to believe this but it is NOT TRUE.

The Feds could give a rats A$$ about you, your snakes, and your measly dollars.

I learned this the hard way after losing $1800 and fighting 2 years for it, only to get laughed at.
6 other people that we actually KNOW of were also taken this same way, for this same snake.
Believe me, the cops, Feds, IFCC, and everyone else could care less and is way to busy to give a damn about you or me, a couple hundred or a couple thousand bucks.

'Experience is a hard teacher! She gives the test first, the lesson afterwards!'


Joe Rollo - BciJoe
 
I agree with Joe. A couple of years ago I was on the losing end of a trade, where I received nothing in return for my animals. After going through all of the official steps, including having the case assigned to an investigator in the city that the animals were shipped to, I was eventually given the impression that the only way to nail that guy was if I actually had a picture of him receiving the snakes. UPS receipts, copies of 45 e-mails, and a notarized deposition all didn't add up to more than circumstantial evidence as far as the authorities were concerned. This is why I take every step possible to make sure I don't get scammed again.

Still waiting to hear back from "David" in Richmond, CA as to when my nephew can come and look at the snake.

I also was sent 2 "references" for "David":

[email protected] who gave a glowing report about how well David shipped her a fat tail gecko. When I asked for a telephone number, the one I was given was in Richmond, CA! Why would anyone ship a reptile to a customer in the same city?

[email protected] also gave a glowing report about how David shipped him a snake. When I asked him for a telephone number, I was told that, "I just moved to Oaklahoma (sic) from Oregon, and I don't have a permanent number yet". Not only doesn't he have a permanent number, he can't even spell the state that he lives in!

Both "references" responded 20 minutes after I contacted them, 3 MINUTES APART FROM EACH OTHER, 45 minutes after I was first given them, at around midnight (EST) Sunday. I then received an e-mail at 1:30 AM from David asking if I had had any luck with the references yet.

These are all red flags as far as I am concerned. My apologies to David if I am wrong.

Also my apologies to all of you honest persons who fall into this category, but I guess I'm going to avoid doing business with sellers that:

1. Will only accept money orders.
2. Have an aol e-mail address (or hotmail, yahoo, etc.).
3. Can only give references that have aol (or hotmail, yahoo, etc.) e-mail addresses.
4. Can only provide 1 picture of the animal they have for sale.

Still looking for that elusive high contrast 0.1 Argentine.
 
The odd thing is that in that posting he specifies !NO PHOTO! more than once. Does that mean that the photo in the ad is not a photo of the animal being sold?
 
All of those !NO PHOTOS! were added since the original ad. He didn't say that the picture was or wasn't the snake. I asked if he had any more pictures of the snake, and he said that he had "no other pictures" of her. That inferes that the picture is the snake for sale.
 
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