John Vorhies of Columbus, Ohio - Anyone heard of him?

[ajc]

Thanks.

-Anthony

 

[screamdreams]

I'm about 30 miles outside of Columbus....

but I have never heard of him. I frequent the Columbus Expo and have for 9 years or better, and I've established some great friends while doing so. I'll ask if anyone may know of him or I may even know him if I see him so count on me getting back to you here Saturday night. I hope I can help

 

[ajc]

Thank you very much. Any help would be much appreciated.

-Anthony

 

[ajc]

Well....I got a funny feeling, so I backed out of the deal with him.

Here's how it went down...

He had an early 2004 pair of Womas on reptibid (which I will probably never use again) with a $700 reserve, which although cheap, is not unheard of, especially since he said he produced the womas and sent me pics of the parents.

He said that he didn't have paypal, so I'd need to send a money order. I asked for references and he said he had none, as this was only his second deal and that he had gotten screwed on the other one. Now that I think about it, how the hell do you have an adult pair of Womas, produce a clutch of babies, only have one pair of babies left and still NOT have any references?

Even though I was largely apprehensive, I still went and bought a postal money order, but when I was going to put it in the mail, I started having second thoughts. Between him not taking paypal, having no website and having zero references, I told him I just had a funny feeling. Of course, then he said that his girlfriend had a paypal account I could use.

I figured even though it seemed fishy, I'd just buy the Paypal buyer protection and cross my fingers....but I had to deposit the postal money order that I had gotten before I could send him the money via Paypal, since I didn't quite have enough in my Paypal account to cover it.

Here's where it gets good...While I was waiting for the money to hit my account, he sent me an email stating that I should hurry up...and low and behold, he signed it "Thanks, Damian."

So, this guy is supposedly John Vorhies from Columbus, OH. His email was incibus1975 at something dot com, which I only mention because there is a Damian on this forum (username "dmasio") from the Columbus, OH area, who happens to have been born in 1975, according to his profile. I'm not saying this is him, but it seemed odd enough to me.

While I don't know that it was a scam attempt, I'm just posting what I do know, so that people can be careful in dealing with anyone suspicious from the Columbus, OH area.

 

[Dr Owens]

Anthony,
Do you have the originating IP address from his emails? We could compare that to any possible suspects who post to this site.

 

[ajc]

Yep...here you go.

24.95.92.118

 

[DThomas]

That IP matches to Damian, "dmasio."

 

[screamdreams]

Sorry ajc -

I wanted to get back to you sooner but I've had a very busy weekend, sorry about that. I didn't get to talk with anyone who knew him at the Columbus Expo, and that's a pretty tight nit show were most everyone knows everyone. Sorry I couldn't help more, but it sounds like you did your homework. Smart - smart - smart

 

[Rainbowboaman]

Wouldn't this info justify a bad guy post about him since the ip matches up & can't thead title be changed to give the name of this bad guy since anyone checking on hin here won't see this thread? or at least add this thread to any already about him as it sounds like somebody is going to get taken by this guy sooner or later.

 

[dmasio]

Hi I just got back in town from work. My name is Damian Macioce John Vorhies is my cousin on my mothers side he is my moms twin sisters son, he was moving from Arizona and has not had a chance to get his internet up and running and has ask me to set up him an account on reptibid to get rid of some of his stuff, so I have been doing his emailing for him thats why I used the name Damian in the last email. Like I told you hes moving here because I got him a job with Norfolk Southern Railways. Another thing why would he have refunded your $220.00 instead of taking it and not sayingreturning your emails. Plus he gave you his cell phone number and never got a call from you. He is just moving into his place and was trying to cut down on some of his extra stuff. I have many referances and feedbacks on reptibid faunaclassifieds and ebay with only 1 bad feedback on ebay some BS about I didnt package a computer right that I sold a guy which was completely false. I would appreciate you checking all those feedbacks the name is dmasio on all of them. And as far as referances here they are you can check with everyone I (Damian Macioce) am no crook.

1. Jerry Burris- [email protected] his address is 739 Fortune Teller Rd.
Granby MO. 64844
2. Andrew Kosdi- [email protected] his address is 8500 Belcher rd #701
Pinellas Park FL 33781
3. Nathan Shetler- [email protected] his address is 615 North Spring St.
Loudonville Ohio.
4. Nate (I dont know his last name)- [email protected] and I dont know
his address I know its in Kansas somewhere I just bought a snake from him.
5. These 2 guys I cant find their address' but I have their email address'
you cant get it from them directly Matt Walker [email protected], and
another Matt I dont remember his last name [email protected].
6. Joshua Guerrero- 1621 Wekiva Crossing Blvd Apopka Fl. 32703 407-761-7350 [email protected]
7. Andrew Kosdi- 8500 Belcher rd #701 Pinellas Park FL 33781 Phone 727-545-2898 [email protected]

Thats just a few of them but please by all means check them. Thanks Damian

 

[ajc]

Damian,

Had you guys been up front about you selling his snakes for him, rather than posing as him, this all could have been easily avoided.

As for the $220 deposit I sent via Paypal, I still don't know why he refunded it and wanted it sent to a different email address...that just made things sound even more fishy. When that happened, I just figured that he was holding out to get the entire sum.

I'm sorry that it had to come down to me looking at IPs, email addresses, profiles and such in order for the truth about who's really who to come out. Now that I know the whole story, I don't think that either of you are crooks.

-Anthony

 

[ajc]

Damian,

Another thing I didn't get is why your email address has "John Vorhies" as the nick name (the name that appears next to the actual address).

To me, it looked like you were trying awefully hard to make me believe that you were really John.

Again, I'm sorry it all came to this, but all in all, there was a good reason why things didn't seem right to me.

Thanks,
Anthony

 

[Dr Owens]

I (Damian Macioce) am no crook.

Didn't ex-president Nixon say something really close to that? Just kidding you Damian!


Thanks for answering the questions that were posed. It appears that you and John are on the up-and-up. However, you have to admit that Anthony was not out of line for being suspicious...any reasonable person would have been.

Once again, thanks for clearing this issue up.

 

[dmasio]

Yes I think Nixon did say something to that effect LOL! The reason it says John Vorhies is because that is John's email address just because I access it from my house for him doesnt mean I am going to change it. But hey I dont blame Tony in the least, I thought that I should have just told him what the deal was but I didnt. The reason I got on here to clear up my name is because Im a newcomer and would like to try to try my hand at breeding and selling herps, and I have found out from reading these forums that some people are thrown to the wolves for doing people dirty (as they should) it hurts their business (as it should) and I would just like to clear my name. Thanks Damian

 

[ajc]

I just got an email from someone who read this thread and he said that "John Vorhies" had bid on an auction of his on repti-bid and then did not pay.

Anyway, he sent me this name and address, which he got in an email from Repti-Bid after the auction. The weirdest part is that the name doesn't match up.

Joe Smithers
264 East Innis Ave.
Columbus, Ohio 43146

The address I was given is completely different.


Again, I'm not saying that this was an attempted scam, but it looks terribly suspicious for a number of reasons.