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Luis Martinez...bad guy and thief.

People who live in glass houses don't need to be throwing stones.....*ahemNeilcough*.....are some of you dyslexic or what? The BOI is a place to voice your experiences with dealers, but not a place to be bashed for voicing those experiences. Put yourselves in Jason's shoes.....if you were ripped off and then tried to warn others and consequently got verbally reamed for it, how would you react? Some of you drama queens need to find something better to do w/ your time other than prey on victims of theft who only seek resolution and wish to prevent others from experiencing what they did.
 
Re: hey boys and girls, the fact of the

KNOBTAIL said:
you just dont wire transfer monies to a total stranger.
Click to expand...

That is just about the most asinine statement I have heard. Not to mention the focus has shifted from the thief to the victim. Why must the know-it-all's kick someone while they're down? What's next, blaming all the people that died in the twin towers on 9/11 for going to work that day?
 
Well apparently, my statement about

wire transfers to strangers struck a chord. Lets look at the bottom line. The money has been stolen!

Now so as not to cause any confusion here, I am not Jasons enemy, but this business requires a little more diligence than just making inquiries about an individual whenever monies are involved, and blind trust is involved.

Jason, as honorable person as he may be, (and I empathize with his situation) should have only conducted business either via credit card or some other secure form of recouping his monieshad the deal soured. Nothing is 100% secure, but at least he would have provided a bit more than the minimum protection for his collateral that he afforded himself.

This has nothing to do with attacking anyone who has lost money. Nor is this as assinine as you may think. On the contrary, this is an escaling problem, that occurs time and time again based on carelessness. It could have been allot worse!

So please, dont provide me with ridiculous reasoning as to the merits of your posts. The fact is these people who stole Jasons money found an easy mark, willing to trust, and followed through with payment. They are attracted to this business in droves and will take whatever steps are necessary to accomplish their unsavory methods of taking your hard earned money, the easy way. Someone has to say something, and as much as I dislike being an "being an after the fact" grunt, Jason should consider himself lucky that it was not more. Enough said !!
 
Re: Well apparently, my statement about

KNOBTAIL said:
wire transfers to strangers struck a chord. Lets look at the bottom line. The money has been stolen!

as much as I dislike being an "being an after the fact" grunt, Jason should consider himself lucky that it was not more. Enough said !!
Click to expand...

For someone who says he doesn't like "being an after the fact" grunt, you seem to do it fairly often. Perhaps you should rethink your likes and dislikes knobby.
 
Karen Hulvey said:
[
Bashing someone because he got screwed is rude.

Karen
Click to expand...

There are some here that are just plain rude as you have seen in this very thread. Fortunately not all fauna members are as reprehensible as others. MOST people here are more than willing to help out in positive ways, especially with those who are new to the hobby. Some you just have to put on ignore, literally or figuratively.
 
just as an added note,

what disturbed me about this post, and as much as some of the other posters may , with their good intentions, must realize that there are other points of views. Yes it may appear a bit cold and distasteful in pointing out "what one should have done" but here we have a situation where we have no email correspondance, no proof of an offer for sale to Jason, and only a wire transfer in the amount exceeding $ 1,000. We do not know whom this person is, the phone # could belong to the wrong person, and for all intents and purposes if they ever catch up with thief, he could very easily say "Jason owed me the money and wired it"

As hypothetical as this may seem. Jason cannot corroborate anything other than the fact that he sent someone money by wire transfer. The first question that will come to ones own mind is WHY! When you stop and think about it, this thief could have done this 10x over. Not bad for a days work!

So please, lets look at this as a preventive post. As much as you may dislike the lack of commiserating on my part, I am entitled to voice my opinion as much as anyone else here. It is not rude, nor does it involve a lack of having a heart. As indicated in my earlier post, this is a bitter pill to swallow for Jason, and hopefully he will not make the same mistake twice.

What really has to addressed is the continuous absorbtion of these losers and thiefs into the herp business. This is a wide open field with easy access to advertising, well planned and executed methods of taking hard earned monies from honest people who may not have the business savy but are basically good people.

Before you begin attacking me because I may take a different slant on this issue, some friendly advise is warranted here: you better know what you are doing before you loose your money, not after it! KNOBBY
 
Re: just as an added note,

KNOBTAIL said:

Before you begin attacking me because I may take a different slant on this issue, some friendly advise is warranted here: you better know what you are doing before you loose your money, not after it! KNOBBY
Click to expand...

Well said knobby, even the stuff I didn't include in your quote above. Different slants for different folks, however, oh never mind, we've been there before. Suffice it to say that while we seldom agree on the means we do usually agree on the ends.
 
DavidBeard said:
Man, I think some of you guys just like hearing yourself talk (type). :eek:
Click to expand...

And I have NO doubt that some of us, david, should practice thinking a lot more before we go doing it in public.
 
Well, as I stated in my opening post, this post was not about getting my money back. As a matter of fact, I do have all the email's back and forth between me and the "seller". I also have saved IM conversations, and I also have saved voice mails from this person. I did not post any of this, as none of it was the point.

I posted this SIMPLY so that others would know of this person. When they do a search, it will not come up empty. $1000 is an insignificant amount of money, that is not the point. I just wanted to make others aware of a thief.

I am not interested in getting into a debate about what should have happened, should have been done, or anything else. I just wanted to put up something so the next person would have at least some type of warning......shame on me for wanting to help future buyers.

I have bought hundreds of animals....every once in a while a scammer will get thru. I am not crying about it, just trying to help someone else avoid the same situation.

Have fun with the thread, I am finished with it.
 
Very well said Jason,

hopefully this thread will help someone else. But $ 1000 is not insignificant, and I am sure having second thoughts you would prefer to have it in your pocket this his!

Thank you Wilomn, I am glad we are getting the right conclusions even though our methods maybe a bit different. Regards, JERRY
 
Insignifcant? Hardly, maybe you have money just lying around but it's still a crime and it should be dealt with accordingly. If you don't want your money back I'm sure you could talk the county into taking it.

I don't care if it's 200.00 a thief is a thief and they all deserve to pay for their crimes.

Take care,

Chris Marston
 
By insignificant, I mean it will not put me in the poor house, stop me from paying my mortgage or prevent me from feeding my children. Yes, even if we are talking about $1.00, I would rather it be in my pocket rather than a thief. Legal action IS being pursued, don't worry about that. He will be dealt with....that was just not the point of this thread.

Most people come to the BOI in order to have a situation resolved, that is not why I posted. In the future, I probably will not post a negative thread about anyone, regardless of what the issue was. It is just not worth having to defend myself (why am I the one that has to defend myself?) when I am the one that was wronged.

I want to thank those that have said nice things to and about me, and thank all of you that have emailed me privately about this situation. It is much appreciated.
 
Jason, Do not let a few peoples negative comments deter you from posting both good and bad experiences. Some people have little else to do with their time than criticize others.
I consider your contributions valuable.
 
I hope I didn't offend you, it was unintentional. You did the right thing in coming here (while it doesn't feel right i'm sure).

Good luck in your endeavors.
Chris Marston
 
I'm glad Jason posted this...

...he just saved me $1540. For me that IS significant. I am a small time ball python hobbyist and was about to buy an adult pair of 100% Het. Albinos from a guy claiming his name is/was Cesar Gomez.

All of the details of the transaction were going smoothly until he emailed me back saying he wanted the check made out to Luis Martinez who he said was his father.

He told me he does not have a bank account and that was the reason. I emailed him back telling him I did not feel comfortable making a check out to another person - that I would prefer if only our names were included in/on any paperwork (meaning checks, money orders, and so on) involved. Basically, I wanted his name on it because so far he was the person I believed I was talking to. Otherwise, it could end up like someone else said: He (Luis Martinez) could just state I owed him the money.

Luckily, Jason posted this guy's name and someone else posted his address (which was exactly the same as the place I was to send the money: 500 West 170th St. Apt# 4d NY, NY 10032)
When I did a search of Cesar Gomez nothing came up.

It will now though.

Thank you very much Jason. Your intentions were dead on and helped this board serve one of it's main purposes.

Brandon Sander
 
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