Seamus Haley
Big Game Hunter
It'll probably become very evident that I am personally convinced that this is a scam, it's almost identical to what he pulled last time, I'll post my photographic (scanned) evidence and then list a few of my points and... Well, after that I'll leave it open for discussion.
This is a brochure that was given to an individual by Tim, which was given to an individual, which was then passed on to me.
Hopefully those pictures are visible and the text is able to be read.
Now, the scam parts-
1) There is never, at any point, any mention of who the other individuals, the "We" are. Judging by Rainwater's past behavioral petterns, the "We" is Tim himself. He uses the term simply to cover the nature of the operation until he can con a few otherwise credible backers into buying the project and sending him money at which point their names get thrown around so that the blame when the money dissapears is spread around.
2) I have it on good authority that Rainwater has never produced a ball python in his life. The manner in which this mysterious group (see above) portrays him as being hired as a noted expert is a load of road apples. If someone legitimately wanted to undertake a project of this nature, Rainwater wouldn't even be on their list of people to contact when looking for talented help. Rainwater has never really produced ANY animals of his own (Including those geckos), much less done anything that would qualify him as a thirteen year professional snake breeder.
3) "They" want money up front and there's nothing concrete about how or when it will be returned- Just like Rainwater's last scam.
4) The photographs of animals are likely stolen. A few of them look very VERY familiar to me although I can't place them specifically. The backdrops and substrates are all different materials which is often a sign of something fishy when the same species are involved. Add in the fact that "these people" want you to send them money so they can obtain the animals to START breeding projects and it becomes clear that the animals pictured are not the property of the individuals behind the brochure.
5) Ten million dollars is far more than is needed for even the most massive, overwhelming breeding project that has ever existed.
6) The list of morphs that they claim they will be among the first to produce are all established genotypes that were developed by OTHER PEOPLE and most have fairly solidly proven the genetics, even if they remain in the near unattainable high end of the price range at the moment.
7) It's perhaps just a small issue but the brochure is very well printed on a heavy paper with a magazine style gloss to the pages yet at no point on there is there credit for the printing job. This simply struck me as being odd; sort of a denial of culpability if anyone catches on to the stolen photos.
So basically... Watch out for Royal Designs LLC, "they" are, if the evidence is accurate (and it is extremely strong) nothing more than Tim Rainwater's next attempt to defraud the herping community on a scale that most scammers never dreamed of and protecting himself legally by stating in carefully disarming language, that there "may be a risk" (Like Tim running off with your money). Pay careful attention to the exact name of this "company" as many ball breeders utilize "Royal" as part of their name.
I don't have the ability to hunt down information about the phone number of address as they come up as unlisted in the free reverse look-up web-sites. If anyone has the ability to get this information, I'd appreciate it although I suspect very strongly that it's all registered to Rainwater himself (why hide it if there weren't something suspicious, a company generally wants it's number and name closely associated) verification of my suspicions would be nice though and add to the evidence presented.
All in all, just another scam from the industry's biggest loser- the guy who makes Jesse Underhill's fake hets look downright honest; he's selling things that don't even exist!
This is a brochure that was given to an individual by Tim, which was given to an individual, which was then passed on to me.
Hopefully those pictures are visible and the text is able to be read.
Now, the scam parts-
1) There is never, at any point, any mention of who the other individuals, the "We" are. Judging by Rainwater's past behavioral petterns, the "We" is Tim himself. He uses the term simply to cover the nature of the operation until he can con a few otherwise credible backers into buying the project and sending him money at which point their names get thrown around so that the blame when the money dissapears is spread around.
2) I have it on good authority that Rainwater has never produced a ball python in his life. The manner in which this mysterious group (see above) portrays him as being hired as a noted expert is a load of road apples. If someone legitimately wanted to undertake a project of this nature, Rainwater wouldn't even be on their list of people to contact when looking for talented help. Rainwater has never really produced ANY animals of his own (Including those geckos), much less done anything that would qualify him as a thirteen year professional snake breeder.
3) "They" want money up front and there's nothing concrete about how or when it will be returned- Just like Rainwater's last scam.
4) The photographs of animals are likely stolen. A few of them look very VERY familiar to me although I can't place them specifically. The backdrops and substrates are all different materials which is often a sign of something fishy when the same species are involved. Add in the fact that "these people" want you to send them money so they can obtain the animals to START breeding projects and it becomes clear that the animals pictured are not the property of the individuals behind the brochure.
5) Ten million dollars is far more than is needed for even the most massive, overwhelming breeding project that has ever existed.
6) The list of morphs that they claim they will be among the first to produce are all established genotypes that were developed by OTHER PEOPLE and most have fairly solidly proven the genetics, even if they remain in the near unattainable high end of the price range at the moment.
7) It's perhaps just a small issue but the brochure is very well printed on a heavy paper with a magazine style gloss to the pages yet at no point on there is there credit for the printing job. This simply struck me as being odd; sort of a denial of culpability if anyone catches on to the stolen photos.
So basically... Watch out for Royal Designs LLC, "they" are, if the evidence is accurate (and it is extremely strong) nothing more than Tim Rainwater's next attempt to defraud the herping community on a scale that most scammers never dreamed of and protecting himself legally by stating in carefully disarming language, that there "may be a risk" (Like Tim running off with your money). Pay careful attention to the exact name of this "company" as many ball breeders utilize "Royal" as part of their name.
I don't have the ability to hunt down information about the phone number of address as they come up as unlisted in the free reverse look-up web-sites. If anyone has the ability to get this information, I'd appreciate it although I suspect very strongly that it's all registered to Rainwater himself (why hide it if there weren't something suspicious, a company generally wants it's number and name closely associated) verification of my suspicions would be nice though and add to the evidence presented.
All in all, just another scam from the industry's biggest loser- the guy who makes Jesse Underhill's fake hets look downright honest; he's selling things that don't even exist!
