• Responding to email notices you receive.
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    =====================
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    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
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    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Inquiry Steve Li/Hongyi Yang

turtledan77

turtledan77

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Has anybody done business with this gentleman? I received an email from him asking about Diamondback Terrapins, told him I had one I could part with, gave him my Paypal address, and he paid me promptly. The payment came from a non-verified Chinese credit card. When I asked him about it, he replied with:

I am using a Chinese credit card so the billing address is in China. Do not worry. Please arrange a Thursday delivery, I can receive it in th morning that day. Thanks!

- The address he provided me with for shipping is in Ohio.
- The email address he is communicating with is: [email protected]
- He signs his emails as Steve Li
- The paypal address he paid with is: [email protected]
- The paypal name he paid with is: HONGYI YANG

Any wisdom or experience you can share about this situation would be appreciated. In the back of my mind there are some alarm bells and I am tempted to simply refund him and tell him that the deal is off. I'm supposed to ship this Wednesday, May 13th. Thanks in advance!
 
Joel, why? What are the possible outcomes that could harm me if he has already sent money through Paypal? I'm wondering what the scam would be and how it would work?
 
well !! if it's a stolen credit card, your paypall account could take the funds back from you.
you would then be out of the animal and out $$$

it would usually take a few weeks before everything is said and done, by then the animal is long gone and so is the buyer..

same goes with money orders, your bank will give you the $$ but a few weeks later when it's dicovered that's it 's fake, they will take it out of your account or it will be in the negative..

a postal money order cashed in at the postal office is safer, but they have some good fakes out there.. it's hard these days to trust, sooooo many ways to get burn.


if in doubt, follow your gut instincs !! best to be safe.

if you do go with the deal.
have him call you
get his address
verify his address with his name
get his work # and address
get everything you can.. if he's legit, he shouldn't mind
 
His response to my request for a phone number:

I am trying to get a new number this weekend, so recently I can only use email as contact method. Please put some wet moss in the pack to make sure it won't be too dry during shipping, thanks!

Steve

I think I should probably just walk away from this deal at this point. Thanks all.
 
I think walking away is your best option..

if he really wants it, tell him to send you a postal money order that you in turn will cash at the postal office.. they should know right away if it's real or not . but ONLY cash it at the postal office.. if you go to a bank, they will not know it's fake for a week or so...
he can send it express post then once you have cashed in the funds, only then should you send the animal

not having a phone #, using a credit card from another country, not verified, short answer saying don't worry ???? nahhhhhhh i think he's a scam, to many red flags
and as Melinda said, PP id becoming a scam heaven..
 
Run away from that deal as fast as you can. Go to your PayPal account and click the refund button.
Great job investigating.
 
There are several listings of Jian Li in Cleveland, and 2300 Overlook Road is, in fact, an apartment complex. That's all I got :)
 
Besides the fact he lives in Cleve"r"land, his IP goes to Shanghai, China.
 

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Pasodama said:
Hopefully, you will get the address soon.
For now, this is his Fauna info:
Launcelot1214
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Cleverland,ohio
Posts: 1
Name : Jian Li
Click to expand...

FYI: This account has been banned now.
 
Well he's persistent, I'll give him that. His latest email:

Dan,

I just saw your thread in BOI, so I have told you I can show you the proof that that is my wife's credit card and if you wanna know who has done business with me before,I can give you some name you can turn to ask. I have bought some turtle from these guys before.

Barry from Spectrum Reptiles (I bought a pair of hybrid three toe box turtle)

Dave whose email address is [email protected] (I bought some diamondbacks from him before).

Ken Foose from Exotic Pets LLC (I bought some eastern box from him)

Andrew Hermes from Arizona Tortoise Compound (I bought some three toes from him)

If you have more question, let me know, I am pretty sure they will all tell you I am a trusted customer.

I can understand what you are worrying about and all other people showing their high enthusiasm on finding out a credit card thief, but I do think if you have any doubt, you should contact me first, getting more evidence instead of asking those who knows nothing at all.

Anyway, I am still waiting for your reply, and I am here showing all of my sincerity to make this deal.

Either you wanna find out by yourself by asking these sellers ,or you will accept my previous suggestion by showing passport and credit card information, just let me know because that is unfair for me in the whole case.

Looking forward to your reply, lets finish this drama to an happy ending.

Steve

Are any of these sellers that he mentioned on fauna and able to corroborate his story?
 
turtledan77 said:
Either you wanna find out by yourself by asking these sellers ,or you will accept my previous suggestion by showing passport
Click to expand...

The account in question was banned for failure to provide valid ID. One form of accepted ID is passport. The banned member visited Fauna multiple times during the request period, yet did not produce any valid ID.
 
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