1. Welcome! Please take a few seconds to create your free account to post threads, make some friends, remove a few ads while surfing and much more. ClutchFans has been bringing fans together to talk Houston Sports since 1996. Join us!

anyone got experience with combating internet/international FRAUD?

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by Gummi Clutch, Apr 27, 2006.

Tags:
  1. Gummi Clutch

    Gummi Clutch Member

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2002
    Messages:
    3,171
    Likes Received:
    27
    Its starting to look like my business partner has fallen victim to a scam.
    Not so much a scam, but a business deal has gone very lopsided and is now in a stalemate.
    An international seller wants him to buy items faster than he can ship them out to the USA. Over time this has caused a huge lopsided cash advance on the sellers end, while my partners items are pending on shipment or in the process of shipping. He recently has grown uncomfortable with the huge amount on the sellers side and no longer wishes to buy more until his pending items come in.
    Now the seller is demanding that he continue buying more items to keep the relationship with his suppliers good (meanwhile he is sitting on a HUGE cash deposit :eek: ), but my partner refuses to do so being that they are still owed 2k worth of merchandise that seems to be taking forever to arrive. For 3-4 weeks now every day the seller asks for more money, my partner ask wheres my stuff!? and why dont you just buy with my deposit!? It seems to be going nowhere fast and it looks like my partner will be out his HUGE deposit.

    He asked me to start helping him look into online fraud investigation, sine I am way more web savy than him. He met this person online by selling to him. They did a few deals, trades, and soon he was buying more items than selling. The deals came faster and faster, growing larger and larger, everyone was making money and everyone was happy until he wound up in the current situation.

    Ive exhausted my resources. I dont know what else to do. The more we look into it, the more internet/international fraud appears to be suprisingly prevelant. And I keep hearing, the police and even the FBI will only say "Sorry!". We dont know whether to hire a lawyer, report to the FBI, police, etc. All deals were made through emails and telephone conversations, nothing was signed and no contracts. Why do I care? This is my business partner, and if this thing ends badly for him it could easily wind up affecting myself and my business.

    Does anyone have any idea where he can turn to for legitimate help?

    Thanks!
     
    #1 Gummi Clutch, Apr 27, 2006
  2. SamFisher

    SamFisher Member

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2003
    Messages:
    61,914
    Likes Received:
    41,461
    Hmm, well I happen to have an e-mail relationship with the son (and principal beneficiary) of the estate of the late Congolese strongman Mobutu Sese Seku, so I will pull some strings. I just require bank account information and a small transfer to grease the wheels.

    In seriousness, if the person is outside the US, there's almost nothing you can do that would be worth the trouble, and even if not it's a crapshoot.
     
    #2 SamFisher, Apr 27, 2006
  3. bigtexxx

    bigtexxx Member

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2002
    Messages:
    26,980
    Likes Received:
    2,365
    Gummi Clutch - seriously, I've never seen anybody who needs help on a daily basis such as yourself.

    Tell him to quit sending the guy money (duh) and sack up and take a loss if necessary. Putting good money after bad isn't the best of ideas. Consider it the price of learning the lesson that he hopefully has learned to not get into arrangements such as this.
     
    #3 bigtexxx, Apr 27, 2006
  4. Ottomaton

    Ottomaton Member
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2000
    Messages:
    19,212
    Likes Received:
    15,396
    I regularly get DHL surface international packages that take upwards of 2 months from Europe and sometimes take as long as 3-4 months. I've also heard horror stories of 8 month transits.

    I imagine large scale freight would slower, if anything.

    I also had an airmail package from Australia take 2 months, while essentially the same package from New Zeland took under a week.

    That having been said there are undoubtedly a large number of scammers, particularly in China for some reason, as well as Spain, Poland, and the former Soviet baltic Republics (but oddly enough people seem to be scrupulously honest in some other iffy places like Romania and Bulgaria and the Czech Republic for the most part).

    I know alot of people that simply rule out doing any business in a list of specific countries.

    The question is whether any previous shippments have arrived and if so how long it took.

    It also would help if you could name the country.
     
    #4 Ottomaton, Apr 27, 2006
  5. Gummi Clutch

    Gummi Clutch Member

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2002
    Messages:
    3,171
    Likes Received:
    27
    shipments are large and take 2-3 weeks.
    this last one is taking 5 weeks.
    country is Japan.
    its not good to be spending money 5x faster than stuff can come in IMO.
    still at a stale mate.
     
    #5 Gummi Clutch, Apr 28, 2006
  6. Asian Sensation

    Asian Sensation Member

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 1999
    Messages:
    18,300
    Likes Received:
    7,455

    ^^^^ Consider it an expensive lesson learned. Couldn't have said it better myself.
     
    #6 Asian Sensation, Apr 28, 2006
  7. Gummi Clutch

    Gummi Clutch Member

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2002
    Messages:
    3,171
    Likes Received:
    27
    Another store has contacted my friends store. They asked about the supplier and his reputation. It seems he may have dropped my friends stores name to make a sale. The guy was worried because he was supposed to make a trade of product and the supplier has yet to come through on his end.
    My store owner said that he usually comes through, but is slow.

    It seems like this guy is pulling this on a lot of people. And although he may come through, it seems he is robbing Peter to pay Paul and as more info comes out he is getting caught in his act. He may not be a crook, but he has piss poor money management.

    My shop has finally been given the tracking number for the final owed goods, that is now 5-6 weeks in the works (longest ever) and the tracking number is not working (yet).

    My shop currently has 12k plus into this guy as a deposit and it seems he has no intention of giving this deposit back (unless future deals are made at the suppliers demand).

    Is there really no way at all to get this money back?
     
    #7 Gummi Clutch, May 1, 2006
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)

Share This Page

Style
ClutchFans Dark

  • About ClutchFans

    Since 1996, ClutchFans has been loud and proud covering the Houston Rockets, helping set an industry standard for team fan sites. The forums have been a home for Houston sports fans as well as basketball fanatics around the globe.

  • Rockets Content

  • Support ClutchFans!

    If you find that ClutchFans is a valuable resource for you, please consider becoming a Supporting Member. Supporting Members can upload photos and attachments directly to their posts, customize their user title and more. Gold Supporters see zero ads!


    Upgrade Now