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Potential scammer - advice needed. To expose, or to not expose.


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Hi!

 

Hope you're ready for a bit of a story.

 

Over the weekend, I purchased a WE GBBR HK416 which was advertised on Weapon crates. The advertisement had been done before but a new one had been made at an even lower price. Long story short, the deal was initiated via weapon crates and completed via facebook. Upon completion, communication ceased and postage via Parcelforce Express48 (to be collected from him) was not arranged as we spoke about. Thinking it were strange, I contacted the seller from an alternative account and got a friend to also contact him as a test, about 8 hours later. We both asked if the WE HK416 was still for sale on Weapon crates, to which the seller said yes (whilst still ignoring me on my actual account). The conversations went on for a bit, and the seller gave two different locations which is instantly alarming and then insisted on delivery  (to my alternative account). To my friend, he became quite hostile after a few minutes of not responding, proceeding to call him a cunt and whatnot.

 

Whilst he was responding to both my alt account and my friend, I messaging him off my main asking why he was ignoring me. Alas, he returns. I ask what was happening with the postage, to which he admits it was not arranged and that it'd be posted the following day at 6/7pm. I waited. During this day, he posted on UKAC about where to sell an airsoft gun. I assume he is trying to shift the HK416 to more people. Someone seemed interested in the comments but I immediately contacted them to let them know that it may be a scam. We conversed and I gave him some of the details of the situation to which he then thanked me and whatnot for helping him to avoid a repeat.

 

I contacted him once again from my alt asking if the HK416 had already been sold (which it had, to me). He said no. I then confronted him on my alt account saying that I know it had been sold, to which he then claims to have two of the same package (WE 416 and 2 mags). Highly doubtful. 

 

The day went on and he then contacted me via the email I provided on weaponcrates asking if I wanted to buy the 416. To note, he didn't know that the weapon crates account I contacted him from or that the email i provided was me. He left his Facebook link in the advertisement which is how I was contacting him, hope that makes sense. So it was apparent that he was still trying to sell it. I responded saying that he had already sold it to me and that I was expecting a tracking number at 6/7pm.

 

7pm came around and there was no tracking number, as expected! Instead I was ignored until the next morning when I demanded a refund. In broken English, he announced that he didn't really care. I proceeded to say that if this wasn't carried out then I'd expose him on various forums and Facebook pages to hopefully make sure no one else falls for this. He then stated that his reason for not posting was work, which is understandable. I then demanded a picture of both WE HK416s with his name and the date. He asked me to wait until 8pm when he MIGHT take this picture and said that the 416 would be posted on Friday. 

 

This is where I need advice. On the one hand, I could wait and see if he provides the picture, which I HIGHLY doubt.

On the other hand, and assuming it is a scam, he could scam more people from now until 8pm, or until Friday.

 

Do I just expose him now? From the nature of this and knowing that he is still trying to sell a WE 416, I'd like to prevent more people from falling for it. Then again, what if he does miraculously pull another 416 out of his ass and the reason for not posting or providing this picture was due to a very busy work lifestyle? However, waiting until 8pm for a maybe seems odd, especially when it takes about 2 minutes to set up and take the requested picture.

 

*To note, I practically fell into this scam, if it truly is one. Due to the guy's broken English and me having good faith, I decided to not press him about making a PayPal and decided to do a bank transfer. I had a good experience with bank transfer last week, and so decided to give it a (now regrettable) shot. Last time my good faith dictates that anyway.

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Personally mate I'd screenshot your chats with this guy and post them on Facebook airsoft page(s) to warn people if you truly believe its a scam.

 

You can then wait to see if he replies to your post to defend himself or of he contacts you directly. If your wrong about him and receive your item simply post a retraction post apologising to him and make others aware.

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Yeah, expose him if I were you.

His name's not Steven Glennie by any chance?

 

There's too many people starting to do this now, so they need to be exposed to stop them thinking they can get away with this stuff.

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1 hour ago, L3wisD said:

Yeah, expose him if I were you.

His name's not Steven Glennie by any chance?

 

There's too many people starting to do this now, so they need to be exposed to stop them thinking they can get away with this stuff.

 

I've submitted a post to UK airsoft community Facebook page. Hopefully it gets posted and not rejected by an admin. It isn't Steven Glennie by the way, it's a guy called Michał Lech or Majkel45 on Weapon crates. 

 

To add:

I messages him from the alternate account again asking if he'd be able to post the gun today if I paid now and he said yes, he'd post at 1pm. Did his work life suddenly disappear?  On my main account, he said he wouldn't be able to post today due to work until 8pm and will only be able to post on Friday!

 

Where else should I post it to aside from UKAC?

I will do it here too

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Go onto the PEW PEW PEW community Facebook page to it'll be instantly posted there.

 

Airsoft is an easy opportunity for a scammer because they take our values of honesty and use it against use to line their own pockets. It ruins it for people because they then don't trust.

 

Good luck with it mate and keep us updated

 

 

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3 hours ago, Qlimax said:

Go onto the PEW PEW PEW community Facebook page to it'll be instantly posted there.

 

Airsoft is an easy opportunity for a scammer because they take our values of honesty and use it against use to line their own pockets. It ruins it for people because they then don't trust.

 

Good luck with it mate and keep us updated

 

 

Thank you :)

After a positive response from UKAC, I was contacted by an admin from Weapon Crates and asked to let them know what has happened. 

I also contacted the police who then referred me to a fraud team. They now have any details that I could provide regarding Michał, including his bank details. Hoping to hear from them soon.

 

Still awaiting a response from my bank but I assume they won't be able to do anything.

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Just an update, many people have been messaging him as a test and it appears he's still trying to sell the same item! It has also come to my attention that many have been scammed by him in the past. Either way, I now have a vast collection of screenshots of various conversations with him from different people, in which he has either scammed them or is trying to. 

 

Edit: An absolute saint send me a photo of the scammer's photo ID. I have no idea how he got it, but I'm not complaining.

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hope you get this resolved buddy, unfortunately Airsoft in general relies on people be honest which means we are trustworthy people and sometimes this bites us

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On Mon Feb 13 2017 at 2:38 PM, asbo1991 said:

hope you get this resolved buddy, unfortunately Airsoft in general relies on people be honest which means we are trustworthy people and sometimes this bites us

Thank you! Unfortunately, I doubt the appropriate authorises will actually do much though. Just a shame that there are a few dishonest people around!

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Universal trend with these stories.  Right at the end, OP: "I didn't use paypal goods/services"

 

Not having a go at the OP here, but I've read that same thing a hundred times.  I only use the unsecured option on PP for family members, bank transfers same again or when I've already got the product/service solicited and therefore cannot physically be scammed.

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  • 3 weeks later...

BigBlackGlock, I was recently scammed by the same guy (on completely different thing than guns). I'm gathering all usefull information to pass them to my local police department.

 

I've tried to contact you through your YT channel, but I'm not sure when and whether at all you would read my message there. Please contact me, this is very urgent.

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  • 3 months later...

Just to update as advised by Jedi_Master, the Police/Action Fraud haven't done anything. He's continued to scam and people have contacted me asking about any additional details so that they can report him but again, nothing has been done.

 

Just to clarify, his name is Michał Lech on Facebook and seems to use Majkel45 on Weapon Crates.

 

Please be cautious as it seems that fraud in the second hand sales of the airsoft world seems common but nothing is done. To be fair, it is partially my fault for trusting him with bank transfer.

Remember, only pay via PayPal Goods & Services or face to face if possible. 

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No surprise Police are interested (worked for Police for 13 years) so saw this all the time.  Even drugs scamming.  I've known people caught with entire cannabis farm in their loft to be let off with a warning lol

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6 hours ago, ak2m4 said:

No surprise Police are interested (worked for Police for 13 years) so saw this all the time.  Even drugs scamming.  I've known people caught with entire cannabis farm in their loft to be let off with a warning lol

Well I traced the bank account to West Bromwich if I remember correctly but he was Polish (he was quite difficult to converse with). However, after suspecting he wasn't completely legit after the transaction, I tried to see if he'd still try to sell the gun to 'someone else' (me on another account and also a friend) and he did try to sell to both of us (and eventually a bunch of other people). Each account/person asked about a collection address but he gave different addresses around the Manchester area. Never gave the same address to two people and eventually became hostile to each one, probably to stop them from being interested in collection.

I didn't expect much to happen but the fact that he's been reported a few times sort of gave a little faith that it'd be looked into. Can't remember the exact email I got from Action Fraud about 2 months after but it was something along the lines of them telling me they won't be investigating it any further but they'll keep note of the case.

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