sal;162146
I, for one, will never be posting on this site again.

On the payback front, I've filed a formal complaint with Paypal and Bank of America. BoA has credited me my damages (about $290) as they begin their investigation. I'm in the process of contacting the Better Business Bureau.

In addition, I have sent a Payment Request to our mutual “friend” as well as an email reminding him that claims and legal action are currently in motion, in an effort to at least try to make things easier. I doubt we'll see any action there, but I'd recommend doing something at the very least.

Has anyone taken similar action that either reflects or adds to our attempt at a refund? I'd like to hear from others in this boat, or anyone who may have been wronged like this, so we can do everything possible. I've also contacted my lawyer and an international crimes specialist to guide me through this difficult process.

Having dealt with PayPal scammers before, I have a feeling you'll be getting your money back. If the guy never responds on PayPal, you'll get your money back, and if he does respond he's not going to be able to prove that he sent the item, so you'll win your dispute most likely.

Everyone should definitely open a claim in PayPal and escalate it to a dispute ASAP, explaining that, as a group, you all feel you've bought the same pack, and that the guy lied and took money from a lot of people.

You shouldn't have opened a Payment Request though, as that is now a separate transaction, and he will be able to file a dispute against you if he pays you, saying that you didn't send the pack back (even though he never sent it). At least I'm pretty sure that's how that could end up going. You should leave everything in just the one transaction, and allow PayPal to judge the dispute.

Again, everyone ESCALATE YOUR DISPUTES TO CLAIMS ASAP. It will show PayPal that it is a serious problem.

That said, saying “I, for one, will never be posting on this site again.” is an over-reaction. The mods do the best job they can to eliminate scammers, but even still, its the buyers responsibility to do some research for themselves and make sure you're not being scammed. If you want to say “I, for one, will never be buying anything on this site again.” that's fine, but completely removing yourself from the community because you got scammed one time is an over-reaction.

Thanks for the Paypal advice. I canceled the money request and kept it all in the claim dispute. I certainly hope your experience will mirror my own.

In regards to my decision about this board (when the matter has been formally settled), you're certainly entitled to your opinion, and I thank you for it.

Edit: Oh by the way, got this PM today from our friend:

This is not true at all, someone is filling you with crap, most ghostbusters boards and forums like to cause problems because people dont like other people getting packs and traps. This is very untrue and i have investigated who this person/persons are that are doing this, you have my upmost faith that i am sending you the items as described. Take no notice. Some people like to cause trouble!!

V

Since his profile was completely altered, his picture was taken down, country of origin changed, and he is no longer allowed to accept PM's, I'll just say this here:

In light of the fact that it took several days to reply to my inquiry PMs, and emails, and there has been no confirmation nubmers, shipping information, and numerous people who were given assurances that they were the sole purchasor, it's probably best if he simply refund the money or comply with Paypal's claim department, and end this situation.

Anyone else hear from him before he was blocked?

I there, I´m another victim here, and I received the VERY SAME message from him, Sal, I can´t believe the lazyness of this idiot sending the very same mail to both…

I got some info that will help to catch him, like entire name (Matther James Else), bank account and county on England (Derbyshire).

When I realized about this fraud, I did claim dispute on paypal… I hope Doctor Venkman said about getting our money back would fit on us… I want my money back… and this guy on jail (if possible)…

I´d been in contact with Elton, the other guy, he´s from Scotland and he called the police, he will have an interview soon… he got venkman1975´s phone number and home address… maybe we can join forces and solve this problem.

Ghostbusters213;162155
I there, I´m another victim here, and I received the VERY SAME message from him, Sal, I can´t believe the lazyness of this idiot sending the very same mail to both…

I got some info that will help to catch him, like entire name (Matther James Else), bank account and county on England (Derbyshire).

When I realized about this fraud, I did claim dispute on paypal… I hope Doctor Venkman said about getting our money back would fit on us… I want my money back… and this guy on jail (if possible)…

I´d been in contact with Elton, the other guy, he´s from Scotland and he called the police, he will have an interview soon… he got venkman1975´s phone number and home address… maybe we can join forces and solve this problem.

Well done! Keep me in the loop.

Some information that may or may not be here:

This individual runs Starscream Entertainment, which was one of the email addresses that Ghostbuster123 sent money to, dj_starscream@hotmail.co.uk, listing is here:

http://local.aol.co.uk/clay-cross/business/Starscream-Entertainment/6767110

Several other listings also:

http://www.freeindex.co.uk/profile(dj-starscream-entertainment)_243198.htm

They have phone details, the second has both a land line AND a mobile number, in addition to his address. Since I doubt his DJ operation has its own premises, this also probably includes his home address.

Other sites this person has listedn this on:

http://www.epier.com/listing.asp?8023
http://buy.vivastreet.co.uk/handmade+clay-cross-s45/ghostbusters-proton-pack-replica/24220918
http://www.preloved.co.uk/fuseaction-adverts.showadvert/index-1032549547/4df84a08.html
http://www.121bid.com/Ghostbusters-Proton-Pack-Replica,name,321481,auction_id,auction_details

I found 8 in total, which means people are likely still being scammed.

Another item from the same pesron:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:dpWr2Gjo-VIJ:buy.vivastreet.co.uk/computers%2Bclay-cross-s45/samsung-nc10-laptop-netbook/24808680+heavenlydesign09&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

Both of the email addresses on hotmail, melse1975 and dj_starscream have been cancelled.

Doing searches in Google on the phone numbers, username melse1975, venkman1975, “Starscream Entertainment” links to the above and more. Since he seems to be actually using his real details to receive payments, I don't think he's particularly clever on this.

He has other items on sale, a computer on gumtree for example, that may or may not also be fraudulent. I've notified my police branch of all the details (his name, address, phone numbers, bank details), and am awaiting a call back to discuss further.

Some of the listings seem to have been pulled.

Shame, as I have them saved to disk now if the police want them, containing usernames, phone numbers, prices, dates and location details, all of which match the price asked for here, the date originally posted, the real name of the person, and the place where he lives.

Good job boys! Stay on top of this jerk!

“People don't want other people receiving packs and traps.” What the hell? Is he just stupid? LOL. Who's going to believe that? Yea, we're all just jealous that other people might get a proton pack (despite the fact that you're selling them to dozens of people) so we're going to be jealous and report you…. What an idiot.

It's also worth mentioning that the genius listed all the items on other sites with the same description, which means that searching for a keyphrase such as a sentence from the description will bring up a list of some/all of his other frauds.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22It+is+made+of+durable+fibreglass%2FSintra+just+as+the+ones+in+the+movie+were+made%22&meta=

Any that have been pulled, in addition to being on my hard disk, can be accessed in Google's cache, just click “cache” next to each result.

Refunding people's money would be a good idea right about now.

elton;162163
It's also worth mentioning that the genius listed all the items on other sites with the same description, which means that searching for a keyphrase such as a sentence from the description will bring up a list of some/all of his other frauds.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22It+is+made+of+durable+fibreglass%2FSintra+just+as+the+ones+in+the+movie+were+made%22&meta=

Any that have been pulled, in addition to being on my hard disk, can be accessed in Google's cache, just click “cache” next to each result.

Refunding people's money would be a good idea right about now.

I bow to you, sir. This is simply incredible detective work. Should we contact our respective law enforcement groups, or do you think one is enough?

sal;162164
I bow to you, sir. This is simply incredible detective work. Should we contact our respective law enforcement groups, or do you think one is enough?

Uncertain, I'm being contacted by the fraud squad tomorrow before 2pm UK time. Since we have his name, address, phone numbers, private messages verifying the transaction, emails from him… all of which can be verified by matching with the PayPal receipt addressed to dj_starscream@hotmail.co.uk, and the phone number on one of the listings with his Starscream Entertainment mobile number… we'll see what happens.

I'm also investigating the possibility of a court case, since I live in Scotland, and he is in England. I'm soliciting advice from a lawyer friend of mine just now.

The only advice I can offer is the blindingly obvious: Keep all of your messages and receipts with timestamps and so on, and get a proton pack elsewhere.