I think i've been scammed-craigslist mandolin

[P.D. Kirby]

Sad part or rather the saddest part of these kind of scams are the Mandolin, Banjo or whatever product never existed. Could be pictures of a friends Mandolin or just Pictures he downloaded from somewhere on the Internet. This happens on e-bay more than the e-bay folks will admit and when the sum is under $1000.00 the authorities just don't seem to care. If it were me and I was within a few hours drive this low life would be getting a visit from me and 4 or 5 of my biggest, hairiest Harley riding buddies. I don't condone violence but since the LEOs never do anything about this level of fraud it may well be time for the good citizens of the country to assist the authorities in enforcing the Law. A TASER would be a nice touch! (eg. Don't TASE me Bro)

[Vernon Hughes]

Yea, all the pre-advice i've gotten from talking to people in the know about these things seem to think the amount isn't worth any recovery effort..I just have to think what's the difference in stealing my money through the mail as opposed to walking up behind me on the street and telling me to give them my wallet? You hear about police trying to find these type street criminals on TV and radio daily,esp. in the bigger cities..Stealing is stealing,I don't care if it's five dollars or five thousand. The dollar amount shouldn't be a factor.

[Charlieshafer]

Many thanks to the respected members here for thier advice..I wouldn't want anyone else involved in my misfortune,just trying to prevent someone else from being taken..But if anyone makes him an offer and hears back,i'd like to know about it to channel that info to the proper authorities.Feel free to post here or PM..I have nothing to hide.

Well, as I said in an earlier post, I emailed him with exactly that intent and haven't heard back yet.

[Mandobar]

Taking payment through the us mail and not sending the goods is a federal offense. The postal inspectors who investigate these things carry guns and handcuffs. How do I know this? I had an employee back when beanie babies were the rage who took payments for beanie babies through the mail and did not deliver. Two armed US Postal Inspectors took her out in cuffs one night (we worked nights). Last time I saw her was on the front page of the local newspaper at her arraignment. Don't mess with stuff going through the mail.

[Denny Gies]

This story is a real shame. Didn't the 11 addresses in one year give you some pause?

[DerTiefster]

Denny, it was only after the fraud was completed that vhughes2000 did the search that revealed 11 addresses to him. I don't even know what a 2.00 search is ($2 search?, version 2.00 search?). But he didn't learn until after he didn't get his mandolin.

It would appear that making a Federal case out of it is The Right Thing To Do for all of the above reasons. You don't want others to be defrauded, and bringing the authorities into it is the best deterrent I see among the options. You would like to have the mandolin for which you paid, if it exists, and that is most likely to happen with law enforcement involvement. CL provide a set of links to guide you in filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. They don't mention the post office directly, but that might be another place to start with asking about law enforcement involvement with postal fraud. I try to remember (don't always) to put the item description in the memo field of the money order. A CL item number and descriptive word or two ("Mandolin") may help in clinching the purpose of the payment and lack of reasonable response on the part of the purported seller. If he has the item, he may be able to dodge the legal arrow by sending it to you, even if late. Hopefully it won't be a piece of trash as a diversion, to enable a claim of error in description as an attempt to evade fraud charges without actually delivering. Best of luck.

I paid a lesser amount for a similarly non-delivered mandolin a couple of years ago through CL, also using a USPS money order so that Federal fraud enforcement would be at least an option. The circumstances led me to forgive the fraud (which it actually was) and not prosecute through the authorities, but I still felt abused.

[mandolirius]

Yea, all the pre-advice i've gotten from talking to people in the know about these things seem to think the amount isn't worth any recovery effort..I just have to think what's the difference in stealing my money through the mail as opposed to walking up behind me on the street and telling me to give them my wallet? You hear about police trying to find these type street criminals on TV and radio daily,esp. in the bigger cities..Stealing is stealing,I don't care if it's five dollars or five thousand. The dollar amount shouldn't be a factor.

Not to be unkind but it's a matter of time and resources in law enforcement and has always been so. Policing is more about the pragmatic than pure principle. Sure, stealing is stealing but there's too much crime going on to prosecute all of it, so some things are not followed up on very rigorously. It's unlikely the police would be able to put much effort into a stolen wallet either. I think following up through the postal service is probably your best bet. They may be able to get their teeth into it a bit more than the police would.

[MikeEdgerton]

Here's what I see as the problem here. Everyone assumes that law enforcement won't do anything about this and in some cases that might be right but honestly, it might be wrong. I got the post office to go after someone that scammed me out of $30.00 by mail three years ago. The bigger picture is sometimes worth a look. That person had scammed a hundred people. I became part of the bigger picture and by the way, got my thirty stinking dollars back a few months later when the person involved attempted to buy their way out of jail time. Don't assume this is this guys first rodeo and if they already want him for something else, they'll go after him. Go to the Post Office, go to your local police and by all means call the local police in his area.

[Vernon Hughes]

I went to my local PO first,got the copy of his signature acceptance after he said he hadn't received it (overnight express mail)..Confronted him by email with the signature copy,his tune changed and he went on the next day with the sob story.I went ahead and filed a MO inquiry,which I'm waiting to get back and see when/where it was cashed (maybe I can get the bank involved)..took all my MO and express mail receipts (which have.. for gibson mandolin.. noted on them) printed of all email correspondence, copy of the CL ad,signature acceptance copy,a simple background check showing known addresses and alias' (3 of them),to the police..and filed a complaint w/ the postal inspectors office..Police didn't think there would be much made of it but he'll present it to the commonwealth's attorney monday morning..Thats about all I can do,but it would be nice to know he's done this in the past and can be hung w/ multiple scams ..I even zillowed his house address for a hoot (a 533,000.00 value) so he's obviously not some slumbag though he tends to move around a lot,i'm assuming he rents for ease of moving when need be.I'm going back to the PO monday morning and crawl on somebody to get some action..I also have a very good friend giving me some guidance who is the 20 year head of criminal investigations for the DMV and he's familiar with CL scams. He may be able to get me through the system a little faster..Bout all I can do,legally! Short of driving 7 1/2 hours and knockin' on his door.

[JeffD]

Oh for goodness sake don't knock on his door. Thats what we have police for.

[f5loar]

I think I've seen those same photos before, either on CL or Ebay. My guess is he does not have the mandolin and is a pro at scams.
It does not look good you will get your money back no matter how you pursue it. If he ain't got it , he ain't got it. If you send him to jail after they find out he scammed others too you still won't get it back. I'm like others for CL. If you can't go the item in person you are really gambling. On ebay you do have some recoarse with CC and PayPal.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

Here's what I see as the problem here. Everyone assumes that law enforcement won't do anything about this and in some cases that might be right but honestly, it might be wrong.

I am with Martin on this one. We don't know what priorities local police departments have, and the best we can do it pursue this matter through the proper channels. Who knows, perhaps the local PD has their eyes on this guy for a while, and is close to napping him. Sounds like a long shot, but I still think it's the right and proper thing to do.

Recently ABC ran a news report on the PD in Portland going after people selling stolen goods through Craigslist. They have a team of half a dozen people just going through CL all days, making contacts with the crooks and catching them in the act. One case involves a old, beat up trailer that was more than 30 years old, and I can't imagine that thing worth more than 50 bucks. But the PD treated it like any stolen goods in the community and ended up catching the guy who stole it:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/por...ry?id=14817160

I really hope this works out in Vernon's favor. No point in writing it off yet until we know for sure.

[Vernon Hughes]

Just an update..Got a call today from our local police chief,a friend who is as mad about this as I am..He talked to the commonweaths attorney and he directed him to take the matter to the magistrate and swear out a warrant for his arrest, which is being forwarded to the new haven police..Maybe a visit from his local police or the warrant attached to his door will prompt him to take some kind of action..We'll see..

[Ed Goist]

vhughes2000; If you can get the person's social security number be sure to take advantage of all the civil remedies at your disposal.
* Contact a collections agency to peruse the debt for you. Be sure to instruct them to peruse collection as aggressively as possible, and offer to pay them a fee larger than normal if they successfully collect on the debt. Tell them to be sure to aggressively report this debt to all credit rating agencies.
* File a claim in small claims court in the county where the seller lives.

[Tom C]

I would email him, tell him you know what he's are up to, you know where he lives and you felt forced to get some business associates involved. If he is ever walking down the street and sees a black Lincoln slowly trailing him or a knock on the door in the middle of the night, he better have the mandolin. He'll be looking over his shoulder for a long time.

[Vernon Hughes]

I emailed him days ago with my intentions,no response.I'll let mine and his local LE take care of it first,plus I already notified and registered a complaint w/ the postal inspectors office for mail fraud..Debt collection agency is still on the table if nothing else works.

[Charlieshafer]

I sent several emails, offers to visit him and view the mandolin in person (like he really has one...), and none answered.

[Bill Snyder]

When did he receive the money order?

[Vernon Hughes]

Just another update..The warrant was issued either late yesterday or early today and I got this email today..Keep in mind he had an accident last week as well..
"Hello, my name is Rob. I am a friend of Myke's. Myke was in a car accident and as a result has gone into the hospital for surgery. He asked me to follow up with you regarding a mandolin. I have the package. He had packaged and addressed it before he went to the hospital. I will mail this package to the VA address that is on the package. I am sending this from Mykes account and any correspondence will go to this address. I am using his computer only for now and cannot check future emails. I do not have a computer of my own and do not have email. I hope Myke will be at home soon and will contact you then. I do not know how he was sending this package to you so i hope regular mail will be OK."
I responded I'll believe it when I see it and send me the tracking number and a contact phone number-so far..nothing

[250sc]

At least there is a warrent out for him. If he get's pulled over for a traffic violation it should get flagged.

[Barry Wilson]

maybe it was something simple, like he needed time to plan the heist that included your mandolin

[mrmando]

"Hello, my name is Rob. I am a friend of Myke's. Myke was in a car accident and as a result has gone into the hospital for surgery."

Attention, scammers: If you're going to pretend to be someone else and use a fake name, Rob is probably the last name you should use. What is Rob's surname--Steele?

See if you can find out what hospital Myke is in so you can send him some ... flowers.

[Vernon Hughes]

Yea,that struck me as funny too..I did think about calling the local hospitals in his area..Must be one close, heck he only lived 1 minute away from the post office according to google maps.

[mandolirius]

Yea,that struck me as funny too..I did think about calling the local hospitals in his area..Must be one close, heck he only lived 1 minute away from the post office according to google maps.

As a reporter I spent more hours than I care to think about covering the courts. One thing you soon learn is that many criminals seem remarkably dumb. What they really are is extremely short-sighted. They just can't see the consequences because something in their brains prevents that. This seems like one of those cases.

My advice is to do exactly what you thought of doing - call the local hospitals. Of course he won't be there and you'll get an email saying he was in another town or some such thing when the "accident" happened. But with each lie exposed the light shines a little brighter. Eventually it may dawn on him that he's not getting away with it and will offer restitution, likely a portion of your money since there's probably no instrument.

[Earl Gamage]

Forget it, there is nothing you can do about it. And ignore anyone that implies it's partially your fault, you were robbed.

Earl