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In lugnet.general, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
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In lugnet.general, Jay Sim wrote:
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Basically I found a MISB 7725 on ebay and msged the seller if he would make
me a deal so without asking he just took it off ebay and I made him an offer
and we agreed.
I sent him money via western union because he said he was selling such a rare
set because he needed money quick to pay rent and bills and such. I was
reluctant due to the high fees but he agreed to lower his price.
I sent him the money and after two weeks nothing showed and now its been
almost a month.
The thing is he used the post office as a scapegoat by saying if they lost
it, it would not be his fault. He kept changing emails to avoid me and also
finally said he received the set back from the post office damaged and stolen
after I threatened him with the cops and reporting him to the FBI fraud and
such. He said he would send me a money order back but then nothing showed and
thats been 2 weeks.
He took my money and ran.
Anyone dealt with this guy in New York, Michal Wilczynski??
I did report him to the FBI Fraud and IFCC dept. I will call the Brooklyn New
York Police Dept to see if they can do anything when I get the chance.
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I’m really sorry to hear that you got fleeced (although there were lots of
warning signs that you were going to get taken if you’d been watching
carefully... taking a listed item off ebay and doing a private sale means you
then have no protection from ebay, paying via MO means you have no protection
from paypal, etc etc etc).
However, this post doesn’t really, in my view, belong in lugnet.general. Nor
does it or a duplicate of it (http://news.lugnet.com/lego/?n=1668 ) belong in
lugnet.lego either. It’s a market related issue I think
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This also belongs in .brickshops and .buy-sell-trade because this person has
scammed buyers on BrickLink too. He ripped one buyer off for $1800:
http://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=47722
He reopened his shop under another name after this and was quickly shut down,
however I suspect that he is still actively registered and building up feedback
as a buyer (registered in New Jersey at the moment) and I expect he will try to
open another BL shop and scam more people.
In addition to going through the proper channels for auctions and purchases as
Lar indicated, I would also watch out for the following red flags--
- This person shows a marked preference for Western Union money transfers. Most people who accept that form of payment are volume sellers with an established reputation in the online LEGO community. The average beginning seller considers PayPal sufficient (I’m talking about sellers in the U.S. BTW).
- This person opens his shop with a few dozen listings of very rare sets, most selling in the hundreds of dollars range. Even if you want a certain rare set very badly, ask questions before taking a chance on your purchase. Where would this person get these sets? If this person is enough of an AFOL to have accumulated such a desirable collection, why doesn’t anyone else in the greater LEGO community know about him?
- This person (I can only speak for what I’ve observed on BrickLink) either had no feedback at all or (with his most recent shop) had feedback only as a buyer. To make a large purchase from someone like this is to be taking a huge chance.
I’m very sorry you got burned. Hearing stories like this makes me angry because
most people I’ve seen who sell or auction LEGO are trustworthy and would never
go to such lengths to scam anyone. I hope you are able to bring him to justice.
Maggie C.
P.S. If you do pursue legal action you should copy the entire pertinent
BrickLink thread because BL Forum posts are only kept for six months.
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