Burned on another FAL purchase!

[coltcollector]

Emailed a guy about a FAL he had on Gunbroker and he offered it to me at a reduced price when it didn't sell. Should have known when he didn't have any feedback, but I figured you got to start sometime. We emailed back and forth and I sent a USPS money order to his address(which turned out to be a pack-n-ship). No rifle came. No phone calls returned. No emails returned. His add ----

"From what I uderstand and have been told this is a FN -FAL 308. I have had it over 11 years. It was a gift . I have fired it a few times 6 or 7 years ago. Its been in my gun safe sence then. I dont know much about these guns. If you have any questions please ask. The stand is retractable and will go out 10 more inches. I reserve the right to end this auction at anytime what you see is what you get no other mags or sling..Thanks"

Was really looking forward to this one. Had a PAC Imbel receiver on metric kit. Maybe he had a heart attack or something. Started a search for the money order. Maybe the Postal Inspectors next. He used the name MAT_TEX on Gunbroker.

[faltx]

I remember it. Almost bid on it myself!...........

[DYNOMIKE]

Man that is some BAD Luck and just awful and I sure hope you get this guy and the other guy somehow...

I would NOT HESITATE to report this to anyone that will listen including the USPS and G/Broker.. POS Scumbags like these two will simply continue screwing people untill someone takes a STAND..

IF I were you I would post a WTB in the FILES M/PLACE and see what pops up..

[C2A1]

Ya, I think I just took a hit on a DCI reciever from over on Strum. Really bums me out as I was really looking forward to the rifle I was going to build.

[nwobhm]

Have a link to the auction...? Can't find by seller.

[wolfdog45]

If you tell your local post master about it, and you kept the receipt for the money order they can be real helpful. But you usually have to wait 30 day's.
They can get him for fraud of some sort. I had to do that to get an item from a guy i bought from off of gunbroker. he said he never got the payment but the Post office checked and it was cashed by him.

[jbgw]

I agree with WOLFDOG. Fraud at a Federal level ie using a USPS MO and the mail to defraud, has some fairly stiff penalties. And they are not nice about it if they find more than one occurence.

[coltcollector]

Yeah, I've already paid the $5 they charge to trace the money order! Down another $5. If he cashed it, I'll call in the Federal Inspectors.
Had a run in with them myself about 40 years ago back when I was in the Navy. Paymaster sent me my check when I was home on leave from bootcamp. Had my name with a different middle name. Another guy had my name with "Joe" instead of "Leo". I was broke and cashed it anyway. They came to my parents house and spelled out the law for me. I had to borrow money and pay it back and get my check when I got back to base. They were no nonsense guys.

[DK]

I had a guy rip me off once for $250 for a Rem. 700 mount and rings. Paid by USPS m.o. He never sent the stuff and claimed he didn't receive the m.o. After the 30 days I paid the $ and had the USPS track it down. They sent me a photocopy of the cashed m.o. with NO endorsing signature on the rear. Zero, zip, nada. Some fool at the bank cashed the m.o. with no signature on it. I couldn't prove the seller received it and cashed it and just had to eat the loss.

DK

[17tobyracing]

I don't think Gun Broker will do anything to help, since the gun purchase was not actually completed through their auction service.

I've been burned as well and I now take some precautions before bidding on any gun auction site. I make sure the seller has a positive feedback rating with feedback coming from several different users. I also require his/her feedback to be from buyers and not only limited to sellers. Additionally, I require the seller to provide me a physical address (not a P.O. Box) and a contact "land line" phone number (not a cell phone). I then do a reverse look-up on the phone number and make sure that the name and address match the contact information that the seller has provided to me. I also will not circumvent the auction website to complete the sale, always placing a winning bid for the sale.

Additionally, the FFL dealer that I use is a retired Police Officer and he has gone out of his way to insure that his customers do not get scammed.

[cbr954fz1]

the name is pretty close to the guy that tried to screw me on auction arms 6 weeks ago. igot him kicked off the site. he used another persons picture on another site(guns america) to sell this century to me, when i won the bid i sent him a bank check and my brother was looking around for a fal saw the same picture told me and i went to the bank on monday and stopped the check, whew that was close. you got to be care full. :( :(

[C2A1]

My DCI reciever showed up yesterday. Little long in coming mailed, April 19th. If that wasn't bad enough I just got a package mailed in March........2007. Showed up Friday. Over a year in transit from Mass. I guess the clipper got shipwreaked as it rounded the horn.
Anyway, I did OK and it wasn't the guy mailing it either.

[1911guy]

I had a similar experience on GunBroker. I sent a guy in Ohio a check for a DSA receiver. Never got the receiver. Paid by USPS money order. He didn't return calls or e-mails. A year later I saw him on Sturmgewehr and sent him an e-mai that said if he doesn't fix this problem I will trash him on every gun board I can get to. He came back and said that he did some research and it seems he "neglected" to send the receiver. He offered to send one now. I told him to send a money order or certified check. Got the funds a week later.
What goes around.........

[Farmboy]

A friend of mine bought an FAL off of Gunbroker. The muzzle had been backbored and crookedly to boot, it didn't have the right number of US parts to make it legal, the barrel was mounted to the receiver only hand tight, full auto ejector block installed, along with the full auto selector. He complained to the seller, who said there were no returns as stated in the auction (it wasn't stated) and on his website (he doesn't have one, we checked) and so on. I'm going to be a lot more careful about buying off of any of the auction sites and I have that guy's name next to the computer to make sure I never bid on anything from him. It's pretty sad when you can't trust other gun people. Took a lot of work to get that beast straight. Luckily, I work at a gunsmith's shop learning in my spare time. Between the gunsmith, my friend, and I we got it straightened out.

[cbr954fz1]

whats the guys name so we all can stay away from him in the future.:eek:

[Farmboy]

Sorry, forgot to post that part. RM Tactical is the guy's name on Gunbroker. The guy had quite a few A+ ratings, which is why my friend bought it. Looks like a couple of F ratings have been showing up lately though. At least my friend had us check it out at the shop before he shot it, that hand tight barrel might have been exciting otherwise.

[cbr954fz1]

i saw that guy, he recently sold a imbel fal last week for $820 or so, but every time i tried to ask him a question about it he only told that it was in good shape. so i just left it alone.

[newfalguy101]

Originally posted by 17tobyracing
I don't think Gun Broker will do anything to help, since the gun purchase was not actually completed through their auction service.

I've been burned as well and I now take some precautions before bidding on any gun auction site. I make sure the seller has a positive feedback rating with feedback coming from several different users. I also require his/her feedback to be from buyers and not only limited to sellers. Additionally, I require the seller to provide me a physical address (not a P.O. Box) and a contact "land line" phone number (not a cell phone). I then do a reverse look-up on the phone number and make sure that the name and address match the contact information that the seller has provided to me. I also will not circumvent the auction website to complete the sale, always placing a winning bid for the sale.

Additionally, the FFL dealer that I use is a retired Police Officer and he has gone out of his way to insure that his customers do not get scammed.

Might want to keep in mind that its more and more common for people to not even have a landline, I am one, all I have is a cell.

[17tobyracing]

Originally posted by newfalguy101


Might want to keep in mind that its more and more common for people to not even have a landline, I am one, all I have is a cell.

I am aware of this growing trend, but the over-whelming majority of people still have a landline phone and if they don't... I'll pass on mailing them several hundered dollars.

[newfalguy101]

that is certianly your perogative and I am in no way trying to change your mind.

I do have one other thought though, what about unlisted numbers??

Still take a pass?? I would assume so as you can not confirm.


I do admire your desire to protect yourself.

[17tobyracing]

Originally posted by newfalguy101
that is certianly your perogative and I am in no way trying to change your mind.

I do have one other thought though, what about unlisted numbers??

Still take a pass?? I would assume so as you can not confirm.


I do admire your desire to protect yourself.

Absolutely... I'll pass. If I can't confirm the seller's contact information, they don't get my money.

[Para Driver]

Originally posted by 17tobyracing
Absolutely... I'll pass. If I can't confirm the seller's contact information, they don't get my money.

+1 Always talk to the seller before you send the money, at least with a phone number you do have something to give to the Postal Inspector. Most Cell phones are billed to someone, not the pre-paid flavor..

[Farmboy]

Originally posted by cbr954fz1
i saw that guy, he recently sold a imbel fal last week for $820 or so, but every time i tried to ask him a question about it he only told that it was in good shape. so i just left it alone.

Yeah, that's what he said about that FAL my friend bought.

[Skilter]

sucks to hear all this...

It seems when the economy craps out... more of this stuff starts happening.