[rboatertoo]

On the other forum they have a want to buy section. A guy by the name of Charles Keepler, is offering items for sale and requesting funds transfer my "money Gram" Turns out he email a number of people who are looking to buy. He has been tiring this every once in a while. In order to get members emails you have to be a member which he claims not to be, but gets the information from his friend Big Bob.

Not to endorse another forum, but this information should be shared so everyone knows about it. http://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/has-anyone-bought-a-train-via?page=1

 

[CDNJ]

I have been scammed by them.
Haines City Florida
Patissia Keepler
John Keepler
James Keepler

Any fake name with last name being Keepler.

Wants Moneygram,gives fake story on how THEY got scammed through paypal.
Pro scam. Have no intent to sell just steal.
Buyer Beware.

I have even called Haines City Florida Police Dept.
They have never gotten back to me.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Anyone that wants to use Money Gram gets the cold shoulder from me, regardless of how good the deal is.

 

[Passenger Train Collector]

You got that right, John!!!!!

 

[CDNJ]

Anyone that wants to use Money Gram gets the cold shoulder from me, regardless of how good the deal is.

I wish I had a notice. Learned a lesson and will not be fooled again.

 

[teledoc]

Early on I used Postal Money orders for most of my purchases, and then when there were deals that I could have really used, and they wouldn't take a money order, I soon switched to PayPal. Been using it ever since, and is the only way I will either sell or buy anymore. It's the feeling of a more secure way to do business, without the fear of being scammed. I only had one bad experience with a sale, but learned a good lesson from it. Fortunately is wasn't an expensive experience, just aggravating dealing the the "Slime Ball buyer". Yes they guy was a real Slime Ball to deal with. He's blocked now.

 

[MOVL]

Not to endorse another forum, but this information should be shared so everyone knows about it. http://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/has-anyone-bought-a-train-via?page=1

I'm very sorry for those that have been victims of this man, but I am surprised that thread is still there. Keepler has been doing this for some time now. There have been many threads posted on OGR about him...they usually get deleted. It does not help us hobbyists at all, when they delete a thread like that. It instead deserves a sticky at the top of the for sale and buy forums.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Great idea Keith, done! It's in the sale forum and I stickied it.

 

[MOVL]

Great idea Keith, done! It's in the sale forum and I stickied it.

Wow...
...okay...
...now I want 10 million dollars and I'll think about the third wish.

 

[rboatertoo]

Good Idea, on the other forum they stopped letting people post to it so it will get buried. They could have done what John did, but they avoid the whole issue.

 

[MOVL]

Interestingly, when I search "Charles Keepler money gram", he comes up for the OGR post you mentioned and for a site called Ford Barn. Ford Barn seems to be about restoring old Fords and they have a buy parts forum. So this Keepler is trying to ruin at least two hobbies.

Folks need to know to stay far away from anyone requesting payment by Money Gram. There is something seriously wrong if a seller won't take the usual credit card/check/money order or even PayPal as payment.

rboatertoo, thanks for bringing this to attention here. John, thanks for making it a sticky so more members notice it.

 

[Big Ed]

Great idea Keith, done! It's in the sale forum and I stickied it.

Good ideal to sticky this, but as the money gram scammers can use all different names. (as noted)
I think the title should be changed to,

BEWARE, MONEY GRAM SCAMS!

It rhymes too.

I don't even like using a money order, what can you do if the seller just cashes it and doesn't send anything?
I have only used a money order once in the last 10 years for a few items on e bay. Luckily, I dealt with an honest person.
I never checked this out, If you get scammed when using a money order is there any kind of protection provided for you?

 

[RonthePirate]

Good ideal to sticky this, but as the money gram scammers can use all different names. (as noted)
I think the title should be changed to,

BEWARE, MONEY GRAM SCAMS!

It rhymes too.

I don't even like using a money order, what can you do if the seller just cashes it and doesn't send anything?
I have only used a money order once in the last 10 years for a few items on e bay. Luckily, I dealt with an honest person.
I never checked this out, If you get scammed when using a money order is there any kind of protection provided for you?

Yes there is, but not a lot. The only one I know of, is USPS mail fraud. They will investigate, and, if proven, will prosecute the offender. I have no idea what their rates of success in retrieving the money is, though.

 

[Big Ed]

"There's a sucker born every minute?" :goofball:

I get a local paper once a week. Look what was in it.
Tell me some are not just plain STUPID!?:dunno:

A resident of Park Ave reported that she was a victim of fraud on Sept 11.
She was scammed out of $2845.79 beginning in April and continuing until Sept.

In April she got a phone call from PSS technology who said her computer was at risk She paid them $499.97 to fix, with a Money Gram.

In July she was contacted by Farji Technology and was told that she had no network security and her computer had a virus called Kooface She sent them $349.99 to fix.

In August she was contacted by James Gomez from Tanish Technology and was told that she needed computer security again, she sent him $497.98 by electronic check to fix. But James told her he was canceling the check and to send a Money gram to Devon Small in Houston Texas instead which she did.

In Sept she got a call from Richard Parker from Universal PC care advising here that if she wanted a refund she would have to send a $1000 to Bikas Gupta in India which she did.

The resident now believes that all the transactions were to the same person. :goofball:

I think Pt's quote should have been, "There's a sucker born every second!"

Shows you how some people are just plain gullible, which translate into just plain stupid!...DUH!

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Stupid kills, but not enough to really help.

 

[Bwells]

Stupid kills, but not enough to really help.

Excellent point!

 

[flyernut]

"There's a sucker born every minute?" :goofball:

I get a local paper once a week. Look what was in it.
Tell me some are not just plain STUPID!?:dunno:

A resident of Park Ave reported that she was a victim of fraud on Sept 11.
She was scammed out of $2845.79 beginning in April and continuing until Sept.

In April she got a phone call from PSS technology who said her computer was at risk She paid them $499.97 to fix, with a Money Gram.

In July she was contacted by Farji Technology and was told that she had no network security and her computer had a virus called Kooface She sent them $349.99 to fix.

In August she was contacted by James Gomez from Tanish Technology and was told that she needed computer security again, she sent him $497.98 by electronic check to fix. But James told her he was canceling the check and to send a Money gram to Devon Small in Houston Texas instead which she did.

In Sept she got a call from Richard Parker from Universal PC care advising here that if she wanted a refund she would have to send a $1000 to Bikas Gupta in India which she did.

The resident now believes that all the transactions were to the same person. :goofball:

I think Pt's quote should have been, "There's a sucker born every second!"

Shows you how some people are just plain gullible, which translate into just plain stupid!...DUH!

Yep, but sometimes, greed is involved too..

 

[bluenavigator]

Very interesting on this thread. My friend got US postal money order once and he was not sure if it is legit so he took it to US Postal Office and showed it to the postmaster. It was money order for a hundred dollar. The postmaster thanked my friend and actually gave him the money and said that it was confirmed that it was fake. The postmaster queried for the information for where and how my friend got it. My friend provided the information and they will take care of it and report it to FBI. That was the last thing he had heard from them.

 

[Peter Herron]

Slightly off topic but watch out for winter rental scams in FL......

The first place we wanted to rent (super cheap)we were asked to send a money order to a woman in Arkansas. No thank you. Turned out someone hijacked a legitimate ad for a place off Craig's List. We found the true owner and they confirmed it and advised the place was rented.

Armed with this knowledge we decided to only deal with Multiple Listing rentals and a Real Estate Broker. We rented a condo for the month of February and after receiving the signed lease and having our attorney look over the lease, we paid for in through Pay Pal in March 2015. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago. Lauri called the guy to confirm how to get the keys etc etc and was told, "I'm sorry, that lease just won't work out" Huh?? He offered to send me the $ into my Pay Pal account after we signed a release. No thank you. Lauri's nieces had purchased non-refundable air tickets to spend a week with us. Lauri reported it to the Local Real Estate overseers as well as the Collier County Sheriff. The deputy said "hang on, that address sounds familiar". Came back and said they'd take the case as there was a person from Minnesota who reported the same problem with the same address and person for the same month of February!!! The real estate overseer Ombudsman contacted the owner, a real estate agent, and said he had to make good on both rental fees and send copies of the checks to his office or face disciplinary action. He sent a check for the rental and lost air fare to our attorney with a note not to deposit until Friday as he needed to move some money around. I'll bet! Since then a 3d person, also from Minnesota popped up-same address same month of February. This broker had lost his license in Illinois for rental "irregularities". We have to hope his check doesn't bounce. The over/under is 10 feet!

Caveat Emptor

Peter

 

[CW Burfle]

Can anybody share their experiences using PayPal to recover funds from a bad deal outside of EBay?
I ask because a lot of folks say they will only pay for goods using the standard PayPal option, and not to use the Friends and Family option because then there is no protection.