Possable scammer amungst Us

I posted an ad wanting a pair of Canon binocular. this person answered that he would sell his IS 15X50 so after multiple conversations we agreed i sent him the money. When didn't receive any tracking information i messaged him he answered with excuses. Now i haven't heard from this person in two days. I wont mention this persons name yet in case im wrong but when it becomes apparent i will follow up with his name! its a shame we have a wonderful community on this site and unsavory characters!!! Stay Tuned!

1) did he use the AstroMart reply?

2) what is his name and email address?

send this in PRIVATE to me

[email protected]

Yes he replied on Astro more messages I don’t have his email I sent the money through Venmo because he didn’t have a PayPal but I know the persons name that I sent it to

I’ve bought and sold things on Astro Mart for many years now never had a problem because we have a great community here trustworthy people and I didn’t think I needed to question but now that I look at his profile he’s only a member since November 26 this year I’m not saying that’s grounds for being a scammer but it’s a little eye-opening and the fact that I haven’t heard from him in two days Seems a little shady well I hope I’m wrong and he responds to me finally I’ve sent multiple messages with no response

Do I have any recourse here I understand the conditions but was wondering if there’s anyway to track this person down

Do you have any information for me that might help

I am new around here also. I would hope that your Astromart fee entitles you to some kind of information release if you get scammed.

Originally Posted by Robert Cuoccio

Yes he replied on Astro more messages I don’t have his email I sent the money through Venmo because he didn’t have a PayPal but I know the persons name that I sent it to

So if I read you right you are saying he contacted you via the private messages here on AM rather than responding to your ad directly. That is why you dont have his email address. When someone responds to your ad by clicking on the "Reply to ad" button you are sent an email message to the address you have registered on your account. Then when you respond to it, it goes directly to their registered email address......If someone contacts you without responding directly to the ad that should throw up a big red flag, particularly if they wont respond via the ad when asked to. I do hope the name he gave you for Venmo matched the user name he is registered here with......if not that is another big red flag. 

1. The above was the 1st mistake, you should have asked him to respond via the ad. That way you both get to enter feedback on the transaction.

2. The 2nd was if he has only had an account for a short while he may not have had any feedback or very little. Those are the ones you need to be careful of.

3. The 3rd was agreeing to use a payment service that offers no protection like Venmo....particularly given both 1 and 2. 

Lots of red flags on this one......You may have to just chalk this one up to lessons learned for a price. Just make sure you give all the info you have on him to Herb (particularly the user name he has here) as he asked above. At least that way he wont be doing it to anyone else going forward. 

I noted you also said you have bought and sold on AM for many years now with no problem but your account shows you have only been here since mid 2020......and your feedback only has ratings for one transaction. Seems a bit contradictory with your statement. 

We’ll thanks for the feedback! I have bought many things here I failed to rate the transactions that’s why you don’t see the transactions

All,

The scammer got me despite the red flags.  The user name on Venmo is @biggerevans86 and supposedly his name is Anthony Evan’s.  The number he texted me on and is associated with the Venmo account is 920-543-6377.  On Astromart his account name was Rodney Brandt from UT, but that account is no longer active.  

He replied to a WANTED request I had for a 21mm Ethos.  

If anyone can gather more details, please do so.  I imagine we are all being scammed by the same person.