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I'm creating this because I made a deal with "thefallensun" for an army swap on 12/30/2012 to swap my large 40k Ork force for his FOW Germans. After a small amount of discussion he asked if we could take the conversation to text, which I agreed to because I wouldn't have to sit by a computer all the time. After agreeing to the trade we exchanged addresses and agreed to ship that Friday. I couldn't make it to the Post Office that Friday, but informed him and he said that would be fine. I did however ship Saturday Morning at which time he informed me that work had "again" held him up and he didn't make it to the Post Office. Things happen and I understand that so It wasn't a big deal. He agreed to ship Monday after informing that he hadn't shipped on Saturday. That was the last day I've had contact with him. I've sent him messages on here and about 10 text messages. The FOW were a gift for my brother and now I have to explain to him why they aren't coming and frankly I'm pissed. I'm out over 3000 points in Orks with nothing to show for it.
I was scrolling through the Swap shop about a week ago and saw another TR about him, and contacted that user about it. Apparently, he was supposed to trade for a similar lot of FOW Germans and was scammed by the same individual.

The user thefallensun told me through text that his name was "Chris" but I didn't get a last name.

The address for this individual is:
Mod edit: Please use PM to share the address

A word of advice. Even if you discuss things via e-mail and text always have a final confirmation thru PM on this site in case something happens.

Hope he comes thru.

Yup he screwed me too! never sent his side of the package and after he agreed to the trade he disappeared and made a deal with fenrisian for the same flames of war models.

Why did you do a big trade simultaneously with a guy with no feedback if you have 7 completed trades?

edit: It looks like you've got no ranking in the trade rep thread here as well (although you've submitted a couple +1's you haven't recieved any).

 warboss wrote:
Why did you do a big trade simultaneously with a guy with no feedback if you have 7 completed trades?

edit: It looks like you've got no ranking in the trade rep thread here as well (although you've submitted a couple +1's you haven't recieved any).

that is a good point......i made him send first because he said he had no trades lol

I didn't think to look for his trade rep, which is my fault. I've got a few trades on here, most of them recent. I don't require people to +1 after a trade, that's there choice. Having had nothing but good experiences previously, I didn't think he would scam since he was good with comms up until that point. I try to get people to send same day because I have kinda low trade rep in comparison to some other people. He said he was sending and then...never did.

I had to edit the OP due to the personal information posted. If someone needs this information please PM the OP or myself.

This is unfortunate and we will be implementing changes sometime this year to make it easier to track trades/reps. Honestly I have given up doing simultaneous trades for large amounts, and if I have a large lot I sell it and use the funds to then buy what I want. Paypal is so much safer than mailing an army, as you can get your money back through the built-in safeguards.

Feedback systems do help though, and sending simultaneously with a new user with no recorded successful trades is extremely risky. That said I am sorry to see this has seemingly worked out how it has.

Given that you have his phone number and address, you may have some luck looking up his contact info and filing for mail fraud. The possibility of such may also help him to realize the seriousness of not sending his half of the trade and cause him to fulfill the agreement. Unfortunately, I think this is all you can do.

He's also a relatively new user (only a few months) with a very low post count (less than 100). No offense to you guys but the type of people that are interested in scamming others usually fit that profile. There is only one person with thousands of posts who has been on dakka for years that had a scamming history (although IIRC he later tried to make amends for most of it). If you're in the same relative boat (which you guys are roughly), no one is in any kind of authoritative position to demand the other to ship first. In that case, I'd probably recommend getting real world info from the person like a full name and phone number to discuss the deal in real time if both parties have no solid rep to back them up. It's not unreasonable to ask when you're talking about trading whole armies worth hundreds of dollars and you'll tend to weed out the scammers.


edit: You mentioned a text but you had to stay by the computer. Did you get his phone number or were you communicating through an instant messenger type of service?

I have his phone number. We took the dealings from PM to text so that I DIDN'T have to sit by a computer. How would I go about filing for mail fraud? Obviously, I don't have any experience with this.

IIRC there is info that the mods collated in the stickies at the top of the forum. If you've got the phone number, start trying to contact him via that to give him a chance to make good on the deal or to find out what the delay is. It's been less than two weeks total so I'd try that route first before trying more severe measures.

I've sent on average two messages a day since the day we decided to ship. I doubt that he has just "forgotten to reply" that many times. I've just gotten the cold shoulder.

Severe measures wont do anything. I got burned 4months ago and went to authorities, fed govt, facebook, family, and school. All i got was a locked post

Couple of things to do:
1). Go to USPS.com and find their info about filing for mail fraud. I believe that it is an automated/electronic system. File against him for mail fraud (assuming here you have his phone number and address).

2). Call his local police department. Explain the situation, what was supposed to be traded, and the value of the items. File a report with them (stolen goods), and give them his information as well.

I had a situation similar happen and I called the local PD. I don't know if they ever went by the guy's place or contacted him, but the guy finally sent me what he was supposed to.

3) Collect and keep all information, including info on other scams he has pulled off (and talk to others to get them to call his local PD as well - these things add up). I also pointed the authorities to these threads, bad trader reports/etc.

Good luck.

Edit: oh, and be sure to let him know about each step in the process. "Hi, just wanted to let you know I called your local police department to file a report about your theft of my models. Oh, and I also filed mail fraud charges against you.". Particularly when a 40k army can start to run in the thousands of dollars of value, you start to wander into felony area (and if its happened multiple times).