Buyer Beware on Texas Gun Trader . . . HAYDAY is A FRAUD

[ballbandit]

hate a thief this guy needs to be caught

 

[M1Garand]

Shiiiiit, sorry to hear, man. I know what it's like to get ripped off. Traded an Escort Pump for a sporterized Mauser (The asshole told me it was worth 500) with all the ammo I had. Found outt at a local gunstore it was worth 125 at best.

 

[45tex]

On Texas Gun Trader, I only do cash and in person. I also try to always have someone with me, not on the deal, just in the car watching. I guess I sell too cheap and buy too high because I have met many good folks making trades in the Houston area. And this is not known as a friendly town.

 

[tap&rack_TXinfidel]

What name and address and phone number has he provided?

 

[Bats21]

I have never been ripped off, but have felt uneasy a time or two.

 

[robertc1024]

You might read the rules on here about commercial posts.
http://www.texasguntalk.com/forums/commercial-posting-advertising/22302-commercial-posting.html

 

[Gunlinked]

Thanks Robert. No intention on posting for advertising purposes just providing an alternative. I have already put in an email to Kevin.

 

[TexasRedneck]

Then, I would respectfully submit that you remove your logo in your sig line until such a time as you ARE officially "on board". Folks such as myself view that sort of thing as being disrespectful to a site owner, and generally drives folks away that might otherwise be willing to give it a try.

 

[Gunlinked]

I will respectfully do so. Thanks for the heads up guys

*fixed*

 

[jordanmills]

So, I got fooled by someone who was listed as a Texas Guntrader "Gold" seller on his profile. The guy claimed to live in Edcouch Texas (near Weslaco) and I did most of my interaction with the seller via text and email due to me having a busy week, THIS proved a bit costly for me, the guy was Listing a Bushmaster ACR and was throwing in a Redfield scope, an angled foregrip, a laser sight, and a bipod, all for $1450 (now I have seen ACR's on other forums go for $1600 so this seemed somewhat legit and I Have ALWAYS wanted an ACR and was desperate enough to "sell the farm" to get one). The guy had texted me that at first we could meet in Alice but later changed his mind cause he claimed to be a commercial truck driver and was on-call for this past weekend. So I made plans to meet him in McAllen at a shooting range to close the sale.

The seller then contacted me and said that one other buyer wanted to close out the deal earlier than Saturday and that he was looking to close this deal fast and asked me if I was willing to make a deposit (here comes dumbass move on my end), I agreed since again, saw that he was a Gold Seller on his profile, so he asked me to send the funds to his "wife" since he was on the road til Friday.

We agreed to meet in McAllen at the range at 11am Saturday, so I make the drive down there, and I get to the range . . . waited an hour, all the while texting and not getting a response. By Noon, I was beyond pissed, and I remembered he gave me an address when he gave me his "wife's" name for the Western Union money gram.
I make the drive to Weslaco, and a lady by the name that was given to me comes to the door she is in a wheelchair, I tell her I was supposed to meet her husband to close out the rifle deal and she shakes her head in confusion and says that "I knew he wasn't being legit with me".

I find out this guy is someone she met on the internet, and they have only been talking on there, he asked her to do some "favors" for him to send money to places for him, she has never met the guy face to face.

In the end, I found out that he also ripped off another guy for $1,450.00 aside from me, since he may have been trying to sell the same bogus ACR to another buyer. So I am going to try and get ahold of that guy (he's in Tennessee) and see if I can him to put a stop payment on that check or trace it.

I have all of the "wife's" information, phone numbers, emails, copies of checks and her driver's license and will be taking everything to the Police, I am out $700 and I sold both my rifles recently to fund this ACR purchase, so I am gunless for the time being which is a big kick in the nuts, not to mention the $100 for putting gas in my car for this 8 hour drive I did this past Saturday.

The Ripoff in question removed another ad he had on Guntrader for a .308 DPMS and has since turned off his cellphone. IF you guys see an ad for either of those guns or ANY Gun from Edcouch, let me know.

I don't know if I will find this guy, the address that he had given to the "wife" was an empty $4 million house in Houston, and the name she gave him isn't generating a face.

I will be working at the SAXET show this weekend at the Bullitproof Arms table, need to recoup some funds to save up for my ACR, gonna try and buy new so at least I know it's actually available.

But I wanted to share with you guys and gals so you won't get caught up in this crap like I did.

Take Care Friends

- John

Here's the problem. Merch on one side of the table, cash on the other. Each party inspects until they're satisfied. Then the items change sides.

Either do cash in person in a public place, or bitcoin with escrow. And only do bitcoin if you're familiar with it.

 

[Mikeinhistory]

I've had all good experiences with TGT. At least with the buying part. I've had a guy try to call me and tell me and tell me the trigger pull was too heavy and try to "return" the pistol and I've had people not show up, but I've never had a problem if I meet FTF and they let me field strip the firearm. Otherwise, I walk away.

 

[breakingcontact]

Appreciate the humility it takes to tell us how you messed up.

 

[Leper]

Old thread is old. And revived by a commercial post. Thread fail at its finest.

 

[vahtryn]

I found out it was a Google Voice account, where you can set that up online, this dude must have done this before.

You can still track someone that was utilizing a google voice account. It takes a bit more effort but it is possible. Each and every API call to create a phone call must be logged. Unless they were fully anonymizing you have a good shot. Just need to file the proper subpoenas.

Oh, and unless you signed up for grand central (before it was google voice) you need a valid number in order to verify your account for it to work. There's a trail. Just gotta track it.

 

[jordanmills]

You can still track someone that was utilizing a google voice account. It takes a bit more effort but it is possible. Each and every API call to create a phone call must be logged. Unless they were fully anonymizing you have a good shot. Just need to file the proper subpoenas.

Oh, and unless you signed up for grand central (before it was google voice) you need a valid number in order to verify your account for it to work. There's a trail. Just gotta track it.

Nah they keep logs, but good luck getting anyone to bother filing for a subpoena for something as cheap as a gun.

The phone verification is easy to get around. Just use an office courtesy phone, or your neighbor's phone. If you're motivated, phreak a beige box on a neighbor's pots line, ani the inbound number, and use that.

 

[grumper]

Once I sent $5500 to a guy who I'd never met for an Uzi SMG. Sure enough it turned up at my C3 dealer after a couple weeks. This was back in 2005 or 2006.

These days. NO Fn WAY. The scammers have gotten so bad that they forge NFA forms and photoshop FFLs to trick you into thinking they are a SOT dealer and have the gun in stock. They have no second thoughts about falsifying federal tax documents and counterfeiting federal licenses, and committing interstate mail fraud. It just doesn't deter them.

Way too much risk buying guns off Internet ads now. Unless it's a well known dealer you should just pass. The Internet gun ads had their heyday, but now it's infested with scammers, murderers, and other assorted dirtbags.

Unless the ad can be verified from a well known dealer or no money changes hands except FTF (and with your CCW), just say NO.

 

[yellojeep]

I have never had a problem. I always insist that I can call them on the phone.