Magic the Gathering Craigslist Scam.

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Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 3:16 pm

Hello everyone, I'm looking for some assistance/guidance shutting down a notorious scammer in the Magic the Gathering community, although he also runs scams with everything from cheating on college tests to selling shoddy cars. 30 minutes on Google using his real name (which he frequently uses in his scams since he does a lot of PayPal and mail fraud) and any one of his many, MANY aliases will give you a good background on this guys literally years of experience scamming gullible and disadvantaged individuals online. I know there's a policy not to post personal information directly on this website and I presume the same is true of links. I will say that anyone who runs google searches for "Magic the gathering beta booster box scams" or "magic online trading league beta booster scam" or something to that effect will quickly stumble upon many accounts of this criminal's activities.

As I mentioned, he runs dozens of assorted scams but his most prolific ones are in the Magic the Gathering community. He sends out spam emails on Craigslist and also magic forums claiming to possess valuable trading cards which he wants to sell on ebay. For one reason of another he needs help selling them. The victim lists the item and when the winner of the auction pays the victim they take a "commission" and send the rest of the money to the criminal who says he will mail the buyer the cards. Obviously he does not. The. The victim is stuck having to refund the money to the buyer.

The personal details of the criminal are well known in the Magic community but this far all attempts to shut him down has proven fruitless. I have spoken with local law enforcement in the town he lives in and the general tone is that scamming a few thousand dollars out of gullible ebayers and craigslisters is a crime, but too minor of a crime for the cops to follow up on. They recommend he be reported to ebay and craigslist, which of course, he has been. Every time they shut down one account he opens up another - it takes minutes to do so.

His information has been provided to every relevant law enforcement agency in the US with jurisdiction over online crimes and local law enforcement and nothing happens because he is too much of a small fry. All that said, he is a criminal and he is damaging peoples lives.

His spam emails are prolific and he acts just like any 419 scammer even though it's a somewhat different routine.

I have all the details on this person and can provide them to anyone who feels they can help. I'm not sure of what can be done but I can't think of a better place to look for answers from the experts. Sad to say, but law enforcement these days seems to know less about online crime than the fine baiters on this site.

If the mods feel like this is not the best forum for this post please move it and accept my apologies.

If anyone out there can bait this bugger or even offer good advice it would be welcome!

Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:09 pm

I'm not a mod, but I think you've found the right place! The "no personal information" rule specifically excludes scammers. They're fair game here. You handled it well though, since anyone who wants to find the information can look for themselves and you don't come off sounding like someone with a grudge.

I did a search like you suggested and found this site:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-727-748-9770

I'm guessing this is the scammer to whom you're referring. (If not, please correct me.) I'll ask the mods to move this thread to the main forum, where it will get the attention it deserves.

If we can't stop the fellow through the law, we can bait him into a stupor. I know of several pet scammers who drop legitimate customers now if they even think they're being baited, which saves the potential victim and cuts into the scammers' profits dreadfully Very Happy

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:45 am

That's the guy, although it goes with saying that's not his real name.

http://classic.magictraders.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/026208.html

This thread, and the others it links to, have pretty much the whole story on this guy.

His current spams are going out under the identity of Doctor John Brown, and the email address on that site is active. His cell phone is the 345 one listed there, and the physical address is also his actual house.

Like I said, this guy doesn't go to a lot of lengths to hide his personal info.

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:42 am

I'm not a mod either as to whether this guy is a legal target, but we can massbait him which will waste his time.

By the way, welcome to Eater, Dr.

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 1:24 pm

Thanks for the welcome!

I used to post around here a little a few years ago and did a few small baits myself. I never involved myself in any major baits though - my best was a six month correspondence with Desmond Tutu and his friends to smuggle laptops across the Ghana border to so e orphans in Accra. It's a long story, but it culminated in the good archbishop sending his "assistant bishop" to Accra where he spent the better part of the day at the airport and then back and forth between various hotels all night to pick my character up. Hardly a turd bois adventure, but it was fun...

This current guy seems to me a perfect target. I have reasons I can't personally involve myself in the bait however, at least not in a major role. I would be happy to discuss the issue further with anyone who might be interested in going after this guy. His most recent victim lost over a thousand dollars.

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 1:54 pm

I sent an Interest E-mail. Let's see if he bites.....

Maybe this will be a good way to get to him:
http://johntaylorbrownthegreat.info/
Copy & send the content from the website with the info requested.

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:06 pm

Awesome!

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:36 pm

Please be sure that any baiting of this character is done safely. No real personal info, especially if you are located in the U.S. The risk goes up when the lad is in the same country. Just pointing that out since it's harder to bait this type safely. Cool

If someone could get a bank account off of him, perhaps he could be prosecuted that way. Banks don't take kindly to fraud.

Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:49 am

This guy has been pretty cautious. He hasn't thrown himself into the bait very easily. He's insisting on getting my phone number. I sent him one from another scammer that costs $20.00 for the first minute and $10.00 for each minute afterwards. Probably won't hear from him again.

Crying or Very sad

Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:41 pm

So it goes - not every 419er is destined to be the next Turd or Shortstack, sadly. Hopefully he'll at least get some pain on his phone bill.

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 07 Oct 2010 Posts: 82

This guy is a complete tool. I simply want to get my giftcard and he keeps asking if I'm a real doctor and where I went to medical school.... even though I told him Im retired.

It's about time for an early slap in this bait..... the nerve of some fraudsters.... Very Happy

Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 6:01 pm

Finally had an opening in my lad card to send out the initial response. Poor guy. All this time he's going to be wasting....

Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 7:12 pm

Funny he would grill you on being a doctor when he impersonates a doctor in his most prominent scams. He also impersonates a woman, interestingly enough...

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 07 Oct 2010 Posts: 82

I assume that he is trying to push for info to help him fool other people into thinking he is a doctor himself.

Let the de-educating begin.

Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 6:54 pm

What a POS. My valley girl contacted him through the gift card avenue and gave him all the information. My character happens to live in a well-known affluent area (makes for good lad bait, if the lads are savvy enough to recognize it).

POS wrote:

Why do you want this gift card?

Character wrote:

is this like an essay contest or something?

POS wrote:

Not a contest. But for poor people.

So I slapped him.

Character wrote:

like serously? r u judging me cuz of my address? i live with my parents dude, and beside it didnt say anything abt poor people in your ad, i thot it was like a random drawing or sum crap not a invite to get judged

I'm tempted to call him and give him a piece of my mind Smile

Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 3:30 pm

You look at this guys Facebook and really want to know that crime doesn't pay...

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