Scammed out of 8k, please don’t let it happen to you

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Hi all,
Just thought I’d make this post to let everyone know about it. As I’m writing this out I feel more and more like an idiot. Hopefully my story can help someone in the future from all the heartache and pain I had to go through.

This started on eBay when I saw an unlimited neo destiny booster box be put up for sale. I contacted the seller (who had no feedback and was using a new account, should have just walked away then). I asked him if he would take an offer for the box at 13k. He wanted to let the auction end to try and get a higher price. But he said he had a 1st edition Team Rocket booster box he’d sell to be for 8k if I bought it outside of eBay (second sign not to continue).

Im quite a trusting guy and I feel like I could be a good judge of character so I agree to continue talking outside of eBay.

We first connected on Instagram, his ig is leeharveyy_

We messaged there for a bit and then switched to WhatsApp. All seemed well and he was giving the right answers. By the why he lives in the UK and I’m in the US (3 sign, shoulda just quit there). We settled on a wire transfer where I’m basically taking all the risk. (Seriously why did I keep going??)

I felt comfortable with him because we chatted for about a week and he seemed like a genuine pokemon collector. I wired the 8k and waited for him to ship. Unfortunately he gave me the wrong Iban number and the money never got to him. (Maybe it was his first scam?) So the bank agreed to send the money back to me. The whole process took 3 weeks but eventually I got my money back. Through out this time we chatted pretty much every day and anything and everything. He really really seem like a genuine guy. Once the money arrived back to me I sent it to the correct account.

3 days later he blocks me on everything. I freak out and open a police report, a withdraw with my bank and an action fraud case in the UK. I truly thought I could possibly get my money back.

The next day he unblocks me and sends me a tracking number and then blocks me again. Maybe he did send the rocket box after all??? I mean things happen, technology isn’t always 100 percent.

3 weeks is how long it took for the package to get to my city. During the 2 week he unblocked me and gave me a huge sob story about how his dad was sick and only had 1 year left. His dad was the supposedly the original owner of this box and the neo destiny one he tried to sell on eBay. ( sell never paid, auction ended at 18k). He said his dad wanted to sell all his cards to enjoy the rest of his time here and he offered me the neo box for 5k. I said only if we go through eBay. He agreed and so I sent another 5k his way before I even had the rocket box.

I know, I know. Im an absolute idiot. I just sent the rest of my savings to a guy I thought was scamming me. What dumb person I am.

The team rocket box was supposed to get delivered to me on Saturday 9/18 but the tracking said no one was home even though I was. This was crazy to me so I check the tracking and it was attempted to be delivered to the wrong city. Long story short he sent the package to the wrong address and name to cover his end of I tried to come after him for the money back. Because I was able to work with the usps I had them hold the package and investigate. I just picked it up today after many hours of phone calls to get my case through.

Inside this small box was a pack of fighting energy’s and a Pokémon card game rule book.

Worst thing to happen to me.

I called eBay and they assured me I’d get my money back for the neo box (5k) but this first purchase I stupidly made for 8k seems to be gone. The bank is not optimistic and either am I.

Just wanted people to know there are bad people out there who care nothing about others and will do anything to take what isn’t theirs.

If you can at all think of a way to some how get my money back I would definitely be open to hearing any suggestions. If you live in the UK and want a human punching bag I know the perfect guy and where he lives.

Thanks for taking the time to read my story.

Sebastian

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Unfortunate that you got scammed, but man you really slalomed around those red flags lol

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I know, but honestly man I chatted with this guy for more than a month. We seriously became friends or at least I thought we did. I have pages and pages of WhatsApp messages. I really didn’t think he was scamming me.

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I guess the moral of the story is never trust anybody ever. Or at least that is how my life is going to go from now on

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or don’t trust people in another country that you’ve only known for 1 month, where the entire relationship is built on an exchange of money & goods

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I feel for a similar scam (not Pokemon related) about 7 years ago and lost 2K which is more than what I had at the time. Just so you know the sensation of embarrassment and feeling like an idiot do not pass with time. Try to feel solace in the fact that you could have lost a lot more money and now you can help others by sharing your experience. Sorry this happened to you :slightly_frowning_face:

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Trust, but verify.

In this case “verify” would just be ensure they are legit by going through an insured or protected method. I think this $8k might be a cheap lesson in the grand scheme of things though given you fell prey to this. At least it wasn’t $80k. Good on you to put it out there as a cautionary tale though so perhaps it can save someone else maybe.

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Thank you for sharing that story, but sorry that happened. Your error is larger than most of ours, but many of have been scammed and that is how your learn. It is a very expensive mistake, but try to concentrate on the lesson.

I hope you can somehow get the money returned, but time to start grinding to get earn that money back. I am sure you know now, but many times it is worth the 10% higher cost for piece of mind. Think long term if you’re thinking of “investing”.

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I appreciate all the replies. Thank you, I will be much much more cautious in the future. I will try to keep a good attitude because what’s done is done and at least it wasnt 10x more. Guess I’m back to work and hopefully someone gets something positive out of my mistake. Thank you guys for being great people!

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still down less than the people who bought rocket boxes at 20k + just a few months ago. (if that makes you feel any better)

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I agree with others that the conclusion is not “never trust anyone”. Rather, look at the value of what they have to lose. Clearly this person was willing to sell their reputation and their 1 month relationship with you for $8k. It’s not about how trustworthy someone sounds, it’s more about whether they are putting something on the line of greater value than the value of the exchange. If they aren’t - you better try your best to protect yourself as much as possible.

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Too bad man, hope you grow stronger from this.

A few comments:

- West-African phone numbers blowing up your phone are less obviously suspect than that IG page. It may sound a bit presumptuous, but whenever someone have what appears to be stock photos of Mcmansions, sunsets and Lambo’s, a random selection of bots and nationalities in the friend list, with a topless sixpack profile picture and lots of followForfollow hashtags, I’d just avoid them based on that 99,99999% of the time.

  • I’m not against wiring large amounts of money to strangers, I have done my fair share of it, even with people that were lousy communicators. But I always vet them down to the last detail and prepare myself to get on a plane if things go sour. If that’s not an option, then I don’t do it. It’s wise to research the policies of the banks and countries you’re wiring to and from before you do it.

  • Trusting others too much is one angle, another angle is placing too much trust in yourself and your ability to gauge character, something one rarely can do by just having conversations with someone. Not in the the real world, not on the internet. You need verifiable data.

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It doesn’t sound productive to slam you for a mistake you made (that you recognize), and I’m glad most of the comments aren’t doing that.

That’s absolutely awful. Even though it seems futile, try to press forward with a police report both locally to you, and in the UK (you have this guy’s name, wire information, and maybe his actual phone number?).

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I was wondering why you didn’t use middleman services?

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I’ve opened an action fraud case against him in the UK but that’s the best I could find to do. My local police said that can’t do anything because it’s international.

I have everything on him. Name, address, email, bank info, phone number etc. But I guess those could all be fake. I am not sure how to contact the police in the UK to even open a case against him.

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I wouldn’t even know how to start a process to do that? This is my first purchase from someone outside of the US and I’m very new to this forum. I only joined after watching almost all of smprattes YouTube videos. Which were my inspiration to get back into collecting.

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This is exactly how romance scams work. Victims are lead to fully trust the scammer to the point that they will willingly transfer significant sums of money to them. Often the victims don’t know they’re being scammed until someone points it out to them - and even then they can struggle to believe it.

I hope you can get your money back.

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There is skill and knowledge involved in collecting Pokémon. If you’re going to stay in this hobby after this, I would start small and build my way up to an 8k purchase.

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I’m willing to bet you have either a friend, or a friend of a friend (or family of friends) in the UK … maybe a lukewarm connection might be able to help?

All the best – my fingers are crossed for you

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I did build my way up. I know I’m still extremely new but it’s been about 2 years of buying, selling, and collecting. I’ve bought a few 2k items before. This wasn’t too crazy of a jump but it was pretty much all I had. Life goes on tho, money isn’t everything. Im still blessed to have my health to be able to keep working to make up the money

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