My First Time Scammed

[JYM]

Well some of you might remember that last week I purchased this dedicated server for $70 annually (seems too good to be true, you guys were right). I purchased it off this page from placeadshere.com, which has been taken down the day after I purchased along with three other people whom I referred. I have contacted Paypal and they refuse to do anything since it is a service/untangible goods.

The money was sent into the paypal account [email protected]. So I contacted this person via email, no response. I filed a Paypal claim, and this guy responds saying the TOS states that 48-72 hours is required to setup the server (I never found a TOS on that website by the way..). Also the sales representative I talked to was pretending that this server was from totalchoicehosting.com, but after my purchase I contacted them and it seems there is no affiliation whatsoever. I then went to h20engineering.com and I found a contact page with this information:

H2O Engineering
3408 Busch Dr.
Grandville, Michigan 49418

John Scrimshaw
Business # 616-726-5311
Fax#616-726-5313
Cell# 616-318-4521

email:
[email protected]

Therefore I called this man and I told him about the situation and he kept saying it was the working of a server technician he hired and that he infact had no knowledge of servers. He then said it was scary how I managed to send money into his bank account. I explained about Paypal and then he told me he would try his best to "help me". He kept repeating and repeating how he will get his server technician to refund me my money and told me to call him the next day. So I called him the next day, and he pretends he doesn't know who I am. Then he starts cussing at me and saying that I'm harrassing him when in fact I am trying to be very polite about this entire ordeal.

I have much evidence of my purchase, including a pdf of the receipt (http://www.jimmylin.be/temp/dedicatedserver.pdf Please note that the name and address stated there is MINE.) and many emails.

I am not quite sure what I can do at this point because this seems like an organized scam involving several people. Paypal won't do anything and contacting this John Scrimshaw doesn't seem to work. I seriously think he is the culprit because he honestly if he noticed that I sent money into his Paypal account and knowing that I infact did not purchase anything directly from him, he should send me the money back right?

What would you recommend I do?

 

[luxinterior]

Sorry to hear about that. It's an unfortunate fact that these scam artists do exist and they are scumbags!

As hard as it is to accept I think the only thing you can do is swallow your loss and learn from your mistake. There's a reasons cliches exist. It's because they're true :D

'If something seems too good to be true it usually is.'

Good luck with everything and don't let this one bad incident grind you down. Stay positve and remain focused. You'll be ok!

Lux

 

[zanzan]

this scammers should be shot... they wanna earn money through the easy way...

Sry to hear on what had happened to u...

 

[luxinterior]

this scammers should be shot

Maybe a bit excessive. :D Perhaps just public castration would be enough.


Lux

 

[gio~logist]

In my opinion, i think you have enough information to report him to the police or someone. You have his name, address, and number. You also have proof of purchase and ofcourse the paypal info that shows that it went to his account. You should be able to file a complaint against him.

Hope all goes well.

 

[JYM]

Well I really don't want to get soo involved for $70. I just want my money back... I don't know how big of a scam this really is, all I know is that three of the people I referred also were scammed by this same thing. There weren't public advertisements for this server, it was more of a mouth-to-mouth communication form of advertisement.

 

[Dannoth]

This is the thing about the internet, you dont know if when you are gonna buy something that the person who is "selling" it you is a scammer.

 

[Flaresolutions]

Thats weird that paypal wont help you out because the buyer usually has all the protection with untangible goods (and in this case they arent untangible because you should have a server & ip to show for it).

 

[firestorm]

if 4 people were scammed that you know of I would report to the police. Sry to hear about this...good luck with it.

-fire

 

[Host47]

the reason paypal won't do anything as they class it as electronic goods, or whatever they call it, because the server isn't actually delivered to him by mail, so the information to access it is deleivered by email.

 

[jberryhill]

http://www.cityofgrandville.com/Services/Police/OverviewPolice.htm

 

[JYM]

i don't think the police would do anything, especially if it's an internet related activity/crime.

 

[timmaay]

well you have absolutely nothing to lose by contacting the police in grandville

 

[AdoptableDomains]

... he kept saying it was the working of a server technician he hired and that he infact had no knowledge of servers. He then said it was scary how I managed to send money into his bank account.

As an employer, he is responsible for what his employees do in his company name, his company property, and using company email that was registered with paypal. If his company accepted money he know was not rigthly his, he and/or his company become an accessory to the crime and is just as guilty as the guy he hired.

Sometimes cost is irrelevant and you have to do things on principal. I'd file a police report even if just to make it a matter of public record. Even if you don't get your money back, you put another nail in his coffin and maybe help keep someone else from getting scammed.

 

[PS-NP]

Yeah I totally agree with AdoptableDomains, you really should file a police report. I doubt they will get your money back, however the crime will get recorded. You never know this might not have been the first time this was done by this person/company.

Sorry this kind of rubbish had to happen, but good luck with the outcome.

 

[jberryhill]

i don't think the police would do anything, especially if it's an internet related activity/crime.

You should take a look at that department's stats on "retail fraud" complaints.

 

[fonzie_007]

As an employer, he is responsible for what his employees do in his company name, his company property, and using company email that was registered with paypal.

AKA, the legal doctrine of Respondeat Superior.

Your best shot is to call the local police. I had a guy on ebay who took over 7 months to get me an item I won from this auction. I finally resorted to calling the local police. I spoke with an officer who was nice enough to pay the gentleman a house visits. Let's just say I had my item within a few days...

Best of luck with the situation. Keep us updated.

 

[peterstannard]

A Dual Xeon P4 server for $50 a year. Some people really need to do their research!