Expensive watch ripoff

[ChrisW]

Feel like an idiot now, but got suckered into an escrow deal on a vintage Rolex for $4300. I had never used any kind of escrow service before and the buyer assured me it was all good.

The escrow web site was very professionally done, with login features, account status, testimonials, etc. Music even started up when you went there. All went well, including the usual emails back from the web site admin confirming passowrds, etc etc.

I shipped the watch by FedEx to an address in Paris France on Ave Mozart to an individual named Remi Garcia. His personal email is biloct2@live.com and the following web page was used: http://www.mastergarante.com As soon as the watch was confirmed delivered to the Paris address, the next step was supposed to be for me to retrieve the funds from the web page and transfer the money into my bank account. Of course when I went to do this, the web page was gone and all correspondence by email with the buyer has stopped.

I am convinced this fraudster sets up a new web page each time he does a deal.

Chris Willson

[lightfair]

Chris,

sorry to hear about your loss. Sometimes those scams are very well executed and not that easy to spot.

I hope you have filed a police report already? If not I would urge you to do this, even if the chances are pretty slim that the scammer is caught (actually sometimes they do get caught). It's important to get all the delivery details. The receiver could be the scammer himselff, or it could be a "re-shipping mule". Either way it's important.

You are right, the scammer(s) set up new pages frequently (becaused usually those fake sites don't last very long). mastergarante.com isn't in our databasem but could you have a look at the image gallery

http://escrow-fraud.com/index.php?page=gallery

and see if you recognize that particular layout? There are most likely other sites with the same layout; and it would be a good idea to show the police that this scam is bigger (in fact it's organized crime).