- Report: #1150804
Complaint Review: David A Goodman (So he says) - Nationwide
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David A Goodman (So he says)
Nationwide, USA
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David A Goodman (So he says) Unknown Attempt to sell a Ham Radio that he did not have Las Vegas, Nevada Nevada
I am an Amateur Radio operator (also known as a Ham). I buy and sell, occasionally, radios and equipment on line on various websites such as QRZ.com, Eham.net, QTH.com and so on and including Ebay. I saw an ad on QTH.com a few days ago for a Yaesu FT-8800 that I am interested in purchasing.
I sent an email to the address listed in the ad: [email protected]. Several hours later I got a response and he was willing to accept my offer. Payment was arranged through PayPal and I was instructed to send to this user: [email protected]. All was fine until a day later when he emailed me back stating that he was refunding my money because PayPal was holding the money for 21 days and that he needed the money in order to ship the radio to me. And he actually did refund the money! He then asked that I Western Union him the money in order to complete the deal "faster" and to send it to this person/address: Name: Maryjo Mellor Address: 5700 windy gorge street las vegas nevada 89149.
So, let me explain the shipping thing here - the cost to ship this radio, assuming it is in the original OEM box, would be somwehere from 20 to 40 dollars, depending on who he uses to ship. I find it difficult to believe that someone would not have this amount of money available to do so from the get go. Anyway, The total cost of the radio in question is 300 dollars. So, even if this guy would have to wait a week or so, at the least he will have his money.
Well, I looked up Western Union to see what it would cost to send the money and it turn out that I would pay 30 dollars to do so. I don't consider myself a cheapskate, but, I do not like having to pay more than I have to and for this "deal" 30 dollars is out of the question.. I then did some research on PayPal to verify what he was telling me and found out that they do in fact hold funds for UP TO 21 days for those who do not sell items very often and WILL hold Ebay sales for 21 days, period. This, they say, to ensure that the purchaser is satisfied with the item and that it did indeed arrive at the buyers home or place it was to be shipped.
HOWEVER, for transactions OUTSIDE of Ebay, if you provide a tracking number for the item, the hold may be removed early and funds released. I copied this information from PayPal and sent it to "David" and explained that I was not comfortable with Western Union transactions because, for the most part, once you send the money you have no way to recover it if something goes wrong, item does not get shipped, etc.
The more I thought about his request, the more I became suspicious. I then did a google search on Maryjo Mellor and found several hits on scams involving MULTIPLE Hams, A puppy deal that went sour (posted on this site) and several attempts at selling firearms in California and Nevada.
I then sent an email to "David" and advised him that I was no longer interested in doing business with him and also included the information I had found on google.
So, I just wanted to again let everyone know about this guy and what he is trying to do.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Dave Goodman
San Dimas,California,
I am the real David A Goodman, KG6JTB
#2REBUTTAL Individual responds
Fri, May 30, 2014
Thank you for posting all of this information about the incident. I was telephoned two days ago from another unsuspecting Ham Radio operator that had questions about the items listed for sale and tipping me off about this scammer.
Here is what happened. Somebody, probably this person(s) living in Las Vegas, created a GMAIL account with my callsign and added the name "David" to it. They are pretending to be me because I have a very good reputation as a seller and former publisher of a price guide (check me on QRZ.com). The scammers appeared to be careful enough not to set up a PayPal account with the bogus GMAIL account and offered up some other forms of payment.
If you search for this person on Google, she is a 65 year old lady in Las Vegas who has apparently done the same thing with firearms. I'll report this attempt to L.V.P.D., but I'm not hopeful they can do much about it.
I contacted Scott at QTH.com (I used to advertise on his site) and he took down the offending post. I also sent the scammers a threatening demand letter that they cease using my callsign and attempts to impersonate me.
My email is [email protected]. If anyone sees anything posted for sale that references my callsign, please notify me at once and send me the URL. I no longer sell ham radio equipment and have not done so in a number of years.
73,
Dave
