Scammed by RShaw

wietschebehr said:

Hi Carbonites.

It is with great regret and embarrassment that I have to reveal how this scam went down over the past week. I have tried to summarize the episode below, but I have a link at the end to a Dropbox folder containing the chat history and media files with all the details so you can actually listen to the guy's voice.

Why I got suckered:

I was very tired and under a lot of stress. I work and study and this happened just before my biannual international exams that I have been preparing for, for 3+ months, every morning and weekends when possible. Looking back this was the worst time to even look at doing a deal on getting a secondhand monitor upgrade. There were many infliction points where I would under normal circumstances do more effort, check out the sellers facts and get more independent references, especially on a member that joined a week before the deal and who had details not correlating the copy of ID I received. I also wanted this monitor far too much for my own good. I would rather try to justify all the odd and weird behavior and facts, than scrutinize every thing to the max and backing off from the deal.

So the combination of not having a clear mind, being tired and actually not having energy to do all the schlep of doing all the necessary due diligence, and wanted something to cheer me up, and motivate me and to look forward to when I finish the exams, was my downfall.

I am not saying its all my fault. We South Africans like to blame ourselves for being victims of crime. As if we should accept it as normal. This is still the wicked preying on good honest people and stealing from those who actually earn their money and contribute to society and the economy.

How it started:

I posted "PM sent" on someone's monitor being advertised. A short while later I got this PM:

"Hey man. Howsit going? I see you might be in the market for a monitor. Well if you havent come right yet. Let me know. I might wsnt to sell my
Asus Rog Strix XG32VQ 32" Gaming Monitor for around 7k
Drop me a WhatsApp on 063 572 4679 and ill give you more details and send you photos of the monitor
Thanks man
Regards"

I responded and started to negotiate a while later when I was not satisfied with the details on the original ad I responded on. At this point I should have already looked at the guys profile etc. I did not..

The deal in summary:

I asked the guy what the best offer was he could make and he said R5000 for the monitor. This off course got me more interested and gullible. He also explained with a sob story that he was selling because he needed cash ASAP.

I suggested I would pay him R2000 upfront, R1000 when I received the waybill/tracking number and the rest upon arrival. This was because there was no way I could go physically see the monitor before buying and only made my decisions based on pictures. We exchanged IDs and proof of residence, and he sent me a copy of the "original invoice" for the monitor (a verified fake). Everything I asked for had an answer and paperwork ready in no time. At this point I chatted so much with this guy and felt completely safe and believed that this was a good arrangement.

Paid the R2000, and he would then arrange the shipping because his brother had an account with Dawn Wing. Next day I received a SMS from "Dawn Wing" stating the delivery details etc. but with no tracking number (thought this was strange). I was not too much alarmed as I received a similar SMS from the real Dawn Wing about another package that was delivered to me just a week earlier. But the address was my home address and not the address I asked. I was annoyed with this unnecessary admin and wanted the guy to get it changed immediately and give me the tracking number as this was already a pain that I still don't have a tracking number. Long story short, I ended up paying the R1000 because of the SMS: the guy had cash flow issues and needed to drive to Dawn Wing to sort it out... This should have been the last straw, yet I fell for it out of frustration and the time wasted on this stupid admin and charity case.

The end:

The guy went cold, could not get hold of him. I made a couple of threats. The monitor never arrived. I got suckered. I am so freaking angry that this happened. I've done so many deals, know what to look out for and I am overly suspicious usually. This time round, it was as if I was rusty and a complete noob. All because my mind was not with me all the time and was completely focused on my more important exams. I will never do a deal again when I am fully occupied with something else and in the mental state I was in. I am having a chat with our legal department at work to see what we can do. Since the whole identity was manufactured probably from stolen IDs etc, for me to go and open a police case and getting everything blocked and flagged will just hurt someone else that was scammed before me. Exactly as my details will be used in the next scam which is for me of higher concern at the moment.

Link to Dropbox media: Dropbox - whatsapp chat - Simplify your life


I hope this detail helps someone identify this scammer before it happens to them. I did not read this forum's "bad deals" section, because my attitude was "I've been here, done this, I am not stupid, should be fine". I regret this now and I am humiliated and humbled by this experience. Its not about the money lost really, it's about being manipulated and scammed while being completely honest and compassionate on my side.

Cheers,
Wietsche

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