Scammer alert

[sbrownn]

So here's what happened. I advertised one of those large honorary checks that they often give out to the winning player of a big tournament. In this case it was Dennis Orcollo's check for winning the 2013 U.S. Open One Pocket Championship. He gave it to me after his win in return for favors I had done for him. I found it stored away in the back of my garage and decided someone else might be able to use it to decorate their poolroom. I put it up for sale on several Facebook billiard marketplaces.

Right away This guy Watson contacts me and says he already sent me money and shows me a screen shot that looks like it's from Paypal. I accepted it as real and packed the poster up and took it to UPS. Only after I get back home do I discover that no money from him had hit my account. There was no record of any such transaction and his original communication with me on FB was gone as well. I messaged him directly and he made a joke out of it, saying he paid me through FB and I should talk to Mark Zuckerburg if I had a problem. He was putting a LOL in every comment to me. I told him that I did not get any money from him and had already sent it through UPS. He continued to tell me that he sent the money and asked me to show him proof (a screenshot of my PayPal account) that I did not get it. I declined to do that, saying I had no proof since I never got any money and wasn't about to show him anything from my PayPal account. He told me it could just be slow coming from FB to PayPal and not to worry.

Now it has been all day (since early this morning) and there is still no money from him in my PayPal account. I went back to UPS and intercepted the package before it went out. I did not tell him this in my communication with him and he assumed the package was already on its way. At UPS they told me this has happened before. The buyer (Watson) gets an alert the moment I buy the shipping label from Facebook, which I had done right away. Then they quickly cancel the transaction on Paypal and it is removed and their money returned. All record of it is then erased from PayPal. When I went back home and checked on it there was no record of the transaction on PayPal. Zero, nothing!

This guy kept insisting to me that he sent me the money and showed me the same screenshot over and over again. What do you think? Am I missing something here? For me there were just too many clues (mainly no money!) that he was lying to me and trying to cover up afterwards. He did continue to chat with me on FB for over thirty minutes when I confronted him, and he began to get very argumentative. I admit I did not respond well to that when he called me an old man living in California, and what a terrible place to live it was. I told him that was none of his business and that I wasn't too old to give him an ass whipping and he was lucky he was so far away. Yes I was mad. Sorry about that.

Anyway at the end of the day I have the poster back, retrieved from UPS and a new buyer who is legit. If Watson's money ever does come to me I will just send it back, but that seems pretty doubtful right now. It's been over ten hours since this started.

One other thing. I called Sidepockets in Shreveport and they told me he did not work there. He told me he put on tournaments for them, so someone is lying. Does anyone here know this guy?

this is why I don't take any shipping action as the seller until any buyer paid funds successfully transfer to my bank account from the payment account.

 

[GoldCrown]

Learn something new every day. This was possibly a FB/PayPal scam. Never heard of this one before but at my age nothing surprises me.

These guys are good. I get texts,emails that are perfect scams. Stay smart stay cautious.

 

[iusedtoberich]

Jay, do you normally get an email or text message when you send or receive PayPal? If so, that would not have disappeared.

 

[jay helfert]

Jay, do you normally get an email or text message when you send or receive PayPal? If so, that would not have disappeared.

It was weird. I got a text message that looked like it was generated by Paypal. On closer inspection I see that Watson sent it to me. At the bottom in the fine print, it says to expect the money to arrive by April 13, after eight days! That's crazy. And he wanted me to ship to him immediately, which I almost did. If the money somehow shows up in my Paypal account this coming Saturday I will return it to him.

I do normally get an email from Paypal when money is sent to me there. I did not get one here at any time.

 

[GoldCrown]

It was weird. I got a text message that looked like it was generated by Paypal. On closer inspection I see that Watson sent it to me. At the bottom in the fine print, it says to expect the money to arrive by April 13, after eight days! That's crazy. And he wanted me to ship to him immediately, which I almost did. If the money somehow shows up on my Paypal account this coming Saturday I will return it to him.

I do normally get an email from Paypal when money is sent to me there. I did not get one here at any time.

Smells from fish

 

[j2pac]

So here's what happened. I advertised one of those large honorary checks that they often give out to the winning player of a big tournament. In this case it was Dennis Orcollo's check for winning the 2013 U.S. Open One Pocket Championship. He gave it to me after his win in return for favors I had done for him. I found it stored away in the back of my garage and decided someone else might be able to use it to decorate their poolroom. I put it up for sale on several Facebook billiard marketplaces.

Right away This guy Watson contacts me and says he already sent me money and shows me a screen shot that looks like it's from Paypal. I accepted it as real and packed the poster up and took it to UPS. Only after I get back home do I discover that no money from him had hit my account. There was no record of any such transaction and his original communication with me on FB was gone as well. I messaged him directly and he made a joke out of it, saying he paid me through FB and I should talk to Mark Zuckerburg if I had a problem. He was putting a LOL in every comment to me. I told him that I did not get any money from him and had already sent it through UPS. He continued to tell me that he sent the money and asked me to show him proof (a screenshot of my PayPal account) that I did not get it. I declined to do that, saying I had no proof since I never got any money and wasn't about to show him anything from my PayPal account. He told me it could just be slow coming from FB to PayPal and not to worry.

Now it has been all day (since early this morning) and there is still no money from him in my PayPal account. I went back to UPS and intercepted the package before it went out. I did not tell him this in my communication with him and he assumed the package was already on its way. At UPS they told me this has happened before. The buyer (Watson) gets an alert the moment I buy the shipping label from Facebook, which I had done right away. Then they quickly cancel the transaction on Paypal and it is removed and their money returned. All record of it is then erased from PayPal. When I went back home and checked on it there was no record of the transaction on PayPal. Zero, nothing!

This guy kept insisting to me that he sent me the money and showed me the same screenshot over and over again. What do you think? Am I missing something here? For me there were just too many clues (mainly no money!) that he was lying to me and trying to cover up afterwards. He did continue to chat with me on FB for over thirty minutes when I confronted him, and he began to get very argumentative. I admit I did not respond well to that when he called me an old man living in California, and what a terrible place to live it was. I told him that was none of his business and that I wasn't too old to give him an ass whipping and he was lucky he was so far away. Yes I was mad. Sorry about that.

Anyway at the end of the day I have the poster back, retrieved from UPS and a new buyer who is legit. If Watson's money ever does come to me I will just send it back, but that seems pretty doubtful right now. It's been over ten hours since this started.

One other thing. I called Sidepockets in Shreveport and they told me he did not work there. He told me he put on tournaments for them, so someone is lying. Does anyone here know this guy?

Likely it was a scam, but...if the buyer sends payment via PayPal in the form of an e-check, the funds can take 7 to 10 business days to clear. Unless you are someone that I am familiar with, I don't ship until the funds have cleared.
Sounds like your instincts were spot on Jay.

 

[GoldCrown]

Likely it was a scam, but...if the buyer sends payment via PayPal in the form of an e-check, the funds can take 7 to 10 business days to clear. Unless you are someone that I am familiar with, I don't ship until the funds have cleared.
Sounds like your instincts were spot on Jay.

And the guy wants the merchandise now. Remembering Whimpy.....

 

[j2pac]

And the guy wants the merchandise now. Remembering Whimpy.....

Usually once I receive payment, if the funds are there, I will begin an immediate transfer of the funds to my bank account, once the funds transfer is under way, I will then purchase a shipping label.
Unfortunately, using friends and family leaves little protection for the buyer, but does insulate the seller to a degree.
It's honestly just a shame that folks can't be honorable.

 

[GoldCrown]

Usually once I receive payment, if the funds are there, I will begin an immediate transfer of the funds to my bank account, once the funds transfer is under way, I will then purchase a shipping label.
Unfortunately, using friends and family leaves little protection for the buyer, but does insulate the seller to a degree.
It's honestly just a shame that folks can't be honorable.

There are a handful of people here I never met but would ship in advance and they can pay then. Otherwise exactly what you said. Do it by the book. Protect yourself and be safe. No to Friends/Family. Why screw PP.
Everything I ever bought was paid at the counter or in advance.

 

[j2pac]

There are a handful of people here I never met but would ship in advance and they can pay then. Otherwise exactly what you said. Do it by the book. Protect yourself and be safe. No to Friends/Family. Why screw PP.
Everything I ever bought was paid at the counter or in advance.

It's not PayPal I worry about. It's hassling with the IRS over selling a few personal items that I have already paid for.
I don't demand friends and family, but I prefer it. I can also completely understand why folks would avoid it.

 

[GoldCrown]

It's not PayPal I worry about. It's hassling with the IRS over selling a few personal items that I have already paid for.
I don't demand friends and family, but I prefer it. I can also completely understand why folks would avoid it.

I missed the IRS part. Regardless trust people as far as you can throw them.

 

[1pocket]

How about the scam where they "accidentally" send you double the money, and they ask you to send back the extra, so you send back the extra and you ship out the goods, and then funny thing, the money disappears. Now you are out the goods and the money! Or how about this, the same idea -- they accidentally send you for two, so you credit back one payment and ship them one -- then about a month later Paypal hits you with a dispute from them, and Paypal makes youu return the rest of the money, AND Paypal hits you with a warning and $20 or so penalty charge!!! Plus you are out the goods!!

It's a jungle out there!!!

 

[DiamondJim]

Thanks for the warning.

 

[gambler67]

DO NOT do any business with Jacob Watson out of Bossier City, LA. He also claims to be from Lindale, TX. He is involved in running tournaments out of Sidepockets in Shreveport, LA. He is a scammer. I caught him trying to scam me on FB for a rare billiard poster. Just a word to the wise.

sadly the world is full of these types

 

[ShootingArts]

I found out long ago that money isn't yours until it is in your hand. Your bank tentatively accepts the electronic transfers but the transfer isn't real until they receive the cash. That usually takes a few weeks to over a month.

Hu

 

[Cue Stick]

DO NOT do any business with Jacob Watson out of Bossier City, LA. He also claims to be from Lindale, TX. He is involved in running tournaments out of Sidepockets in Shreveport, LA. He is a scammer. I caught him trying to scam me on FB for a rare billiard poster. Just a word to the wise.

Do you have a feel for the value of that kind of sports memorabilia? I have autographs from some legendary pool and billiard players. I'm not trying to sell them at this point, but I am curious what they are worth.

 

[Cue Stick]

I found out long ago that money isn't yours until it is in your hand. Your bank tentatively accepts the electronic transfers but the transfer isn't real until they receive the cash. That usually takes a few weeks to over a month.

Hu

That's why the fake cashier's check scam works. Some banks will deposit the check and let you spend the money before the check clears the bank. Once they find out the check is fake, you have to pay them back the entire amount of the check.

 

[ShootingArts]

That's why the fake cashier's check scam works. Some banks will deposit the check and let you spend the money before the check clears the bank. Once they find out the check is fake, you have to pay them back the entire amount of the check.

Many did, very few didn't. My own bank insisted on a $28,000 cashiers check clearing. Thing that annoyed me is that it was purchased at another branch of the same bank 45 minutes away and signed by the branch manager. Took over two weeks for that cashiers check to clear.

It smelled funny from my viewpoint and I held the check until they were ready to cash it. Once I had the long green in my safe they weren't getting it back!

Hu

 

[jay helfert]

Do you have a feel for the value of that kind of sports memorabilia? I have autographs from some legendary pool and billiard players. I'm not trying to sell them at this point, but I am curious what they are worth.

It depends, on who, what and when they signed it. Lassiter's signature is worth a lot more than Earl's or Sigel's!

 

[PoolBum]

I have Willie Mosconis first cue and a pair of his underwear. I will make you a good deal on both. I will discount them if you by them as a set.

I have Willie's mustache, and would be willing to part with it for the right price.