Hey guys, great channel. I had 10 guitars stolen about a year ago, not to include multiple electronics. Anyway, about 8 months later some kid tried to pawn a tele, not high end or anything but it was mine. So, they guys at the pawn shop know me and called because they have seen my guitars at my house. The police were called and he was arrested. I went to identify my guitar down to the smallest scratch and pedal that was in the gig bag and the vintage '60s ACE strap. He gave up the guys that stole them and said they still had everything down to my Marshall amp and cab. And still to this day the police haven't done anything to get my gear back. There were guitars you can buy anytime, but there were a few that I could never replace. My first guitar from '84, a limited run Les Paul from '98 and a USA built Squier strat made in Corona CA from '91. Not really super high end stuff, but it was mine. And my first guitar meant alot. I just want my gear back. So with no help from the police, I'm gonna let time pass and well I'll deal with them myself. I don't like that side of me. But I can't set back and let someone take what I've worked so hard to get.
@@CasinoGuitars thanks guys, I hope you can get the Taylor back in one piece. It's a beautiful instrument. Not my cup of tea, being it's an acoustic. But I can appreciate it non the less. Keep the awsome videos comin. And Jonathan, get more tele's on here and playing. They are the work horses with the least recognition..... Maybe a custom shop 🤘
@@joesantamaria5874 why not? Maybe they deal with people differently than you. Unless your a thug or a gangster, "deal with them", to normal people is something you dont mind making public lol.
I work at a Guitar Center on the east coast. There were a series of unfortunate fraudulent identity theft cases in which two people were signing up with our finance/rewards credit card. In every case, they had the right info, matching ID and verification, and were instantly approved. Every ID was apparently stolen and they somehow had the ability to fabricate the rest. They were doing the exact same thing as here, buying up expensive pieces with the credit, flipping it on the private/used market, and walking away with the cash. There was an incident in my particular store that, although it was unfortunately at the expense of my fellow associate's face (he's fine now and his face looks great again,) had lead to the arrests of both suspects. Even when you take all of the measures, making sure everything is air tight, scammers will always some how find a way. I'm glad you're obtaining momentum with this, hope you get some resolution. Cheers.
Wow, what a bummer there as well! Thank you for sharing. There are always a few active scammers trying to hit us and every shop out there it seems. If we can all stick together and share these ideas we may be able to slow a few of them up and maybe. just maybe, even catch a few. Thank you sincerely for sharing!
@@CasinoGuitars it was by pure luck that we ever got them, one tripped down an escalator while being pursued. The other was identified by their clothing and the store stalled them while "processing their application" and they were taken in for ID'ing. One thing that definitely helped was our pretty incredible interconnected email system in place, and share images or video from our security cameras to each store for these incidents. It helps us all keep an eye out for any potential individuals. I'd suggest someone start one as a nation wide database for any music retailer to join (verification some how otherwise it's literally a cheat sheet for a thief.)
@@harrisnakamura619 cash can also be stolen, in which case this would be like money laundering. Buying a guitar with dirty money and then selling the guitar for clean proof of sale money.
Sorry that you guys had to go through this. Dealing with police and tracking everything down yourself is a hassle and more stress. I appreciate you taking the time to do this video, even if I am old fashion and like buying from a shop where I can try the guitar to see if it is love at first play.
This is great guys! I hope in part two you have body cam Footage showing the guy opening the door and the cops chasing him down the street with a taser.
I worked in retail for 29+ years. Fortunately we didn't have No Contact credit card sales or ship to orders. (Store level). But we had our share of scams. The internet has upped the game for scams and theft. Glad I found you all. I live in Apex so Southern Pines is not to far down the road.
Great video. Valuable information. Thanks. Many guitars I've seen on reverb seem...seem counterfeit. Usually very expensive and marked at a lower price. Gibson customs with obvious bad headstock inlays for one. It's a shame. Normal people are trying to buy and sell instruments.
I buy and sell on Reverb as well. Never had any theft issues on purchases. I'm thorough in identifying the buyer or seller - call them in person to confim their info before proceeding with any sale or purchase - and always use Reverb Protection. Once I encountered a dude that had reliced a cheap Chinese-made metal resonator guitar and was trying to sell it for $2000 over value, which was actually kind of comical. I called the sellers and after a very short time speaking to the "refinisher," it was obvious he had no idea what a resonator guitar actually was. Your pointers for dealing with fraud are well taken. Thanks for putting this video together.
This can also be identity theft. The perp steals the credit card information, places an order and then intercepts the package. This is a very common practice. The victim of the identity theft never knows until he gets the bill.
This has happened alot. Be carefull with who you give your CC and Drivers license to. Our credit card processor wants us to get copies of each before we accept online sales.
Reverb has been pretty great to work with so I wouldn't avoid them. Just be careful with private checks, money orders, etc. for sure. Thanks for watching!
Great video gentlemen! I live in South Florida and unfortunately know exactly what you went through, because it's also happened to me. Let's just say Money orders aren't always legit also. Anyways, if I can help out in any way let me know. I do know the area very well living down here for most of my life and know a lot of people as well, guitar people that is. Again, great video and thanks for putting it out there so people know what's going on!
Thomas, thanks for the kind words. We appreciate you keeping an eye out for the Taylor. Knowlege is power, lots of good people and friends down in South Florida, be safe and thanks for commenting on the video and shareing your thoughts!
As far as money orders go, (1) only accept US postal service money orders. They can only be purchased at the post office for cash; (2) all of the US Postal Service Money Orders have serial numbers; (3) if you send items insured through the Post Office and use US Postal Service Money Orders; (4) as a seller require that the delivery of the US Postal Service Money Orders be sent and you cash them at the Post Office in the same transactions as shipping the items so that buyer knows that they are not getting scammed; (5) if Seller, photocopy the US Postal Service Money Order and buyer has a receipt, then if there is a scam being run, the US Postal Service Inspector General's Office opens a file and the crime is Federal in nature, no local police are involved. So far, and using this method has protected my from scammers. Best of luck in recovering your goods.
I personally think reverb should be responsible since we are using their platform to sell our instruments on they collect a percentage they should do more for us and even be responsible as far as theft goes. Is their webpage they should be responsible
I had a PRS Custom 22 stolen in April 2016. It turned up on EBay in July 18. The seller wanted cash. So I arranged to meet him at a tube station in London. Rocked up confirmed my ownership ( the idiot had kept my earplugs in the case with my dna on). I explained ownership with photos, proof of sale and also the multiple modifications the instrument had. I gave him £200 reward. He got nasty and admitted he’d bought it fenced in a pub for 600 bucks. I shouted out “look everyone, this man is fencing goods at your station in your community”. He bolted. At no point did the London Met Police want to help. But I got my baby back. One of the few benefits of the 2008 crash is there are very few mom & pop guitar stores in the U.K. to fence things through anymore.
Yeah? I bet they'd have been interested if you'd called him a few 'names'. I heard a couple of weeks back that 70% of the Met PCs made zero arrests last year.
Also keep your all the paperwork. I sold a guitar on Ebay and my payment was held when the "buyers" bank claimed the purchase was not authorized but I provided the shipping receipt to PayPal and my payment was released.
Man, the first few minutes of this video stressed me out lol! Y’all did some great detective work though. Crazy how seemingly organized these people can get
Interesting. The way I learned about Musicians friend (never heard of them before), was getting my credit card statement and seeing a few $400 charges on it that weren't mine. Also had one from Walmart for the same amount that was charged and credited (flagged & declined apparently). I called Musicians friend and found out that someone ordered Go pro cameras of all things and shipped to a nearby address. They wouldn't give me any specifics but I was able to get the zip code and it was literally 4-6 miles away probably in the hood. Later I realized after my CC expired, I had never been mailed a replacement, so obviously it was intercepted in the mail. Almost 100% sure it was an insider at the PO, because we had a door slot mail box, via foot carriers at USPS. In the same vicinity my boss had checks stolen from USPS drop boxes somehow and cashed (mind you they were for taxes) amazingly. Took him over 6 mos to recover about $6k, between two diff banks involved. They tried to stonewall him when it was their responsibility for paying out checks with no signature made out the the state Dept of revenue.
I recently listed a guitar on Facebook Marketplace. Within 8 hours I got two replies who wanted to buy it sight unseen. They both were supposed to send their cousin or best friend to pick it up. Who buys a guitar without even checking it out? Both wanted pay by cashiers check-right? So I asked both parties what kind of music they played ,what tunings did they use, what scale length were they looking for? Two in one day probably rich princes from Nigeria or Florida.
Yep, I stopped selling guitars that require shipping unless I have firm confidence in the sale. Even the local CL guitar sales I do bring in occasional scammers, but are usually so blatantly noticeable I'm able to identify early. Is too bad there are people like this. Cash and local pickup only. Period. But I'm not a business so this works out for me, you folks that need to turn a lot of sales really need to keep a watchful eye. Good sleuthing on your example scam situation.
I've bought and sold a lot on craigslist too w/ lots of good experiences. I go into that situation assuming positive intent but ready to defend myself if necessary. I prefer guitar shops over the interweb, I can pick up and play a guitar before I buy it.
It's funny you mention you can have the guitar shipped to a UPS store. I've been buying from musiciansfriend for 9 years with the same account and my last couple orders were canceled and sent back to them because they thought I was committing a fraud by having them sent to the UPS store. I was just out of town and needed a safe place for my stuff until I got back. After a couple hours on the phone with them they told me that if they helped me they would have to help everyone, which I think that's what they're in business for in the first place haha...
Thats nuts! Musicians friend have had their own difficulties over the past few years with Sweetwater just dominating them. They started out string but their internal systems were just crushed by the weight of Seetwaters ability to service their customers. Thank you for sharing!
@@CasinoGuitars Sweetwater even lets you ship to walgreens stores, which is safer too, they have cameras and ask for your ID so they always know who picked up the stuff. Musiciansfriend need to get it together!
If I were in your shoes, the most aggravating and frustrating part of this is for me would be that I had to do my own detective work. Through a series of cases from the final few decades of the last century, the SCOTUS determined that law enforcement has no duty to protect an individual but rather only the public. This ruling was the result of citizens who were victims (or the survivors of the victim) of violent crime where 911 or similar resulted in officers arriving well after the victim had already been savaged and/or murdered. I understand that the High Court’s ruling has been applied conceptually to property crimes like this one (not sure how accurate the last bit is) and that, in part, is why you’re having to do your own sleuthing. Additionally, regardless of where one lives, all are assessed taxes; a portion of said taxes allegedly pay law enforcement agencies to provide services. When one is victimized and the crime was committed in the jurisdiction of the agency who receives the report about/is alerted to the crime’s commission, there is a reasonable expectation, or at least used to be that said agency would render some sort of professional police work to the end that a crime victim might expect resolution and some form of justice. So it would seem that besides representing the profession of revenue harvester, the agency that is supposed to pursue your complaint and remove a predatory criminal element from society will only do so providing you, the victim, performs the detective work and makes for a minimum of effort on the part of the respective law enforcement agency. The only effort expended by the agency is to follow up on the “served on a silver platter” civilian generated “police work”, arrest and detain the perpetrator (until arraignment anyway) and then claim credit for the statistic of another criminal removed from the community, i.e., “look at the good job we at the police department are doing at serving and protecting the community.” Thank you for detailing how you went about gathering the information that will take this individual out of circulation. Aside from the frustration of having to perform a fiduciary duty that a government agency by definition is supposed to perform, I also am miffed that this kind of fraudulent activity adds to the cost of various goods and services impacted by yet another form of 5-finger discount. There’s no free lunch. Somewhere, someone has to pick up the check for a stolen guitar, for your time investigating and reporting the theft and for the time taken away from the two of you that should’ve been spent growing the business, in rendering improved customer service and potentially from your families because those other two items are still having to be attended to by the two of you because there isn’t sufficient revenue to hire & train another to perform those business necessities on account of the losses incurred on an ≈ $7,000 retail theft.
Because companies don't care about us as long as they get their money they don't care about scammers unless they're the ones getting scammed. That's just life Sadly.
The first thing you should have done is filed a police report with the local sheriffs department where it was delivered with the serial number. Once you found out the individual from Reverb you could’ve contacted the local sheriffs department again as well as the Florida Department of corrections to find the parole officer assigned it to that individual. Sadly, the cops don’t actually give a crap about you or your guitar or the fact that they have a non-violent scammer/thief running around in their jurisdiction. But if you can gift wrapped them with all of the evidence along with the name and address for the perpetrator already on probation or parole. They will go ahead and pick him up as it is an easy win. I have personally been through this myself and was even required to testify at the trial since my assclown pled not guilty. But we were able to get a conviction and he spent a whopping 18 months in jail.
Ye unfortunately there are criminals we deal with almost daily ....they are a real drag on things but hopefully we can slow them up a bit by sharing these things. Thanks for watching!
Because guitars r stupidly over priced for no reason at all and its easy to scam Guitars. Is scamming a dick move hell yeah but also selling guitars way over priced is also a scam. Selling guitars that r over 500$ and u don't even get a hard shell case with it? Smh guitar companies/sellers r just as much as a scam/rip off as people who scam them.
How long did it take you to get this settled? I'm going through a somewhat similar experience currently been working with reverb on it for about a month and a half on a guitar that I purchased.
I am sorry to hear that Michael. We are not completely settled yet on this. The chargeback was reversed but that could still go back to the thief/buyer at any point. Reverb was pretty active on the early side but honestly I think they are more worried about not being found liable for anything. They really are concerned with protecting that angle but our rep there was really great in trying to help...but really couldn't do much for us. Keep in contact with them and better to annoy them than to be forgotten until resolution is made.
Unfortunately this is why I only buy used stuff through dealers and only sell in person locally. May miss out on some killer deals, but it gives me peace of mind. Hope everything works out and you get the guitar back!
Don’t get your hopes too high. As a lawyer I can tell you you still don’t have enough to go on. Identity theft is common, any person can use anyone’s name and info nowadays and make fake IDs even to match up with it.
This is kinda like having to do some Bullies' homework at school, handing over the complete evidence of your own extensive investigation...to the police *before* they commence their "investigation".🙄
It was charged back to the buyer/thief/whoever so it was taken from our account. It was then returned to our account after much work but still has the chance of being taken from us again...it is rather exhausting and really does affect the business in a not positive way! Thank you for checking in Thomas and hopefully we can do a nice follow up when this is all resolved!
I was raised in Oakland Park Florida, went to Oakland Park Elementary and Rickards Rocket middle school, before moving on. This does not surprise me. I had my Schwin Stingray stolen when l was 8 years old. Some 50 years later, it still pissed me off. But it has taught me, of course there was no internet then. But l would never buy a guitar from anywhere unless it is in my hands, and l have played it. Yes, l had to fly a few time to be there in person buying an expensive guitar. To me that's halve the fun. Reverb never. I have never been ripped off again, and never will be. Most people are kind and generous, some are lazy, scumbag thief that never worked a day in there lives. I feel sorry for those drugged up pieces of shi..... Hey, just my opinion. PEACE
Why couldn't you just look up the address the guitar was delivered to on UPS using the tracking number? The guitar was obviously not delivered to the credit card owner's address. What am I missing here? Humor me for not understanding. I sell stuff online and have never had a problem. Thanks!
I just figured out what I missed. The guys knew each other as you clearly stated! Duh. Sorry, I'm a bit slow. Been up all night. Great channel, guys! Keep up the good work!
Did the guy who called you file a credit card fraud report with his local police? If he is an innocent victim, you can provide the name of the guy from Nate's corner to him for his report.
And I’m actually not inclined to think that the person who did call them was in on the scam. If the one who ordered it fraudulently got the guitar already why would he bother calling if it wasn’t his card in the first place. And if it was the persons own card and they falsely claim they never receive the guitar why would they call the store to complain when they can just call their bank and get almost automatically refunded thanks to zero liability policies and consumer protection laws. So it sounds like an angry cardholder who doesn’t understand that their bank is protecting them fully from fraud.
Hello Bob. They are still working this out. All of the pertinent info has been provided to the police and were hoping this gets resolved properly for all parties involved! Thank you for watching!
@@luapnoguob9828 Luap thank you for sharing your thoughts and for watching! The authorities have all of the info here and hopefully this will be resolved positively for all! Often the perpetrators will call the store though as well as report it so that the store will simply refund the charge amount. Once this is done there is no recourse for the merchant and the credit card companies and authorities are out of it. Card companies always side in favor of their card holders over merchants until proven wrong. They are in the business of making money off of those interest rates and really don't care how it affects the merchants unfortunately.
Ouch:) a slow trickle maybe Randy but even better...I think 15 years of a really bad marriage would suffice. Id rather duo that time in jail:) Well see you soon and be safe out there!
I love that you have to do all the work . Talk about police being useless for anything but revenue generation for the state.
A bit of a bummer eh...but we don't mind doing that to protect ourselves a bit.
Hey guys, great channel. I had 10 guitars stolen about a year ago, not to include multiple electronics. Anyway, about 8 months later some kid tried to pawn a tele, not high end or anything but it was mine. So, they guys at the pawn shop know me and called because they have seen my guitars at my house. The police were called and he was arrested. I went to identify my guitar down to the smallest scratch and pedal that was in the gig bag and the vintage '60s ACE strap. He gave up the guys that stole them and said they still had everything down to my Marshall amp and cab. And still to this day the police haven't done anything to get my gear back. There were guitars you can buy anytime, but there were a few that I could never replace. My first guitar from '84, a limited run Les Paul from '98 and a USA built Squier strat made in Corona CA from '91. Not really super high end stuff, but it was mine. And my first guitar meant alot. I just want my gear back. So with no help from the police, I'm gonna let time pass and well I'll deal with them myself. I don't like that side of me. But I can't set back and let someone take what I've worked so hard to get.
It hurst even worse when it's your first guitar. Hope everything ends up well, and sending good vibes your way! Thanks for sharing that story with us.
@@CasinoGuitars thanks guys, I hope you can get the Taylor back in one piece. It's a beautiful instrument. Not my cup of tea, being it's an acoustic. But I can appreciate it non the less. Keep the awsome videos comin. And Jonathan, get more tele's on here and playing. They are the work horses with the least recognition..... Maybe a custom shop 🤘
i guess it is quite randomly asking but does anybody know of a good site to stream newly released tv shows online ?
Donny, prolly not best to put “deal with them myself” in writing on a public forum.
@@joesantamaria5874 why not? Maybe they deal with people differently than you. Unless your a thug or a gangster, "deal with them", to normal people is something you dont mind making public lol.
This really sucks. We in Mexico have similar stories, but no help from the police. Good that you have strong justice systems.
We're trying and that is unfortunate. Hopefully if enough of us get together it can stop the thieves a small bit!
I work at a Guitar Center on the east coast. There were a series of unfortunate fraudulent identity theft cases in which two people were signing up with our finance/rewards credit card.
In every case, they had the right info, matching ID and verification, and were instantly approved. Every ID was apparently stolen and they somehow had the ability to fabricate the rest. They were doing the exact same thing as here, buying up expensive pieces with the credit, flipping it on the private/used market, and walking away with the cash.
There was an incident in my particular store that, although it was unfortunately at the expense of my fellow associate's face (he's fine now and his face looks great again,) had lead to the arrests of both suspects.
Even when you take all of the measures, making sure everything is air tight, scammers will always some how find a way.
I'm glad you're obtaining momentum with this, hope you get some resolution. Cheers.
Wow, what a bummer there as well! Thank you for sharing. There are always a few active scammers trying to hit us and every shop out there it seems. If we can all stick together and share these ideas we may be able to slow a few of them up and maybe. just maybe, even catch a few.
Thank you sincerely for sharing!
@@CasinoGuitars it was by pure luck that we ever got them, one tripped down an escalator while being pursued. The other was identified by their clothing and the store stalled them while "processing their application" and they were taken in for ID'ing.
One thing that definitely helped was our pretty incredible interconnected email system in place, and share images or video from our security cameras to each store for these incidents. It helps us all keep an eye out for any potential individuals. I'd suggest someone start one as a nation wide database for any music retailer to join (verification some how otherwise it's literally a cheat sheet for a thief.)
Cash is king.
@@harrisnakamura619 cash can also be stolen, in which case this would be like money laundering. Buying a guitar with dirty money and then selling the guitar for clean proof of sale money.
Honestly these videos are great, love watching them on a weekend morning with a strong cup of joe and my guitar in lap
Sorry that you guys had to go through this. Dealing with police and tracking everything down yourself is a hassle and more stress. I appreciate you taking the time to do this video, even if I am old fashion and like buying from a shop where I can try the guitar to see if it is love at first play.
Thank you Ben for watching! We hope it helps a bit. And I like that idea of playing the guitar you end up buying:) as well!
As a musician who’s had things stolen from him as well, this is a very satisfying story. Awesome job guys!
Sorry to hear that it happened to you as well. Thanks for watching!
This is great guys! I hope in part two you have body cam Footage showing the guy opening the door and the cops chasing him down the street with a taser.
Man. Scammers suck. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks for watching, knowledge is power! It's up to us to protect against scammers.
I worked in retail for 29+ years. Fortunately we didn't have No Contact credit card sales or ship to orders. (Store level). But we had our share of scams. The internet has upped the game for scams and theft. Glad I found you all. I live in Apex so Southern Pines is not to far down the road.
Great video. Valuable information. Thanks.
Many guitars I've seen on reverb seem...seem counterfeit. Usually very expensive and marked at a lower price. Gibson customs with obvious bad headstock inlays for one. It's a shame. Normal people are trying to buy and sell instruments.
Great video. I sell guitars on Reverb and luckily I've never had this issue but it's good to know how to handle it.
America’s an interesting place -everywhere else I’ve lived the Police would be called & charges of Fraud would be filed on the 2 individuals 🤷♂️
America is a shitty place to live sadly.
Never would have thought this would happen. I learned a ton.
I buy and sell on Reverb as well. Never had any theft issues on purchases. I'm thorough in identifying the buyer or seller - call them in person to confim their info before proceeding with any sale or purchase - and always use Reverb Protection. Once I encountered a dude that had reliced a cheap Chinese-made metal resonator guitar and was trying to sell it for $2000 over value, which was actually kind of comical. I called the sellers and after a very short time speaking to the "refinisher," it was obvious he had no idea what a resonator guitar actually was. Your pointers for dealing with fraud are well taken. Thanks for putting this video together.
What info do you confirm with the buyer? Name and address other and other information?
Thank you! I love the idea of having them pick it up at UPS.
Most UPS Stores have cameras!
Even then, they can wear mask for covid etc and have fake ID
That sucks. Hope you get your guitar back and they catch the thieves.
We would love it if they just arrested these guys/gy. Thank you for watching!
As sellers, we cannot even verify their information because Reverb does all of it and let's you know when to ship.
This can also be identity theft. The perp steals the credit card information, places an order and then intercepts the package. This is a very common practice. The victim of the identity theft never knows until he gets the bill.
This has happened alot. Be carefull with who you give your CC and Drivers license to. Our credit card processor wants us to get copies of each before we accept online sales.
Hope you get your guitar back Baxter & Johnathan, good luck!
Thanks Nicola! Well keep trying:)
Sorry guys, I hope this gets resolved and soon. Thank you very much for the video.
Thank you James for watching! I hope this guy gets in some good old fashioned trouble for this.
Man that really sucks. Hope you all can resolve this soon.
Thank you Joe! We hope so as well and well keep everyone posted if we get an arrest!
Wow. Crazy story! And well done !
Thanks, Peter we think the scammer will be caught soon!
Hope you get the guitar back soon and they arrest this habitual criminal
We're at the point where we just hope he goes down. We would love to see the guitar again but justice may even taste better:)
Think I might avoid Reverb unless it’s from local guitar store rather than random sellers .
Reverb has been pretty great to work with so I wouldn't avoid them. Just be careful with private checks, money orders, etc. for sure. Thanks for watching!
Another great video...! Would love to see a tour of your shop at some point, too. :)
Great video gentlemen! I live in South Florida and unfortunately know exactly what you went through, because it's also happened to me. Let's just say Money orders aren't always legit also. Anyways, if I can help out in any way let me know. I do know the area very well living down here for most of my life and know a lot of people as well, guitar people that is. Again, great video and thanks for putting it out there so people know what's going on!
Thomas, thanks for the kind words. We appreciate you keeping an eye out for the Taylor. Knowlege is power, lots of good people and friends down in South Florida, be safe and thanks for commenting on the video and shareing your thoughts!
No problem!
As far as money orders go, (1) only accept US postal service money orders. They can only be purchased at the post office for cash; (2) all of the US Postal Service Money Orders have serial numbers; (3) if you send items insured through the Post Office and use US Postal Service Money Orders; (4) as a seller require that the delivery of the US Postal Service Money Orders be sent and you cash them at the Post Office in the same transactions as shipping the items so that buyer knows that they are not getting scammed; (5) if Seller, photocopy the US Postal Service Money Order and buyer has a receipt, then if there is a scam being run, the US Postal Service Inspector General's Office opens a file and the crime is Federal in nature, no local police are involved. So far, and using this method has protected my from scammers. Best of luck in recovering your goods.
@@edc3093 Awesome piece of advice! Thank you on sharing that one as well.
Wow after reading the comments I’m grateful
For
Never having any of my gear stolen
Reverb is usually a good choice
What I got from this is Derrick is ex KGB.
KGB is just a front for PRS, IMO!
😂😂😂
Ye, we don't mess with Derrick...ever! I think he signed me up for two years of Good Housekeeping just to make me sad...:(
I personally think reverb should be responsible since we are using their platform to sell our instruments on they collect a percentage they should do more for us and even be responsible as far as theft goes. Is their webpage they should be responsible
I had a PRS Custom 22 stolen in April 2016. It turned up on EBay in July 18. The seller wanted cash. So I arranged to meet him at a tube station in London. Rocked up confirmed my ownership ( the idiot had kept my earplugs in the case with my dna on). I explained ownership with photos, proof of sale and also the multiple modifications the instrument had. I gave him £200 reward. He got nasty and admitted he’d bought it fenced in a pub for 600 bucks. I shouted out “look everyone, this man is fencing goods at your station in your community”. He bolted. At no point did the London Met Police want to help. But I got my baby back.
One of the few benefits of the 2008 crash is there are very few mom & pop guitar stores in the U.K. to fence things through anymore.
Yeah? I bet they'd have been interested if you'd called him a few 'names'. I heard a couple of weeks back that 70% of the Met PCs made zero arrests last year.
Also keep your all the paperwork. I sold a guitar on Ebay and my payment was held when the "buyers" bank claimed the purchase was not authorized but I provided the shipping receipt to PayPal and my payment was released.
Good records saves you alot of headache! Glad you were good and got your money
Great work. I’m sorry that you had to go through this.
Man, the first few minutes of this video stressed me out lol! Y’all did some great detective work though. Crazy how seemingly organized these people can get
Thanks Brooks, we were going for that drama feel:) Hopefully we can organize these people right into jail:)
I would love to have guido make a “house call” to those places in Florida….
I live near these jerks in South Fl...let me know if you want me to go get it. :)
I love that Tone Talk...I may give you the guys home as we know where the jerk lives:) Thanks sincerely for watching!
I loved the curly maple armrest
So did we...:( Thank you for watching A Bomb!
Sucks what happened, and it sucks that people would do this. But thank for you so much for making this video.
Be safe buying and selling out there! Thanks for watching and commenting.
The video has one downvote...some detective work later shows it originated in....Pompano Florida!!
Thanks guys! We all hate thieves!!!
Interesting. The way I learned about Musicians friend (never heard of them before), was getting my credit card statement and seeing a few $400 charges on it that weren't mine. Also had one from Walmart for the same amount that was charged and credited (flagged & declined apparently). I called Musicians friend and found out that someone ordered Go pro cameras of all things and shipped to a nearby address. They wouldn't give me any specifics but I was able to get the zip code and it was literally 4-6 miles away probably in the hood. Later I realized after my CC expired, I had never been mailed a replacement, so obviously it was intercepted in the mail. Almost 100% sure it was an insider at the PO, because we had a door slot mail box, via foot carriers at USPS. In the same vicinity my boss had checks stolen from USPS drop boxes somehow and cashed (mind you they were for taxes) amazingly. Took him over 6 mos to recover about $6k, between two diff banks involved. They tried to stonewall him when it was their responsibility for paying out checks with no signature made out the the state Dept of revenue.
why do some sellers only accept Paypal doesn't eBay collect money these days and then dump it in your bank account
I am so sorry this has happened to you. Thank you for the video. Update??
I recently listed a guitar on Facebook Marketplace. Within 8 hours I got two replies who wanted to buy it sight unseen. They both were supposed to send their cousin or best friend to pick it up. Who buys a guitar without even checking it out? Both wanted pay by cashiers check-right? So I asked both parties what kind of music they played ,what tunings did they use, what scale length were they looking for? Two in one day probably rich princes from Nigeria or Florida.
Thank you for sharing this valuable information!
awesome video, I hope you get your guitar back!
Thank you JDL! We do as well and hope someone gets in a wee bit of trouble!
These people that do this stuff are ridiculous.
We couldn't agree more Lewis!
Great and important video. Thank you!
Thank you Johnny! We appreciate you taking the time to watch and hopefully it helps!
Yep, I stopped selling guitars that require shipping unless I have firm confidence in the sale. Even the local CL guitar sales I do bring in occasional scammers, but are usually so blatantly noticeable I'm able to identify early. Is too bad there are people like this. Cash and local pickup only. Period. But I'm not a business so this works out for me, you folks that need to turn a lot of sales really need to keep a watchful eye. Good sleuthing on your example scam situation.
Thanks Shane, you can never be too carefull. Craigslist is a whole another mess lol
I've bought and sold a lot on craigslist too w/ lots of good experiences. I go into that situation assuming positive intent but ready to defend myself if necessary.
I prefer guitar shops over the interweb, I can pick up and play a guitar before I buy it.
Excellent video.
Ive had ups drop off guitars i was sposed to sign for just on the porch
Very helpful info but how do you fit a guitar into the box that the delivery man is holding in your example. :D p.s. Did you get your guitar back?
Great video, guys!
It's funny you mention you can have the guitar shipped to a UPS store. I've been buying from musiciansfriend for 9 years with the same account and my last couple orders were canceled and sent back to them because they thought I was committing a fraud by having them sent to the UPS store. I was just out of town and needed a safe place for my stuff until I got back. After a couple hours on the phone with them they told me that if they helped me they would have to help everyone, which I think that's what they're in business for in the first place haha...
Thats nuts! Musicians friend have had their own difficulties over the past few years with Sweetwater just dominating them. They started out string but their internal systems were just crushed by the weight of Seetwaters ability to service their customers.
Thank you for sharing!
@@CasinoGuitars Sweetwater even lets you ship to walgreens stores, which is safer too, they have cameras and ask for your ID so they always know who picked up the stuff. Musiciansfriend need to get it together!
Thanks for sharing this with us
The more you know the safer we all are!
If I were in your shoes, the most aggravating and frustrating part of this is for me would be that I had to do my own detective work.
Through a series of cases from the final few decades of the last century, the SCOTUS determined that law enforcement has no duty to protect an individual but rather only the public. This ruling was the result of citizens who were victims (or the survivors of the victim) of violent crime where 911 or similar resulted in officers arriving well after the victim had already been savaged and/or murdered. I understand that the High Court’s ruling has been applied conceptually to property crimes like this one (not sure how accurate the last bit is) and that, in part, is why you’re having to do your own sleuthing.
Additionally, regardless of where one lives, all are assessed taxes; a portion of said taxes allegedly pay law enforcement agencies to provide services. When one is victimized and the crime was committed in the jurisdiction of the agency who receives the report about/is alerted to the crime’s commission, there is a reasonable expectation, or at least used to be that said agency would render some sort of professional police work to the end that a crime victim might expect resolution and some form of justice.
So it would seem that besides representing the profession of revenue harvester, the agency that is supposed to pursue your complaint and remove a predatory criminal element from society will only do so providing you, the victim, performs the detective work and makes for a minimum of effort on the part of the respective law enforcement agency. The only effort expended by the agency is to follow up on the “served on a silver platter” civilian generated “police work”, arrest and detain the perpetrator (until arraignment anyway) and then claim credit for the statistic of another criminal removed from the community, i.e., “look at the good job we at the police department are doing at serving and protecting the community.”
Thank you for detailing how you went about gathering the information that will take this individual out of circulation. Aside from the frustration of having to perform a fiduciary duty that a government agency by definition is supposed to perform, I also am miffed that this kind of fraudulent activity adds to the cost of various goods and services impacted by yet another form of 5-finger discount.
There’s no free lunch. Somewhere, someone has to pick up the check for a stolen guitar, for your time investigating and reporting the theft and for the time taken away from the two of you that should’ve been spent growing the business, in rendering improved customer service and potentially from your families because those other two items are still having to be attended to by the two of you because there isn’t sufficient revenue to hire & train another to perform those business necessities on account of the losses incurred on an ≈ $7,000 retail theft.
Because companies don't care about us as long as they get their money they don't care about scammers unless they're the ones getting scammed. That's just life Sadly.
how can I list my guitar with pawn shops??
I had no help from reverb!!!
That’s awful but these scumbags are as numerous as rats. There’s no chance we’ll ever win. We can just try to hold them at bay for a while.
Is there an update to this? Tell me both were charged with multiple felonies.
Great content fellas!
Thank you for thinking so!
Scammers are the worse people on earth 😓
Yep pretty scummy.
If you guys ever need a scout in the South Florida area, to feed you locations, pics, etc, hit me up.
The first thing you should have done is filed a police report with the local sheriffs department where it was delivered with the serial number. Once you found out the individual from Reverb you could’ve contacted the local sheriffs department again as well as the Florida Department of corrections to find the parole officer assigned it to that individual.
Sadly, the cops don’t actually give a crap about you or your guitar or the fact that they have a non-violent scammer/thief running around in their jurisdiction. But if you can gift wrapped them with all of the evidence along with the name and address for the perpetrator already on probation or parole. They will go ahead and pick him up as it is an easy win. I have personally been through this myself and was even required to testify at the trial since my assclown pled not guilty. But we were able to get a conviction and he spent a whopping 18 months in jail.
What did Reverb say when you called them? (the sound on your video is blurry) Thank you
Man I did not realize that there was so much risk doing business this way
if you watch Trogly show, he has been ripped off a few times. one for 16,000 I believe
Ye unfortunately there are criminals we deal with almost daily ....they are a real drag on things but hopefully we can slow them up a bit by sharing these things.
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for sharing.
Thanks very useful, stay safe.
Why do scammers always seem to target Guitarists?
Because guitars r stupidly over priced for no reason at all and its easy to scam Guitars. Is scamming a dick move hell yeah but also selling guitars way over priced is also a scam. Selling guitars that r over 500$ and u don't even get a hard shell case with it? Smh guitar companies/sellers r just as much as a scam/rip off as people who scam them.
How long did it take you to get this settled? I'm going through a somewhat similar experience currently been working with reverb on it for about a month and a half on a guitar that I purchased.
I am sorry to hear that Michael. We are not completely settled yet on this. The chargeback was reversed but that could still go back to the thief/buyer at any point.
Reverb was pretty active on the early side but honestly I think they are more worried about not being found liable for anything. They really are concerned with protecting that angle but our rep there was really great in trying to help...but really couldn't do much for us.
Keep in contact with them and better to annoy them than to be forgotten until resolution is made.
Good video. Thank you.
Thank you Jon!
Unfortunately this is why I only buy used stuff through dealers and only sell in person locally. May miss out on some killer deals, but it gives me peace of mind. Hope everything works out and you get the guitar back!
Thanks David, we think there is a good chance that the person will be apprehended soon!
Don’t get your hopes too high. As a lawyer I can tell you you still don’t have enough to go on.
Identity theft is common, any person can use anyone’s name and info nowadays and make fake IDs even to match up with it.
Did you get the guitar back?
So since u charged him and ups said they did deliver it why couldn’t u just leave it at that? Do they force u to refund?
why didnt you get it insured with signutue confermation?
So how did this story end? Did you get it back?
Well done
Can you imagine what would happen to the perp if he did this scam to a Mafia member when the Mafia was in its prime?
Why not just buy it from the dude, and pay him a visit? Saves alot of hastle.
I live in lighthouse point , Fl .
We may ask you to kindly ask this jerk for our guitar back:) Sincere thanks for watching!
If there is anything I can do to help , I’d be glad to . I don’t like people that take advantage of other people.
What the hell is playing in the background? A high school marching band?
This is kinda like having to do some Bullies' homework at school, handing over the complete evidence of your own extensive investigation...to the police *before* they commence their "investigation".🙄
We want swift and accurate justice, we know the police detectives are swamped so we try to help in any way we can.
So Baxter, What has happened to the $7000 credit card payment you received? Was it held up by the so-called purchaser’s credit card company?
It was charged back to the buyer/thief/whoever so it was taken from our account. It was then returned to our account after much work but still has the chance of being taken from us again...it is rather exhausting and really does affect the business in a not positive way!
Thank you for checking in Thomas and hopefully we can do a nice follow up when this is all resolved!
Casino Guitars Well thanks for replying and we all wish you the best in either retaining payment or getting back the guitar in original condition.
Thomas Halbert thank you for checking in! We’ll keep you posted as it unfolds:)
How long are they holding the tayor in evidence before the police can release?
They never found the Taylor...we are still waiting on a warrant for the perp. I have a feeling this Taylor is gone gone gone unfortunately:(
What a mess!
I was raised in Oakland Park Florida, went to Oakland Park Elementary and Rickards Rocket middle school, before moving on.
This does not surprise me. I had my Schwin Stingray stolen when l was 8 years old. Some 50 years later, it still pissed me off.
But it has taught me, of course there was no internet then. But l would never buy a guitar from anywhere unless it is in my hands, and l have played it. Yes, l had to fly a few time to be there in person buying an expensive guitar. To me that's halve the fun. Reverb never. I have never been ripped off again, and never will be. Most people are kind and generous, some are lazy, scumbag thief that never worked a day in there lives. I feel sorry for those drugged up pieces of shi.....
Hey, just my opinion.
PEACE
1 person disliked this video? They must me "these people."
:( ssd this happens
Rule #1: NEVER sell anything that you can't afford to be scammed out if.
I have to get a new card about every 90 days!!!😮
Cash is King.
you guy are fucking gods for this.hsahahahaha
Good to know I have to do the cops job, lol
Why couldn't you just look up the address the guitar was delivered to on UPS using the tracking number? The guitar was obviously not delivered to the credit card owner's address. What am I missing here? Humor me for not understanding. I sell stuff online and have never had a problem. Thanks!
I just figured out what I missed. The guys knew each other as you clearly stated! Duh. Sorry, I'm a bit slow. Been up all night. Great channel, guys! Keep up the good work!
I hate thieves
I like the video except the part where you're doing all the policework for the police
Open source!
Its jack bauer up in here lol
That one dislike here is the thief :D
Did the guy who called you file a credit card fraud report with his local police? If he is an innocent victim, you can provide the name of the guy from Nate's corner to him for his report.
And I’m actually not inclined to think that the person who did call them was in on the scam.
If the one who ordered it fraudulently got the guitar already why would he bother calling if it wasn’t his card in the first place.
And if it was the persons own card and they falsely claim they never receive the guitar why would they call the store to complain when they can just call their bank and get almost automatically refunded thanks to zero liability policies and consumer protection laws.
So it sounds like an angry cardholder who doesn’t understand that their bank is protecting them fully from fraud.
Hello Bob. They are still working this out. All of the pertinent info has been provided to the police and were hoping this gets resolved properly for all parties involved! Thank you for watching!
@@luapnoguob9828 Luap thank you for sharing your thoughts and for watching! The authorities have all of the info here and hopefully this will be resolved positively for all!
Often the perpetrators will call the store though as well as report it so that the store will simply refund the charge amount. Once this is done there is no recourse for the merchant and the credit card companies and authorities are out of it.
Card companies always side in favor of their card holders over merchants until proven wrong. They are in the business of making money off of those interest rates and really don't care how it affects the merchants unfortunately.
That is just not right. I hope they catch the person and instead of jail time they deserve 15 years in the electric chair on slow trickle.
Mate this crime doesn't deserve death. Get your head out of your arse.
Ouch:) a slow trickle maybe Randy but even better...I think 15 years of a really bad marriage would suffice. Id rather duo that time in jail:) Well see you soon and be safe out there!