• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Weirdest Scam Ever...

Started by Moondog,

66 posts in this topic

Moondog

Moondog

Posted
Posted

I'm not sure if I should be laughing or crying. And sorry for the long post...

 

Short background bio: I've been a collector/retailer/dealer since 1975. Overstreet advisor. Bought hundreds of collections and tens of thousands of books over the years.

 

Anyway, a couple of Saturdays ago I get a message on my 800 number (800-344-6060 have had it since 1981) from "Charley". Charley's a picker, a guy who finds antiques and collectibles by rooting around estate sales, auctions, etc. When he finds something he buys it cheap then calls his buyer for that particular item and sells it to him at a profit. I'm Charley's "comic book guy."

 

The message said that he found a run of Superboys from 4-90, Supermans from 23-82, Incredible Hulk 2, 3, 5 and Showcase 5 and 9 - all for $200 and I should call him right away!

 

Needless to say, I did. I got his machine with a pleasant message ending with, "God bless." I left a message and he called back shortly.

 

I told him how happy I was for him that he found such valuable books so cheaply. He responded that it was an estate auction in the Quad Cities area of Illinois. He said that since I've always treated him so fairly in the past that he wouldn't think of selling them to anyone else. He said his disability check was 2 weeks away and that he wanted to ship me the books a.s.a.p.

 

I said great that as soon as I received them I'd send a check by Fed Ex. Then he said that he didn't have them yet... That he only had $149 and that he gave it all to the auction house to hold the lot for him... That they would hold it only until tomorrow (Sunday) morning...

 

Whew!

 

So he asked me to wire him the $51 via Western Union. There was a small local grocery store that handled Western Union but it was open only until 9:00 p.m. that evening (it was 6:30 p.m. at the time we were talking). He gave me his full name, address and Western Union's toll-free number. I said that since he still had to ship them to me that I would include the shipping charges and heck, I'd round it off to $100. He said great.

 

So I wire Charley $100 (costs me $125 including the Western Union fee).

 

As soon as he gets the books on Sunday morning he was going to take them to the UPS Store for shipping to my home. He was going to call me with the UPS tracking number.

 

He even asked if I wanted him to pack them the same way as he did before...he couldn't have been more accommodating...

 

I told my wife that I suppose the old adage is true: What goes around comes around. You treat people fairly and they will appreciate it and it'll come back to you tenfold. She was amazed by the whole thing.

 

So Sunday comes - and no call with the tracking number.

 

No call on Monday.

 

No books on Tuesday (one day shipping from Quad Cities).

 

I call him and get his machine. No return call.

 

No books on Wednesday.

 

I call again around dinner time on Wednesday and he answers! Explains that there was a foul up at the auction house and he didn't get the books until Monday and he didn't ship them until Tuesday. He said he was in the middle of dinner but that he would run out to his car and get the tracking number for me. He couldn't have been more apologetic or nice. I say, "don't bother, I'm sure they'll show up tomorrow."

 

He said "God bless you, Mr. Colabuono" when he hung up.

 

No books on Thursday. Friday. Monday. Tuesday. Or today.

 

Never picks up the phone when I call. Never returns calls. I must have phoned him at least 25 times...

 

So I ask you all: Why would anyone go through all this for an amount of money between $51 and $100? He probably could have scammed me out of $1,000 or more...(I only need a thousand to get them...), yet he asked for only $51...

 

My wife thinks that he may have done this a hundred times and made a cool ten grand. And since each of us only got burned out of C-note, nobody will contact the police...Anybody else out there get a call from Charley?

 

Unbelievable but true. And sad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Moondog

Moondog

Posted
  • Author
Posted

It was back in the late 90's. I vaguely remember him. His mentioning if I wanted them packed the same way was definitely right on. He described perfectly how I tell people to pack and ship books to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
october

october

Posted
Posted

Weird! Reminds me of the homeless man I used to see every day that only needed 67 more cents to get that bus ride home. No matter how many times he got it, he was still short. 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

I think your wife got it right. It's a lot safer to scam 100 people out of $10 each than it is to scam one person out of $1000.

 

Dealers should share more of their war stories. Always interesting reads.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
falderal-migration

falderal-migration

Posted
Posted

Wow, that is pretty elaborate for his original asking price of $51... and he's not even trying to hide who he is. Maybe it's not the real Charley. A friend of his that helped him with packing? The thing that stuck out to me at the start of the story is that this guy can't make much of a living as a picker if he only has $149 on him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Moondog

Moondog

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I forgot to mention that when I first spoke with him he apologized for not being home because he was out trying to get work shoveling people's walks (a major snow had fallen that Friday). He also mentioned that he was on disability. So even if picking doesn't pay much, it's a way to make a few bucks...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sckao

sckao

Posted
Posted

 

The comics he told you about seem very specific... The Supermans start from 1943. The Superboys from 1949. The Showcase from 1956.. and the Hulk from 1962.

 

That's a span of comics running 19 years.

 

Interesting choice of issues if he were running a scam.

 

It doesn't ring true why he would try to scam you for so little money using his real phone. Also since you probably have his address in your files from the earlier transaction... and since he specifically mentions the previous sale.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
shadroch

shadroch

Posted
Posted

Perhaps one of the lowlifes that always seem to hang out around these etate sales took him out. I hate to think what some forumites might do if they saw a disabled man walking down the street with that stash.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MK Ultra

MK Ultra

Posted
Posted

A friend of mine had an interesting tale. There was his co worker Louie Flaco. Worked with everyone for a while. One day asked my buddy if he could borrow $20 or so, and he'd pay him back on payday. Sure no problem. Unbeknownst, Louie's last day was before payday. John figured he was sick or something. After about a week, John's asking where's Louie? Found out he'd quit. Found out he'd borrowed $20 to $50 from just about everyone that worked there. One of John's favorite stories, still laughs about it today.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lhcomics

lhcomics

Posted
Posted

This is my first time to post on this board or any board. I got the same scam call from Charlie last Thursday night. Charlie had called me twice through the day collect but my wife would not take the call. I told her to always accept collect calls for comics because you never know when the next Mile High collection would be discovered. Then she asked me what the Mile High collection was. Anyway Charlie called back that night while I was out collect and my wife took his name and number. I called Charlie about 7pm and he told me how I had treated him so good two years ago when I paid him a fair price for some comics when no other dealer would give him the time of day. I was trying to recall the transaction and even asked him what comics I had bought. He rattled off about four comics that I had bought from him but I still had no recollection of the deal. At this time I figured he had me confused with another dealer but I played along because I was about to get a nice deal on some old comics. All I had to do was the same, Western Union $49 (not $51) by 9pm. I told Charlie I would take care of everything and call back as soon as the money was ready for him to pick up. I immediately called a good friend of mine who also advertises in Overstreet and lives in the Midwest to see if this might be a scam. By the time I had said Charlie name to ask him about it he practically told me word for word what Charlie had said to me and Moondog. When I asked him how he knew he told me he got scammed two weeks ago for $125. Needless to say I never called Charlie back or sent him any money but I was ready to send the Money. So yes this is a scam but if you have been had by Charlie he does seem like a nice guy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Go to topic listing