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  #1  
Old 06/28/2005, 05:37 PM
MK Reefer MK Reefer is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 354
Major Scam in the Classifieds

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=619915

There are a few of us who were scammed by

Michael Caburian and Lisa Tampol

RC user name leesuh

Beware.. I am posting this here as I think this issue should get some exposure so this won't happen to anybody else as a few of us are out a lot of money...

Here is the original add
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=611840

Mike
  #2  
Old 06/28/2005, 09:10 PM
sjreefer sjreefer is offline
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Saint John
Posts: 160
I am one of the reefers ripped off by those two scammers, i'd like to hear some advice on how to recover money via paypal, becuase so far i've got nothing
__________________
Mark
  #3  
Old 06/29/2005, 10:50 AM
MK Reefer MK Reefer is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 354
I just found out these two are from California...

HEre is a letter I got back from the company who owns the paypal account we all sent money too..

Apparently There must be a big misunderstanding, Our old paypal account
"used for non profit donations" had been hacked a while back, the
administrators michael caburian and lisa tampol. had already reported to
paypal that someone had gotten access to its passwords. All its card
number had been cancelled a while back.
while we had filed a complaint with paypal that an individual purchased a
big ammount from "newegg.com".
we do not know the password to that account as we pulled our verified
status from it months ago. Also, we manage the account as whole.

however, with pending investigations of unauthorized charges, we are
currently looking into it as mike and lisa are from california, while
purchases made with our past accounts was sent on a undisclosed "chicago
IL" location.

we have also suspected our previous admin who shared the account, which
quit the organization months ago. I will bring this up to its members and
our legal advisory to determin if the fault is within our behalf, if so,
we will refund you your purchase. with the conditions that you provide the
payment was sent to administrator@eliteheadquarters.com

you can email our main admin Michael Caburian at
admin@eliteheadquarters.com and he may be able to furthur assist you.

once again, the accounts:
donation@eliteheadquarters.com
donation@eliteheadquarters.com



///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Just wanted you guys to know that Michael Caburian has scamped a few
people from the aquarium community along with Lisa Tampol

There are a few of us who sent money via paypal to an account registered
with eliteheadquarters (admin@eliteheadquarters.com) and have not received
our goods or heard from the seller.

PLease know that as this company/entity is the registered owners of the
paypal account the investigation into finding Michael and Lisa will start
with your company.

Just thought you should know who you are friends/associates with. All we
want is our money back..

Mike
  #4  
Old 06/29/2005, 11:09 AM
Highlander Highlander is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Plainfield, Illinois
Posts: 2,991
Sorry to hear that some of you have been ripped off.
I have a simple rule for RC purchases, which might help in future.

Anbody selling that is newly registered and has only a few or no previous posts, I avoid.

If not newly registered, I always read the seller's profile, and check out their past posts. If every post is a sale, likewise, I avoid them.

HTH
  #5  
Old 06/30/2005, 09:15 PM
hellraisers30 hellraisers30 is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: New hampshire
Posts: 211
i was involved in that thread and knew something was up and warned everyone about the new user that just registered,and we came up with the, you shouldnt be able to sell if you dont have atleast 50 post under your belt, then someone said that was the stupidest thing they ever heard !! well i guess is wasnt a stupid idea after all!! and then the thread was closed down
what a shame!!! i hope all of you get your money back, as you did get scammed and never received anything thats bull****
and i think the 50 post rule should apply, RC needs to make something up to prevent this from happening, and i remember her saying that her husband was a state tropper, what bull!!
and she would take legal action against all
sorry to hear and again wish you 2 luck
  #6  
Old 07/01/2005, 12:09 AM
sjreefer sjreefer is offline
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Saint John
Posts: 160
Yah its getting bad , i've bought allmost all of my equipment off of here, and just recently has this been a problem
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Mark
  #7  
Old 07/01/2005, 12:28 AM
ViciousFishes ViciousFishes is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Queen Creek,AZ
Posts: 170
I agree with the 50 post rule as a minimum before you should be allowed to sell/trade anything. If they can make us wait till' 100 posts to use a "respectable" avatar, they should make possible future scammers "earn" the money as well.
  #8  
Old 07/01/2005, 08:17 AM
hellraisers30 hellraisers30 is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: New hampshire
Posts: 211
Quote:
[i] 100 posts to use a "respectable" avatar, they should make possible future scammers "earn" the money as well. [/B]
very well said and true
  #9  
Old 07/02/2005, 10:34 AM
sjreefer sjreefer is offline
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Saint John
Posts: 160
Does anyone have any news to report, i've been dealing with my credit card company and paypal, but i haven't recovered any funds yet
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Mark
  #10  
Old 07/02/2005, 10:47 AM
tigerarmy40 tigerarmy40 is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: central ca
Posts: 1,340
crazy how she said in one post " this is so much easier then ebay" (easier to scam?)


this will probably pi$$ a few people off but we have become to easy to scam..... I know that I will see a good deal and try to jump on it before the next guy does without looking at the # of post's or asking for pics and this is where that leads!!! I recently was sold one year old ballast that looks to be at least 5 years old(sucks)...... the truthe is that the people in the sell forums have become hogs and dont wait to investigate because they know the next guy will send paypal without asking a single Q.
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I love scotch! scotchy, scotchy, scotch....
  #11  
Old 07/02/2005, 03:56 PM
BeanAnimal BeanAnimal is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Pittsburgh
Posts: 11,710
Paypal rides the fence.. they make money off the transactions and do little or nothing to help. They want you to use direct withdrawl and deposit to avoid credit charges and charge backs from card companies. THey also hamstring you with fine print and do their best to prevent your credit card company from charge backs if you are upset. Notice that only very good sellers can offer buyer protection. It is *** backwards..you don't need buyer protection if you are buying from an honest seller... you need it for the scammers... but they don't qualify to offer it! It has become 10 times worse sice eBay purchased them. eBay's business model is based on volume and they don't punish scammers. Their model is designed to hide or blend them in so that they don't look so bad to buyers.

The guy that ripped you off knows how the paypal system works and is running websites as a front for their scam. You will likely not get your money back. Thousands of eBay sellers run the same kind of scams and get away with them for years with eBays aproval (blind eye) I can explain many of them if anybody is interested.

You also need to contact the ISP that hosts their servers or provides their bandwidht and apraise them of the situation. If this is in a different city then you need to let those authorities know that they have an ISP that may be allowing wire fraud to occur with the use of their system.

If these folks are students or have employers you need to also contact them and let them know what is going on. You can fimnd this information with a little bit of ceative searching.
  #12  
Old 07/02/2005, 03:58 PM
BeanAnimal BeanAnimal is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Pittsburgh
Posts: 11,710
I have a feeling you are still being taken for a ride. If the paypal account was hacked... then paypal is liable for the money. If the account information was hijacked by an employee or friend of the people who replied here.. then they are responsible.

Don'y let them pacify you with "our legal team will look into this"

It was their account that the money was sent to and their are responsible for the security of that account. If they were truley scammed also, then let the police or FBI confirm that for you.
  #13  
Old 07/02/2005, 04:00 PM
BeanAnimal BeanAnimal is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Pittsburgh
Posts: 11,710
also of note... look at the number of people who sell here nonstop...

they system is being taken advantage of already anyway. Some RC users sell stuff here as a business ..... it is quite obvious. Good deals or not, this is wrong.
  #14  
Old 07/02/2005, 07:39 PM
fpsforce fpsforce is offline
Moved On
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 0
I am an admin of FPSforce.com
once again, i was lead to a few post here regarding an issue that involved my company, i had explained to these members of yours that i am not involved.
However, i went through alot of legal steps with reason, because my name and clients name had been broadcasted publicly through this forum.
With its cause, my business email and cliets are recieving numerous hatecrime email to my business and multiple clients not involved.

the problem was based on a identity theft which i vowed to your members that i will look at it immediately. 6/29/05, a ron thompson of allison texas was traced recieving multiple items ordered through undisclosed websites that recieves paypal payments.
this is how my legal representatives were able to file a police report.

From a request i made to the original paypal accountee used, i had requested to provide a confirmation that a reversal has been made as well as purchases has been re-credited.

http://www.fpsforce.com/paypalproblem.jpg

Our issues right now are hate crimes going through my business mail systems and my clients. I am not sure who is involved or who has been credited, but i was assured that anything done the past 2 months was debited due to identity theft.

Please clear any public emails related to my company or clients, however, i can NOT stop you from posting a feedback of who sold you items.

as another note, please research your seller, and make sure they are confirmed. I have a hosting business and i do get many orders from hacked paypal address.
this is one reason why i now use 2checkout and chronopay.

Thank you
  #15  
Old 07/02/2005, 08:29 PM
fpsforce fpsforce is offline
Moved On
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 0
For people reading this post, please take in consideration that i took my own personal time to help your members.
Please do not send me harrasment emails, because i am one of the victim as well as the client's email broadcasted in this forum.

Our office mail server had intercepted 2 emails with refering to this forum "reefcentral" that includes viruses on the email. "trojan backdoor virus"
Its my only issue, as well as still reporting the few individuals to their specific internet service provider for violating TOS agreements.

Everything is taken cared of, my only concern is the hate emails i been getting from reefcentral members.
i have contacted a few of your moderators to look in the subject. but with no response.
my next task is to hopefully get the reefcentral.com registrar
john from new york's attention to give me a hand on this matter.

if you have any question, you may email me at
admin@fpsforce.com
  #16  
Old 07/02/2005, 09:44 PM
BeanAnimal BeanAnimal is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Pittsburgh
Posts: 11,710
I have advised the victims to seek legal council in dealing with this matter. If people here have sent viri via the email system or used your information for malitous purposes then they too are guilty of a crime and should be dealth with. With regards to "hate speech" I would hate to think that somebody was truley sending saying anything that would truley be considered a felony. I also don't know that you can expect people to stop accusing your or your company without some kind of legal proof. Afterall, all roads lead to you. Kind of like "I don't deserve the ticket officer, my car was stolen" after a police chase where the car gets away and the driver is arrested at home.

What a mess. people need to go to jail.


Bean
  #17  
Old 07/02/2005, 10:31 PM
sjreefer sjreefer is offline
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Saint John
Posts: 160
I don't see why anyone would have given you a hand in this matter, you have yet to prove to anyone that you did not orchestrate this theft, and to tell you the truth the way your acting is perfectly resonable if you did orchestrate it
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Mark
  #18  
Old 07/02/2005, 11:24 PM
hellraisers30 hellraisers30 is offline
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Location: New hampshire
Posts: 211
has anyone received a refund yet??
  #19  
Old 07/03/2005, 01:38 AM
fpsforce fpsforce is offline
Moved On
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 0
I am in continous contact with 3 of the people that has been a victim here, i gave them all the answers i can give, all the explanations they needed since day one of them contacting me.
I have no concern about being guilty or less guilty, im more concerned about emails told here that had caused a lot more than few of your RC members to send emails.
3 of the members that contacted me claim that there were scammed, we were able to provide paypal documents, and reversal information.
I dont see any other problems towards this matter but a continuos comments from members who know nothing about what is going on.

I am not too familiar on how discussions goes on here, but like a typical message board, different people, different arguement's regardless.

I do not know who is who on the people who claims to be scammed, all i know is, a series of refund was made by the main account handler. All it points to is a client of mine, and my name can be found easily by doing a whois search on the registered user of the domain.

sjreefer, im not here to prove that i didnt do it, thats a matter of opinion. Im here to stop the emails, and any future problems


refunds is a matter on how they paid, like i said, i am not fully aware of the exact transaction, but if you paid with a credit card, refund turnaround time depends on your credit card company.

Other than that, all i was asking is to remove my contact from the post to prevent future problems.

Last edited by fpsforce; 07/03/2005 at 01:49 AM.
  #20  
Old 07/03/2005, 08:41 AM
BeanAnimal BeanAnimal is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Pittsburgh
Posts: 11,710
Umm if they paid by credit card, the refund has nothing to do with you, it is up to their credit card company. So in other words YOU have not refunded anything and the direct debit folks are still screwed?

Guys, like I said.... your best bet is to contact the legal institutions I listed above. Something is fishy here. If fpsforce was scammed by a client, then he needs to get the clients information to you guys and the authorities ASAP. Time to call a lawyer folks... this is turning into the "endless paper trail" kind of scam.

Bean
  #21  
Old 07/03/2005, 08:56 AM
BeanAnimal BeanAnimal is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Pittsburgh
Posts: 11,710
look at this another way.

fspforce simply wants this to all go away. Has he provided ANY of you with tangible details regarding this case. A police report? Names and address of those suspected?

First it was admins in california
Then it was stolen credentials and a guy in IL
then it was a client of the site
then it was a guy in texas receiving stolen goods.

It is possible the fspforce is a victim, it is also as possible that he or his aquatances are covering this up... or worse yet acting out the plan.

A few "my legal team is doing blah blah...." "please stop sending emails" posts don't convince me of much.

I would imagine his next step is to threaten the people here and the admins regarding this issue. He is already upset about "hate mail"

BE SMART AND DONT SEND HATE MAIL OR VIRUS LADEN MAIL TO THIS GUY. If you do, you give him ammo to change the subject and make this whole thing that much harder for those who lost money.

Bean
  #22  
Old 07/03/2005, 09:53 AM
MK Reefer MK Reefer is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 354
I am one of the people who got scammed.. He has promised me I am getting a refund by mid week..

So guys lay off him for now. If he delivers then kudos to him, if not then I guess we will see..

I am at a point where I just want my money back. I paid with a CC so I should see a refund soon. Will post once I get a refund.

I am assuming the refund will be posted to my paypal account?

Mike
  #23  
Old 07/03/2005, 10:04 AM
sjreefer sjreefer is offline
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Saint John
Posts: 160
When you say you are in continous contact with those who were scammed what do you mean, i sent 279 CDN dollars and you haven't contacted me once ???????????
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  #24  
Old 07/03/2005, 10:20 AM
MK Reefer MK Reefer is offline
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Mark, you should email him then..

Mike
  #25  
Old 07/03/2005, 11:16 AM
fpsforce fpsforce is offline
Moved On
 
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Posts: 0
Quote:
Originally posted by MK Reefer
I am one of the people who got scammed.. He has promised me I am getting a refund by mid week..

So guys lay off him for now. If he delivers then kudos to him, if not then I guess we will see..

I am at a point where I just want my money back. I paid with a CC so I should see a refund soon. Will post once I get a refund.

I am assuming the refund will be posted to my paypal account?

Mike
i think this comment can be taken the wrong way, i promised you that you are being taken cared of, but the promise doesnt mean that i personally refunded you

like i said, when i first got the emails, i heart started pounding reading all the "GIVE THE REFUND BACK" emails. the second i saw that, i thought i was dreaming that all my clients decided to quit all at once on me. This is one reason why i got on the issue right away to clear things up.

BUT, Its true, and i cant deny, that i am partially linked to this. but not not personally guilty of doing things. this is one reason why im here to also take caree of things for myself.


Besides.. CONSIDER THIS.
based on the information i was sent by my guys, with the ammount the guy scammed not only from this area.
what was taken from reefcentral is only pocket change if we compare it. i could guess TV's, computers, radio's were purchased.
I could retire in mexico if i did it. I have a life and kids to do something that stupid "and i am saying this for myself, and not for you to belive"

"as a judge would say.. Disregard that"
 

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