UBB.threads

You know what might be a good idea..when you sign up as a new member, you are sent an FYI E-mail concerning codes of conduct and warnings of
scammers who troll our site and their methods etc..i think a heads up might just be the trick..

quote:

Originally posted by kursk:
You know what might be a good idea..when you sign up as a new member, you are sent an FYI E-mail concerning codes of conduct and warnings of
scammers who troll our site and their methods etc..i think a heads up might just be the trick..

Coupled with the admonishment that violators will be prosecuted! Anything that will stop the garbage is good! After all, look at the audience here that crooks have to troll. Good hunting ground I'd say!

lloyd

Agreed Lloyd..we have a member Zet i would like to see if he can be of help to us with our elusive mr.Pawel Nowak..

But lets work on this idea..! any suggestions for text to be included?

Currently, when you sign up, you get a welcome message including a request to read the Code of Conduct. I don't think including the entire CoC in the welcome message would help. It is reasonably long and most readers would skip it.

In addition, I think the few who join to scam people are not going to be put off by a few words in an email, but I can include a sentence or two. What do you suggest ?

Dave

Dave, perhaps not so important is the code of conduct, that is but mere window dressing, followed by those inclined to do so anyway..

The heads up to the many who join would be better, as it seems to be these new members who are targetted..

Yeah, darn good idea here! Perhaps in a larger size font:
" For your protection, be advised that this site has NO control over usage by it's members. It is YOUR responsibility and YOURS ALONE to make sure that you do NOT respond to offers, requests to purchase or any and all un-solicited emails from ANYONE purporting to be a member of this Forum!" (Any questions regarding this admonishment should be made to an Administrator).

How does that sound?
Lloyd

quote:

Originally posted by Degens:
Pawel Nowak = Mathias Fritz

Now why wouldnt that suprise me !!

there is a Pawel being discussed in this topic. Is this the same person?

topic
Or just a coincidence?

Landser..you mean is the Pawel in the thread you posted the same man as Pawel Nowak the known criminal?

Good question..

Perhaps our friend Zet from Poland can shed some light on this..

Perhaps it is best to shed some light on this at this point, rather than possibly confuse an honest man/dealer with a criminal..

well I located all of you guys good buddy Mathias Fritz, he is trying to sell some stuff on that new military auction site. I thought I would jack with abit him and waste some of his time, you know I was bored but anyway he replied a few times and funny thing about it is, that all of his posts that i read say:
"hallo allouwed meeth tooth introdice myselg, my grandfadder half eberyting dat thurd Reik eber pruduce, und eberything on eberybudy ulses vebsite uswell"........ yada yada yada......
But In the emails that he wrote me back, they were typed in perfect punctual and phonetically correct english, so there it is fellas you do the math.
Bad thing about it is, I was really interested in one of his auctions, was considering buying it, then I scrolled down and saw the name, only difference is that he spelled it Matjaz Fritz from (Slovenia)... gotta be the same guy.
what do you think would happen if I completely lost my mind, jumped into the fire and went on ahead and bought it?

quote:

Originally posted by mackadoo:
what do you think would happen if I completely lost my mind, jumped into the fire and went on ahead and bought it?

Maybe he would send you a copy of the stolen picture if you were lucky.

yes, even the picture would be a reproduction...

John, trust your first instinct here. Well, unless you pay for it with monopoly money that is.

OK guys I'm sure that you detected at least a hint of sarcasism there, I've been ripped off too many times, I'm getting very tired of it. Don't worry I would have to lose 99% of my brain to actually enter into a contract with him or her or whatever it is, maybe he is just a faulty computer program, that would explain all of the bad grammer
Here is something else to think about that occured to me, pawel nowak, thats the other guys name right, most likely an alias, but did anybody think that it might also be an acronym? when I hear or see his name.... well its oddly familiar...... hmmmm hmmmm sounds kinda like..........
"Pay well, no work"

I was just wondering, you folks work hard at keeping this site honest and informative. So, what happens when a "ConMan" like the alleged Pawel Nowak decides he (they) want to prey on the unsuspecting, potential new collector or on the even more sophisticated collector. What can you really do about it?

Sure, I presume you can ban them from the site but you don't know who they are. All you know is they are registered under a name. I would think a good con man would register at least under two different names. One would be for preying on the unsuspected or overly naive aggressive collector; while the other registration would be one of intelligence gathering.

The second registration would not be used for scamming but to make onesself blend in with the community. A great place to ask questions and seek out potential targets. This registration would always be used for legitimate reasons and would give no clue as to the real intent. As I said, it is just for intell gathering.

The first persona (the unscrupulous idenity) would be used to attract "marks". When and if that idenity becomes unusable, create another one! Can you really stop that?

I just don't see how you could stop a person like that. You can expose them but they would just create a new idenity and come in another door; all the time monitoring the action from their secure, low profile idenity that was created not to raise any red flags or contraversy.

Education is the only weapon we have to combat these predators. Present and future members must be presented with "facts" about these marauding thieves and their tactics. However, there is always going to be "victims", that is the nature of humans. As long as we beleive we are going to get that "one piece" that no one else has and it came from the "little old lady" husband's collection and she just wants to get rid of it, there will be victims. Some collectors are or will be victims of their "own greed and stupidity". We as a community can not protect against that, however, we can keep on educating. It just becomes a logistics problem on how we accomplish the education!

Many of you are very wise and sophisticated in this field of collecting it is up to you,as a collective,in how you want to stop people like "Pawel".

I beleive it up to you to educate, educate and educate! Alert the masses and repel the boarders. It is the only way!

Just my humble thoughts on this troubling subject.

I found the UK dealer website (Jamie Cross Militria) www.thirdreichmedals.com that has the info and story of how this dealer got ripped off. I emailed him last year or so about this guy and he told me he had contacted the police, I don't know what happened with it or what action they had taken. There is also his passport pic listed. I think having some sort of warning as stated above for new members to be aware of non soliciated emails is a good idea. Eric

Nowak has been banned under 15 or 16 different identities on GDC. What he does is borrow a friends computer, sign on with a new name, then troll for new guys who look like they might bite on his phoney offers.

The only way around this would be to change the settings so that members cannot see other member's email address.

Dave

Dave / Vern, ....Perhaps there is a 'Simple' Solution - to help stop this rampant Fraud (if there is such a thing!) - which will help to solve this Problem:

(1) Given that:

a) The GDC Site is Open & input is 'transparent' - except for the IP Addresses, which can be easily changed ... by switching to another Computer...

b) We 'need' to be able to communicate with one another on the Forum, so Email Addresses & PM functions, are very valuable to ALL members...(& should be preserved)

So, a step in controlling 'Scammers / Spammers' like Pawel Nowak and Sylvie Salter, et al, could be a simple as your Adding a 'Locked' Thread, @ the very Top of each individual Forum (using a different colored RED sticky designation) and titled as "BEWARE ..of ANY UNSOLICITED OFFER" or some similar wording.

Then you add in the appropriate wording, as has been suggested elsewhere - to serve as a permanent Reminder & Constant Warning of vigilance to GDC Members - much as you have the 'Rules of the Road' posted in each Forum.

(2) Also, I'd suggest adding a FRAUDULENT DEALER / SELLER FORUM ... where we can Post the details of the various types of Selling fraud which have been post in this thread, as well as in the SS Dagger Thread ...SS Henkels RZM, regarding Sylvie Salter. The FRAUDULENT DEALER SELLER FORUM .... would be a Forum to consolidate ALL of the Fraudulent Threads into one (1) spot where GDC Members could check to identify the 'bad' guys. If there is contradictory information, the Seller would be able to add his 'version' of the Transaction, that went Bad.

I want to see GDC remain 'open' and unrestricted - and this Suggestion allows for same.

Thanks for your consideration ... Dave ...dblmed

dblmed, I second the motion, I think that a fraudulent dealer / seller forum, would be a great idea! who knows, it could save somebody from getting ripped, in my opinion if it helped only one person, then it would have been worth it!

Wish I had see this sooner . Nowak .This Conartist . !
He has been baned other places and has contacted myself personally and a few other on Axis History forum many months ago . I spoted the fakes and the stollen pictures . All complains went nowhere as the Sign name and Email address did not match so he was given the brenefit of the dought .He had been a silent member there for a whole year without posting once . I reluctly left the matter sit after 2 seperate complaints .
I too saw Jamie Cross and the warning he posted about him . That was why over there I posted the 2nd complaint . This did not stop Nowak from posting and sending me Email after Email .
He was going to sendme the item to inspect and pay him if I liked it . Others would be payment first and item sent ( or never sent ) later .
I got offered about 32 different items with pictures . On Axsis he is running under the name Kaspien - Poland , joined May 27th 2006 . At the same time 4 other people joined from Poland under other names , don't know if it is him ... they may be legit and belong to others .
As Dave was saying 15 or 16 names have been banned here , so he can have the names to cross check first .

Have picture of his drivers licence :and checked all the pictures he sent . First set of fakes and backup set of stolen originals .

Sorry to hear about you loss Maestro .

That's a great idea about posting a stickie..i am thinking up some suggestions as far as wording goes..(with some very valuable help from a forum member..)

..and folk, don't be afraid if you have fallen victim to this man or others of his ilk. We are all here to protect our hobby and this site, and keep it a safe, honest and transparent vehicle for collectors of all experience levels.

We need your help to keep these criminals at bay, and believe me, over the years i have fallen victim to con artists in my buying for my site and collection.It can happen to anyone, at anytime..

So, in saying that, please feel free to relate your stories, not only will it be a cathartic excercise, but it will help us better understand the patterns these crooks use to fleece our fellow collectors out of hard earned money..

Holy smokes, all this talk about this joker must have stirred an ant nest or something, Pawel has just emailed me trying to sell a whole bunch of stuff, a whole page of medals, is there anything that I can do to help somebody bust his *** ? please tell me yes! I would love to boast the "jail a scumbag award"

Ok,
I've recieved 7 emails from this fool. He sent me a few pictures of some cased EK's, a few daggers, and various other medals, as well as some paperwork, and his bogus credentials.... how can I help? Do you guys want to see the pictures, or the emails that he wrote me, is there someway that I can get his IP address? Would that even help? Just let me know what to do, I would love nothing more than to see this deceiving charlatan get whats coming to him. It's scoundrels like this that give this hobby a bad rap!

If anyone wishes to see the material that he sent me just ask, and i'll happily post it!

This is one scumbag that definately needs to be jailed!!!

The Method of the Scam: .... As Kursk pointed out, it might be useful ... in helping Others to AVOID the SCAM ... to see Share the METHOD'S of the SCAMMER, in my instance of the 'SCAM.'

It started about 3 years back, with buying a small purchase on EBay, like an SS "III" Marked Nickel Silver Cross Guards Set ....from Sylvie Salter, of Prague (in those days, he went by the pragangel name on EBay - now he is using warchild39 on EBay, and he currently has 7 items listed!!! He has 143 Unique Responses & is 100% Positive - this is a part of the SCAM).

Over the next 2 years, I continued to buy from Sylvie, an SS EM 33 that was checked out as Good; then an SS RZM, that also checked out as Good. Payment was to a US Bank in North Carolina, and all seemed Legit. (He was building his confidence with me - as everything was Shipped on time & all of his items were Good.) His Ebay score rose.

Then he suggested Buying OFF of Ebay, to save him the Fees & he could give a 'better price. I bought several more Items this way - and again,everything was Shipped on time & all of his items were Good...so, it seemed like a nice buying Connection.

Then the Hammer Dropped, when a package of 3 SS Daggers arrived EMPTY....showing signs of tampering (which I now am certain that Sylvie just mailed that way.)

I took a lot of Photos, before opening it. Recently, It was pointed out to me by another Forum Member to "Check the Weight" on the Printed Label.... WHAM .... only .33 KG. The Label was printed in Prague & it is Right There as PROOF. We all know that 3 SS Daggers (one was Chained) weigh quite a bit more than .33 KG!!!

EMPTY BOX SCAM - 'TAMPERED WITH' - BUT MAILING WEIGHT "PROVES" THE ITEMS .....WERE NEVER IN THE BOX....

When Contacted, Sylvie Claimed a Fraud Ring "...of Postal Employees..." in CZ and Poland were opening packages & stealing the contents. Also, claimed that 'thieves' at JFK were doing the Same.

He Never made good on the LOSS of my Pre-Paid Money to his NC Bank Account.

MORAL of the METHOD of FRAUD: He is not a 'Bait & Switch' CON, where you don't get the Item that you paid for. He has the Real Deal Legit. Items.

He gets your confidence to buy from him:

A. via GOOD Ebay Transactions;
B. via Initially GOOD "Off EBay" Transactions, then
C. he offers Multiple Real Items, at a Reasonable Price, and the SHIPS an EMPTY pre-arranged EMPTY PARCEL.

HOW to AVOID this FRAUD?
1. Buy from 'Reputable' Dealers:
a. who are Known;
b. who have a Track Record;
c. who have a Return Policy; &
d. who Ship Insured USPS (IMHO is best..)

Even with ALL of the Above, these SCAMMERS are PRO's!!

Hopefully, there MAY be a 'Happy Ending' to this story "IF" JAN CZ is able to get the Attention of the Police during his upcoming visit to Prague.

I'll stay tuned...... Txs, Dave ......dblmed

quote:

HOW to AVOID this FRAUD?
1. Buy from 'Reputable' Dealers:
a. who are Known;
b. who have a Track Record;
c. who have a Return Policy; &
d. who Ship Insured USPS (IMHO is best..)

Aye Mate !!

I have Posted a REQUEST on the Premium Members Forum - to Dave & Vern, for them to 'Consider' ADDING the WARNING Notice - REGARDING UNSOLICITED OFFERS......

So far, there have been no Comments, or other Posts added on to this Thread... "IF" you Feel Strongly About this matter of Trying to stop the Fraud..... Please Post.. Txs, Dave ....dblmed

i think it would be an excellent idea dblmed... also, is there any way of preventing or blocking access to new members that just signed up to general public, but available to higher status members?? or some idea like this; ebay has several solutions now after having had this kind of problem with solicitors. thanks =)

Dave, I posted on premium members forum my ideas and thoughts on this, I'm totally up for anything we can do to help ALL members. I want to tell Maestro that I'm sorry that you got scammed and that I wasn't bagging on you when I posted earlier, but you had a bad feeling about this from the start, so stick with your first feeling about deals, when all the pics of items offered have different backgrounds that a clue and gut feeling that its a SCAM. Thanks Eric

Dave Hohaus has kindly Posted an Excellent "Rules of the Hobby" informative Post, in the COMMUNITY Forum - well done.

Only Additional Suggestion, would be to:
1) Add Dave H's Intro to EVERY Forum in GDC...
2) Add the 'to read' sections, Regarding Pawel Nowak in "NEW COLL" & about Sylvie Salter (& his types) in the "SS Dagger" Forum.

Otherwise - it's 100% ! ! Dave.....dblmed

All good ideas Dave. It is a real problem.
And some of these crooks change their name like Kingswalis and it's now warchild1939.
So maybe we can list the countries that the scammers are operating in. we aware that there are good people there, and even members of this forum.
However if we said watch out for scammer from
Poland! or Czech Republic, goes by names ... ..... and .... .....
These scammers are very clever. They get your trust on a small deal them come the big one and "poof" the empty box, and the "postal theft ring" excuse followed by "He feels your pain".
I sure would like to hear what Jan CZ has to say about what the police will do there. I just don't have much faith there. But let's see.
-wagner-

I have awarded a Wound Badge to Dave for his problems with our scam artists. Not much in the way of compensation, but it is deserved.

Dave

That is well deserved Dave for Dave L.
However I also got ripped as a buyer on a SS degan and 36SS in transit with "accumulator" for 14K. Does that qualify?
Thanks.
-wagner-

Ok, I've been in constant contact with pawel, for days now, I have been stalling him for a while, he keeps trying to coax me into a deal. he has sent me about 20 pictures (stuff that he supposedly has for sale) I guess that there is nothing that I can do in this position that will help bring him to justice, unless someone says otherwise I will be telling him to shove off in a day or so.

John..get him to meet you in a deserted parking lot somewhere.. ...blanket party anyone?

now that what I'm talking about! you bring the blanket, and I'll bring the party!

Just got an email from this dude. Went directly to the spam folder

Someone mentioned earlier that you should ask to see his export documents on the items he is offering for sale and insist, that should cool him off

PAUL

I think the subject of this discussion may have just registered on the forum as Pawel1975?

You are right I missed him.

On Again
Off Again

This is about the 15th try of his

Dave