FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Says the account Joined Oct 2020, so don’t think it is a new account.

MikeB wrote:

ChefDean wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 12:53 pmThankfully he only got small items from us, but he was able to scam cuttings from plants worth hundreds, maybe even thousands, when mature off of another site.

Has anyone sicced the cops on him? If any of the transactions occurred via U.S. Mail, then he committed mail fraud. The penalties for this can be steep, and he definitely needs a lesson in why fraud is wrong.

I did send him some gemmae via USPS Mail - not packages. Does that count?

Benny wrote:He created an new account on Terraforums. Already reported him, sending the link to Chef's post.
https://www.terraforums.com/forums/thre ... as.144460/

We knew about that one, I contacted members there to warn them off. I dropped a line to the owner of terraforums.com as well, and he let me know he had already contacted his (TrapHappy) dad.
I have also been in contact with Admins at Reddit, they have contacted his school.

Unfortunately there will always be crap heads, we just need to learn to spot them quicker.
If things feel hinky, back out. Nobody can force you into a transaction. If you feel you need to, contact an Admin for advice. I would be happy to help if I can.

MikeB wrote:Has anyone sicced the cops on him? If any of the transactions occurred via U.S. Mail, then he committed mail fraud. The penalties for this can be steep, and he definitely needs a lesson in why fraud is wrong.

I think that some may go that route. When he did this a couple of years ago, members of another forum started legal action, but dropped it because the dad made good faith efforts to make things right. If someone wanted to, they could always pursue legal action again. However, the problem would be convincing federal officials that it's serious enough to pursue. My brothers brother-in-law works for the FBI, and this would fall under their jurisdiction. They look at things like this from a monetary viewpoint, and the stuff he got just isn't worth the time to prosecute. Essentially, they won't spend a dollar to recover a dime.

Supercazzola wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:00 pm Says the account Joined Oct 2020, so don’t think it is a new account.

I meant 'new' as in not one of his old accounts.

ChefDean wrote:We knew about that one, I contacted members there to warn them off. I dropped a line to the owner of terraforums.com as well, and he let me know he had already contacted his (TrapHappy) dad.
I have also been in contact with Admins at Reddit, they have contacted his school.

Thanks Chef! Always seem to be several steps ahead of everybody!

ChefDean wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:31 pmI think that some may go that route. When he did this a couple of years ago, members of another forum started legal action, but dropped it because the dad made good faith efforts to make things right.

I wonder if anyone kept the father's contact info? He might be interested to learn that "junior" is up to his old, low-life tricks again.

ChefDean wrote:My brothers brother-in-law works for the FBI, and this would fall under their jurisdiction. They look at things like this from a monetary viewpoint, and the stuff he got just isn't worth the time to prosecute. Essentially, they won't spend a dollar to recover a dime.

It's the same thing with the porch pirates. People keep stealing packages because the police say that it isn't worth their time to track them down, even when your video doorbell has clear pictures of the perps.

evenwind wrote:That weasel should be IP Banned, not just banned by name.

Unfortunately, it is easy to acquire new IP addresses. This used to be an effective way to ban people but not any longer. It's really, really challenging to keep people away from a website. On the other site I own, SummitPost.org, I fought a huge battle with spammers and used many types of pretty sophisticated software to keep some very nefarious characters away from the site. I eventually got something that worked but it also affected access for legitimate users. There really is no good solution to permanently disabling access for a single individual to any website.

I guess the best thing for everyone to do is just be cautious with dealing with new people. Don't enter a trade or sale with someone new for any big-ticket items -- only deal with things you can stand losing until you develop some level of trust.

Matt wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 5:52 pm

evenwind wrote:That weasel should be IP Banned, not just banned by name.

Unfortunately, it is easy to acquire new IP addresses. This used to be an effective way to ban people but not any longer. It's really, really challenging to keep people away from a website. On the other site I own, SummitPost.org, I fought a huge battle with spammers and used many types of pretty sophisticated software to keep some very nefarious characters away from the site. I eventually got something that worked but it also affected access for legitimate users. There really is no good solution to permanently disabling access for a single individual to any website.

I guess the best thing for everyone to do is just be cautious with dealing with new people. Don't enter a trade or sale with someone new for any big-ticket items -- only deal with things you can stand losing until you develop some level of trust.

Exactly. My computer with Win10 literally has a function built in to change the IP address and even the MAC address (permanent hardware identifier) every 30 minutes. Of course, it is just spoofing, but matt cannot tell that.

Furthermore, with DNS masking, proxies, VPN, and every other thing you can do, if somebody is truly nefarious, they will find a way. I'm not going to go into this method further but they can even host their own website in another country to pretend they are from there.

hungrycarnivores wrote:Furthermore, with DNS masking, proxies, VPN, and every other thing you can do, if somebody is truly nefarious, they will find a way. I'm not going to go into this method further but they can even host their own website in another country to pretend they are from there.

Yep! Lots of options for the criminally minded web people these days

He scammed people here about a year back. Someone that he scammed was able to get in contact with his father and threatened legal action. His home address was on the site at one point, but I don't have it.

hopefully Matt could find it on site archives. Let the father know and he can notify the military academy. Both parties should be informed. Sanctions should follow. A member here that was badly scammed stopped being active shortly after that. He was a great guy and grower. We were damaged by him not being here.

Also, you can file a complaint against him on line with the FCC. A written letter, mailed c/o the Administration at the address you mailed the plants would likely also get some attention.

twitcher wrote:hopefully Matt could find it on site archives. Let the father know and he can notify the military academy. Both parties should be informed. Sanctions should follow. A member here that was badly scammed stopped being active shortly after that. He was a great guy and grower. We were damaged by him not being here.

As Chef said, Admins from Terraforums already contacted his father. However, I do agree with you. This has happened several times, and the father has been informed almost every time. Obviously, progress with the child's behavior has not been improved.

Matt wrote:I guess the best thing for everyone to do is just be cautious with dealing with new people. Don't enter a trade or sale with someone new for any big-ticket items -- only deal with things you can stand losing until you develop some level of trust.

Like my chess teacher always said: "Losing is the best ways to learn." The kid has scammed many times before, but it is just teaching us to trade with the right, trustworthy, people.

Holy crap i was just about to trade with him, but i changed my mind


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Sp0nser wrote:Holy crap i was just about to trade with him, but i changed my mind

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Glad you didn't! He can be surprisingly convincing for a fourteen year old.

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Scammers like this kid is what makes this hobby suck. It doesn’t even make sense since they’re shut out from trading with growers if they scam so it doesn’t get them very far. Would be nice if people were more honest and didn’t lie and gossip

Something doesnt add up
If he was 14 then he would have been 4 in 2010 and yet hes been active since then


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