Need Advice On A Card Trade Gone Bad

[WesleySr]

They always say that sooner or later, it is going to happen to everyone. Well, it finally happened to me. I got ripped off in a Star Wars trade.

I traded SWTCG cards with a guy in West Linn, OR. We were supposed to send our cards to each other on the Monday following Thanksgiving. I sent mine and sent him an email that night. He sent me an email the next day saying he would ship the cards out that day. I have never received the cards and he is not answering my emails.

Besides reporting him to GAB & other websites, what should I do?

Is there a way that I could find his phone number?

Would this be considered mail or internet fraud? If so, how do I go about reporting him?

[JetsAndHeels]

I have dealt with this since I am a big sports card trader/buyer. The first thing you need to do is contact the post office in the city this person lives in. Inform them of the transaction you have pending with this person and explain to them your situation. Since you have this person's name and address then you could give it to their local post office and they can decide where to go from there.
Yes you could consider this mail fraud, but in all honesty the chances of them getting all hot and bothered over this one case are a bit slim. If we are talking small to medium amounts of money involved or whatever the merchandise is worth, some PO's do not get too interested in investigating.

*HOWEVER*

If this person you did your deal with has a repuation and a history of being negligent and a scam artist, then you may have a case. The only hard thing about this is you have to contact others who have been conned by this person so you have several parties that can make a claim against this person.
My advice is to contact the PO in West Linn. Inform them of what has happened. From there you can send them any emails or other transactions you made with this person, showing that you had a contract with them to do the trade. See what your options are with the person you speak to.
Best of luck.

[Kidhuman]

If you have his address you can possibly get his phone number. PM me for the details on that Wes.

[WesleySr]

Did you do this deal over a trade board, or some other forum online?

Jango, the email I got said your original post wanted to know what site I traded through. I initiated a trade with the person through www.mahasamatman.com.

If you have his address you can possibly get his phone number. PM me for the details on that Wes.

kid, PM sent.

Thanks for the help so far guys.

[Kidhuman]

Sent you the website ot look it up on. Hopefully you can get his phone number from there

[WesleySr]

Sent you the website ot look it up on. Hopefully you can get his phone number from there

Nothing. Oh well. Anyone got any more ideas? I have to find this guy's phone number.

[Slicker]

Nothing. Oh well. Anyone got any more ideas? I have to find this guy's phone number.

I don't know of any sites that give it for free but I could probably dig some up that would sell the numbers. Like zabasearch or something.

[JetsAndHeels]

Wes,

Here is the page for West Linn on the official post office website. From the looks of it, there is only one office in West Linn so that should help.
I would call there and speak to someone (possibly the postmaster) and explain that you want to file a complaint for mail fraud.

Also contact someone on the website you did the trade on. Find an admin or someone on there who is in charge of the site and mention it to them too. If nothing else you will be able to put this person's name out there to help prevent others from getting jipped.

Good luck man, keep us updated.

[WesleySr]

Jango, thanks for the input. I just got off the phone with the police dispatch for West Linn. They looked up the name & address in the cross directory & phone book. They could not find it. They also checked their listing and said the name for that address was not Reid, but they could not give me any more info due to privacy laws.

[Kidhuman]

It sounds like he had it shipped to a friends house or used an Alias, possibly his mothers maiden name or something.