Trouble with Baba Bright of Uganda

[admin]

Heads up folks,

I just received a litany of forwarded e-mails from some people who got ripped off by Baba Bright of Uganda. I usually refrain from making ultimate judgment on behalf of InsectNet, but this looks bad indeed. He had ads up in the Classifieds with very convincing pictures and language (he knows his insects). But from the language in his e-mails to customers it looks like he is indeed a scammer. All the red flags are there, like excessively wordy excuses and being in the hospital, etc. Also, his offer of female P. antimachus, which is highly suspicious.

So I removed his ads. Sorry for any loses incurred, but this is a risk that goes with the territory of international trading.

And always remember that pre-payment by Western Union to African dealers is a big risk. I have warned you all about this time and time again. You should use PayPal or direct wire transfer to the vendor's bank if you are paying up front. This way the payee is more traceable in case there are any problems down the line. Of course, scammers are unlikely to have a PayPal account or a bank account! So, there you go.

[paradesia]

I had corresponded with Baba Bright regarding some P. leucotaenia he was offering . His ad stated that payment was after delivery of specimens. He responded that he wanted payment upfront and even said that 50% was okay. His excuse was that others had ripped him off. I countered that I was willing to give him a list of reputable dealers I have purchased from as references for contact to assure my integrity as a buyer. All of this fell on deaf ears and so I resigned from doing business with him.

[admin]

Thanks for the report.

Anybody else?

[thanos]

I never had any deal with Baba Bright, but I have to state this: Baba had contacted me some months ago to help him with Markus Domes from Germany,telling me that he had sent to Markus a parcel with specimens and that,although he got the parcel some months ago, Baba still hadn't received his payment or answers to his emails from Markus. Baba contacted me about this,because I had also communication problems with Markus regarding a butterfly for which I had paid and he was oweing to me,which finally he sent me in good shape as promised,and he apologised that the long delivery and delay in his responses were due to his work. Before I receive Markus' parcel, I had posted a classified ad about him,because of the problems I had with him. So Baba saw that,and contacted me. I told him that it's not my work to contact Markus about their case,and I advised him to post either an ad or in the insect trading reports here,if he had really problems with Markus.
So,Baba,maybe has been ripped off by others(I don't know if what he told me about Markus was true or if he finally received the payment from him),as told above,but this is NO WAY a reason for him to start ripping other collectors..

Thanos

[spru]

Hi,

I have the same experience with Baba and the same story with Markus. Baba placed a add that he is going to use Paypal in the future. I offered him to send 50% payment in advance but only with Paypal (money back guarantee!). He told me that Paypal is not so common in his country and it would be easier to send payment by Western Union or Money gram. I told him that I will wait till he also have a Paypal account.
Also look at the pictures from Sentongo and Baba, both looks very similar. I asked Baba to send me more detailed pictures but he was not able to send them. Isn`t it strange that he places perfect pictures from P. rex specimen at the classifieds but can`t send further pictures after request? Make your own decision about all these details but never send payment in advance by Western Union or similar companies.

Kind regards
Raimund Spruzina
Austria

[wollastoni]

Hi Raimund,

Are u back to business ?

Olivier

[wingedwishes]

To prevent being stung, you should always post here on this forum asking if any members have dealt with someone you have not used. I've done this several times. I have always paid in advance and have yet to be stolen from. I even thought one praised dealer had shorted me some Papilio paris once but 6 months later, they showed up in the mail with an apology.

[vabrou]

Seems Baba Bright is doing business on Facebook under the name of Centenodids Uganda. He is insistent that payment be upfront. I told him his name is well known as a cheater on many internet sites and I would never ever send him payment upfront. He proceeded to try to convince me why I should send him payment upfront. All of this before I told him what I was interested in receiving, which was not beetles. I repeated NEVER! Suddenly he has to go to the gym and bye. This fellow walks like a scammer, talks like a scammer, and obviously is a scammer. I wouldn't send this person one cent upfront for anything. Caveat emptor!!

[Deleted]

I know baba bright well amongst other pseudonyms he uses. Simple, don't pay anything up front. I must be the only person on here that gets material from uganda without any hasstle. I also got an email from a ugandan dealer with a different name to baba bright asking me to contact marcus in germany regarding the none payment of the beetles he sent. Seems at least the phrase "what goes around comes around" has come into effect!!!
DO NOT PAY ANYTHING UP FRONT.

[vabrou]

Surprise, surprise, that new Ugandan dealer name is Baba using a new fake name. He is repeatidly trying to get payment from Marcus in Germany. Stringer1 please tell us what new name he is using this time so we can all avoid this jerk.

[thanos]

I just received an email from Sentongo Michael(=Baba Bright), as following:

Hi

I see you ask about me on insectnet trading forum. is there a problem?
Do you happen to know the contact of Domes Markus of Germany?
Thanks
Michael
--
"But I don't want to go among mad people", Alice remarked. "Oh, you
can't help that", said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're
mad." "How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice. "You must be", said the
Cat. "or you wouldn't have come here." (Lewis Carroll: Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland)

Sentongo Michael




Thanos

ps: Markus Domes was honest with me in all our deals. I received great specimens from him, as promised.

[Deleted]

hello vabrou.
thanos has named him above, but to be honest, i can't say anything wrong about him. I have never sent him money first, and he has always posted my parcels without payment. In fact there's one in the post today from him. I must be one of the lucky ones i guess. If the dealers in africa are desperate to trade, they know by now the bad reputation they have by the "bad apples" in their country ripping people off. They should at least send just small parcels to traders and gain their trust. I send to the dealers in uganda, tanzania, cameroon, etc, way over the amount charged for shipping, but i don't mind this little perk they have as long as they remain true to their word.
All i can say is, if you send any money whatsoever to african dealers, 9 times out of 10 you aint getting nothing through the letter box.

pete

[thanos]

If someone(in this case Bright/Sentongo) is ok only with one person(stringer1) or with very few ones, while he is not ok with most other people, then he obviously is not correct.

Today I received a PM from a member of this forum, as following:

'Hello
Purely by chance I was just reading Insectnet forum and saw Baba Bright = Sentongo Micheal. I just want to ask you if this is definitely the same person ??
I was robbed by Baba last year and as it happens was about to do business with Sentongo today - he has just actually telephoned me about 2 hours ago asking for postage money, then send an email telling me to send money to another name ?
Any advice would be appreciated'

And I answered:

'Hello,

As shown from the email he sent me, and as confirmed by 'stringer1' in the thread about Baba in the trading reports, yes, it seems that Baba Bright and Sentongo Michael is the same person. Also, it seems that he is ok only with one person(stringer1),or with very few ones, while he is not ok/ripping off most other people. I haven't done any business with him, and will maybe do ONLY if he accepts to send the parcel first without payment in advance, like he does with stringer1. Fair things. Otherwise, nothing.

Thanos'

If he still hasn't received any payment from Markus or from others (I don't know), this is by no means a reason for him to rob others.

Thanos

[vabrou]

Thanos, send money to another name!, Get real, what is it going to take for you to realize this unknown person is a cheater and liar. When these persons call you from Africa, what happens is that you unknowlingly become a real time example to a class of scammer students who are listening to their instructer (Baba or whomever he really is) on "this is how you get stupid people to agree to send money for free". He is a fast talker who continually tries to bully you into agreeing on the phone to send him money. If he fails in the first call, he calls back a second time because he failed the first time in front of his classroom of trainee scammer students. Facebook is one of the biggest tools these guys use today to find their victims as they create fake personas under multiple names and use images taken off of the net.

[thanos]

Personally I haven't ever fallen victim even to much more clever scammers..Not talking for such ones. They are too obvious for me .
I've never sent in advance money (and will never do) to any person out of eBay for whose honesty I'm not sure. When I buy insects out of eBay, it is always from well-known guarantee dealers,100% honest, from whom I've been always satisfied. The same I do with my exchanges. But I know to distinguish the honest persons even if they are not known collectors, and all my exchange partners so far were correct in our deals. If I will need to get African,S.American,etc insects from local dealers that I don't know if they are honest, the first rule that I will put is : payment after delivery of the parcel and checking of the quality of each specimen, and that the amount of payment will be lower if some of the specimens are not as agreed (of lower quality, or different species, or different sex of a species, etc). If they will not agree with this, simply I stop any communication with them.

Thanos