Claren Randy (Ramdy)

[jw]

On my quest to find a good us seller of dried beetles I was messaged by a guy named Claren Randy. His email address what practically his name but instead of randy it was ramdy which was the first odd sign. He offered me a price list with prices that were too good to be true seen below

Chalcosoma atlas males 7.2 + cm (4 males available) $4.00 each
Chalcosoma caucasus males , 10.0 + cm (2 males available) $6.00 each
Chalcosoma caucasus females , 5.6 +cm (5 females available) $3.5 each
Megasoma actaeon females, 6.5 + cm (4 females available) $5.0 each
Megasoma actaeon males 7.0 + cm (3 males available) $6.00 each
Megasoma elephas elephas males, 10.5 + cm (5 males available) $10.0 each
Dynastes tityus males/females 12+ cm (2 pairs available) $25 for each pair

12 cm dynastes tityus? Never heard of that before.. I brought it up to him and his updated price list was exactly the same except the size was now changed to 7cm.. He claimed to live in Indiana but insisted the payment be sent to a woman's address in New Jersey. He said he could only take moneygrams which I didn't agree to.

Does this seem like a scam? I was just kind of thrown off because I haven't heard of many people inside of the us scamming people this way. Has anyone else heard from or had successful deals with this person?

Thanks guys,
Jordan

[Borja Gómez]

Hello

All the symptoms of the scammer (strange price list, big mistakes in it, too good prices, mispelling errors, etc...). Treat with indiference. Soon or later they leave you for another prey. If you want to be totally sure that he is a scammer, ask for photos, ask for collection datas, etc... All the scammers don't know what to answer.

Regards

[vabrou]

No doubt whatsoever, this is a crook. Looks like a good deal, doesn't it? Send money to a different party is ALWAYS, let me repeat ALWAYS a scam. You the buyer should ask for the seller to fully identify himself with complete name, address and phone number and for names of persons as references, not his scammer pals, ones that you know and feel safe are legitimate. Afraid you'll loose this "GOOD DEAL" by asking too many questions and doing these things? Well that is just why people continue to be scammed by these bastards. If you have money to throw away, go ahead and send this asshole your money. Then watch what doesn't happen. One option is to have him send you the specimens first, before payment. Then watch what doesn't happen. You'll probably not hear from him again, in which case you just avoided being scammed.

[jw]

I didn't do business with him and just stopped talking to him. I asked for pictures and got pictures from 2 different website (I know this thanks to googles image match tool) and when confronted he claimed him camera was broken so he just used those. For some stupid reason I even offered to buy just one specimen and pay for shipping and told him I'd pay half upfront an the second half after. He didn't agree and said I'd have to place a large order and pay 50 to 25 percent upfront. Right then I figured if he can't take my small order so I can gain his trust he probably just doesn't want to risk getting caught over a couple bucks but the bigger deals even at 25 percent would make the risk worth it. I just didn't think scamming over insects would be very common in the states..

[Adam Cotton]

You don't really have any proof that he is in the USA. Chances are that he gets someone to receive the money and send it on to Cameroon, or wherever.

Adam.

[Borja Gómez]

Hello

I highly recommend you not to give this person even half of a dollar. For what you said about him now, you will lose the money for sure.

Regards

[damoose]

Yes, He is a scammer. If you go down to the post below this one about Chu Hong from South Korea you will see the exact same ploy. Previously, the women who was taking the money was allegedly from Indiana. Unusually good pricing and inaccurate descriptions of a specie is always a give away. Better off not taking the risk.