SCAM!
Your correct about permits are only required across state lines.
dmmj said:
Your correct about permits are only required across state lines.
300 for radiated?
- Thread starter Irwin4530
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I'd be very cautious with ANY interaction with these people. Remember, these are criminals who have your email address. They may or may not be involved in other illegal activities. I'm not sure I would want them thinking I was playing a game with them. They are most probably in West Africa, but could always send a virus your way.
yagyujubei said:
I never Thought of that. Too late now for this one. But I did get another response. Will post separate from this post.
Okay, so I had told this guy I had a friend in Turkey I would send the money to. My friend would bring the money on the day the torts were to ship, and the friend will go with him to ship. If he, the friend, can't do it. He said I could pay half and he would have a shipping agent deliver and pick up the other half. He gave me all of his home info. He is a very good scammer. Half the mony is better then nothing, right
. So here is his reply.hi,
i can understand your fears.... it is ok your friend can come. that will be good.
shipping for the the 6 torts is 50$ per tort. that makes it 300 for all.
the three rads......900$
three aldabra.......1200$
shipping...300
it gives a total of 2400$.
shipping take a maximum of 17 hours from here so monday is perfect.
if your friend cannot come, then you don't have to worry ok. i am a man of integrity and i do not cheat people out of their entitlement....
we will do it this way, i'll have all the papers done and book for a home delivery with a delivery agency here.....
they will get in touch with you..... educate you on the delivery formalities. you'll get to pay half first(to them) and once upon delivery, you complete the rest.
i do not have a paypal account but maybe the delivery agency will do...
so i will need your address in the following manner..
full name......
street address....
house address and num....
state.........
post code......
phone numbers.
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This sure is a lot of effort he is putting forth!!
These people have been scamming the public for longer than you've been reading their ads. Have you ever considered that they KNOW what you're doing and are just playing with you? They are not as naive as you seem to think they are.
emysemys said:
Oh, don't get me wrong. They don't have me fooled at all. I just wanted to see how far they would go. I just wish I actually had someone in turkey to actually show up and see what they had to say then. That's if it wasn't an empty lot. I know if I was falling for this and gave him 1/2 the money, he would be happy with that and I would be out 1/2 my money. I don't think at all that they are naive and neither am I.
I always ask if I can call them to make arrangements, if they have an excuse as to why they can't talk on the phone then you know it's a definate scam in my book!
wellington said:
So basically, Russians,Greeks,Sulcatas,etc which can generally be found a great deal CHEAPER than that are being charged the same price as Radiateds, Galopagos, and Kleinmannis? Pretty sure Russians range from 75-200$, and Greeks around there...Sulcatas 100-250$ish..
Kleinmannis are ridiculously endangered and I wouldn't advise owning one to begin with, and the cheapest I have ever seen them was over a grand.
I know Aldabras cost waaay more than that, too. Aldabraman is a reputable breeder, and I've read around 2500$ (If I remember correctly) for yearlings? Which is a very reasonable price. The only way I think you'd find cheaper is if someone adopted one out for free, or if an owner passed away and left it to someone.
If they are going to try to scam, they should at least make the prices sound reasonable.
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I had one from South Africa playing me a lot with different adds I had listed and I finally just played along. He never told me where he was but I just looked up his IP address and name on this website and found his home address, what computer he was using, it told me he was using windows xp and who's name was on the internet account and that it was dial up connection. Used Googled Earth and got a really good picture of the front of his house from the "street view" on google earth.
I asked him several times where he was from and never got a reply to that question he would just change the subject with other questions and I finally said "Oh never mind I found you, your in my old stomping grounds in Johannesburg. I have some old Military buddies that live around there from when I was in Recces,South African National defense Force. This is your address and here's a picture of your house correct ?" Then I looked up a pub nearby and asked him if such and such pub and grill still serves the best steak in town and then said Man you need to update your old computer and get rid of the dial up server, I will just send my buddies over tomorrow with the money to collect the tortoises. Thankyou and I Hope to talk to you after they pick up my tortoises ."
He never wrote back again. I just pictured him running out the door and never coming back. I have to admit it was fun. I was laid up sick for a while and had nothing better to do with my time and it cost me like $15 to find all this info but it was still worth it.
I hope he doesn't read this though lol.
I asked him several times where he was from and never got a reply to that question he would just change the subject with other questions and I finally said "Oh never mind I found you, your in my old stomping grounds in Johannesburg. I have some old Military buddies that live around there from when I was in Recces,South African National defense Force. This is your address and here's a picture of your house correct ?" Then I looked up a pub nearby and asked him if such and such pub and grill still serves the best steak in town and then said Man you need to update your old computer and get rid of the dial up server, I will just send my buddies over tomorrow with the money to collect the tortoises. Thankyou and I Hope to talk to you after they pick up my tortoises ."
He never wrote back again. I just pictured him running out the door and never coming back. I have to admit it was fun. I was laid up sick for a while and had nothing better to do with my time and it cost me like $15 to find all this info but it was still worth it.
I hope he doesn't read this though lol.
Lmao.
Priceless.
You know, it'd be even funnier if he sent another message.... "So u still want turtle or no"
Priceless.
You know, it'd be even funnier if he sent another message.... "So u still want turtle or no"
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QUOTE "Kleinmannis are ridiculously endangered and I wouldn't advise owning one to begin with, and the cheapest I have ever seen them was over a grand. "
I know what you getting at but Egyptians aren't that rare in captivity these days in the US and I've heard of hatchlings for $300 or less if bought in numbers. Just in case you were interested.
I know what you getting at but Egyptians aren't that rare in captivity these days in the US and I've heard of hatchlings for $300 or less if bought in numbers. Just in case you were interested.
Really? I assumed due to the rarity in the wild they would be very scarce in captivity outside of zoos.
In that case, I stand corrected. I'm sure they would be very popular due their size.
In that case, I stand corrected. I'm sure they would be very popular due their size.
I looked his address, here it is
British Embassy
51 Krtsanisi street,
0114 Tbilisi
Too Funny
British Embassy
51 Krtsanisi street,
0114 Tbilisi
Too Funny
Sounds legit.
I've heard the British Embassy in Georgia has a good selection of tortoises and a knowledgeable staff of trained herpetologists.
I've heard the British Embassy in Georgia has a good selection of tortoises and a knowledgeable staff of trained herpetologists.
If anyone has a cheap international phone plan, there's a number you can call. I, on the other hand made a request for Tortoises that equals, $2400.00 and half of that to be paid before they ship. I don't really want to give away $1200.00 for nothing in return.. If you feel it is legit, go for it. They are nice looking torts in the pictures he sent me. But be sure to let us know if you made a bad bet or not and you have to be honest
. If you feel it is legit, go for it. They are nice looking torts in the pictures he sent me. But be sure to let us know if you made a bad bet or not and you have to be honest
This is my last update, unless I can get some actual proof this guy is Not a scammer. I have been still emailing him. I must say, he has not said one thing the other scammers say. This guy is either very good at scamming or he is legit. I am not sure. If I really wanted to purchase another tort, and he would make the same deal with me of paying 1/2 upfront and 1/2 at time of delivery, I would seriously consider. A loss of $150.00-200.00 1/2 the price wouldn't be to hard to swallow. He has given me the name of his delivery service agent company he uses and admits, he just started advertising in the USA. Mainly has sold in the UK. He has never mentioned western union or any of the other scammers ways of payment. He never yet has turned down me having someone show up to pick up torts, or to show up and go with him to ship them off. Although I am still not convinced completely, this one might just actually be legit. Make your own decision and if you want to take a chance and buy from him, your doing it knowing more people think it is a scam then there are thinking he's not. I am on the not sure yet.
Maybe a dumb question but... CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna). Is this guy able to ship some of the tortoises?
wellington said:
There is no legitimate seller offering radiated tortoises for $300...or Galapagos for $400. It just doesn't happen. If it did, they wouldn't have any to sell. The "legitimate buyers" would eat it up long before us common folks would ever get a chance.
We are getting smarter about the scammers, and the scammers are getting smarter about us. Don't allow yourself to be fooled. This is a fake ad, and the person you are talking to is a criminal in all senses of the word.
Legit sellers don't sell cheap, they have time invested in the more exotic tortoises, so no one would ever sell them for that price. Second they don't offer a half/half offer to strangers, if it was someone they had done business with for years it would be a different story, and he also probably is going along with you or a friend picking them up, since he figures 150 is better than nothing. I would honestly not do any more dealings with this person since they have your email headers and can get all kinds of useful info from them. If you honestly want to waste 150 dollars you can always send it to me, I can find a good use for it.
No, I am not buying any of his torts. Never planned on it. I do think he may be a scammer. He is just not like the typical ones that I have come across, played them a while also and also got the same lines about wiring money, no you can't pick them up, we only ship, yada, yada, yada. This guy has never once mentioned any of the scammers lingo. I deff. don't understand his cheap prices. His explanation kinda made sense, except he could still sell them for a lot more and still be cheap. I would like to be able to prove it 100% either way. But, unless a purchase was actually made, I don't know if you could prove it.
From my understanding of these importers. They need a CITES to import to the Us. Each one permit allows 24 or 25? Torts to be imported. There is a limit i believe of how many permits they can get at one time, which is two permits but not sure it that is all they can get in a year, i forget. They have to be 4 inches or over. If one is under the size limit, the whole shipment is confiscated. My understand, there is not one permit per tort. So purchaser does not get a permit with their tort. However, I don't know if that pertains to torts like the Rads. That might be a hold different story. I learned this while talking to Chris of ToucanJungle when I once acquired about his torts, that I found out most are born at a zoo, shipped to a holding place in England or italy I think he said, not sure, held there until they are large enough to be imported to the USA.
Yes he can ship. If he really has torts to ship and is not a scammer.
CLMoss said:
From my understanding of these importers. They need a CITES to import to the Us. Each one permit allows 24 or 25? Torts to be imported. There is a limit i believe of how many permits they can get at one time, which is two permits but not sure it that is all they can get in a year, i forget. They have to be 4 inches or over. If one is under the size limit, the whole shipment is confiscated. My understand, there is not one permit per tort. So purchaser does not get a permit with their tort. However, I don't know if that pertains to torts like the Rads. That might be a hold different story. I learned this while talking to Chris of ToucanJungle when I once acquired about his torts, that I found out most are born at a zoo, shipped to a holding place in England or italy I think he said, not sure, held there until they are large enough to be imported to the USA.
CLMoss said:
Yes he can ship. If he really has torts to ship and is not a scammer.
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