Is this a scam? :(

[911 Rod]

If it's a con, or someone asking for handouts when it's for greed and not because they are desperate, both are wrong.

The family portrayed in the pictures look to be upper class in their country.

Take a look at the brand new truck in the picture behind the kid. The new Celica toy looks really nice. One of the employees was the family's former driver?

Just saying .......

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by MMMickey

That's a bit harsh, guys. If you can't help me out, at least don't hurt me. Careful because I want to save some for my kids? Yes. Scheister? I don't think that's fair, guys.... come on.

I'm having a very bad day. Can you give me 10% of whatever other people give you?

It's only 10%. You get to keep the other 90% that you did nothing to earn.
PM me and I'll give you the address to send the check.
Thanks

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by gtc

Ironically, if this guy's 911 had burned instead of his business, these same Pelicans would probably be chipping in thousands of dollars to buy him another car (like the insurance-lapsed 930 fire a few years ago).
Pretty SMART of us.

fify

[Laneco]

MMMickey -

Wishing you and your family all the best to rebuild your business. Looks like you are already starting - keep at it! You will rebuild and I'll bet your business will be even more successful than ever.

angela

[berettafan]

I can't quite get it wrapped into a neat box but there is an attitude I see with many foreign operators these days.

Like the beach junk store owners that went and printed a bunch of FDNY t-shirts after the 2001 Islamic attack. They look for profit from something they don't have the intelligence or desire to understand or appreciate. They see something become popular and try to duplicate it but almost always miss the nuance that makes it legitimate. Whether it's fdny t-shirts or twin towers collectible coins or chotchky junk or bogus phone calls claiming they're responding to an inquiry I made about insurance.

What gets me is the total lack if interest in giving two ****s about what they're hawking. quality is always the last concern. service means nothing. community means nothing.

the common thread I see is a total lack of interest in being a contributing member of society. take, take, take. to hell with those around them.

the effort made here to tug at heart strings is all the more insulting for the scale of it. I have more respect for a common pickpocket or mugger.

[Chocaholic]

Wanted to believe him but an obvious "tell" surfaced. Early on he said he was retaining his 911 for his children, that's why he didn't plan to sell as a source of funds to rebuild. A day later, when pressed he said he couldn't sell because the title burned up in the fire. Took a full day to come up with that one.

Have dealt with too many scammers from CL, etc., to feel like this is anything but a scam.


My car's title burned down in the blaze, guys. For now, I cannot sell it as the former owner whose name still appears on the title has left the country. Here in the Philippines, it's virtually impossible to reconstruct papers for property, not without connections.

[ossiblue]

Originally Posted by Chocaholic

Wanted to believe him but an obvious "tell" surfaced. Early on he said he was retaining his 911 for his children, that's why he didn't plan to sell as a source of funds to rebuild. A day later, when pressed he said he couldn't sell because the title burned up in the fire. Took a full day to come up with that one.

Have dealt with too many scammers from CL, etc., to feel like this is anything but a scam.


My car's title burned down in the blaze, guys. For now, I cannot sell it as the former owner whose name still appears on the title has left the country. Here in the Philippines, it's virtually impossible to reconstruct papers for property, not without connections.

One other thing about this title caught my attention. The former owner's name is still on the title. If true, that seems to indicate the OP never titled/registered the car in his own name--for whatever reason.

[Rodsrsr]

Originally Posted by ossiblue

One other thing about this title caught my attention. The former owner's name is still on the title. If true, that seems to indicate the OP never titled/registered the car in his own name--for whatever reason.

Yeah, I caught that too. I was silent until he made the title post. Just seemed to have an answer for everything. Funny, that car must have been in the previous owners name for quite some time. look at this thread of his from Jan looking for tach.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-used-parts-sale-wanted/899416-wtb-tachometer-88-carrera.html

and this one just last June. According to this he's wanting the parts shipped to 94015 which is Daily City on good old Cali, lol.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-used-parts-sale-wanted/918873-wtb-bumper-shocks-euro-bumperettes.html

[Rodsrsr]

My bad, I just found this one. looks like he's owned that 88 Carrera since 2011 (but its still in another guys name.) In Woodland Hills Ca. I see Ca plates too.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/625337-specialist-near-90061-woodland-hills.html

[john70t]

When I lived in SF, I sometimes hung with a cabal of the shadiest inbred Philipinos. Everyone owed something to someone else, and was trying to borrow just a bit from Peter to pay a little back to Paul so they wouldn't get into too much trouble. It was like a game. Round and round it went. My 'friend' said his girlfriend's mother was stabbed in a Manilla market and she needed to borrow ten grand from me to save her life. Yeah no.
New guy gets welcomed warmly. Buys all drinks and food for everyone "it is our custom" then doesn't get invited again. (I didn't). On to the next sucker.
Most of all their full time jobs seemed to be applying for some grant or whatever to get free stuff from the government. Welfare, education, food stamps, whatever.
Stacks of applications. They collaborated.

I also noticed just about everyone working in the San Francisco Airport restaurants were Phillipine women.
I walked the whole place to double-check.
Someone got an exclusive contract...

I also knew some self-starting intelligent pinoys who were 100% moral upright model citizens and who would spit at those other people.

[Baz]

You guys are a regular bunch of Dick Tracy's......

[McLovin]

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Chocaholic

he said he couldn't sell because the title burned up in the fire. Took a full day to come up with that one.

My car's title burned down in the blaze, guys. For now, I cannot sell it as the former owner whose name still appears on the title has left the country. Here in the Philippines, it's virtually impossible to reconstruct papers for property, not without connections.

And that crap's illegal here.

The Scam You Have to Avoid When Buying a Used Car

Ever buy a used car from an individual–a stranger–that you had never seen before? If it worked out, you were lucky. It doesn't always.

A woman called my law office with a problem. She had bought a used car from a gentleman who had advertised it online. They spoke on the phone and then he brought the car to a mutually agreed-upon place for her to inspect. She test drove it. Everything seemed fine and they agreed on a price. He handed her the keys and the title.

The transaction took place in Michigan but the title was from Wisconsin. He explained that the title was signed by the previous owner and that he was simply passing the title along to her. She could take it in to the Michigan Secretary of State's office and get the car titled to her. This process is called title-skipping and although it is a common practice, it is illegal in most states. Be that as it may, she took the keys and the title and they parted ways.

When she took the title to the Secretary of State's office they said there was something wrong with the way it was filled out. She would need to get the seller to fix it.

Who does she call?

She called the man who sold her the car and, this going the way you'd expect, he would not answer his phone. She emailed him and he ignored her. He removed the ad from the internet. She also did not know where he lived since they had met somewhere else. She did not even know his full name.

So, she did some research to find the woman whose name was on the title. After poking around a bit and making some phone calls, she discovered that the woman whose name was on the title was dead. Deceased. No more.

When she called my office she had a title to a car, purportedly signed by a now-dead person, and the car. But she could not title or register it in Michigan. My advice to her? Call a Wisconsin attorney and see if it is even economically feasible to have a representative of the woman's estate fix the title. And that is assuming that the sale to the Michigan woman was on the up-and-up. What if the people in Wisconsin say the car was stolen?

I have no idea how the story turned out but this is the example I like to point to when people tell me they are comfortable buying and selling cars with skipped titles. "A" sells a car to "B" but B does not retitle it. He simply hands the title–signed by A–to C and tells C to retitle it (or sell it to D!) When C or D has a problem, they want to complain to the person who sold them the car but that person is not the one whose name is on the title. And what if they need the person on the title to fix something?

I mentioned earlier that title-skipping is illegal in most states. The primary reason that people skip titles is so they can avoid paying taxes on the sale. Our title skipper in the above scenario–"B"–would not appear in the chain of title and would never pay any sales tax to the state. Many people also skip titles because they are not licensed to sell cars and they are selling too many. In Michigan, you can only sell four cars a year legally without a dealer's license. That number may vary from state to state but most states will require you to be licensed at some point if you buy and sell too many cars in a given year. Many people break this law but, since I am an attorney, I feel the need to simply point it out to you.

I advise all my clients to take the seller to the Secretary of State's office and transfer the title the same day you buy the car. It's even what the Secretary of State in Michigan recommends you do. If the seller will not do that with you, you may want to rethink the deal. The price might be right but you cannot predict the problems you may have later. Otherwise, you might find yourself somewhere down the road with a car which cannot be retitled until you do some detective work. And possibly trying to track down dead people in other states.

[Rodsrsr]

It's obvious bulls**t. The car is his, titled in his name probably for the last 5 or more years. He has the title because there was no fire and he lives in California. he just got busted plain & simple. My prediction is we wont hear a peep from him on this thread going forward. What a douch....

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by Rodsrsr

It's obvious bulls**t. The car is his, titled in his name probably for the last 5 or more years. He has the title because there was no fire and he lives in California. he just got busted plain & simple. My prediction is we wont hear a peep from him on this thread going forward. What a douch....

... and right now he has $17,078.00 USD!

[911 Rod]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

... and right now he has $17,078.00 USD!

Yes, but it was at $17,000 yesterday. My guess is he padded that amount to make it look like the work was doing the right thing and kicking in.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Rodsrsr

It's obvious bulls**t. The car is his, titled in his name probably for the last 5 or more years. He has the title because there was no fire and he lives in California. he just got busted plain & simple. My prediction is we wont hear a peep from him on this thread going forward. What a douch....

This ^

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

... and right now he has $17,078.00 USD!

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

Yes, but it was at $17,000 yesterday. My guess is he padded that amount to make it look like the work was doing the right thing and kicking in.

Yep, the $17,000 was him sticking some money in to get things started. I'm guessing the $78 might be real from folks that have been taken in.

[cashflyer]

I'm sure there are people on Pelican with ties to the Philippines.... why doesn't somebody offer to meet with him, see the fire destruction, talk to him, etc ?

[Chocaholic]

Because they'd clearly be wasting their time!

[sammyg2]

Still patiently waiting for my 10%!


(foot tapping on ground ......)