Help needed on fraudulent pelican member !

500gls · 10-20-2008, 08:44 AM

Hi, first of all this is my last straw in this awful process.

some months ago i bought a 911E '72 from a pelican member called 'doonbugg'.
I paid quite a large sum for the car and he would bring the car to she shipper himself ( I live in Europe ).
He was waiting for parts to complete the car and that took several months .
Then he swapped the fuchs rimms for a new set that was bought by me ,so far no worry's.
after several weeks of waiting he mailed me that the car was at the shipper, some weeks later I found out that that was not the case.
He told me that he was misinformed by his partner and would set things straight.

so again 2 months later all his tel.numbers are either dead or not being pickud up and he is not responding to my emails anymore.
Needless to say I am very worryed and am afraid I lost about $ 21K.
Now the ' I need help ' part.

This gentlemen lives in Rock Hill SC and his name is Marion Branham.Does anyone by change happen to know him or is willing to find out if he still lives at the adres I have and still has the car ?
Or if someone has a tip how to preceed with this, I am willing to pay for this as well.
I don't have the title of the car or a bill of sale ( I know very very dumb

!),
here is a pic of the car, maybe he has sold it to someone else who recognises the car .

Thanks in advance !

Sebastian

mtbguy · 09:09 AM

I'm in Atlanta - not sure how far away Rock Hill is from here. I did a search and found this:

JT Branham Cabinet Shop
maps.google.com

1586 Firetower Rd
Rock Hill, SC 29730
(803) 324-3606
Get directions

It looks like it is pretty close to Charlotte NC maybe 30 miles away looking at map- maybe a pelican in that area may have seen it?

I don't know if this helps, it sounds like he was taking advantage of the situation, but there are federal penalties for wire fraud in our country if you can prove it. Best of luck!

500gls · 10-20-2008, 09:10 AM

thanks,

Atlanta would be 4 hours from Rock Hill, so that is probably to far for you.
There are some more Branham's in Rock Hill maybe related but he is :
JM Branham. I have his adres but wouldn't know if this is still valid.

I don't know where to start searching for a normal ( not mobile ) phone number on that adres.

thanks,

Sebastian

union · 10-20-2008, 03:54 PM

I hope this helps you ...

1XXX E. Black St
Rock Hill, South Carolina 29730
United States
8032809XXXX

Is this the address you have? If not, PM me and i'll give it to you.

Rot 911 · 10-21-2008, 05:50 AM

He gives this phone number in an ad for a BMW car: 704 469 2575. Good luck.

500gls · 10-21-2008, 05:59 AM

yes had that already, I cannot get thru I phoned a thousand times but it keeps on telling me that that person is unavailable.
Now i don't know if he has blokked all incoming international calls .

Is this whole thing something I should take up with the local police or is there another institution I should contact, lawyer repo,,,

, I am just guessing, what is the best way to go with this ?

thanks,

S.

mtbguy · 10-21-2008, 06:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 500gls

yes had that already, I cannot get thru I phoned a thousand times but it keeps on telling me that that person is unavailable.
Now i don't know if he has blokked all incoming international calls .

Is this whole thing something I should take up with the local police or is there another institution I should contact, lawyer repo,,,

, I am just guessing, what is the best way to go with this ?

thanks,

S.

I'll try the number for you and see if its blocked. I have a relative who is a retired law enforcement officer that is used to dealing with theft, drug dealers etc. I'll ask them who they would contact to help out- I think the state of South Carolina would go after them for you as long as you can prove that you wired money from overseas to this person.

An attorney seems like a costly way to go - I think if the state starts investigating this guy he would quickly refund your money or end up in jail eventually.

The problem with these types of people is that this incident is usually not their first time- he's probably scammed dozens of people already and become quite good at it unfortunately.

I'm always amazed at the amount of energy and thought criminals put into their endeavors- they could be the next "dot.com" millionaires if they channeled their minds in the right direction.

mtbguy · 10-21-2008, 06:25 AM

Sebastian- I called the number and got voicemail, but it does let you leave a message.

500gls · 10-21-2008, 06:31 AM

Thanks all for the input
@ mtbguy, that would be great if you can ask your relative , and yes I have left several messages without any responce.

thanks,

mtbguy · 10-21-2008, 06:46 AM

I talked with them and they gave me three ideas.

1) if there was international wire transfer, contact the FBI. This agency will not screw around and WILL get this person. Its a much bigger deal to law enforcement in our country if they are doing overseas theft/sales with much bigger and longer federal penalties.

2)here are links for the Rock Hill SC police department and Charlotte website

http://www.cityofrockhill.com/dynSubPage.aspx?deptID=15&pLinkID=0

http://www.crimeincharlotte.com

I looked at the Rock Hill website and it was a pretty decent one for a smaller town. There seems to be a auto theft ring that operates in and around there from all of the most wanted photos.

Hope this helps- it looks like a really nice car in the photos.

JY001 · 10-21-2008, 01:15 PM

I live in Charlotte. I'm not sure how I can help, but we had a problem that required Rock Hill's police help. They were very helpful. I'd give them a call if I were you, and ask them how to proceed.

Phone: 803/325-2500

evergreen · 03:42 PM

Original poster Sebastian- are you certain that this car actually existed? What I mean is- are you absolutely certain that the seller in reality ever possessed the 72 E?.... could be photos were culled from an unknown source.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JY001

I live in Charlotte. I'm not sure how I can help, but we had a problem that required Rock Hill's police help. They were very helpful. I'd give them a call if I were you, and ask them how to proceed.

Phone: 803/325-2500

Definitely get on the phone IMMEDIATELY and open a case with the local police and FBI as well. Doesn't matter if it's 4:00 A.M. Eastern, Greenwich Mean Time or whenever, FBI & Police will pick up the phone!

SAVE these images immediately before this turkey has an opportunity to delete his Pelican posts. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?p=3588872#post3588872

Assemble all of your emails to/from the seller to forward to law enforcement, including the plate # from this pic (it may be a plate from a previous owner, but could potentially assist the police in tracing the car) ...also have ready all banking information used by seller in connection with the wire transfer.

A search of seller's email address yields this additional phone #: -- scroll halfway down this web page to @gotgoldfever > http://www.minersmanual.com/listdir.php?ST_ID=3

_____________
_____________

Another advert from last year posted by your seller for a CD changer--
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?p=3599070#post3599070

sjsss · 10-21-2008, 03:36 PM

I am a retired Federal Agent and would make the following suggestions:

1. Contact the FBI, Charlotte NC Field Division at 704-377-9200

2. Contact South Carolina State Law Enforcement Department (SLED) at 803-737-9000

3. Locate and contact the Interpol office in your county. Check www.interpol.int and www.interpol.com to find contact info.

Steve Meyer

John se · 06:57 PM

Go get PI to find your car immediately, do not delay. You are being royally screwed. It will cost you some money but at least you may still get your car. I was coming unglued with a BS Artist in Massachusetts and had about 17K in a Bad deal being strung along on sellers promises.

What a dum-**s I was, hard $$$$ lesson to learn (I even went to boston to buy the car). I was at the point of planning my trip there to deal with things personally, this had been going on three years, (find the car, find the landlord, get the car moved and stored and then shipped to me).

Luckily I started with finding a PI in his town where the car was stored, then the PI found him at his home, then he knew I was serious. You see then an invesitgator begins to build a case, I think these con guys know that. At that point he must have figured that things could get alot worse (see above wire fraud and fbi stuff) and a week later after I hired a transporter the car was on its way to me. Lesson learned, over. If you expect someone else to take care of this problem lots of luck, any further delay is not in order it only makes things worse (read statute of limitations on Larceny). I assume you have the title to the car, if not still go fight for it. It might be a problem getting it shipped overseas. The PI was surprisingly inexpensive (50 per hour), compared to lawyers (300 per hour). Law enforcement really isnt much interested in property crime, so dont expect much there.

500gls · 10-22-2008, 07:01 AM

ok thanks to his neigbour the body shop I got another phone number from him.
A person stating to be the owner, that answered the phone, of the house told me that marion moved to georgia without leaving an adress or tel. number.

Or it was him tryiing to distract attention, ( this thing is doing weird things to my mind !!, )

So i phoned the FBI wich was quite a weird call because The man had a pretty nasty accent

( sorry no offence but for me a bit hard to understand )
so i filled out a form on the ic3.gov site .
This is a somewhat internet fraude based thing so see what happens.

keep you all posted.

John se · 10-22-2008, 07:31 AM

If you want your car you are going to have to go after it, or send a Private Investigator. You see with no title or BOS its your word against his, these bums tend to know the law well and the burden of proof is on you. Now if you get a PI to find the guy and find the car then you can begin to negotiate, without the car in your name or at least a signed bill of sale. what proves that your not stealing the car?

mtbguy · 10-22-2008, 07:35 AM

If he moved to north Georgia or near Atlanta I'll be happy to help look.
Good luck.
Rick

500gls · 10-22-2008, 07:50 AM

@ john,

I know that I have no bill of sale but a wire from me to him with 911E stated on there, now if he can show to whoever that he indeed shipped the car you have a point.
how i see it is that if you pay 20k to a person on the other side of the world something should also come my way in the form of a car.
So if he cannot prove that I have a case.
I also spoke to his bank today and they told me that if I file a complaint at my bank the both banks will sort it out and in case no items have been delivered to me ( no document of shipping of any sort to me ) they will wire it back.

But I think mister M probably has a new bank

500gls · 10-22-2008, 07:51 AM

@ Rick,
Thanks for you offer maybe I'll make you my repo man in the next weeks

500gls · 10-22-2008, 11:42 AM

I recal the phone conversation with the man that was telling me that marion has moved away to georgia.
In retrospective he sounded a lot like the man himself.

Can or is someone willing to call the next number and see if it is him ?.
I know this is asking much but today I filled in the FBI form stating that he has moved to Georgia, if that's not th case I can tell them that or get a pi to follow that up
Because he can see who is calling on his telephone he sees my international number and may act as someone else.
If someone from within the states call he might not be suspicious.
again I can understand if no one is willing to do this but in case someone is willing let me know and I give you the number.

thanks,

bas