The Rolex Forums   The Rolex Watch

ROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEX


Go Back   Rolex Forums - Rolex Forum > Classifieds > WatchOut!!!

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 26 April 2024, 01:47 AM   #91
TickTockChuck
"TRF" Member
 
TickTockChuck's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Real Name: Chuck
Location: Canada
Watch: Rolex 116610LV
Posts: 2,270
Sorry for the OPs loss of his watch, very traumatic I'm sure. Personally I think the pics were sufficient to ID the suspect.

Shouldn't this post be in the TRF "Watchout!!!" Section. I had a recent post about a Canadian envelope switcher moved there (didn't know about it at the time).

Face to face private sales of any high value item is something I wouldn't do, such is the world we live in.

Peace to all and be careful out there. Cheers.
TickTockChuck is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26 April 2024, 02:04 AM   #92
Rolexken
"TRF" Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: England
Posts: 819
Quote:
Originally Posted by forcinitijp View Post
So .. I got lost... do you say black? African-American? Central American?

I think the term African-American was born because black-skinned Africans (because there are also Africans of other colors like the Egyptians etc) don't like to be told that they are black... between a dilemma now...

Update how you have to mention people with black skin so they are pigeonholed into a specific race ... African-American you understand anything... there are also the Afrikaans or Boers who are Afrowhites
Elon Musk is an African American.
Rolexken is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26 April 2024, 02:47 AM   #93
omar-rye
"TRF" Member
 
omar-rye's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: Underground
Posts: 2,653
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rolexken View Post
Elon Musk is an African American.
No, he's not. Someone who came from Africa and is now American is not African American. Africans who are first (or even multiple generations) Americans are not African American. People whose ancestors have been in the US to the point where their lineage most likely consists of ancestors who were enslaved are African American. My neighbor is black and born here, but he's not African American; he's from Trinidad. Someone like Opera Winfrey or Kevin Hart can be described as African American black. Someone like Akon (singer), who’s black, African, and American is not African American. The thief in the photos could be African American, Kenyan, Guyanese, Jamaican, Nigerian, etc.
omar-rye is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26 April 2024, 05:45 AM   #94
Modiferous
"TRF" Member
 
Modiferous's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2019
Location: California
Posts: 315
Quote:
Originally Posted by soxfan39 View Post
Wow this is nuts. I talked to this guy late last year when I was selling a Daytona. He found me on TRF and then we texted and chatted on the phone couple different times over several days. He talked about his father's Daytona that he inherited and wanted to add another one to his collection and wanted to make sure mine wasn't polished. He was going to "fly in" from Vegas to do the deal. He also wanted to meet at a crappy jewelry store to get "authenticated" and then wanted me to follow him to his bank. I told him to just bring cash to the jewelry store and we would do the transaction there. He kept trying to convince me that we would need to go to a second location to finalize. Spidey senses were telling me something was off and I didn't move forward with the deal. Forgot all about it until reading this post. The safest way to sell a watch nowadays is to work only with a trusted dealer on here or locally. It's just too much risk to deal with a random stranger.

*edited to add (I found our text thread with the same ID and included here)
Yes when he initially contacted me on RolexForums he used the username
Ls702
and email
[email protected]

which means that he is open to pretending that he is in Las Vegas. But for most of his victims and intended victims he claims to be in Northern California.

I suppose that claiming to be too far from Northern or Southern Cal creates the issue of why the hell anyone would come much farther than that to see a watch.
Modiferous is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26 April 2024, 05:51 AM   #95
Modiferous
"TRF" Member
 
Modiferous's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2019
Location: California
Posts: 315
As far as using pictures of rappers in his fake IDs, he did not do that for me or for the Patek he stole from the other RolexForums victim Metalmonster.

However, up until this point neither of the detectives I have been working with not in Northern Cal or Southern Cal noticed that the pics were of rappers, nor did I.

Maybe he puts the rapper pics on there because he is lazy and can't come up with anything better, maybe because he wants to weed out the ones who would notice that the pics are rappers! who knows?

I do note that he has managed to meet and steal from even established watch dealers with online websites so he is definitely pretty good at talking the talk.


He isn't as smart or organized as all that, would be victims who have communicated with him for longer than a week, have noticed that he suddenly changed his phone number (probably to try to stay one step ahead of "them") and has even forgotten what name he was using and started using a different name. This implies that he is working multiple prospects simultaneously. I think he has the greatest success with potential sellers who agree to meet him and do meet him quickly. In my case we went from contact on a Friday, conversations over a weekend, to meeting and getting robbed on a Tuesday.

Part of why he got me is that I had had a couple of prior recent sales where I had met the buyers in person and all had gone perfectly. This lulled me into assuming that this buyer, too, was okay. Also when I came to the store I arrived before he did, and I had the bag with the watch on the counter, not in my hands. Once I saw him, I started having doubts about whether I would even hand him the watch, he didn't look right to me. He sensed that, and during a moment when I was using my phone to call a different appraiser (the store we arrived in the appraiser was out on a family emergency), he leapt past me, grabbed the bag and ran.

And even then he wasn't a big guy at all, and I chased him and actually got hold of him (he punched my arm off his shoulder), but I still could have tackled him, but some guy that I believe was a spotter came out of nowhere and was trying to slow me down, and finally, I didn't know who else was around who might have swung a pipe across the back of my head while I was on top of the robber, so I slowed down a tad, and let him go. In that instant I decided that risking my safety or life wasn't worth the watch.
Modiferous is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26 April 2024, 06:03 AM   #96
Rolex.Journey
"TRF" Member
 
Rolex.Journey's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: CA
Watch: Sub
Posts: 327
So sorry this happened to you and I hope you recover your watch someday. Thanks for the detailed post so others can be on the lookout.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Rolex.Journey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26 April 2024, 06:52 AM   #97
AK797
2024 Pledge Member
 
AK797's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Real Name: Neil
Location: UK
Watch: ing ships roll in
Posts: 59,368
Quote:
Originally Posted by Modiferous View Post
As far as using pictures of rappers in his fake IDs, he did not do that for me or for the Patek he stole from the other RolexForums victim Metalmonster.

However, up until this point neither of the detectives I have been working with not in Northern Cal or Southern Cal noticed that the pics were of rappers, nor did I.

Maybe he puts the rapper pics on there because he is lazy and can't come up with anything better, maybe because he wants to weed out the ones who would notice that the pics are rappers! who knows?

I do note that he has managed to meet and steal from even established watch dealers with online websites so he is definitely pretty good at talking the talk.


He isn't as smart or organized as all that, would be victims who have communicated with him for longer than a week, have noticed that he suddenly changed his phone number (probably to try to stay one step ahead of "them") and has even forgotten what name he was using and started using a different name. This implies that he is working multiple prospects simultaneously. I think he has the greatest success with potential sellers who agree to meet him and do meet him quickly. In my case we went from contact on a Friday, conversations over a weekend, to meeting and getting robbed on a Tuesday.

Part of why he got me is that I had had a couple of prior recent sales where I had met the buyers in person and all had gone perfectly. This lulled me into assuming that this buyer, too, was okay. Also when I came to the store I arrived before he did, and I had the bag with the watch on the counter, not in my hands. Once I saw him, I started having doubts about whether I would even hand him the watch, he didn't look right to me. He sensed that, and during a moment when I was using my phone to call a different appraiser (the store we arrived in the appraiser was out on a family emergency), he leapt past me, grabbed the bag and ran.

And even then he wasn't a big guy at all, and I chased him and actually got hold of him (he punched my arm off his shoulder), but I still could have tackled him, but some guy that I believe was a spotter came out of nowhere and was trying to slow me down, and finally, I didn't know who else was around who might have swung a pipe across the back of my head while I was on top of the robber, so I slowed down a tad, and let him go. In that instant I decided that risking my safety or life wasn't worth the watch.
You did the right thing in pulling away, he most certainly had contingency back up if he was to be caught and it would not have been pretty for you, these are probably professional criminals spending as much time in jail as not.
AK797 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26 April 2024, 07:06 AM   #98
AK797
2024 Pledge Member
 
AK797's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Real Name: Neil
Location: UK
Watch: ing ships roll in
Posts: 59,368
Quote:
Originally Posted by Al1969 View Post
Why? A thread like this may prevent others from the same fate.
Someone on here already mentioned how this thread alerted him to the potential scam/theft. If not interested simply bypass the thread.
Just check this guy is not regularly in LV and has his uncle's Daytona...
AK797 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26 April 2024, 07:30 AM   #99
DC116710LN
"TRF" Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2020
Location: US
Posts: 1,057
Quote:
Originally Posted by Modiferous View Post
As far as using pictures of rappers in his fake IDs, he did not do that for me or for the Patek he stole from the other RolexForums victim Metalmonster.

However, up until this point neither of the detectives I have been working with not in Northern Cal or Southern Cal noticed that the pics were of rappers, nor did I.

Maybe he puts the rapper pics on there because he is lazy and can't come up with anything better, maybe because he wants to weed out the ones who would notice that the pics are rappers! who knows?

I do note that he has managed to meet and steal from even established watch dealers with online websites so he is definitely pretty good at talking the talk.


He isn't as smart or organized as all that, would be victims who have communicated with him for longer than a week, have noticed that he suddenly changed his phone number (probably to try to stay one step ahead of "them") and has even forgotten what name he was using and started using a different name. This implies that he is working multiple prospects simultaneously. I think he has the greatest success with potential sellers who agree to meet him and do meet him quickly. In my case we went from contact on a Friday, conversations over a weekend, to meeting and getting robbed on a Tuesday.

Part of why he got me is that I had had a couple of prior recent sales where I had met the buyers in person and all had gone perfectly. This lulled me into assuming that this buyer, too, was okay. Also when I came to the store I arrived before he did, and I had the bag with the watch on the counter, not in my hands. Once I saw him, I started having doubts about whether I would even hand him the watch, he didn't look right to me. He sensed that, and during a moment when I was using my phone to call a different appraiser (the store we arrived in the appraiser was out on a family emergency), he leapt past me, grabbed the bag and ran.

And even then he wasn't a big guy at all, and I chased him and actually got hold of him (he punched my arm off his shoulder), but I still could have tackled him, but some guy that I believe was a spotter came out of nowhere and was trying to slow me down, and finally, I didn't know who else was around who might have swung a pipe across the back of my head while I was on top of the robber, so I slowed down a tad, and let him go. In that instant I decided that risking my safety or life wasn't worth the watch.
You made the right decision. The wife of a friend of mine tried to stop a robber from stealing her purse and was stabbed in the process. She survived thankfully, but no material possession is worth your life
DC116710LN is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26 April 2024, 07:47 AM   #100
East of Eden
"TRF" Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2023
Location: Pompano Beach, FL
Posts: 614
Quote:
Originally Posted by Modiferous View Post
Yes when he initially contacted me on RolexForums he used the username
Ls702
and email
[email protected]

which means that he is open to pretending that he is in Las Vegas. But for most of his victims and intended victims he claims to be in Northern California.

I suppose that claiming to be too far from Northern or Southern Cal creates the issue of why the hell anyone would come much farther than that to see a watch.
You have to wonder if he’s reading this thread.
__________________
Watches: More than I need, not as many as I want.
East of Eden is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26 April 2024, 09:34 AM   #101
forcinitijp
2024 Pledge Member
 
forcinitijp's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Real Name: Juan
Location: Delaware
Watch: 14060M/214270
Posts: 284
Quote:
Originally Posted by East of Eden View Post
You have to wonder if he’s reading this thread.
Haha! If it goes like 50 steps forward... that's why there are so many who fall into scams... these thieves know more about you through forums and social networks than you think....

Sometimes it's better to have a low profile and not show off in a forum where there are how many thousands of subscribers?
forcinitijp is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26 April 2024, 10:42 AM   #102
zengineer
"TRF" Member
 
zengineer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,588
Quote:
Originally Posted by Henrimontgomery View Post
As an European, this is very strange. Just say he’s an American citizen. Nobody here goes “the Franco-Greco dude”.
Describing what country a person is a citizen of is not of any value in identifying him physically. Race typically is.

It seems odd, but at this moment in history most federal, state and local police, as well as other government entities use use Black and African American interchangeably... along with white, Asian, Native/American Indian/Native Alaskan, Native Hawaiian. There are nuances and variations and sometimes other groups differentiated.
zengineer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26 April 2024, 03:17 PM   #103
dannyboy123
"TRF" Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: LonZealand
Posts: 830
Quote:
Originally Posted by KatGirl View Post
I do post a lot, but I certainly don’t brag about my very small unimpressive Rolex collection.

Kat


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
You should, after all yours is bigger than his
dannyboy123 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26 April 2024, 03:18 PM   #104
dannyboy123
"TRF" Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: LonZealand
Posts: 830
Quote:
Originally Posted by forcinitijp View Post
Haha! If it goes like 50 steps forward... that's why there are so many who fall into scams... these thieves know more about you through forums and social networks than you think....

Sometimes it's better to have a low profile and not show off in a forum where there are how many thousands of subscribers?
Maybe he will sue
dannyboy123 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26 April 2024, 03:33 PM   #105
Cevap
Banned
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: USA
Watch: 214270 Mk2
Posts: 18
Quote:
Originally Posted by KatGirl View Post
Cops need to go undercover and catch this guy, though they should be able to use facial recognition to identify him. Sorry for your trouble, OP, and sincerely hope they catch this man.

Kat


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Facial recognition lol where do you live lady, Robocop land?

Sorry to hear this happened to you OP. I hope I have as much self restrain as you do should I end up in a similar situation. There’s always going to be more watches.
Cevap is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26 April 2024, 09:49 PM   #106
Krash
2024 ROLEX SUBMARINER 41 Pledge Member
 
Krash's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Florida
Watch: Sub, DJ41, GMT
Posts: 8,215
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cevap View Post
Facial recognition lol where do you live lady, Robocop land?
.

Unnecessary.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Krash is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27 April 2024, 10:10 AM   #107
KatGirl
2024 SubLV41 Pledge Member
 
KatGirl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Real Name: Kat
Location: CA, USA
Watch: 126233 Wimbledon T
Posts: 7,138
American Rolex Robber who preys on California in person sellers

[QUOTE=Cevap;13243398]Facial recognition lol where do you live lady, Robocop land? [QUOTE]

Facial recognition software is often used by law enforcement to identify suspects in crimes, when they have the suspect caught on video, as in this case being discussed. There are so many cameras that catch citizens’ images, when they are totally unaware. Though FRS cannot be used as evidence in court, it’s a very useful investigative tool, when trying to identify a possible suspect, in a crime, such as robbery.

Kat


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
KatGirl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27 April 2024, 11:40 AM   #108
77T
2024 SubLV41 Pledge Member
 
77T's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Real Name: PaulG
Location: Georgia
Posts: 41,959
FRT is both used and misused. It's too soon to say it would help in the OPs case.

Consider this: to catch one robber using FRT, many more citizens' civil rights could be compromised under the 4th amendment. I don't have the right answer but I'm not looking for the government to own my "15 minutes of fame".

GAO has been pondering the future - https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-107372


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
__________________


Does anyone really know what time it is?
77T is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27 April 2024, 12:20 PM   #109
2000-NJDEVILS
"TRF" Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Location: NY, NY
Posts: 460
To sum up this horrendous robbery - The late, great Ronnie James Dio said it best:
DON’T TALK TO STRANGERS, AS THEIR ONLY THERE TO DO YOU HARM…..
2000-NJDEVILS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28 April 2024, 12:07 AM   #110
Encepholopod
Banned
 
Join Date: Apr 2024
Real Name: Jared Leo
Location: New York
Watch: 5712/1R
Posts: 27
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cevap View Post
Facial recognition lol where do you live lady, Robocop land?

Sorry to hear this happened to you OP. I hope I have as much self restrain as you do should I end up in a similar situation. There’s always going to be more watches.
Pretty rude response she's just trying to help the person, and she's right. Many states nowadays have gotten approval to incorporate FRS in investigations.
Encepholopod is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28 April 2024, 12:31 AM   #111
Modiferous
"TRF" Member
 
Modiferous's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2019
Location: California
Posts: 315
If you're willing to sell in person, then you must be willing to talk to people you don't know. And this goes for both private sellers and established watch dealers, with or without brick and mortar stores.

In other words, the "Don't talk to Strangers" advice might work for six year olds, not for watch sellers.
Modiferous is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28 April 2024, 04:37 AM   #112
Encepholopod
Banned
 
Join Date: Apr 2024
Real Name: Jared Leo
Location: New York
Watch: 5712/1R
Posts: 27
Pretty damn audacious to be doing this, if they were doing this in Texas or FL i'm sure these POS's would never risk it, very very small feeble men do this.
Encepholopod is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 7 May 2024, 08:28 AM   #113
Modiferous
"TRF" Member
 
Modiferous's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2019
Location: California
Posts: 315
Two of the forum usernames the Rolex Robber has been using for PMs trying to get California sellers to meet him in person.

Jl017
https://www.rolexforums.com/member.php?u=295671

Daytonaguy
https://www.rolexforums.com/member.php?u=295982

He starts off with forum PMs then tries to switch quickly to a text call, and voice, almost always using a TextNow (VOIP) number.
Modiferous is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22 May 2024, 11:35 AM   #114
brandobot
2024 ROLEX DATEJUST41 Pledge Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Bay Area, CA
Watch: Daytona
Posts: 362
Can we sticky this thread? I think this is a great reminder to stay vigilant when meeting people in person.

Can we do an IP ban on this guy’s account? He used username “daytonaguy”. i almost met him up in person in San Jose.

Used the name “Jason” phone number 213-338-3249.
brandobot is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22 May 2024, 07:20 PM   #115
digitalcrocodile
"TRF" Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 169
This guy reputedly stole a watch from a member of the HAMC's Oakland chapters brother. I think being caught by the cops are now the least of his worries.
digitalcrocodile is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
african american , california , robber , rolex , thief


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Asset Appeal

Wrist Aficionado

DavidSW Watches

Takuya Watches

OCWatches


*Banners Of The Month*
This space is provided to horological resources.





Copyright ©2004-2024, The Rolex Forums. All Rights Reserved.

ROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEXROLEX

Rolex is a registered trademark of ROLEX USA. The Rolex Forums is not affiliated with ROLEX USA in any way.