HELP, did I get scammed by fmferro

[JMilne]

I just wired money for this listing yesterday
https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=774100


for an Omega Speedmaster from user fmferro. He provided pictures with a tagged card (having my info) next to the watch, showed an account that was 13 years old, and I spoke to the person on the phone.

Now his account shows as banned. Is there any way to get more information on what may have happened?

Any help would be appreciated.

Joe

[Old Expat Beast]

Looks like it was a hacked/phished account. Try and cancel the wire if you can.

[JMilne]

It was completed yesterday. I've called USAA but their office closed at 4:00pm CST (it's 4:30pm here in Texas). If the transfer is complete (I received an email yesterday saying it was), does anyone have any recommendations?

Joe

[Danny83]

Wow I hope you can get the money back is there an alternate # for bank emergency or something

[JMilne]

Just got off the phone with USAA. There's nothing they can do until their wire division opens in the morning. It doesn't sound like there's going to be good news at the end of this though.

I've purchased a handful of watches off these forums and all the checkboxes seemed good

1) long account history
2) provided pictures with both his and my details next to the watch.
3) spoke on phone with seller
4) bank, seller, and phone number all tracked back to South Florida.

We'll see if anything changes but I'm not sure if I'm going to have any options going forward.

I'll update tomorrow when I speak to the wire division.

If anyone has had a similar experience and/or knows of any guidance they might provide, please let me know.

Thanks,

Joe

[cop414]

Joe here in PA our AG office has a division for these crimes, you might want to check in your state if there’s something similar.
I banned the member who you purchased from and another who vouched for him but it was the day after you sent your payment.

[jurob]

This is why wiring money to an unknown person is not a good idea. I have made one purchase where I wired a good amount of money and realized I had zero protection. Luckily for me it worked out, but I will never do it again.

Good luck.

[Alexwwjd]

I'm so sorry this happened. I hope you can get a solution asap.

[214270Explorer]

Only wire money to long-established sellers such as DavidSW and Takuya.

Anything else is a Vegas crap shoot at best. And usually the house wins

Sorry if you were indeed ripped off. It can (and has) happened to the best of the buyers.

Try to follow Tim's advice (post #6)

[JMilne]

Thank you for all the comments guys.

I did speak with the wire division this morning.

They did issue a recall request but of course this requires the recipients approval (which almost certainly won't happen)

I've turned over all the information to the relevant persons after seeing Tim's post.

Thankfully, it could have been much worse and the damage was not crippling and instead a good lesson in due diligence.

If anything comes of the information I've provided to the authorities, I'll update the thread.

Take care,
Joe

[cop414]

Thanks for the update Joe, sorry that you’re going through this. Please let us know of any updates.

[swaini3]

ouch, sorry to hear. hope you get it back somehow.

[214270Explorer]

"IF" the seller was up to no good, and fears an investigation, you could hope that he gets scared enough to return the funds. Long shot, but possible.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

[TTalk]

Sorry to hear, really sucks.

[samuel019]

Wow sorry to hear about your troubles Joe. For me personally when going Grey/Trf seller I always deal with the guys who have there own website. Makes me feel more comfortable about payment. Also why my reference count is so low because basically all my transactions are done there. I know this doesnt make you feel any better just maybe giving you a different perspective for the next time.

Good luck with USAA. Hopefully they will come through for you.

[ColdBrewKing]

So I had the same interaction with what appears to be the same person using a different name, “Warpig” on Watchuseek. I almost did the same thing and went through with a wire, but my bank convinced me not to do it. He even sent me a proof photo using the same exact green marker and what appears to be the same watch. I can provide details if you would like, It looks like this guy is trying to scam multiple people.

[MMOTION]

Glad I found this post, I believe this was the same watch I inquired about few days ago but was wondering why I couldn't see the original listing on RF. I am really sorry to hear about this!