texas yankee
Member
I've bought guns online before from reputable dealers like Buds and other places, as well as from individuals on some of the online marketplaces - maybe I'm lucky, or careful enough, but I never had a deal go bad - a few things weren't quite as the seller represented them, but nothing really major. The name of the website where I was defrauded isn't important - there are bad guys everywhere, and like they say, "Let the Buyer Beware", so this situation is mostly on me - I got caught up in something that snared some other guys, too, and the money I lost, while significant, isn't the end of the world for me - not by a long shot. I'm here today because I'm really disappointed in me, mad at myself, but I've even more frustrated with the State of California, where the seller was located.
I saw a gun online, the price was good (not crazy good, just a bit better than fair) and I wanted the gun - contacted the guy, sent the money (PO Money Order), and the deal started falling apart. I never got the gun, and looking back, there were plenty of warning signs that I didn't see at the time - so like I said, aside from the guy being a criminal, it's mostly on me - I'm mad at myself cause I was so stupid with it - even worse, I'm usually pretty skeptical, and usually don't trust people, especially with money stuff. So, I'm mad at me, but I'll get over it and it was a good lesson to learn - like Dave Ramsey says, it was a "stupid tax".
I had a the residential address where I sent the money, so I got the Union City PD involved - they were at first reluctant to pursue the fraud as aggressively as I thought they should, but after a few calls to the higher ups, the case was investigated by the PD, the guy was arrested, he plead guilty or no contest, and he was sentenced to jail time and probation. I was told that California mandates that restitution must be paid in these kinds of cases, so I filled out the forms and waited for the restitution checks to roll in - big surprise, I did receive two checks totaling about 1\4 of the amount I was defrauded of, and then nothing else. I called today and an attorney in the DA's Restitution Recovery office told me that there was another hearing in the case (no notice to me, the defrauded person), and that because the guilty party's father made the case that his poor son was a victim himself (someone else was allegedly scamming the guy that scammed me), and the son had some kind of mental defect or diminished capacity or something like that, the Judge ordered that the balance was stricken (reduced to $0.00), and idiot son was off the hook and I was up the creek. I can't even go after the guy in civil court. The attorney also told me that the judge referenced something about an "illegal firearms transaction", even though I go through my FFL every time I buy or sell a gun - maybe the Judge is an illegal immigrant and hearing cases is part of his "path to citizenship".
I thought of taking out an ad or paying a guy to wear a sandwich sign in front of the court house castigating the Judge and the guilty party, but then I'd probably be the guilty party, and because I'm from Texas where we like guns and punishing bad guys, well, there's that, too.
How you folks that live in California deal with this kind of stuff on a daily basis I just can't understand.
I saw a gun online, the price was good (not crazy good, just a bit better than fair) and I wanted the gun - contacted the guy, sent the money (PO Money Order), and the deal started falling apart. I never got the gun, and looking back, there were plenty of warning signs that I didn't see at the time - so like I said, aside from the guy being a criminal, it's mostly on me - I'm mad at myself cause I was so stupid with it - even worse, I'm usually pretty skeptical, and usually don't trust people, especially with money stuff. So, I'm mad at me, but I'll get over it and it was a good lesson to learn - like Dave Ramsey says, it was a "stupid tax".
I had a the residential address where I sent the money, so I got the Union City PD involved - they were at first reluctant to pursue the fraud as aggressively as I thought they should, but after a few calls to the higher ups, the case was investigated by the PD, the guy was arrested, he plead guilty or no contest, and he was sentenced to jail time and probation. I was told that California mandates that restitution must be paid in these kinds of cases, so I filled out the forms and waited for the restitution checks to roll in - big surprise, I did receive two checks totaling about 1\4 of the amount I was defrauded of, and then nothing else. I called today and an attorney in the DA's Restitution Recovery office told me that there was another hearing in the case (no notice to me, the defrauded person), and that because the guilty party's father made the case that his poor son was a victim himself (someone else was allegedly scamming the guy that scammed me), and the son had some kind of mental defect or diminished capacity or something like that, the Judge ordered that the balance was stricken (reduced to $0.00), and idiot son was off the hook and I was up the creek. I can't even go after the guy in civil court. The attorney also told me that the judge referenced something about an "illegal firearms transaction", even though I go through my FFL every time I buy or sell a gun - maybe the Judge is an illegal immigrant and hearing cases is part of his "path to citizenship".
I thought of taking out an ad or paying a guy to wear a sandwich sign in front of the court house castigating the Judge and the guilty party, but then I'd probably be the guilty party, and because I'm from Texas where we like guns and punishing bad guys, well, there's that, too.
How you folks that live in California deal with this kind of stuff on a daily basis I just can't understand.
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