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ApolloXVII - SCAMMER - Multiple Victims

Scarecrow Boat
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Kronos Kronos
Hi Caracal25/ all,

This is the response I got from paypal. Was yours the same or something different?

View attachment 1441984
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J jure_79
Yeah, I got the same response, it's the generic process as I understood, If any of you have experience with PayPal refunds, I'd much appreciate if you could share.
I’ve dealt with refunds through PayPal and this is the initial response you get when opening the claim. Now you just have to patiently wait until the date they provided you. Hopefully Victor will not contest this in any way, like several members had said earlier. Best case would be if he ignored the PayPal inquiries altogether as that would greatly speed up the process.
paddymoran paddymoran
So I would strongly urge you to not assume you’ll be looked after by PayPal.
Your story is awful and it really sucks you went through that. I’m happy your persistent efforts and help from your wife resulted in a refund. While I do agree with this quoted piece and share the same urge in caution, a big difference here is, despite you receiving essentially two empty packages, the tracking shows as delivered. That will always complicate it. I’ve seen a good number of threads pop up in here of members claiming they were victims of successful scams on eBay, all stating: they bought something, the fraudulent sellers updated the orders with fake tracking showing delivery local to the buyers, and eBay/PayPal denied the refund requests because the orders all showed as delivered, despite buyers never actually receiving anything. So far, all of the members on this thread have received tracking from Victor that have all completely stopped moving in Romania, where the seller is located. Hopefully the tracking never updates as that should help in expedite the refund as tracking will genuinely show they never received it. And I just want to clarify because text often lacks tone, I’m definitely not arguing with you. I fully agree with your caution 👍
 
paddymoran
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For anyone who suspects fraud one piece of advice I’d give is to open the package on delivery in front of the courier/ delivery driver. That way, if the box is empty, you’ll have a trusted third party witness. In the current case I’d agree that the preferred development is that the tracked items continue to show as stuck in Romania.

Finally, I was very lucky that I could reach out to a PayPal VP in Ireland but what if I was located somewhere else, Argentina, Mexico, etc. I expect I’d be down €3,190.
 
Walrus
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Scammers are a real bummer. I really dislike, as everyone does, anyone getting beat. Not much of a comparison with a 5,000 dollar watch but when I bought my alpanist (seiko) for a few hundred I tried purchasing it through eBay or one of the other online sites I offered the kid like 20 bucks under his offering but he was freaked out by all the fees. Asked if we could do it on the side with PayPal. He was in Florida from China and was a student studying engineering I believe. I can’t even remember how he got me his personal info but every form of communication he had was still Chinese email and I think he had waymo. He did get a US ID and student ID which he sent me pics of which I told him isn’t a smart move. So anyway since it wasn’t a very expensive item I went with it but honestly I half expected to get burned.
I was wrong he was truthful. Got my alpanist still with tags from Japan and box still intact. Probably not much relevance to the topic at hand but sometimes you just never know. I’ve paid some NOOB taxes but have yet to be burned it must be a real crappy feeling and the victim starts feeling guilty for the “too good to be true thing” but I always view the scammer as the scum. So no DSOTM as I am not worthy but my alpanist which I gambled on
image.jpg
 
Caracal25
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As one of the victims, I sympathize with anyone that has been defrauded whether it was from Apollo or something unrelated. With that being said, it would be nice if the comments here were specific to this issue so that we can recieve information from the other victims without sorting through posts that don't pertain to this situation directly.
 
andyk8
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Noooooo! I knew it was too good to be true. I paid for a Speedy Moonphase from this guy 3 weeks ago and the tracking last showing the package leaving Romania and then nothing. I should have trusted my gut. I asked him to ship with DHL and he refused. I also knew the price was ridiculously low. I hope I get my money back through PayPal, €4200!!!!!

Edit: this is the listing for the watch I bought, https://omegaforums.net/threads/ome...n-very-good-condition-price-4200-euro.147067/
Edited:
 
tnt9
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if this going to help at any way.

when paypal dispute is made, and seller dont have funds on there account, paypal will still return money to buyer and sellers account will have negative amount. How will paypal go from that point is sellers problem.

fingers crossed
 
Fatcat
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Was close to buy one, what makes me suspicious was Romania, and absolutely no sellers or buyers review, and sales watches in a day.
 
andyk8
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Fatcat Fatcat
Was close to buy one, what makes me suspicious was Romania, and absolutely no sellers or buyers review, and sales watches in a day.

He actually did have reviews!
 
Fatcat
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When I was planning to buy the Apollo XVII I checked and really find suspicious that no seller or buyer in the last 2 weeks having half dozen of watches sold in the same day nothing , and older for a small watch or band when you are selling your collection makes suspicious , when I sale watches my self most of the time there is 2 messages a happy buyer and a happy seller at least here nothing in the last 6 bargains and how sell watches in a single day ? At least not me 😀))
 
Kronos
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tnt9 tnt9
if this going to help at any way.

when paypal dispute is made, and seller dont have funds on there account, paypal will still return money to buyer and sellers account will have negative amount. How will paypal go from that point is sellers problem.

fingers crossed
Given how much he has taken from us it will be a large negative account.

Paypal should be aware that multiple people have filled a claim against him, surely?
 
andyk8
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Kronos Kronos
Given how much he has taken from us it will be a large negative account.

Paypal should be aware that multiple people have filled a claim against him, surely?

I provided a link to this thread in the notes on my PayPal dispute. I'm sure PayPal aren't aware multiple people are involved as it's all going through an automated system at the moment. According to the system they expect my dispute to be resolved by 26th July. Somehow I don't think it'll be resolved that soon!
 
andyk8
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Just a quick update for anyone following this thread. I rang PayPal and they told me the seller has 9 days (I filed a dispute yesterday) to reply and if he doesn't they will refund my credit card for the full amount.

If anyone who filed their dispute earlier gets an update or refund, perhaps you can post here to keep us updated?
 
Kronos
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andyk8 andyk8
Just a quick update for anyone following this thread. I rang PayPal and they told me the seller has 9 days (I filed a dispute yesterday) to reply and if he doesn't they will refund my credit card for the full amount.

If anyone who filed their dispute earlier gets an update or refund, perhaps you can post here to keep us updated?

That's good to know. Mine shows the same time frame. I will update on here as soon as I find out more
 
ATWG
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It saddens me to read this thread. I never buy or sell to anyone from Italy, Eastern Europe, you’re asking for trouble. I hate to generalize, but those are my rules. I hope everyone is refunded appropriately.
 
Scarecrow Boat
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Dwlighting Dwlighting
This is his response to the thread. Not even an apology.

Screenshot_20220708-070703.png
It’s been discovered he’s sold the same watch to multiple different buyers, so I would never expect remorse or an apology. This was all planned.
 
Caracal25
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At least he isn’t putting up a fight. PayPal can deal with him after we get refunded.
 
Kronos
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Anyone had any progress with their refunds as yet?
 
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