Names or user handles used so far by this fraud ring are: mickeykaiser, davidknight, johnbrighton, afrank, dave2k, robertshef, johnbroughton, angelo_calic, andrewsmith. Also the email stophatin11@aol.com (cryptic message?). Most of these aliases use Yahoo email addresses, but I did find an Earthlink email address for one of the aliases. I have talked with Arnie at Audiogon. They became aware of these guys when I first noticed them on this site. They have instituted safeguards to make sure these guys don't sign on here. There are still ads and aliases on Audioweb. I have found their management to be less responsive.
Gbroten:
It doesn't take a genius to find an ad on Audiogon that has been duplicated on Audioweb and know what's going here. But for your sake, an example: Find the Audioweb ad titled "Martin Logan Ascent like new - hybrid speaker" being sold by davidknight. Now look at the feedback. Looks like they have already been successful in ripping someone off. I have been in contact with that person, and it's confirmed. Now look at the positive feedback for any of the names under any of the copied ads on Audioweb. All the feedback is left by the aliases used by this group. Go to the personal information left under the aliases. Try calling the telephone numbers for the aliases. Do they work? Nope! Are they similar? Yep! Try finding the addresses for the aliases. Do those streets exist? Nope! Compare the email addresses to the user names. Why is davidknight's email address fataq1@yahoo.com? Why is his user name davidknight, and yet his informational name listed as Robert Knight? Now go to Audiogon and find the ad under #1025728542 being sold by Digitalcanuck. Isn't this the same ad, word for word, that you just read on Audioweb? Are the pictures the same? Now look at davidknight's other ads. See if you can find them on Audiogon.
Why has mickeykaiser and many of the the other aliases listed above now posted negative feedback on my user name, and even posted an ad on Audioweb copying my own, making me out to be the fraud suspect? Could they be connected to "afrank"? Why does "afrank" have two positive feedbacks left by two of the aliases on the same day his ads were posted? Look at the feedback on all the aliases. They are giving positive feedback to each other. Have you checked my feedback on Audiogon? Does it match what I now have on Audioweb, thanks to these guys? Incidently, that was one of the dummer things they did, because it exposed more of their aliases to me. Why would they care if I left poor feedback for "afrank" if they weren't tied to him in some way? How did they become aware of it so quickly? I also said Postal Money Orders, not money orders. Why don't you check the information already given before you doubt my veracity line by line in a public forum. We have a term called Community Policing in Law Enforcement these days. Basically, it means get the community motivated and have them take some responsibility for being aware, being informed, and being involved. Not everything can be done for you. There just aren't enough cops out there to do it. You could have discovered all this for yourself had you taken the time to do it.
I have been in Law Enforcement for 26 years. When you read the above information line-by-line, I'm sure you could rationalize each one of those events. But the totality of the events causes one to draw a more accurate conclusion than any single event. And there is so much more that I haven't mentioned, and won't. So much for your lesson today in criminal investigation.
I have an active case that has been turned over to the FBI. I have been following these guys for 6 months, ever since I found them on Ebay selling cameras under the name andrewsmith. I followed them to Ubid. I found them there selling Plasma TVs under the name angelo_calic. Looks like Rockhead did too. I haven't the room here or the time to outline the entire case I have, nor do I think I need to. That certainly would only be helpful to the suspects if I did. I have emailed a more detailed explanation to the affected members whose ads have been copied, and even talked to them on the telephone. But for the purpose of this thread, I think I have provided enough information about the way they do business to hopefully prevent others from getting taken advantage of. I am gathering information for my file on these guys as I see them move around the internet. My goal, since this case is beyond my jurisdiction, is to keep them from obtaining any more funds illegally, and provide any other information to the investigating agent. If you've ever worked with the Feds, they work very slowly. Internet fraud is not a major priority, no matter where it leads. If I sound a bit hard core here, I apologize. But I am passionate about my work. I hate criminals, and I hate seeing people victimized. I will do what I can to prevent it, and to catch those responsible.
Criminals love nay-sayers and doubters. It keeps them in business. My words to you....you want to deal with these guys, go ahead. I've done my part. Please let me know when you don't receive the item, so that I can add your transaction to my file. By the way, what hysteria are you talking about?
