Slashdot Mirror
MacAddict Tracks Down eBay Scam Artist
OS24Ever writes "A future high school history teacher, Jason Eric Smith, sold an 867MHz PowerBook G4 on eBay right before finals. He found out the hard way that people are out there to rip you off, and he went to great lengths to catch this guy with the help of Mac heads everywhere. A great read and agreat way for us little guys to get back at these scammers."
there's a lot of rotten apples on ebay.
"That night I dreamed of Mr. Christmas and a baseball bat, some duct tape, and roofing nails."
neurostarIf he was a spammer and not a scammer, he could have just posted it here and had the guy in hours.
Never confuse volume with power.
"It's hard to sleep comfortably knowing some asshole has your Mac and is doing god knows what with it."
Are we sure this guy sold a computer and not his pet or maybe his girlfriend? And what perverts (macphiliacs?) do with Macs?
try catching him by his mac address
Surely you're not trying to say that there is only one asshole in every 7 people.
The masses are the crack whores of religion.
Don't fuck with the Mac Heads.
this reminds me of an episode of South Park where a kid sold Cartman some pubic hair, and cartman got the kid back by tricking the kid into eating the kid's parents.
What a fantastic idea. Instead of losing your money to scams, you can instead use it all buying GPS devices that you ship away and never get again.
I haven't heard such great idea since my meeting with accounting 10 minutes ago.
Cashier's checks look different at every bank. You can't expect the FedEx guy to whip out his cel phone and call the bank right at the guy's doorstep to check out the legitimacy of the paperwork.
He's just the messenger.
's almost as bad as relying on the manager at McDonald's to catch counterfeit $20s.
Mac users are a posse, man. They're like one big inbred family. They trust other Mac users 'cause they have some bizarre kinship for being on the short end of the tech stick.
Like us here, only with the social stick...
--mandi
Surely you're not trying to say that 20% comes out to 1 in 7 as a fraction.
"Mr. Christmas said he didn't even know what email was. Obviously a PC user.
If PC users are so dumb, why are you writing a story about you shipping a $3000 laptop COD.
Moron.
--
|-_-| . o O ( bEef!)
You hired a homeless man to steal checks from your wife? No wonder you got screwed.
(Hint: Next time, try using decent setence structure to not confuse your point.)
I think its funny that
1) He no longer has his mac
2) He is out $3000
3) He failed his finals
4) He spent a bunch of extra money tracking the guy down (plane ticket, PI, etc)
5) He is still happy about it
I'd guess he is a "Glass is half full" kind of guy.
"The defense of freedom requires the advance of freedom" - George W Bush
"My girlfriend and I decided we would use the extra money to donate to some charities for Christmas"
Clearly he was talking about the guy that stole his Mac.... Melvin Christmas.
"And like that
... unless you try to screw a Mac addict. Then you'll be hunted down in meatspace like a, like a, like a something-or-other.
Serves the thief right for messing with a Mac type. Everybody knows they're unstable to begin with, and all it takes is a just a little push for them to go postal.
(So, +1 Funny for the first paragraph, -1 Flamebait for the second? Worth the risk.)
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
" I know in my heart that Mr. Christmas is really a PC guy. "
that line from the article is a pretty big clue. And his other rantings about how stupid pc users are. This from a guy that sent a $2900 computer to someone. And HE is calling people stupid. Wow.
He needs to be hit with a Clue-by-Four.
Don't send the power supply for the laptop.
That way, "Battery not included".
There's a difference between an asshole and a criminal, though.
Yes, a criminal is someone who shares music, or watches DVDs on a non-microsoft system
You're one of those people who think the glass is half full, arn't you?
KFG
---
Funny, I didn't see a swarm of orange ninjas...
---
They wouldn't be very good ninjas if you could see them!
Well, hey, I didn't spend all those years playing Dungeons and Dragons and not learn a little something about courage.
./ Enhancement request:
Anything with certain kewords (ex: "in soviet russia") gets automatic -1 karma.
Yes I realize that includes this post right here.
And I'm willing to take the bullet for my country!
In slashdot we flame our own posts!!!
Imagine the butthead sitting with his buddy drinkin beeeer outside on the porch (assuming its out in the middle of nowhere) watching black cars and vw minis go by with strange white folk staring out through tinted glasses with cameras in hand snapping pics like crazy :) ..
Had to laugh..
Rapid Nirvana
The first rule of GPS-based loss recovery retribution fight club is:
You don't talk about GPS-based loss recovery retribution fight club!
This could all be a hoax, meanwhile people are reading the article and sending money to his girlfriend's Paypal account. Some of the things that struck me:
We are set up to empathize with him:
I almost always buy used, so don't get any ideas about me being rich.
In case you didn't feel bad enough yet:
I was already beyond broke, but I figured $85.00 more wouldn't kill me.
Are you heartless???:
all of your student loans for the next semester are going to cover this counterfeit check.
He'd give to charity if he had money:
I urge you to choose a local charity
Make the check payable to:
If you really must, you can send money to my girlfriend's Paypal account, cranberry_coyote@hotmail.com
So now who's the sucker?
going to the scammers house with a .45 isnt nearly enough. you need to track down his extended family.
eliminate the gene, then future generations dont have to worry about scams.
Soviet Russia jokes insert you!
A bunch of computer guys forming a tough guy squad? Does anybody else see the humour in this?
Does a future history teacher teach the present?
Jeremy
because they don't know enough about graphics to make a counterfit check. Everybody knows the best counterfit checks are made on Macs....
I was not going to give up. That night I dreamed of Mr. Christmas and a baseball bat, some duct tape, and roofing nails.
Look, if you're going to have him retar up there, at least give him a hammer instead of the bat. He'll be up there all week! Jiminy!
Keep your packets off my GNU/Girlfriend!
Black cars?
;)
You must have forgotten that these are Mac users. Remeber? These types drive Minis and New Beatles. I'll bet you that no matter what type of car it was, its colour was Aqua. (maybe teal)
HURD - Hurd's Under Research & Development
You people never should have fired detective Harry Callahan.
"Damaging a tree with a firearm" 16USC551;36CFR261.6(2)
"Careless Shooting with a firearm" 16USC551;36CFR261.10(d)
In short don't hang your targets on trees in a National Forest, It cost me $200 and 10 hours of picking up garbage and digging fence post holes.
It's ironic because the forest I was shooting in burned up last summer so the trees would have been wasted anyways...
In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet, and say to us, "Make us your slaves, but feed us." - Dostoevsky