Slashdot Mirror
Sal Wise, Philly eBay Scammer Strikes Back!
Warlock7 followed up last week's bizarre story of eBay Fraud by noting "The news in Phlly ran with the story and put Sal's picture online with video. Now Sal has decided to direct all blame on his old business partner. He's put up his own site now trying to divert responsibilty away from himself and uses his kids pictures to try and garner support." It's hysterical to read the original log about how everything was his father's fault, but now get to learn about a more powerful evil named 'Vince'. It's like a soap opera that won't let me blink until the commercial.
need a good whack from a lead pipe to smack some sense into them.
Ohh well that web site has completely changed my feelings about 'ol Sal. [sarcasm] Maybe I'll send him $2500 for one of his Laptop auctions. . [/sarcasm]
This guy changes stories more often than I change underwear (I know, I'm opening myself up for obvious jokes here). Not too long ago, he was blaming it on his father.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
but now get to learn about a more powerful evil named 'Vince'.
We've been hearing for YEARS that the dirt on Vince Foster will eventually come out. Now it has!
Wut? Did the baby steal the money?
I'm so confused.
Who's behind the Sal Wise scam?
-- Is "Sig" copyrighted by www.sig.com?
It's not in italics.
(*grin*)
Why would he post pictures of himself on a random website? Something isn't right. OR maybe he's just REALLY stupid, which is definately a possibility. Either way, I think that the Slashdot club people are probably quick to judge him as a scammer. Once we've completely de-bunked his claims, then we can call him a scammer! I think that judgement based on one guy who set up a website with all these reports of scamming could be slightly biassed. Not to say that this man isn't a slimy scammer, just don't beleive everything you read, including this guy's site nor the other guy's site.
Why would he think anyone would beleive him? It's dicks like Sal that give dicks a bad name.
Awww... I wanted to explode - GIR
I thought he was dead.
too much reasing necessary...
There is so much irony with that sentence that I cannot even begin to be sarcastic. This does not happen often.
-- I have fans? Wow.
While I'll admit stranger things have happened, I'd still have to hold Mr. Wise 100% responsible until he provides a reasonable explanation of why the people at the check cashing place who knew him well were able to identify, without question, that he was the one that cashed the cashier's check, along with his other various lies, such as the person in the hospital who, mysteriously, the hospital had no record of.
I'll give him points for effort, though. He didn't have to go out and make a web page defending himself, and I'm sure he'll draw a lot of sympathy for being such a family man! Maybe, if he gets a chance, he can also address some of the inconsistencies in his stories.
audioLibre - freedom of music
There are ads on /.?
(Thanks Firefox + adblock!)
I'm surprised he hasn't asked for Paypal donations yet.
Just by reading all the emails from the previous story and then reading this...you can tell it is the same person typing.
Honestly why have the police not taken care of this guy already?
======== In the future, everything will be artificial. ========
Poor guy... This Vince charcter sounds like a real jerk. They should put him away for a long time, he's a career criminal who probably will never reform. He knows what he is doing, tring to spread the blame around to someone who is either fictional or not related, most likely, and now it's catching up with him. About time someone dealt with theses internet scams, but I'd rather see the government get a bunch of them at once.
SAILING MISHAP
what's an advertisement?
I've never seen so many English spelling and grammatical mistakes compared to Sal's website. Is Sal really on comcast or AOL?
... that this might not be a scam at all, and poor Sal is being harrassed to the point of suicide?
To say nothing of his family, including newborn.
Okay, so it's unlikely given the text so far, but not impossible. Vince might have the wrong guy.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
I swear...there are just some people in the world that never admit they are wrong even when they have been proven wrong and everyone in the world thinks that person is in the wrong. Someone should find that guys address and then have a billion people send him mail laughing at his stupidity. That'd rock!
Seriously. Even if there were an even greater evil power behind poor Sal's crimes, does that totally absolve him of responsibility?
... twice ... But Vince made me do it! Can I have a cookie?.
Yeah, I ran over an old lady and her cat
Sheesh.
... turning to the 3-D map, we see an unmistakable con
I have never wanted Mod points this bad in my life...for an AC no less.
KUDOS!!!!
We apologise for the fault in this post. Those responsible have been sacked. -- Signed RICHARD M. NIXON
Just look for the guy with the goatee. Guys with goatees are always the evil ones. That or the guys with shaved heads....or guys with shaved heads WITH goatees make Hitler look like Mother Teresa.
I live in Philadelphia, and work downtown. I am posting AC to avoid being a karma whore and to avoid getting killed by this Sal guy. Last week or so after work I walked down to his address because its not too far from center city. Let me tell you that this guy lives in a crumby crumby neighborhood. And even worse, in a very crumby house. I didn't even think it was livable at first. Its a very small row home damn near falling apart. It has a basement window flush to the ground that is completely kicked in and just has a little fence in plastic fence in front of it. The whole house looks horrible, but in particular the front door is all screwed up. When I checked this place out there was a shitty car in front of the house (not a lexus, so I don't know who's lexus he got pictues of) and he lives across from a deli and about 2 blocks from a local hospital. The neighborhood is one of the worst in Philly. I didn't stay long and didnt dare take out my digital camera for obvious reasons. Anyway, the money that he's scammed people out of could probably pay his rent for over a year in the piece of junk that he lives in. Judging from his neighbors (I didn't actually see Sal, just his house) he is a low life and probably on welfare too. Everyone in that neighborhood seemed sleazy and the crime rate is either the highest in the city or in the top 3, or so associates have informed me. Anyway, I am certain that this guy is scum. And its getting out of control. Me and Justin have been in communication and I would like to think that I have helped him out and I intend to continue helping him out. Also everything me and Justin discussed, he fowarded on to the other victims so I'm trying my best to help out everyone involved. This Sal guy needs to get taken down.
-Me
'nough said.
I find it interesting that the Justin Spence site has been slashdotted out of oblivion but the Sal Wise site is still up. I bet Warlock7 is really sal waise and this is all a plan to knock Justin Spence offline and get his defense in place.
Once again slashdot is the tool of the evil doers, when will it ever end!
Papa Legba come and open the gate
A dingo did it!
Who wants to place bets on how long it takes for that site to die a quick death by Slashdot?
Sure hope they don't bandwidth-cap their hosted home pages like they used to (still do?) cap their cable modem connections...
p
In Korea, long hair is for old people!
Atrocious spelling.
I traded it to him for a Powerbook. Where is it??
Does 'Vince" truly exist?
/.ing so well?!?
Is the attrocious grammar, spelling, and sentence structure merely due to poor linguistic skills or is he trying to draw sympathy by protraying himself as a fairly unintelligent person that was taken advantage of?
If his name is Sam Wise (yeah like that sounds real) then why is his comcast page mich617?
But perhaps the most puzzling question of all,
How in the heck is his page standing up to a
I think there's more to this fellow than meets the eye...
I stole this Sig
...he doth protest too much
Here's a link to a story on NBC10 (Philadelphia). Turns out that Vincent Massina is a South Philadelphia businessman who was defrauded of about $13,000 by Sal Wise.
Why am I not surprised that Sal has managed to twist this around?
It was made known it whatever car forum he hung out in that he died recently. I guess he got better...
Come to the University of Mars! Classes starting soon!
Because the web site has been slashdotted for a week. Now it's probably even worse with this new post.
This is good for Sal, though, since none of us can read anything on Justin's site.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
...is gonna be PISSED. This is the exact sort of thing they hate to see their clients do.
It was like when that Peterson guy was giving all those contradictory interviews. They are coming back to bite him in the ass now...
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
selling that movie to hollywood...
it could even help Rob Schneider get his career back in high gear...
but then again, maybe not.
Be nice... maybe he has Multiple Personality Disorder.. I find the whole thing about the italics (italics=good nonitalics=bad) to be very interesting.
Although Sal apparently nearly successfully trick members of an on-line forum into believing he was dead and buried to raise "funds for his widow and children," he won't see a dime of it. Thanks to Justin Spence and Slashdotters, the people running the collection for the forum were notified in time before giving it to "Sal's grieving family" and are in the process of returning the money to the donaters.
Yeah sure Sal.
Awww... I wanted to explode - GIR
So far we have the following episodes:
IV: A New Scammer
V: Philly eBay Scammer Strikes Back!
Let's hope that the next episode is:
VI: Return of the Money
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke
Neat trick, being able to tell a person's character from the look of their neighbors. Must come handy at times I'm sure.
Not everyone that lives in poor neighborhoods are crooks or on welfare!
The media and people's naiveness is to blame for this stereotype.
The majority of the poor are probably working 2 jobs and getting little assistants if any. It's just that the media has no incentive to show you a single mother working 2 jobs, the vocal minority that make it big rapping violent lyrics, dealing drugs, running ebay scams etc. get all the face time they can stomach.
Think about this the next time you judge someone by where they're from.
Based on upvotes, Ageism is the only "-ism" Slashdotters care about and think isn't SJW
I don't think there's any real proof that both this AND the original site are real. It all reads way too much like something staged as a game to see how many people (including Slashdot eds) can get sucked into the story. I don't buy any of it.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
Quote: but now get to learn about a more powerful evil named 'Vince'. /Quote.
Ahhhh my first name is Vince.
Guess I am evil, wait is that REALLY a bad thing?? :)
Explanation: http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/07/05/outbac k.mystery.ap/
It may have never happened, it might not work on everyone, but I have a hunch that the Xerox lie-detector would work on Sal. (Or Sal.)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
It's like a soap opera that won't let you blink without presenting another commercial.
This guy remindes me of some pop star out there.
My UID is prime is yours?
Great, He even uses the patented "EBAY Great Deal Green" background on his site. sigh........
-William
God is everything science has yet to explain.
Submit the idea to Something Awful
People! People! Listen here!
All the speculation and uncertainty on whether Sal is a scammer/family man/ghost should have been a pretty blatant indication that this whole fiasco is simply part of the Halo 2 ARG, Haunted Apiary! I'd think such an "enlightened" group as the slashdot crowd would have caught on by now.
As for me, this whole "Sal Wise" component is the final piece of the puzzle. I've solved the riddle...
Have YOU?
--
Is it me, or did it just get fatter in here?
The "real" Sal goes on to explain towards the end that Justin will know he's the "real" one because he'll send all his emails in italics.
until microsoft fires him?
For a dead man (Google cache), he looks pretty alive...
I wonder how he is going to explain it to his Lexus buddies who even donated money for his "widow."
Obviously the true villiant behind this is Kyser Soze.
"Nimis exaltatus rex sedet in vertice - caveat ruinam!"
It needs to go to the Feds. This is a classic interstate fraud case and the Deparment of Justice has the jurisdiction. I think it actually falls on the Federal prosecuter for that district. I belive the penalties are rather severe when you add all the individual charges together.
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
Vince Foster was an Arkansas lawyer who later became deputy White House Counsel under the Clinton administration. He was later found dead apparently from suicide, although the details are shady. Kinda funny how Sal's wife has the same name as a character created by Heinlein, and now his previously unmentioned landlord is named Vince Foster!
Photoshop his ass? That might get pronish! Maybe we can photoshop just his ass with a flamethrower creatively used to obscure the pronish parts, with ominous smoke rising. Wait, we don't want to photoshop that.
Vince: Sal....I am your Father
Here are my (reasonably) fool-proof security rules:
- NEVER enter personal information into anything other than a web browser.
- NEVER enter personal information unless the browser URL begins with https:// and the security icon is displayed.
- NEVER enter personal information unless you EXPLICITLY TRUST the website.
- CHEK THE SPELLING of the website address.
- NEVER enter personal information after following a link from an email or website (other than the one you're logging into).
- ALWAYS type the address of your service into the address bar.
For those who've lived in Philly (as a college student).
:) (if you live down there, you know).
Pasquallys rocks
I am John Hurt.
I never had any doubts because I pay with Money Orders
huh? What does paying via a money order have to do with anything? -- If you paid via credit card and it never showed up, you'd at least be able to do a charge back. With a money order, you're out of luck.
Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to phish...
George Lucas--Greedo scammed me first!
How old is that kid, 2, maybe 3 years old? And he's got an earring?
What the fuck is wrong with people?
"BSD: Free as in speech. Linux: Free as in beer. Windows 10: Free as in herpes." --Man On Pink Corner in #52607549.
Any idea what the whole thing about him dying on the lexus owners club site was about? Just a cynical attempt to get more money?
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
the Little pimp took the kids picture down and now has a completely story! LOL This is some funny crap (in a tragic kind of way.)
If you don't like what I write don't be a CS and mod it down. Refute it.
Yea I can't spell. So what is your point?
what's up with the retarded kid in the #36 jersey behind the reporter at the beginning? ~q
www.qsopht.com ~q
Here.
"but now get to learn about a more powerful evil named 'Vince'."
It all makes sense now! He was posessed by Vince Clortho, keymaster of Gozer!
Completely new story.. Damm
If you don't like what I write don't be a CS and mod it down. Refute it.
Yea I can't spell. So what is your point?
That's not striking back. That's further incriminating oneself. It's a common reaction under suspicion: talk more. Even a first year law student, would Mr. Wise have been smart enough to have one standing beside him, would be advising his client to "shut up shut up SHUT UP!"
Fortunately for J Spence, Mr. Wise does not, in fact, appear to have been smart enough to engage counsel. This is all evidence quite favorable for the plaintiff. It's now cached on hard drives all over the world.
What an idiot.
grammar-lesson free since 1999. (rescinded - 2005)
"There is so much irony with that sentence that I cannot even begin to be sarcastic. This does not happen often."
Are you sure it happened just now, or is it possible that sarcasm is so deeply embedded in your psyche that you can no longer recognize it?
If there's enough publicity involved, a case like this might pay for itself. Think of it - Internet, ID Theft charges, abuse from people online. It's just the sort of thing an ambulance chaser like Boies would love.
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
I have spent more time than I care to think about reading all of this (including all the sites and forum postings I can fine), and it seems so cut and dried to me that I have been wondering why the police haven't acted yet. If all this were staged, that would explain it.
Except I think you meant "gimp."
Anyway, I think it's outrageous this guy has attached a crude graphic of a diamond to his son's delicate earlobe.
grammar-lesson free since 1999. (rescinded - 2005)
This is the part I don't understand. Actually, I can see telling Justin to cancel the check to try to divert suspicion, but why would Sal wait until Justin told him he canceled the check to try to cash it? Why no cash it right off? Wasn't Sal running the risk of having the whole scam fail? Any theories? What am I missing? Sadly, this is the single most interesting thing in my life right now.
Forgets cops, I want a new show called Scammers, Spammers, and Nigerian pimps!
Well, since he never refuted any of Justin's e-mails other than claiming he didn't write the earlier ones (establishing that they were indeed sent from his account), it certainly shows that somebody did indeed scam Justin. Given that there is no loss of credibility to Justin as of yet and the e-mails seem legit, this boils down to 2 likely possibilities which one can choose from:
1. The hospital misinformed Justin as to whether or not Sal was admitted AND the bank staff have misinformed Justin about Sal as well. In this case, it is quite possible this Vince character used Sal's computer and e-mail client. Oh and, Sal and Vince happen to have a matching writing style.
2. The bank staff is not confusing anyone with Sal and the hospital staff correctly informed Justin.
Is scenario #1 possible. Sure.
But, perhaps you ought to read all those e-mails again.
Wise promised to meet with NBC 10 reporter Harry Hairston, but never showed up. However, later over the phone he said he is in the process of issuing refunds.
Hmmmm... does anybody notice a trend here?
Sal lives at West E 1694 E West Street.
Or whatever...
Wasn't there a whole chapter of Sal's scam devoted to whether the cheque had been delivered to East East West Street or East West East Street?
I'd be utterly amazed if he's at ANY address listed ANYWHERE in the online records of this ugly transaction...
For my money (not that I put any up, thank god) he's long, long gone.
When he realizes he *is* Vince!
(cue flashback of "Vince" cashing yet another check).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
How does talking on the phone make you any safer? In order to snare a $4,200 prize do you think someone could come up with a prepaid cell phone, VoIP line, or something similar to use to scam you?
You missed my point completely though: Pointing out what a savvy shopper you are, then mentioning how you paid via one of the least secure methods doesn't really support your case.
A credit card user would simply email their credit card company and have the money back within minutes.
(Well, my bank lets me email, most require a minimum of a phone call, or in some cases signed paperwork)
Once a money order is out of your hands, it's all but gone. Once it's cashed it IS gone. Since it's as good as cash you can cash it at money mart or cheque cashing places, not a bank.
Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to phish...
I am comforted to see that there are still people who not merely say but _write_ 'youse', completely without irony.
I just wanted to share that with y'all.
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
He doesn't look anything like "Daddy"!! My GF KNOWS!!
Grow up!
By last account most people are born that way (naked), that's how nature intends us to be.
Tho I admit a girl would likely make a nicer ad...
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me.
... as it ... )
The "eBay police" (and problem resolution
retards) are a total sham, as they always
favor the scammers that pay the highest
advertising fees.
What more eBay scammers really deserve are
victims with enough time on their hands,
and enough malace aforethought, to hunt
them down in person. Monies can more
readily be recovered in person, particularly
after the scammer gets kneecapped
provides a wonderful incentive to make
restitution ( before the second barrel of
"00" gets used
Now, most of us lie daily (does this dress make me look fat?)
/. people, check that,men have wives/girlfriends.
Come on, did you really just insinuate that
Player pleeuz
Has anyone ever heard of Jack Campbell and MacMice? This guy does the same thing. He says one thing in a forum, then says something completely different in another forum concerning his actions and his companies actions.
He's been caught on the internet several times misrepresenting an attorney, stealing patented products, and making claims about his products that are just insane.
If any of you are interested and like this kind of story. I've done two stories on my website about this kind of scammer.
One story is similar to this one and is about eBay. (Titled: Scamming Scammers & The Scheming Scammers Who Scam Them Back)
The other is about Jack Campbell as mentioned above. (Titled: Catch Me If You Can Part II: The True Story Behind MacMice)
I think it's interesting to read stories like this and I wish more people read or were interested in them. If you can understand how pathological narcissitic people work - you can learn to avoid them.
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
I was really surprised to hear about this bombing, so I looked it up. Here is a cnn article about it.
SalWise Gamjee.
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
No kidding. Not to mention that from the time I first looked at his page to now (10 minutes later) it has changed. He took down the pictures of him and his kid. Now there is a picture up of bad ol' Vince.
ROFL. If this guy is innocent, I would feel very sorry for him. I would not want to incur the wrath of a million internet dorks. If he is guilty.... oh well.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
In fact, that's why, when I got a Standard Schnauzer, I named him "Evil" Montgomery Burns!
Schrodinger's cat is either dead or really pissed off...
Unless it is a POSTAL money order, with a full description of its intended use. If you're then defrauded and have included ths with the MO, the federal government becomes involved and the MO does have teeth.
Or so I read. Personally I try to avoid high-dollar purchases on eBay, because when you're screwed, you're pretty much screwed. The runaround eBay gives you if you have a complaint is pretty useless.
My advice is never send out more money than you can afford to lose for an eBay purchase. And for god's sake if you need a laptop (or anything) for a business-related, on-deadline use, DON'T buy it on eBay, just go buy the thing.
It's not a lie. It's the truth with lossy compression.
Not everyone that lives in poor neighborhoods are crooks or on welfare!
The media and people's naiveness is to blame for this stereotype.
Well, that, and the fact that almost all crime is commited by poor people (that is, people living at or below the poverty line).
Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
Maybe we are being scammed by sal and justin?????
The continuing coverage of Sal's scams is showing slashdot's trashy gossip side. I think there should be less of this. On a more slanderous note.... Sal's a little bitch.
No more pics of my kids! None of you little teenage kids who spams bad info all over the net needs to see what you's can never have!Also Justin spence is hosting a web site full of kids that are posting mis information and spamming my name with lie after lies so anything from that web page is just full of it.He is going to be sued hard! So much bad info on that site its not even funny anymore. Justin must think he is doing right since he is...
I love when people take the time to type out things such as "you's" and "you's guys." I mean, its bad enough that people speak like that, but to type it? Its hilarious!
You create your own reality - Leave mine to me.
He took them out of the HTML, but the actual pics are still in his Comcast folder:
http://home.comcast.net/~mich617/000_000813.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~mich617/P7120633.JPG
Poor children, I can only pray they are spared a lifetime of trouble like this....
10 MD
From the truth website:
Also to any detectives looking at this all refunds are being sent by next week and i have already called to try to talk to yous. Also my wife has nothing to do with this and cashed one check for me and did not know what it was for other then it was a dvd player and that dvd player was shipped out and i have the tracking number for it so her name should not be in this. I mean really now we have a 3 week old baby to take care of do you think we need this crap right now? Too many lies are on that web page about me and i am taking it down and will sue.
I know people talk like this in the NY/NJ/PA area. Carl, from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, for example. I'm shocked that someone would type this and put this up as their website.
If it weren't for the URL, I would be sure this was a satirical site.
Sigh. Five years of lurking, and now I've got to post about this...hopefully, this will give a little context to people who aren't familar with the incident or aren't from the area or even from the US. In the final analysis, people see in it the things that they want to see, like Koresh and Waco. This posting is long and could use some editting, but if you don't like it you can ask /. for your money back.
IANAME: I Am Not A MOVE Expert.
Quickie Personal Background:
I've lived in or near Philadelphia all of my life.
At the time, my German grandmother did recieve telephone calls from relatives in the old country asking why "the mayor of Philadelphia was bombing the city". This "bombing" is true, in a sense, but not in the way most people would imagine such a bombing.
The May 13th, 1985 incident occurred in the "West Philadelphia" district, which is only a few miles from my school (Drexel University, class of '89) in the city's "University City" district. IIRC, while driving to school that morning (while sitting in traffic on Woodhaven Road, actually) I heard news of a firefight between the police and MOVE. Later that afternoon, while at school, I saw smoke from that area of the city. In other words, this was a day long event and it was the culmination of years of antagonism between MOVE, it's neighbors and the police.
What is MOVE, exactly?
MOVE is essentially a back to nature group. For some reason, they chose to go back to nature in the middle of one of the USA's largest cities. They also had a penchant for annoying their neighbors to the point where the cops would be called in.
There seems to be a reasonable (Though I think that Mumia (yes, *that* Mumia) was convicted in the death of a different police officer, not Ramp. Perhaps I've got my murders mixed up.) synopsis of what MOVE is about here http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/Mo ve.html
So, what happened?
An earlier altercation between MOVE and the police occurred in 1978 in an area called "Powelton Village". This incident resulted in the fatal shooting of a police officer named James Ramp. (Incidentally, Powelton is near Drexel's dorms, fraternity houses and student apartments.)
After the 1978 incident, the MOVE house at Powelton Village was razed. It had been heavily damaged but it has been argued that razing the house was mere payback/revenge to/on MOVE. MOVE relocated to Osage Avenue in West Philadelphia and proceeded with the same behaviors that lead up to the first confrontation. I'm not quite old enough to remember the 1978 incident, so I'll leave it at that.
There seems to be a reasonable synopsis of the MOVE incidents here
http://www.campusprogram.com/reference/en/wikipedi a/m/mo/move.html
My recollection of the 1985 incident:
I clearly recall that the TV news had stated that firemen were kept away initially because they were fired on. I don't see why the firemen would be kept away from the fire for several hours. The fire eventually destroyed 60+ homes in the area. That section of the city is densely built, so there are many two- or three-story homes on each block. I don't think that the city government would have been so blinded by MOVE-hatred to purposefully destroy 60+ homes, the majority of which would have been owned by people who where not sympathetic of MOVE.
The "bomb" is alternatively described as designed to destroy a "bunker" or fortification on the roof of the building or as a distraction/ruse. Police today often use "flash-bang" devices to stun or disorient people in siege or hostage situations. This device was much more powerful than a flash-bang and used a military grade explosive (C4 or some similar plastic explosive, IIRC).
I recall that police were present in a building with a wall common to the MOVE house and
Yeah, actually, alot of us are married. There are some fruitcakes here as well. Slashdot consists of a wide variety of nerds and onlookers.
But if i was yous i would not take part of what justin is doing on that page.
Only in Philly could a man be so convinced that "yous" was an actual word that he would put it in print.
OK, maybe in Boston too.
After he's finished writing all of this material on the web, and the emails, imagine the noose he will have tied! Can you say "prison bitch?"
A little defensive are we.
I was playing on the stereotype of nerds, which I think falls in line with the many Beowulf cluster, Insensitive clod, Soviet Russia comments that are dropped here every day/Article.
The officer that Mumia killed (in cold blood and all) was Daniel Faulkner (1980 or 81, I think).
In the northern part of the city, US RT1 aka Roosevelt Expressway (I think that's the name) is dedicated to this officer.
Mumia has been on death row for a while. I think I heard he was a radio personality before he killed the officer, but, I was too young to remember.
-CPM
---You're all I need, When the water runs deep, You're all I need, Now I cry my soul to sleep -- Collective Soul, Needs
He even actually spells out "yous" just like yous guys would say it.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
I doubt people have delved this far into the thread, but there is at least some corroborating evidence from where I'm standing:
Go look at the ebay feedback forms for the different accounts that Justin and others have linked. The evasions on all of them seem very similar.
Of course, it's possible that the same people set up some dozen accounts just to give each other bad feedback.
Damn. Guess that isn't proof. It's good enough for me though. If you're still wary, maybe you can ask the eBay guys if the fraud reports have really been filed.
Regardless of the 'hoax' status (which I don't buy), I think this has gone far enough that the people responsible will be facing some serious legal problems. And that may be the best proof: Now that it looks like some jail time is coming, why would they continue the hoax?
interestingly, the report ends by recommending that online purchasers look at using an escrow service, without pointing out that bogus online escrow services are just another tool of these scammers.
This is one of the letters people have sent Justin. I copied it since I think it makes some cogent points ( from http://justinspence.com/slashdot.htm)
----------- --------
You got slashdotted and managed to make Sal a world celebrity,
so here are three comments from the other side of the pond; a
Freudian one, a legal one and a general one.
Freudian
Your good manners and wish to be fair is what got you suckered.
This happened:
- After the buy, your intuition warned you that something was
amiss.
- You over-reacted by telling Sal openly that you didn't trust
him.
- Sal came up with a plausible explanation and you felt guilty
for your open distrust, therefore trusted him more than you
should have.
- Sal got bingo.
If you had been just a tad more tactful, not cancelled the
deal straight away and explained why on top of it, but only
"requested additional information" while keeping up your garde,
chances are that you would have ended up cancelling the deal
anyway before sending that cheque. Sal is retarded, just as
you say on your site, but he does have a skill for playing
on other people's guilt and for creating it when need be.
That's exactly where he got you.
Ironically, that wouldn't work with a mafioso; it only works
with decent people. Because of this, Sal has an implicit
guarantee built into his scam method, that he won't piss off
people who would go after him with guns; he will only piss off
decent people who will frustrate themselves with an unwilling
police and a slow and ineffiecient judiciary. Retarded or not,
Sal surely has his targets right.
Legal
Beware of the evidence chain and beware of more lies yet
not uncovered. Sal is good at his job; he keeps building
deniability where you'd think none is possible, and he knows
damn well how to shift between objective and subjective
innocence. He is not alone; someone with legal knowledge
and time in jail has been instructing him on the fineties
of deniability. Consider:
- He told you to cancel the cheque. In order to prove fraud
at the time of the sale, you must prove either (a) that
he had no laptop to sell in the first place or (b) that
he intended to cash on it and never ship it. Based on
his mails you can prove neither.
- Being unable to fullfill a business agreement after it
has been entered into is not fraud; only tort. If you
can't prove fraud (intent+act) at the time of the sale,
a decent lawyer could probably keep Sal out of jail
unless other offences can be proven, e.g. fraud at the
time of cashing your cheque or at the time of writing out
the bounced refund cheque. On both these counts he claims
it wasn't him.
- The father story is a good one too: it creates a circular
fifth amendment case in which Sal can blame his father,
yet refuse to testify against him, while he can also
refuse to answer control questions that would incriminate
himself. It covers everything, from mails to matching
signatures on Fedex receipt and cheque. What's best in
this is that Sal's father, if he exists and is alive, can
use the very same fifth amendment to refuse to testify
against his son. You end up in an impasse where it is
plain and clear that one of Sal or the father is guilty
and lying, but there is no way to prove whether it is
the one or the other, so both get acquitted.
All in all, the only weak point in all this is the United
Check Cashing Co. videos, if there are any. If you really
plan to keep going, you should subpoena those videos asap,
to make sure they don't get rutinely destroyed after the
lapse of their shelf time.
General
It is my strong impression that Sal owes money to many
more people than just ebayers; I would expect him to
be in the red with his local drug dealer and at the pub
too, while his car is being repossesed and the landlord
has given him final notice about the rent. Sal seems to
be a person that opens a hole
You still have to find the guy. How much effort is the post office going to go to in order to track down $3,400?
The fraudster is already commiting fraud and probably theft, so why would they worry about one more charge from the post office?
Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to phish...
Irony - the deliberate use of a word in a fashion contrary to its superficial meaning. A large branch of sarcasm is irony. Making the same mistake you're accusing someone else of is not.
Watch more Futurama. Listen to Bender.
StoneCypher is Full of BS
i don't think they'll be showing that on the 6:00 news.