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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
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
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. ========
... 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
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 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
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
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!
...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..."
I know I'm just asking for a brutal slashdotting on this one, but before my server melts, here's a mirror of the video.
Not more than you need, just more than you want
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.
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
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.
Obviously the true villiant behind this is Kyser Soze.
"Nimis exaltatus rex sedet in vertice - caveat ruinam!"
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.
Sal, is that you?!
Not Meta-modding due to apathy.
Good rules, but I can't help but mention that:
CHEK THE SPELLING of the website address.
Is just SO ironic.
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!
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?
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.
I liked his replies when he was uncovered... "I never posted anything saying I died."
:)
That's pretty hard to do when you're dead, Sal.
"Hi I'm dead! Give me^H^H my wife some money. I really am dead!"
I love people. They're so amuzing
My other car is first.
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...
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.
'before the second barrel of ...'
"00" gets used
Why do I have strange visions of you torturing someone with bits of Hornby railway track?
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
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