Please be aware our Forums have been infiltrated by a scammer who is responding to your Parts Wanted postings. This creep, who uses the name Graham Vermillion, allegedly from Mendota, VA and email address grahamspares@gmail.com
He responds directly to email addresses ... he does not reply on forum posts or via PM's. He even emails pictures of the desired part(s) ... then says he needs to be paid by Moneygram or bank wire transfer (no PayPal), which is of course a RED FLAG.
To suck folks in even further, he provides "free shipping and insurance" and below market prices.
One of our Chat members recently lost $100 this way. The lady who lives at the Mendota, VA address is a victim herself. She has no involvement in this scan and she has personally lost money herself.
If you get any correspondence from grahamspares@gmail.com, don't respond to him. If you know how to capture the underlying "routing information", then do that. Lots of people would like to hunt him down.
Bill Barker Previous VCCA CHAT Administrator (VCCA Member: 9802)
Bill, 5 years ago a newer member who had advertized regularly on EBAY, skinned me for over $400.00 for 4 window frames for a 1957 Sports Sedan,complete with broken glass in all 4 windows, he said he had a buyer in NJ who wanted them...I emailed individual, who said he'd be up in 2 weeks to pickup up frames that were beyond pitted....never showed or called, phone number he gave me was disconnected....This guy is out of Chico,Ca....He's a business, selling parts and cars in our G&D, Classic Cars and Hemmings.....He skinned this disabled veteran,said he couldn't give me a refund.....At least have him pay advertising rates, he should be black-balled....Any fellow VCCA members been skinned by this guy joeyk3950
Look at page 40 in this month's G&D. March 2017 issue.
There is an address for Classified Ads, and just below it, an address for Commercial Classified Ads.
You should document your issue and send it to either of these two addresses depending upon whether it was a "member" ad, or a "commercial" ad that your were responding to.
This should then get routed to the G&D Committee. Let them know if you have had a bad experience with an advertiser.
Bill Barker Previous VCCA CHAT Administrator (VCCA Member: 9802)
I had someone send me an email about the 2 doors that I am looking for. They sent the email directly to my email and did not reply via chat.
I tried googling his name and the name of his shop and could not find anything... so seeing that my telephone number was on my original posting and that i can not find anything about him or his shop on line I will take it that this is a scam. Below is a copy of his email
-- Hello buddy,
I am emailing with respect to your advert. Please let me know if you are still in need of the above and I'll get back to you. What's your phone # ?
Kind regards,
Brian E Lawrence Brian E Auto Shop Newport News, VA 23606 USA.
Mike Quezada (559) 250-5427 mike.quezada@M2ProSol.com
RICO R BUNTON says hes from 6602 north 1st street alviso califorina 95002 phone number 510-859-6887 (phone is shut off after monies were transfered via western union) he must go thru the wanted adds here at VCCA Research what your looking for then talk you out of your money.He also has a buddy AMAHD who aranges the shipping.AMAHD actually calls you to tell you its out to bid bids are at say 1,200 but he will get lower bids within the hour.keep in mind he calls you from a phone you cant see his number.you do get a call saying you got lucky your bid came in at $775.00 great.Shipping will go on ricos credit card you pay shipper when item arrives. yes i should have gotten shippers name ,number which i tried but never called back.Hope he does'nt get anyone else THANK YOU RICCO I WILL CONTINUE TO SEARCH YOU OUT
I agree with Bruce 100 percent I sell parts over the internet and always prefer pay pal even though they charge me a fee when I get money sent to me it is worth it knowing I am not getting scammed
33yr member/3rd generation member Andy Jurski #42092 Family collection: 26 collector cars: 20 Chevrolet's 2 Ford 1 Oldsmobile 3 Pontiac's
Recently got scammed for $200.00 saying to pay them Paypal as friend or relative. Don't do it. You are not covered under buyer protection. Tell them you will add the 2.9% Paypal fee for goods and services. It was paid to a hennywilson80@ gmail.com which is a legit email located in NYC. Belonging to a Henrietta Wilson. Paypal would not disclose any information. The scammer gave me a name of Frank James and frankjames@gmail.com email address with an address in Richmond TX. Probably will never see my money back but did report it as mail fraud and tried to call NYC police dept. Since it was fraudulent might contest Paypal's non disclosure rule with a lawyer's letter.
Beware of Jamar or Jimmy Fuentes, Hayward. Calls to say somebody noticed you were looking for a part. Doesn't recall who. He has the part. Wants money sent . Send to his brother. His address doesn't exist. His number is 510 203 2959. Just about hooked me 2 years ago. He or an acomplice is seeing the VCCA ads.
I just got three emails from a new member saying that he has three of the items that I have been looking for in the Parts Wanted section. I tried to PM him but he has 0 posts and it says xxxxx is over their Private Topic limit. He is a new member and I don't want to think that he is not honest and maybe he doesn't know yet how to post to the forums. I just thought it was weird that he would have all three NOS items that I have been asking for in the parts wanted section.
So, here is my story. I'm sure you have seen my ad wanting a bulb for my 1950 fog light. I reposted the ad yesterday and received a PM from jp324424@gmail.com in Florida. He said he had exactly the bulb that I wanted and could arrange shipping. I ask for his price with shipping and he said by email (he wanted all transactions by email and not by Chevy Chat) he wanted $200.00 and to send the money by Money Gram. Does this sound like a SCAM so far? His name is: JOHN PAUL Another clue is that his communications are not in good English, but easily detected as not clear. I had ask if he had any other parts/accessories for the 1950 and he said yes, and to give him my list and he would include them in shipping with the bulb. Obviously trying to add to the SCAM.
Read everything closely, and if it sounds too good or critical information is lacking, it may be a SCAM.
Got a reply from the same person on my ad for headlight clips. looks like he registered the same day he replied so I only replied to him via Chat PM. No response back. No mention about the part other than he has it and can ship it. He needs to be barred from the site.
That guy is exactly the one that I was talking about; It's funny he has all the parts that we are looking for especially OEM parts. I have emailed him back and asked for pictures and measurements of the running boards but has not answered me yet. I agree he should be banned from the VCCA.
John Paul has just contacted me again and has offered to lower the price on the sealed beam bulb for my 1950 fog light. Got nothing else to do so I think I will play along with his game. Obviously, he has not discovered we have identified him as a SCAMMER!
It would be nice to get his location and maybe the law could take care of him. The last time I knew that mail fraud was a federal offence. I hope the webmaster will let us know what has happened with this guy.
This guys working real hard. First he sent me a picture of a Heater Switch, not a Heater. Then he sends me a picture of a 35 Heater not a 34. A picture which I think I've seen before, beware!
He just sent me pictures of the bumper brackets I'm looking for. Looks like they have GM stickers on them?? I think I'll play this out a bit right to the point where I have to open my wallet......