Carl D. Grossman of Joplin, MO Stole My Money
Carl D. Grossman reneged on a deal and stole $150 from me. Yes, I am a sucker for sending my money to a stranger and trusting he would refund it if I couldn’t use a voucher. I am not crying about the voucher, I just think it’s strange he would rip me off at the tail end of the deal in this way and I was hoping for some advice as to what I should do.
Remember when I posted about needing frequent flier vouchers for the trip I’m going away on this next week to Lake Tahoe? Well, a certain Carl Grossman of Joplin, MO emailed me saying he had a Delta voucher that I could try to use. I talked with him a couple times on the phone and he seemed and sounded like a honest guy. Carl, at one point, even told me he was an honest person and I believed him.
Carl Grossman wanted $250 for the voucher and we agreed that I would send him $150 now and $100 after I redeemed the voucher, while I trusted Mr. Grossman I did hedge myself a little so in the event he was scamming me (which was still kinda likely depending on what unsavory characters you deal with) I would only be out $150. He agreed. This is what vexes me… he sent me the voucher Fedex next day and I received it the next day. When I went to the airport I was told 1) I needed Carl D. Grossman actually there with photo ID and 2) there weren’t any discounted seats available (some Q or Z class, I forget). So, I called up Carl with the bad news and said I had to send it back. He agreed to send me my money back and I mailed off the voucher. Except the money never returned.
A week later I called Carl Grossman and he said he sent a money order and would look into it with the post office and call me back. I waited two days and called but he didn’t answer. I called his home number which he answered and he hung up on me. I’d been officially scammed and I’m not exactly sure what I can do, that’s where I need your help. What should I do? (besides suck it up)
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There are 29 comments, add your thoughts now!
Well for lack of any other recourse, and if he does not respond, I’d start signing him up for memberships and subscriptions via email and mail to NAMBLA and all different kinds of terrible things like that. If you really wanted to be nefarious, you could also call up and try to cancel his phone accounts and electric/gas/water, etc. But there might be legal ramifications and perhaps the public flogging here will do the trick.
If you paid with a postal money order, you should contact your postmaster.
I paid with a money order from Walmart through their payment system… unfortunately. As for the postal money order, they can only put a stop payment… once it’s been paid then you’re out of luck.
Keep pestering him. Call his cell day and night.
Send pizzas to his house.
Be persistent. He will get sick of you and send you your $$ back.
People can be dirtbags.
I think I will start using his address to sign up for surveys and things through DealBarbie.. =)
sign him up for aol service
watch him get billed, and then try to cancel
Not sure, but you may possibly be able to get him on mail/ courier fraud, if you have a copy of the FedEx bill.
Failing that, all of us readers could send him postcards with some annoying/ revolting photos
I know some people in Joplin that can pay his house a visit….something I am sure that he would not be EGGspecting…
[...] Free Money Finance convinces us that gardening provides a myriad of financial and healthy benefits. Mighty Bargain Hunter asks, “What are your bad spending habits?“ and tells us how to fight our temptations. Consumerism Commentary finishes his in-depth series on the Top 25 Money Tips of All Time. Beware the man with a blog. Blueprint for Financial Prosperity’s looking for recommendations to get even with a guy who hasn’t repaid him. Five Cent Nickel’s annoyed about having to pay convenience fees when the convenience is really benefiting the business. [...]
[...] jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity is looking for a little e-vigilante justice. According to jim, Carl Grossman of Joplin, MO ran a scam to steal $150 from him. But instead of all of us hopping on a plane to Joplin to teach Carl a lesson, we’ll simply use the power of the internet to do the trick. Please join the posse and link to jim’s article making sure to include “Carl Grossman,” “scam,” and “steal” in your link’s text. This way, search engines will associate those words with that post and future potential customers of Carl Grossman can simply do a quick Google to find the truth about him. [...]
[...] Here’s a two shotter from Nickel this week. First off, while I can’t sign up for Dish Network, Nickel can and he’s written a scathing review of Dish Network’s customer service. Also, since being scammed is on my mind (read this post about Carl Grossman steailng $150 of my money), Nickel writes about his experience buying Home Depot coupons on eBay, luckily it wasn’t for hundreds of dollars. [...]
Be sure to give him a negative feedback rating on ebay and leave a concise summary of what happened.
Ha, except I didn’t buy it on Ebay.
Weekly Roundup - 07/21/06
Here’s a quick look at some of the personal finance-related articles that caught my eye this week…
First off, Jim got ripped off by a guy named Carl D. Grossman — this kinda makes makes my eBay problems look like small potatoes. Jim…
Did you want us to keep prank calling him repeatedly?
And how would he know that this bad fortune is a result of this one scam?
If you feel not that bad about it - “only” - then why complain online about it?
[...] Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity was scammed out of some money by Carl Grossman. Free Money Finance hates rebate offers, as do I. [...]
[...] IMPORTANT: Something to always remember is that you should never have to pay for a job! Your job is supposed to pay you! If a company or individual asks for money up front that is a red flag for a possible scam. Scams, no matter their nature, can happen to the best of us (and one recently happened to a fellow personal finance blogger). [...]
KC,
Why should he complain about it on his blog? BECAUSE HE CAN! Remember, Jim did everything he was supposed to do. Carl Grossman did not. Carl Grossman chose to act like a jackass. He’s gonna pay for that $150 he stole.
Jim,
When someone tells you they are “honest,” they are not. Someone who has to say that they are honest is hiding the fact that they are not honest. It’s a shame you had to find it out this way.
For anyone that’s still keeping track of this post, check out the number of trackbacks (below), and then pop on over to Google, enter Carl D. Grossman, and hit the I’m Feeling Lucky button. Even if you leave out the D, this post is coming up high on the first page of the search results. Now just imagine what effect this could have if an employer (or even a propspective date) chooses to Google this dude after meeting him.
This is unacceptable. I say sign him up for everything under the sun, pizza, porn, magazine subscriptions, aol….anything else you can think of. If you have speed dial just program your phone to call him day in and day out. Maybe some public shame would do him good.
I just wrote a post asking Carl to do the right thing too! Come on Carl. Don’t be a punk.
I read a story about a guy who had gotten scammed on ebay finding and calling the culprit’s mother. (It would be something of a trick, unless the guy lived with his parents). But once the victim had spoken to the culprit’s mother, he got a call back within 15 minutes and a refund within a few days.
Star Money Articles for the Week of July 24
Here are interesting posts and news this week from the MoneyBlogNetwork members and beyond: Five Cent Nickel decided to pre-pay his mortgage. Blueprint for Financial Prosperity says that Carl D. Grossman of Joplin, MO stole his money. Consumerism Comme…
Any luck on the $150?
Nope, I doubt I ever will.
Im live in joplin and unfortunately the town is full of immature jackasses. I don’t know this guy, but he cant be all that different from most of the town
I live really close to that address if he is still there maybe I should pay him a visit, he is only 3 blocks away
That’s horrible. For $150, I’d hate for someone to post my particulars on the net or wake someone’s ire. But then again, I probaby have more to lose than this guy. These scammers don’t realize there are just certain people they shouldn’t be crossing.
Yes, I agree, if someone specifically claims they are honest, I’m immediately suspicious.
It’s a good thing you hedged though. I’m going to remember that for when I deal with strangers.
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