Hi guys, With great interest I've been following this forum. This is my second posting here. Some of you may vaguely remember a poor soul who bot a 355 F1 Spider with intention to restore it to its former glory. I just wanted to share my stupidity in hope that others of Ferrari community do not fall victims to this guy. This crook pretends to own Ferrari parts for sale (which he does not have), takes money and goes silent afterwards. He goes by the name Myatt Adam, uses e-mail address [email protected] and asks transfer into a bank account under beneficiary name Rebecca Burnett (Sort Code 04-00-75, A/C: 30689481, Payee Address - 16 Worcester Road, Willenhall, WV13 2RZ). I've been in dire search for a set of F355 Challenge Wheels and came across below ad at Ferrari Owner's Club. Genuine F355 Challenge wheels for sale @ GBP 2,900 (including shipping). Image Unavailable, Please Login This ad looked legit (and i do have a soft spot for brits who fought Korean war for my country, South Korea), but I first asked for more pictures for verification including a hand written memo next to the wheels. And this guy sent me other pictures including below. Image Unavailable, Please Login It again looked legit to my poor trained eyes, so I wired him money from Hong Kong (where I currently reside and work). I was so excited to finally own the set for my car in restoration, but the day after I wired him GBP 2,900, I came across below ad at Ferrarichat... Ouch! https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/ferrari-f355-challenge-wheels.603605 Those who have sharp eyes can immediately tell that above memo picture was just a photoshopped and fake photo from this old advertisement. I also checked other pics he sent, and they were all from the old ad... Sigh... I then knew that I got conned. This guy Myatt has all along pretending to not received the fund, so when I finally confronted him, he never comes back. Image Unavailable, Please Login It's a longshot, but I have reported and filed this incident to my bank, HK/UK cybercrime unit and Ferrariowners club who was nice enough to straight away deleted all of his other ads, and shared this guy's registered information including phone number. Image Unavailable, Please Login Please feel free to call me an idiot to have a blind faith over the Internet and wired the money first. I just wanted to help by sharing my stupidity. I would really appreciate it if someone can recommend safe ways to transact with a private seller. I was aware of the risk, but did fall for it - lesson fee GBP 2,900. Now I should go back to my search for those juicy Challenge wheels... If anyone is willing to sell them (i.e. take my money and actually have the decency to ship them to me), please let me know! Thank you for hearing my pain.
He may have some wheels to sell, but not Ferrari wheels... I Googled his (alleged) address... Image Unavailable, Please Login Our sympathies.. and thanks for the heads-up
Really sorry to hear that. Be worth posting in the UK section, and if you have time join (it’s free) clubscuderia.co.uk and post there as that is uk centric. There is a ex member that I might still have contact details for who has connections in the Uk police fraud office. I’ll see if I can track him down, although I’ve not heard from him in a long time. Only way to pay and protect yourself if PayPal for private transactions. Sellers don’t like it too much due to the fees but also they can get conned by the buyer. If it’s uk, reach out on the Uk section of this forum and see if somebody is local to the seller who would be happy to go around and collect/ inspect them for you. Good luck in your search.
I would have fallen for this just as easily as you did, you did nothing wrong. What a total scum bag. Whilst it won't help you, you should know that the universe always has a way of balancing the books on people like this. One day this piece of human garbage will get what's coming to him. Don't lose faith in you restoration job. If anything this should give you more determination.
Thank you for your recommendation and time. My bank, UK/HK police have been informed, so I wish not to waste other nice people's time to look into this cause. I should've really known better. Understood re: PayPal. I will look out for this method next time.
Thank you Kryten, absolutely! I will never lose my faith in restoration of my dream car. I gave it up in my late 20's to buy a house (sanity told me to buy a house before a car), and then 30's to settle for something else (Aston Martin 6 spd) because I was in Singapore back then, and small market like Singapore did not have any F355 at the time I was ready to buy an F355. The F355 that I bot in Korea needed so many parts for restoration, so I needed a parts car. I ended up bidding and winning this lot at Copart at USD 44,500: https://www.copart.com/lot/39055920/1998-ferrari-spider-fl-miami-south I follow you 100% about karma (what goes around, comes around). GBP 2,900 from an idiot like me will make him smile today but I am sure probability of him getting into trouble with law and enforcement will come true. Thank you again for your post!
he was up to the same thing on Club Scuderia, the Ferrari website in the UK, I nearly bought a 355 tool set from him, same thing seemed very genuine, lots of images and messages back and forward. I was minutes from doing the bank transfer, and for some reason at the last second I felt something was not right, probably because he had no history on the form, and no interaction with the members, basically no content or chat. Also it was a great deal, and he was too quick to accept my low ball offer - old adage if its too good to be true......... So, I thought I would do an eBay search - found the same identical tool set being offered on eBay by Ryan from Classic Ferrari Parts, a well established Ferrari parts seller I have know for years - I informed Ryan, he had never heard of this guy before and was clearly shocked that his images were being used to create a scam. I informed the moderators on the forum, and they went and investigated..... They found another advert of his for a 512BBI tool kit, the moderator managed to find an advert on Ebay in the USA with the same images, but this guy had actually gone to the trouble of reversing the images so it visually looked different. His account on the forum was closed. But what's to stop him opening up another membership and posing as a legit seller again? The Moderators on here, need to take all that information above and cross reference it with the data held against members on Ferrarichat, see if he is lurking on here somewhere.
Hey thanks for the tip man. I've just dropped him an email as I'm looking for the same exact thing. My old tool case is looking extremely sad. Previous owner washed the car with the hood slightly open and the case copped some water damage
Thanks Qavion for sharing the photo. I actually did look up the address before I mad the wire. No disrespect, but the place looked a bit too shabby for a person who owns Ferraris, but good moral side of me told that I should not judge a person by the address of the bank wire beneficiary. The picture looked different. I dont' recall seeing that navy blue bimmer without wheels! I hope it is not of a crime scene! Thank you,
Just curious as to how he was able to put up an advert on Ferrari Owners Club website without joining the club? You have to pay £120 per year to be a member. You cannot advertise without being a member. Maybe the £120 membership fee was small compared to the income from sales?
Believe it depends. I think the short case came if you had the spare wheel option, but I’m certainly not sure on that. Seems to be the same kit, just without the tire inflator which makes sense.
You can post as a non member, think there is a small fee. Although trying to post any for sale with them is a complete pain in the ass. I’m a member and tried to post done tubi test pipes; I gave up in the end!!!
There's a guy here who restores 355 challenge cars for fun. If you'd like I can pass your info on to him, as he can probably point you to all the parts you'd need, PM me. D
Sad, sorry man. you'll likely never get your money back. I've been taken for much much worse, never saw a dime.
Thank you dm, I absolutely do not mind such hobby (or job) for my retirement! restoring 355 challenges for fun. I will PM you shortly. Thank you
I am very sorry to hear that Kenny. I presume you sold parts but the recipient did not wire the money back to you? Your silver F355 is just awesome though. I was sad to see your post about parting it, but I look forward to your next purchase (if not already been done). Thank you,
oh my god... a car? I can't even fathom the damage.... I've been following your posts and felt that, given how you articulate well, you are of a person with sharp eyes and mind. I probably would have bought a house from a guy like him given a similar situation. Thanks for sharing your experience. It helps to raise my awareness of many wrongdoers in this world. My sympathies to you...
There is a hogger on this site with 4 sets of Challenge wheels. Socal1. See if he is willing to let one set go.
Hi, The bank sort code is for MODULR FS LIMITED. Its an e-payments platform not a regular high street bank. It is registered by the FSA but there is a lot of chatter about it on the net. This link might be worth reading about their anti fraud measures. https://www.modulrfinance.com/blog/how-fintech-is-reducing-push-payment-fraud Rebecca Burnett is not listed on the electoral register at that address. I am in the UK and this thread has been highlighted on Club Scuderia.
Something that should be standard practice when buying online from unknown sellers is a reverse image search on the pics they post. Right-click the pic and the menu should include an option to "Search Google for Image." That'll tell you if they stole the pics from somewhere else on the internet. If you see weirdly cropped pics, that is usually a giveaway that you're dealing with a scammer. They're trying to fool the reverse image search.