Well, I've been a complete moron.
I bought 3 Nokia N95 8gb's from these wonderful people, which were supposedly shipped on March 12 but which haven't arrived yet. My email communication with them has not been very pleasant, they keep accusing ME of being a scammer. At one point I got a random email from them saying their google checkout account had been shut down for doing business with me. What?!?!? Funny thing is, my google account is fine, so if I'm the scammer why are THEY being shut down. I didn't get that one.
Is this a deliberate tactic they use? I'm not sure. They always seem to sidestep the issue of where the hell my phones are by accusing me of being a scammer. It's so frustrating and makes the whole thing so hard to deal with I've pretty much given up.
At the start, they made me send them a photocopy of my passport and bank statement before they would accept my order because they were wary of scammers. Because it was such a good deal I complied. I feel like a idiot for doing that now. I hate the fact that they have so much info on me.
They're run by a guy called John Anthony Castro. If you google him you get some interesting results. He's 23 years old, wrote a book about himself, and he's running for mayor in some town in the US. He also seems to have been involved in some dodgy internet scams too, judging from the complaints from very angry people on quite a few forums. Unfortunately only one of those complaints came up when I did a search 4 weeks ago.
I thought Google checkout was a reasonably safe method of paying but there was no tracking on the shipment so I think I'm pretty screwed... to the tune of over $1200USD. That's quite a bit of money for a uni student.
Below is a copy and paste of an email this guy sent to a member of another forum. Not a very nice guy obviously. My advice would be to steer well clear.
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RE: TurboSIMs and other solution?
From: John Castro (johnacastro2008@hotmail.com)
Sent: Monday, 17 December 2007 6 AM
John,
Listen motherf*****, I have 11 TurboSIMs because I bought a wholesale bulk a long time ago in order to rip off their technology. I have an International Forwarding Agency with a small $160K a year International Sales Division. And yes, I was urged to run for Mayor of Laredo because I published a book and gained statewide recognition. I have friends on both sides of the aisle all over the Texas Capitol and Congress. I'm the last person you want to insult.
And yes, I decided to make a quick $50K by ripping off TurboSIMs technology and selling it to a firm in Germany that wants to market this product via televison in the United States on CNBC while placing Put Options on AT&T stock to profit from its sink once news of this new GodSIM becomes public. I'm personally in talk with hedge funds across the Northeast. I'm also brokering a deal with Federal Police Minister of Argentina for 20,000 rubber bullet guns and oversee international forwarding operations for several government officials.
So, all I wanted to do was dump these shitty TurboSIMs ASAP because I'm going on a $13K EuroTrip this Holiday Season. And yes, I posted the GodSIM to test the response rate. It was high enough to interest me. I could have just flushed the damn TubroSIMs down the toilet, but I'm a greedy SOB and make a buck where a buck can be made. That's how the rich stay rich. The pathetic part is that I'm only 24 years old and more successful than you can ever even dream of becoming.
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