Okay, this might be a new one for you guys, but I thought its good to spread the information, lest someone else gets scammed by another forum member like I did.
Some may argue this forum is not to defame users, but I guess this forum is also about informing and educating others so that they stay away from traps.
Mods/ Admins may wish to move it to the Feedback section or to delete this thread altogether before others are benefited from this, please do as you please.
Let me introduce you to the accused and all the information I have of him - His name is Shubham Agarwal, goes by the nick of "waveking" on this forum. Much to your surprise he is a student of the esteemed IIT Kanpur. This was were I took the bait :sad:
Interested in Gaming, HD Movies etc.
We started our discussions and PM when I was looking around for my HT setup. Initially I was interested in Onkyo (which he had purchased) so we started talking on the PMs and chats and emails. We talked about IITs, Campus placements, Jobs, MBA, Salaries, Gaming, Jailbreaking, XBox v/s PS3, iPhones, Home theaters, Movie formats and all the geeky banter you could think of.
He seemed to be a genuine guys as so many others whom I now know personally on the forum like Kittu, mgdelhi etc.
I had a 1TB Seagate HDD with me which was working sporadically. It would work on a mac but not on a PC, or only some specific Laptops/ PCs. I don't exactly remember if he offered/ or I requested him, but he was more than happy to check out the HDD for me. I couriered him the Drive to his Hostel campus, and he received it. Checked it out and was not able to get it to work. Then he claimed he was busy in exams and studies etc so I didn't bother him much.
Once he also said it crashed his laptop or would freeze it when plugged in. Coz of his academics I didn't bother him much. But we still chatted on and off 9few times a month for sure). A few months passed by. Since he wasn't working on the HDD and it was just sitting at his place, I started requesting him to send it back. Sent him my address many times on email and chat. No replies. Earlier, when he was still talking with me(before I started insisting on returning the HDD) he committed and confirmed many times that he would do it the next day. But that day never came :sad:
Then recently, I started noticing, as soon as I would ping him on chat, he would go offline. And then one day he went offline for ever. We all know what that means. Now I was worried. I wouldn't have worried if I knew for sure it was a Dead drive. Then it would have been trash! But I knew for sure it worked well on Macs. So it was some file formatting issue. I even PMd Bala and some senior mods on this forum about the same HDD as to what they think the problem could be. My cousin who just bought a Mac, so I thought I could give him the HDD and he could use it.
Thats when I started asking Shubham to return it. Once he went offline for good, he never came back. I sent him mails after mails. No responses. My tone changed from requesting to accusing. Still no bother!
Tried calling him many times from many numbers, the phone would ring, but he would never pick up the call. Of course he won't take calls from any strange numbers. Not even from mine. (just tried one more time from my cell, before posting this article, NO RESPONSE!)
All this while, I was still not able to convince myself a guy like him could do such a petty thing. I kept thinking, may be he has an emergency or tragedy around him, for which he is occupied and away from the daily chores. Then I tracked him on Facebook, could see his recent activity. It was pretty recent I say. Then today I checked HFV and saw that he had logged in just yesterday.
That's when I realized I am scammed. No tragedy could be big enough that you can't return someone's stuff but be regular with your online presence. I had even offered to pay him the return courier charges, thinking he wouldn't wanna waste his 100-200 bucks. My emails were NOT bouncing, my sms' WERE getting delivered but not being replied to.
Then I sent him a few harsh mails. Still no reply. Then it was confirmed "I have been cheated" from an educated and professional, soon to be entering the corporate world with the IIT Tag. Another Rajat in the making I guess?
I wish he reads this before ignoring it like all the previous times. I just hope he realizes what he did and I just hope he becomes a better CON
And of course the main intent. I want every one else to ward away from this guy, or do it at your own risk. Also, be very cautious and not get swayed away by human emotions and judgements.
I am a techie myself and an over cautious one, from eBay to Paypal, to buying stuff online, refusing counterfeit currency notes to checking spare parts before I put in my car.... I have avoided all potential areas of getting scammed. But WTH, I fell for this one. I attribute my inability in judging people. But wait, NO, I am not bad at that. This is a one off case!
I say so coz, I know so many knowledgeable and respectful people from this forum who I could trust with anything without even knowing them in person.
Imagine people like Shubham sprawling in the Buy and Sell section. What a pity it would be then.
So just be careful guys. Don't burn your fingers like I did. And if you know Shubham, do make him read this post once. After all I made him famous
p.s - don't think any one would be interested, but I have all his emails etc saved for the record
Some may argue this forum is not to defame users, but I guess this forum is also about informing and educating others so that they stay away from traps.
Mods/ Admins may wish to move it to the Feedback section or to delete this thread altogether before others are benefited from this, please do as you please.
Let me introduce you to the accused and all the information I have of him - His name is Shubham Agarwal, goes by the nick of "waveking" on this forum. Much to your surprise he is a student of the esteemed IIT Kanpur. This was were I took the bait :sad:
Interested in Gaming, HD Movies etc.
We started our discussions and PM when I was looking around for my HT setup. Initially I was interested in Onkyo (which he had purchased) so we started talking on the PMs and chats and emails. We talked about IITs, Campus placements, Jobs, MBA, Salaries, Gaming, Jailbreaking, XBox v/s PS3, iPhones, Home theaters, Movie formats and all the geeky banter you could think of.
He seemed to be a genuine guys as so many others whom I now know personally on the forum like Kittu, mgdelhi etc.
I had a 1TB Seagate HDD with me which was working sporadically. It would work on a mac but not on a PC, or only some specific Laptops/ PCs. I don't exactly remember if he offered/ or I requested him, but he was more than happy to check out the HDD for me. I couriered him the Drive to his Hostel campus, and he received it. Checked it out and was not able to get it to work. Then he claimed he was busy in exams and studies etc so I didn't bother him much.
Once he also said it crashed his laptop or would freeze it when plugged in. Coz of his academics I didn't bother him much. But we still chatted on and off 9few times a month for sure). A few months passed by. Since he wasn't working on the HDD and it was just sitting at his place, I started requesting him to send it back. Sent him my address many times on email and chat. No replies. Earlier, when he was still talking with me(before I started insisting on returning the HDD) he committed and confirmed many times that he would do it the next day. But that day never came :sad:
Then recently, I started noticing, as soon as I would ping him on chat, he would go offline. And then one day he went offline for ever. We all know what that means. Now I was worried. I wouldn't have worried if I knew for sure it was a Dead drive. Then it would have been trash! But I knew for sure it worked well on Macs. So it was some file formatting issue. I even PMd Bala and some senior mods on this forum about the same HDD as to what they think the problem could be. My cousin who just bought a Mac, so I thought I could give him the HDD and he could use it.
Thats when I started asking Shubham to return it. Once he went offline for good, he never came back. I sent him mails after mails. No responses. My tone changed from requesting to accusing. Still no bother!
Tried calling him many times from many numbers, the phone would ring, but he would never pick up the call. Of course he won't take calls from any strange numbers. Not even from mine. (just tried one more time from my cell, before posting this article, NO RESPONSE!)
All this while, I was still not able to convince myself a guy like him could do such a petty thing. I kept thinking, may be he has an emergency or tragedy around him, for which he is occupied and away from the daily chores. Then I tracked him on Facebook, could see his recent activity. It was pretty recent I say. Then today I checked HFV and saw that he had logged in just yesterday.
That's when I realized I am scammed. No tragedy could be big enough that you can't return someone's stuff but be regular with your online presence. I had even offered to pay him the return courier charges, thinking he wouldn't wanna waste his 100-200 bucks. My emails were NOT bouncing, my sms' WERE getting delivered but not being replied to.
Then I sent him a few harsh mails. Still no reply. Then it was confirmed "I have been cheated" from an educated and professional, soon to be entering the corporate world with the IIT Tag. Another Rajat in the making I guess?
I wish he reads this before ignoring it like all the previous times. I just hope he realizes what he did and I just hope he becomes a better CON
And of course the main intent. I want every one else to ward away from this guy, or do it at your own risk. Also, be very cautious and not get swayed away by human emotions and judgements.
I am a techie myself and an over cautious one, from eBay to Paypal, to buying stuff online, refusing counterfeit currency notes to checking spare parts before I put in my car.... I have avoided all potential areas of getting scammed. But WTH, I fell for this one. I attribute my inability in judging people. But wait, NO, I am not bad at that. This is a one off case!
I say so coz, I know so many knowledgeable and respectful people from this forum who I could trust with anything without even knowing them in person.
Imagine people like Shubham sprawling in the Buy and Sell section. What a pity it would be then.
So just be careful guys. Don't burn your fingers like I did. And if you know Shubham, do make him read this post once. After all I made him famous
p.s - don't think any one would be interested, but I have all his emails etc saved for the record
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