Anyone know Stefan Ray from Charlotte, NC? Scammed me out of $800 for BFG KO2 tires - FINALLY REPAID

Long story short, Stefan_Ray decided to sell the tires I paid him for to another buyer (local to him) from his listing in the classifieds section. He was supposed to ship them to me, but now 10 days later, I have no tracking numbers or tires. When I confronted him on the phone to find out what’s going on, he agreed to send a refund after an argument ensued. He tried to claim that he has 2 sets for sale when in fact he never mentioned that in the original listing & he only shows a pic of 4 tires. He has now blocked my number, will not respond to PMs (He claims he is in the hospital and wouldn’t send my money back till he could make sure the tires were indeed NOT shipped to me. Even had the nerve to show me an armband from the ER with the date on it that I sent the money to him, showing his full name and saying that he “can’t be on the phone around all of the medical equipment”. I’m in a hospital often….I’ve never heard of such a thing), will not respond to TW moderator’s calls/texts or PMs (they thankfully reached out to him on my behalf) and hasn’t lived up to his word to provide tracking or ultimately a refund. All I got from him for a few days after I sent the money was excuses & lies.

The local buyer of the tires told me the transaction went smooth in person and another TW’er vouched for him and said he’s been around local FB groups for a while. He claims to work (or worked) for Discount Tire in previous posts on here. He also has 1.7k posts here, so he’s no stranger to the board. Here is the posting in the classifieds section:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/fs-charlotte-nc-brand-new-bfg-ko2’s.742133/

At this point I’m out $800 and I’ve accepted my mistake, but it sure would be nice to connect with him & get my refund & prevent anyone else from doing any kind of local or over the web transaction with this guy.

Thanks for any help

EDIT: Here is is full name and the armband from the local VA

WRISTBAND REMOVED

UPDATE: His newly changed IG is stray_336. Discount Tire verified that he did work for them, but it’s been over a year ago. He’s blocked me on IG & Linkedin as well as my phone number. His Facebook seems to have been deleted, but unknown when that happened. That’s all I can say for now.

 

You saw this in the sale thread?

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/fs-charlotte-nc-brand-new-bfg-ko2’s.742133/#post-26486067

 

Yes. Moderators suggested I reach out to try and see if anyone has any info on him and to prevent another scam for someone else. He hasn’t replied to their PMs in several days & they are fairly confident he has notifications on for when he receives PMs. He’s basically disappeared.

 

Terrible situation to be in.

 

Damn. That's a crazy situation. I hope it resolves quickly for you.

 

@JimboAnz do you have any other means to reach this guy? Looks like he also deleted his FB page.

 

unfortunately no, checked my contacts, I never added him as such, his facebook looks like it has gone dark. He lived in Harrisburg if I recall, last I knew.

 

Weird how he just vanished. Hopefully you get your money back @HOOPSboy

 

How did you make payment?

Many apps and CC have a method to stop or recall the payment or dispute the charge.

Suggest you take that option NOW.

Document everything....you may need to press in small claims court.

 

OUCH!!!

Small claims may be the only path to recover the loss.

 

OP, I still have CAC access, lemme see if he is still active duty, reserve or guard status, if it populates It will show his unit, maybe we can call the BC and get this handled the right way. actually, I thought you had his first and last, thats ok.

 

He isn't transitioned into the A365 system. He may show under the legacy email (mail.mil), but nothing under (army.mil)

 

Sorry to hear about your luck OP. Have you reached out to @mindEASE? Looks like he met up with the seller in person for the alleged other set and maybe could confirm whether or not he saw 2 sets sitting the garage. Doubtful at this point, but might help make your case to the local PD if he's willing to help out.

 

prob, only if we could find his BC or even company commander, oooo boy getting a call about that, field grade 15 and lots of smoking.

 

Don't get too excited. Eight years of command and plenty of calls in my ear, nothing UCMJ jurisdiction and strictly a civil matter that was entered into in a legal manner. There are ways to help rectify the situation, but all too often I would get the call from people demanding that I do something when in fact the military doesn't have to do anything. Let me do some more digging. I am local enough and he may be NCNG.

 

Unfortunately, I think the Concord address is outdated. He definitely lived there at one point but he posted that he moved back in February 2021. So if any PD is to be contacted, it should be the Randolph County Sheriff since Trinity falls within Randolph County.

https://www.randolphcountync.gov/sheriff

This photo is from 2019 and you can see it's definitely at that searchable address.

 

he posted in the CLT thread a while back he had moved to Trinity but I’m not finding anything on GIS for Randolph county under his name.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...overlanding-bbq.412100/page-648#post-25076770

 

What a prick.