Problems with ravynscry (formerly titled "Prop Swap Closed and totals final!!!")

Her work address will have a forwarding address for her and also her original home address. Although they won't give that info to you, they would most likely forward anything directed to her to her home address and would certainly answer if a police report was filed.

Further, unless her name is jane smith, you could do a search based upon her name and her city and see if she has a home listing in the same city as she used to work.

good luck

 

Yes, we realize that we will probably have to make a poice report in order to get any information from her former employer.
I have already done a phone search of the town in which she worked, but there is no listing in her name. There are several listings with the same last name, but I am not prepared to start calling all of them.
Besides, they might not admit knowing her even if one of them is her family - she must have learned her lying scamming ways somewhere, no? After all, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
As I said before, I would prefer to see what the mods advise before proceeding, but, of course, I can't speak for the others. I do think our best hope lies in acting together, though. Any thoughts, fellow victims?

 

Well, police inquiry seems... appropriate based upon monetary value of what she has, but I also personally think it feels excessive in some ways.
While with the evidence we have, I'm sure she could be located and the items gotten, there would be cost about the investigation/prosecution, and do the people involved want to handle that? I will go allong with it if anyone else is thinking along those lines.
I'm personally not upset about the wait at all. I am upset on the lack of communication now. no updates, and a 6 month's wait is getting rediculous. With some of the troubles she has said she's had, I understand a delay. But the longer we take to locate her and force communication, the harder it is to track her.
*sigh* This is all really a big mess.

 

After six months, this is no longer about a "wait" or "lack of communication" - it is about outright fraud and theft. A crime has been committed.

And save your sympathy for her alleged "troubles." We have been lied to and strung along.

I don't understand your optimism about locating her and getting our items shipped, but if you think you can do it without resorting to the police, please by all means do so.

One other thing, why do you believe her about her "troubles," but not about being out of the country? If you think she's lying about that (and she may well be), why is it so hard to believe that it's all lies from beginning to end? Starting with the worn out excuse of a "death in the family" that always occurs after money and/or goods have been received, but before the poor bereaved can fulfill her end of the transaction? Then the extended stay in England (funny, nobody else in her family had to go) where she , of course, couldn't communicate with us (no Internet in the UK?) then claiming her sister had sent out 5 boxes (a lie) and finally making sure to tell us she had lost her job (poor dear, who would have thought not showing up for three months could lose you your job?) where she had told us to send our swaps and money (what a coincidence) and was in a deep depression after arguing with family members (so don't bother trying to call them) and then more promises to send all the swaps out in July (another lie).

Ok, I'll stop ranting now. I just hate lying scumbag scammers. And most of all, I hate that we not only let them get away with it, but send them hugs and sympathy!

I think we (the victims) should take a vote: Should we:

A. Treat her as the lying scumbag scammer criminal that she is, in a manner to be determined, or
B. Locate her and send her a sympathy card?

 

I too have had issues with Ravynscry. A while back I was part of a swap she did. I never recieved my item, and when i PMd her, to ask who my partner was, she said she'd get back to me on it. (why couldn't I just know with a responding IM, i dunno) and then i had to write her back after two weeks, for lack of response. I never recieved my swap, and she never did anything about that. (most swaps i've been part of have a back-up plan for deadbeat swappers) She PMd one more time, and told me about a list of problems she was having, including family issues, and then i never heard from her again. All future PMs went unaswered. I then found out that she was hosting the "prop swap". It seemed a little immoral that she was hosting a new swap, when her last one A) didn't go so well and B) still had pending swaps that were never recieved and were never resolved.

I only post this, to show you the type of person she is, and that the excuses will most likely just keep happening. I was given these SAME excuses over a year ago (when our swap happened, excuses of Job and Family)

Mine didn't involve money, (Thank god) but it was not pleasant, and i'd never deal with her again, either with money OR a swap.

 

I'm going to move this to the Problem Transactions subforum.

Several of the people involved have been in contact with the moderators. We unfortunately can't intervene in marketplace disputes, but we are looking into the situation and will try to do as much on-forum as possible.

 

Okay, if others outside our group have had troubles with her too, then this probably is worth looking into seriously.
I will fully support legal action, once it is taken.

I'm sorry I was so hesitant to agree, but I tend to want to give people the benefit of the doubt. I don't like calling someone a scumbag scammer unless I am sure they are a serious offender. In this case, she has made a big error, but while I support legal action and intervention, a prop-swap hardly seems like a planned crime. More like criminal negligence of a responsibility accepted, and then stealing money that is already in hand due to convenience. I DON'T mean to say it's okay. It's not. And I do want my items! But I'd rather approach it calmly and civilly, in case it were to turn out that she is bankrupt, homeless, family-less, or deathly ill.
Lets simply take action, and get our stuff.

Anyone know what we as a group can do off-board?

 

I can't do much, because my thing didn't involve money. Just moral obligation. But i'd gladly add her to House of Resin's list of Dead-beat swappers and our list of Problem transactions. I keep a close eye on people here who do wrong by others, and i keep our forum members informed as well.

I try my best to keep the BJD collecting community informed on things that are going on, just in case they do not come here, but maybe they go to smaller forums like mine. I don't want anyone to get scammed

God i sure hope you all get your money back

 

You have many options as to how to proceed. Small claims court, Police report, IC3 or USPS mail fraud report. (or all three).

If I were the injured party I would attempt to contact the address that you have. I would talk to a manager, perhaps explaining that you have a delicate legal matter that you need to contact her about and ask if you sent a letter to the company, would they forward it to her. Be sure to not explain the nature of the situation as this could get you into trouble.

Someone did say that they looked her up in the city, but that they only found people matching her last name and weren't ready to call around. You might want to elect one person to do just that. When telling what it is regarding, you might say it is in regards to an unfinished transaction involving collectible dolls or such. If you find a relative you can send a certified letter to that address demanding return of the items. (the first step in a small claims filing.)

For a mail fraud case, since she used her work address it might be a bit more complicated. Someone might want to call the USPS and inquire since she didn't do it at her home and no longer works at the address filing might be more complex.

I've never filed an IC3 report, so I'm not sure how that works.

I would think your best bet is try to get everyone's name and items written down, along with paypal transaction id's and mail tracking numbers together in one place. Someone should also copy or screen cap the swap list so that R is not able to come edit her posts and destroy the information.

Hope some of this is helpful, let me know if I can help in any way.

semirans

 

Her live journal hasn't been posted in in a while, but she has numerous friends that are active. Before she locks her LJ, someone should get a list of the friends and contact them to see if they can get a message to her.

 

It's a shame we got taken, but seriously, I do not think there is much we can do about this situation. There are bigger scammers in the doll world and not much can be done about them other than warning others.

I can only hope she did not intentionally mean to take our money and goodies, but if she did, there is always karma.

Barbara

 

its definately a shame. I doubt it was an accident, considering that she acted as she did on her last swap. You know, there should be a seperate feedback area for Swap hosts, and swap partners....I wonder if the mods would be open to making a "deadbeat swapper" list LOL

 

Giving up and saying there's nothing we can do about it is exactly why these scammers think they can rip people off with no consequences. As long as we keep letting them get away with it, they are right! And that makes us not only patsies but enablers as well.

 

Well, I will not condone such behavior, but I do know better that to fight a loosing battle. Just what do we know about Nicole? She lives or did live in NY. Truthfully, the law does little to nothing with cases such as these. There is not enough money involved and with little to no information, what can we do?

Like I said before, I am a strong believer in karma.
Barbara

 

I'm glad to see this thread up again, perhaps if the other people involved in the swap would come forward and help out we might be able to do something about this mess?

I'd love to help in any way possible but I'm not entirely sure how because I'm in a different country from Ravynscry. I just hope that we can track her and our stuff down because I hate having my sympathies played upon. And after this amount of time, I honestly don't see how anything she said could be true any longer

 

The totals of my stuff were no more than $25, £12ish in UK sterling,

For what its worth when she said she was in the UK I said I'd meet up with her (no idea of what page that is on) I can get ANYWHERE in this country and she did not respond. I sent a PM suggesting we meet too and again no response, and she wasn't online for a long while after that.

I am with ChiByakko, I too don't like pointing fingers but in light of her last swap, which I knew nothing about (I'd been in the BJD hobby for all of a month I think when I joined this swap)and the value of all the items in this one then I am also forced to admit we've been had.

Any help I can give I will but I'm not sure what I can do from here. I should have all her PMs tho.

 

I found this picture on Ravynscry's LJ. The package has an address on it but I can't make it out completely and my crappy software is no help. As best I can tell, it is also her work address, which we already have, but maybe some of you with Photoshop or better can make it out. I saved it on Photobucket at 1MB size:

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p275/1b7395/ravynscrypackage.jpg

 

I tried to use photoshop to zoom in and sharpen the image, but the resolution is just too bad, I wasn't able to make out a thing

 

Well, hello there everyone. I was one of the group and sent for two swap groups. Let me know what I can do to help. My total was 30.00 max. I just decided to check to see if there was anything new. I had forgotten about it till it slipped back to the front of my memory. I am not upset about the loss of the money or my kids not getting fun pressies, but I hate being scammed.
I don't THINK it was intentional at first, but then she just stopped caring What can she do with 9 of 40+ different items?

I agree it is now a criminal act and something needs to be done, but what recourse is available? File a police report. If it was truly a family emergency, the law is on her side and she had to have protection from being fired for 90 days. So that excuse is not valid. If everything was already boxed and awaiting shipment, that could have been done by anyone. It was all pre-paid by us. That excuse is not valid. The ISP that she sent the suposed e-mails from England can tell where she sent them from, England or NY. That can be checked. I will be happy to call if someone will supply me with numbers. We need to keep in touch, we could set up a live journal? Poor girl, the grief this will cause her cannot possibly be worth her amount of gain.

 

I just got back from Japan, and decided to check this thread to see if there were any updates.

I'm not sure I can remember everything that went into the goodie bags I put together, let alone how much the items cost, but I could probably come pretty close.

Let me know if you need it, and I'll do my best.

I think people have made some valid suggestions as to things that could be done.

I don't know what I could do, other than add my testimony to the case.

I live in Hawaii, so making phone calls to the East coast would be difficult for me due to the time difference, as well as the expense.

Has anyone tried contacting her friends from her LJ yet, just to see if any of them know her home address or maybe have a phone number for her?

Also, do we know if anyone here on DoA maybe knows her from local meet-ups?
They might have her home address or a contact phone number.

It's possible that if her family could be contacted and the situation explained to them, that they might be willing to rectify things by at least returning the items.

 

Well... I guess it's finally time for me to speak up too. I'm agree with what most everyone else has said. I feel a bit taken by all of this and very disappointed. This was only my second swap and to have it go bad put a sour taste in my mouth for ever doing swaps again. To be honest, I made my items for everyone. Their value is at least $5.00 an item and they took me 6-7 hours to make. (Plus the shipping there and the $5.00 for return shipping) I'm willing to help out in any way that I can. But, I'm really not sure how at this point. I think that trying to contact family and LJ friends is probably a good way to start, like JRyu just mentioned. Anyways.... I hope we can get this all worked out.

 

I had hoped that we might get some advice from the mods, but they have been very busy lately, as you know.

I think we should make a complaint to the Larchmont Police Department. In some other cases here on DoA, just the visit from the police was enough to get the scammer to send the merchandise or a refund to the buyer.

Someone will need to volunteer to collect all of our info via pm or email and then contact the police (http://www.larchmontpolice.org/). I am very busy right now, but I will do it if no one else will. I think we will need an itemized list for each person of all that you are out of pocket (including any special packaging, shipping to her and return shipping) in this swap swindle, along with your full name and address/phone#/email and DoA ID.

If enough of us participate, we may have a large enough total to convince the police that it's worth the time to find her and talk to her.

What do you all think (swap participants only please)?

 

Yes please, I'd be really grateful. I'd do it myself except I'm in another country so it's not really feasible... but I'll gladly send a list of my items!

 

Me too, I'd be really grateful if someone could organize this. I'd be willing to help, but I don't think I'm quite assertive enough to get anything done properly...

I hope something can be worked out!

 

Same here as I am also outside the US. I can send printouts of the pms if you like?

 

That makes only 4 of us so far - anybody else interested?

 

I'm sort of in the same boat as those living in another country, but I'd be happy to send a list of the items and their cost.

kcurry9, you might want to send a pm to some of the others that were involved and who haven't posted in this thread for awhile.

It's been quite awhile since the stuff was sent, the thread was buried for sometime in the original section it was posted in, and has since been moved to the problem transactions section.
They may be busy with school and such, have lost track of the thread, and have forgotten about this swap gone wrong...out of sight out of mind as the saying goes.

Also, if they aren't reading/checking this section, they may not be aware of this discussion about making an attempt to recover our losses.

 

Good idea - I have just sent a pm to each of the other 13 victims.

Due to major house renovations, I am going to have to dismantle and pack up my computer tomorrow, so I will probably not be able to get online for a few days or a week or so.

Meanwhile, you can all go ahead and get your info to me, and I will catch up when I can get my computer back together.

 

I will help in anyway I can short of being in charge. My out of pocket expenses were about 40.00 if you include The twenty items that I sent plus 10.00 for each return ship plus Initial cost of packaging and shipping.
I still feel bad and can't quite get my mind around that this was deliberate

 

My problem is I don't remember exactly what I made for the swap. I know I made two sets of necklaces but I can only clearly remember what kind one set was.

 

I'm not involved in the swap, but I've hosted them and know how much work it is AND I also know how disappointing it is not to receive anything in a swap (my partner didn't mail anything to me in a swap awhile back) Anyway, I'm pretty sure the return address is on that doll box is from Dollfair International. Maybe try contacting DF?

 

What information do we need to provide?

I sent her $10 and 18 items (I did not send her items to send back to me). The items were all handmade with a value of approximately $5 each (what I could probably sell them for)

 

As posted above:

 

kcurry9: I PMed you with my info and list... Thank you for taking the trouble to do this

 

I am dismantling my computer today, so I will be incommunicado for at least a few days.

Meanwhile, carry on! I shall return!

 

Hi Everyone, Its so sad that so much anguish has been caused by Ravynscry's dishonest behavior. After getting the run around with what we now know to be rediculous stories I made a decision to let it go and not waste any more of my energy towards this. Now after receiving this latest message about trying to get the law involved I dont know how to feel. I really dont care about getting my items back. My sister and I had a great time making them and I wish they had been sent to all of you to enjoy. Dont get me wrong, I was extremely annoyed at this whole situation. If she were here I would show her what for. With that said I still dont know if its worth the effort. However if someone finds out some legitimate information about this thief I may be willing to go in on this Good Luck Love to All T.mouse

 

I am happy to be a part of the group encouraging legal action. I don't see that there's much to loose. I'm not sure it's worth the time/effort for each of us, but it would be nice to know someone might not do this to another group later.

My full info is this, which I don't mind if everyone sees:
I was living in Japan at the time. I sent out book sets. One Japanese childrens book and one "planner" mini blank book each. 9 of each. The 9 Japanese children's books were 350 yen each, (about $3) and the "planners" were 105 yen each. (about $1.) In addition, I was short on time, and since my package was running late, I sent them EMS from Japan, though I do not have the EMS shipping slip any more, I do have the tracking #, which was EI353792208JP. It cost about $20 to send. Inside I included the $5 to ship is the slow method, to me, in Japan.
Total spent, $61. Not a huge deal, really. If I never get this back, I'll live. BUT if anyone finds her, I'm rather annoyed that she strung us along and lied to us for so long...

 

...
Ordinarily I am on the side of extreme leniency. But even I was getting a little bit frustrated. How long, after all, does it take to stuff/adress a box? I could do it in an afternoon. (well providing I wasn't doing anything else.)

Sadly, at this point, I can barely remember what I sent. I know I sent an apple and a pear each, and a box of band-aides which I made myself, but I can't shake the feeling I'd added something else... with that level of airheadedness, who am I to throw stones?

And of course, the 5 for shipping to, and 5 for shipping back.

 

~I haven't been keeping up with this thread, some interesting new developments! Personally I wrote it all off since I thought the odds of recovering anything was slim, especially since I'm overseas.

Thank you very much kcurry9 for organising this!

 

I'm on my laptop with an unreliable connection, so I hope I can get this post done before it fades on me.

I have begun receiving responses, and most of the people who have responded are willing to help.

Please bear in mind, I need the information in order to show the police the total amount involved. Of course, the police will only be concerned in the monetary value - the greater the amount, the greater the concern.

However, we have been robbed of more than money.

Several of you have told me what your items were and it truly breaks my heart to think of the thought and work that went into these items, whether they were lovingly handmade or great finds to surprise others. We have been robbed of the simple joy of giving and the delight of receiving them.

A few of you have asked what info is needed: I think it would be best to have a total of the value of your items (estimate as best you can if you have no receipts, and don't forget to add a reasonable amount for your work if you made them) as well as the cost to ship them to Ravynscry and the money you sent to her for return shipping. I think the police may eventually need your full name and address & phone number & email as well as your DoA ID. But first, I just need to be able to tell them how many people are willing to pursue the complaint and how much total money is involved.

I will try to start tabulating the info I am receiving in the next few days.

 

I feel horrible that you were all taken by this scam artist. I knew there were problems back when she did NOTHING to get a swap to me. She ignored my PMs, and blatantly kept going with other swaps, when her past ones weren't done. These actions (of having taken all your money) are disgusting, and you should all do all you can legally. An example needs to be made. Other people who would do the same type of thing need to see that these actions will NOT be tolerated. yah, individually, it's only 6.00 here, and 10.00 there...but adding that up among 20 or 30 members, and you have some serious cash.

 

I have organized all the info I have received so far (either by pm or posted in this thread) into an Excel file, available here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?5jxjizzdxzl

As you can see, the information is incomplete. Those of you with missing info (almost everyone), please try to get it to me ASAP. If you don't know what is needed, please see my post# 340 above.

As it stands, I don't have enough to get the attention of the police.

 

In the individual pms that I sent, I referred everyone to this thread and provided a link in case anyone needed it. I don't have the time to keep sending individual pms to each of you, so I was relying on you to watch this thread for updates. Since there has been no response to my last post 10/19/07, I am dropping any further action due to the lack of interest.

 

kcurry9: I'm sorry you had to go through the trouble and waste your time... Guess there's nothing else any of us here can do if the rest of the parties involved don't participate

 

I never received a PM, so sorry K9curry, I will sort the info out for you tomorrow,

 

PMd you Kcurry9

 

Wow.. I'm so glad I procrastinated and never sent out my items and money. I'm so sorry for everyone else! I hope things do get resolved eventually.