Bank theft of one of our own

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gorillamotors

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What I am about to say really, really upsets me. Gary White (AG Machining) has been very gracious on selling 54mm and 75mm motor cases at just above his cost. He even sends back the extra money ($0.50 - $5.00) in a check that has been overpaid for shipping. An individual bought some hardware and sent Gary a check for the motor hardware. Before Gary cashed the check he shipped out the cases and sent him a refund check for shipment overpayment of about $4.00. Well, that guys check BOUNCED and Gary had to pay a $15.00 bounced check fee. A few days ago Gary & I stopped by his credit union and found out that $2069.90 had been removed from his account. The manager gave us both a copy of the transaction and I have it in front of me right now. This individuals name is on it. A cardmember service was used to transfer the money.

If he didn't do this he needs to find out what happened. Maybe someone hacked into his accounts. I really, really hope that this is a mistake somehow.

Notified police.
 
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I would hope this isn't true. Frankly, I would make very sure it isn't the bank messing up and reversing a transaction or doing something of that nature. I have had banks do boneheaded things with my money. If that has been researched, then, yes, by all means, this person should be pursued. I don't know about doing it publicly, but certainly pursued and made to right the wrong.
 
Did you report it to the police? If not, do so asap. Mistake or outright theft, it's a quick way to find out.
 
Sad, but that's the problem with dealing with checks, or credit card info. Somebody can do a lot of damage in a short period of time with credit card or checking info on the Internet. That's why I only use PayPal... all of the financial information is isolated so that nobody can do something like that. I really don't WANT to see buyer's checking/credit card information, and in the few instances in which I've had to refund money back to them I don't want them to see mine either.
 
More than likely his email account, bank account and computer have been hacked. Some a-hole in North Korea or China is making a living doing this crap.
 
For what it's worth, I have had some transactions with (name deleted) in the past, and everything went smooth and good. Good communication, quick/easy payments, and all that.
I would be very surprised if this actually turned out to be bad/dishonest behavior on his part.

I hope everything works out in the end for any and all abused parties, and that any "bad guys" get their due as well.
Geez, I hate when this sort of stuff happens.

ssix
 
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For what it's worth, I have had some transactions with (name deleted) in the past, and everything went smooth and good. Good communication, quick/easy payments, and all that.
I would be very surprised if this actually turned out to be bad/dishonest behavior on his part.

I hope everything works out in the end for any and all abused parties, and that any "bad guys" get their due as well.
Geez, I hate when this sort of stuff happens.

ssix

I hope this was just a simple screw up and not dishonest behavior. I also hope this was not him (don't know him) but some other third party.
 
I really am not a fan of bank fee's..
But this certainly shows PayPal's value even with their fee's..
I always feel comfortable doing business through PayPal because all sensitive information is isolated...
I sure feel for you,, nobody needs to deal with this kind of crap...

Teddy
 
This sux to hear. Had several pleasant transactions with Gary.
 
+1 on using Paypal! I run all of my business (Fusion Photo Gear https://www.fpgear.com/) through paypal. Even when I take payments in person I use their card reader.
 
For what it's worth, I have had some transactions with (name deleted) in the past, and everything went smooth and good. Good communication, quick/easy payments, and all that.
I would be very surprised if this actually turned out to be bad/dishonest behavior on his part.

I hope everything works out in the end for any and all abused parties, and that any "bad guys" get their due as well.
Geez, I hate when this sort of stuff happens.

ssix

I also know the individual in question from local launches and club meetings. While I don't know the person well, they don't seem like then type that would bounce a check and certainly doesn't seem like the type to commit bank fraud. Identity theft sucks...
 
Gary has been a pleasure to deal with, even when I had a problem my end, he was patient, and understood. His product is great, and really needed now we find other case manufacturers may be dissapearing.
I also appreciated that he always sent a check for an amount that he believes he overcharged (dood... keep it, we dont mind, tips). Never wanted to cash the check, but the wife always pestered me that "it would screw up his accounts" if i didnt.

Hate to think someone took one of his refund checks and defrauded him.

Another +1 to Paypal (the worlds biggest money laudering system). Protection both ends

Thinking good vibes towards G
 
I also know the individual in question from local launches and club meetings. While I don't know the person well, they don't seem like then type that would bounce a check and certainly doesn't seem like the type to commit bank fraud. Identity theft sucks...

Hope it isn't on of us. Maybe this person should verify their account wasn't cleared too.
 
More than likely his email account, bank account and computer have been hacked. Some a-hole in North Korea or China is making a living doing this crap.

No kidding. Two years ago I had my identity hacked and someone submit my 1040 a few weeks before me. Good that the IRS flagged it. Amazingly their submission was within $10 from what my accountant had calculated.

If any of you have had a chance to look at the internals of firewall/routers in a typical network install, the amount of hacking is unbelievable. In my small company the amount of overhead to break in or cause harm in some form/fashion is nearly 50% (even higher on our VOIP lines). Think how much faster our networks would be if we could eradicate this stuff!?

Inbound Spam.jpg
 
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I didnt see any names before they went, but there is a local flier (local to me and Dan in Oregon), who recently bounced a check on me.
I know him personally, he recently had his bank account hacked.
Trying to get in contact with him at the moment to
a) find out if it is him
b) get him notified of this situation

Will update, or get him to (if it is him)
 
I just got off the phone with Jim at Gorilla. It is who I expected. I explained what little I know of the situation and am trying to get hold of "number 6" so that he can get hold of Gary White and work this through.
Hopefully this is bank / 3rd party hack and not personal.
 
More than likely his email account, bank account and computer have been hacked. Some a-hole in North Korea or China is making a living doing this crap.

+1 you forgot Russia (state sponsored), and Ukraine where they are legally allowed to do this and do it as a full time job. Literally they get up go to work in their office building and hack rich North Americans all day. Personally I would just cut the network feeds with these countries altogether
 
Dont' forget Africa.

I had my Google acct and my Paypal Acct hacked recently. Google was Nigeria, Paypal was Russia. The Russian one didnt even bother to cover his IP trail.
 
Folks, I'm going to lock this until someone figures out exactly what happened.

No one wants to smear a guy who got hacked.

If something changes and I need to unlock it again to post new information, please PM me.
 
I have been contacted by the person in question with his side of the story. Not surprisingly, it was a case of identity theft. His reply is below.

_________________________________________________________________________

Hi everyone,

Sadly, I was the individual in question in this thread as many of you know already. This issue is still actively being resolved, but I would like to let everyone know the following as it stands.

First, I will address the bounced check issue. I sent Gary a check for $150 totaling the manufacturing and shipping costs of a 75/7600 case on my recent order. When he deposited it, my bank account had gotten hacked into and the funds drained. Hence, unknown to me, there weren’t available funds to cover the amount of said check and it was returned to me. He was not the only one - there were a few other checks I had recently cut which bounced for this same reason.

To resolve this matter, I sent Gary a payment of $165 via PayPal to cover these costs, and also to pay the returned check fee his bank charged him.

Now, following this thread I was made aware of a withdrawal totaling $2,069.90 in my name. Again, please be aware that this was an act of malicia and NOT intentional nor authorized by me. Following my identity theft, there were multiple unauthorized transactions made in my name by an unknown 3rd party, this being one of them. I have no idea how they got Gary's bank info (perhaps through the refund check he sent me of which I recently deposited?) but again, please know that the issue between myself and Gary White is now resolved. Since said transaction was not authorized by either individual (myself or Gary), the bank cancelled it immediately and Gary got that money back in it's entirely. I have been in touch with both Jim and Gary following the issue.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to read this. Should you need to reach me, please do so via email at [email protected].

Regards,
Wilson Alness

--
Wilson Alness
www.wilsonalness.com
TRA #13848, L3
NAR #83247, L3
L1 - PML Small Endeavour, H128W
L2 - Binder Excel Plus, J350W
L3 - Performance Rocketry/Wildman Competitor 4, M1297W

"Never flying a commercial motor again..."
 
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