Scam Type
Online Purchase Scam
Date Reported
2023-04-06 00:00:00
Victim Postal Code
None
Total Dollars Lost
0
Scam Description
I was introduced to Chris through my social media manager, Chris was his partner at the time and they were teaming up to provide a one stop shop kind of model for business marketing. Chis’s company promises a model that “SAVE OUR CLIENTS’ MONEY AND TIME BY PROVIDING ALL OF THEIR MARKETING NEEDS IN ONE PLACE”. This means, branding, sign making, custom retail, social media management etc. Also states that he has a small team where I sadly found out he outsources everything 3rd party – that is if you’re lucky enough for him to fulfill your Order.
I didn’t know anything about him and over about a month of getting to know him I thought I could trust him so I gave chris a shot with fulfillment of a retail order I needed before the holiday season and knew I was a little late on it. He promised he could turn around before the holiday season. We started talking and I made proofs in September, we finalized by November and I Purchased the order December 1st. He explained to me that he is a small business with a small team and usually asks for payment in full. I trusted him at the time and didn’t feel worries about it so I paid him in full. He agreed upon the goal of having it ready a week before Christmas. That time came and he didn’t have it. It started to get weird right after payment, I was trying to contact him and ensure everything was lining up for ETA I was expecting. He seemed to not be worried and kept conversation short. The delivery date passed, then the end of the month past, then the next promised date. Every time he told me their was an issue with the order and would need to get back to me with an update of whats going on. For each time this happened he never would follow up. I let him play this game with me for 4 months before so I could figure out if this was truly fraud. I started pressing my social media guy (this partner) explaining to him the situation. I also started to look at reviews on google and their was about 10 of them explaining the exact same circumstance. One spanning back to 10 years ago. My social media guy ended up doing some digging for me because he was not ok with it once he realized he wasn’t telling him the truth either (as well as other clients they had shared explaining similar situations) he started distancing himself from chris and slowly ended their partnership. He told me that chris had been explaining to him everything was fine with the order. Eventually he told me that Chris had confessed that he doesn’t have the money to fulfill the order and is trying to work extra hard to make the money back so he can fulfill. All the while chris had completely broke ties with me and stopped responding to any form of contact I would use. Now its April 5 – 6 months after I gave payment, I haven’t heard anything from the Chris in 2 months and I am having a hard time finding a lawyer to represent me on this in court. I am not ok with the fact that chris does this to people and now I am reaching out to BBB in hopes they can help prevent Chris from scamming more people
