• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Inquiry Scammer?? [email protected] Mathieu Griffin

ShiffyAME

ShiffyAME

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I got an email a few weeks ago asking about a snake i had posted for sale. The asking price was $250 plus $50 shipping. [email protected] aka Mathieu Griffin asked if i would take a money order or cashiers check. I said i would take a money order and would hold the snake if he sent me a tracking number. Well some time went by and i just assumed he didn't want the snake. Then i get an email this morning saying that the money order had been sent out but his assistant sent extra money on accident and he hopes i could be trusted with the extra funds. I checked the tracking number and it had been sent a few days prior and i recieved it this afternoon. So i open the envelope and instead of a $300 postal money order there are two money orders for $920. each. Also the money orders and envelope came from Florida and in his first inquiry he asked about me shipping to texas. I am pretty sure that somehow this is a scam but now i have 2 postal money orders in my possession for $920 each and i am not quite sure what to do to make sure i DON'T some how get scammed here. Obviously i won't be going to cash them. I will post all emails.
 
No need to post the emails, that's as classic as the scam gets, lol.
 
Told you Matt :p

Now what to do though? what does he do with the said, received money orders? etc..

(I ask because Matt asked me about the situation last night, before he received the MOs.. I told him it was a scam, but just in case, he waited until he received the MOs. But I too am curious what happens now.. in case anyone else runs into this
 
I am fairly sure the MO. are fake. Take them to your bank, and explain to them what transpired, hopefully steps can be taken to eliminate this type of scam soon.
 
They are postal money orders and i planned on taking them to the Post Office tom. with the emails. I was already a little concerned because the email is from yahoo.ca not .com and he wanted me to ship to texas but the money orders and envelope came from Florida.
 
Just do not attempt to cash them with out verification. They may appear legit but once they are found to be fake, your the one in legal troubles.

Have all the proper steps checked at the post office before anything is cashed.

But no one sends 1800 on accident.
 
RichsBallPythons said:
Just do not attempt to cash them with out verification. They may appear legit but once they are found to be fake, your the one in legal troubles.

Have all the proper steps checked at the post office before anything is cashed.

But no one sends 1800 on accident.
Click to expand...

At this point, i'm definately not worried about the sale. Accidents do happen, but that's a lot of accident. Not to mention how casual he was telling me "his assistant" sent a little extra. I was thinkin $40 or $50 extra not $1500. I just want to take them to the post office to cover all my bases versus just sending them back. I just wasn't sure exactly how to handle this situation.
 
From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sun, October 17, 2010 10:42:20 AM
Subject: Message about: Available Ball Python Morphs

Hello Dear Seller i am very much interested in buying your Ball Pythons which you posted for sale and i would like to know if is still available to buy and to know how much it will cost me to for the shipping to Texas and i will also like to know the perfect condition of it and the last selling price.Kindly get back to me as soon as
possible.
Mathieu

--- On Sun, 10/17/10, Matt Shifflett <[email protected]> wrote:


From: Matt Shifflett <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Message about: Available Ball Python Morphs
To: [email protected]
Received: Sunday, October 17, 2010, 3:30 PM


which particular morph are you interested in? I have had lots on inquiries about the snakes i posted for sale yesterday but the only thing that has been paid for, sold, and removed from the site so far was the 1.1 pair of het albino het jolliff axanthics. Everything that is listed under the available section at www.AmericanMadeExotics.com is still forsale at the moment. Let me know which particular snake/ snakes you are interested. I only charge a flat rate of $50 for overnight shipping regardless of how much more it may be. Thank you for the interest.

-Matt Shifflett
AmericanMadeExotics.com

From: Mathieu Griffin <[email protected]>
To: Matt Shifflett <[email protected]>
Sent: Sun, October 17, 2010 12:10:24 PM
Subject: PAYMENT DETAILS

Hello and thank you very much for the mail and i am really happy that the FEMALE SNAKE is available for me to buy , so i would like yo to know that i will be paying you by Cashier's Check or Money Order okay so i will need the following information which the payment will be send to such as:

Full Name:
Contact address: NOT P.O.BOX
Zip Code:
Cell Number:

So i will be expecting the detaild from you as soon as possible
Mathieu


--- On Sun, 10/17/10, Matt Shifflett <[email protected]> wrote:


From: Matt Shifflett <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: PAYMENT DETAILS
To: "Mathieu Griffin" <[email protected]>
Received: Sunday, October 17, 2010, 4:41 PM


I usually do paypal for most transactions. My paypal address is [email protected] or you can simply click the "buy now" icon on my website. If for some reason you would prefer to not use you credit card/ debit card through paypal You can send me a postal money order to:

DELETED FOR BOI:

If you decide to send a M.O. just let me know the tracking info and i will mark her sold. If you decide to send paypal i will mark her sold immediately w/ payment recieved. Thank You.

From: Mathieu Griffin <[email protected]>
To: Matt Shifflett <[email protected]>
Sent: Sun, October 17, 2010 3:53:58 PM
Subject: Re: PAYMENT DETAILS

Thank you very much for the details and i will let you know when the postal money order as been mailed out to you


--- On Mon, 10/18/10, Matt Shifflett <[email protected]> wrote:


From: Matt Shifflett <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: PAYMENT DETAILS
To: "Mathieu Griffin" <[email protected]>
Received: Monday, October 18, 2010, 7:51 PM


Please let me know if you decided to send the money order out. I have had a few other inquiries on the fm spider and wasn't quite sure what to tell them. Thank you.

-Matt Shifflett
AmericanMadeExotics.com

Thank you for the info and i am so happy that you selling the snake for me and i would ike you to keep it off the internet since i am buying it from you okay so the payment will be mail out to you and i will let you know that when it has been done . Thanks alots
Mathiue


AT THIS POINT I WROTE THE SALE OFF AS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN UNTILL TODAY!

Hello,
I want you to know that payment for your item has been sent and will arrive via United States Postal Service today or tomorrow with tracking number( 420 23703 9405 5036 9930 0379 7190 21)you can monitor its progress on www.usps.com.I also want to bring it to your notice that my Assistant who sent the payment sent more than your asking price,the rest of the money is meant for another individual which i want to buy some items from in Dallas so she made a mistake and sent you all the funds,so i hope i can trust you with the funds because people can be really funny Nowadays.Please let me know as soon as you receive and cash the money orders,so i can give you my shipping address and also the name and address where you will send the excess funds to.Please send me an email as soon as you receive this message to acknowledge that you have received this message.If you have any question you can call me on 806-291-7476

Thank you
Mathieu
 
Best bet is to take the money orders to the post office if they are indeed USPS money orders...they should be able to verify if they are real or fake..
 
Keep, and frame, one of them; bring the other one to the post office for verification (they'll take it, but you'll have the other as a souvenir
 
what strikes me immediately, is that these emails were not written by the same person....some are in very broken english and grammar and the last is pretty normal.....and yes it is the classic scam

Todd M Westin, DVM
 
As Harold mentioned this is a very classic scam.

I bred parrots for many years. The point of these scams is for you to "attempt" to cash them at your bank and send the "left over" funds back to the sender which will likely be a P.O. box or empty house. Once your bank realizes that the checks can't be cashed they go for you to cover the funds and the sender is nowhere to be found.

Now for what to do with them? Take them your local F.B.I headquarters. Not often, but sometimes they can track down the particular scammer, and press charges.
 
The first "hello Dear Seller" is all I needed to see. I get 50 of those a day. Good for you for trying to find out about it before you just rush and deposit them.
 
kind of like the craigslist ads.. where they say

"I am interested in the item you are selling, is this still available?" etc.. they don't even know what the "item" is. LOL
 
That individual has been emailing several of us on both Fauna and Kingsnake. He's a scammer...

The reptile industry already struggles...we don't need any additional stressors on our hobby.

I'm glad you brought it up on the BOI and listed his name and email...maybe it will help others question his intentions.
 
I'm heartbroken now. It sounds like this same nice man emailed me and said I won $17,000,000.00 in the Nigerian Lottery. Now you all are saying he is a scammer?????
Oh well, I seem to have misplaced my Nigerian Lottery ticket anyway. Guess I'll have to go back there and enter it again.
 
catfish307 said:
I'm heartbroken now. It sounds like this same nice man emailed me and said I won $17,000,000.00 in the Nigerian Lottery. Now you all are saying he is a scammer?????
Oh well, I seem to have misplaced my Nigerian Lottery ticket anyway. Guess I'll have to go back there and enter it again.
Click to expand...

That's just crazy. Better hurry up if you want to win that money! Haha.

I had someone contact me about an old computer I had on Craigslist and he also pulled the whole "My assistant will write you a check" scam and wanted me to ship it...and he was wanting to pay me triple what I was asking plus shipping for the inconvenience? Not sure what he was cooking up...
 
lpcad said:
Have you called the number?
I am sure this is a scam, but it might be entertaining.
Click to expand...

honestly i didn't even bother calling the number. When i sent my address for the money order i sent my phone number as well. All i'm saying is if my assistant sent $1,500.00 extra to a stranger over the internet and i had their phone number. I wouldn't simply tell them to call me if they have any questions. Not to mention he hasn't even attempted to contact me for the remainder of the day. I will post the results of the post office when i know for sure the money orders are fake.
 
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