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Thread ID: 124651	2012-05-10 07:20:00	Where is Winston when you need him?	Billy T (70)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1274499	2012-05-10 07:20:00	Or any other champion of the legal fraternity. Short, sad story: Billy jnr and his musical colleagues from Uni formed a jazz band, and in the interests of raising their profile and getting some funding, they entered a competition. They went through the heats & semi-finals, then won against some pretty impressive opponents across a range of cultural and musical genre. So far so good, but then the Organiser misappropriated the prize money (some thousands of dollars; said it was lost in a bad investment, probably a three-legged horse or the Casino) but promised to pay later with interest. Research shows the organiser to be a pretty shonky individual and all phone numbers etc and addresses for the directors of the company concerned were found to be abandoned. There's a lot more of the same but I won't bore you with it. Suffice to say, it was not a very reputable or honestly run organisation, and facebook info suggests it was quite possibly set up to scam. With some patient detective work, I finally found an address and phone number where the prime offender is based temporarily, but they are currently overseas. They will be back in about a week then off again a few weeks later for a year. The only thing we can do at this stage is try to stop that person from leaving the country, but that would require Police action and I'm not sure that a small-time scammer (even one openly wanting to be big-time) would interest the Police all that much. I am intending to lay a complaint with the Police regardless, but want to maximise the effect and likelihood of success, hence my desire to get more knowledge of the options available (if any). The band is working its butt off to earn money to replace their loss, but it is an uphill battle when they can't afford to promote themselves properly. So that's it, and I'm looking for a viable means of stopping the scammer in their tracks. Sadly, I don't hold out much hope at this stage, so if anybody has personal experience or institutional knowledge of what it takes to get somebody 'stopped at the border' so to speak, I'd be interested in hearing from them, preferably by PM but I have no objection to informed debate on this forum. Cheers Billy	Billy T (70)
1274500	2012-05-10 07:39:00	I'd lay a complaint with the police, I'm not sure how much more you can do.	Nick G (16709)
1274501	2012-05-10 08:21:00	If you lay a complaint with the police it might just curtail his overseas expeditions and then all you need are some bridge spikes to nail him down.:D	mikebartnz (21)
1274502	2012-05-10 09:20:00	Advise customs that the party are attempting to smuggle drugs (concealed within their person) out of the country. This may not get your money back, but the legal system won't get any back to the victims either, they merely redirect it. What you may gain is the satisfaction of directing a pain in the anatomy to those most meriting it; if you could find a way of infiltrating barbed wire gloves into the examination area, life might become just a shade more roseate.	R2x1 (4628)
1274503	2012-05-10 09:55:00	What you may gain is the satisfaction of directing a pain in the anatomy to those most meriting it; if you could find a way of infiltrating barbed wire gloves into the examination area, life might become just a shade more roseate. I long ago accepted that the chances of getting any money back was remote in the extreme, but making life difficult for the offender would be a symbolic victory if nothing else. With what I know of their plans so far (they are too open with their facebook comments) I suspect that they are very likely to end up in an asian prison within a couple of years, and that would be a very satisfying outcome. Sad for the band though, they are a talented group and really needed that money to fund their development. Cheers Billy	Billy T (70)
1274504	2012-05-10 10:37:00	I have found identity theft can cripple an individual incredibly quickly. On top of that, I know some rather tall and stocky pacific islanders who could be easily persuaded to pay your acquaintance a visit... ;)	Chilling_Silence (9)
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