"He" responded to my WTB ad for a TNW M230 kit and immediately requested communications go to email (burkeswayne672@gmail.com). No big deal, that's happened in the past. I make email contact.
"He" sends me pics of a transferable 1919a4 package which includes the M230 kit and "wants to know how much I'd pay for it." My antennae are up, but I'm not yet 100% sure I'm dealing with a scumbag.
I tell "him" that he reached out to me, so "he" needs to put a price on it...$3000 was the response in an explanation that absolutely screamed "English is not my 1st language -or- I know nothing about what I'm trying to sell." I found it somewhat odd that the city / state tagged to their Sturm account is Lake Charle, LA, the address info on the pictured DL is Selma, NC and the area code for the phone # provided is Pittsburgh, PA. It's at this point I did a little research and found the ad from which "he" scalped the pics and descriptions for the M230 kit "he" was offering:
Transferable 1919 Browning Belt-Fed .30-06 Machinegun (plus extras) w/ M230 Kit in .308 $21,500 OBO
Looking to see if I could draw out this POS, I counter-offered, "he" accepted and provided a phone # (724-964-6274 / Google Voice) for a Zelle transaction or "he" was willing to do PayPal.
"He" provided a pic of a person holding a driver's license, identifying themselves as "Andrew Wayne Burkes - Selma, NC." I called the # provided (724-964-6274)...no answer of course. I explained in my following email to this trickster that I was old school and would be willing to send a personal check, certified check or postal money order...but needed an address. Once "he" realizes the only way he'll get any money, he acquiesces to accepting PMOs and provides the address for his "wife" at a different city and address than that on the pictured DL and of course a different last name than Burkes.
"Wifes" name and address is:
Sharon Stephens
4305 Smokemont Dr Apt 205 Charlotte NC 28273
Big mistake providing that name and address as the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's detective I spoke to is keen to speak to this woman (or the person at this address) to figure out what part she plays in internet fraud. She's either an unwitting accomplice, "an engaged bag man" or the person I've been communicating with the entire time. Who knows? "He" is been awaiting the arrival of PMOs I "mailed" over a week ago...go figure. After being perplexed as to why my PMOs hadn't shown up, he turned down (of course) my offer to send my "cousin living in Charlotte" with cash to pick up the kit face to face from his "wife."
Long story short...Raptor_22 needs to be banned, and don't do business with anyone identifying themselves as Andrew Wayne Burkes, Sharon Stephens or anyone using the phone # 724-964-6274 or email address burkeswayne672@gmail.com
