Now I know why the original deal went bad. It was a scam. And I got bit. Dummy me, I should KNOW better. Been dying for an 1800 for YEARS. This is what I get. Mr. HiFiMan3 apparently wiped his checking account and ran.. PayPal came back and said they recovered $0.00. Typical. 'Sok, I called AMEX and they may set things to rights. I'm also suing in small claims court and filing criminal charges.
His big mistake was attempting to pull this twice. Once and it's not enough of a pattern to show clear intent. But... twice... and on the back of the first time where I know how to get in touch with the guy and can have him provide evidence? No, he definitely wasn't too smart.
I knew it wasn't good when he said his 'assistant' was supposed to have sent me a tracking number and insisted that it'd shipped. If it had shipped, it's gone into a black hole as it's now over 10 days beyond when UPS said the LONGEST time for it to show could be. He's also disappeared. No answer, no nothing. Fortunately, I also know where his wife worked. Law enforcement can subpoena them if necessary for SSN#s, tax records etc. I did a search and don't think the address he provided is real. The phone # is a VoIP number. It's not a landline. Goes straight to voicemail. He also shows up with a few civil/criminal issues in Hamilton and Montgomery counties (OH). Yet there're no marriage records etc. I know he had a child in December but haven't found the birth record... yet. Public records, they're a great thing.
Nice thing about having friends high up in the TX Department of Public Safety is that the Texas Rangers are a part of it... and their jurisdiction covers the entire state. They also coordinate *very* closely with other state LEOs. So... this will get rather more attention to detail than the average petty crime. Combine that with a civil suit that'll leave a nice permanent judgment and I'd say that should he ever wish to move on with life it's going to be at least a bit more difficult. I don't take kindly to getting f'ed over. Haven't gone to the Rangers yet, but if local PD doesn't get anywhere in fairly short order I'll escalate. I simply don't want to see this happen to someone else.