This is why you have to be careful with gun pictures!

Status
Not open for further replies.
D

dsk

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2003
Messages
776
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=48365371

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=48365645

This scumbag has stolen pictures of my own handguns that I posted on this and other forums, and is posing as the legitimate owner/seller. These guns are NOT for sale by me or any other person. I have already contacted Gunbroker regarding this seller. If you recognize the high bidders please inform them that they are about to get screwed. I notice he has a bunch of guns for sale, and I suspect they are all fraudulent auctions as well.

Maybe posting pictures of guns on the Internet isn't such a good idea after all.
 
Fourteen Colts for sale and NO feedback, looks extremely FISHY. Not only should you contact gunbroker but you should also contact the LAW.
 
Not only should you contact gunbroker but you should also contact the LAW.
Click to expand...

Yesterday, if not sooner.

Too bad the B.A.T.F.E. is too busy trying to stamp out what's left of the Second Amendment to have time to pursue people who actually do commit crimes involving firearms.
 
The other guns he has for sale are from Simpson Ltd and Collector's Firearms websites. I just notified them as well.
 
I don't see how refraining from putting photos up is a cure for fraud. Nor do I see how it can possibly be YOUR fault or YOUR responsibility if someone steals your photos and uses them to trick people. It's like arguing we shouldn't have cars because people might take them and run others over. You did good reporting him.

Think of it this way--your photos may have helped to catch a thief.
 
I don't know if this is on gunbroker, but here's what I found:

Scott, James
[email protected]
308 Main
Olathe, CO 81425
(970) 813-8888

Maybe someone can call him and ask themselves.

Thanks.
 
Interesting. Now I know why I don't buy guns on internet auctions. All you have to do is say the guns are sold as is and that you are not an expert in grading them. Well, it looks sort of like that... I bet guns are never shipped to the buyer... fraud.

You could add a copyright at the bottom of each photo. But that only affects honest people.
 
I think I won't hold my breath waiting for Gunbroker to shut it down. All they care about is getting their percentage. I hope I'm being overly pessimistic, but I'll be surprised if that's the case...
 
dsk,
Have you heard anything from Gunbroker? Just wondering if they will do anything.
 
Still active but the serial numbers are now obscured , if he s actually selling similar weapons he should have put a disclaimer that these were not pictures of the actual weapons but just example pics .
 
The S/N's were already obscured. I simply recognized them right away as my own pictures. Whether he makes the claim that he's selling "similar weapons" is beside the point. The custom Series 70 is a one of a kind, so I highly doubt he'd just happen to have one identical to it for sale. For example, the grips on mine are next to impossible to find for sale anywhere.

Mike Sr., thanks for posting this on the GB forum as well.
 
dsk, the pictures were stolen? You mean you had them stolen from your home, posted them on the internet with a copyright, or simply that you put them on the internet with no copyright?

Nobody would ever think they were actually your guns if you had not posted your gun pics with serial numbers...assuming that is where he got the images.

If no copyright on the images, I am not sure what laws y'all think he is or was breaking with the posting of the pics. Maybe there are some, but not FFL sorts of laws. My guess is that the guns were posted on the net somewhere and he needed close examples of what he was selling. It is not unusual to use a picture to sell an item and the picture not be the exact item. While he should have stated such, I didn't see anything on Gunbroker saying what he did wasn't ethical or that he had to post the picture of the exact item being sold. Maybe I am wrong on that, but I could not find a rule saying so.

Even if a rule, then he just screwed up with gunbroker, not with the law on federal firearms issues.
 
simply that you put them on the internet with no copyright?
Click to expand...

Copyright is automatic. I take a picture, I own the copyright for that work. I pen a short story, it's automatically copyrighted. Registering it simply makes it easier to enforce in court, not impossible.

One thing I thought of is that the auctioner is too lazy to take his own picture of the guns, Not necessarily that fraud is being commited.

Though it would be better to have pitcures of the actual firearms.
 
Guys, please use a little bit of common sense. If after knowing what I've told you, noticing that all the ads end at around the same time, seeing that the buyer has no feedback and that his web address is bogus, and that all the guns as pictured clearly belong to other people (myself, Collectors Firearms, and Simpson Ltd.) and are not his to sell, if you still think there's nothing foul going on then go ahead and do as you please. But the FACT is he has shown absolutely no proof that he even HAS any of the guns he's listing in his actual possession. If anybody wants to make a blind leap of faith by sending hundreds of dollars to somebody they don't know, based soley on his word that the items in question actually exist for sale, I won't stop them. But I don't want to see anybody in the future seeing me post a picture of my guns, and thinking I'm the scumbag who screwed them out of their money!
 
Last edited:
New seller with a cashier's check/money order only rule? Just about screams "scam". Only thing better (or worse, depending how you look at it) would be cash only.

Gunbroker's great, but just like ebay & paypal, if you get screwed, they're not going to lift a finger to help you. I feel bad for the people bidding, the odds are very, very good they're going to lose whatever money they send this joker.
 
I see now the auctions have all been closed. Either Gunbroker staff did it or the seller got wise.
 
I don't think intellectual property

such as artwork, pictures, prose, have to be stamped to be protected. It sure makes me think carefully about what details I leave in pics on the web though. Like what information can someone gain about me from the foreground, background, etc. What a sad state we are in these days.

Shooter429
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Z
  • Locked
Auction for Stolen firearm?
Replies
10
Views
663
Jason M.
J
Z
  • Locked
Why, God, Do I never have the money? Must see :)
Replies
18
Views
1K
RPCVYemen
R
C
  • Locked
Have some GunBroker sellers been exposed to too much lead?
Replies
16
Views
973
bogie
B
S
  • Locked
OK, ARs not available, relax and get something better
2
Replies
34
Views
3K
denfoote
D
M
  • Locked
Dreaming of owning your own gun shop?
Replies
14
Views
1K
gym
G
Back
Top