Hi guys,
Been on the ARC forums & there is a big scam going on.One of the members,Steve Filak, has posted images of a F-14 he made.
Now someone has stolen these images & is using them to sell ‘his’ kit on ebay.
Apparently,he’s done it before.
Heres the link to the auction…
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5972246989
merv
A real dirt bag for sure. Wonder what “his” kit looks like for $175.
Regards, Rick
Geeze, he can’t even rip somebody off using good grammar! I donno much about Ebay but can you report this type thing to the Ebay folks?
Lots of ARC’ers have mailed ebay,but we’re not holding our breath!If any of you are on anyother midelling sites,spread the word.
Merv
This guy has also used other photo’s from ARC members to sell his models,ie John Mccormick’s Trumpeter A-10.
& MORE STILL!
Merv
Is there a way to copyright the photos so that he can’t copy them to anywhere else? I saw one person do that, but I think he was a pro-photographer and worked for a company if I remember right.
You could also edit the photos and put some kind of logo or label on them. Either a hard logo in the corner or ghost one into the background or put the builder’s name right on the photo. Just put something to show where the original came from.
Gents
Here is the ARC link
http://www.arcforums.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=53006&st=0
Please take some time to read the thread and support Steve and the other ARC members who’s models this bloke is using to embellish his fraudulent auctions.
cheers
Mike
This is crazy… what a fraud this guy is.
Contact the guy with the bid in on it (click on the high bidder’s name, it will take you to his member profile, click the “contact member” button) and tell him what’s going on, and include the link to the ARC gallery. Try to kill the sale.
For what it is worth, this guy appears to be a Vietnamese living in Pennsylvania . Before he became indohobbies in Aug 2004, he used to be cai_hu from Dec-19-01 until Aug-18-04… Cai Hu appears to be Vietnamese, and there is a reference to it on yahoo, with hotmail @ yahoo website with thst name. If you research his history on Ebay, you see that he has many, many transactions with mostly very pleased customers. He has 4 or 5 that looked really nasty, but those are few compared to all of the good comments he has received.
He has already denied using the images when Steve Filak contacted him. This bloke is not going to budge unless forced to.
MikeJ
That does not excuse what he has done though. It is pure and blatant false advertising, not to mention a massive copywrite violation. The webpages he culled the images from do have text and image copywrite notifications.
Makes you wonder if the receivers of the “pro built” models know exactly what they are getting?
cheers
Mike
NO WAY!!! Can you email the guy?!! I would and send him and email calling him a cheat and a liar which is what he is.
yep but only if you are an ebay member.
If you are, go to the auction page and click “ask seller a question”, then fire away
cheers
Mike
What a scumbag ,
Everyone should Email him through the ask the seller a question saying what a scumbag he is !!!
What Else Would You Expect? Just look where this piece of crap is advertising his junk. EvilBay is the last place I’d ever go for anything. Too bad that there is no way to wipe out his web site for good.
This guy is messing with our hobby!He is trying to make money off the backs of all of us who enjoy this hobby.
Merv
I say we track this guy down, cover 'im with beef gravy and throw 'im into a small room with a wolverine that’s high on angel dust…
For starters…
Fade to Black…
Attention Tankmaster7 & MadMike
His name is Jeffery Hutama and his email address is indo_hobbies@yahoo.com
Madmike, I was NOT making excuses for this guy earlier. I was however trying to show what a snake in the grass he his by pointing out that he had actually gotten rave reviews for previous transactions. Now the BIG unanaswered question is: Are those buyers, really other people, or is this guy just doing this to make him self look really good for some future scam ???
Wolverines do dust?
Unfortunately it is the same 3 or 4 people buying the built kits, and they all seem to be pleased with what he sends. So I am guessing that he must be building decent kits. It is horrible he is using other people’s pics, and hopefully they can stop it, but it would have been easier if he was shipping crap, and the buyers were complaining.