How Do You Deal with The Fraud Like This? Seller: ThatGadgetGuy, Magnet Wholesale

Sorry guys, I am afraid this is not sale related, but I am thinking will it be a fraud alert?

I have seen a promotion of Switch on Facebook and the link at that time appears to me as legit. I clicked on and followed the comments to see whether to buy or not. I have made communication with the seller ThatGadgetGuy, which store page has been brought down now. The first payment was by online, and they contacted me saying I will receive refund since the shopify won't allow the transaction. And, we made the deal finally by paying to their company account directly, and indeed I receive the refund the other day. So far so good.

Waiting for another several days, I sent an email to see if I can have the tracking number and the answer is they have issues about getting the tracking number, but I should receive the item two days later. But nothing happens. Then I sent another email, there is no response from ThatGadgetGuy at first, but the next day I receive an email from MagnetWholesale.

The email directly told me following:

We have a problem. We supply That gadget guy. They had an agreement with us that they would pay us a 10,000 dollar holding deposit before we started shipping. They didn’t do that. They did send us your money for switches though.
As a result we can’t ship for them. So we are sending you a cheque for the refund.
Is your order name and address the best to make it out to?
We have frozen their emails and 1300 number as they were sponsored by us.

I was frozen, like, gosh, what is going on here. This is not going right and I may never see my money or the switch coming. Particularly I have bought the video games and monitors. Everything is pretty bad at that moment and till now.

I am posting this is to solicit the advice and help from OZbargainers here. I have been down the sea of ozbargain for nearly four years, nothing disappointed me here though some comments may be aggressive but overall I am a fan of this platform.

The original Facebook promotion

And I think I am not the only one. So please be alert before you make the decision to buy from some small places.

If possible, please comments what action should I take on this case. Thanks a lot.

Related Stores

Magnet Wholesale
Magnet Wholesale

Comments

  • Sorry I am still not settled to say if this is fraud or not. However, money or the so-said-to-return-to-me-checque or the switch is on the air for two weeks. I am hopeless now. Yes, they said the only way to refund me by magnet wholesale is to mail me a cheque. What a bizarre!

    • +6

      magnetwholesale.com first registered 10 April 2020

      thatgadgetguy.com.au first registered 24 April 2020
      'Registrant Contact Name: brenton jarrett'

      https://www.google.com/search?q=%22brenton+robert+jarrett%22
      Ignore the catchy news headlines like, "Howlong sex offender lives in online fantasy world from parent's home", and you'll find this name associated with other recent Facebook scams.
      https://www.onlineinvestigations.com.au/covid-19-coronavirus…

      Of course, it's much better to dig into the background of an unknown company before you part with your cash.

    • Hi mate
      im the real Brenton jarrett and not the same guy. I own the real company and i think from what ive read on here someone has used our business name. Can you please email me at brenton jarrett 7 gmail i'd like to know whats been going on so i can go to the ACCC ASIC and possibly the police

      • Which company are you associated with, Magnet Wholesale or That Gadget Guy?

  • +8

    Did you send thegadgetguy money via bank transfer? You've definitely been scammed. Thatgadgetguy only had a shopify site which is now gone, the ABN https://abr.business.gov.au/ABN/View?abn=73640500287 was only registered a month ago and they're not registered for GST.

    Magnet wholesale claims to have been in business since 2017 but their oldest facebook post ever was only made a week ago

    If they do send you a cheque if will probably also be a scam. Be very careful if they send you a cheque for more than you paid, they'll ask you to send them the difference and then the cheque will bounce leaving you out of pocket.

    The phone number on the googlecache site for thatgadgetguy and magnetwholesale are the same, it's almost certainly the same person.

    If they still have some of your money, contact your bank and the police but it's probably long gone.

  • +4

    At first I thought it was The Gadget Guy with his Hawaiian shirt.

    • He (the Hawaiin shirt wearer) actually has a very similar sounding website. So I'm guessing the above is a ripoff/scam.

      Though I'm more partial to This "Some Gadget Guy" instead ; )

      • +1

        Yup the websites are very similar but it's a shame Peter is a real shill for big brands and doesn't really have any tech background.

        I thought Brad @ Liliputing would be your favourite. You're always commenting there.

        • Brad doesn't sleep… so stuff he puts up are usually (around) the first on the web.
          Much quicker than stuff like Arsetechnica, Anandtech, etc etc. But usually is full of typos.

          edit: props to ETA Prime on YouTube for his interesting videos as well

  • The last transaction with them was by bank transfer. Will fairtrading be helpful at this moment?

    • If it's fraudulent, fair trading won't be able to do anything. The company just closes and reopens under a different name.

  • Thank you all guys.

  • +2

    I have seen a promotion of Switch on Facebook and the link at that time appears to me as legit.

    Do yourself a favour and don't buy anything from Facebook (except for market place where you pay cash in hand). Seems like all the scam stories lately are due to people falling for bogus Facebook promos/stores.

  • +1

    check the name Jason Stevens from [email protected]
    And the name Robert Clark from [email protected]

  • +1

    Indeed, I got a receipt from ThatGadgetGuy and have the location of the magnetWholesale.
    These are the details:

    ThatGadgetGuy: Robert Clark
    Managing Director
    That Gadget Guy Pty LTD.
    [email protected]
    1300 284 228
    202 - 208 City Walk
    Canberra , ACT 2601
    http://Thatgadgetguy.com.au
    ABN: 73 640 500 287
    IMB Bank: BSB: 641-800, Account Number: 2008 726 87

    The MagnetWholesale: Magnet Wholesale Australia
    Mail: [email protected]
    112 Collins Street Melbourne
    Victoria, Australia 3001

    • +7

      202 - 208 City Walk

      Is a whole building, so it's useless without a unit number (which they probably don't exist there)

      112 Collins Street Melbourne

      Goes from 100-12o, no 112

      1300 284 228

      TGG Distribution which is another scam site by them on 11th May, 2020, with another address:

      42 Wattle Street Ultimo

      Again, useless information



      Interesting, but likely fake/made up:

      Whois info has the name Brenton Jarrett, who's a sex offender conman

      He got jail in 2014 (stupid paywall article), but must have run away because he was wanted in 2017 (nope, he got jail time)

      Shit, is that him? - Website existed on April 30

      YEP!!

      Bottom of page:

      Wholesaler
      Magnet Wholesale
      www.magnetwholesale.com
      Telephone 03 8618 6830
      ABN 51 624 969 740

      I think we have a wanted con-man here (as Thrift mentioned earlier, oops)

      Given this guys history, if the cops aren't interested I reckon the press would love a story that he's up to his old tricks again

  • Have to put my hand up to say looks like i've been duped with this one as well with the exact same method…although the lost money is important, unfortunately this has also ruined my son's birthday which is what I am most upset about…let me know if you need anything mate!

    • Hi Rod
      im the real Brenton jarrett and not the same guy. I own the real company and i think from what ive read on here someone has used our business name. Can you please email me at brenton jarrett 7 gmail i'd like to know whats been going on so i can go to the ACCC ASIC and possibly the police

  • Hi everybody
    Im Brenton Jarrett who owns that company. Well sort of. And im not the same Brenton Jarrett you are discussing.
    Im one of the owners of that company. But we don't sell things like that and never will. We were established to buy another entity who provides businesses with business tools.
    Im absolutely appalled at what ive read. If you have been scammed with someone using our business name can you please email me directly on brenton jarrett 7 at gmail we'd like to take this further if this has happened and id like to involve you.
    Id like to know whats been going on exactly. I dont have time to read all your posts. Please dont refer to me as that other BJ as hes disgusting and we are a legitimate business trying to make ends meet. And we are dumbfounded by what has happened

    • +1

      So are you saying you own the original That Gadget Guy? Or MagnetWholesale? Your company’s name is in question and you don’t have time to read a few posts? Wut.

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