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Beware of this buyer/trader

Started by michaeldixon,

21 posts in this topic

michaeldixon

michaeldixon

Posted
Posted

I've thought long and seriously about whether I should post this or not and I've decided it might help others. This person used to be a boardmember on the PCGS boards and was banned last November. His board name was: wingedliberty.

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He bought several coins, then wanted to see 3 coins and asked they be shipped open account with a 10 day return or payment. I shipped him the coins on October 2 and he promised to pay every month but didn't. One excuse after another and finally I gave him a June 15th deadline or I'd turn it over to a collection agency. No response from him, so I've had to turn it over to collection. It's not a large amount ($233.), it's the principle involved.

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The person's name is: Brian Ostro and he lives in Palm Harbor, Florida.

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I'm not asking for sympathy or anybody's opinion on whether I should have posted this. Just beware if you have any dealings with this person, whether buying or trading.

 

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Edited to add: I asked for the return of the coins and we'd clear the invoice, but he refused.

.

 

Added 5 AUG: If any of you were taken by this guy, please contact me and we'll file a mail fraud complaint. I have talked with the Postal Inspectors and they said we (those who have contacted me so far) have a valid complaint.

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EZ_E

EZ_E

Posted
Posted

I think that you did the right thing by exposing this bonehead. I certainly do not believe in condoning negative behavior! mad.gif

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truthteller

truthteller

Posted
Posted

Wasn't he the right wing nutjob who always posted hate on the PCGS open forum? I'm not surprised to hear he is a loser. mad.gif He had a bit of a following on the PCGS open forum

 

 

 

TRUTH

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jom

jom

Posted
Posted

Wow....that's too bad. I thought I had some discussions with him about Mercs at one point. I don't remember exactly as I might be confusing him with several other Merc collectors such as Fairlaneman etc.

 

jom

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JadeRareCoin

JadeRareCoin

Posted
Posted

We are one of his victims. He burned us for over $1,300 using the same modus operendus as he did with MICHAELDIXON. We have given him chance and chance and still not one red cent, nor any returned coins.

 

BTW, he is an active member on the NGC Boards. His handle is "wingedliberty". Here's a cut-n-paste from the user list on the NGC forum. Somewhere I read that he claims to have over 1300 PCGS and NGC certified coins, but I think he edited that out of his bio.:

 

Email bostro@tampabay.rr.com

Member # 4957

Name Brian Ostro

Title Hobbyist

Total Posts 66

Birthday 7/14

Homepage http://www.jbs.org

Occupation Senior subprime wholesale mortgage underwriter for a major financial institution.

Hobbies Numismatics, Firearms, Hunting, Military History, Mitsubishi Sportscars, Harley Motorcycles.

Location Palm Harbor, Florida.

Bio Patriotic American.

 

Member:

 

ANA

NRA

Wyoming Antelope Club

John Birch Society

SASS

 

ICQ Number

Home Page www.jbs.org

Collecting Specialty 1 Mercury Dimes.

Collecting Specialty 2 Civil War Revolvers.

Most Wanted Collectible 1939-S Mercury dime. NGC-69FB

Registered on Fri Nov 05 2004 09:33 PM

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JadeRareCoin

JadeRareCoin

Posted
Posted
Michael, give me his address and I'll try to pay him a visit. Palm Harbor is about 2 hours north of me. If you want to do this, please send me all of the details.

 

Chris

E-mail: cpm9ball@swfla.rr.com

 

Chris,

 

Please be very careful. He is heavily armed and on the PCGS open forum he had mentioned about his right to use guns to defend himself. The guy is a total fruit loop. Just do a search for his posts on the PCGS open forum and you will see what I mean. Please do NOT approach this guy.

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Fairlaneman

Fairlaneman

Posted
Posted
Wow....that's too bad. I thought I had some discussions with him about Mercs at one point. I don't remember exactly as I might be confusing him with several other Merc collectors such as Fairlaneman etc.

 

jom

 

jom

 

Please take my handle out of this post. In NO WAY am I anyway like this guy and would not like to be compared to him even innocently.

 

This is the same guy that I posted about on the PCGS boards about 2 years ago. I did not reveal his name, what a huge mistake on my part, because at that time he was fairly popular with the masses and probably instead of him getting roasted it would have been me. Hell, even at that I got mildly roasted for even mentioning the fact that a ongoing problem was had with a forum member. Finally he paid the 600 bucks he owed but only after a couple of threats about exposure by myself. Since then I have received one PM from him and no offers to buy any coins.

 

Yes this is the guy that said he owned well over 1000 different slabs.

 

Cheers Guys.

 

Ken

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Oldtrader3

Oldtrader3

Posted
Posted

I went over and looked at some of his posts as "CZ Prime" on the Fiery Imp boards. This guy is a John Bircher and (IMHO) a nut case. Probably even a thieving nutcase but I certainly would not go to his house without a SWAT Team.

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michaeldixon

michaeldixon

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I joined the Gun Forum where Brian is an Administrator and introduced myself-nothing else. This is what the site said when I tried to sign in just now: "Sorry, you have been banned from this forum."

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He's afraid people are going to find out the truth about his character.

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Oldtrader3

Oldtrader3

Posted
Posted

He may be some National Socialist Party throwback wannabe. There are also a lot of Walter Mitty types among the military arms collectors. When I collected Winchesters, I used to see them scurrying between military paraphenalia and relics tables at gun shows.

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K6AZ

K6AZ

Posted
Posted

Sorry to hear about this Michael. I really do believe outing people who do not honor their deals is the right thing to do.

 

By the way, most of us who own guns and belong to the NRA are not extreme whackos.

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braddick

braddick

Posted
Posted
Sorry to hear about this Michael. I really do believe outing people who do not honor their deals is the right thing to do.

 

By the way, most of us who own guns and belong to the NRA are not extreme whackos.

That's true. Please, next time leave out the word, "extreme".
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jom

jom

Posted
Posted

 

jom

 

Please take my handle out of this post. In NO WAY am I anyway like this guy and would not like to be compared to him even innocently

 

I can't edit my post now but I can elaborate. I did not try to imply Fairlane and this "wingnedliberty" were connected in any way. I was trying to say that I wasn't sure who the person I had discussed Mercs with on the PCGS board.

 

I did go back and check and it turns out I did have ONE correspondence with with "wingedliberty" guy that didn't amount to much. I've had many conversations with both Fairlane and fcloud, both big time Merc collectors.

 

Sorry for the confusion. frown.gif

 

jom

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K6AZ

K6AZ

Posted
Posted
Sorry to hear about this Michael. I really do believe outing people who do not honor their deals is the right thing to do.

 

By the way, most of us who own guns and belong to the NRA are not extreme whackos.

That's true. Please, next time leave out the word, "extreme".

 

Sorry Pat, but with the attacks some of us have to deal with, I will not leave out extreme in discussing this issue. Quite frankly, I'm tired of having my 2nd Amendment rights assailed, so any time I even smell anti gun comments I will refer to them as such.

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braddick

braddick

Posted
Posted
Sorry to hear about this Michael. I really do believe outing people who do not honor their deals is the right thing to do.

 

By the way, most of us who own guns and belong to the NRA are not extreme whackos.

That's true. Please, next time leave out the word, "extreme".

 

Sorry Pat, but with the attacks some of us have to deal with, I will not leave out extreme in discussing this issue. Quite frankly, I'm tired of having my 2nd Amendment rights assailed, so any time I even smell anti gun comments I will refer to them as such.

Eric, my post was a joke. (Not a very good one, but a joke nonetheless...)
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Imp-migration

Imp-migration

Posted
Posted

Hi,

I actually found out about this situation after googling my own site, Guns & Politics 101. I've known Brian for a couple of years now, and he was the assistant administrator on my website for quite a while. He left recently after a few weeks of strange activity. I saw that he had banned a few folks from another coin collecting forum without my knowledge.

 

I never would have expected this from him, and never would have known until I noticed some odd things on my own site.

 

As for my website, I don't think it to be an asylum for extremists. Just a place to discuss second amendment and the politics that surround it. Now that I know this about my former #2, I hope you won't judge the site based on his transgressions.

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