Topic Wiki

https://www.dansdeals.com/more/dans-commentary/dark-side-earning-credit-card-points-psa-dont-swipe-others/

https://www.mixcloud.com/zev-brenner/talkline-with-zev-brenner-on-credit-card-scams-affecting-the-orthodox-jewish-community/

http://podcast.headlinesbook.com/e/31616-credit-card-miles-and-points-swiping-for-rewards-buying-and-selling-miles-is-it-assur-and-a-chillul-hashem-or-a-great-way-for-a-side-parnassah/



BEFORE SWIPING FOR SOMEONE READ THIS: (first hand story)

https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=36812.msg2062371#msg2062371
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/dans-commentary/dark-side-earning-credit-card-points-psa-dont-swipe-others/#comment-1399884


Dan's warning to DDF:
I hope people realize that any buying group or anyone else that gets merchandise in advance of payment can go south at any time. That's even if you get a check at the time of delivery.
X-posting as I don't want anyone to say that I never put a warning here.

A story that ended up in court - https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/DocumentList?docketId=iRcRHuyZUdOIx69D00a5XQ==&display=all&courtType=Kings%20County%20Supreme%20Court&resultsPageNum=1


I am one of the biggest buyers for buying groups, I have done millions in transactions and have sent to every group there is over the past 3 years. Most buying groups are okay, some scan in slower than others, some pay slower than others - most will lose a few packages over the year. You can research and find which are better for you.

However there is a bigger problem now with Amazon itself.  Amazon in the past has been great with any problems always ready with a refund for lost packages even if it was thousands of dollars. Lately Amazon has clamped down and has tagged these buying groups addresses  in their systems as "freight forwarder" and now no longer will fix any problem you have whatsoever. Doesn't matter what the problem is, even if it shows the package was never delivered, amazon will not help you in any way. Their copy and paste response will always be "this item was sent to a freight forwarder and we're unable to replace or refund the item. We recommend contacting your freight forwarder for more details, as we don't have any more insight or information regarding this matter, For more information about sending items via freight forwarders, please visit our Help Pages: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201117950." As well the amazon drivers either must know this or have been increasingly bad at delivering packages because the numbers of packages missing has gone up astronomically. Previously you would have very few packages missing, now the past 3 months I have had 59 "lost" packages. I now have over $15,000 of loses and some guy in Delaware is probably living the life with all the stuff he stole from me. I will survive, I have made a lot more than $15,000 over the years however just a warning to others here that things are not as they used to be and it really is no longer worth doing buring groups with all the loses piling up

« Last edited by Yo ssi on July 24, 2023, 06:47:26 PM »

Author Topic: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others  (Read 1183411 times)

Offline churnbabychurn

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2180 on: February 18, 2019, 02:53:26 PM »
Would you like to share the actual story?
Of course not

Offline Password

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2181 on: February 18, 2019, 02:57:01 PM »
madoff story is still going on
they are still recovering money...

so you are saying just never to talk about this

are you the owner? or just friends with the owner ?

The victims' story may not be over, but Madoff's sure is...

And I'm neither. I am someone involved in the story and I am just trying to stop the spread of misinformation, which I believe was mostly taken care of. I can now put this account back into hibernation for another 4 years  ;)

Offline gingyguy

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2182 on: February 18, 2019, 03:01:23 PM »
The victims' story may not be over, but Madoff's sure is...

And I'm neither. I am someone involved in the story and I am just trying to stop the spread of misinformation, which I believe was mostly taken care of. I can now put this account back into hibernation for another 4 years  ;)
the best way to stop misinformation , is by sharing the correct information - not by hibernating
May you slide down the banister of happiness & get many splinters of success up your career.

Offline zale

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2183 on: February 18, 2019, 03:02:41 PM »
The victims' story may not be over, but Madoff's sure is...

And I'm neither. I am someone involved in the story and I am just trying to stop the spread of misinformation, which I believe was mostly taken care of. I can now put this account back into hibernation for another 4 years  ;)

You have not shared your side of the story. If you believe that there is misinformation, you need to provide corrected information.

Offline Password

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2184 on: February 18, 2019, 03:10:03 PM »
You have not shared your side of the story. If you believe that there is misinformation, you need to provide corrected information.
Like I said:
It is still a developing story and at this point I do not feel comfortable writing about it until it's over.
Plus, in order for the full story to be written up, there would need to be collaboration from multiple people, or from the owner himself, as there are so many moving parts. I don't think it would be fair to write up on only part of the story.
Please respect my decision. Thank you.

Offline Chief Rabbi of New York

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2185 on: February 18, 2019, 03:12:34 PM »
The victims' story may not be over, but Madoff's sure is...

And I'm neither. I am someone involved in the story and I am just trying to stop the spread of misinformation, which I believe was mostly taken care of. I can now put this account back into hibernation for another 4 years  ;)

how are you involved ?

Like I said:Please respect my decision. Thank you.

seriously ? you dont provide any information, you just say for us to be quiet ?
bottom line is, you are saying that someone should steal and then tell others not to accuse them or bring it up

innocent until proven guilty.
now that we see the charges against them and that they screwed people over and there is proof, now you need proof to defend it
Show Some Respect for Me, I am The Chief Rabbi of New York :)

Offline zale

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2186 on: February 18, 2019, 03:17:02 PM »
@Password

The cat is already out of the bag. The story has clearly been reported by Crownheights.info. If you believe it to be fake news, then now would be the time to speak up or the fake news will continue to spread to the point where it won’t be reversible.

Offline aygart

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2187 on: February 18, 2019, 03:17:12 PM »
One of the partners that left him because he was taking the money from company A to cover company B told me the same,
"He did stupid moves, but was a nice person never did anything against me"
Similar things were posted here.
Feelings don't care about your facts

Offline aygart

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2188 on: February 18, 2019, 03:18:19 PM »
Like I said:Please respect my decision. Thank you.

Are you respecting the decisions of others who are choosing to discuss it?
Feelings don't care about your facts

Offline Password

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2189 on: February 18, 2019, 03:22:12 PM »
how are you involved ?

seriously ? you dont provide any information, you just say for us to be quiet ?
bottom line is, you are saying that someone should steal and then tell others not to accuse them or bring it up

innocent until proven guilty.
now that we see the charges against them and that they screwed people over and there is proof, now you need proof to defend it

I'm not defending him, and I'm not saying it shouldn't be spoken about. All I am saying is if someone is stating "facts", they should make sure they are indeed facts.
Like i said, the issue has been taken care of.

Anyone who was personally involved and has first hand information is more than welcome to speak out. It's the rumors and third hand information that should be stopped.

Offline Password

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2190 on: February 18, 2019, 03:23:35 PM »
Are you respecting the decisions of others who are choosing to discuss it?

Of course. If someone has hard facts, they are more than welcome to discuss and talk about it here.

Offline Chief Rabbi of New York

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2191 on: February 18, 2019, 03:28:15 PM »
Of course. If someone has hard facts, they are more than welcome to discuss and talk about it here.

those people feel threatened
maybe they feel threatened that they wont get paid back if they speak ? or maybe against their life ?


Anyone who was personally involved and has first hand information is more than welcome to speak out. It's the rumors and third hand information that should be stopped.

maybe if you stated facts then others would stop discussing if right fully so then

#coverup #scandall #nebach
Show Some Respect for Me, I am The Chief Rabbi of New York :)

Offline YesThatsMe

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2192 on: February 18, 2019, 03:28:58 PM »
Thank you for sharing this. This is the first coherent post since the story broke that sheds light on what happened.

I do have some questions if you don’t mind. I live in CH and have passed by Sterling almost every day for the last 20 years. I remember when they were selling a lot of actual electronics like cameras, video cameras, cell phones, watches etc and they sold many appliances to the CH community as well.

I would say that for the last ten years or so, with the exception of Tishrei and Erev Pesach, the store never looked busy to me. In fact, the store was sub-leasing space to an Esrogim dealer during the busiest season of the year. (Did the owners of Sterling have ownership in that esrogim business?) Why would a profitable business need to lease their space for extra income?

Now, at any given time the store (at least appears to) have on hand quite a bit of inventory. I also assume that what is on the shelves is only a small fraction of the inventory with the rest being kept in the basement or in a warehouse. Even on the retail side of the business, were they making enough profit to offset the cost of this inventory? For every Shabbos urn or microwave they sold, didn’t they have 100 sitting in a warehouse?

I also noticed that they were heavily peddling prepaid sim cards, which is not something you normally see a thriving business doing. Prepaid sim cards are typically your corner bodega side-business. For the last five years or so, the store looked like a giant mess. The store itself had like five aisles. One of which was basically just picture frames. Other aisles had overpriced ancient cordless phones, alarm clocks, old cables and other garbage that nobody buys anymore. They seemed to slowly transition into housewares, but it still looked like a giant tornado had swept through the store whenever I did happen to set foot in there.

I never understood how a business like that can be profitable. I always assumed that the store was just a front for a profitable online business. My point is not to C”V speak ill of the store or the owners. I just want to understand how a business like this operates, and why anyone on the outside would believe the owners to be worthy of a large investment.

Ok I will answer what I know:

The main seasons were Kinnus HaShluchim, Kinnus HaShluchos, and Pesach. They carried stuff with foreign voltage for that reason. Esrogim was finished by the time I got there.

There was no warehouse for the store, just the basement and a garage. I don't think they were overstocked, maybe just a disorganized look.

The SIM cards were a good product, as CH attracts a lot of foreigners. An Israeli or Frenchie who comes for Tishrei to 770 is getting one from Sterling, not a bodega.

It wasn't a huge operation, and the owners were real small business shopkeepers. It wasn't a "front", it was just were it started from. In my time, there was no investor for the store itself.

I hope this meets @Password criteria.

Offline aygart

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2193 on: February 18, 2019, 03:33:46 PM »
I'm not defending him, and I'm not saying it shouldn't be spoken about. All I am saying is if someone is stating "facts", they should make sure they are indeed facts.
Like i said, the issue has been taken care of.

Anyone who was personally involved and has first hand information is more than welcome to speak out. It's the rumors and third hand information that should be stopped.
From what I have seen @YesThatsMe has been pretty clear about what items he knows firsthand and what is hearsay. Considering that he was there for part of this the sources for what he has heard are probably pretty reliable. If there are any items which you are disputing feel free to correct them. Otherwise, respect his decision to discuss what he has heard from his sources. Why do you get to decide what should or shouldn't be discussed?
Feelings don't care about your facts

Offline aygart

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2194 on: February 18, 2019, 03:42:22 PM »

I hope this meets @Password criteria.
Why are you more beholden to his standards than he is to yours?
Feelings don't care about your facts

Offline JACKBLUE

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2195 on: February 18, 2019, 03:43:52 PM »
i'm waiting for someone from the amazon business to sign in here and say what's going on.....

Offline Chief Rabbi of New York

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2196 on: February 18, 2019, 04:02:51 PM »
is @Password starting a gofundme page for this ?
seriously, he is telling everyone not to say anything

we got to spread the word, stop other future crimes before they happen, help save potential future victims

Show Some Respect for Me, I am The Chief Rabbi of New York :)

Offline LoLo

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2197 on: February 18, 2019, 04:13:57 PM »
A friend of mine was stopped by a family member from swiping >150k at one of these places just a week or two ago. Awareness saves people.

Offline YesThatsMe

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2198 on: February 18, 2019, 04:14:09 PM »
Honestly maybe a charidy campaign would be a good idea. And Dan can promote it in his DDMS post warning. The fan base will give, and relatives of all involved will give.

Offline Password

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #2199 on: February 18, 2019, 04:16:08 PM »
is
seriously, he is telling everyone not to say anything
When did I say that?

What I said was:
I'm not defending him, and I'm not saying it shouldn't be spoken about. All I am saying is if someone is stating "facts", they should make sure they are indeed facts.
Like i said, the issue has been taken care of.

Anyone who was personally involved and has first hand information is more than welcome to speak out. It's the rumors and third hand information that should be stopped.

Everyone should definitely be aware of the swipe for points risks. I'm 100% for that.