Mr. Melrose agreed to reimburse me for my loss in email, after heat put on him. He agreed to send me $400 payment if I stopped trying to contact Blockbuster's management.
Well...The deadline for Mr. Melrose's reimbursement payment came and went. He then stated that he would have the money only after he sold another device (Treo 650 GSM) and to give him a couple of more days. I gave him a couple more days.... and once again a deadline came and went. I had also told him I would take any comparable PDA as compensation. I could always trade/sell it myself. Still: No Payment, no Ipaq, and no Nothing.
I then filed a complaint with the FBI’s internet crime division (
http://www.ic3.gov/ ).
I also filed a complaint with Blockbusters corporate offices. I have been in touch with the district manager for his area. I had become concerned that either the local manager of this store wouldn't or couldn't address this. I am to discuss this with them later in the week.
Officially, Blockbuster has nothing to do with this trade, but this guy is using his work phone number to make deals. He also has access to the personal information of anyone who has ever signed up for a Blockbuster membership. I personally don't feel comfortable having someone like that with access to that much information.
I've gotten emails from 5 different people who each had individual sales go bad with Mr. Melrose. Always something gets lost in the mail, or gets damaged, or is sent to the wrong place and then can't be found. In each case the person dealing with Scott Melrose is out an electronics device or the money to buy one and he claims that he is also a victim in each case. All together, between the forums where I posted this warning and the emails, I have come across 9 people who have either gotten stung by Scott Melrose, or backed out at the last moment due to some warning sign. They each thought it was an isolated incident and chalked it up to bad luck. Once they read the posts on this and other forums, they realized that a predator who stalks the forums looking for victims had had them. I know it sounds melodramatic, but I have spoken with quite a few site administrators for PDA related forums who all have Cyberdoc1971 as members with little or no posts, but active PM activity. Google “cyberdoc1971†and you will see several memberships in these sites with almost no public activity. He has now rejoined at least two of these sites under a different ID.
One of the FBI agents has emailed me to verify some facts. I am sure it will take months to see any real progress, but once it gets rolling, I don't doubt that Mr. Melrose will face some serious charges.
Also, I am still planning a trip in April to the East Coast on other business. I am taking a few extra days to look into this personally.
I'll keep you posted if any new developments turn up.
Tony
