Scammer: CTW / R34GTR / PDAGURU (aka Todd Whaley)

**rpodos** · 02-15-2007, 04:10 PM

On 1/15/07, I listed a HTC TyTN for sale:

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1089166

I agreed to sell it to a HoFo member named CTW. Due to the fact that he had a relatively high number of posts here, and to other positive interactions with him, I let myself be convinced to send him the TyTN prior to payment of $583.00.

DUMB ME!!!!

I have tried to contact him repeatedly, via PM, email, and phone. The few times he has responded, he has given me various excuses about why he hasn't paid or sent the TyTN back... I've given him several 'extensions' to deal with this, but as of today, enough is enough.

In the course of researching him, I have found several other forums where there are instances of his bad dealing.

I am filing complaints with:
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Trade Commission
National Association of Attorneys General
National Fraud Information Center
National White Collar Crime Center
U.S. Postal Inspection Service

I am also going to post information about his bad dealing on the various forums where I can find him, as well as on "reputation" sites like Heatware and SquareTrade.

FYI, if anybody sees him around here again, he is:
(Christopher) Todd Whaley
Piqua, Ohio

His name here is CTW, but most other places and emails he uses some variant with 'alias' in it. I have collected quite a lot of information about him, without paying for a background check or the like. Please contact me if you know anything further about him... and STAY AWAY!!!

Richard

**Moderator HF 38** · 02-17-2007, 01:18 AM

As I just checked his profile, his account is already banned.
twhaley@myhelio.com is the e-maill he register on HOFO. Hope it helps.

**rpodos** · 02-17-2007, 10:53 AM

I think Mike Chandler may have banned him, when I made Mike aware of what was happening.

thanks.

**rpodos** · 02-19-2007, 07:07 PM

Please keep your eyes open for this guy on other forums.

I was poking around the Internet researching him, and found this from last week:
http://www.eten-users.net/index.php?...=0&#entry42471

Positively, definitely, 100% the same guy... Having just stolen my TyTN, I can think of no other reason that he would be looking to "buy" an E-TEN M700 or an X500, other than looking to rip off someone else, as I posted there (just to clarify, I know for a fact that he is not wealthy, nor is he a serial PDA buyer like some HoFoers).

My bad for getting scammed: I fear that I have created a monster!

I should have posted it before, but here is additional information that I have on him:

Forum names:
AnandTech - CTW
ETEN Users Forum - Alias5785
FreshAlloy - Alias240
Hardforum - Alias2
Heatware - Alias
HowardForums - CTW
R6Messagenet - Alias
Ragezone - Alias5785

Email addresses:
alias@woh.rr.com
alias5785@yahoo.com
todd_whaley@trimble.com (not active)
todd-whaley@woh.rr.com
toddwhaley@mail2web.com
toddwhaley11@hotmail.com
twhaley@myhelio.com
twhaley@woh.rr.com

**rpodos** · 02-20-2007, 11:36 AM

This makes me SO ANGRY... researching a bit more, and found this:

**PDAGURU** · 02-20-2007, 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by rpodos

This makes me SO ANGRY... researching a bit more, and found this:

Ouch man. I'm in the Troy Ohio area, 7 miles from him. Send me a PM. I might be able to help. That name sounds familiar too. How old is this guy?

**Moderator HF 39** · 02-25-2007, 06:47 PM

He was back as PDAGURU and R34GTR.

**rpodos** · 02-26-2007, 12:40 AM

Unbelievable. I need to check something, then I have one heckuva story to tell.

**Fsteclipsegst01** · 02-26-2007, 09:21 AM

damn... thanks RPODOS! i was about to get screwed by this person! thanks for keeping an eye out ;-)

**ALIAS2** · 02-28-2007, 10:26 AM

This is my apology to Richard. Your phone has been returned to you. Although I shipped to the address on your buisness card, which didn't include the APT #. So you might want to watch for it, or catch your mail person.

I want to set one thing straight. I never intended to scam anyone, I counted my eggs before they hatched, and lost. If I sold the phone, it was to repay Richard, not for my personal gain, I didn't even get to use the phone longer than 2 days. When I realized I couldn't pay right away I packed it back up, and it sat. Richard will see this when he sees the call timer, MAX 40 minutes of usage.

Anyways, Richard. I am sorry, I hope you find a buyer soon. I almost had it taken care of for you.

I think I found my XV6700 on E-Bay (which I hate). Hopefully there are some good tips in this forum.

**rpodos** · 03-03-2007, 02:18 AM

I have received the returned TyTN, in substantially the same condition.

I will post more about this experience later.

**irgins** · 03-20-2007, 03:27 AM

I've been also been scammed by this scum bag... was offered close to $300 for my expedited services for a MDA... which this again scum bag failed to mention

At first he played along that the USPS screwed up on the MO... but after a voicemail message and an email... no reply... I soon forgot until now.

His phone number is discontinued. I have yet to hear from him or the USPS MO since.

I found rpodos' mark on heatware where he left him a negative... with the help of rpodos you'll go down again

**rpodos** · 07-07-2007, 06:31 PM

I realized that I never finished the story...

This post from above?

Originally Posted by PDAGURU

Ouch man. I'm in the Troy Ohio area, 7 miles from him. Send me a PM. I might be able to help. That name sounds familiar too. How old is this guy?

That was the same frickin' guy, Todd Whaley, continuing to scam. He sent me a bunch of PMs under that name too. Scumbag.

At the end of the day, voila, all of those formal complaints I made worked. I was about to contact the local PD, when I got an email from a local officer. One of the complaints (I think the FBI one) had gotten forwarded to his chief, and they weren't going to ignore it. I explained the whole thing via email, included about 20 pages of receipts, email/PM transcripts, etc. The officer immediately called the Whaley household, and made an appointment to go see them the next day.

Todd snapped to attention, sent the TyTN back overnight, and faxed the receipt to both the officer and to me.

I still could have pressed charges, but decided to keep an eye out for Whaley instead. I've got a Google alert set up that tracks various permutations of his name and aliases, in conjunction with the keywords "scam*", "theft", etc. I've been in contact with several other people on other fora helping to warn them off. And of course, I have not, nor will I, remove the black marks I posted on him, including with the authorities.

If anyone ever needs some help going after someone like this, I can share the process, notes, and complaints that I assembled... just PM me.

-Richard