Scam alert: Nikloer aka bigsmallthings@gmail.com

[Covfefe123]

So I recently got scammed out of a huge amount by a user on this forum by the name of "nikloer". Before i go into the details, i would like to make it clear that I'm not blaming anyone for this ordeal other than myself (for being too trusting) and the scammer himself (for being a scummy person)

I've made multiple purchases online through various online platforms such as Chrono24 and omegaforums. Never have i ever had any issues whatsoever, even if I've had to deal via a direct bank transfer to the sellers account. I usually have a checklist of background checks that if cleared, give me confidence that the person I'm dealing with is genuine. Unfortunately it didn't work out this time.

I negotiated with a user here by the name of nikloer. He's apparently a user based in Sweden. A pledge member with a fairly new account. However i did see he had participated in a few threads. No significant contribution though, just a hello here and a hi there.

The watch we were discussing was a patek philippe 5070g (i believe the ad is still online). As part of my background checks, i got his number, spoke to him on the phone and even requested and received a copy of his ID. My confidence in the seller was buoyed further by the fact that the name on his ID matched the name on the certificate of the watch. This made me feel assured that the seller was in fact the original owner of the watch as well. I also requested a video of the watch which was provided. All these things made me confident enough to arrange for a transfer to be made directly to the seller (as requested by the seller).

The first red flag for me was that the seller didn't ask me to send the money to a bank account with his personal details. Instead, he requested the funds to be sent to his "company's" account which was based in Poland (i should have immediately pulled the plug on the deal at this point but hindsight is 20/20). Me being a little blinded by a good deal, brushed this off as the seller wanting to avoid paying tax or something along those lines. I went ahead and made the transfer to the details the seller provided.

A week had passed with no news, and something worrying at this point, was that the number he gave me before the transfer was made was no longer in use. Everytime i called, it would have no dial tone. It was as if as soon as the transfer confirmation was made, he wanted to distance himself from me. Anyway, after prompting the seller via email, he mentioned that his bank had "seized the funds due to suspected money laundering" and that he was working on getting the funds released. What was also strange, was that he was working through his "company's director" to deal with the bank in Poland and was not in direct contact with the bank himself. Anyway, me being a fairly naive person, decided to give the seller another week.

Another week had passed with no update. When prompted again via email, the seller now told me that he had engaged a lawyer to help him "unfreeze his account" and "initiate the refund" back to me. This is when I started getting really suspicious so I called the bank in poland, and provided the staff with the account number, and all the details of the transfer. They told me, to my shock and horror, that the funds had cleared into the recipient account 4 days after i had made the transfer! This is when i knew that I'd been taken to the cleaners.

Keep in mind that all this while, the seller provided no proof of any of his claims of hiring a lawyer or his account being frozen. No copy of any sort of document/email/text from the bank, his so called "director" or his "lawyer" to suggest any of what he was saying was true. Not a single thing he was saying was able to be backed up with any sort of evidence whatsoever. At this point i realized that I'd already been scammed and there was precious little that i could do to receive my money back.

Beating myself up about it and feeling like a complete idiot, i left the matter alone. I figured i had no one to blame but myself. Strangely, I would still receive emails from the seller every 4-5 days with meaningless updates which were totally neither here nor there. Saying things like "the lawyer and the director need to go to the bank together in order to sign all the documents... They're busy people so they need to find a time which works for them both" and "got a message from the bank to delay the appointment" or my personal favorite "i assure you your money will be returned and if not i will pay you from my own money". Weeks went by with no progress whatsoever.

So at the moment, he's insisting that the refund has been made by his bank already and that i should have received the money by now, which of course, hasn't, and probably never will, happen. At this point in time, I'm just taking this entire experience as a very expensive tuition fee. Money comes and goes but its the lessons you take from it that stays with you forever.

Please let me reiterate that i take full responsibility for my actions. I am not blaming this forum or any of its users (other than the scammer) for anything that's happened to me. I hope none of you got that impression from my long rant. I am merely laying out all the details to protect other forum members from scumbags like this. If anyone needs any proof of any of my claims, I'd be happy to share email transcripts you. I have bank receipts of the transfer made to the recipient account as well. If anyone feels they have been scammed with a similar M.O, or a new user with a different username is requesting a similar procedure for a trade, hopefully my experience will help you to steer clear.

Here are the details used by the scammer in this debacle:
Rolexforums username: Nikloer
Contact number:+46 79 053 97 92
Banking information:
Account name: VALENZA SP. Z O.O.
Account address: Ul. Złota 61 /100
00-819 Warszawa, Polska
IBAN: PL06109025900000000144962703
BIC: WBKPPLPP
Bank: Santander Bank Polska

OK, long rant over. Stay safe u beautiful people!