Huge Rip-off by Bay Corals

[9binoo]

Hello guys,

This is to let all of you know the rip-off by Bay Corals that happened to me who is a South Korean member here and run a Korea-based retailer and wholsaler for corals and marine fishes.

I am the very South Korean customer who was mentioned in Cuong L's posting on Feb 6th in "Announcement" section of this site, and have been flustered at the scam of Bay Corals. I have seen Bay Corals in the vendor category until recently, but out of the blue I don't see him around any more.

Here is what happened.

As an importer of corals and marine fishes, I came to be a member of the well-known great web site called R2R, where I happened to find Bay Croals to which we gave an order for corals and paid US $ 2,275 to Hung Lam who has been in charge of responding to all of our email messages from the start to the last day when we lost contact. Just right after all the money wire to the guy called "Hung Lam", we haven't heard from him and later found his homepage gone after the money wire.
Since the payment, we had lost every contact with Hung Lam and got worried about the possibility of scam. With our efforts, we got his phone number and called at his phone and reached a guy (nicknamed "Cuong L" in R2R) who kept asserting he has nothing to do with the business I had with Hung Lam who he said is his brother. I told him ins and outs, asking him to contact his brother to deliver all our worries and to ask him to contact us by email or by my mobile phone. Cuong L told me that he will contact his brother to give my message but I haven't heard from Cuong L either for two days since the call. In two days, I called him again but all his answer to me was that he couldn't get hold of his brother for the last two days. I asked him to help us by contacting him as soon as possible and he texted me back in a split second, saying that he just contacted his brother but he said "I just called my brother. He never sold anything for a few months." On seeing that text, I called him back to ask him for Hung Lam's phone number to have talk with him, but Cuong L refused it, repeating that his brother didn't sell anything to you. Today I got a text message from Cuong L that said " I called FBI and IC3". But what I feel does not make sense is that I heard clearly "Hung Lam" in a recorded guy's voice when I called Cuong L and my call was transferred to voice mail if he does not answer my call. This means the owner of the phone I called can be "Hung Lam" not Cuong L as Cuong L keep insisting. I heard this "Hung Lam" in guy's recorded voice so many times because Cuong L didn't answer my call countless times.

When I was first introducted to R2R, I couldn't be happier to be a member of a prestigeous web site R2R with beneficial information. However, this scam has turned my high expectation into a nightmare that I had never imagined would happen in a great web site like R2R, leaving me flustered not knowing what to do and how to get my money back.

I keep all the email messages exchanged each other and wire transaction details. I find "the name of account holder is "Hung Lam" who runs Bay Corals " and the home address informed by him is the same as Hung Lam's. How perfectly everything falls into place like this.

I gently ask for you guys help and counsel to work out a way to solve this as I feel in a situation where all the trust of our customers I have built up seems to have fallen apart because of this scam and I need to solve this issue as soon as possible to reduce the trust damage.

I appreciate your time and attentive ears.

[spscrazy]

there is a thread here on r2r from cuongL on 2-6-2012 saying that bay corals was out of business as of 12-2011 & not to buy from them I don't know how to link but someone else here might good luck sorry to hear about your misfortune

[CJO]

there is a thread here on r2r from cuongL on 2-6-2012 saying that bay corals was out of business as of 12-2011 & not to buy from them I don't know how to link but someone else here might good luck sorry to hear about your misfortune

He mentions the thread in his first post:

I am the very South Korean customer who was mentioned in Cuong L's thread on Feb 6th in "Announcement" section of this site, and have been flustered at the scam of Bay Corals.

I don't really know how to help you. It sounds like he took quite a few people's money and took off. Sorry

CJ

[subdrive]

As some of you might know, I have been active R2R member when I was in the states.
I have moved back to south korea, and introduced 9binoo to this site.
I felt bad when he told me what happened since I had great joy in reefing through R2R and never experienced something like this.
By bringing this up, hope no more scam of this kind happens to others.
If some member knows a way for my friend to redeem his loss, please PM him.
Thank you

[sexycorals]

right before he went outta business i was approached to buy a chalice for close to $5k... i wanted a pic first but he couldnt do it.. im glad i didnt send any money..

[63vette427]

It's really too bad.. I actually had good luck with him. I ordered 3 times from him and never had a problem. I guess it was just luck of the draw..

[Cuong L]

Hello guys,

This is to let all of you know the rip-off by Bay Corals that happened to me who is a South Korean member here and run a Korea-based retailer and wholsaler for corals and marine fishes.

I am the very South Korean customer who was mentioned in Cuong L's posting on Feb 6th in "Announcement" section of this site, and have been flustered at the scam of Bay Corals. I have seen Bay Corals in the vendor category until recently, but out of the blue I don't see him around any more.

Here is what happened.

As an importer of corals and marine fishes, I came to be a member of the well-known great web site called R2R, where I happened to find Bay Croals to which we gave an order for corals and paid US $ 2,275 to Hung Lam who has been in charge of responding to all of our email messages from the start to the last day when we lost contact. Just right after all the money wire to the guy called "Hung Lam", we haven't heard from him and later found his homepage gone after the money wire.
Since the payment, we had lost every contact with Hung Lam and got worried about the possibility of scam. With our efforts, we got his phone number and called at his phone and reached a guy (nicknamed "Cuong L" in R2R) who kept asserting he has nothing to do with the business I had with Hung Lam who he said is his brother. I told him ins and outs, asking him to contact his brother to deliver all our worries and to ask him to contact us by email or by my mobile phone. Cuong L told me that he will contact his brother to give my message but I haven't heard from Cuong L either for two days since the call. In two days, I called him again but all his answer to me was that he couldn't get hold of his brother for the last two days. I asked him to help us by contacting him as soon as possible and he texted me back in a split second, saying that he just contacted his brother but he said "I just called my brother. He never sold anything for a few months." On seeing that text, I called him back to ask him for Hung Lam's phone number to have talk with him, but Cuong L refused it, repeating that his brother didn't sell anything to you. Today I got a text message from Cuong L that said " I called FBI and IC3". But what I feel does not make sense is that I heard clearly "Hung Lam" in a recorded guy's voice when I called Cuong L and my call was transferred to voice mail if he does not answer my call. This means the owner of the phone I called can be "Hung Lam" not Cuong L as Cuong L keep insisting. I heard this "Hung Lam" in guy's recorded voice so many times because Cuong L didn't answer my call countless times.

When I was first introducted to R2R, I couldn't be happier to be a member of a prestigeous web site R2R with beneficial information. However, this scam has turned my high expectation into a nightmare that I had never imagined would happen in a great web site like R2R, leaving me flustered not knowing what to do and how to get my money back.

I keep all the email messages exchanged each other and wire transaction details. I find "the name of account holder is "Hung Lam" who runs Bay Corals " and the home address informed by him is the same as Hung Lam's. How perfectly everything falls into place like this.

I gently ask for you guys help and counsel to work out a way to solve this as I feel in a situation where all the trust of our customers I have built up seems to have fallen apart because of this scam and I need to solve this issue as soon as possible to reduce the trust damage.

I appreciate your time and attentive ears.

The first time Iris (your staff) called me, she asked me, "When are you sending me my product I ordered". Initially, I thought she was trying to scam, so I laughed and hung up on her. I apologize for doing that. I had many calls telling me an inheritance to a person needed my help and all I had to do was deposit into a bank and they would compensate me dearly for doing so. Obviously, I thought Iris’ call was a scam and I ignored her calls. She repeatedly called me, so I figured a person intending to scam wouldn't be so persistent using long distance. So I spoke to her, the first thing I told her, "I never sold you anything, you got scammed, call the police and get your money back”. Iris insisted that she is not concerned about getting her money back, she just wanted the product shipped. I repeatedly asked her, “You don’t like your money, why don’t you call the cops and get your money back”. She still insisted I just ship her the products. I will be honest with you, the first thing that crossed my mind was, not many people would spend over 2k overseas and not be concerned after losing contact. I think that alone is your answer. At that moment, I did not want to help her and I now regret thinking that.

I asked her what product and who sold it to her. That was when Iris filled me in with the details. She told me Hung from BayCorals sold her over 2k worth of corals, kept constant contact until the money was transferred. I told her Hung is my brother and he did run BayCorals. I told her I would call Hung to find out. I left him a voice mail and he did not call me back. Even for me, Hung doesn’t always call back. I wasn’t concern about it as I have dinner with him weekly and I could ask him then. Two days later, upon your request, I called again and asked him. Hung pick up and said he hasn’t sold corals for a very long time and did not sell to Korea. I told him that I would call the FBI and fill out a report and he told me to go ahead. I believe what he said is true. It was then I called Iris and told her, she got scammed, call the police and I will do the same. Still insisted that I give her Hung’s number so she could speak to him personally. I am not going to give Iris Hung’s number if I truly believe he did not sell you the corals. Hung only has one phone number, if you spoke to him before, you can contact him through the same number.

I am very sorry this had to happen to you and I truly wish you can have some resolution. I still feel that if you wired the money to a bank account, you should be able to contact the police and get your money back. If you have the email and wire transfer records, that is your proof of transaction. Judging from your website, you seem like a professional company with great quality and integrity. If you plan to continue as a wholesaler/importer, you should really reconsider the way you purchase. I am sorry I didn’t answer Iris’ calls. I have an app on my phone to prevent solicitation and I blocked your number. I cannot help you, you should contact the police.

This has nothing to do with R2R. No matter where you go, there will always be dishonest people. That is life. This is the site that I personally learned and continue to learn how to maintain a marine system. There are a lot of members here that will spend the time and effort to help others without hesitation.