Canada-Complaints.com » Internet & Web » Complaint / review: Kevin Lewis - Sold several used notebook computers which seller never delivered! | #24530

Kevin Lewis
Sold several used notebook computers which seller never delivered!

On May 30, 2002 while scanning through some Usenet for sale groups, I came upon an ad for a notebook computer for sale in the sk.forsale newsgroup (See Attachment A-1.1). I sent an email to the individual who posted the ad and received a prompt response. (See Attachment A-1.2)
Upon receiving this information I called a Mr. Kevin Lewis at (416) 837-7541 as per the advertisement.

I was told that nine of these notebooks were available at the noted price. When I expressed interest in all of them he mentioned that if he sold them fast enough he had access to another 30 next week. He explained that he also sold other computer items and proceeded to give me some prices and specifications on some desktop machines: Pentium 4 1.7ghz, 30gb Hard Drive, CDRW, Keyboard, Mouse, Etc. for $850 CDN. He also said he had servers for sale but they were fairly expensive.

The specifications of the notebooks given to me over the phone were the same information as in the posted advertisement. Mr. Lewis told me the price included new leather carrying cases and docking stations for each notebook. In addition Express Post (via Canada Post) shipping would be included in the price and that he would ship immediately upon receipt of payment. He also added that any amount paid for wire transfers should be deducted from the final payment sent to him, as he would cover these costs.

I was informed that his business terms of service are half of the payment immediately and the rest was net 30 days. It is also noted in the advertisement that he charged GST on the sale thereby suggesting he had a GST Number. He said he had a website for his Manitoba Business which I could access by visiting www.Systems4Less.ca (see Attachment A-2).

After receiving this information I told Mr. Lewis I would contact him in an hour or two to let him know my final decision, as this would depend on whether I had access to the funds needed. He explained they were going fast but he would give me a few hours to get back to him. I gained access to the money I needed and called to continue with the transaction.

Mr. Lewis told me he was in Toronto for an ISO 9002 Certification and said he is currently busy with three different business ventures. He then asked me for my address to have the computers shipped to and gave me instructions on how was best to send the money. I was asked to send half of the cash immediately, which amounted to $2, 025. The instructions were to call Western Union at (800) 235-0000 and ask to do a wire transfer to Kevin Lewis in Toronto. I agreed to this, although I have never done business with this company. Western Union proceeded with their standard method of making this transfer. I gave them a credit card to charge the amount to and was asked who was going to be picking it up in Toronto. As per Kevin's instructions I told him it was a Kevin Lewis. I was given a transaction number as 7976872499. I again contacted Mr. Lewis and informed him I had put the transaction through.

I contacted Mr. Lewis, explained the situation to him and asked what I should do about transferring the wire. He expressed a large amount of anger toward Western Union and said he was going to contact some individuals there to straighten things out. After further communication Mr. Lewis told me he had received the funds and would ship out the notebooks on the amount he had received. He said that on Friday he would go to his local Royal Bank and open an account there to transfer the remaining funds to. After doing this he would call at approximately 10:00 in the morning. Around 9:30 the next day I received the call. Mr. Lewis told me that he had shipped the notebooks via Canada Post and the tracking number was RE733462755CA. He had also opened the bank account and I could just go to my local Royal Bank branch where I could do a wire transfer. The information he instructed me to give them is as follows:

6002-003
Kingston & Lawrence Branch
4410 Kingston
Westhill, Ontario

I immediately went to my local Royal Bank branch. I wrote out a cheque for the amount of the wire, and signed the transfer form to say I authorized the transfer (See Attachment A-3). Upon leaving the Royal Bank I became aware that the wire transfer had been made to a Kevin Louis and not Kevin Lewis and that the city entered was Tononto instead of Toronto. I called the Royal Bank's local number and was forwarded to their main call center. The representative there told me that due to security issues this could not be changed over the phone. She said she would contact the Roblin branch and have the change made to Kevin Lewis. During this time I spoke with Mr. Lewis and he said he was working at getting the funds, but due to the name change it was taking a bit and they were waiting for an amended form from Roblin.

Deception Becomes Apparent
The transaction was basically complete other than me receiving the merchandise. From this time on Kevin Lewis no longer answered the phone. I have left voicemail messages but they have never been returned. I was assured the notebooks would be here Monday, June 3. After checking with Canada Post Monday and Tuesday and gave them the tracking number I learned that no such a parcel had been entered into their system and it appears that nothing was ever shipped. I became very suspicious.
Wednesday morning I talked to the man in Saskatchewan who had posted the original ad (See Attachment A-1). He said he was also waiting to receive his notebooks and had yet to get them. At this point he contacted his Local RCMP department and I contacted Western Union to see if I could get any information. I was told the money had been picked up and as far as they were concerned the transaction was complete.

I then visited my local Royal Bank branch. I was told they could get me a receipt to prove the funds were transferred successfully and that Kevin Lewis had received them. The Kingston Branch was called and they said they had photo copied his ID and had kept it all on file. They said they would fax it down to Roblin immediately. I was told that due to privacy issues they could not release any verification that Kevin Lewis had received the funds.

Results of Searches Conducted
At this point I have basically confirmed that I have been a victim of this Scam. So I did a little searching online as to what Kevin Lewis name would bring up. Kevin noted having a website at www.systems4less.ca I visited this site and obtained the information in (Attachment A-2) as to who owned the domain. I have also obtained some more information from the website hosted by MTS. I have pasted the entire sites (HTML Content in Attachment A-4). These two searches have turned up the following:
1. Kevin Lewis owns the Domain name www.systems4less.ca
2. He registered it from Brandon and has left a physical address.
3. The domain name is hosted with MTS; currently (June 7, 2002) the site is still up so his account with MTS is still in good standing.
4. He has access to an MTS Email address of [email protected]
5. He has a MTS phone number of (204) 728-2904 (out of Service on June 7, 2002)
6. He is the Owner of the following business in Brandon, Manitoba:
a. Microtech Systems
1168, 20th Street Suite 3
Brandon MB R7B 1M9
Canada
7. A search of the MTS 2001 Provincial Telephone Book brought up some results (See Attachment A-5). Is this possibly the same business?
a. There is a business listed under there as MicroTech Service Systems
b. A physical address of B-840 6th Street is on the listing.
c. A phone number of (204) 727-5093 is provided which is currently directed to voice mail stating the technicians are currently all on the road or busy.
d. A Fax line of (204) 728-3199 is currently in service.
e. A website address of www.docker.com/~microtech is listed.

I also did some more searching using a public search engine and discovered a posting in a public guest book at https://www.legalkids.com/cgi-bin/advguest.cgi? view&page42 (See Attachment A-6)
This search revealed the following:
1. Kevin Lewis has an Email address of [email protected]
2. And that he is affiliated with a Company called Select 1 Wireless
3. He also mentions his wife as Lynn and daughter Jennifer.
A further search on Select1wireless.com revealed some more information. (See Attachment A-7)
1. Kevin J Lewis owns and operates a business called Select 1 Wireless
2. He also registered this domain name as Kevin J Lewis.
3. Kevin J Lewis Registered the domain name using a Email address of [email protected]
4. He used a Saskatchewan phone number of (306) 648-2223 (out of Service on June 7, 2002)
5. He is the Owner of the following business in Shamrock, Saskatchewan:
a. Select Software
Box 97
Shamrock, Sask.
S0H 3W0

Some other searches showed up more results such as an Ebay user ID of: Selectsw

Verlin
Roblin, Manitoba
Canada

Date:

Company: Kevin Lewis

Country: Canada   Province: Saskatchewan   City: Shamrock
Phone: 4168377541

Category: Internet & Web

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