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Sergey Kravchenco - SCAMMER


Kyryll Sobolev

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i would like to present the most noble audience of this forum with a sad and tragic story

a story about hopes dashed, dreams crushed, and money lost

 

i saw this post in october 2016, by Sergey Kravchenco

http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=72967

 

he advertised a set of 6 LOMO spherical primes for $5100 USD, converted to PL-mount.

i showed my interest, started a conversation, and it all seemed to go well.

he was going to convert the scales to imperial, and i was going to buy him some bright yellow paint he needed to paint markings in the future.

i did some quick research, and i knew that sergei has a very spotty reputation online. so yes, it was a gamble on my behalf. he must have had a successful sale to norm li years ago, because that is sergei's go-to reference to build trust.

 

i wired a bank transfer on november 1, 2016.

it is now 4 months later, end of february 2017, and my hero sergei has fallen off the map.

naturally, there has been no delivery.

 

back when sergei was responding to emails, he mentioned that he uses Optica Elite's (http://www.optica-elite.com) facilities. i had contacted OE, and they confirmed that sergei is a real person and they know him, although they are not affiliated with him. my contact at OE also said that sergei "tends to disappear" on occasion, and he even tried calling him on my behalf.

 

so yes, if nothing else can be learned from this, then perhaps google's cache can store this message for future would-be purchasers from sergei kravchenco.

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Bank transfer is gone, PayPal may have given you some recourse.

Where's this clown live?

 

 

yes paypal would have been better, but to dissuade people from using it, he charges a 10% fee for paypal use

since i live in canada and his price was in USD, that would have made for a 35% increase in the cost

 

paypal actually has helped me before when i tried to buy set bags from modular 51, and they refunded me quickly

 

sergei lives in st. petersburg

he has actually sent me his full address and bank information... so it's hard to understand if he is a shady scammer, or some artsy-type person who appears and disappears

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Five or six years ago I bought a lens from Sergei. Communication was surprisingly good, I sent a money wire (nerve-racking), miraculously the lens arrived in great shape and the transaction couldn't have been better. But seeing the various nightmare stories in the forums, I think I got very lucky.

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yes i am sure he had a few successful sales in the past.

probably was figuring out the system for money transfer across borders...

 

 

judging from online, and speaking to some guys in russia, he has a few "sales" where he never bothered to deliver yet took the money

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Sorry I make no apologies. Russia and Eastern Europe are home to more equipment scammers than I can count. They also circulate on ebay. One of them tried to get me once as well, sent me a fake, "second chance bid" notice on a piece of gear.

 

Of course I spotted all the poor English in the fake ebay notice he sent me. I played along, said I would send him the money, $5, 200.00 in this case. Then in the end I told him I knew he was an Eastern European scammer. To my amazement he sent me an email back, he admitted the whole thing!! Said he didn't worry, because there were plenty of other people who would fall for his scam.

 

Caveat emptor.

 

R,

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I have worked with Sergey Kravchenko many years, no problem and there was no scam. Sometimes, of course, he asked me to get some lenses, but then disappeared for 1 month or 3 months. Then there are all fulfilled. Maybe this guy is drinking much and could not work sometimes.

 

 

Oh thats ok then.. straight guy.. just has a bit of a drink problem.. would you really be ok with that if you were down 5K for 5months with no idea where your lenses are.... no problem.. no scam.. you must have a very high tolerance of whats not a problem.. :)

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I do not know the past cases, and sorry for your loss, but I know that Sergey Kravchenko has been in this business for over 15 years, beginning with a film camera, and many people know him as an honest repairman and the seller, and denigrate the person as a "scammer" I would not publicly. It is necessary to understand the merits.

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I do not know the past cases, and sorry for your loss, but I know that Sergey Kravchenko has been in this business for over 15 years, beginning with a film camera, and many people know him as an honest repairman and the seller, and denigrate the person as a "scammer" I would not publicly. It is necessary to understand the merits.

 

 

Im not the OP.. I just thought your post was pushing the boat out a bit.. as far as its not a problem and just a forgetful guy who likes a drink.. he has stolen $5 large from another person.. thats a problem and I believe the OP has every right to warn others.. thats just my point sir.. :)

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I do not know the past cases, and sorry for your loss, but I know that Sergey Kravchenko has been in this business for over 15 years, beginning with a film camera, and many people know him as an honest repairman and the seller, and denigrate the person as a "scammer" I would not publicly. It is necessary to understand the merits.

 

 

Uh no sorry, when you're out $5, 100.00 and not getting any answers back, that is a serious issue. $5, 100.00 is a lot of money my friend!!!

 

R,

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stanislav, i do not denigrate

my description of scammer is related only to this failed transaction, and i feel it aptly describes the situation.

 

now, jokes aside, i did speak with a person in russia who also knows sergey, and it appears that he may in fact have some problems with alcohol. which accounts for his appearing/disappearing acts. but hey, maybe i have a drinking problem too and could have really used those $5000 USD to purchase fine liquors myself.

 

in any case, a scam is "fraudulent scheme, especially for making a quick profit; swindle." - dictionary.com

and unless my lenses magically arrive at my house, sergey is still a scammer.

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Sorry I make no apologies. Russia and Eastern Europe are home to more equipment scammers than I can count. They also circulate on ebay. One of them tried to get me once as well, sent me a fake, "second chance bid" notice on a piece of gear.

 

Of course I spotted all the poor English in the fake ebay notice he sent me. I played along, said I would send him the money, $5, 200.00 in this case. Then in the end I told him I knew he was an Eastern European scammer. To my amazement he sent me an email back, he admitted the whole thing!! Said he didn't worry, because there were plenty of other people who would fall for his scam.

 

Caveat emptor.

 

R,

 

 

Richard of course your personal experience is valid. But it in no way defends making a joke that makes generalizations about an entire culture/place.

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Responding to the theme that scammers tend to be Eastern European, or vice versa, or whatever it is...

 

There have been sellers in the USA that present in exactly the same way. I knew one. I bought a set of S16 super speeds on ebay from an American broker, a one man business, who was selling quite a lot of gear this way. I waited for delivery, had several phone calls, but no delivery. He always sounded lucid on the phone. After some months I rang my credit card company, sent them some copies of emails and a one page explanation, and they reversed the charges, so I got everything back. I think that means that his bank imposes that debt on him.

 

I came to the conclusion that he was in debt, and could not uplift the goods he had brokered, sold on eBay, to actually deliver them, untill the owners were paid. So I was in a que. I concluded that he was not a scammer, but a desparate guy forced to behave badly...

 

Exective summary....
- Not all the people that present as scammers are Eastern Euro.
- If you pay with a credit card then the card company will try and recover your money..

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stanislav, i do not denigrate

my description of scammer is related only to this failed transaction, and i feel it aptly describes the situation.

 

now, jokes aside, i did speak with a person in russia who also knows sergey, and it appears that he may in fact have some problems with alcohol. which accounts for his appearing/disappearing acts. but hey, maybe i have a drinking problem too and could have really used those $5000 USD to purchase fine liquors myself.

 

in any case, a scam is "fraudulent scheme, especially for making a quick profit; swindle." - dictionary.com

and unless my lenses magically arrive at my house, sergey is still a scammer.

 

 

I agree 110%!

 

R,

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To Richard B. I can find 10 times more scammer on the western part of our world, We offer help to Kyryll and I'm sure it all just a small issue to us, Sergy does have some problems to solve, we all support him and believe Kyryll gets his lenses, if not we offer him our lenses for free...

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I have actually purchased from Sergei a while ago and got my set of 4 Roundfront lomos. He disappeared for a while but finally came through. I thought I had been scammed but he finally delivered. The lenses were spot on and no issues.

 

He is known for disappearing but not sure if he is a scammer.

 

I think he probably takes orders and then disappears and tries to find the lenses after taking the order. His business practice of no correspondence is definitely not professional or comforting but for me at least, he did come through.

 

Norm

 

Thing is thats a scam.. if you have said you have those goods for sale and you dont.. but you accept someones money .. thats illegal.. and a scam.. if you admit you dont have the items but will try to find them and have no idea how long it will take or if you will get your money back... then ok you take your chance.. otherwise its breaking the law.. no room for debate there..

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in my conversation with sergey he did give norm's name as an example of a successful sale

 

i genuinely hope that sergey is ok, and that would be the only excuse (if he were sick or in a hospital or something).

but as it stands now, i am missing 3 things: they money, the lenses, and the seller...

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I just got mail form Sergey, apparently he had accident, brooked several ribs and was in hospital... well i have no ongoing deals woth him and he answered my email, telling me this before i asked any questions. i "know" him for a long time now and he was allways more then correct with me. just some facts

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yes yes, broken ribs...

he told me on january 29th that was the reason he has not sent me anything yet, and he will that very day call a courier who will pick up the lenses and ship them.

 

he is currently responding to his emails (after his broken ribs prevented him from replying to phone calls or using the said email...)

the latest news - there is an optical issue with the 18mm. if he can't fix it by this sunday, he swears that he will send me the set without that lens, and then once the 18mm is fixed he will send it as well.

or, to make up for the wait, he is offering a Kinor set of the same lenses (the ones i paid for are Konvas, which are older and with a worse engineering design).

of course, the Kinor conversion to PL-mount should be done within 2 months

 

so, should we place some bets, ladies and gentlemen?

will these lenses arrive before the 1 year date is up? will they arrive ever (at my house, that is)?

hey nothing is impossible - leicester city won EPL, cleveland won NBA, trump got elected, barcelona just made a historic win...

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