Two years ago (back in early 2008), I got into heavily trading games on CAG. I initially only traded with more CAG, but most games I initially kept. However, due to running into financial problems with my last year of college and struggling to find a job, I had to sell/trade a lot of video games. Most people I dealt with on CAG and other sites were wonderful, but one person just had to ruin trading online for me. A bunch of other CAGs were affected by this.

Due to being new to trading/selling on CAG, I had to send first. I had no issues because I'm a pretty trusting person and believed everyone would pay me or send their share. I got a bunch of PMs when making my massive list, but one I got was a little shady. One person didn't have much feedback (barely higher than mine) and badly insisted I send first. My main issue is he refused to do PayPal and kept on insisting doing cash (or some money order from Canada). I just felt the situation wasn't safe, so I held off. I also felt something was a bit fishy since the person had a massive tradelist, but nothing was really moving and feedback wasn't building. I sent a PM back and due to having a higher feedback, he said he needed to hold off to work out some finances. I sent a PM back saying others wanted my stuff and they now get priority. I felt bad for doing it, but didn't feel safe dealing with him. Thankfully I didn't since he was the second biggest scammer on CAG that year.

One morning before heading out to my college campus, I got a PM from someone wanting to buy a bunch of games from me. His/her feedback was perfect (16 @ 100%), so I felt it was safe dealing with him. His/her PM sounded confident, and he told me he'd be willing to deal if I'd ship first. I said all right, but said he'd/she'd have to wait a week since most games were left back in my hometown. I shipped out three packages that day. Two CAGs paid me right away. On April 1st 2008, I sent an email to this person asking if he/she got my games (although I had DC and saw he/she did get them). I heard they were received and my money order was being sent (here is the PM):



I thought nothing about the day or PM, figuring I'd receive my money order. Everyday I check the mail, it wasn't there. Just before I went to my class on a Monday, I checked previous PMs. I noticed under his name it said "Do Not Trade (Under Investigation)" that I started to panic. After my class finished, I rushed right back to my apartment to send a PM to CAG mods discussing what happened how I sent 5 games (for $60) and got nothing. I look around the trading forum and found this thread. Come to find out, many others were scammed and I didn't get hit as badly as some. I kept hoping I'd get my money or games back, but it never happened.

What happened hurt me pretty bad at the time. I didn't have much money, and I pretty much avoided dealing online with anyone (unless I really knew them) for quite a while. Now that my situation has gotten better, I've kind of let all of this go, but I still feel bad for everyone affected by this. If people didn't notice, this scammer received the Most Memorable CAG Villian Award in 2008. There were a bunch of scammers that year unfortunately, but thankfully unfortunate incidents like this don't happen often. Unfortunately, this person was never found and we have no idea where our games are right now.

Regardless, it was beyond a terrible joke for April Fools Day and never get to see my old mint copy of Shadow Hearts (PS2) again (along with some GBA games like Super Robot Taisen). Part of the reason I don't mind GameStop trade-in values at time is because regardless I'l make some money, not lose money.

Anyone else remember all this? We are nearing the two year anniversary when all this happened.