Results 1 to 13 of 13

Thread: Stolen mandolin recovered!

  1. #1

    Default Stolen mandolin recovered!

    Hi all,

    I just wanted to share a very happy story with you, and it's really only happy because of the help of this wonderful community here on Mandolin Cafe!

    Earlier last year our shop was successfully bamboozled out of an expensive mandolin via mail order with the use of a stolen credit card. I won't provide the details here of how it was achieved so as not to "educate" any would be scammers, but this person was a smooth professional that blew right past any red flags and security protocols. We ship a lot of instruments and this was a first in 15 years for Fiddler's Green, though it's certainly been tried multiple times before unsuccessfully.

    Upon learning that we had been scammed, we placed an ad in the "stolen" section of the Mandolin Cafe classifieds. Within 24 hours of placing that ad two cafe members, GTison and John Lee, notified me that they suspected that the mandolin was at a large music store on the other side of the country. Turns out they were right! Lucky for us, the management of the music store was very compliant and helpful once we had verified the serial number and worked with their local law enforcement to help retrieve it.

    Fast forward to present day, and not only has the individual who committed the crime been arrested and prosecuted but also two others that were involved. We weren't provided with much information beyond that but I think it's pretty safe to say that these folks weren't first time offenders and, at least for now, won't be scamming anyone else. It really is scary just how good they were at this.

    Also, the mandolin has been returned unharmed! I was cringing when I opened the case, expecting to see all kinds of damage but it was in really great shape and almost even in tune..haha! I'm going to let it spend some time getting acclimated and then give it a "spa day" before making it available again, but it's just like it was when we sent it out. WHEW!

    So BIG THANKS to GTison, John Lee, and of course to Scott Tichenor who helped spread the word on social media and works so hard to provide the space for this amazing community. No doubt, without Mandolin Cafe we would have never seen this instrument again and these professional thieves would still be out there looking for their next victim.

    So put a notch in the post for the good guys! Happy Monday everyone, and keep being awesome!

    Ben Hodges
    Fiddler's Green Music Shop

  2. The Following 49 Users Say Thank You to fiddlersgreen For This Useful Post:

    + Show/Hide list of the thanked


  3. #2
    Fingers of Concrete ccravens's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Crockett, TX
    Posts
    1,058

    Default Re: Stolen mandolin recovered!

    Very glad to hear that Ben!

    Couldn't have happened to a nicer person.
    Chris Cravens

    Girouard A5
    Montana Flatiron A-Jr.
    Passernig Mandola
    Leo Posch D-18

  4. #3
    Registered User Lane Pryce's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Asheboro,NC
    Posts
    2,281

    Default Re: Stolen mandolin recovered!

    Wow. The stars and planets aligned and the good guys won! Good to hear.
    J.Lane Pryce

  5. #4
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Gainesville, FL
    Posts
    2,664

    Default Re: Stolen mandolin recovered!

    That is a refreshing story, Ben, especially in these crazy times. I think the entire Cafe is happy for you.

  6. #5
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Central Illinois
    Posts
    3,563

    Default Re: Stolen mandolin recovered!

    Quote Originally Posted by fiddlersgreen View Post
    Hi all,

    I just wanted to share a very happy story with you, and it's really only happy because of the help of this wonderful community here on Mandolin Cafe!

    Earlier last year our shop was successfully bamboozled out of an expensive mandolin via mail order with the use of a stolen credit card. I won't provide the details here of how it was achieved so as not to "educate" any would be scammers, but this person was a smooth professional that blew right past any red flags and security protocols. We ship a lot of instruments and this was a first in 15 years for Fiddler's Green, though it's certainly been tried multiple times before unsuccessfully.

    Upon learning that we had been scammed, we placed an ad in the "stolen" section of the Mandolin Cafe classifieds. Within 24 hours of placing that ad two cafe members, GTison and John Lee, notified me that they suspected that the mandolin was at a large music store on the other side of the country. Turns out they were right! Lucky for us, the management of the music store was very compliant and helpful once we had verified the serial number and worked with their local law enforcement to help retrieve it.

    Fast forward to present day, and not only has the individual who committed the crime been arrested and prosecuted but also two others that were involved. We weren't provided with much information beyond that but I think it's pretty safe to say that these folks weren't first time offenders and, at least for now, won't be scamming anyone else. It really is scary just how good they were at this.

    Also, the mandolin has been returned unharmed! I was cringing when I opened the case, expecting to see all kinds of damage but it was in really great shape and almost even in tune..haha! I'm going to let it spend some time getting acclimated and then give it a "spa day" before making it available again, but it's just like it was when we sent it out. WHEW!

    So BIG THANKS to GTison, John Lee, and of course to Scott Tichenor who helped spread the word on social media and works so hard to provide the space for this amazing community. No doubt, without Mandolin Cafe we would have never seen this instrument again and these professional thieves would still be out there looking for their next victim.

    So put a notch in the post for the good guys! Happy Monday everyone, and keep being awesome!

    Ben Hodges
    Fiddler's Green Music Shop
    Great news ! Doesn't always turn out this way !

  7. #6

    Default Re: Stolen mandolin recovered!

    Thanks for posting this - Cafe members came through - nice work, you guys! And having the perp face some justice is icing on the cake.

  8. #7

    Default Re: Stolen mandolin recovered!

    Great news!! Thanks for posting.

  9. #8

    Default Re: Stolen mandolin recovered!

    Great news.

  10. #9
    Registered User Bob Buckingham's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Greer, SC
    Posts
    898

    Default Re: Stolen mandolin recovered!

    Good news! I taught in a store with a similar experience that took many months to resolve and the resolution was not quite as good.

  11. #10
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Northeastern South Carolina, west of North Carolina
    Posts
    15,346
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default Re: Stolen mandolin recovered!

    This is such good news! Thanks for sharing your story. From the depths of despair to joyous restoration, with justice being served and evil punished - this story has it all!

    The story of my presence here is based in a similar event. My beloved F-12 of thirty years was stolen, right from under my nose. In the hopes of recovering her, I found and joined the Café in order to spread the word. I never found her, but what I've gained instead was entry into a world of mandolins, populated by nearly countless members with unbounding knowledge, experience, and advice about mandolins, music, and many more aspects of life. I learned that my late-1970s F-12 wasn't considered to be as fine an instrument as I'd have liked (not really comforting, but it confirmed something I'd suspected, so it did soften the blow), and learning more about mandolins led me to find a much better instrument than what I'd lost - a teens plain A. So between finding this community and achieving this upgrade, it was mostly a win-win. With a bit of a buy-in, so to speak.

    I'm thus very much gladdened to hear of your happy ending.
    Last edited by journeybear; Feb-08-2021 at 8:28pm. Reason: further ruminations
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  12. #11
    Gummy Bears and Scotch BrianWilliam's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Summit County Colorado
    Posts
    1,306

    Default Re: Stolen mandolin recovered!

    Wow, thanks for sharing that great story!

  13. #12

    Default Re: Stolen mandolin recovered!

    Glad they caught the rotten bast... offenders.
    "I play BG so that's what I can talk intelligently about." A line I loved and pirated from Mandoplumb

  14. #13
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    PA
    Posts
    445

    Default Re: Stolen mandolin recovered!

    Simply beautiful. This site was the first forum/board that I joined soon after catching a bad case of MAS which knocked my guitar playing (since 10 yrs.old) into the ditch for about 8 yrs. which should explain the goofy user name. The Cafe was and still is my homepage since joining. Not very active anymore but stories like this and the eagerness of everybody to help other members is the reason I love this place.
    Scott has what I consider the finest instrument information sharing forum on the net. Bar none.
    mick meinsler

  15. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to mandomick For This Useful Post:


Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •