wise guide outfitter, guide has disappeared, tom murray were are you.

[bamoe]

Tom Murray of wise guide outfitters are you out there?i purchased trip for 4 on his web sight then is deleted,, he does have a web page attached to rentalboatcharters.com, type in wise guide outfitters at the top of that page , same phone number and no answers. lost 0ver 7000.00 so far.any info please email me at bcc65@yahoo.com thanks.or contact alaska state troopers also, they are aware of Tom Murray of Wise Guide Outfitters of coopers landing, SEVERAL COMPLAINTS SO FAR. I was looking so much toward this trip of alife time . one pissed outdoorsman:mad: and ebay or pay pal does not cover it after 45 days.
4 days on the kenia ,,,,one day on seward for halibut and one fly in trip lost!!!!!:mad: :mad:

[skybust]

Man that sucks sorry to hear I hope the get him.

[stid2677]

Sad to hear again. Sorry to say you are not the first, many others have posted the same thing here.

http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/...ers-landing-Ak.

Hope you salvage your trip.

Steve

[Bernard R Rosenberg]

Latin 101

Your is a sad tale, and I am sorry to hear it. I make no judgement to your particular circumstance (litigation awareness), but will offer some tips to those reading this thread.

Get references, always.
Evaluate prepayment deposits throughly.
Utilize the membership roster of any local chamber of commerence.

None of these are guarantees, but they certainly can't hurt you, and in actuality can assist you in the right decision. Fraud knows no boundries, including the recreational industry.

Caveat Emptor; Latin for "let the buyer beware"...applicable in any circumstance in the exchange of money...

Rosenberg/Florida
Kodiak, 9 days...

[lakeside]

Contact the AK Attorney general and troopers ASAP. You probably won't get your money bac but maybe in 5-10 yrs this creep will spend sometime behind bars. I've been scammed by a contractor and a specialty ammo shop over the past 15 years and in both cases I filed complaints which years later resulted in legal action by the states in which they occurred. I'm sorry your in this situation. You can always point out ways you could gave dine it differently but that doesn't make this situation any better.

[salmon_bone]

go here and post a complaint so that other people will see it, hopefully
http://www.landbigfish.com/charters/...m?charter=5911

[trperk]

I had the same experience with Tom last fall. Unfortunately you can never be too careful as I fished with Tom twice before and gave referances for him to others that subsequently got ripped off.

I have some info that may be helpful. Both for the trooper who is investigating this and some folks in the area that helped us put our trip back together last fall. Yeah I had to pay for it twice but salvaged the trip and have since got over it.

[Dupont Spinner]

Tom Murray of wise guide outfitters are you out there?i purchased trip for 4 on his web sight then is deleted,, he does have a web page attached to rentalboatcharters.com, type in wise guide outfitters at the top of that page , same phone number and no answers. lost 0ver 7000.00 so far.any info please email me at bcc65@yahoo.com thanks.or contact alaska state troopers also, they are aware of Tom Murray of Wise Guide Outfitters of coopers landing, SEVERAL COMPLAINTS SO FAR. I was looking so much toward this trip of alife time . one pissed outdoorsman:mad: and ebay or pay pal does not cover it after 45 days.
4 days on the kenia ,,,,one day on seward for halibut and one fly in trip lost!!!!!:mad: :mad:

When are you coming for your trip? We may be able to hook you up with some help as far as salvaging parts of your trip. Many help trperk last summer maybe we can do it again.....

[trperk]

Many help trperk last summer maybe we can do it again.....

These guys sure did. Showed me that there are fanatastic people out there still!

[akjeff]

I am assuming you are from out of state. You got scammed on the internet doing an interstate transaction, so I would take it here.

http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

I have no idea what kind of time frame is involved, but this is the FBI and that is what we pay them to do. The Federal Gov has vast resources and can turn the heat up pretty hot if they want. Due to the interstate nature of this fraud, this may not even be within the AK State Troopers jurisdiction.

[kgpcr]

I hear the guy is broke so your chances of seeing any money back are not good no matter who you talk to. Why is that guy not in jail?? He is a first class jerk.

[nuprofessor]

Bernard,
None of your suggestions would have made any differance in this guides case. He had met all of the three areas you suggested.
I am not defending the guy, just letting you know that I did those things and they all came back rosey.
Luckily I was not one of the ones caught up in this mess. If he had skipped out one month earlier- I WOULD HAVE BEEN.
And I got my moneys worth on the trip. Was not my style of fishing, but I got what I paid for.

KGPCR,
To my knowledge this man has never been found. Not sure if his family (wife & son in Utah) even know where he is or if they have every been found. He did have some property there in Cooper Landing that could possibly be used as repayment (I think he owned it, but not sure).

[stevesch]

References irrelevant - request copy of surety bond before putting down deposit

Great references and a nickel won't get you a cup of coffee if the guide wanks as this one did:

Instead, next time you book a trip, request a copy of the surety bond, and check that it is current, before putting down a deposit - it needs to be on file with the State. That bond will cover you no matter how broke the dude becomes later. Problem is - the Wise guy dude likely didn't have any. I posted links to a similar - more recent - sad story involving Kaufmann's in Washington State.

http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/...ht=#post958092

You might wanna inform the IRS - since stealing your deposits, while also theft - is a business transaction for which this Wise Guy dude did not likely pay taxes. When the Feds caught wind of Kaufmann's shenanigans, they seized everything. He declared bankruptcy - and hasn't been seen since - tho he has a lawyer.

If the IRS/Feds get into it, the Wise guy will at best not lead a normal life if he is not caught. At the very least - no credit cards, no bank accounts, no pay stubs, no property ownership, not even a driver's license,.....and no involvement in the fishing trade.....at least in North America. But that won't be assurance he will ever get caught (or even pursued)....the cash/fake ID lifestyle constitutes about 10% of our population (illegal aliens)

[kodiakcombo]

Question: if references dont do it for potential clients what does? If some red flags are raised they should be looked at. With the new boat we just purchased, we searched craigslist for trolling motors, anchors, boat trailers, etc...those are thousands of dollar items. We got names and places of employmet for the individuals selling the items and we lucked out! But the red flags didnt popup so we sent checks and used paypal, we even sent friends in the area to look at the items.

[Unplugged]

Ebay and Pay Pal might not cover your losses after 45 days, but if you paid Pay Pal with your bank Visa, your bank should be able to make it right. My 2 cases, unauthorized online fraud and another where someone took my money for a product over the internet and never shipped, my credit union credited my account and their fraud division took over. Get chummy with your bank, they may help you out here.