I'm cross posting this here, as this thread does get a bit of traffic, and some of you may not follow my Facebook page. If this is more appropriate in another section, mods please either move or copy at your discretion.
A bit of a Public Service Announcement - I know many of you may have seen this through forums (particularly DakkaDakka), but in case you haven't:
It's come to my attention that there's what appears to be a persistent, dedicated scammer at large, and at least one of WCM's clients have been affected.
Please be aware that Three Stage Studios / Daniel Mandelbaum / Matthew Bonder / Red Star One appear to be the same person and SHOULD NOT be traded with as there are a number of non-delivery complaints coupled with no refunds.
There is sufficient case for me to warn against ALL of the identities listed above, whether they eventually prove to be the same person or not.
The general MO appears to be that some (reasonable looking) conversion kits / parts are offered for sale, or commission painting services are offered at a knock-down rate. Some are delivered, but later orders are not filled, and the scammer retires from the community before resurfacing under another name. This time round the parts in question are a True Scale Terminator kit, with MKV PA style studs. You'll know it when you see it. There's also a Knight Titan kit, which consists of partially recast Lego bionicle pieces, watch for that too, not only is it illegal to recast Lego parts, it's a model that's associated with this particular scammer.
There are a great number of established folks offering services - not just us here at WCM; Golem Painting Studio, Precinct Omega, Blue Table Painting etc are all established services. Known folks may have queues, higher prices, but we've gotten established over a lot of time. Bottom line, please check out who you send money to before you send money.
Sorry if this isn't quite appropriate here but I don't like seeing folks get fleeced by the seedier elements of the commission / modelmaking business.
