turbokon

[nat]

Some users suspect the relatively new user "turbokon" may be trying to pull a scam. I locked turbokon's thread while we look into this.

Personally, I think some of the "evidence" is a bit of a stretch but we can't ignore the possibility. Here's the thread, where it starts getting juicy:

https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=4872.msg85843#msg85843

An admin on a different forum determined turbokon IP's (yes there's more than one) appear to come from different states which would indicate he's using something to mask his IP intentionally for some reason. It'd be interesting to see just which states these IPs originate from, and if one of them is Kansas as his profile indicates.

[Joe Redifer]

Hmmm... good call.  If he is using a proxy to mask his IP, it would also make sense to message himself because he knows the administrator can see that kind of stuff.  Perhaps he expected to be caught?  But where is Turbo kahn through all of this?

[PCEngineFX]

IP info for "COUNT SMRIFNACK"
IP address: 70.241.15.37
IP address country:  United States 
IP address state: Texas
IP address city: Houston
IP address latitude: 29.775499
IP address longitude: -95.415199
ISP of this IP: SBC Internet Services
Organization: SBC Internet Services
Host of this IP: adsl-70-241-15-37.dsl.hstntx.swbell.net

IP info for "turbokon"
IP address: 71.158.208.57
IP address country:  United States 
IP address state: Kansas
IP address city: Wichita
IP address latitude: 37.691002
IP address longitude: -97.329201
ISP of this IP: SBC Internet Services
Organization: SBC Internet Services
Host of this IP: adsl-71-158-208-57.dsl.wchtks.sbcglobal.net 

I got a few angry PMs from turbokon but I don't really care.  From the above info, I don't think it is the same person, but then again it could be two people doing the scam together.

[PCEngineFX]

What I want to know is why turbokon was masking his IP.  That alone raises questions about his validity.  However I'm not sure if we have enough proof or what here....

[nat]

What I want to know is why turbokon was masking his IP.  That alone raises questions about his validity.  However I'm not sure if we have enough proof or what here....

I don't know either. However I got a PM from another member who apparently has dealt with turbokon, "Soviet Conscript." I suspect this guy is on the level as he's been on here a lot longer than turbokon and I've seen him on other forums before. This is what he sent me:

hey, don't know if this is relevent but i'll let you know anyways since the thread is locked.

i recently sent turbokon a US turbo Duo (for improved caps and a region switch) and a turbo express for a sound fix, you could barely hear the thing.)

anyways i got my stuff back yesterday. the turbo express sounds great now.
the turbo duo runs CD's fine but doesn't run HU cards now. since the box looked like the post man gave it a nice kick before dropping it off i'm betting on the damage being done by the PO rather then turbokon just sending me a broke unit as part of a scam. it also wouldn't make any sence that he would send me my fixed tg express back as well.

after talking with him i'm sending back my turbo express for him to check out if he can fix the region mod. he claimed it worked before he mailed it out and i tend to beleive him.

i'm just sending you this because it could be relevent to the issue of him being a possible scammer. i just don't see why he would bother sending me back my stuff (some fixed) when he could of just kept it and the money, or fixed nothing at all. i was going to post in the thread but as you know, its locked.

-Justin

[nat]

The fact that this guy had some problems certainly doesn't do anything for turbokon's credibility, but it doesn't necessarily prove anything either. I dunno what to make of it all, really.

[PCEngineFX]

From what Soviet Conscript said, I agree that if turbokon was a scammer why would he return the hardware?  This just doesn't add up.

[Joe Redifer]

Perhaps we should quietly unlock the thread and see what happens.

[PCEngineFX]

So I PM'd the admin from Digital Press and this is what he said about Turbokon:

"There is no direct IP match between the two users. Smrifnack has both IP's from texas as his profile claims. The other dude (Turbokon) has two different IP's from two different states, which is suspicious, but I can't really say anything else."

"I remembered Turbokon's (Joined 3-22-08) PCE repair thread on DigitPress because his only support was Smrifnack(joined 3-15-08)."

"Both users are less than a month old and are heavily involved in this mod thread, it just raised the caution flag for me."

So that's it according to Digital Press.

[nat]

K, let's unlock the thread but keep our eyes on this guy. I'm going to keep in touch with Soviet Conscript and find out how his story plays out.

[PCEngineFX]

This is what turbokon sent me after I sent him a PM asking why he used different IPs at Digital Press:

Aaron

First, it's good to know that your email was a sincere email.

Second, as for the masking of IPs, if I did masked it, I don't know how I did it and it just boggles my mind. I don't know the technicals behind ips and I'm sure there is valid explanation behinds the issues.  If it helps any, I have DSL from AT&T and my modem/router combination is a 2Wire band.  I aslo log in from work and from my iphone on very occasionaly.

Last, regarding SMRIFNACK, I didn't know about digitpress until I got this message from him to take up on my offer of no labor charge and that's when I signed up on digitpress.


Quote from: COUNT SMRIFNACK on March 22, 2008, 08:24:30 PM
Hey, what's going on.  I am looking to get a region mod done on my spare TG16, so I can use the cheaper Jap. system 3 and arcade system cards when I hook up my CD unit.  I just wanted to know if the offer for doing a couple for free (minus parts cost of corse) still stood.  I would give great feedback for you on this forum and the Digitpress forum (if you want), assuming you don't break my stuff   Let me know. 


If there is anything I can to help clear my name let me know.  You're free to give me a call if you like.

Shawn Yith
316-305-9073

Thanks


Let's reopen the thread (if it isn't already) and I'm going to post on it saying that there isn't anything here to call this a scam.  I agree to keep watching this closely but for now, call it good.

[nat]

I reopened it already but didn't post anything.

We'll keep an eye on it.