Possible scam buyer! Using PayPal Friends & Family = NO PROTECTION if you get scammed

[Karljazz]

i feel ashamed i bought a licence from drumdiva, now my licence might be revoked... i have a big doubt about this : viewtopic.php?p=8662829 , i told me that he or she distributes plugin in Poland, i directly asked Oeksound, they told me they only sell via their website or sweetwater...so be careful

Apparently, this young individual full of lies attempt to run his fraud business intensively.
JMR Antonhy indeed looks like another account by Michael Hermina.
Checking his feedback makes it even more obvious
search.php?keywords=JMR+Antonhy&t=74467&sf=msgonly

[FakeNatty]

Apparently, this young individual full of lies attempt to run his fraud business intensively.
JMR Antonhy indeed looks like another account by Michael Hermina.
Checking his feedback makes it even more obvious
search.php?keywords=JMR+Antonhy&t=74467&sf=msgonly

Did you buy anything from JMR Antonhy?

He is not Michael Hernia, Drumdiva, or other related accounts of this scammer.

JMR Antonhy is a legit seller, not a scammer. I've purchased several times from him, and we chat on Facebook. I can assure you, a scammer will definitely not bother conversing like a friendly human being. All the scam attempts I've encountered were impatient, constantly reassuring me they have my trust or I have their trust, backpedaling their own claims, asking for cash right away, "totally legit".

JMR Antonhy is definitely not any of the above. He's patient with my dumb questions. Never sought to reassure my trust. Doesn't backpedal anything he says and is coherent in the details he presents. Never rushed me to pay anything.

I don't know much about Oeksound and own nothing from them, but to possibly ease your worry, distribution is not exactly the same as resale.

One example that I can personally speak on is Steinberg.

https://www.steinberg.net/distribution/

For the distributor in my country, they do not sell any Steinberg products directly on their website. Instead, it's only the local businesses that resell Steinberg products in my local region. Of course, I can still buy Steinberg products from the usual sites we all use (sweetwater, Jrr, best service, thomann, etc.), but in my local region, only small businesses sell Steinberg products, no big international resellers. There is no "official" (instead they are "authorized") Steinberg resellers in my country. In other words, there isn't a local business in my region that Steinberg directly communicates with to directly resell Steinberg products. Instead, Steinberg's distributor in my local region handles this communication with Steinberg. Then, the distributor works with the local resellers. If I email Steinberg, they can't really give me a list of all the local resellers in my country. They'd have to go through the distributor to get that list of individual local resellers.

Bigger sites like Sweewater, Thomann, Best Service, Jrr, PluginBoutique, etc. have much closer communication with these developers than say my local business music shop across the street. And this, in part, has to do with the whole chain of distribution and resale these resellers/distributors have with the developers.

I hope this eases your worry.

edit: i've just chatted with JMR Antonhy (morning in this region), and he said he's checked his PM inboxes. He said he has never had a conversation with you? Did you use another account to contact him? I know you're frustrated with scammers at this moment, but I can assure you that he's not Michael Hernia nor Drumdiva.

[midi sentinel]

i feel ashamed i bought a licence from drumdiva, now my licence might be revoked... i have a big doubt about this : viewtopic.php?p=8662829 , i told me that he or she distributes plugin in Poland, i directly asked Oeksound, they told me they only sell via their website or sweetwater...so be careful

Apparently, this young individual full of lies attempt to run his fraud business intensively.
JMR Antonhy indeed looks like another account by Michael Hermina.
Checking his feedback makes it even more obvious
search.php?keywords=JMR+Antonhy&t=74467&sf=msgonly

I can't quite figure out how his feedback makes it even more obvious.

Feedback looks normal and I would have no problem purchasing something from him.

What red flags did you see in feedback?

[Karljazz]

@FakeNatty
Thank you for sharing! "Looks like another account" is an assumption and not a firm statement.
It's worth being very carful when buying second-hand.

[rardier]

DrumDiva was nice too, nothing to complain about his "manner",
honestly if i wasnt "scam" (my license isnt revoked yet but i told native instruments to investigate about my licence ) by drumdiva i would have buy from JMR without thinking too much.
I can t say i am 100% sure he s scam (and i sincerely apologize from the bottom of my heart if JMR legit) but this his answer to my question :
"Hi,
plugin is still available, but few informations first.
I participate in plugins distribution in Poland so I can get plugins from few companies at lower price.
I'm selling activation code. Of course It's a regular version of plugin, you have to register it on via iLok.
"

So i ask this to oeksound:
"Hello,
there s a user in kvraudio that claims that he contributes to plugin distribution in Poland, and he resells soothe, could it to be a fraud? do you only sell plugin via your website or also via other distributor please?

regards"

Oeksound answer:
"Hello,

Thanks for reaching out. We only sell via our main retailer FastSpring globally, SweetWater in the US and some select few resellers in the Asia region, but nothing in Poland, so yes, this person is probably selling fraudulently obtained license codes.

All the best,
Joel"

after this answer i didnt want to take the risk.

[rardier]

and when i told oeksound that activation were sold but no ilok or licence transfer, the answer was :
"Hi,

Alright, I see. That is most likely someone selling fraudulent products. You can try asking them for proof of who they've been in touch with at oeksound, but it might not be worth the bother, he'll get them sold anyways... Chances are that the licenses will be revoked from whoever is unfortunate enough to buy such a license when the holder of the payment details notices and issues a chargeback.

I'd appreciate if you'd report this person on KVR and let others know. Thanks.

Best,
Joel"

[JMR Antonhy]

Hi guys,
Good to see that someone can accuse me without any proof and without my knowledge.
Thanks @FakeNatty for your support, I appreciate it.

I won't explain anything, because it's pointless. If you want to call me a scammer, you'll do it anyway. But I promise I'll explain whatever you want, if you find even one person who has been scammed by me.
One person.

Now I assure that:
1. I have never had any PayPal dispute.
2. I have always offered PP Goods&services. I propose Wise payments for some time, because it's cheaper option for buyer, but I DON'T require it.
3. All licenses sold by me still works and I've never had a situation when someone let me know that the license has been revoked.
4. I always answer to the first message on KVR with a template, so don't be surprised if you see the same words.
5. I have never tried to force or extort the payment and I have never charged the payments in advance.
6. I have and always had one account on KVR.
7. I sell licenses here for over a year. If I would be a scammer I think you would know that. That's a lot of time.

And the most interesting now.
I'm not a Michael Hermina, but I know who he is. He purchased several licenses from me. I know he got banned on knobcloud, because he faked the invoices. But that's none of my business, guys, sorry. It's his responsibility. He was accused of being credit card fraud. I personally doubt it, but it doesn't change the fact that faking invoices is stupid and illegal idea.

Regards,
Bartosz.

[FakeNatty]

boom. mic drop.

I have never had any of my licenses revoked that was purchased from him.

I'm open to see other people's ideas, but I genuinely have a hard time thinking JMR Antonhy is a scammer. If it is a scam, then it is by far the most elaborate and well thought-out scam of all time. Just the pacing of the communication, the details, the stories, the person, the coherence of everything are just all so well laid out for it to just be a scam.

I know I have had way more personal interactions with him than most people here, so what I say can't be immediately verified by everyone else. But just to share my thoughts:

He NEVER, yes never, replies to me in any hurry. Sure he sometimes replies immediately, but the immediacy of the replies have NOTHING to do with if I messaged him for a purchase or just random talk. He just happens to be available at that moment. I'm often left on read for like 3 days before he gets back to me, and my message was inquiring about a purchase.

Would he really do all this just for a $65 plugin? If this is some psychological trick to have me wait a few days, then I can say it absolutely didn't work on me, because I decided to not purchase from him a few days later when he replied. Yet, he keeps trying the same old trick??

He rarely ever negotiates a price with me. He just gives me a price, and that's pretty much it. If I say I can get it somewhere else for less, he'd just be okay with it. And indeed, I have purchased elsewhere for lower than his offer before. That $65 plugin was an example. Absolutely doesn't care what others sell at.

I once asked him about some DAW he was selling. I was going back and forth for at least a week with this DAW purchase. He offered me a price on the DAW, but when I asked how he likes this other DAW, he just said he prefers and recommends this other DAW. He didn't have this other DAW for sale at all. Later, I decided to not purchase the DAW from him after 1 week. His reply: "no problem". DAWs are so good to scam with, especially given how much I trusted him, but he just felt "fine" with telling me he prefers and recommends this other DAW he doesn't have for sale?

By the way, he's never been pushy or urgent in the slightest extent when it comes to selling. Since the first thing he's sold me, it was the same demeanor. I've bailed on sales, asked for lower prices, questioned his legitimacy, but he's never tried hard to convince me to buy anything from him.

Of course this isn't an exhaustive list of reasons why I have a really hard time believing he's a scammer, but I guess it communicates my reasons clear enough.

Screw that Michael Hernia person too. Fakes invoices and goes around selling things for profit. Good that person got banned. Even if their previous sales weren't "proper" scams, a scam was coming from them sooner or later anyways. A person who comes here for the sake of profit, while using multiple identities, is not going to last long before their own greed compels them to commit crime.

[rardier]

First i don t accuse JMR Antonhy to be a scam, i suspect him to be a scam or fraud, and i m not comfortable nor happy with that, but there are red flags...red flags that even oeksound is rising.
But JMR Antonhy is right, a red flag is not a proof, but what JMR Antonhy / FakeNatty are saying are goods points , but only statements ,for example who knows how much time do it takes to revoke a licence and there s also a chance than fraudulent licence won t be revoked?
Is there way to check that there s no dispute on your paypal account?
and if it s a scam can a scammer have multiple paypal account?
It s not a legal court, nobody is judge here (except the admin maybe) but try to be at buyer place , and i am trying to be at yours .
I saw on knobcloud there a kind of safety protocol https://knobcloud.com/information, maybe try to use that kind of check.

[JMR Antonhy]

Hi,
this is my last post in this discussion. I don't want to spend one of my limited days off and Poland's national holiday like this. : )

I know how much time takes to revoke a license and I'll try to explain.
Imagine you woke up in the morning, checked your smartphone and you noticed that you just purchased (for example) Komplete 14 Ultimate for $1200. The only problem is you're not even a musician.
How long will take to report this case to your bank? Probably not more than 1 month?
Fraudulent licenses don't fall from space. Someone has to steal a credit card and use it... And real owner notice it and report, it's logical.

When it comes to multiple Paypal account, as far I know, it's impossible to create few accounts under one personality.
But it's even not my case, because I use one, my real PayPal account and all buyers can confirm that.

I will also send you screenshots from my Paypal confirming that I haven't had any dispute. I hope you're good guy, cause I don't want to public my first and last name for strangers. Of course buyers always see it.

And last, but not least...
I won't say what I think about knobcloud.
But when will people understand that this is all huge bussiness?
Knobcloud makes money on users, VI and KVR the same (I hope admin will forgive me lol).
You mentioned about red flag from Oeksound. I didn't miss it. I really appreciate their work, their products are extremely good.
But if you want to earn money, would you choose to earn $200 (situation when someone buys you product from you official site) or - let's say - $100 (situation when someone buys your product from retailer or reseller). Because I hope you noticed the fact that plugins cost the same price on official sites and retailer sites like Plugin Boutique, Sweetwater, JRR. Morover! These are very often cheaper than on official sites. Look now at AudioDeluxe, check Softube Transient Shaper on their site and official Softube site and compare prices. And I'm just pointing out that distributors and retailers don't do that because it's their life mission. They also make money.

How do you think, what's THE REAL value of the software you buy? Have you ever seen 50% or 70% off gear? Maybe it happens very, very rarely, but I doubt it. And now, have you ever seen 50% or 70% off software? If you follow music production industry, you can see it everyday. The question is - why?

Regards,
Bartosz.

[rardier]

good argumentation,
i ask for zoom meeting when you have time, and if you are what you claim you are, i will give you an extra 10$ for the soothe plugin i d like to buy for the annoying noise i might be doing , plus my apologize, plus my highly recommendation (8 years here without any trouble) that worths what it worths

[rardier]

JMR Antonhy..i really like this guy, legit, i spoke with him with cam on , he shows me his id card, i sincerely apologize to have put dirty on your name...

[rardier]

he s passionate about music, plugins, and audio engineering..so sorry again

[FakeNatty]

$10 is hardly enough to compensate for the trouble you caused the innocent person.

It's ridiculously insincere how you can just "apologize" to someone after all this witch hunting. When you suspected him as a scammer, there wasn't any of this charitable consideration.

But you get to falsely accuse a person and force them to show you their ID as proof of innocence?

You want cheap plugins but isn't willing to handle the work to figure out the business behind it. Instead you just demand demand demand. Accuse accuse accuse.

And when you're proven wrong about your accusation, "Here is $10 and sorry, oops. Sorry again".

That's it? So easy for you to just apologize your false accusations, but it's much harder for someone else to prove themselves just so YOU get to buy some plugins at a discount.

I'm not saying you're not sorry, but how sorry you feel inside your head doesn't justify how much inconvenience and trouble you've brought him. Feeling more sorry doesn't redeem the false accusation any more. You want to apologize? Give him at least another $20 to show you're sincerely sorry, that is if you think a few bills is enough to undo the damages.

[JMR Antonhy]

Thanks @rardier for really friendly talk and understanding. Thanks @FakeNatty for your support and no doubts in a difficult moment.
But I don't need any kind of compensation, really. I'm glad that situation has been clarified and no one has any doubts.
Be careful with your second-hand purchases, but be careful with suspicions too. Good luck!