Over the course of the last couple weeks, a person by the name of Jon Tachiera has made 16 posts about 19 chips/tokens he has for sale. He has used two different email addresses in his posts: JTachiera@aol.com and CASINOCHIPS25@aol.com . He has been asking about the prices of the chips and has asked for people to make offers on the chips he has for sale. In his group of chips are a $1 Barney's - horseshoe mold and a $5 Mint (canceled) - horseshoe mold chip. These are two really nice chips and are by far the best chips in the group. I have seen scans of the chips/tokens. I made an offer for the entire lot and he accepted my offer. We exchanged a few emails about how we were going to complete the transaction and he called me to finalize our discussion. The phone number he called from was 925-895-3803. We decided to use PayPal to complete the transaction (which I agreed too). While speaking with Jon on the phone, I got the feeling that he was a nice guy who found some great chips. I asked him for his address (which he provided). I wanted his address just in case something went wrong and I needed another way to contact him. Before ending our call, I told him I would send payment via PayPal later that day or the next morning. He said that was fine and we had our deal done.

After hanging up with him, I began thinking that using PayPal for this transaction was completely safe for him (because he would have the money as soon as I sent it to him) but it gave me little to no protection in the case he did not send the chips. Before sending my payment, I did a little research. I traced his phone number to Danville, CA (which is probably legitimate because he said he lived in San Ramon, CA). Next, I searched for his address

18000 San Ramon Blvd.
San Ramon, CA 94583

I did not find this exact address but I did locate an 18000 San Ramon Valley Blvd. address. I figured this must be the address he meant. This address belongs to a Homestead Studio Suites extended stay hotel. Now, there are red flags going up everywhere making this look like a scam. I continue to research but do not find anything more other than he sells sports cards. Then, I remember a comment he made while we were talking on the phone. He stated he would send the chips out two to three days after I made payment because he wanted the funds to show-up in his bank account before sending the chips. Also, he wanted me to pay for the insurance (not a big deal but for the amount of the transaction, he should have paid for the insurance). Now, I am truely convinced he trying to scam me.

With all my concerns, I email him but I do not tell him what I have found from my research. I state that he is fully protected using PayPal but I have no protection. I recommended to him that he send the chips using the Post Office's Collect on Delivery (COD) method. I explain that he is completely protected because the chips are insured and I cannot take possession of the chips until I pay the post office for them. Once I pay for them, the post office sends the money to him using a postal money order. This method gives both parties complete protection against a scam.

It has been nearly a week now since I sent him my last email stating we needed to us COD. I have not heard from him since I sent the email. I want to believe he was not going to scam me but from everything I have found and things he has said leads directly to a scam. I would have liked to add these chips to my collection but I will wait until I get a deal that does not smell of a scam. I am posting this to inform other chippers of my findings. My findings in no way mean that Jon was trying to scam anyone but they raise numerous red flags that make the deal smell like a scam.

Sorry for the long post. I just want everyone to have the information.
Luke LM-3867-175