At the start, they made me send them a photocopy of my passport and bank statement before they would accept my order because they were wary of scammers.
This is no joke. I really mean it.[/b]
Maybe you ought to send a copy of that email to the local news station and paper in his home town, and maybe even a copy to the branch office of the FBI...
sounds like this bloke is given himself a blow job. as to your money if you sent it thru google checkout then why can't you put in a complaint about the transaction, i am sure they would have a record of it and get them to chase up your transaction with this dick head. Google being such a high profile company and they offer safe transactions for buyers, i am sure they would not like there name tarnished. So my advice to you is contact google and tell them your story how this person scammed you for money with fake products and used google for the transaction. Don't leave it to long and don't give up until you have exhausted every possible avenue at your dissposal. Good luck.
cheers
darryl
As everyone has stated you really need to contact the FBI. Unlike most countries, ours (The U.S) is very harsh and efficient at catching fraud even if directed to non-U.S citizens and they will most likely be able to find him with ease even if he is using a false name. Also if this guy isn't complete B.S he may fall under conducting organized crime/ racketeering which is probably one of if not the highest persued crimes for the FBI these days.
As for your problem getting your money back, If you used a chargecard through google charge it back. If not google should have some internal dispute system to recover your funds or at least some of them. I mean even terrible paypal has this service...
Don't give up either, I promise that the more time you put in, the more emails and phone calls you make, the better chance you have of recovering your money or putting this guy in legal trouble
you have to be on top of all of this, email them everyday, bug the hell out of them until you get some answers. Even google bug them twice as hard, hang in there and don't back down on anything that's not in your favour. Google being a service ( safe ?? ) you should be jumping all over them to make sure they follow it thru to the bitter end.
good luck were all cheering for you.
cheers
darryl