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FrozenGate by Avery

Bad News

If this is a scam, the person responsible is impersonating a federal agent, a charge not taken lightly at any level of federal government. This charge likely carries way worse penalties than selling non-compliant lasers. Bill
 





I wonder if this person realizes that impersonating an FDA official is a federal crime.

His misspellings, comma splices, and poor syntax point to a person who does NOT have the education needed to hold Mr. Hewett's position.


;D ;D ;D ;D fda.violations@gmail.com  ;D ;D ;D ;D  
That's one helluva personal email address.

Peace,
dave
 
It looks sloppy, just curious, is there no originating IP?

Id report this ASAP, its obvious that some yo-yo is just trying... :-?

I agree, if this was his personal email, there wouldnt be any mention of his job. The whole secure server thing that Phattwoohie mentioned makes total sense.

But id report the jackass none the less ;D
 
It's bs man. They wouldn't use a gmail account. If it was his personal email, it wouldn't have FDA in the email adresss. If you don't want to do it still, I'd be happy to take the reins.
 
Man, I didn't know the FDA's budget was cut to the point that they've had to resort to using free email services.

I would report it to Google's email abuse system for unlawfully impersonating a federal official as Daguin pointed out.  That way at least the account can possibly be killed.
 
I haven't read this whole threads replies but I would ignore it. Firstly if the emails are serious, ask for proof of who they are! Same thing if someone came up to you in the street claiming to be a police officer, you can still ask them for proof.

Second thing is assuming you are running group buys for diodes then in theory that is legal. Obviously this is a laser forum and people participating in the group buy will highly likely turn them into pointers but once they are sold the buyer can do whatever they want with them. For all anyone else knows you could be selling spare parts so people can repair their disk drives.

Exactly why pointers can be banned but there is absolutly no way that they will be totally banned as people will just build their own.
 
lol? fda-agent@[b][u]gmail.com[/u][/b]... yeah, sure. ::)

And me thought you have stopped the GB because of having fear beein treated for doing trades without commercial lizense or so... (at least here in Germany this is not allowed if you sell more of 2 identical items buyed just for reselling)

/ strange, i remember the name Dan Hewett from somewhere, but i dont know where :-?

// This is what Google says: http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cach...ext+"Dan+Hewett"+fda&cd=5&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=de

What about forwarding your eMail and asking for verify (but cut out the gb info) to the real Dan Hewett?
 
I just woke up and tried to call Dan at his office and its still too early hes not at work right now, but I'm gonna try again in a couple of hours. I won't mention this board or anyones name but I WILL bring it to his attention that someone is using his name in an illegal manner to send out fake emails and I'll give him the gmail account name.

Title 18 U.S.C. § 912 (1994), provides that

Whoever falsely assumes or pretends to be an officer or employee acting under the authority of the United States or any department, agency or officer thereof, and acts as such, or in such pretended character, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both. (250,000 fine)

They are very strict on this, and I will personally forward that email address to the FBI right now. You don't have to ship lasers anymore if you don't want to, but I'll be damned if we gonna sit here and let some punk threaten us over what amounts to nothing more than an adult toy.

If you don't want me to take this any further, you PM me and let me know. Otherwise Im one of those people that will track this person and crucify them to the wall. I'm pretty sure his/her IP address is logged somewhere in that email database and I'm also pretty sure the right authority can track it down.
 
I'd personally be very careful with this guy. He may very well be who he says he is and is giving you a chance personally to stop. I cant say for sure if he is the real guy emailing from a personal gmail account BUT the name and phone number are VERY REAL.

From the Official FDA website http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/ocer/guidance/7386.001.html

"Daniel Hewett  (240) 276-3268  daniel.hewett@fda.hhs.gov HFZ-240 Consumer Safety Officer, laser products"

If you really want to be sure just call him at his offical work number which is real. Simply ask him if he possibly sent you a message from the fda.violations@gmail.com email address. I'm sure he will confirm or deny it. He may very well try to get more information as well so do be careful about what you say if you do call.

Edit - just read above and see that Phatt.. is already trying to call the guy.
 
Phattwoohie said:
I just woke up and tried to call Dan at his office and its still too early hes not at work right now, but I'm gonna try again in a couple of hours. I won't mention this board or anyones name but I WILL bring it to his attention that someone is using his name in an illegal manner to send out fake emails and I'll give him the gmail account name.
I'm pretty sure his/her IP address is logged somewhere in that email database and I'm also pretty sure the right authority can track it down.
Click to expand...

I sent a vague email to the email account asking him to re-send his earlier email to me, because it was truncated. It didn't bounce. The account is real and will be registered to someone. This person isn't very bright.

Peace,
dave
 
Maybe this is how your folks are trying to get you to stop your laser habit.
 
electricmonk9 said:
I think if he actually worked for the FDA he'd email you from work and do his job.  It seems like a lot of work for someone in his position to bargain with people one by one in his FREE TIME instead of just fining them or whatever he's supposed to do.  It also seems a lot like he's threatening you instead of just giving you a warning- bullshit "internet lawyer" stuff.  one more thing- why is his "personal email address" fda.violations@gmail.com???  That just screams fake to me.

In your position though I'd probably do the same thing you did...
Click to expand...


Listen to this man.

You have absolutely nothing to worry about. The FBI doesn't really have a biga$$ headquarter where they have over 9000 employees searching through the internet to see if somebody is doing something illegal.
However, there IS censorship in the interwebs.
 
yobresal said:
Maybe this is how your folks are trying to get you to stop your laser habit.
Click to expand...



LOL, I like that one ;D


Just a thought, if the FDA sends anyone a notice to stop anything, would they not send you a registered letter? I would imagine that you would get a letter in the mail which would have to be signed for, giving confirmation of recipt.

Another idea is that whoever sent this email is most likely a member here :-? Or do you also sell on other forums?
 
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