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Who are the guys that show up and pay way too much for your scrap?

StreetSpeed

Hot Rolled
Joined
Oct 15, 2008
Location
NY
Usually two of them, usually of Latin descent. Usually rolling in a brand new $70,000 dualie pick up with a trailer attached with out of state plates. Usually willing to pay you twice as much as your brass wire is worth. Then they'll look around your scrap rack, and seem to be able to sniff out your inconel, titanium, and other exotic alloys. We usually tell em' thanks no thanks, but once we took them up on their offer for super over payment on our brass wire, and off they went.

We used to see these guys a few times a year, but I don't think I've seen anyone in a year or two. Anyone know what the angle is here? Seems like an odd way to launder money, and the bills they gave us were not counterfeit. Am I the only one who's experienced this?
 
They been around here too, but not in a while. I never talked prices with them, just told them I brought all my chips to the scrap man last week and didn't have anything right now.
 
we see them from time to time as well looking for our stainless scrap. what i'm told by our regular reputable scrap merchants is that these guys buys your good stuff and then fill a tote with garbage material at the bottom, and then cover their garbage with your good expensive scrap. whether this is true or not, thats what i'm told. it seems plausible and in this neck of the woods, they aren't latin, but of middle eastern dissent.
 
How do they get away with covering crap material with good material ?
I thought places had a way of checking with maybe a magnet or some chemicals or something...

So when they take a bunch of metal, they only look at whats on top and ass-u-me its all the same ?
 
They have been here too. Two brothers with a huge roll of cash. One heavy, one slender. We did business once, and I didn't get a warm fuzzy feeling. Haven't seen them in about 9 months. I couldn't figure them out either. If a deal looks too good ...... Not worth the worry to me. RJT
 
I've dealt with this type, you talk with them once and they think that they can come into your shop whenever the want and poke around.
The ones that really piss me off are the guys who come into your shop and tell you they will take all your scrap for free and wont even charge you a removal fee like they are doing you a huge favor.:toetap:

jason,
 
Also they have struck here. Came by looking at a 1977 New Yorker shell then the guy told me in broken english that they wait for it to get cold fill the trunk up with water then it freezes. they then can get more money out of the shell. How much do they need? The car weighs 500,000,000,000 pounds with out drivetrain.
 
Yep, money laundering is my guess.

Here in Indy, there is a large, morbidly obese character that lumbers into the auction, and pays ABOVE RETAIL for copper wire.

He is notorious for doing that, and refusing to sell it to others, after the auction.

Why money laundering?

The receipts aren't itemized or quantified.

You just need to pay a ridiculous price, and "double your money".

"Everbody knows him" (Notorious, public knowledge, etc)

The college-types that get inducted into federal agencies most likely KNOW NOTHING ABOUT SCRAP METAL, nothing about getting their hands dirty, and they don't know anybody in their circle of friends, family, etc that would know, either.

And the auctioneers have a conflict of interest. They might know, but they aren't talking.

Don't forget, the auctioneers might have something to hide, also.
 
How do they get away with covering crap material with good material ?
I thought places had a way of checking with maybe a magnet or some chemicals or something...

So when they take a bunch of metal, they only look at whats on top and ass-u-me its all the same ?

Exactly. The scrappies I've dealt with were all too crafty to let someone get away with that. Don't try to cheat a cheater, y'know?
 
My guess is they have loads of stolen scrap, and they need to purchase some "legit" scrap to sell along with it to create the illusion of a legit business.

Well that, and money laundering.
 
Those kind came around a shop that I worked at about 3 years ago. They kept looking around and washing their hands ( they didn't touch anything dirty?) we called them gypsies after they left.

The last time they came in there was a guy in the back seat that looked like Cheech Marin. We had a clean up boy that yelled out " Hey there's Cheech".

Cheech rolled the window up fast. After they left, about 2 days later, all 3 of our central air units were stolen from in the alley.:skep::toetap:

That was the last time we ever saw them.


JAckal
 
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I was gunna say something about a likey "scouting expedition".

Same thing happens sometimes from the barn (bin, leg) painter crews. Not the crew as a whole, but it only takes one bad apple in the bunch to "moonlight".




northwest ARK

Kind of a hefty jaunt from East LA eh?



-----------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
we see them from time to time as well looking for our stainless scrap. what i'm told by our regular reputable scrap merchants is that these guys buys your good stuff and then fill a tote with garbage material at the bottom, and then cover their garbage with your good expensive scrap. whether this is true or not, thats what i'm told. it seems plausible and in this neck of the woods, they aren't latin, but of middle eastern dissent.

I think we have seen the same guys!

Jeff

I think we get the same guys here too. My dad deals with them. They do seem to pay over market rate for stainless. It never smelled right to me. I know a box of brass drops disappeared the same day we sold them some scrap stainless. :skep:

-Aaron
 
That's exactly what's going on... scouting! Or, if you're dumb enough to leave them scrounging on their own, they'll even take the good useable stuff that you told them not to, right when you turn your back. If that doesn't work, believe they'll be back in the cover of darkness.
 
Time for a true tale...
Friend of mine had a shop in Philly, and he used to store a few bars of Alum outside the building along side the building, not obvious to anyone passing by as it was inside the gate. Every once in a while he would notice a bar missing... so he calls the Philly cops who come out and take the report. And they said they would look into it. Well, it happened again and and that ticked him off to the point that he decided to sit in the shop at night with the shotgun. Sure enough a car backs into the driveway and he hears the gate open and the car backing up more... A little time passes and he hits the light switch on the spotlight he rigged up and pointed the shotgun at the 2.... They said, wooa it's us, we're investigating.... bla bla bla...put the gun down... No way says my friend, drop yours and put keep your hands up... Your the robbers...dirty cops with one bar allready stuck in THEIR PRIVATE STATIONWAGON.... Joe pressed charges and got them fired, not sure how much time they did...

That was it for him, he moved the shop out of Philly...
 
There are several teams of foreign scrap buyers that come through here. One is from Atlanta, and the other from Florida, or so they say. Real pushy types that refuse to take no for an answer, they are checking out everything they can see. One local business had a break-in with $80,000+ of stuff stolen, shortly after doing some business with these scrappies.. No proof, but plenty of reasons to suspect them.
 
Time for a true tale.. They said, wooa it's us, we're investigating.... bla bla bla...put the gun down... No way says my friend, drop yours and put keep your hands up... Your the robbers...dirty cops with one bar allready stuck in THEIR PRIVATE STATIONWAGON.... Joe pressed charges and got them fired, not sure how much time they did...

That was it for him, he moved the shop out of Philly...


Philly cops ARE notorious. Not necessarily for THEFT, but other crooked stuff.

Jeff
 








 
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