Industrial Surplus Buying Reports & Reviews (2)
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SCAMPULSE
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Type of a scam Fake Check/Money Order
He asked that since he was in town (Grants NM from Billings MT), could he get the trucks going to take 2 semi loads of the better spools with #1 copper because he needed to act ASAP to lock in a price because price of copper was doing good.
He showed me his website and he was the owner of Industrial Surplus Buying. He was very knowledgeable, had a very impressive and comprehensive website and named other shut down businesses in the area that he had been working with to purchase recyclables. Because of all of this and the fact that he made the trip down from Montana to meet with other prospect, he got me to trust him. I agreed to release two semi-truck loads without payment and I took a copy of his driver’s license which shows his name as Chad Miller Costello and his address is 6426 Southern Bluffs LN, Billings, MT.
He had the trucks there the next day (10/6/2020) while he was still town and he said he would be back Friday, 10/9/2020 with the cashier’s check for $60,0000 to start and to pick up the last truck load.
On Thursday, 10/8/2020 he contacted me saying he was in Utah (where material was taken to be stripped) and said we might not be able to get #1 copper price and said the best he could do was $1.30 to $1.40 for the steel wrapped copper. However, if he could mix this steel wrapped copper with the better copper he already took from us, he could get us in the price range of $1.52 lb, but I needed to ship that third semi-load so he could mix it at his recycling plant. That’s how he convinced me to release the third semi-truck prior to receiving the initial $60,000 payment because he wasn’t able to get back on Friday, 10/9/2020.
He said he was also interested in purchasing 10,000 ft of 7” pipe casing for $90,000 and needed to act on that ASAP because he had a buyer for it in Texas. I told him we needed to finish dealing with the copper spools and get payment for it first before we deal with the pipe.
Once he got about 125,000+ pounds of material, the excuses started:
• Mother was in the hospital and he didn’t leave her bedside for a week
• On 10/20/2020 he said his workers were still working on stripping and mixing the material and he would pay us the full amount at the same time. I told him to wire the $60,000 now and we would settle-up on the rest once everything was mixed
• On 10/22/2020 I texted him to ask for payment again and reminded him it has been 2 weeks since he said he would have the initial $60,000 to me. He said they were working on the final spool to mix to get us the #1 copper price.
• On the evening of 10/22/2020 he contacted me and said the work got delayed because of a snowstorm and would need a little more time.
• I contacted him on 10/28/2020 and he said his wife and daughter were in a very bad car accident and were in the hospital in the ICU and asked for time to deal with his family. On 10/29/2020 he said he never left the hospital and asked to please bear with him because this is not the way he does business. We wished him and his family well and said we would wait until the following week
• I contacted him on 11/2/2020 asking for payment and asked if he needed our wire instruction again. He said he would have his office work in it. His wife was in a coma and his daughter was having head surgery
• 11/3/2020 we did not receive payment so I asked about getting money by Thursday, 11/5/2020 or if we could deal with someone else in his office, like maybe his brother. He replied on 11/4/2020 saying he had not left the hospital, but would get his office to get on it ASAP. We asked how his family was doing and he said not good. The baby was recovering, but his wife was in bad shape.
• On 11/7/2020 he sent text saying his brother would be in on Friday and would settle up with us on the following Monday, 11/9/2020. We asked him what the final amount was (above the $60,000 to start) and asked for his brother’s name
• On 11/9/2020 he said he had no clue what the final amount was and his brother is Christopher Costello. He said his wife was on life support
• On 11/17/2020 I texted him to let him know we hadn’t heard from his brother and asked what excuse he was going to give now because we have been waiting six weeks for payment. He did not respond so I sent him another text and told him we were going to have to take legal action
• He sent a text on 11/17/2020 saying they would have it taken care of. He said his wife passed away on Sunday (which would have been 11/15/2020) and he would settle up by 11/30/2020 and we did not need to take legal action as this would cause further delays in getting us our money.
• On 11/30/2020 I texted him asking to get together to settle up since we hadn’t received payment. His response was “yes”
• I texted him on 12/4/2020 with no response. On 12/5/2020 he said we would get together on Tuesday, 12/8/2020 and I asked him what time and he did not respond.
• I called him Tuesday morning, 12/8/2020 and he did not answer his phone so I texted him telling him we’ve been waiting too long and I was going to take legal action and also report him to the Attorney General’s Office (in NM, MT and UT), the Better Business Bureau and the FTC. I told him he’s running a scam and I’ve been doing some research on him and found troubling information about him and some family members.
• On 12/11/2020 he texted and said because we threatened him with a lawsuit, we will now only get $0.47 per lb and we would need to deal with his lawyer. He wanted us to send something on our letterhead showing the material we sold to him. I said we would not do that because he hasn’t paid us for anything. I told him he needs to send us the paperwork of the total weight and price and if we agree we will sign and then he can settle up with payment. We did not hear back from him
• On 12/16/2020 he sent a text saying if we haven’t got the lawyers involved, he has the money ready to send. I replied that no one else was involved and told him to send the figure to see if I agree. I have not heard back from him.
After the start all of these excuses and not sure what to believe, we started doing more research on Chad Costello.
It appears he owned another company in Billings. MT, A-1 Surplus Recycling with an F rating with the Better Business Bureau and a similar complaint filed on 11/16/2018 but at a much lower dollar amount ($8,400). He claims this isn’t him and he never owned that business.
We also tried to find information on his wife’s passing, but could not find an obituary, so we don’t even know if that’s true. In looking for her obituary, we came across a record for Priscilla Hope Costello (Priscilla Uanno) with the same address as Chad Costello, showing that she was an inmate and had lawsuits, liens or bankruptcies. Of course, this is from the internet, so we are not sure what is true.
We also found information on www.justice.gov showing on 12/12/2012, Chad Miller Costello of Billings, MT was sentenced by Federal District Court on 1/11/2012, for fraud using access device and aiding and abetting. He received 3 years probation, with the first four months in the location monitoring program and was ordered to pay $61,028.52 in restitution. His brother, Eric Miller Costello was a co-defendant and received 2 years probation and was ordered to pay restitution, jointly and severally, with Chad Costello, in the amount of $15,103.20. The case was investigated by U.S. Secret Service.
When I told Chad we had done further research on him and found he has been in trouble before, he said I don’t know what I’m talking about and he’s never been in trouble before.