STOLEN GUITAR ALERT Mayones Regius Core 7 and Sugi DH496C

[mechanevil]

Hi,
I am writing this post to alert everyone to two guitars that were stolen when I relocated for work to India in June 2021.

The guitars were a Mayones Regius Core 7 and a Sugi DH496C. Attaching pictures from my social media account so that you can see what they look like.

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The guitars were bought from users @theguitardudes (Mayones) and @steveng89 on Carousell in February and April 2019, respectively. My user name on Carousell is @mechanevil.

A year later, I spotted it being sold by Guitar Connection in Peninsula Mall, thanks to an alert by a friend. I then made contact with the owner of the store, Kelvin Ho, to explain the situation .

You can see the conversation I had with Kelvin, as well as his conversation with the seller after that.

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No problem with Kelvin, he was honest with me and last we spoke, we were both waiting for the police to finish their investigation.

Please note the use of the word “chain purchase” by the seller. It means one person sold to another person, sold to another, and so on, till it reached Kelvin. Everyone makes money on the way.

I have lost hope of being reunited with these guitars after three years of waiting for the police to help after a complaint was filed. That is why I am finally making a public post about these guitars.

That said, I am still following up with the police. Hope springs eternal.

If anyone needs proof of ownership, you can check with the sellers I mentioned whether I legally acquired the guitars. There are also multiple pictures and videos of the guitars on my Instagram account under user name @mechanevil from before they were stolen.

Also, for the purpose of proof for the police, I shared a copy of my shipping manifest that clearly state that the guitars were in my consignment being shipped to India. I have also shared with them copies of my customer complaint with Chennai customs, and have proof of my complaint with the logistics company.

Just want to let people know that if you spot these guitars, they are stolen goods.

Thanks.

 

[Godspeed64]

That is horrendous. How were they stolen?

 

[mechanevil]

I left Singapore in June 2021 engaging the services of a mover, Interem Relocations, based in India, to transport my goods to Bangalore, India. This included a number of guitars, amps and other musical gear.

Interem had a local partner in Singapore, Dawn Relocation, which was responsible for the Singapore leg of the move, including packing and shipping out the items.

I only discovered something was missing in October 2021, when my cargo arrived at my house in Bangalore after three months in transit. If you look at reviews for Dawn Relocation, the company delays shipments quite frequently, for unknown reasons. Other users have also reported thefts of items when moving from Singapore.

Besides the two guitars with hardcases (I foolishly left the papers inside, lesson learnt), a Gruv Gear Stadium bag also went missing. If I recall correctly, there were my prayer items, many of them made out of silver, but I have no way of knowing.

I immediately lodged a police complaint with the Chennai police and customs department, erroneously thinking that the theft must have occurred in India. But the investigations came to nought and I never heard back.

In April 2022, a friend of mine on Carousell told me that my guitars were being sold by Kelvin on the platform. Naturally, I had informed a few of my friends in Singapore on the theft. I had also posted on several international forums that they had been stolen.

I immediately reached out to Kelvin and explained the situation. But while he was sympathetic and said he would hold on to the guitars, I also lodged a police complaint with the Singapore police with the help of my fiancée (and now wife) with documentation.

I have valid proof of ownership of the guitars, including a cargo manifest of the items that were being sent to India. More importantly, I have insurance documents that state that these valuable items were in the cargo.

Insurance fraud is a serious crime, and the items were definitely packed at my house to be sent to India. The cargo manifest is filled out by the packer and mover, specifically to ensure that all items that I have declared in the insurance form are in the cargo.

But it transpired that the guitars did not even leave Singapore.

Notably, when I discovered the guitars being sold, I had immediately notified the logistics company that I had located them and that they should claim ownership as insurance had been paid. The idea was for the insurers to claim the guitars and then for me to return the insurance money, which was about USD$2000 per guitar (if I recall correctly. I have the records and payment advice).

I have records of this communication as well, in case anyone is wondering. Please see this email.

That is why I suspect Interem was involved in the theft of the guitars themselves and then sold it to make a profit. I have records of the communications as proof.

Last I spoke to Kelvin, he had mentioned the difficulty for him as a businessman to hold on to the guitars for much longer. I had pleaded with him to hold on to them while the police was probing the case.

That was a year ago. Not sure if he still has them, but I am waiting to hear from the Singapore police and will take appropriate action as required. Those are stolen goods and buying or selling them is illegal.

 

[mechanevil]

PS: I have a customs stamp that shows when my cargo arrived in India. The guy who sold the guitar to Kelvin said he acquired it in August 2021. That’s even before I received the cargo. And the packing list and insurance documents show that it was to be shipped.

So it was definitely stolen during shipping. That’s a case of insurance fraud, over and above theft.