Proton Moving Company

Yep – still going in – Yamaha C1 on Craigslist, Connersville, Indiana as of 17-NOV-2020. This time the seller is Edwin Jensen. The moving company rep is still George Bloom.

And Bloomington, IN Craigslist – Hallet & Davis Piano listed by Dr. Aretha Manny.

Scammer’s phone 931-531-2038

Scammer’s website [email protected]

Scammer’s address George Bloom, Director, Proton Moving Company, 177 E. Colorado Blvd. Stuite 200, Pasadena, CA 91105

Scammer’s email [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected];

Country United States

Type of a scam Moving

Initial means of contact Email

I saw this ad for a baby grand piano on Craig List, with a similar story as narrated by the previous complainants. “Samuel Joles” (Google shows this person is deceased) was giving away his late wife’s baby grand piano, and he was moving from New Jersey to Delaware. The piano was in “transit” at a warehouse of Proton Moving Company (Director: “George Bloom”). They emailed me to send half ($100) of the moving charges of $200 by Zelle to [email protected], but informed me later that this did not work, and gave a different email address ([email protected]) to try again. Then they requested an insurance payment of $450 to be sent by Zelle to [email protected] I became suspicious and found this website (Scam Pulse) with warnings of this serial scam by Proton Moving Company. I called Zelle and gave them details of all the emails used by Proton Moving Company, and to blacklist them. I also put in a dispute with my bank to have the $100 Zelle transaction cancelled and refunded, but they said this may take 10-45 days. Can someone do the needul to apprehend these culprits as soon as possible? (When I asked ‘George Bloom’ for his Driver’s License, he emailed in reply that it is personal “staff information” and cannot be divulged. I wrote back that he could white-out the License number and date of birth, but did not get a reply.

This scam is alive and well here in Indiana with George Bloom, Director of Proton Moving Company. The owner of the baby grand piano is Eddie Jensen this time. The piano is enroute to Michigan, but can be delivered to me for $450, with half up front through CashApp or Zelle. That is too weird for me so I checked here and found these other stories. Needless to say, I’m not buying. Beware!

10/19/2020: George Bloom of Proton Moving Company is currently waiting for me to pay half of the moving charges up front ($225) for a baby grand piano I found on Craig’s List. Yes, this same scam is going on right now. This time it’s in northern CA with the same story of the piano already in transit as part of a whole house move, and the company will deliver the piano to my address for $450. The owner said that it was his late wife’s and she would not want it to be sold, but rather he would give it to me for free. The entire thing seemed suspicious. Thankfully, this site confirmed the unsavoriness of a seemingly attractive offer. Beware of free pianos.

Same thing happened to me in CT. These people are so stupid they keep using same exact scam details. Unless of course it’s been working for them. I bailed as soon as I saw payment terms. It was very sketchy going thru the process, so I was in high alert from tithe start. Someone needs to track these predators down!

Same as the others… Firstly, Proton Moving accepts no American Express, or other credit card, which seemed strange. Secondly, the used Yamaha baby Grand offered sounded too good to be true, so I searched & found this site. George Bloom was the name used at Proton Movers. Thirdly, as the piano was nearby, in Pearland, near Houston, I asked the name and address of the guy giving it away, as all I had was his phone. Never got it. Accepted were Only Cashapp and Zelle, with neither of which I was familiar, or Amazon gift cards, all odd. And, Proton insisted on pictures of the front and back of the gift cards though our plan would have been to have Amazon email the cards to Proton. I just sent to Proton Movers and the phone number of the grieving widower the link to this site. Thank God my wife has better sense than I do and kept raising red flags.

Manuel Adorno had a free Steinway and sons Grand Piano listed on Craigslist. When I contacted him he told me that he was moving and it was already on its way to his new house in Indiana but I could contact Proton Moving Company to have it rerouted to my house in Illinois. I contacted the company through the email [email protected] and they told me they could reroute it for $450 but had to pay half upfront, moving companies corespondents name was George Blooms.
, that is when I decided to talk to my husband about it and he discovered this website with very similar reports as ours.

Still operating under the same scam. Glad I found this site because peoples descriptions are spot on.

Guy on craigslist (named Warren Peterson) is giving away his late wifes baby grand piano and is moving away and he wants it gone. Its already with the moving company where he said they could re-route it. Moving company is not accredited by BBB and they are demanding half the shipping fee up front through Cashapp or Zelle. Thats where I bailed.

Same general experience on Boston Craigslist in mid-September of 2020. The scam is still going using the same playbook.

I was looking for a piano for my son and came across a baby grand. Listed on Craigslist in Zanesville Ohio by a man named John. He claimed it was his late wife’s piano and he was moving to Miami. I asked if I could come see it next week and he said it was on a truck to Miami already and I could call the moving company and have it rerouted and pay the fee. He gave me their email address and phone number. I googled bc it didn’t sound right and came across this website. Glad I did

Apparently they are back at it again. The same thing popped up in the Houston Craigslist section 5/6/2020. This time the man’s name was John Michael and it was the same story about his late wife who passed and he can no longer have it there. He lived in Houston but is moving to Florida. He informed me he already has the delivery people ready and he texted me their info. I knew this was not right so I looked up the moving company he said and here I am. I blocked him and decided to post my experience.

Victim Location 46815

Type of a scam Moving

On the app FreebiesAlerts a baby grand piano was listed as free. rerouted to craigslist for sellers info. seller claimed piano was in transit to miami fla. and i could call moving co to reroute back to indiana and i woud have to pay moving fee. called moving co they said they could reroute but couldnt give me an exact amount but would be no more thatn 250.00 or 300.00 they insisted that i western union 50% upfront and the remaning balance was to be paid in cash upon delivery. this company is not affiliated with ligitament company located in Pasadena Ca.

Victim Location 22302

Type of a scam Moving

The scam starts with a touching story from someone who is offering a free upright piano, owned and played by her late husband. The free upright piano is by Steinway and Sons and was a posting on Craigslist. I responded to the listing on July 30, 2019 via email. The owner Alison posted this ad, her story changed by the way by the time we corresponded via email and texts:

"We offering this upright piano for free. You would need to arrange transport and tuning. The piano was well taken care of, and so it is in great condition. We found this fabulous instrument hiding under a custom cover in a dealers music shop in Key West in 2005. We fell in love with its sound and purchased it for our private studio.

I’ve had two children use this piano for their first couple of years of lessons. This piano is showing it’s age and thus better for a beginner player, or someone who is looking for a piano to properly tune and/or restore."

Allison, contacts me via email with more touching story about the piano and she’s not able to tolerate having the piano around as it reminds her of her late husband. Allison has moved from Baltimore to West Palm Beach and has her late husband’s beloved piano in the care of a moving company, Proton Moving Company, based from West Palm Beach. She provides the information of the moving company via text to me so I can arrange delivery to my address. She never once picked up my phone calls and only communicated via text. The moving company’s head person is George, who called me once and sounded a little suspicious. Once he confirmed that he’s able to route the piano delivery to Alexandria on the way to West Palm Beach, he only commuted mainly via texts and I asked him to email me an invoice. The only form of payment his company accepts are gift cards such Wal-Mart to Wal-Mart transaction and then he agreed to accept Amazon gift cards. He demanded the information behind the gift cards and asked that I scratch them off for verification. At this point, I knew it was a scam when he only accepted gift card payments. I played along to see what else he would say and how else Allison would play into the scam. Since she’s been working with George, I ask her if he would be okay receiving the payment from me at the time of delivery. This went on back and forth for days. On August 7, 2019, I ended the scam by firmly saying that the gift cards or any payments will be given at the time of the safe delivery of the free piano and a long text to the Allison character who would allow me to fall into a scam over her late husband’s beloved piano, which was the hook on this entire scam. The company is non-existent and the address was a residence condominium in West Palm Beach.