Balls_tothe_Walls (Heath Helton) is a scammer

[Cvrobinson]

I'm buying and trading knives. I have never posted outside of the knife trade/sale section till now, but I read a lot of other sections. And no, I'm not part of his scam. Once again, I ask where the proof is that he stole it. Not suspicion, not likelihood, but concrete, hard, cold, proof.

Fair enough
And that's why BF has an ignore feature
Congrats on your participation

 

[Postlapsaria]

As you can see, the knife turned out not to be the same one that was purportedly 'stolen'. So, how have you come to the conclusion that it is still stolen?
Dude, you are really, seriously, just being antagonistic to anyone on this thread who isn't throwing crap at Helton.

I'm not even saying people should trust Heath, just don't trash talk him when he's potentially working towards making people whole. There's no evidence that he's a scammer, just suspicion.
Be skeptical about him, don't trade with him, that's all good and fair, but you and others already decided that there is NO CHANCE, in any conceivable way, that this guy is just really unlucky, and is doing his best to make things right.

Cutting off communication here is a pretty clear indication he is not doing his best to make things right. He is also actively trading knives in Reddit. Those knives, assuming they are not stolen, could be sold so he could return funds to his victims. Actions speak louder than words.

In addition, there is evidence, based on other users' experiences, that he could have avoided this whole situation by promptly flagging transactions as legitimate up front.

He was granted benefit of the doubt here while he was actively responding. He has since lost that right.

 

[Cvrobinson]

I received my knife a while ago, it was part of a trade that was arranged before the fiasco, but wasn't shipped till after. The chargeback has yet to be repaid though. This isn't proof of anything either way, I'm just updating the thread on my interactions with Heath.

So your owed money?
Seems his scam has reached 4 countries now

 

[variant2]

I'm buying and trading knives. I have never posted outside of the knife trade/sale section till now, but I read a lot of other sections. And no, I'm not part of his scam. Once again, I ask where the proof is that he stole it. Not suspicion, not likelihood, but concrete, hard, cold, proof.

You can take a look at my instagram. I live in Singapore, I have a life, and I have social media and business outside of knives. Heath Helton is just a guy who I've traded with. I say that people should be considered innocent until proven guilty, but everyone else seems to think that a gut feeling or suspicion is enough. Gut and suspicion are enough to decide not to trade with the guy, and to decide to warn people that there's potential danger, but not enough to condemn a guy for certain.

From reading this thread alone, he purchased a knife from a member (Jake) of this forum. After receiving said knife, he later files a dispute where the seller gets shafted of his money. Heath now has free custom knife on his hands. Heath then goes on to sell that knife overseas to Australia to Aaron. Free money makes people do stupid shit.

1) If Heath truly was a stand up guy, he wouldn't have flagged Jake's transaction for dispute.
2) If Heath truly was a stand up guy, he wouldn't have resold that knife to Aaron.
3) If Heath truly was a stand up guy, he could have sent the money he received from Aaron and sent it to Jake.
4) If Heath truly was a stand up guy, he wouldn't have repeated this scenario with many other persons.

 

[Peter Hartwig]

From reading this thread alone, he purchased a knife from a member (Jake) of this forum. After receiving said knife, he later files a dispute where the seller gets shafted of his money. Heath now has free custom knife on his hands. Heath then goes on to sell that knife overseas to Australia to Aaron. Free money makes people do stupid shit.

1) If Heath truly was a stand up guy, he wouldn't have flagged Jake's transaction for dispute.
2) If Heath truly was a stand up guy, he wouldn't have resold that knife to Aaron.
3) If Heath truly was a stand up guy, he could have sent the money he received from Aaron and sent it to Jake.
4) If Heath truly was a stand up guy, he wouldn't have repeated this scenario with many other persons.

Correction-Jake's knife didn't turn out to be the knife that went to Aaron, but Balls indicated it was from someone else , he just wasn't sure who at the time, and if he was paying back with the money Aaron gave him he would pay that owner.
You can make your own conclusion if Balls is knowingly selling knives that he hasn't paid for, but he doesn't seem to be challenging it.

 

[Lance Leon]

I was neutral on Heath. I initially gave my update on this thread, and people started calling me naive, stupid, etc, for believing he'd do what he promised. So far, he's done the first of the two things he said he would. Given semi-positive experiences with Heath, and completely negative experiences with the respondents on this thread (not everyone, of course), I hope you can see why I have tried to be a devil's advocate of sorts. I do sympathize; there is definitely a lot of pain and anger surrounding Helton, I myself have lost money. But I hope you guys can see where I'm coming from.

 

[variant2]

Correction-Jakes knife didn't turn out to be the knife that went to Aaron, but Balls indicated it was from someone else , he just wasn't sure who at the time, and if he was paying back with the money Aaron gave him he would pay that owner.
You can make your own conclusion if Balls is knowingly selling knives that he hasn't paid for, but he doesn't seem to be challenging it.

Thanks for the correction -- must have missed that post.

Regardless, nothing much changes from my previous post aside from removing Aaron's name. Heath has had multiple options to make things right but he chose to keep screwing over the sellers while keeping their goods. He alone admitted that the rabbit hole runs 5 figures deep. That's quite the feat in itself.

 

[JohnWE]

I was neutral on Heath. I initially gave my update on this thread, and people started calling me naive, stupid, etc, for believing he'd do what he promised. So far, he's done the first of the two things he said he would. Given semi-positive experiences with Heath, and completely negative experiences with the respondents on this thread (not everyone, of course), I hope you can see why I have tried to be a devil's advocate of sorts. I do sympathize; there is definitely a lot of pain and anger surrounding Helton, I myself have lost money. But I hope you guys can see where I'm coming from.

I want to understand what you're saying.

You admit that you've lost money in your dealings with Mr. Helton. I presume that means that you've either paid for something that you didn't receive or you had funds taken from you in some form. Regardless, you suffered a financial loss at the hands of him. You call that a "semi-positive" experience.

On the other hand, you claim to have had completely negative experiences from those of us who commented in this thread from whom you haven't suffered any financial loss from whatsoever?

And you wonder why people are questioning your advocacy?

I don't want to put words in your mouth, is that an accurate description of what you've experienced here?

 

[Jake_Lucas]

Yes Aaron and I communicated privately after he said he received a PT from Heath, because of the timing and relative rarity of the knife I thought (cynically) it MUST have been my PT. We were both interested in finding out if it was the same knife as that would have helped solidify the fears of a scam. It was not the same PT, so that left us in the same place as before.

Aaron was still in contact with Heath at the time (could still be), and brought my name to Heath’s attention. Heath then responded to a recent DM from me on IG, thanking me for my patience and saying he intends to reimburse me as soon as those funds are available for him (week or two). I pointed out that he number he was offering was higher than our transaction, which he said he would double check. I told him that if he is indeed reimbursing people I would be so very happy to see this whole situation rectified, and mentioned that I am not in dire straights financially as some others may be. That’s where we left off last weekend. I’m still cautiously optimistic.

 

[Aaronfromoz]

Yes Aaron and I communicated privately after he said he received a PT from Heath, because of the timing and relative rarity of the knife I thought (cynically) it MUST have been my PT. We were both interested in finding out if it was the same knife as that would have helped solidify the fears of a scam. It was not the same PT, so that left us in the same place as before.

Aaron was still in contact with Heath at the time (could still be), and brought my name to Heath’s attention. Heath then responded to a recent DM from me on IG, thanking me for my patience and saying he intends to reimburse me as soon as those funds are available for him (week or two). I pointed out that he number he was offering was higher than our transaction, which he said he would double check. I told him that if he is indeed reimbursing people I would be so very happy to see this whole situation rectified, and mentioned that I am not in dire straights financially as some others may be. That’s where we left off last weekend. I’m still cautiously optimistic.

We can hope mate

 

[Aaronfromoz]

This has def turned me off secondary market atm...last couple weeks I've sold a Rassenti small Nirvana, Glenn Waters Kaiken, FRAG SnG and a bunch if Shiros all over the world without a hitch, but the Rockstead Sai, Jeff Parks bones and Starbenza I've bought have been from makers/dealers...sad when our passion/hobby gets messed up by crooks...

 

[Gastonknife]

This whole situation reminds me of what often happens in people's love lives; especially when they are younger. Your girlfriend treats you like crap and somehow you just keep wanting to believe that she loves you. You start to hear some rumors that she is flirting with other guys and you get slightly concerned. She tells you she loves you and it's not true. You are temporarily appeased and want to believe she is being honest. Even some of your friends try and tell you what she is doing, but you don't want to believe it. In fact you get mad at your friends and say they are wrong and are just trying ruin your relationship. Despite the fact that everyone around you has the common sense to put two and two together, you remain well; in a state where someone sucked your brain out of your head. Eventually you catch her in bed with another guy and then your brain returns. You later think - man, what a dumb shmuck I was.

 

[Liberty43]

It's only funny because it's true...good analogy.

This whole situation reminds me of what often happens in people's love lives; especially when they are younger. Your girlfriend treats you like crap and somehow you just keep wanting to believe that she loves you. You start to hear some rumors that she is flirting with other guys and you get slightly concerned. She tells you she loves you and it's not true. You are temporarily appeased and want to believe she is being honest. Even some of your friends try and tell you what she is doing, but you don't want to believe it. In fact you get mad at your friends and say they are wrong and are just trying ruin your relationship. Despite the fact that everyone around you has the common sense to put two and two together, you remain well; in a state where someone sucked your brain out of your head. Eventually you catch her in bed with another guy and then your brain returns. You later think - man, what a dumb shmuck I was.

 

[palonej]

Yes Aaron and I communicated privately after he said he received a PT from Heath, because of the timing and relative rarity of the knife I thought (cynically) it MUST have been my PT. We were both interested in finding out if it was the same knife as that would have helped solidify the fears of a scam. It was not the same PT, so that left us in the same place as before.

Aaron was still in contact with Heath at the time (could still be), and brought my name to Heath’s attention. Heath then responded to a recent DM from me on IG, thanking me for my patience and saying he intends to reimburse me as soon as those funds are available for him (week or two). I pointed out that he number he was offering was higher than our transaction, which he said he would double check. I told him that if he is indeed reimbursing people I would be so very happy to see this whole situation rectified, and mentioned that I am not in dire straights financially as some others may be. That’s where we left off last weekend. I’m still cautiously optimistic.

Having trouble understanding your stance here. It is a fact HH has screwed over many respected members here, for much cash. Then went dark. Irrefutable.
The only reason I see for you to stand up for this slug is that you know, or think, said slug is following this thread and you don’t want to chance him seeing anything negative said by you.
Can’t see any other reason. Hope you get what’s owed to you.
Joe

 

[Jake_Lucas]

Having trouble understanding your stance here. It is a fact HH has screwed over many respected members here, for much cash. Then went dark. Irrefutable.
The only reason I see for you to stand up for this slug is that you know, or think, said slug is following this thread and you don’t want to chance him seeing anything negative said by you.
Can’t see any other reason. Hope you get what’s owed to you.
Joe

Close, but not exactly. I don’t know if Heath is following this thread. Since he is still communicating with me and stating plans to reimburse everyone, my stance is this isn’t over until Heath stops communication with us. I haven’t read every page closely, but didn’t some people get reimbursed by him?

In his last message to me he said he was trying to get through the list of all people who lost money, paying as he can every couple weeks. If my turn comes and I get actual cash sent to my account, I will report back in this thread with that good news in hopes to raise the spirits of those waiting. If he cuts off communication with me, I’ll report that bad news and crush the spirits of us optimistic skeptics. I’m a liaison and a diplomat at the moment.

If my message is unclear I’m sure it’s because I still haven’t given up hope while most have. I’m not making light of the shitty situation and financial hit we’ve been forced into,, but I do find it odd that a successful mere scammer would be still actively listening to the KnifeNuts Podcast and communicating with those who were scammed. Maybe my perspective is less aggressive because I actually lost money in this deal and reimbursement sounds reeeal nice

 

[palonej]

He is NOT communicating with all that have been scammed. That’s what you aren’t seeing.
One member here is out over $1000 and hasn’t heard shit since HH was banned. Read the whole thread.
I am hoping you do get paid, but based on his actions I don’t see it.
Lastly, hope you don’t think I’m busting your chops, just wanted to be clear on your position.
Thanks For the response.
Joe

 

[JJHollowman]

He is NOT communicating with all that have been scammed. That’s what you aren’t seeing.
One member here is out over $1000 and hasn’t heard shit since HH was banned. Read the whole thread.

And how many are out cash or knives and haven't even said anything out of shame of looking foolish? You know there's at least a few, there always are.

 

[palonej]

And how many are out cash or knives and haven't even said anything out of shame of looking foolish? You know there's at least a few, there always are.

Yup. Also a few seemed to just give up and stop posting. He got away with a lot of cash.
Nauseating SOB that is going to have an interesting meeting with Karma.......and since she is such a royal bitch, it’ll be when he least expects it.

 

[Lance Leon]

I want to understand what you're saying.

You admit that you've lost money in your dealings with Mr. Helton. I presume that means that you've either paid for something that you didn't receive or you had funds taken from you in some form. Regardless, you suffered a financial loss at the hands of him. You call that a "semi-positive" experience.

On the other hand, you claim to have had completely negative experiences from those of us who commented in this thread from whom you haven't suffered any financial loss from whatsoever?

And you wonder why people are questioning your advocacy?

I don't want to put words in your mouth, is that an accurate description of what you've experienced here?

I just want to clarify; yes I did lose money, but he'd also been doing good deals with me over the better part of a year. After the chargeback occurred, he kept in contact with me and still followed through with a trade that I assume he had no reason to if he was a scammer. That's what I meant by semi-positive.

As for the negative, I don't want to imply that the people on Bladeforums haven't been good to me, I have enjoyed most of my interactions here. What I meant is that from my perspective, I see Heath as a guy who seems to have gotten into trouble and is doing his best to fix the issue, or at least those are his intentions, and when I came to voice that on this forum, all I received was name calling and suspicion that I was somehow trying to scam people as well.

I understand that this is a sensitive matter, but people seem to think there's not even the slightest possibility that Heath's previous bank is screwing him over. I'm not sending him knives, and I'm not sending him money. I suggest everyone does the same, at least until the entire issue is resolved. However that doesn't mean I agree that we as a community need to be saying this guy is criminal scum who deserves to be threatened with violence, as some posters in this thread have suggested and implied.

I will probably just stop posting updates on the situation, I do not want to risk tarnishing the reputation I am trying to build here and elsewhere. But I'll still stick around to see what happens. Thanks.

 

[palonej]

What you seem to be constantly missing is this was not HH getting into trouble. He STOLE from a bunch of trusting and good people.....PURPOSELY.
Then went dark and stayed dark.
Just because he hasn’t gotten you......yet, is no reason to be posting your positive experience and minimizing the damage done here.
Curious how you’d react if you were out a shit ton of cash. I know I’d want to wring his neck.