Unmasking Sean: The internet confidence trickster.

In the niche world of Retro Computing, where enthusiasts tinker with vintage hardware and reminisce about pixelated adventures, a shadowy figure has left an indelible mark. His name? Sean, aka SeanRox aka Geek with Social Skills—a master of deception, whose scams have reverberated through out many retro communities.

Sean's MO the key elements of his confidence scams:

Infiltration: Sean insinuates himself into retro computing communities, forums, and gatherings. He adopts various aliases, blending seamlessly with the crowd.

Ingratiate himself with higher powers: Sean will often use his charm to get buddy buddy and in good standing with the perceived leadership of different retro communities, he will often do small deals that go well, trades or sales all to boost his social credit amongst the group all the while like Moby Dick he searches for his whales. Sean also likes to talk up his importance and will often name drop famous Youtubers who are his "Close Personal Friends" or other famous technology celebrities. Don't be fooled, these are fake or parasocial relationships only to gather more "social cache" for Sean. 

Illusion of Authenticity: Sean creates an aura of legitimacy. Whether selling rare arcade cabinets or vintage Macintosh computers or as a "Subject Matter Expect" he meticulously presents his wares as quality and they always have some made up backstory, like his neighbour needed help selling a rare retro computer etc. 

Digital Sleight of Hand: Sean also likes to sell or trade, he will often have just the item you are looking for and is willing to trade it for a lesser item or sell it for an amazing unbeatable price. Sean’s scams often involve subtle substitutions. He will often attempt to placate a victim with lesser items always promising the better items will arrive eventually....but they never do.

Always Tomorrow Always Friday: Sean always has an excuse, always strings you along, if you question it he has a story, normally a woe is me tale, all in an attempt to get more time to kick the can just a bit farther down the road before his scam is found out.

Vanishing Act: When suspicion mounts, Sean disappears. If you show any sign of being upset at him or he realizes the jig is up or that his stories no longer held water he will ghost you. He then leaves behind a wake of disillusioned victims, struggling to reconcile their feelings of betrayal and monetary or material loss. 

Arcade Scams in the Early 2000s

Sean’s exploits in the early 2000s were akin to a digital heist. His target? Arcade game collectors.

The Cabinet Shell Game: Sean acquired rare arcade cabinets, meticulously restored them, and sold them to unsuspecting collectors. But beneath the polished veneer lay a cruel twist: Sean had swapped out the original ROMs for Pong clones. The collectors revealed in their “authentic” finds, blissfully unaware of the digital sleight of hand.

The Smoke and Mirrors: Sean’s scams often involved smoke and mirrors. He’d create an illusion of authenticity, drawing collectors into his web. The allure of rare cabinets clouded their judgment, and Sean capitalized on their enthusiasm.

Sean would spend time in jail for his Arcade fraud in the early 2000s but would have it purged from his record all part of his plan to continue his malicious ways.

The Coleco Chameleon Debacle

The Coleco Chameleon was touted as a retro gaming console that would evoke nostalgia and change the retro video game scene. Sean, under the guise of legitimacy as an FPGA programmer, played a pivotal role in its promotion and "Design". Until attendees at Toy Fair noticed something amiss—the Chameleon console appeared to be little more than a Super Famicom clone taped inside an Atari Jaguar console shell. The whole house of cards fell shortly afterwards and Sean exited stage right with the cash he got for his "Programming" work and was not heard from again.

The Macintosh Friends Retro Community Scams

Over the past two years Sean has finked his way into the Macintosh Retro Community specifically the Macintosh Friends Discord server. Where over the course of that time he befriended and built "Social Cache" with some of the top members and leaders, doing successful trades and a few low risk sales all the while searching for those whales he could exploit. He was able to scam one member out of over $6300 as well as some members being scammed out a few hundred dollars or scammed with some terrible trades that always favoured Sean.

This all came to a head in early 2024 when group members began to piece together the confidence scam that was unfolding. It was decided then and there enough is an enough and that we had to put a stop to Sean.

Our Stories

We decided the best course of action was to get the word out but to do it authentically and without any ambiguity. Our stories had to be just that ours no hearsay no conjecture no friend of a friend we had to share exactly what happened to us. So below you will fine Ron of Ron's Computer Videos story, Dave of Dave's Vintage Apple Techs story as well as Frank and Steve's stories which we covered on Olde World Tech Friday. We also included some materials we promised to make public on the stream with Frank and Steve which covers some text messages as well as images of the Amiga 4000 tower in question. 

For anyone who might also have a story about Sean that they would like to share, please reach out to us here at DFWR or reach out to any of the YouTube channels mentioned above, we will be collecting them and providing them (if you agree) to the appropriate authorities . For anyone reading this who hasn't had to deal with Sean directly but would like more information, please Google the following search terms "Geek with Social Skills Scammer" "SeanRox Scam" "Sean Commodore Scammer" "Sean Coleco Chameleon Scam". And for Sean, who we know if going to be reading this, this is the end of the line buddy, we are not going to let you hurt anyone in any community ever again.

Remember, fellow enthusiasts: “All that glitters is not a genuine ROM cartridge.” 🕹️🍌