What the hell happened?

During the summer of 2022, Steven Salmon, of Sandy OR, defrauded at least 25 members of the arcade video game collecting community out of over $250,000 from the "sale" of over 70 video games and parts. Steven accomplished this scam by dragging out the “sale” for over 5 months, assigning blame to events such as shipping delays due to the COVID pandemic, a damaged trailer, a warehouse "fire", insurance delays, and buyers' refusal to accept substitute games of lower quality and value. Steven values his online anonymity and privacy (the photo above, his reflection in a game photo, is the best quality picture available), which, in part, allowed this scam to occur. Steven was assisted in this scam, in some form, by his friend Kris Donohoo. After 6+ months, Steven repaid and/or sent games (mostly substitutes) to the majority of buyers, but some are still owed. Steven and his scam are documented here, in detail, to prevent this from happening to others and to assist the remaining buyers (including those that may be unknown at this time) with collecting full refunds or receipt of the games for which they paid.

Any and all financial interactions with Steven Salmon should be avoided. 

Documentation of this fiasco is divided into 7 sections:

The Scam - Detailing the games Steven "sold" & payment method, transportation delays and the "fire"

Continuing the Lies - Steven keeps 'em going long after the "fire" (alles klar, herr kommissar?)

Turning a Corner - Steven realizes he cannot keep both the games and the money for much longer

The End? Not Quite - Some buyers are still owed & Steven finds a front man to sell his games

Why? - Speculation as to the motives for Steven appropriating over a quarter of a million dollars

Prevention - Tips to reduce the risk of this happening again

Updates - Latest update 11/23/23 - Steven stiffs another contractor, could be trouble. Kris lists another Steven game.