Dave,
Man, this is one of those deals that you had no choice but to trust if you wanted to deal. Unless a guy has x-ray vision then there is no way to inspect it, just had to take the mans word for it, unfortunately it didn't work out. But you are doing the right thing by letting us know about a crooked deal that went down, maybe your misfortune will keep someone else out of the ky jelly jar!
Later