Alleged skateboard scam costs company thousands

Wilmington, N.C. (WWAY) – A Natural MFG customer emailed the WWAY newsroom, saying he’d been scammed out of thousands of dollars.

Our investigation found he may not be the only one.

Owned and operated in the Port City, Natural MFG make skateboard decks, that’s the part you ride on, for companies across the country.

Some customers are saying though all they’re really doing is making off with peoples hard earned cash.

“It’s hard to sleep at night knowing what this guy has done to me and what he’s done to other people,” said Brandon Bryant who runs a long board company out of Oklahoma City.

He says he sent Natural MFG. a down payment of more than $3,400 to have boards made for his company. That was 8 months ago and as of today he says he’s gotten nothing but the run around.

“You know 8 months I’ve been dealing with this,” Bryant said, “I wake up every morning, essentially pissed off at the world, you know cause this guy has my money and I can’t get it back and there’s nothing I can do.”

So he emailed WWAY and we started looking into it.

It turns out several customers of Natural MFG have reported the same issues.

Companies getting no product, no response and Natural MFG. making off with their money.

We attempted to ask Natural MFG.’s owner, Butch Maultsby, about this and though he didn’t want his face on camera he had something to say

“I’m a solid business that pays taxes in this county,” Maultsby said, “and runs a solid business that employs 8 people, we’re good for this community, we’re taking care of these people who are unhappy and we’re moving on.

He wouldn’t let our cameras in side though… And when we asked specifically about bryants claim…

“We’ve got a wire set up for him for $3,129 and we’re getting squared away.”
“So you’re sending him his money back,” I asked?
“That’s correct,” he responded.

When we asked Bryant about Maultsby’s claim, he said it wasn’t true.

After we left he said Maultsby called him, “(he) Basically was begging me to call you guys and tell y’all not to air the story that he would get me my money tomorrow,” said Bryant.

“He and I were working on getting the money back, and I wasn’t even concerned with the media,” Maultsby claimed, “he said something about that, I said look man you need to leave my family out of it.”

“Well, have you stopped to think about what my family’s gone through and you’ve put us through,” Bryant asked?

Bryant says he’s not sure if he’ll get his money or not but he wants people to be aware of what he’s been through.