This reminds me, at least loosely, about a story that happened in the 1:18 military world... A guy scammed a ton of people out of money and they banned together via the forum for the hobby to get him, and ultimately they did. I think the guy even did a little jail time, and some of the people's items were recovered. Perhaps a great many items actually.
I didn't keep tabs on it because I didn't get involved and hadn't dealt with the guy, but it seemed to me the hammer really dropped and a lot of people left happy from the situation.