A man from Ellisville was arrested this week following charges that he tried to scam movie producers from Europe and the U.K. after a Swiss victim contacted Ballwin police.

The man, Martin Bachert, 28, attempted to sell various pieces of audio and video hardware used for film production, namely to buyers in Britain and Switzerland, police said. The hardware allegedly never came, however, prompting one Swiss victim to contact police in Ballwin, where a bank used in the transaction was located.

"This was an interesting case, I have to say," Ballwin Police Lieutenant Kevin Bushery said. "It's a very tight-knit community that this person was trying to defraud."

Bushery said the victim was able to identify Bachert in part because he and another producer who allegedly had been scammed by the Ellisville man both described a similar encounter in an online production forum.

“And the other (buyer) said, ‘That sounds just like what happened to me.’ They compared notes, and it turned out to be the same suspect," Bushery said.

Bachert was booked and released, though St. Louis forensic investigators still are examining computer evidence, Bushery said.