Glibness / superficial charm [True for Mike]
Grandiose sense of self-worth [True for Mike]
Pathological lying [True for Mike, convinces himself!]
Cunning / manipulative [True for Mike]
Lack of remorse or guilt [True for Mike]
Shallow [True for Mike]
Callous / lack of empathy [True for Mike]
Failure to accept responsibility for own actions [True for Mike]
Promiscuous sexual behavior [True for Mike, where do I begin?]
What's this mike guy look like anyways? Anyone have a pic? I've spent the last hour reading the ripoff reports. I'd like to put a face to the all the drama
My guess is that he's created a new company/email/identity and is still looking for victims. One of his companies is called JAFCO, which stands for Just Another F*cking COmpany. And I bet he's spending some time dealing with disgruntled clients.
Jeff, I didn't have any say over the site look, just the games and backend scripts. He took whatever your ex gave him, handed it off to Christine (who he also screwed out of payment) to make a template, then handed it to me for the actual build. I guess that explains why he couldn't get me photoshop source for the graphics which I needed to properly resize and alter things.
He may have made some money scamming, but he could have made much more by doing the job he claimed to be. He's a shortsighted fool.
Personally as a developer, I love doing the computer work, but I hate the other side of the job. Trying to find new customers and do the business end of it totally sucks to me. If someone else hooks me up with work, they deserve to get a nice cut of the payoff. Fact is, I currently work with quite a few people who do exactly that. They put on a suit and go talk to potential clients while I tap-tap-tap the systems together. They get paid, I get paid, customers get what they want. These guys aren't living in single wide trailers either.
So yeah, Mike made some money scamming, but that's dead end. He's good at shmoozing customers and setting up deals. If he had been honest, he could have gotten pretty rich doing that.
DP is full of scammers, it is really hard to trust anyone as people with high itrader ratings have even started to scam. Namepros is the best way to sell your site and use Escrow if it is a big domain or project you are doing. Be safe and think safe!
What an interesting thread.
I see the site(webmediaprojects) is now down.
Any updates on this saga?
An aside: In the US, you can take cases of amounts such as these to Small Claims Court...no need to hire an attorney for that.
Recouping or collecting a judgment is what may prove difficult.
Kev, you appear to be in Aussie land(?).
Perhaps some joint effort from all the "wronged"...those on this hemisphere could be of help to those not.
I wonder what the Total $$ losses are.
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__________________ █ B A U O * c o m █ B A U J * c o m █ For Sale - PM if interested
I've spent the last two hours or so reading through this thread and looking at some of the links. I was especially glad to see that it ended well. As someone who works as a full-time freelance writer for several companies, I can understand how awful it must have been for those who were scammed. I've worried in the past about spending a month working on lengthy, time-consuming projects, and not getting paid in the end.
Kev, the one consolation you have is that the internet can serve as a great tool to expose scammers and bring an end to their dishonourable activities. Thank God for Google searches. Three cheers for having been so persistent and for not giving up! What are you drinking, mate? My shout.
I also just read through all of this. It seems it was a bit of entertainment for many. However, the one piece of advice I can't help put give unsoliciated is that for people like Kev - be careful. You've done all you can to expose this guy on the internet and recover your money. But you must really reconsider when going back and forth with this kind of guy - and his ex-best friends/ ex-employees...who knows who all these people are! If it's true that this guy has already been to prison and is BACK in jail - it's not impossible that this guy has more than a few screws loose. Know what I mean?
If you've pissed him off enough, and he feels very threatened by all of this - you never know when someone like this just might show up at your doorstep. For all of the tough guys on here saying they'd love to pay Mr. Mann a visit - come on, we know that's just tough talk. I'm hoping the vast majority of you realize how stupid and dangerous a move like that could be.
Kevin - I understand your grief over this matter - but should something like this ever happen again in the future (for anyone else), you should just pursue these matters legally and take it easy on letting him know who is boss (as far as posting his info all over). Is 1K worth forever having a psychotic enemy? No one is invincible just b/c they are behind a screen - remember that. Put your dear old pride away - take it as a lesson learned - especially if you have spouses/children.
Yes. Bring them on. I am fighting the another battle over half that ammount with a Commit1 webhosting sham. I will track the owner down eventually and have a heart to heart with him if I don't recieve my money.
I support you Kev, I hope you get your money back and also stock up on security and protection if you know what I mean. I agree with Burano that this guy could be way crazy, but you have the advantage of him not knowing how crazy you are Go get em!
Never live in fear. Expose the truth, never lie, live a good life and whatever befalls you accept graciously but NEVER, I repeat NEVER run in fear or hide from the actions of evil men for my friend this is the hope of all evil doers, that weak men will hide and run. I would think all terrorist, or pimps, or corrupt wall streets moguls who pollute the world would hope that someone keeps quiet. In Iraq today I am sure some family is threatened to shut up by real killers, but if they are quiet they risk injuring more than just their family. I'm glad to see men and women all over the world fight for good causes, nothing worse than a coward. Good men never die for the wrong reason. Don't ever die a coward. My advice.
It's in the first post
All priced 
