Hello Kev
No there is no chance of you getting your money back. As of Friday Aug 22, 2008, I have been told that Michael Mann has been sent to prison.
I too have supplied him with software about 2 years ago and waiting to be paid $10000 to date. He has subsequently sold a hacked version of this to a third party from whom he received $15000 and the damn thing does not work at all. This customer of his recently contacted me and we are helping him out.
The language in the emails is exactly same as what we have from him in the past. The moment you ask to be paid up, he is on to you with the above language. He has even made postings on Rip Off report about be because I chased him and his family for about 6 months. Unfortunately we have not received our money.
He has been on several bidding sites representing 2 different companies. So that should tell you about his intentions.
If you were to pursue a lawsuit, I can assure you that you will win, but you wont get any money since this guy is bankrupt.
Oh and I did read a lot of stuff in this post about it being hard to find a good developer. I don't think thats true. When people like Michael Mann become customers, the developer has no hope of getting his money. So it works both ways really.
P.S. The poker software that Michael Mann was trying to peddle is a hack of what we had supplied, and were never paid for. We were interacting with Jeff when Mike screwed his earlier partners, threatened them with stuff and took their money (after they caught him stealing computer parts, naturally), screwed Jeff by not paying him, hired developers from Pakistan to build cookie cutter sites, took an estimated $80,000 in deposits on various projects which I dont think were delivered. Hell if you are a person who does NO CODING and hopes to get work done from novices in Pakistan (or anywhere for that matter), you dont take on 60 projects at ridiculous prices.
Michael Mann will be VERY NICE to you as long as you dont call his bluff. Thats all one needs to know. IF you want to weed out this guy, you can help by finding out all his IDs on various bidding / freelancer sites and posting them here. I have had him banned from iFreelance and GAF personally. Dont know about other aliases. Keep your eyes open for this FRAUDSTER.
Paul, you misread my advice - I didn't say he should keep quiet. I said he already did what he could prior to conversing back and forth with this guy and others related to him. Posting his experience here and elsewhere to let others know is fine. But posting his home info and engaging him AND ganging up & threatening him (others saying Kev should pay him a visit) is not, IMO. By persuing the matter legally, via lawsuit or whatever - he is not running in fear at all.
Why stoop down to this crazy guy's level? Why engage him? He ripped Kev off - it's obvious. It's not like he's going to apologize and send Kev his money back. So what's the point of engaging him? There is none! "not running your from your fear" mumbo-jumbo does nothing but further from distract from the task at hand - getting his money back - legally. And yes, however small a chance, there is always the chance this guy is truly nuts and dangerous.
I think folks like this need to be tracked down and dealt with.
I have been ripped off a few times on the internet, and NEVER ripped off in real life.
The reason is, that it's easy. You don't have to look the person in the eye, talk to them on the phone, or fear any actions being taken on your fraud.
It's especially hard if there are international borders involved, or miles and miles of terrain to get to the person.
My advice. Put ads on every site you can find looking for folks who can give you hard data that they were ripped off by the same person, and file a lawsuit.
So it seems Mike Mann is in jail. He sure had that coming! With any luck, every time he is close to getting out another of his scams will come to call and keep him in his cozy new home.
As for being afraid of him doing anything in the real (as opposed to cyber) world, the guy is a coward. He talks big, makes threats, tells lies, then runs and hides.
And about finding good contractors, it can be done. Going through services is very risky. You never know. The best thing is to get recommendations from people who have had good experiences. They know who does a great job and who screwed them. Word of mouth is the way to go.
One more thing is deposits. I've been screwed a few times by doing a bunch of work before receiving any payment. I now require a deposit up front, even on new projects for existing clients. Contractors gotta eat too, ya know, and spending 2 months working for free is a chump's game. Too much can go wrong. Like new management comes in and decides they don't need what you've been working on.
So clients, talk to other clients and find out who they trust to do the work. Contractors, get a deposit and then earn the hell out of it. Everyone, get a contract which spells out exactly what is to be done including payment schedule and a check list to prove it is complete.
BTW, the other day was my birthday. I consider the news about Mike Mann to be a gift from the universe.
All priced 
