Michael Mann Scammed me out of $1000

[kev]

This is an absolute nightmare. Seems Ive been scammed again.

Details of Scammer

Michael Mann




Web Media Projects, Inc.,
440 E Pass Rd. Suite B
Gulfport, MS. 39507 USA

Website: www.webmediaprojects.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 601-213-0881
Toll-free: 866-496-2278
Fax: 601-326-2379

MSN: [email protected]
PayPal: [email protected]
His contact number: 228-216-6707

DigitalPoint Username : c0l0rad0
GetaFreelancer Username : c0l0rad0

I agreed a price of $3,000 for the development of a clone of King.com. He said that i could pay it in 3 stages at $1k each. This was back in October 2007 and he said it would take 2-3 months to complete. So i set deadline after deadline after deadline and he missed 11 in total and I started to get concerned. He maintained it was due to the complexity of the site and limited staff so i believed him. But when he missed the latest deadline, I sent an email asking where it was and he replied with:




then i searched on the web about him and came across this

http://www.thesqueakywheel.com/complaints/2007/NOV/complaint19828.cfm
http://www.thesqueakywheel.com/complaints/2008/FEB/complaint22448.cfm

so i questioned him on it and asked for a complete refund and he replied with


Can people on NP help me get my money back as this is a lot of money to a student.

Are the contact details listed above seem correct to you?

Thanks guys :tu:

 

[kev]

He deleted himself off Facebook after saying he was going to send $100...typical. It would be a shame if he got away with this.

Can someone from Mississipi or a nearby state help report this guy to the local police? I'm prepared to pay for help. It's more about the principle rather than the money.

25,000 views on this thread...thousands of people know about this story...lets get this guy busted!

 

[nightshad]

Now you're just being petty. So angry are you at being scammed, as a direct result of your failure to do due diligence, that you want to get revenge.

You may run into some problems, such as constitutional issues like him being able to confront his accuser, and maybe even statutes of limitations.

Just move on. A fool and his money are soon departed, and you've proven that mightily.

 

[kev]

Now you're just being petty. So angry are you at being scammed, as a direct result of your failure to do due diligence, that you want to get revenge.

Petty? If you lost $1,000 you'd try your hardest to get it back...I'm sure everyone would do the same. It's not revenge...it's justice.

 

[nightshad]

Petty? If you lost $1,000 you'd try your hardest to get it back...I'm sure everyone would do the same. It's not revenge...it's justice.

Right, but there's no post from you for months, and now all of a sudden you're on about jail time and revenge.

Face it, you were naive and lost out. That's what happens when you do business on the Internet.

 

[Makis.TV]

Right, but there's no post from you for months, and now all of a sudden you're on about jail time and revenge.

Face it, you were naive and lost out. That's what happens when you do business on the Internet.

You seem very comfortable posting about others lost money.
I d say that you are naive guy in this long topic, maybe you can pay Kev for the money and time he lost.

I ve been scammed too by others and aI always warned about those scammers from my blog or elsewhere.
Thats the least I can do, in fact one more post will go live in the next few weeks about someone that paid me with paypal for developing a wordpress plugin and 3 months after delivery he asked his credit card company for a chargeback.

 

[kev]

Right, but there's no post from you for months, and now all of a sudden you're on about jail time and revenge.

Face it, you were naive and lost out. That's what happens when you do business on the Internet.

There was nothing to write about because I was in contact with Michael Mann. Now he has deleted his Facebook account, it's clear he doesn't want to pay me back.

You seem a bit naive to say "thats what happens when you do business on the Internet". If you think it's ok to lie down and get scammed and just shrug your shoulders, you won't be very successful at all.

 

[mhdoc]

If you think it's ok to lie down and get scammed and just shrug your shoulders, you won't be very successful at all.

I was once heavily involved in real estate and attended several conferences/meetings and did a lot of reading about when and how to take legal action and protect yourself.

The consensus among experienced litigators was "chasing lost money is a waste of time." You throw good money after bad, and worst of all it depletes emotional energy that could be better used in moving on to new deals.

In other words, with the time and energy you have spent chasing this $1,000 could you have done work that earned your more than that? Would doing that have been more fun?

PS. I don't expect you to write a response; it's just a suggestion you think about it a little.

 

[kev]

Well well well...looks like "nighshad" is part of the "Michael Mann School of Scammers". Got a PM off a fellow mod with a deleted thread in which "nightshad" is involved in pretty dodgy dealings..funny how all the crooks stick together :hehe:

---------- Post added at 06:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:13 PM ----------

In other words, with the time and energy you have spent chasing this $1,000 could you have done work that earned your more than that? Would doing that have been more fun?

You may be right but a $1,000 is not to be sniffed at

 

[tristanperry]

Now you're just being petty. So angry are you at being scammed, as a direct result of your failure to do due diligence, that you want to get revenge.

You may run into some problems, such as constitutional issues like him being able to confront his accuser, and maybe even statutes of limitations.

Just move on. A fool and his money are soon departed, and you've proven that mightily.

"petty"? Michael Mann is (apparently) a scammer, fraudster, thief, and a liar.

He's an ex-con and the first thing he does after getting out is (apparently) to go back into scamming.

Not sure why you think that wanting to take action against a scammer amounts to "revenge".

Theft and fraud isn't a good thing...

 

[mhdoc]

You may be right but a $1,000 is not to be sniffed at

Experienced investors I know tend to refer to these little episodes as "Seminars". As in "Last year I took a $xx,xxx seminar."

The other saying I found worth remembering was "If you can solve it by writing a check, it isn't really a Problem."

YMMV

 

[mm4725]

The rant goes on........

He deleted himself off Facebook after saying he was going to send $100...

Ok. I see that this is still going on.

Kevin, I have NOT deleted myself off of facebook. I have been and am on there regularly.

I deleted YOU from my facebook contacts. I asked you repeatedly not to use my public wall for this discussion but you went on and on so I removed you from my list of authorized contacts.

In addition, I am in Fort Worth, Texas, not Mississippi. If you're going to involve the authorities then Fort Worth would be your best bet.

A lot of people seem to think that after being released from a federal camp and coming home to a wife with cancer that I could simply 'whip' up some money and pay YOU back for what a company recieved from you.

Personally, I don't care WHAT you people think. I fell, nearly lost my wife, lost a business and am back to work for regular wages. I lost my home, 3 cars and more than any of you folks could ever imagine so believe me when I say that my concience is ALL that would ever get you paid.

I was questioned by the feds with respect to Web Media Projects. After all - pay attention - I was in a federal camp for 10 months. Web Media Projects was a duly chartered corporation with dozens of employees. Dozens.

One of these employees ripped off a man, stole our office computer and ran. He is a VERY smart netizen (went under phplt33, zerofunk, and a few other names). He, along with Patrick, were my main programmers and when zerofunk ran away to the woman he met on the internet in Tennessee he caused such a ruckus that our collapse was inevitable.

Now, it DOES NOT matter to me if you beleive this or accept it or continue to deride me. There is absolutely NOTHING you can do to me. I was a member of the corporation and nothing else.

Now, why am I stating this at all? Because I FEEL wrong about how this all happened. It bothers me that a wonderful idea and a great corporation fell over simple s**t. But, hey, we gamble and sometimes lose.

Now, 2 years later, my wife and I are getting back to where we don't live from paychceck to paycheck. She is recovering nicely (although treatment is still expensive). Our lives are settling down.

There is NOTHING you could have said or done that would have made me spend money I needed for living, medical treatment, or repayment to the feds.....they came first.

I am sorry that this entire ball of wax fell. Between Patrick (whom I notice is on here proclaiming how wonderful he is after helping drive our company into the ground)and Jeff Paris (zerofunk)it appears that there is a LOT more fire than smoke.

OK. Hey. Like I said, I am judgement proof. It was ruled a corporation by the feds, I paid what I had to, and I did my time. There is nothing you or anyone involved can do about it.

I will say again that I feel bad about the company going under and leaving a few of you holding a bad deal. However, I will also point out that it is not unheard of when a company goes under. Once the slide starts it is VERY RARE that a founder can stop the slide. It simply overwhelms you - and, it did.

In the event that anyone who lost money in a contract with Web Media wants to contact me and discuss the matter rationally I would be happy to do so. I can't promise to take bread off of my table but I can promise to TRY and make it right.

And, for those of you without sin - let him cast the first stone.

 

[kev]

I've sent you a PM Michael. Please respond asap

 

[spydera]

Wow!

The Spydera software was and is junk. I hired a programmer to rewrite it in VB6 becaue it had good components but bad coding. The software I had for sale is a total remake and works much better. Neither here nor there since I don't sell it anymore. That disagreement is between he me and him. I mention it since I noticed he got on this bandwagon and threw in his two cents claiming I owed him when he KNOWS it is the other way around. Simply one of the things that went wrong and caused Web Media collapse.

Insofar as you doing business with me again - frankly I don't care. I paid a heavy debt for this collapse and for my use of pot. No matter what your thoughts are on it's use I paid for it and no longer am a user.

Jeff not only exists but was the biggest cause of my downfall. After I was out of the scene he went on to rip off dozens of people using the same tactics you ascribe to me. Threats, anger, stalking, etc.

However, none of this matters now. I am only making contact because I am responsible for any possible damage done by the company (Web Media) and, while it may take a while to do it, I am going to try and rectify the problem.

Not sure why you think I am offering services again (because I am not). All I would like to do is make amends where possible (and, where the company might have the obligation). I'm tired of the negative stuff and feel the need to rectify what I can.

No more - no less.

This is still going on? Michael, Web Media was a website my company designed and built for you to help you get out of this mess and help us get our owed money. I have the original PHOTOSHOP FILES of the design if you want to see them. You, instead went the other way and took on a TON of projects and deposits, and by your own account it was about $80K. As I said, you were neither qualified nor had any skills to deliver any project.

As for the poker software, we delivered what was promised and you owed us money for the additional modifications you had us make. As for your alleged modifications and improvements, you did not have the source code to the software to do that. So stop posting more BS. And we are still around serving customers.

As for Jeff, I have interacted with him quite a bit when he was working for you and I found his work to be quite good and he was very fast. Since you were controlling the money, I wonder how Jeff could rip you off by stealing it! You hid the money under your pillow or what?

As for Kathy, you had taken a large amount of venture capital from these people, made them partners and they were wondering where that money was. You tried to implicate us by saying we had not delivered the software, when in fact you had the software running for more than 2 months and had almost 60-100 players all the time.

I guess you realized that you had to close because you could not pay them the free roll money they won at the tournaments!

 

[w0x0f]

He deleted himself off Facebook after saying he was going to send $100...typical. It would be a shame if he got away with this.

Can someone from Mississipi or a nearby state help report this guy to the local police? I'm prepared to pay for help. It's more about the principle rather than the money.

25,000 views on this thread...thousands of people know about this story...lets get this guy busted!

I realize this is an old thread, but the following may give you a better idea of what is involved with legal remedies.

Typically the victim (accuser) has to make the report - you can always call a local PD or MS state police and explain the situation. See if they will accept via phone or facsimile.

For civil action, this sounds like it is best handled in US District Court in Mississippi because of citizenship diversity issues. You would need an attorney and the filing fee is about $350, IIRC. Federal Court gets expensive quick and I know from experience.

Even a judgment in your favor is no guarantee you'd receive payment. I am not an attorney, but have been around the block (with an attorney) in both federal and state courts with consumer protection cases as plaintiff.

Even if you were awarded attorneys fees in an action, collection of any judgment could prove difficult if defendant is judgement proof (i.e. little to no money or no assets).

Also keep in mind it is easy for individuals to hide behind VoIP based telephone #'s. I have telephone numbers in multiple area codes between two countries for my business. Additionally, it's easy to get a non-postal service Box address at a place like the UPS store. One can setup a 'virtual shop' just about anywhere.

Best of luck,

w0x0f

 

[Jordan22111]

If you have a thousand dollars or more, maybe you should get insurance through your personal name to avoid losses and recoup the loss? How is it these people who have money are forgetting to get insurance for their business activities. Unless you are new to the business world, like I was and lost $11k from a payment processor scheme, insurance is the best thing anyone can get right now.