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]

Gave him a second chance - he didnt deliver, so Ive arranged an appointment with the Fraud Squad in my home town to bring charges. His ex-employees are backing me up. When I told him of this he said...


Charming man...

 

[SearchGuru1]

Wow thats pretty sick the way hes talking to you. Its amazing a lot of people out there DO talk to people like that guy is talking to you.. and even do worse things. He probably didnt think you would paste that onto a major forum FOR all to SEE. Well, you did. And hopefully now when ANYONE reads this thread they WONT give any business to this guy.

Hey a mistake is a mistake. But this guy screwed you over with out a care, and obviously isint going to apologize or be a professional about it. Even if he was DEFENSIVE about what you were claiming? He didnt have a right to say the things he said. I find it to be incredibly insulting and baffling when people that are considered professionals " " talk to people however they want because they think they are above the law. Obviously this guy thinks EXACTLY that.

Hope you get things figured out and everything works out in your favor Kev

 

[wisedude]

PLEASE take this jerk to court

 

[bk2070]

PLEASE take this jerk to court

Amen to that, sue every last penny out of him.

 

[squarepie]

His counter indicates only roughly 600 visits to his cheaply made cookie-cutter site. I do not know what kind of help the Mississippi court system can provide. It is a good old boy society there-a-bouts. Gulfport does have a Better Business Bureau, so make a report there. Get in touch with the local media including nearby New Orleans TV stations and possibly some pressure will build to have him investigated. That area is undergoing much rebuilding since Hurricane Katrina with many people being burned by dishonest cheating building contractors etc. People living there would not be pleased to realize this scammer operates in their midst. Warn his neighbors and include his photo so he can't hide behind a new company name. Your effort can help to protect innocents and deter others from such behavior.

 

[-Alex-]

I donated 45 NP$ to you. I know its not much, but every cent counts I'll be giving more here and there. BTW, im 15 lol nearly 16, so I'm no rich guy either.

Ive got no more tips to add lol, everybody said everything you should do. I wish you luck with your studies. :gl:

 

[R9V.com]

You have his address so I only have 4 words:

ROAD TRIP + KICK ASS

 

[Makis.TV]

I just cant seem to get a get a break at the moment

Seems i cant trust anyone

if it helps u feel better;
i m on my way of getting scammed by a guy on scriptlance.com for $400 i paid in advance and out of scriptlance escrow service

 

[kp_dom]

I am also 16, but I have got to say just 1 thing to you:

TAKE HIM TO THE COURTS AND KICK HIS ASS!!

 

[weblord]

these type of people i've seen them over and over again can only talk back like this when he's on the internet but when you meet this personally, they're all cowards.

do the right thing, put him in dog's cage. :bingo:

as far as i've seen you've been always a scam target/magnet maybe you can benefit from this by developing a anti-scam site something like noscam;com but developed and with content ( i don't own the domain ) and put in your experiences and accommodate others as they are being scammed or been scammed on the internet.

Gave him a second chance - he didnt deliver, so Ive arranged an appointment with the Fraud Squad in my home town to bring charges. His ex-employees are backing me up. When I told him of this he said...


Charming man...

 

[Dougy]

Anything else so far?

 

[psalzmann]

Okay, so Michael Mann and Reuben Sutton are most likely the same guy. Reuben scammed me out of $300 with the promise we would be fixing bugs. He delivered nothing.

Watch out for this guy.

 

[.tv]

Ok, here is my list of suggestions to get issues sorted out, and I hope you will get your money.

1. I noticed that the crook is functioning from Mississippi. File a complaint with the local FBI branch.

FBI - Gulfport Area
1317 26th Ave # 2,
Gulfport, MS 39501
(228) 864-6131

FBI - Jackson Area
FBI Jackson
Room 1553, FOB
100 West Capitol Street
Jackson, Mississippi 39269-1601
jackson.fbi.gov
(601) 948-5000

2. You should have all his email correspondences. Get a clean printout of all his email correspondences *including full headers*

3. Send a copy of the printouts along with a formal complaint letter indicating the ripoff to Innovate IT, the owner of GetaFreelancer.com.

Innovate IT address:
Innovate IT
Box 784
53117 Lidköping
Sweden

4. I recently filed a complaint at eConsumer , regarding a ripoff by a Swedish hosting firm. Within a week, I got my funds back from that swedish scammers. So I suggest you to file a complaint with eConsumer at the earliest.

5. File a complaint at IC3. Before filing a complaint, make sure that you have all the evidences in a PDF form. Save all your email correspondences and that crook's email correspondences with *FULL HEADERS* in the form of PDF.

I hope this will help you to recover your funds.

Update me with your proceedings. I will be happy to assist you.

All the best!

 

[SKG]

Kevin, check paypal right away and see what the time limit is to file a dispute. If you fall within the time limit you can hand these emails to paypal as they will moderate the dispute and by the looks of it you should get a full refund.

It seems like this conartist was only trying to delay with promises to you so you exceed the deadline for a chargeback. It is not your fault but this should be a lesson for all that when paying by paypal for services keep a close eye on the clock for a possible dispute. If you have multiple phases to a project push to at least get phase one done before the dispute cutoff or like someone mentioned about use escrow only. Many of those sites highly recommend escrow services but many of the contractors will ask you not to use it and they will ask you very nicely.

Kev, I hope everything works out and this slime gets what is coming to him.

 

[kev]

Ok Ive got a bit of free time to pursue this now.

Ive sent emails to the FBI in Jackson/Gulfport, econsumer.gov and a further email to paypal.

ill update everyone on the progress :tu:

Thanks for all your help so far!

 

[labrocca]

Yes pursue this...USA has great laws IF people use them. You could probably even call his local police department to report the scam. They might say it's a civil matter but if you press it with the local DA he might prosecute..especially if you can prove the history. As a US citizen I prefer to deal with people here...I know I can always get on a plane to pay them a nice friendly visit. To be honest..I stopped paying people significant money to do work for me. If it's over $100...I would rather do it myself even if it sucks and it takes me forever. Most "programmers" that are within my budget suck and take forever anyways (that's if they don't scam me).

Sucks bro...I just donated 100NP to you. Small token of assistance. You always been a good guy here and it stinks you got scammed.

 

[kev]

Thanks Jesse for your kind words :tu: :great:

 

[DylanButler]

I may be wrong here, but I don't think PayPal will issue the chargeback, regardless of the overwhelming evidence. Software is intangible, so they really can't be of much help.

However, I missed if you said whether or not you guys had a contract set forth? Is it possible that your correspondence through getafreelancer could be officially binding in a court of law? I've never used the system before so I don't know about that either.

Sorry and best of luck with the whole thing. Cross-country claims sound difficult to work out..

 

[c0l0rad0]

Ok. Before I get banned for being such a "bad boy" I'd like a chance to rebut some of this trash.

Kevin, you didn't mention that we showed you a template that you accepted, with modifications.

Nor did you mention that we hand coded several multiplayer games for you that are not available anywhere on the internet and that you also saw those.

Or, that we showed you a backend that is as sophisticated as they come and you also saw that.

I see people on here saying they could clone king.com for a couple of hundred bucks. Ok, I will pay anyone on here the couple hundred that can supply multipayer server based games with a site for that amount. I'll place the money in escrow and pay it gladly on showing me that it is done.

Yes, I am a member of DP and have been for a long time. My rep points speak for themselves. I have conducted myself in a professional manner for years until an ex-employee stole a laptop, burned a client, broke into our offices and then had the audacity to go on ripoffreports and file claims in multiple names which were designed to ruin my business.

We are a Mississippi corporation in good standing (class C - public) and have been in business over 7 years. Strange that this all started maybe 6-7 months ago when we fired Jeff and filed a police report regarding the theft of our laptop.

Also, strange, that if you look at the original ripoff report that started this all Jeff (phpl33t - one of his screen names) has posted a new message that HE PAID BACK NICK BURRETT (the original filer).

In googling Jeff Paris Scams (or zerofunk scams) it's of note that as far back as 2004 he was accused by multiple people of stalking on the internet (when he gets mad) and using multiple names to do exactly what he has done to us.

The damage to our company is done and nothing will remove it form ripoffreports, except time.

Thank god we keep emails and/or other communications so that when we Do get inquiries from the authorities we can show what we did, or didn't do, and why.

Like your project. You paid us a 1/3rd deposit, spread out over several weeks (presumably because of your partner) and when it was finally paid we started your work. You got an SOW, as promised, you saw a template, as promised and you saw custom coded multiplayer games, as promised.

In the couse of 3 months you sent me 72 emails (I have them all) and called me I don't know how many times to inquire about your project. Towards the end, yes, I started getting short with you. I even used unprofessional language in the end.

The other complaints you point to all claim we never produced anything. However, we stand prepared to display what we produced for you and strangely enough, for you, we did work, but not for any of the "other" complainers.

Yes, I suspended work on your project after the 70th email and (seems like) 100th phone call. All you had paid was a deposit and before you even asked us for a refund or completion you filed a paypal complaint and a ripoffreport against us.

We had worked well over 60 man-hours on your project and I have a staff to pay. This work is not free. We are a corporation.

You had our development terms before we began and you KNEW this was a deposit that paid you up to beta preview. That's all.

Now, I'm not saying I acted in the most professional of manners either. My temper got the best of me, which is not professional. For that, I am sorry.

However, before you continue to slander me and make these people feel oh so sorry for the little boy caught by the big, bad wolf, please tell it like it was all the way. Not just the part most favorable to your lament.

And, if you going to quote Jeff and his aliases (zerofunk, phpl33t, Kahn, nawresh and others) then please note that he refunded the money to the one and only true complaint we had because, as we stated, we never took it.

While this "weinie roast" is somewhat interesting on a long night - you ended up being a problem before we suspended your project and, of course, like a child, you keep on being a problem.

Since so many people on here can make you a king.com clone for a couple hundred (or less) i personally offer to escrow, and pay, $500 to anyone here who provides this guy with a clone to include multiplayer games, game server and site.

Hopefully, before a moderator bans me from here we can get a taker and I will pay to have your site completed - as long as I don't have to listen to your incessant whining.

Regards,
Michael Mann
CEO
Web media Projects, Inc.

p.s.

Any of you "bad boys" want to come visit me, Kevin posted my address. Come see what a coward I am. This address is my families home. My wife, children and sometimes grandchildren. Come get some. He doesn't post our company office. Just my families home. Well, Viet Nam taught me to deal with threats from idiots, so, come see me.

 

[gemstar]

Hope things go well in the end