The elaborate con that tricked dozens into working for a fake design agency

[J. Falcon]

The elaborate con that tricked dozens into working for a fake design agency

The Zoom call had about 40 people on it - or that's what the people who had logged on thought. The all-staff meeting at the glamorous design agency had been called to welcome the growing company's newest recruits. Its name was Madbird and its dynamic and inspirational boss, Ali Ayad, wanted everyone on the call to be ambitious hustlers - just like him.

But what those who had turned on their cameras didn't know was that some of the others in the meeting weren't real people. Yes, they were listed as participants. Some even had active email accounts and LinkedIn profiles. But their names were made up and their headshots belonged to other people.

The whole thing was fake - the real employees had been "jobfished". The BBC has spent a year investigating what happened.

Crazy story. But here's the part that shocked me the most:

They thought about their options. One was to leave quietly without causing a stir. They had no idea who was behind this con, or the scale of it. They were scared. On the other hand, they worried if the truth wasn't exposed innocent staff could end up in trouble if they completed deals for Madbird based on lies. Deals were just days away.

In the end, they decided to send an all-staff email from an alias - Jane Smith.

The email was sent on a busy workday afternoon and accused Madbird's founders of "unethical and immoral" behaviour - including stealing the work of others and "fabricating" team members.

How much of a fucking coward can you be? You got scammed, and you don't have the balls to blow the whistle on the scam to prevent others from becoming victims? That's just horrible.

As long as Ali Ayad refuses to play ball we will never know for certain why he created Madbird. For those who spent the most time with him online, exchanging emails and on video calls, two theories stand out.

One is that the whole thing was an attempt to start an actual business. It may have started out as a lie, but maybe Madbird would eventually start closing real deals and making money. The company, staff believed, was just days from signing on clients when everything fell apart. If the lies hadn't been uncovered, maybe no-one would have ever exposed Madbird's murky origins.

Another explanation is that it was about more than money. Maybe Ali Ayad got a kick out of pretending to be a boss. He genuinely appeared to enjoy his time running Madbird. Job interviews with him often lasted more than an hour. He told stories about how he had turned people's lives around by spotting their talent and giving them a chance. He sent staff links to deep house music to listen to while working. He wanted to be a cool boss - and, for the months Madbird was online, that's how people treated him.

[hamiltonsteele]

Originally Posted by J. Falcon

How much of a fucking coward can you be? You got scammed, and you don't have the balls to blow the whistle on the scam to prevent others from becoming victims? That's just horrible.

The majority of the public hid in their homes for 2 years because they were scared of the
boogie man/virus.

Just let that sink in.

We live in the era of cowardice.

[J. Falcon]

Originally Posted by hamiltonsteele

The majority of the public hid in their homes for 2 years because they were scared of the
boogie man/virus.

Just let that sink in.

We live in the era of cowardice.

Congrats on that completely unrelated, dumbass, ignorant post.

[hamiltonsteele]

Originally Posted by J. Falcon

Congrats on that completely unrelated, dumbass, ignorant post.

It's totally related because it's the prevailing public attitude.

Face the facts that today when you say *boo* to most people you're going to get a freak
out. It's their feelings... It's their entitlement... It's their *tell me you love me or I'll cry*
mentalities.


So yea,
People that are willing to hide in their home for 2 years are not people that are going to show
any kind of backbone to rat out this scammer. The entire world has been engulfed in this
crap and it's not going to end anytime soon.

PS. I have no Intentions of trolling out with anyone about my comment. It's your right
to disagree or hate what I said.

[BaldBastard]

Originally Posted by hamiltonsteele

The majority of the public hid in their homes for 2 years because they were scared of the
boogie man/virus.

Just let that sink in.

We live in the era of cowardice.

Cowards are the ones that didn't lock down, to chicken to get a jab, too fucking stupid to stop an easily stopped virus, all while they screamed about "My privileges" and "My freedoms" flipping the finger at community and country. The most unpatriotic cunts on the face of the earth only worried about their fearful little selves, prolonging this virus for eternity.

Karma will come for those unpatriotic few, and covid will bring it.

[J. Falcon]

Originally Posted by MrBaldBastard

Cowards are the ones that didn't lock down, to chicken to get a jab, too fucking stupid to stop an easily stopped virus, all while they screamed about "My privileges" and "My freedoms" flipping the finger at community and country. The most unpatriotic cunts on the face of the earth only worried about their fearful little selves, prolonging this virus for eternity.

Karma will come for those unpatriotic few, and covid will bring it.

While I agree 100% with this sentiment, I'd prefer it if this thread was not moved to the politics board.

[Grapesoda]

Originally Posted by hamiltonsteele

The majority of the public hid in their homes for 2 years because they were scared of the
boogie man/virus.

Just let that sink in.

We live in the era of cowardice.

And Gates now says the omicron virus is the vaccine for covid

[Klen]

Strange story, it is no clear what was agenda of the founder.

[AmeliaG]

So people felt it was a scam that the guy acted like his company was bigger than it was? Maybe I don't know what it is like to be an employee, but why should they care so long as their paychecks clear and the company gives value for funds received? Like it's kinda weird, but also kinda jerky that people who worked there took the money up until it was time to provide value to the company they worked for.

I don't know. I'm up early for me, so maybe I'm misreading.

[J. Falcon]

Originally Posted by AmeliaG

So people felt it was a scam that the guy acted like his company was bigger than it was? Maybe I don't know what it is like to be an employee, but why should they care so long as their paychecks clear and the company gives value for funds received? Like it's kinda weird, but also kinda jerky that people who worked there took the money up until it was time to provide value to the company they worked for.

I don't know. I'm up early for me, so maybe I'm misreading.

Nobody got paid. They were hired on-comission for projects that never closed.

They had all agreed to work on a commission-only basis for the first six months. It was only after they passed their probation period that they would be put on a salary - about £35,000 ($47,300) for most. Until then, they would only earn a percentage of every deal they negotiated. They were all young adults looking for work and living through a pandemic. Many felt they had no choice but to accept the terms in their contracts.

But no deals were ever finalised. By February 2021, not a single client contract had been signed. None of the Madbird staff had been paid a penny.

Some recruits ended up leaving after a few weeks, but many stayed. Many had been there for almost six months - forced to take out credit cards and borrow money from family to keep on top of bills.

The longer you worked at Madbird, the harder it became to leave. What if one of the big deals you'd been working on came through next week? It made no sense to resign just as you were about to finish your probation period. For many, a salary seemed within grasp. Plus, in the middle of the pandemic, jobs were hard to find.

It is obvious now why no-one was paid. Madbird had no money coming in. But that wasn't obvious to new staff. They mistakenly assumed their pay contracts were unique - and that their line managers must have been on salaries. Besides, Madbird was on the cusp of signing a whole bunch of deals. The money was finally coming.

What he did was a lot worse than exaggerate the size of his company LOL
He used fake social media profiles, fake photos, fake references, etc.

[CurrentlySober]

Gonna watch the TV show later. It will also be on iPlayer.co.uk if you have a UK VPN

[TaiGhost]

Massive grift. One of the workers should dedicate a site to Sayid or whoever.

[ZTT]

It now looked like they'd never see any money in return for months of their time and hard work.

Okay, so what's his GFY username?

[lock]

Why not make a legit business with all the effort? So many simpler ways to be a grub.

[TaiGhost]

Originally Posted by lock

Why not make a legit business with all the effort? So many simpler ways to be a grub.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Quite an elaborate scheme the guy came up with. Something must be wrong mentally.

[AmeliaG]

Originally Posted by J. Falcon

Nobody got paid. They were hired on-comission for projects that never closed.



What he did was a lot worse than exaggerate the size of his company LOL
He used fake social media profiles, fake photos, fake references, etc.

Ah, I only read the part you posted. If the commission offers were not legit, that is different.

[J. Falcon]

Originally Posted by AmeliaG

Ah, I only read the part you posted. If the commission offers were not legit, that is different.

Nothing was legit.

[AmeliaG]

Well, wow, having read the whole article that is bizarre af. I personally don't care if someone uses an inauthentic name, so long as they are consistent and keep their word and provide value/payment as agreed.

Still sort of weird to me that these folks purportedly pitched thousands of potential clients and were supposedly days from signing clients. Like it's scummy that their portfolio was stolen/fake, but how did they have zero funds coming in? How did so many employees get tricked but not a single client?

How long did this charade go on?

[ZTT]

I don't understand any of it either. The story is the sales people were working to bring in clients (for free), and they hired designers to do the jobs.

It's made to sound like he didn't sign any deals because then he'd have to pay them, but it's a commission, so... why not?

Meanwhile, someone was "leading the company's expansion into Dubai"... Expansion of what? What was she doing? What were the designers doing?

It seems to be someone cosplaying as an international hotshot, barely even news, and yet it's a TL;DR and a TV documentary. I can only assume one of the people involved has an uncle at the BBC.

This is the real story:

"They had all agreed to work on a commission-only basis for the first six months. [...] Many felt they had no choice but to accept the terms in their contracts."

It's not like the BBC is going to challenge the real crooks though: the government of 21st century Dickensian Britain.

[Lubas]

What were these "employees" doing for 6 months if they were not getting paid?

[CurrentlySober]

Originally Posted by CurrentlySober

Gonna watch the TV show later. It will also be on iPlayer.co.uk if you have a UK VPN

Just watched it. Not all that interesting if truth be told.

[plsureking]

Originally Posted by J. Falcon

Nobody got paid. They were hired on-comission for projects that never closed.

What he did was a lot worse than exaggerate the size of his company LOL
He used fake social media profiles, fake photos, fake references, etc.

all of this is happening daily in corporate America, especially concerning web projects. i get scammed every few years by some shit talker..

#

[crockett]

Originally Posted by hamiltonsteele

The majority of the public hid in their homes for 2 years because they were scared of the
boogie man/virus.

Just let that sink in.

We live in the era of cowardice.

A million people just in the US died from that boogie man/virus. I knew 3 of them. Did you know anyone personally who died from it? I suspect not, hence why you are so ignorant about it.

Let that sink in.

We live in an era of ignorance