ICQ me -

Man if I was a scammer, GFY would be my playground... I read these threads here almost every week... how these people get by in life amazes me with the absolute STUPIDITY of sending full payment to someone they have never even spoken to before. :disgust:disgust:disgust

To those of us which you refer, money is not the issue as stated before. $300.00 might be alot to you and thats fine, but I spend $300.00 at Footlocker on the weekends, so to send someone a terribly small amount of money like that is almost like not sending anything at all. This post is to inform future victims of his, not to complain about money,
and it is very easy to green light anyone with one phone call no matter where they live. Its just the principal -

Stupidity may actually be thinking 3 bills is long dough, but hey that's just my opinion.

Bump to keep this one on top

bump so more people know about this

what a sleezy dishonest fuck.
bump for you....

well i can only suggest is you can deal with a right person and dont paid them until u get your stuff

It's not the amount of money, it's the principle.

Y'm sorry that you got ripped off, but thanks for warning others.

ADG

Second mistake.

When you start doing business with somebody you don't know there is always somebody the wrong side of the money.

This is why they have sites like scriptlance or rentacoder etc...so you can find people for these jobs and not have to pay them upfront, or have them trust YOU are not a scammer.

You pay the site, the designer knows you are good for the money, and that if they do the job they will be paid, they do the job to your satisfaction, they get paid etc.

Of course, no guarantee that you will always find people who will get it right first time, but in my experience they will keep going till they do because they know money is waiting for them. They also fear the dreaded bad feedback.

A lot less drama that's for sure :2 cents:

It's not about "thinking 3 bills is long dough" dude. YOU are the one here announcing/complaining about a scammer that scammed you, not us. Thanks for naming the guy at least, many don't and choose to 'protect' the scammer for some reason, maybe because they think there's still a chance they'll get paid or something. So for that you deserve a thank you.

But no, it's about learning from your mistakes. Like you say, it's the principle of the matter, and if that's true then the lesson here is about being a little more cautious with people you don't know. The amount at $300 is immaterial yes, but had it been $3000 or perhaps $13000 maybe you'd be a little less condescending and a little more agreeable to what we're saying? I think so.

Take the advice or leave it, your choice, but others are reading this thread who might actually learn to be just a bit more cautious in their business dealings with unknowns even if you won't.

Cheers.

I think you might be dissecting this a bit too much. I also pay a construction contractor (whom I dont know) right up front when the amount is extremely low. Anything over 5 might make me a litte more precausious, but until the amount reaches that point it would actualy cause more headache to investigate in depth. The Guy had no previous complaints on GFY nor anywhere else. He had references and a lengthy portfolio. Yea I shot him 3 to see what he could do - not a big deal. Again, this post is not a complaint just an announcement, so we can expose folks like this before they do it again.

Western Union is great!

Any word on this? My friend said he was scammed too and given some stupid excuse. This guy should be banned

I don't care if it's 5 bucks or $5000, the principle of someone taking money, promising something, and then not delivering is just not ok with me.

We got burned a couple times early on. Now, we are very clear that we simply don't pay up front, period.

Particularly with Filipino designers, there are about 10,000 of them and there are always some that are willing to work with us. The amazing thing to me is even when they know they aren't getting paid till they complete the work, a lot of them STILL do half the work, or sometimes do 90% of the work and then disappear, never even asking to be paid.

Or you get the list of 1000 excuses. One designer had his mother die... twice in a 3 month period. Someone is always in the hospital. The email didn't arrive. The net connection went down. They had a sudden emergency. I've never seen more natural disasters, equipment failures, or medical problems in any other society in the world.

Sometimes they will flake and disappear, only to reappear several months later, begging and pleading to do more work for us. Since we are never in the situation of losing money on them, sometimes once we explain the second time what the arrangement is, they actually follow instructions, do great work, and get paid, but it feels like we're educating a 10 year old each time we work with a new designer.

I wish you the best of luck in getting your completed work. Hopefully the guy will figure out that finishing your job will perhaps be worth the effort.

oof :Oh crap

Measures have been taken to ensure the prompt completion of this project.

Western Union is great!

why the fuck people do half work and then don't finish is beyond me. Just do the damn job and you'll probably get more work and more money! Putting shit off is just shitty business. I'm glad you exposed this douche fuck.

One of my guys, his mother just got shot! He had to go back to the province. He has worked with me over a year, it was actually true.

If you are going to deal with Filipino developers, you need to use a management company to provide proven workers.

FYI, I ran his name through my db of local developers/prior applicants with no luck.

Create free flash design for free:
http://www.wix.com/

Many wanted updates as this progressed so here is the latest. He sent this on the 27th but dissapeared shortly thereafter again.

Hi. I'm resending the email I sent to you previously. Give me 'til the end of the week to sort everything out as I return back to work. I've been doing business at GFY for a couple of years now, and have no intent of scamming people. As much as I don't want to drag my current family issue, I ask for your kind understanding and apologies for the inconveniences I had caused you.

There was definitely a fault on my end as I haven't endorsed/updated you the latest of what I've worked on the project. I had an immediate family issues to attend to re our former household help/maid. My family has been dealing a very stressful and emotional weeks and would really appreciate your understanding as I am in the process of pursuing legal action and would need all my time and energy in doing so.

Here is a link to the blotter I filed last May 21, 2009:
http://halfwired.com/issue/blotter.jpg

It is written in my local dialect (Tagalog), as it sums up the complaint I'm filing. It states that I have finally got the evidence to my previous household help/maid's unhealthy practices in preparing our food, and her disrespectful conduct towards to me and my wife. If you have a Filipino friend that can help you translate this for you for verification purposes, you can do so. My mobile number is xxxxxxxx if you need to talk to me. I'm doing my best to get all issues resolved.

I am hoping to get back and continue working as early as next week and work the extra hours to complete what needs to be done during my absence.

If you would be able to give my final chance on or before Sunday, to get everything settled, as I get back my composure in resolving this issue. Thank you very much and looking forward for your understanding.

Sincerely,
Mike Mijaro

Bump for you scammers suck.

That's sucks

That sucks. Thank's for the warning.

I got the exact same email...lol...problem is Mike Mijaro actually did a great job for me the first time I used him so I decided to use him again and I am in the same boat...out $300 with no updates to the site...lame excuses that he sent emails and ICQ's that magically disappear and to top it off my box has been sending out phishing emails for citibank, HSBC, and Egg(resolved immediately by my colo by the way)....I don't know what happened with his family and if it was true...but It's been two months for me and I'm moving on...I agree with the OP...$300 isn't going to break me either but its just the principle.......I am only working stateside from now on!!!!!!

ICQ465737874

Why do people pay in full up front get surprised when they get fucked? Sucks what happened but thats why you pay when the job's done. I've never paid a designer/developer up front.

No one is ever surprised. Threads like this are simply for future reference.

Sorry to bump a old thread, but this guy messaged me to do some work I needed done. HE said he has rectified the situation with you, but still wants to be paid upfront. Now I am definitely not going to give him anything upfront considering this situation and that I have already been schemed out of some money and lost about a week and a half of time by using a Michael Kane (MikeK) on DNForum, also known as Toni Zova from Designer Freaks / Inlip Designs and this situation looks so much like his M.O.

Just want to get the facts straight to see if he actually did complete your work.

Thanks,
-Mike C.

In the Philippines $300 is probably big bucks.
Maybe he's setting up his next profile for his next GFY advertising campaign.
This is why people don't like paying upfront.

GlobalCorp says that Michael Anthony Mijaro is scammer. Got it.

it'll never make sense to me how these scammer pieces of shit think that it's easier to run off with your cash and not deliver the work than it is to maintain a good relationship and reap the reward of having a steady client for life!

Hope you get the issue resolved!

Bump for you!

Mike,
No he has not rectified the situation. He has disappeared from using his real nick here at GFY and has never attempted to contact myself, or any of the others he has scammed in this thread. Next time you speak to him, why don't you tell him to drop by this thread and show some proof of ANY rectification. It won't happen ... please watch out for this guy.

Good luck -

Deal with people that people on here deal with regularly. It might cost a tad more but you will get what was promised. Skrog is good so is a bunch of others here. IMO

Good luck.

GlobalCorp, he offered to do the work up front, he did, I paid him and I couldn't be happier. I spoke with him about this situation and he is saying that he supposebly fixed this situation with you. I don't want to get involved or in the middle of the situation, but if you would like to speak with him to try and settle this situation his ICQ is 318889679 ~ let me know how it works out!

-Mike C.

It's not just a situation with me, it's a situation with numerous others that have been scammed by him. I'm sure you are aware that we all know his ICQ# and had conversations with him via ICQ and email before being scammed. When you spoke to him, did you ask him to stop by this thread and post his proof? or even stop by and address all the individuals that he has scammed? In all fairness, you involved yourself when you spoke to him about 'my situation' twice so I'm curious as to why you just didn't tell him to post proof before hiring him. Strange -

Since you seem to be alot closer to him than any of us how about this .. you get him to post some proof here and I will do the work for you free next time, and I mean that - hold me to it.

I must say, it'is a bit disappointing to see a fellow webmaster like yourself giving business to a known scammer.

The fact that three people on this thread claim to have been scammed by this guy is enough for me to know all I need about this guy, if it was only one you never know, but three people with dozens of posts at GFY...

Thanks for the heads up.

I wasn't going to work with him after finding this thread, He messaged me the next day with work started / just about completed. He finished it to my liking and I paid him. Was I suppose to scam him? I referred him to this thread so he can get the situation rectified. Believe me, I want you guys to get your work or your money back, no doubt ~ but I desperately needed the work done asap and he was the only one who could actually do it in a timely fashion and without being paid up front.

I am talking to him on ICQ right now so he can come here and try to work things out with you or I will definitely not give him any more work.

Halfway through the first post I KNEW this was Philipino. I love it when they tell you its raining too hard to work.

Mike, he lied to you about fixing anything and has not contacted any of us as to date - I can guarantee you this. With that said, he obviously has no proof to post. He will create new nicks, aquire new accounts, and slowly let this one die down like the rest of his scams in hopes we will all forget.

I understand, I am dealing with a very similar situation on DNForum. I am not defending him here, just stating what he did for me and what he is saying, nothing more than that.

I really hope he does follow through and rectify the situation(s) with you guys like he is promising.

He definitely will not get anymore work from me til he does.