Possible scam warning
 

With regard to this thread: http://www.mlukfc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15259, do not offer any kind of support, wether financial or otherwise.

Read the last post in that thread and draw your own conclusions.

Just goes to show why you should never be nice to people! :twisted:

I smelled a rat from the off, hence my reluctance to do anything except offer condolences. I feel bad for all those people who took AJ on face value when the reality of it was he was simply pulling on heart strings for the chance of a free ticket. Just terrible that these things can happen like this.

Me too. The fact he was talking of attending another concert as well was also somewhat suspicious! :twisted:

I sincerely believe the stuff he was posting about singing with the band before the show was also hogwash but I held my tongue until now. Some people think the internet is a place where they can do what they like and say what they like to people which is fine, but when it goes further and you start extorting money from people, that's when it becomes that much worse.

That's what I thought too. When he contacted me directly for help I didn't reply. I would give money if it was organised through the site and everyone was in on it but not directly.

When he also decided to post "I have C..." in every thread I thought that was rather ridiculous. I hope he doesn't have it but if he does not then it is a f*cking insult to post in that way.

I've also removed him from my Facebook just to be safe.

using illness (and this kind of illness) for money purpose is a punch in the face and show so much disrespect to those who are really in need and those who are really ill. I'm disgusted.

Agreed, since when do the NLE invite guest singers. They've had some famous tribute acts in the audience. Steve Steinman was at RAH, I didn't see him climb the stage.

Yes, but I'm not surprised. In my experience people who are battling cancer get on with the fight and don't keep broadcasting it in an attempt to get sympathy or financial help; they have more dignity. Like Slice, my antennae pricked up at the first mention, and reading the accounts posted about the show just served to confirm my suspicions.

As you say it's such an affront to those with genuine illness. A dear friend of mine who has fought, and we hope beaten, breast cancer was appalled by this nasty attempt to scam money out of people. That it was only in part successful is thanks to Rainer's prudence and investigation.

I hope so; I'd hate to think Paul was taken in and thought he was doing something special for a person who was suffering from a life-threatening illness. I hope the story about Meat looking out into the crowd, looking him straight in the eyes and mouthing "That was for you" was hogwash too. Meat is always so kind and generous to people who have genuine stories of battling illness or despair. I hate seeing people take advantage of the good hearts of others :( It's beyond tacky; to me it's loathesome.

Caryl

It is unforgiveable. Utterly. Too many people have fought and died fighting the big C to make it anything other than deplorable and inhuman.

R did the right thing from the off. I can't deny that it concerned me enough to raise the issue weeks ago anyway in private to the mod team and I'm glad they have reacted so responsibly.

Don't thank me, I'm just the messenger. :bleh:
Ivestigational and organisational kudos belong to the mod team!

I didn't post on the thread but I did keep an eye on it.
I initially felt sorry for this person, but as the thread grew, I did start to feel suspicion.

To think somebody has taken advantage of many peoples good nature by claiming to have one of the worst conditions a person can suffer from is quite frankly disgusting!

I'm glad that this person has been found out.
Such a shame however, as you dont expect people to be so inhuman by doing something like this :( but i guess that happens sometimes:?

Mike.

I think what this does highlight and is something that's worth remembering is that just because someone posts regularly does not mean that you know them. Don't get me wrong, this fanclub/forum has created some lifelong friendships and relationships for many of us, but it's easy to forget that we've actually not even met so many people here...it's easy to get used to seeing someone's user-name and reading their posts but that is no indication at all to the person behind them.

That's not to say we should all be suspicious of those we've not met here but perhaps we need to "keep it real" a little more

He got off petty easy in a way. He got to go to a meat loaf concert because of some member's generosity.

If it were up to me Id press charges.

I seem to recall I was a little back stepped earlier for voicing my suspicions about him actually performing with The NLE.

Well Wario, you and I conversed about that via PM and you know you weren't the only one to feel that way.

Well it looks like he may face charges for the whole laptop thing anyway going by the PBnation thread. The good thing is if you pay through Paypal there is definitely some stuff they can do, however for some reason it seems he managed to use a friend's account, a friend now wanting an explanation obviously. Interesting he has lots of time available to set up a new Meat Loaf forum and to try to nab members away from here but no time to deal with the laptop dispute. What an ahole.

yep, just at a point in time i thought us two were the only ones that thought that.

Maybe so, but it is a damn shame nothing could be done to prevent honest posters losing money on this jerk.

We tried to warn people to use discretion as soon as we realised something was wrong. Until we had more proof there was sadly not much more that could be done.

If those who did contribute wish to pursue matters then if they contact myself or Rainer via PM, we'll collate the details of all those who were caught up and put them in touch with each other and provide what help we can in repoting this to the relevant authorities.

Well, fraud is against the law. If R wanted to he could press charges (not really recommended but its possible. I would think admins have an IP Databae)

Don't think you can lay blame with the mods here Wario or should expect R. to pursue this. They closed the thread very early to see what was going on as it was a strange case that I don't think any of us have come across before. An IP address won't tell you jack shit.

Oh no.. i wasnt laying blame. They are the best admins ever.

It was just a suggestion on how to find AJ. I dunno about IPs i just thought they tell you like your location.

And Andy pretty much summed it up in the post before me what I was trying to say.

Indeed, I think it would be down to the individual to pursue any criminal case if they wish. In te UK it would probably fall under Fraud by False Representation and things could get messy if the individual contributors who have lost out as a result of this matter are spread over different countries but there is clearly no blame to be laid at the door of anyone here except AJ.

Discretion should be used when speaking to anyone on the internet that you have not personally met and known for some time, that would be my advice as a police officer.

Well apparently he is "a certified computer technician" so he probably knows about proxies.

http://media.mlxxfc.net/pinocchio1.gif

On the other hand reading a certain thread on another mentioned forum reveals his home address :sherlock: