I've tried searching on the threads and have not seen anything related to this topic (my apologies if there is). I thought I had seen a thread on the True Scale Terminators by Three Stage Studios. (Link - http://threestagestudios.blogspot.com/)
I'm a little tweaked with this guy. I ordered True Scale Terminators from him and had to go through PayPal to get my money back. A friend of mine, Angelo and I are stationed together and we like 40K – he provided me a link to this because he knew I bought some Trusescale from Chapterhouse and was looking at a few Terminators for a diorama I want to do.
The seller then told me his mother died - I sent my apologies, but have been told this was BS by a friend who ordered and did not get his either. I was told he really went on vacation and let things slide – granted this is from my friend Angelo located with me. He did some Ebaying with the guy and says he got some lame excuses and then a truth bare all email coming clean asking for more time on Ebay.
I got an email from the seller telling me how much he regretted this error and asked me to withdrawal my claim with PayPal - that I had 45 days from the time I filed instead of the purchase date. I knew this was wrong and left it going. He could not/would not provide a tracking number. (I'm U.S. military stationed in Europe - I know you can get this - I've spent the last 13 years outside the U.S.). Tracking is not always available but usually is.
He then professed great love and affection for the U.S. military and said he was shipping more sets of miniatures for free in the one he was 2 months late on. Since June - there has been no contact from him. I did get my money back through Paypal- my friend did not. He missed it by one day due to travel.
My main concerns/questions are these:
1) Does anyone know his real name? - I'd like to file a BBB complaint if is this a legit business. (It seems to be a part time operation to me.)
2) Does anyone know the state he is located in? I never got anything in the mail and Angelo never got his Ebay items either.
3) Are others being ripped off or is this isolated?
4) It looks like he is ripping off RedStarOne as well. TS-7B Robot on his site. (Not sure if he has permission to Cast/Sell these.)
5) Is this guy okay to do business with normally? Is my case out of the realm of normal - or should I avoid at all costs?
V/r,
PanzerTC
Edited portions follow here:
Elements changed - Title change and update.
Former Title – Mon, 06/Aug/2012 12:04:41 PM Subject: Has anyone else been ripped off by Three Stage Studios - True Scale Terminators?
New Title – SAT 29/SEP/2012 Subject: Has anyone else had problems/issues/complaints with and or about Three Stage Studios - True Scale Terminators?
UPDATE
I have dealt with all kinds of professional and personal things as fast as I could. I have updated this to avoid anymore drama or emails concerning this post. I’m not going into any lengthy details - but this will hopefully be my last post on this. I’ve stated before I have no time for drama or threats of lawsuits. I’m too busy doing important stuff in the real world. My hobby is supposed to be my escape from it – not the reason I hide in real life work.
1) Terminators have shown up. They were sent relatively fast. If someone wants I'll post pics of them.
2) Angelo is squared away – no issues with Daniel/TSS.
3) Tracking about the new knight kits on Ebay and other buyers.
4) The community has my thanks for the support and advice you have all given me.
5) To those of you still working with Daniel/TSS – good luck.
6) It is clear there are and will be issues about this subject. As I stated in some of my other posts – what I expected to hear when I posted this – turned into a rather long and convoluted entry.
I no longer feel as though my time and trust has been ripped off. I will not do business with Daniel again, but he is square with me and Angelo.
I wish the rest of you the best of luck and will continue to monitor the post.
A client of mine was waiting on at least one of those terminators. Seems like they're either extremely disorganised and/or unprofessional. Either is bad, really.
@wynterdyne – Roger – so this is a usual occurrence given the thread at the bottom by
@Chowderhead – Roger tracking on this – Number 4 on my concerns. You say Lego Group has this one- I honestly thought it was Redstarone (maybe yes to both).
@filbert - thanks for the thread – I really tried to find it – looks like I was in the wrong place to search.
I did get my Money back – my friend, not a U.S. citizen but is serving in a NATO assignment with me, really got doubly screwed by this guy. I was looking at a BBB complaint as a possible way to help him out. Try and get the owner/operator to do the right thing.
Rumor is that this is Matthew Bonder (AKA Red Star One).
I do not confirm or deny that rumor... only that I was told this by someone who purported to know.
I've noticed the gammatical differences, which I admit has made me skeptical.
The BBB can't do a damn thing about it. They only care about companies that are members, and then they coddle those members when complaints arise so that they don't lose the income.
The BBB is stupid is what I'm getting at. Complaining to them means little to nothing.
PanzerTC wrote:
I got an email from the seller telling me how much he regretted this error and asked me to withdrawal my claim with PayPal - that I had 45 days from the time I filed instead of the purchase date. I knew this was wrong and left it going. He could not/would not provide a tracking number. (I'm U.S. military stationed in Europe - I know you can get this - I've spent the last 13 years outside the U.S.). Tracking is not always available but usually is.
Just as a side note, I've tried using USPS tracking via delivery confirmation to APOs several times and it has never worked for me besides the original scan at the counter when I'm paying. Obviously this isn't the issue in your case but I thought I'd chime in with that info from the shipping side. If he is the person Magical Memories mentioned, you should do a google search on the name (or even just here at dakka or at bartertown) and consider yourself lucky to have gotten your money back. What was the person's name (if any) that was attached to any communication you had?
@ Aerethan, I am well aware of what the BBB can and cannot do (in some cases will not do). (Not intended as a mean or angry comment please don’t take it that way.) If you see my comment it refers to trying to find out if he is a legitimate business or if this is a side business. Not all businesses are members of the BBB, but some are. I have successfully resolved three issues in 13 years of overseas deployments I have used the BBB 5 times, 3 in my favor 1 in the business’s favor (in this case it was a really bad international car transit company clearly in the wrong – but I agree on this point – they coddled the member) and 1 time in Texas – the BBB just never replied to me. So I see it as give it a shot – nothing more is lost by it.
@ warboss, I jump back to the states for schools and training for a few weeks to a few months at a time and use the Postal System myself. There are some issues in when the Postal Workers are ignorant (meaning uninformed/experienced) of the system themselves. On some occasions the size and resources allocated to the facility make some options hard to get/not available. I have had training as a unit postal officer in several of my assignments as an additional duty. Usually there is a way to track and or confirm receipt in one way or another. It is often just asking the right question to illicit the right response from the Postal worker. Some are more helpful/proactive than others.
Thanks for the suggestions I will look into when I get some more time. I did get my money back – it is my friend that I am concerned about. As he isn’t a U.S. citizen I feel an obligation to help him on a personal level. He is a wonderful teammate and ally. He and his wife have helped me and my wife out with issues dealing with the local nationals where we are now. Keeping us from getting ripped off by bad businessmen here.
The name I had was Daniel Mandelbaum with TSS on the Paypal transaction. I tried a brief search on him a few months ago and nothing showed up.
Thanks for the help guys. I’m just tired of getting ripped off/having bad experiences that don’t turn out right.
MagickalMemories wrote:Rumor is that this is Matthew Bonder (AKA Red Star One).
I do not confirm or deny that rumor... only that I was told this by someone who purported to know.
I've noticed the gammatical differences, which I admit has made me skeptical.
Eric
You've got to be kidding me... this guy is like the Osama Bin Laden of the miniature wargaming hobby, his name keeps popping up..
PanzerTC wrote:Wow. Strong comparison. I am usually in Europe or the Middle East, lately in Africa and I've not heard anything bad about Red Star One.
I've recieved a few PMs warning me about him and his business practices lately.
Can anyone tell me what happened?
He has been pulling simultaneous scams since 2009 ( that I know of ).
I warned about him before he actually scammed dakkadakka, but my warning was dismissed as drama.
Then he proceeded to boldly scam a dakka mod + other dakkites.
He was lieing about his sick wife and dying son as he delayed his commission on dakka
while simultaneously run event and scams on 2 other site ( that I know of ).
He basically follow the pattern of:
Been (legit for a few trades), does commission legitly for few clients.
earn enough trust and publicity till he have enough "baited"
then he tries to scam as many people as he can within window of 1 week.
After he is exposed, he goes to new site, does the samething again ( build reputation and such )
over and over again.
Bad person is bad, too bad no dakkite in USA went to hunt him down yet xD
LunaHound wrote:I warned about him before he actually scammed dakkadakka, but my warning was dismissed as drama.
Then he proceeded to boldly scam a dakka mod + other dakkites.
Ouch.
But yeah, I'm also morbidly amused by how often this guy's name comes up. I mean I feel bad for all the people being scammed, but holy gak I just can't believe how long the guy's been doing it and getting away with it.
As much as I'd like to see Red Star One being hunted down and put through a Kangaroo court for his actions, I don't think we need to pull that jerk into this thread until it is 100% confirmed that this is another one of his schemes.
It's Bonder/Redstarone.
I'm surprised he didn't tell the OP he was Special Forces.
He's reading this too by the way. It's like he get's off on us talking about what a douche he is.
OP got lucky. He usually gets away with it, and others are left to clean up his mess. I dont want
to be in his state when it comes payback time. That's some seriously bad Karma.
@Luna
Do you have proof that he was lying about his wife and son?
I mean, I know he abused those excuses, whether legitimate or not, but that's a pretty crappy thing to accuse someone of lying about if you don't know they're lying.
Also, I saw someone mention that they were asked to drop their PayPal claim so that the stuff could be sent (sorry. I forget who). NEVER DO THIS WITH ANYONE. It was a trick used by Matthew numerous times. People would close their PayPal claims, so as to make the money available to him "so he can afford to ship the stuff," then he never shipped. Once you close a PayPal claim, you can NOT reopen it.
MagickalMemories wrote:@Luna
Do you have proof that he was lying about his wife and son?
I mean, I know he abused those excuses, whether legitimate or not, but that's a pretty crappy thing to accuse someone of lying about if you don't know they're lying.
Also, I saw someone mention that they were asked to drop their PayPal claim so that the stuff could be sent (sorry. I forget who). NEVER DO THIS WITH ANYONE. It was a trick used by Matthew numerous times. People would close their PayPal claims, so as to make the money available to him "so he can afford to ship the stuff," then he never shipped. Once you close a PayPal claim, you can NOT reopen it.
Eric
When he told Dakka he had no time to take care of his end of business, he said it was because of his wife, and his son ( forgot what order they were used.... )
either way, at that same period while neglecting dakka, he was already on 2 other sites that I know of (might be more?)
One was miniwargaming, that one caught my attention right away because well its a Canadian store ( i visit there daily ). All the thing he said he couldn't do with dakka, he was doing it happily there.
In my eye, I can tell he already "used up" what he needed with dakka and moved on to the next one. The other site I cant remember the name right now, its either conversioncorner ( closed down) or
another one you guys know ( already mentioned in this thread somewhere ).
Either way I already halted him on miniwargaming and now he is on astronomicon
Oh he is full of it, trust me. No one had cancer, I doubt he was even married. His latest round of shenanigans, in addition to this pile, has included pretending to be a 60 year old woman and now saying he or other people have cancer as well to get out of things.
Way I see it, he either lives on a radioactive dump site and hasn't the sense to move, or he is a sociopath and a liar that will continue to use the most heinous excuses to get out of delivering, and relying on the fact that any moral person would hesitate to question an excuse of that magnitude, even if absolutely everything that has every happened ever with this guy points to disgusting, illegal and predatory behaviours, and also that individually these are relatively small amounts to keep his ass out of jail.
This has been going on for years, and frankly I think if you totalled everything up, it would not be a small amount he has stolen, not at all. I will cherish the day when the police finally knock on his door and he has to answer for all this.
Shame the old thread got locked, after being as good as exposed using some woman as a front to do his business, he's slithered off the radar for a bit. And now he's back finding more victims.
MajorTom11 wrote:Oh he is full of it, trust me. No one had cancer, I doubt he was even married. His latest round of shenanigans, in addition to this pile, has included pretending to be a 60 year old woman and now saying he or other people have cancer as well to get out of things.
Way I see it, he either lives on a radioactive dump site and hasn't the sense to move, or he is a sociopath and a liar that will continue to use the most heinous excuses to get out of delivering, and relying on the fact that any moral person would hesitate to question an excuse of that magnitude, even if absolutely everything that has every happened ever with this guy points to disgusting, illegal and predatory behaviours, and also that individually these are relatively small amounts to keep his ass out of jail.
This has been going on for years, and frankly I think if you totalled everything up, it would not be a small amount he has stolen, not at all. I will cherish the day when the police finally knock on his door and he has to answer for all this.
That is the interesting thing Tom. To me, RSO was never talented in his work, and he is rather a one trick pony person in his works.
This is how I catch him so easily and fast when ever he tries to "start over".
In other words, his possible actions in the future are always linear and predictable.
He doesn't have variety in his work, nor subject of his work, nor does he "finish" new works fast enough.
In other words he'll always be borrowing or be in the shadow of "his own past work".
Then it becomes painfully obvious who he is no matter what name he changes to.
After all, he is in a hurry to establish credentials YET HE DONT HAVE ENOUGH NEW WORK TO SHOW.
Hence, it is inevitable he'll be exposed, and when he is he'll lie about everyone's claim.
His only possible action now, is to stay in hiding till he improve his work enough so he cant be so easily caught.
There is no way he can dodge people that knew what he did indefinitely, because each site he scamed isnt a perfect shaped impact, it cracks and branches like a smashed glass,
he'll be hard pressed to know where to hide
Ripping of people is bad enough but using the cancer excuse is absolutely repugnant on a personal level. My mother died from complications arising from breast cancer treatment last year and i am fighting Hodgkins Lymphoma right now.
People like this need the full weight of the law brought down on them and a good ass kicking thrown in for good measure.
i just got my money back...didnt think it was going to happen but when I told him I was going to the BBB and post on the forums again I actually got a response...
heres my email correspondence with this person
it was months of promises and nothing....
STAY AWAY is my recommendation
cheers gents
Daniel
I.sent an email offering condolences on her passing. Jesus man all i have asked for is what i hVe paid for and you have given nothing but lip sevice and bullshitted me for 3 months now. I.am sorry for your loss, have a vacation, etc et all but YOU have told me my gak was in the mail for.months and i.havent gotten a thing from you but the run around.
Im not threatening you, hell, i.dont even know you but you treat me like a bitch because this is the internet.
We all have gak. One of my best friends died, my dad had surgery, my girlfriend has an donkey-cave ex blahblah.blah.... Stories are just that man.
You have fed me one for.months now telling me you are mailing me what i ordered. You have said i have lied...whatever man.
I will post the truth, my gak wont have been mailed and you will still be in business. End of this.story
Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android
From: Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com>;
To: josh saxton <Redacted;;
Subject: Re: crusader order
Sent: Thu, Aug 9, 2012 1:00:54 AM
Going to reply or just threaten me?
On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 1:37 PM, Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com> wrote:
Post whatever you want. After thew last 2 days of drama with bull gak people saying im someone im not, saying my mother didnt pass away, im frankly tired of this.
Its also bull gak I have to prove I did not lie about who I am or about my mother when People say I went on vacation and she didnt pass away.
The fact I have to post her obituary is down right wrong of you people to force me.
Go post whatever you want or take the refund. I will not play both games. Pick what you want and stick with it.
On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 11:59 AM, josh saxton <Redacted> wrote:
Daniel
Fyi... Its been 2 weeks and nothing but the refund. I will be posting on multiple forums this evening our dialogue's in the hope that the community at large can assist your business acumen.
I have say back and waited for liner than 4 months.
I find your practices to be dishonesty and i truly do not know why this situation had not been resolved. Perhaps you decided to seek out someone who came to you peacefully requesting assistance in purchasing from your company and maneuver a small sum away while not following through on multiple promises to be an honorable business person. The story does not matter just the now.
I will also seek out the better business bureau and any other agencies i can to file grievance against your business.
Many thanks
Joshua
Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android
From: Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com>;
To: josh saxton <Redacted>;
Subject: Re: crusader order
Sent: Thu, Jul 26, 2012 3:48:12 AM
Extra set will be included and refund for the 10 will be sent in the morning. Dont take my word for it, just sit back, relax, and watch it happen .
Daniel
On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 10:46 PM, josh saxton <Redacted> wrote:
Torso and legs are fine, my paypal address is Redacted
Joshua
Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android
From: Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com>;
To: josh saxton <Redacted;;
Subject: Re: crusader order
Sent: Thu, Jul 26, 2012 3:39:01 AM
Hi,
Just tell me which option you want. I will refund the 10 dollar difference gladly but you should read the details. That is not the same set you bought, and in fact the set you bought is sold out and there is no way to get the shoulder pads included. The40 dollar option was always there, its simply torsos and legs. It was an option when you bought your set.
I will ship and refund the 10 as that seems to be a sticking point to you but hopfully, you will see, i did not just lower my price or even add a new option to it. I simply removed other options as the molds died.
Please send the money request or tell me the paypal specifically right here to refund. Most people use their normal email but some dont and I cant look up your paypal info right now.
On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 10:35 PM, josh saxton <Redacted> wrote:
Daniel,
Really?
3 options present themselves.
First you can honor your word as a business man and ship my order tonite while refunding the $10 price difference between when i originally placed my order and the current price on your website while including any extra product you feel might displace my inconvenience as a customer who had waited 3 months for your product.
Second you can refund my full paypal payment to you of $52 tonite.
Third you can continue to tell me you conduct business in a professional manner and not honor the merchant client agreement.
Its really up to you as you have my money and i have received nothing but a lesson as of yet.
Good luck in the future.
Joshua
Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android
From: Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com>;
To: josh saxton <Redactedcom>;
Subject: Re: crusader order
Sent: Thu, Jul 26, 2012 2:32:05 AM
Oh wait, you wanted a refund instead? Let me know ASAP.
On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 8:43 PM, Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com> wrote:
Tracking inbound for your order and extras.
On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 8:17 PM, josh saxton <Redacted> wrote:
Daniel
Its a week later
Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android
From: Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com>;
To: josh saxton <Redacted>;
Subject: Re: crusader order
Sent: Thu, Jul 19, 2012 1:37:54 AM
Im on the train heading home. I will provide you a tracking number first and a refund as the money uploads into my paypal from my bank which i started last night.
I would write more but the connection is terrible here.
On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 8:33 PM, josh saxton <Redacted> wrote:
daniel
did not hear from you last night
hope you are having a good day
josh
From: Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com>
To: josh saxton <Redacted>
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 4:18 PM Subject: Re: crusader order
You sent a blank email. Gmail cuts peoples emails sometimes. Please resend .
On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 3:14 PM, josh saxton <Redacted> wrote:
From: Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com>
To: josh saxton <Redacted>
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 3:37 PM Subject: Re: crusader order
So you post saying I took your money, models and didnt refund you? You told me and I told you I needed until tonight to send the refund AND the tracking. Go update your post as frankly, you lied in it and failed to mention you have been in talks with me as of TODAY.
On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 2:06 PM, josh saxton <Redacted> wrote:
Howdy, I have been up for 26 hours at the moment...drove to northern michigan with my 3 children...I feel you on the no mood to argue.
I would love for you to keep your word and send me your product. Or my money. I leave it up to you to decide what form of compensation will occur and would appreciate you letting me know this evening when you have had a chance to cool off from your day.
Thank you
From: Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com>
To: josh saxton <Redacted>
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 2:48 PM Subject: Re: crusader order
Hi.
I am in 100f heat, at work, very tired due to lack of sleep and not in a mood to argue.
Do you want the refund or not? Or do you want the tracking number? Both will be this evening whichever you choose.
I do hope whatever you have said about me youd link me to so I can read it for myself, or at least mention im offering a refund or the models. Im not screwing you over and do understand your position. Please understand mine.
On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 1:39 PM, josh saxton <Redacted> wrote:
I have received no email or phone call offers of a refund, nor referenced emails to my paypal dispute .
In the last 2 months I have received multiple emails from you have been promising delivery of goods I have paid for.
In letting people know that I am an unsatisfied customer I am not trying to damage your company nor reputation but let people know that there are problems that need to be addressed. I have said nothing inflammatory, just spoken the truth as I see it.
I am a self employed one man operation as well and understand fully the vagaries of time and fortune, in that is the saving grace of my patience in this situation.
You have said on 2 occasions that you would ship them the next day and once said you would give a delivery confirmed order.
1)Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 12:28 PM,
'Hmm, I will send out a replacement set, first thing tomorrow!'
2)Wednesday, June 27, 2012 6:54 PM "DId you not get the mass email from last night? Maybe your spam got it. Here it is (but doesnt really apply to you as your order is going out much sooner):
Hello there,
I do apologize for the delaies. I will be updating the blog and website with new products as well as finally being caught up on all past due orders including yours. I wont make excuses other then that life hs been tough, but, thats ok. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. As such, expect some extras in your package and I hope you can look past the delaies and remain a customer for future projects im releasing and others in the works.
Again, I am very sorry for this.
I will have your order out within the week, though if your out of the USA, I will have to pay extra (from my pocket, so dont worry) for signature conformation that way we can track it. I wish USPS would track after it leaves customs here but it sadly doesnt. Domestic orders will posted with a normal tracking number.
If you have any questions at all, just let me know.
Regards"
Perhaps you will be able to more clearly understand my frustration in this matter with your words.
I will let you decide to refund my money or mail my order. I see the crusader sets are on sale now.
Thank you for your response
Joshua
From: Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com>
To: josh saxton <Redactedgt;
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 1:58 PM Subject: Re: crusader order
Hello,
I have made it clear I can not reply to the paypal dispute center from my phone. I made that clear several times.
I have also offered a refund several times.
Making threats to talk bad about my company while admitting others got their products is rather confusing. It will simply make you look like you did something wrong when you did no such thing.
If you want a refund I will send it today. If you want another set, I will send it today with a tracking number.
I do this not because of your threats but because I do not leave my customers hanging in the wind. Understand I am a one man show and my blog clearly states that.
Have a nice day,
On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 12:54 PM, josh saxton <Redacted> wrote:
Ok man,
You got me. I have attempted to contact you via paypal transaction resolution center and my case was denied as its been longer than 45 days since I sent you $52.50 for an item I have not received.
I have not received my order and will obviously not be buying from you in the future and I will be posting in the forums I frequent as to my negative experience. Apparently other folks received their orders so I assume there are some satisfied customers, I am not one.
Thank you
Joshua S
From: Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com>
To: Saxtonmassagetherapy <Redacted>
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 6:54 PM Subject: Re: crusader order
DId you not get the mass email from last night? Maybe your spam got it. Here it is (but doesnt really apply to you as your order is going out much sooner):
Hello there,
I do apologize for the delaies. I will be updating the blog and website with new products as well as finally being caught up on all past due orders including yours. I wont make excuses other then that life hs been tough, but, thats ok. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. As such, expect some extras in your package and I hope you can look past the delaies and remain a customer for future projects im releasing and others in the works.
Again, I am very sorry for this.
I will have your order out within the week, though if your out of the USA, I will have to pay extra (from my pocket, so dont worry) for signature conformation that way we can track it. I wish USPS would track after it leaves customs here but it sadly doesnt. Domestic orders will posted with a normal tracking number.
If you have any questions at all, just let me know.
Regards
On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 1:21 PM, Saxtonmassagetherapy <Redacted> wrote:
Howdy again man...not heard back from you with shipping number not received items in mail...
While I am excited about true scale terminators and your amazing work I am wondering if this is meant to be.
If you cannot have the crusader squad to me by Monday I would ask for a refund of my payment.
Thanks
Redacted
Redacted
Redacted
Redacted
Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G Touch
-------- Original message --------
Subject: Re: crusader order
From: Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com>
To: Saxtonmassagetherapy <Redacted>
CC:
Hi Josh,
I will check into the pile of receipts and find yours. You should most certainly have them. i do apologize and will find out quickly whats going on.
On Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 8:27 AM, Saxtonmassagetherapy <Redacted> wrote:
Dude...its June 18th. After my last email you said you would get a set of crusader guys in the mail 12 days ago to Redacted. I have not received a package.
I will need you to send the package via some kind of delivery confirmed service and send me the tracking number.
Thanks
Josh
Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G Touch
-------- Original message --------
Subject: Re: crusader order
From: Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com>
To: Saxtonmassagetherapy <Redacted>
CC:
Hmm, I will send out a replacement set, first thing tomorrow!
On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 12:28 PM, Saxtonmassagetherapy <Redacted> wrote:
Howdy again
Wondering if my address email went through? when can I expect the crusader armor guys to arrive?
Thanks
Josh
Redacted
Redacted
Redacted
Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G Touch
-------- Original message --------
Subject: Re: crusader order
From: Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com>
To: Saxtonmassagetherapy <Redacted>
CC:
Here is the original as Gmail seems to want to quote it and not just post it.
-------- Original message --------
Subject: Re: crusader order
From: Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com>
To: Saxtonmassagetherapy <Redacted>
CC:
Hello Johsua,
Can you give me your address and exact order and ill check the status as I cant check paypal shipment info from my phone :(
Automatically Appended Next Post: REMOVE MY MOTHERS OBITUARY NOW
On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 9:04 PM, Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com> wrote:
"Go post whatever you want or take the refund. I will not play both games. Pick what you want and stick with it. "
I did warn you I will not play both games. You took the refund and then attacked me.
Game on.
On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 8:57 PM, Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com> wrote:
YOU HAVE JUST CROSSED THE fething LINE
i apologize ot the community at large for inadvertently including personal information and have removed said link from my post.
On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 8:57 PM, Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com> wrote:
REMOVE MY MOTHERS OBITUARY FROM YOUR fething EMAIL CHAIN RIGHT fething NOW.
As far as getting my money back, thank you. I told you time and again I wanted the minatures I ordered and again and again you told me they were in the mail. Id love to see a pic of my name on a box and the date it was supposed to be shipped.
BBB does not have three stage studios on file but you are on a few scam sites....guess you probably are aware of that.
I will make mention that I received my money back.
Again, I'm not saying this IS Matthew Bonder -I have ZERO actual proof- but, *IF* it is, he's going a LONG WAY out of his way to type like someone else, AND he's being consistent about it.
MM, it's him no question. The obituary link that was shown above was Susan Beasley's. That name should be familiar, it's the one he used in his last scam.
Glad you got refunded, good on you for keeping at it.
MagickalMemories wrote:Again, I'm not saying this IS Matthew Bonder -I have ZERO actual proof- but, *IF* it is, he's going a LONG WAY out of his way to type like someone else, AND he's being consistent about it.
Eric
I don't know MM, change Daniel to Matthew and those emails sure do sound familiar. Real familiar.
Anyway, I have no desire to ever discuss this person on Dakka ever again beyond folks getting refunds. But those emails are definitely Bonder... or, I guess, Daniel Mandelbaum.
And if he is indeed related to her, it seems she may have indeed died, which is sad. But it does nothing to change the fact that he used her name, and even posted pictures of her here And emailed them to me, last time he was on here.
It's the exact same writing style and M.O. The deceased woman has the same name as the woman he last pretended to be here on Dakka when he was calling himself Lord Serpius.
Since this doesn't seem connected to Dakka aside from this thread, I assume we cannot issue a warning in the form of a transaction report on the Swap Shop to the community avoiding this company/individual?
Afaik, there is no connection to Dakka other than a few members (such as the OP) who dealt with him / his new blog.
At some point, someone should probably make a site with a compiled history... but it's be too long and convoluted to matter, really, and he'll just come up with a new scheme next time.
Pretty much just continued vigilance is the key. I am certainly always on look out... but I don't believe this has any place in a transaction report / sticky or the like on Dakka. There have been other prolific scammers before, and eventually they run out of new legitimate names for Paypal accounts, or brush up too close with law enforcement, and realize it's just not worth it.
Granted, with this particular person that has taken much longer than usual. But I'm hopeful he'll realize this time around that there's just not enough gain in it to make it worth it, and also that he'll have run out of Paypal account information to use and won't want to burn his last one / few.
He's a known scam artist, so I don't know why we couldn't, though I mean he's already banned on Dakka from what the above said so I'd say he's probably already listed somewhere in the Swap shop.
He is listed in transaction reports under his old aliases. However, that list is only for transactions made on Dakka, hence the more recent things he's done via blogs not being on there.
I think things like that would be better kept track of via another site / blog... it's just not the kind of thing that we want to do on Dakka (i.e. a "black list" or the like). Such things exist on Bartertown, and perhaps this information could be compiled over there. But no matter where it is, it's not going to stop people from clicking on a new conversion blog and buying parts, before it comes to light who is behind it.
The key thing is to pay via Paypal, and file within 45 days if parts are not delivered, with any company. However, as I said I'm hopeful that this will be his last hurrah, and he'll move on... but I've hoped the same before, so will continue to keep an eye out for these kinds of things.
WarOne wrote:Since this doesn't seem connected to Dakka aside from this thread, I assume we cannot issue a warning in the form of a transaction report on the Swap Shop to the community avoiding this company/individual?
It doesnt matter if its related to Dakka directly or not, this is now beyond that.
He is a common enemy and a petty con artist that deserves to be caught. Anytime that he is left free is time that someone will suffer, so....
Frankly, if I had any say in this, I would keep his status stickied till he is caught, wow he should feel honored xD
Can a mod go and edit that post to remove physical addresses? Such things should stay private. I don't recommend people post their email here either, too many bots about.
I'd never seen the obituary before, actually, so I was unfamiliar with that link.
The writing style, though, I'll disagree on. Almost every time a new thread popped up on Matthew that I had the "nerve" to post in, I got a new string of explicative laced emails from him. The writing/typing/spelling/grammatical style of those emails matched the messages I used to exchange with him on Bartertown before things went downhill with him there. The emails above are far too lucid, grammatically correct, and too free of the word "feth" (he used that "word" in actual conversation, rather than the actual "F-word") for me to agree that they match his style.
RiTides wrote:I think things like that would be better kept track of via another site / blog... it's just not the kind of thing that we want to do on Dakka (i.e. a "black list" or the like). Such things exist on Bartertown, and perhaps this information could be compiled over there. But no matter where it is, it's not going to stop people from clicking on a new conversion blog and buying parts, before it comes to light who is behind it.
Correct.
Bartertown has NO problem sharing any proven information we can collect on anyone who's scamming people.
We have a thread in our Hall of Shame forum on Matthew Bonder. ANY Bartertown member can add information (not opinions - FACTS only) to that thread. Note, however, that we only allow facts. If, for example, you want to update that thread and say that he's now operating as 3SS, please provide the proof.
The same thing goes for anyone in our Hall of Shame. If you've got provable information on them, PLEASE feel free to add it.
To be honest we have been openly commenting on 'writing style' when trying to figure out it is him for years... his wording may be different, but his attitude, business practices and excuses certainly aren't.
The lesson here being, don't feth with this community, don't rip off customers and then dare them to come at you, don't delay stuff for months or forever while claiming it is in the mail. Bonder or not, this kind of thing is unacceptable and bonderesque.
We, as a community should not tolerate this kind of stuff and should protect each other imho.
MajorTom11 wrote:To be honest we have been openly commenting on 'writing style' when trying to figure out it is him for years... his wording may be different, but his attitude, business practices and excuses certainly aren't.
The lesson here being, don't feth with this community, don't rip off customers and then dare them to come at you, don't delay stuff for months or forever while claiming it is in the mail. Bonder or not, this kind of thing is unacceptable and bonderesque.
We, as a community should not tolerate this kind of stuff and should protect each other imho.
If this was Facebook, I'd "Like" that comment.
It's not, so I'll settle for quoting it. : )
I couldn't agree more. That's why Bartertown has the "Bad Trader Reports" forum and the "Hall of Shame." It's all about protecting the next potential victim and, hopefully, helping to get the current victim straightened out.
I'd urge everyone here to visit the Hall of Shame and BTR forum on BTown and add any information [provable info, mind you : )] on anyone there. Feel free to share and use the information we have posted there.
Out of curiosity, what would it take to get this bastard in court and shortly afterwards, in a chain gang digging ditches? Mind, I know nothing of foreign law, but I find it surprising that this guy has been able to do this for so long.
MM, you must have missed the auto appended post last page where the person posted his reaction to the obituary link being posted. Complete with all caps and feths all around. He never starts out like that, only descends to it when exposed, as he has here.
Personally, I have no interest in compiling data or proof on any of his aliases, I was simply mentioning BT for those that do. There is mountains of it across his various past schemes, although not all public. Regardless, I'll be watching, as always.
BrookM wrote:Out of curiosity, what would it take to get this bastard in court and shortly afterwards, in a chain gang digging ditches? Mind, I know nothing of foreign law, but I find it surprising that this guy has been able to do this for so long.
From what I gather it's either a case that it's too small scale for local law enforcement with each individual case as the money lost is only in the hundreds and not thousands (however altogether I imagine it is quite a significant amount from all the people he has scammed over the years)
Or
The money one would be charged to simply take this guy to court is significantly more than you would get back (or something). So unless we have a rich gamer that got scammed that can take him to court on principle, if they can find him, as I recall he uses or used an old couple or a P.O. Box so he cannot be traced.
The guy appears to be very clever, having been able to scam the community at large for a good few years.
RiTides wrote:MM, you must have missed the auto appended post last page where the person posted his reaction to the obituary link being posted. Complete with all caps and feths all around. He never starts out like that, only descends to it when exposed, as he has here.
Nah.
REMOVE MY MOTHERS OBITUARY FROM YOUR fething EMAIL CHAIN RIGHT fething NOW.
If you look at it, the sentences are all caps, except the "fething," which is lower case. That's indicative of the filter kicking in. To be certain, I "quoted" the original message. If you do that, you'll see that the actual F-bomb was used in the email.
That's very abnormal of him. In emails with me, he always used "feth", rather than the ACTUAL F-bomb, as if he got so used to seeing it on forums that it just entered his natural vocabulary.
RiTides wrote:Personally, I have no interest in compiling data or proof on any of his aliases, I was simply mentioning BT for those that do. There is mountains of it across his various past schemes, although not all public. Regardless, I'll be watching, as always.
Don't blame you. That part of my message was "general information" for anyone who felt the desire, not to you personally. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.
If this guy has posted on Dakka, or any other reputable site, for that matter, it should be a very easy thing for a MOD to look up his IP. With this information, it is a very simple process to find out exactly where this creep is.
We used this method to stop someone that kept pestering a WoW guild forum years ago.
A friend posted up satellite images of the guy's house, car in the driveway, and street numbers on the front of the house. From there, what anyone that sees the information does with it is entirely their own business.
I was one of the few lucky ones that actually got the stuff I ordered, the only thing that makes me feel bad is that I didn't know who it was at the time and I posted a positive review of the kit on here. I am sorry if anybody got screwed over after deciding to order them after seeing the review I posted.
Which reminds me that I need to delete the pictures from my gallery so nobody else sees them and thinks "they look alright, I should get some".
I'm rather reluctant to believe this was a scam - people actually received kits, and I've been following the development of the set from the start. Seems a bit of a crappy scam if you actually end up producing and mailing out kits to people.
That said, I didn't get mine. I did get a refund quite easily though, so overall I don't have a terrible opinion of the guy, and I certainly don't buy that he's the scourge of the community he's being painted as, but the fact remains: People paid for this stuff and didn't get it, for me that means, nice guy or not, he's not getting another order.
People do have a history of actually getting what they ordered from the known scammer, the only trick is to get in early enough in the scam. Make a couple legit sales and conversions, get good reviews, build up trust, then let that house of cards fall down.
I am going to delete my review so that no new people are going to order from him, for what it's worth that is about all I can do at this point to give back to the community. Again, I am sorry if anybody ordered from him and got screwed after reading my review.
Why is there any doubt about who it is? Writing styles don't really matter so much considering this was pointed out:
Mannahnin wrote:It's the exact same writing style and M.O. The deceased woman has the same name as the woman he last pretended to be here on Dakka when he was calling himself Lord Serpius.
Pacific wrote:Why is there any doubt about who it is? Writing styles don't really matter so much considering this was pointed out:
Mannahnin wrote:It's the exact same writing style and M.O. The deceased woman has the same name as the woman he last pretended to be here on Dakka when he was calling himself Lord Serpius.
As a side note then, is TSS (in the Warseer thread Charax linked) Matt Bonder/RSO too? As if that's the case then he's still active on a rather large forum.
The blog is "Three Stage Studios" and it's him. We know this from several sources- at least 3 completely separate ones. And, of course, this is corroborated by his posting the link that his mother is Susan Beasley- the same name and photo used by him in his last persona as "Lord Serpius" on Dakka.
Assuming the username "TSS" stands for the blog name, and it seems to since he is apparently advertising his products there, then yes it's him.
The good news is, even though I believe I've seen about 10 people so far saying they haven't received items in several threads/etc, refunds do seem to be being given... which is good. Personally, I believe this is because he is using someone close to him's real name / information: "Daniel Mandelbaum". Apparently it is a name / account he does not wish to sully. Either way, it seems with a LOT of persistence... people are being refunded.
Thanks for the redaction of my review. That way I don't have to worry about giving people false hope by seeing somebody actually get these things. Am I the only person on here that actually got what he ordered?
Charax wrote:I'm rather reluctant to believe this was a scam - people actually received kits, and I've been following the development of the set from the start. Seems a bit of a crappy scam if you actually end up producing and mailing out kits to people.
That said, I didn't get mine. I did get a refund quite easily though, so overall I don't have a terrible opinion of the guy, and I certainly don't buy that he's the scourge of the community he's being painted as, but the fact remains: People paid for this stuff and didn't get it, for me that means, nice guy or not, he's not getting another order.
er...... I think I ought to remind you how Bonder works.
1) He doesn't work alone, in fact he recently blends in new sites. Why? he piggy back legit people's reputation. He offers free prizes, he offers free commission, in return he builds trust and reputation and people will believe him to be a good guy and NEVER DOUBT HIS PAST EXPLOITS.
2) He doesn't scam right off the bat. Why? being new at a new place where he is asking for money where no one knows him?
he would be stupid to start scamming with like 1-2 commissions going on.
Its better for him, to take some time to build reputation, till his business is large enough to sneak in multiple commissions simultaneously (no one but himself knows how many customers and job he took in )
within 1-2 weeks window ( when caught on ) . Then he stacks the scams when there are like 30+ ( random number ) people paying him at once.
He is required to have a large customer base at a same time so the paypal refund period can ALL EXPIRE at the same time.
Edit, now Im not saying TSS belongs to Bonders and Bonders alone, nor thats how TSS operates atm.
But I AM saying, that is how Bonder himself operates/ operated.
Just to keep things fun and interesting, these are the emails that arrived in my inbox since I asked a mod to remove my review:
Email 1:
I have seen the bs dakka thread.
All I want to say is I have your review saved so removing it to make it appear no one has ever gotten a kit is a waste of time.
In total there are 16 reviews of the kit on the net with over 75 people that have gotten them. I have had problems keeping with demand and have always sent refunds as soon as they are requested over the items.
I am not Daniel, and its slowed of you people to think that.
Either way, having your review removed simply makes it appear on your forum no one has gotten them yet all the reviews scattered about the net say other wise.
Enjoy your night.
On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 9:21 PM, Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com> wrote:
I have seen the bs dakka thread.
All I want to say is I have your review saved so removing it to make it appear no one has ever gotten a kit is a waste of time.
In total there are 16 reviews of the kit on the net with over 75 people that have gotten them. I have had problems keeping with demand and have always sent refunds as soon as they are requested over the items.
I am not Daniel, and its slowed of you people to think that.
While you are at it, tell Ritides his advice about paypal...
Tell him thats HALF right.
If a real scammer wants to scam, they simply remove the money from paypal. Then when the dispute is started, and the buyer wins the claim, paypal emails them saying "you won the case but there are no funds to withdraw". The buyer then gets nothing and was scammed.
To stop that people MUST use a CREDIT CARD to do a charge back as thats the only 100% way to get the money back.
Please go tell him that as hes giving bad advice to people who might really deal with a scammer. I on the other hand refund people when they ask. Even as in your case, way after 45 days.
Email 4:
Oh yea that's right, you and all the people from when you ordered got your items.
Im glad I saved your review and pictures before you guys "redacted it".
I wont let dakka make me look worse then things already are. Acussing me of this or that, removing reviews to make it seem like no one has ever gotten anything.. I wont play games like that.
If a real scammer wants to scam, they simply remove the money from paypal. Then when the dispute is started, and the buyer wins the claim, paypal emails them saying "you won the case but there are no funds to withdraw". The buyer then gets nothing and was scammed.
Umm, no. There are 3 ways to withdraw money from paypal: bank transfer, check, or added to the Paypal Mastercard. With the bank and Mastercard, Paypal will most definitely charge you the money to cover a refund or lost dispute. And if they can't take the money that way, they will put a negative balance on the account until it is payed off.
It helps to know what the hell you are talking about "Daniel". Paypal won't be screwed out of their money, and they don't deny people refunds. I've never heard of that happening in my 7 years of using it.
Also, since we know you are reading this thread, if you honestly have trouble keeping up with demand, step 1 would have been to email EVERY customer explaining that you have X orders to fill and each one takes Y time to complete, giving the customers and estimated shipping date of Z. That's called customer service 101 and covering your ass.
So even if you aren't RSO, you clearly suck at business. Your customers do deserve to know that before they buy.
Im glad I saved your review and pictures before you guys "redacted it".
I wont let dakka make me look worse then things already are. Acussing me of this or that, removing reviews to make it seem like no one has ever gotten anything.. I wont play games like that.
....you know, as an entrepreneur myself I'd be ashamed to send emails with such poor english in them to my customers. I mean my grammar isn't the best in the universe but goddess forsake some of that's just rough.
I find it funny when people like this think that Dakka is some evil interwebz place that is out to destroy them. How many positive reviews of legitimate upstarts are on this site? How many Kickstarters got crap tons of funding from us here?
We have no problems with garage upstarts provided they are legitimate and operate with decency. But yes, we are quite protective of other hobbyists when dealing with ANYONE getting scammed. We don't start bashing on people or companies without evidence.
Even in character, he can't help himself- calling me out but not the 3 mods who posted the same advice before me . Must have forgotten that Matt and I have history, not Daniel.
Either way, from the obit site that name is legit, and apparently one he can't mess up without repercussions, based on his resolving Paypal disputes thus far.
Regardless, his communications make it clear why you would never, ever want to deal with this person. Trying to hold a customer review hostage? Give me a break!
Wish i could post last few messages from TSS from my phone but alas cannot...needless to say his remotes to my email were attacking and he let me know that he had proof he had mailed my stuff as well as refunding my money . I asked for the taking number and got an email calling me as a-hole for posting my 'attacks' aftergetting my money back 4 months after i paid for threatsomething i never received.
Whoever Daniel is has no business being in business ..i feel if he is legit ish the sts of actually making and delivering product is to much for him.
I ordered a soon add i saw the review on BOLS...i logged around and saw a review here and on another forum and thought it was legit.
As a consumer of lil plastic dudes men I've ordered from all over the world with no problems.
I am grateful to have my money back...at least for the next 43 days until TSS follows through on his last threat to send an email from Paypal....that made me laugh add i will have all of or communication in a file ready to send to Paypal saying this guy is full of gak and didn't follow through with my transaction..
Anyways..
Fellas, its been allot of fun and if anyone has a link to a real business doing true scale terminators i have some money to give them
RiTides wrote:Even in character, he can't help himself- calling me out but not the 3 mods who posted the same advice before me . Must have forgotten that Matt and I have history, not Daniel.
Either way, from the obit site that name is legit, and apparently one he can't mess up without repercussions, based on his resolving Paypal disputes thus far.
Regardless, his communications make it clear why you would never, ever want to deal with this person. Trying to hold a customer review hostage? Give me a break!
"If you don't stop doing this, I'll edit the original content!"
If a real scammer wants to scam, they simply remove the money from paypal. Then when the dispute is started, and the buyer wins the claim, paypal emails them saying "you won the case but there are no funds to withdraw". The buyer then gets nothing and was scammed.
Umm, no. There are 3 ways to withdraw money from paypal: bank transfer, check, or added to the Paypal Mastercard. With the bank and Mastercard, Paypal will most definitely charge you the money to cover a refund or lost dispute. And if they can't take the money that way, they will put a negative balance on the account until it is payed off.
It helps to know what the hell you are talking about "Daniel". Paypal won't be screwed out of their money, and they don't deny people refunds. I've never heard of that happening in my 7 years of using it.
I can attest, as can a perusal of older Bad Trader Reports on Dakka, that PayPal is NOT your friend when it comes to empty accounts. If an account has a zero balance, they WILL try to not give you any money. You'll get the notice that "Good news - We decided in your favor but, BAD News - There's no money in the account, so you'll be paid as soon as sufficient funds are present." It happens.
What you need to do in that case, is throw a fit. Tell them you want your money or you'll complain to the BBB. You also need to remind them of their own TOS, which lets you know that they reserve the right to debit whatever accounts you've set up on PayPal (Banks, Credit Cards, etc.) if your account should go negative. --That's obviously not the exact wording, mind you. LOL
Whenever I've suggested to people that they respond in that manner, and they follow that suggestion, PayPal's had a sudden change of heart and given them the money.
Squeaky wheel gets the grease, especially when that wheel has what sounds like actual knowledge of the TOS and says they're gonna call the BBB or a similar organization that might have lawyers.
RiTides wrote:Even in character, he can't help himself- calling me out but not the 3 mods who posted the same advice before me . Must have forgotten that Matt and I have history, not Daniel.
Either way, from the obit site that name is legit, and apparently one he can't mess up without repercussions, based on his resolving Paypal disputes thus far.
Regardless, his communications make it clear why you would never, ever want to deal with this person. Trying to hold a customer review hostage? Give me a break!
Wow Im amazed he never get angry at me despite me constantly catching him year after year.
Am i scary to him
Sure he's scared of Luna for good reason, everyone knows that on the Internet all girls that post are actually big hairy bikers called Neville who want to get n touch with their feminine side.
A few dollars ain't worth that turning up on your door step.
Daniel Mandelbaum : I couldn't figure out why that name kept sounding familiar. Then it hit me today as I was driving. Mandelbaum is the name that would come up on my caller id when ever Matthew Bonder would call. Then when I drove to dumbass' apt. a couple of years ago to get my money or models, that's when I met Michael Mandelbaum, Matthew's supposed stepdad. Who, ironically knew nothing about Sarah's terminal illness. Don't know how much more proof anyone else needs, but I knew it was him before I typed this.
In accordance with the DMCA, we have completed processing your
infringement complaint and the content in question no longer appears on
the following URL:
In accordance with the DMCA, we have completed processing your
infringement complaint and the content in question no longer appears on
the following URL:
Of course he just tells me that he will continue to break the law:
My reply: No problem, try to host it on other sites. A "private site" still utilizes a webhost, and they will continue to receive DMCA takedown notices for violations of my copyright.
From: Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com>
To: Marcus Kesler <redact>
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2012 6:15 PM Subject: Re:
Google emailed me as well. They told me to simply move it off site, didnt delete it and saved it for me as an html file to do just that. They also said I can freely link to said review hosted on a private site.
Sorry to burst your bubble.
On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 11:39 PM, Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com> wrote:
Good luck on that.
On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 11:37 PM, Marcus Kesler <redact> wrote:
DCMA takedown notice for infringing on my copyright send to your webhost.
Sad thing is that stupid copyright violations get acted on more quickly and severely than serial mail fraud
The wonderful thing is that he doesn't know when to stop digging his hole. Fortunately copyright infringement is taken more serious by the authorities than mail fraud, which is a sad testament of our country as well...
d-usa wrote:The wonderful thing is that he doesn't know when to stop digging his hole. Fortunately copyright infringement is taken more serious by the authorities than mail fraud, which is a sad testament of our country as well...
Has anyone contacted LEGO about that whole copyright infringement thing concerning the Knight head? That one is some of the most blatant claiming of someone else's work as your own I've ever seen. At least recasters don't claim to have created the originals.
Also, googling Three stage studios comes up with this thread as well as:
Well, just in case, I sent the following email thru the LEGO site(couldn't find the direct email for their legal department sadly, if you have it please let me know, and send a letter of your own if you can):
I couldn't find the email for your legal department, so here's hoping that you can forward this to the appropriate person.
Clearly this is copyright infringement, and there are many people in the wargames hobby that want it to stop. Please take swift action against the person who is stealing from your company. Many will appreciate it, as we all love your products and we feel that no ones work should be stolen, let alone also being sold for profit.
Going back to people thinking Dakka is evil, I've been thinking about it. We probably ARE evil from their point of view. A forum of people with similar tastes and interests communicating and coordinating ANYTHING vaguely related to those interests who despise scammers and seeing fellow community members get screwed?
Yeah that's the equivalent of the evil league of evil to a scam artist.
Wow. This has certainly been exciting for my first post here. I really expected something completely different to occur. Like - Naw it's random/temporary.
I've received several PMs - a few people who know me other sites have PM'd emailed etc. I'd like to say thanks and I have continued to respect those as private and intend to continue to do so.
With that I'd like to also thank those of you who sent me thanks in regards to my service to the country/military/etc. It has been my honor,my pleasure and my privilege. I have been able to see people I consider to be far better than myself continue to lead by example both from the U.S.military (the best by the way) and our Allies {and those claiming to be allies - but really not so much - you know who you are ].
This post reminds me of Bad Springer shows at 3 AM while drinking/coming back from an I-HOP or Waffle house (both of which my wife and I miss - in most of Europe these are lacking) mixed in with Trolling - Troll-Bashing on You-Tube. I enjoy some Troll bashing there myself.
I'm sure that no one is surprised when I write this - I've had emails from both Matthew and Daniel claiming to be separate individuals and not the same person. - I make no statement to the effect of which is whom, if they are the same person or not, etc.
What I am writing is to clarify a potential mistake I may have made in my opening statement. I did not clarify a point clearly - no bad intention is intended - so I'm clarifying this right now.
There was common name Daniel in an email to Angelo, from an Ebayer who did not deliver to him. This is a seller who also failed to send me some items. Through the course of emails i had with the TSS Daniel - he made some references to purchases and trust, etc. without referring to the Ebay User ID. These two people both have the first name Daniel - but the paypal names do not match-up. The TSS one lines up with the Mandelbaum name.
In some recent exchanges her gave two Ebay Ids - both are supposed to be linked to him and/or his mother. (I've seen the references - and some other allegations.) I don't drag people through the mud after their deaths - with very few exceptions of evil politicians or my personal enemies. I will not do that here - it would be unprofessional and disrespectful. Neither of these two accounts have anything negative associated from myself or others. I make this statement because I promised I would in order to clarify this point - there was no intention to deceive or misrepresent the facts. I should have clarified this in my first post, but I as stated above - I hoped it would turn out differently.
In all this drama and riga-ma-roll I and my friend made an assumption that our business dealings with the same Ebayer and with TSS were the same Daniel. This adds another factor to consider. I did do searches of Mandlebaum for obits - but with namechanges, divorces, remaryying etc. - there was nothing there to settle this conclusively. These appear to be legit and clear - at least in my dealing with the one I know I used, I think I counted 5 purchases in a five month span - there maybe more.
I do not access my Paypal when I'm travelling - I just don't do it for cyber-security in some regions. I travel in Europe and Africa for business. I'm sure you are aware that some countries have ScamsCyber issues/hackers etc. I'm not smart enough to deal with that crap - so I avoid it.
When I get back home - I will check my Paypal and finish checking my part of this and double check with Angelo. I don't know his Paypal user name or address - and I will not volunteer his name to the TSS Daniel, in case he used his wifes name or some other Paypal account he has.
Sorry to throw this in - I just want to keep things above board. With this written though - it does look like people do have an issue with taking advantage of people and stealing IP/misrepresenting. It is just so hard to tell the bad guys from the good.
Hell - this post all got started because I was trying to be good guy about the Knight model. I have gotten several crappy re-casts lately - I bought one in Milan,Italy,one from a guy in France (not sure where - it came in after I left for this trip) and a third miniature (spiky nobs on it like heresy armor) from a guy in Monaco. I was just trying to find the original caster/owner to get a few more in better condition to finish my Knights squadrons for my Titan support for my Omminsah faction of 40K.
My apologies for re-opening wounds, that was not my intention.
I just want to help my friend and find out if this was a blip and if I should give the busines another go to complete my Truescale project.
PanzerTC, if you can at some point it may be helpful to post a little more clearly about what you're saying- I couldn't tell if you're saying you dealt with an ebay seller you mistakenly thought to be connected, or one that was connected (or maybe you don't know). This was the case in the last scheme, with 3 separate ebay accounts being used, so it would be good to know if you do connect something back to this.
There is a fine line between discussing issues and attacking someone who is no longer able to defend themselves on this site due to being permanently banned.
Keep in mind that one of the key rules of Dakka Dakka is to not attack former members who are no longer able to actively defend themselves here on the site.
I've ordered the same thing from this guy in April and i'm still yet to receive the order... and paypal states that it's over 45 days since the transaction i can't really make a dispute.
He kept dodging my emails also everytime i try to ask about tracking and such..... what should i do?
Well, he just called me. Over, and over, and over, etc.....
I kept hanging up on him. He has people he owes money, commision work and bits(all proven facts, not an attack)
that would much rather talk to him. To bad he won't get ahold of them, too. I suggest Matthew call and harass someone
who gives a rat's ass.
Obviously, this has hit Very close to home for him. I am leaning back to the point where I think Daniel Mandelbaum may be his real name. If not, it is obviously someone very close to him.
I believe he is finally cornered and has revealed his true identity, the death blow to any scammer's career... will update once I am able to confirm.
And still with the calling! His message was to inform me that he'd contacted Alpharius (The ball on this guy!) to tell him I violated
Dakka rules, and that my posts would be removed and edited! Hey Matthew, how about actual state and federal laws you violated?
How about basic human decency you violated? You get bad things said about you(which you've earned 12 fold!), and BOOHOO? Really?
Not feeling sorry. And if you'd really like to make your point, come see me. Really.
I've seen enough to put a warning out to my clients through the channels I post in (other forums / facebook etc). Even if these aren't the same people, I have had direct reports of failings of all of the identities in question - in particular those terminator kits.
Bottom line to the community at large; please throroughly check out the history of people you're sending money to.
A solid ebay feedback if they trade through ebay, a good posting history from the same identity if they post on forums. Generally a professional attitude in all of these channels.
There are many established commission painting / modelmaking services. Prices may be higher, wait times may be longer, but there's a reason for that.
winterdyne wrote:Bottom line to the community at large; please throroughly check out the history of people you're sending money to.
A solid ebay feedback if they trade through ebay, a good posting history from the same identity if they post on forums. Generally a professional attitude in all of these channels.
There are many established commission painting / modelmaking services. Prices may be higher, wait times may be longer, but there's a reason for that.
I generally agree with the above, but for 1 point. Matthew was thrown off Ebay for his shady dealings, only to return as 3 other sellers later.
It's very easy for wolves to find sheep's clothing on Ebay. One of his 3 new Ebay sellers had a 100% + feedback. Yet it's still the same shady
dude.
As for finding other comission painters/modelers, I agree completely. It was hard to trust sending off things after being scammed by Matthew.
But I met the guy who does work for me now before I sent any items to him. It's funny because the gentleman I use now does work that blows
Matthews crap out of the water. Plus he charges less. But the big fat cherry on top is that I actually get my work done, and get it back when I'm
told I will, with no sending it back 3 times unlike Matthew's work.
The safest thing for commission work is to have it done in-state, and just get a receipt. Then, if it doesn't pan out, you can easily take the other party to small claims court and get your money back that way. Much harder across state lines, though.
So if Matthew's stepdad calls me, saying that they're going to sue me and tie me up(I'm assuming, hoping they mean court!), say I'm slandering his recently passed wife, wouldn't that prove Matthew is Daniel? Because I thought it was Daniel's mom that had passed, not Matthew's? I'm looking over what I've posted and don't see where I've said anything about anyone who's died, or anything racist. Did I miss some- thing? All I can find is where Matthew's stepdad seemed surprised that Sarah, Matthew's supposed wife, was termially ill. Strange?
Edit: I find it comical that Matthew and family have enough money to take me to court, yet they can't manage to pay those poor people Matthew screwed over? Really? Poor form. Poor form indeed.
Actually slander is spoken, libel is written. Just ask J. Jonah Jameson. They could only go after you for libel, but then again, if it's true they have no case.
As I'm typing this, I'm getting off the phone with Michael.
He wants a list of people who've been screwed over by Matthew.
During the conversation, he tells me Matthew is Daniel, but wait! Then
as the conversation progresses he states they are indeed 2 different people.
Translation for anyone not familiar with the RSO M.O. They're the same person,
but Michael let it slip, then had to cover himself.
But I digress. He wants a list of ANY/EVERYONE whole is owed either money or items
not sent. He wants Names, what the transgretion was, times dates. He's made it clear
he's not going to do anything like refund money. He made it sound like he wanted to
confront Daniel with it. If you want to, you can send it to me via PM. I personally don't
want to get involved with it. I'm supposed to email the list to the TTS gmail address after
it's completed. I say everyone owed items / money by either of RSO's personalities email
it directly there yourselves.
I found it REALLY weird during the phone call, he kept saying "What'll it take", like he was
wanting me to name a price or item it would take for me to shut up. I don't want anything
other than for not one more person to be screwed over by RSO. It'll take Michael shutting
down his son. Until then, whenever there's a chance for Daniel/Matthew/whoever the hell he
is to screw someone over, I'm going to try my very best to stop someone from having to go through
what Alpharius and I did. I don't think Michael is a bad person. I got the feeling from him I feel
sometimes myself. My kid's got me into more crap.
I don't understand why the Dad would ask you to email his son the list, though. You've spoken to both before, you're sure this wasn't Daniel himself, right?
There's no way you can know all who've been scammed in his various schemes. I'm a little skeptical, too, since he tried to cover for his son's "Matt" persona. But if he really intends to confront him, that can only be a good thing. Just a little hard to believe he doesn't already know what his son is up to already.
RiTides wrote:So Daniel Mandelbaum IS his real name.
I don't understand why the Dad would ask you to email his son the list, though. You've spoken to both before, you're sure this wasn't Daniel himself, right?
There's no way you can know all who've been scammed in his various schemes. I'm a little skeptical, too, since he tried to cover for his son's "Matt" persona. But if he really intends to confront him, that can only be a good thing. Just a little hard to believe he doesn't already know what his son is up to already.
By the end of the conversation, Michael was saying they're 2 different people. Michael sounds almost like he's got an eastcoast accent, older sound to his voice.
Daniel sounds way different. I don't think he'll confront him. Seeing as Daniel was in the background responding to my replies, through Michael. I really feel it was an
attempt to get the whistle blowers to be silent, not right wrongs.
Clearly we have finally managed to dig up some concrete info on this jerk... Interesting that a guy who was old enough to have a wife and kid, and who has survived everyone he knows dying of cancer needs daddy to stick up for him... As always, his stories just seem more and more absurd.
Find him and hang him, then quarter him. But in all seriousness I hope is caught and brought to justice, such vermin should not be allowed to walk free
Where does the 'susan' woman fit in that he was running his eBay accounts though? Because for all that drama with 'her' claiming not to be involved and putting up pictures of herself, we know 99% sure it was Daniel/Matt behind it.
Howard A Treesong wrote:Where does the 'susan' woman fit in that he was running his eBay accounts though? Because for all that drama with 'her' claiming not to be involved and putting up pictures of herself, we know 99% sure it was Daniel/Matt behind it.
See, that's where I'm lost too. Susan was supposed to be Daniel's mom that passed. Yet, Michael is Matthew's dad, and Michael said Susan was his wife. So either Matthew and Daniel are they same person, or they are brothers. I'm leaning towards Matthew and Daniel are bot the same person. Who was also known as Redstrone, Miniature Wargame Conversions and Three Stage Studios.
Yes, she was his mother in law, hence the difference in last name.
Matt Bonder was apparently just a pseudonym all along. Now that his real name is known, it will be much harder for Daniel Mandelbaum to scam in the future. That's why he was so elusive before... But now, he's the only one with that name in the state of Texas.
Oh, and there's only one Daniel Mandelbaum on Facebook. He's from Texas too but his current location is South Gate, California. Wonderful thing the internet eh? And seeing as there's only a single Daniel Mandelbaum on Facebook, it's no wonder he hasn't used his real identity before.
Okay it's fitting together for me now, there's an obituary for Susan A. Beasley-White dated from May that lists Daniel Mandelbaum as her son.
Howard A Treesong wrote:Oh, and there's only one Daniel Mandelbaum on Facebook.
I just did a search and there are several others. However, I see the one you mention and his profile information does fit with the information in this thread.
So, we know for sure that Matthew Bonder was operating on ebay as Susan Beasley, who just so happens to be the step mother of Daniel Mandelbaum who people suspected of being Matthew Bonder before we knew about his connection to Beasley?
No way that it's coincidence.
1 Scumbag thing to scam people in this hobby or at all.
2. Even more scumbag to use your dying mothers name to scam people.
3. "I hope with all my heart im a good enough person here on this earth to see you again someday in heaven." Pretty sure you aren't trying very hard to live up to this statement in your moms obit.
BTW, expect an email from LEGO's legal department.
It's a relief to finally know who he is. If he ever tries to do anything big in the future, he won't be able to hide behind a pseudonym once exposed, as we finally know his true identity.
I'm surprised it took this long, but still. If, for example, he starts another blog and sells conversions and does not deliver, his local police can be contacted with his name and address and a link to this thread showing Daniel Mandelbaum was up to no good previously, and is again. It will be much easier to take action against him if necessary by victims, and much harder for him to get away with things.
All in all, a huge win for the wargaming community in general. Reminds me of when Tony Heath (a recaster) was finally tracked down by Pipboy101, and was forced to drastically reduce / curb his actions. Particularly now that Daniel Mandelbaum is having to use his own name and Paypal account, there's nothing hiding him anymore.
But I agree that using his dying mother's credentials to hide behind, and posing as her, going so far as to post pictures of her online... was absolutely reprehensible.
RiTides wrote: But I agree that using his dying mother's credentials to hide behind, and posing as her, going so far as to post pictures of her online... was absolutely reprehensible.
We as a community suffer the type of individual who comes into our lives, disrupts it, and then expects nothing to happen in kind. They leech off our existence and contribute nothing.
It is a terrible world we live in. I console myself that others have done far worse things that what this individual has done. And now that the event is over, it is time to move on. If it happens again or he renegades on a deal, it is own fault and the consequences will be far worse because there is no leniency for the repeat of this same event to occur.
And now it appears I'll have to sleep with my phone off the hook.
Random calls all day long. Now in the middle of the night. I'm sure my wife,
children and 63 year old mother LOVE it. Just because someone doesn't like
the truth about them out in the public domain.
Edit:
I decided since I have to be bothered, I'd call Michael and let him know what
his son was up to. He started screaming and yelling "Good, I'm going to F***
you up. If he hurts himself, I'm going to F*** you up.". So now it would appear
Daniel is making threats to hurt himself, and of course it's all my fault. I was also
informed I apparently locked out his Paypal some how. All this crap Daniel finds
himself in is 100% self inflicted. I've done nothing but speak the truth and relay
facts and information as it was provided to me. I have no love for Daniel, that said
it would be the ultimate cop out to take ones life over 40k. Michael informed me
I needed to get a life and stop hunting him down and stop being a vigilante. If anything
I'm playing Whack-a-Mole from my keyboard. "There he is", and "He has done X".
Looks like I'm sleeping with the phone off the hook so my 63 year old mom can sleep.
alarmingrick wrote:And now it appears I'll have to sleep with my phone off the hook.
Random calls all day long. Now in the middle of the night. I'm sure my wife,
children and 63 year old mother LOVE it. Just because someone doesn't like
the truth about them out in the public domain.
Complain to the police - I'm pretty sure malicious or nuisance calling is a crime.
I'm so bored with this.
But this one was rich! I just received a call from an Officer Dietrich of the Dallas PD!
Has to be one of the worst jobs of any one trying to disguise their voice I've ever
heard, and I have 3 kids! Anyhoo, this "officer" informs me that I just need to stop
going online and making things worse. It's, again, my fault! Now call me crazy, I know
it's late, but couldn't Daniel get in even more trouble going around and trying to pass
himself off as a policeman? And why would a Dallas PD officer call me from a Michigan cell
phone? It had a 616 area code. He's ready to kill himself, yet he feels frisky enough to start
playing cops and robbers?
Goodnight Dakka!
I'm sure I'll have lots to catch up on in a few hours.
Dude needs to get some sleep instead of reading threads on Dakka and emailing people. Maybe cast some models and send them out to people since he is awake anyway .
Last 2 emails I got this morning:
Rick called my dad at 4 am claiming I called him first. My phone records clearly show I didnt and I already called the police. They have already come out taken a report and are well aware of Ricks harrassment towards me and my family. They also laughed when I mentioned you guys say Im matt. They looked him up and saw hes not me.
So now I have a incident report and if rick calls, or posts more bs, I will file another charge. After 3 he can officially be charged.
Enjoy that.
I on the other hand based on the officer, did not call enough to harrass Rick or anyone. I was trying to explain to you people stop accusing me of being someone im not. Even the police know the facts and realize how fething insane you all are.
Care to see the incident report i just filed in person with the officer?
So yea, go tell them to file on me and i wish them the best.
Also, being slow according to the police is a CIVAL MATTER. ITS NOT CRIMINAL.
Go get a life now and enjoy the kits you got with the extras
And then
HAHAHAH hwe just called again and now ive called the police again to come back out to file another report.
RiTides wrote:PanzerTC, if you can at some point it may be helpful to post a little more clearly about what you're saying- I couldn't tell if you're saying you dealt with an ebay seller you mistakenly thought to be connected, or one that was connected (or maybe you don't know). This was the case in the last scheme, with 3 separate ebay accounts being used, so it would be good to know if you do connect something back to this.
And definitely, thank you for your service!!
RiTides - I actually owe you a PM as well on a different subject.
It has been a distinct pleasure to serve my country and fellow citizens. I've had wonderful opportunities as a result most important I count my wife - whom I would not have met had I not been traveling when - she literally fell into my lap on a train. For me - God does answer some prayers.
I'm sorry for not making it clearer above. My intent was to make it a clearer version of mud and keep it short. I think all involved can agree this is convoluted with multiple accounts, names, etc. I try to answer the 5Ws and how - along with enough information - without being too verbose.
Daniel (TSS) Mandlebaum - I never got the stuff I ordered Terminator (or the free one) - I got the 45 thing previously mentioned. I have several Ebay purchases a month - bits, OOP, titans (I like the old Armorcast more), etc.
In my dealings with Daniel (TSS) - he mentioned recent dealing with me as away to deflect from my concerns of being ripped off - not getting what I paid through Paypal. He did not provide the name(s) but gave enough information/excuses that I thought maybe the guy had suffered enough going on in his life - let him ship the models, if the tracking had been updated I might have actually dropped the Paypal (as long as it comes up in the USPS system - it can always be traced by the USPS). My wife and I had to go to the Medical center in Germany - for me a moderate health issue related to a totally different topic. I did not update the paypal - I was gone got my money back – it came up later. I saw an email notification and thought I had screwed Daniel (TSS) out of money.
I went through my mail/packages - nothing from him/TSS - no terminators. Emails sent - unanswered. I think no big deal. I’m OK here.
Parallel/Concurrently - Angelo asks me if I got the Truescale stuff from TSS. He had ordered some and nothing showed up. He paid by Paypal and had some concerns if the business was legitimate. We talked and found we were having issues with an Ebayer named Daniel who was offering different excuses to each of us. (I know this can make it even more convoluted.) He and I had tried looking into this guy and see if it was the same person. We looked through our respective Paypal - Ebay accounts narrowing thing down cross-talking.
It came down to two Ebayers (none of the ones provided to me by Daniel (TSS) - they are clean as far as I can tell) both of these involve his mother - I need to check my Paypal (see reasons above) this will take some time. We looked at the one that had the common factors the same keywords. We are military - we have experience in tracking/targeting bad guys - we applied the methodology reducing dozens of candidates [mostly mine ] to two.
The Daniel (Ebay) seems to be different person (at least for now) with different issues. The excuse there involved a death, funeral, 45 days - release the funds/close the case - it will be sent, need more time. I have more detailed notes and addresses at home. I got one of three items from Daniel (Ebay) - I have the name and package at home - when I return I will check it. I know i have a package from Daniel Mandelbaum - it could be one of the legit Ebay ids.
I also have a package from the Daniel (Ebay) because like I wrote above I got one out of three. Then I got an excuse (s)s that are similar to the ones I got from Daniel (TSS) about the Ebay/Paypal 45 day/free-up funds.
But I know that Daniel (Ebay) had a California address on his package. I saw the post above stating words to the effect about three ebay addresses, Texas and California.
I was asked to write a comment/make a statement about the kits I got off of Ebay. I’m not sure if he thinks these were his kits. I told him this was a pool I was not jumping into. WellI decided to float what I think of the recasts I got so formn the knights.
He doesn’t seem to understand I got these off of Ebay (one I have not checked yet myself) and they are CRAP. That’s why I was looking for another person – the original I was hoping – to make/sell inform me on what was going on. The recasts in Europe suck really badly. (I really doubt the guy – whomever it is - is coming over to Europe to mail packages that I really received.
I made an offer to him that he could execute to get my trust again through this but– he has not discussed it.
BUT he does promise to refund my friend his money and ship the miniatures – provided he can prove he paid for it.
This is so out of control its like who’s on first, what’s on second – I hate uber-drama that I don’t need.
Please let me know if this does not clear things up. I’m tired – 48 hours no sleep – work reports, my current Masters, this its more hectic than when I was a company commander (I had over 400 troopers to keep me and my 1SG on our toes – this/these persons scamming people.
I've been reading this thread for a while and it's just gone too far Matt/Daniel. The lies, the circumventing the truth, running 2 aliases and getting caught up in both of them. Dragging everyone into the muck with you including your poor Dad.
I'm Ron Gamble/LuckyNo.5/eyeoferror.blogspot.com/ I used to be one of Matt's writers on the MiniaturesWargamesConversions blog up until about 5 weeks ago when Matt/Daniel started pulling some seriously useless drama over on us in an effort to cover up the fact that he owed certain members of the blog money and or commission work that was not delivered. When some of this started coming to the surface Matt amazingly got Cancer out of nowhere and was apparently so distraught by it and the fact that he couldn't afford treatment that he'd decided to kill himself. Which made no sense to me cause why would a person kill themselves if they only have less than a year to live anyway? What ensued was days of "cry for help" messages on face book "This is the end", "Carry on the blog when I'm gone" blah blah blah. Well regardless, the suicide never happened and the cancer disappeared quickly as did any facebook mentions of it, as if deleting the facebook comments means it never happened.
I can tell you all with all certainty that Matt Bonder is Daniel Mandlebaum…or shall I say Daniel Mandlebaum is Matt Bonder (Yes he even lied to us as MWC using his Matt Binder alias instead of his real name). I know this cause I helped "Matt" in the beginning with Threestagestudios. Now I wish I didn't cause I hate to think of the fact that I contributed to people being screwed over. We all knew that his mother passed away some months ago and certainly were sympathetic to it. He never showed us the obituary though, probably because it listed his real name.
I was one of the member Matt/Daniel owed money too on MWC and eventually I did get a refund from the Lord.serpius (Susan Beasley) account. This is when I started to realize how truly "disconnected" Matt is from reality. He was under the impression that the refund would magically fix everything never comprehending that it wasn't about the money in the first place…it was about the fact that he lied to all of us, the MWC members who stupidly defended his character online with such zeal only to realize that we were ultimately duped by this liar who didn't never even told us his own name. What's even funnier is that my own personal dealings with him were over a ForgeWorld Rhino tank that I had purchased off of him and was never shipped. Why did it take over 6 months to never ship a model? Obviously it's cause he didn't have it in the first place, or he wanted to keep it for himself. There's not other reason it would take that long. Funny thing about 2 weeks after I left MWC I get a voicemail saying "I shipped the model to you anyway, no need to pay me back for it". Yeah. It still never came in the mail
Well after that fake suicide stunt myself and multiple other writers left MWC and formed a new blogging group sans-Matt. http://www.standardtemplateconstruct.net. The first 2 weeks post the shake up were shall I say "Insane" Matt/Daniel would compulsively call all of us multiple times a day, switching personalities from "I'll drive out there and kick your arse!" to "How could you guys do this to me" to "I wish you all the best" Needless to say we were all amazed at how obsessed this guy was at attempting to prove himself right in the whole matter. I reached out to him twice during the whole ordeal. Once to tell him why we were leaving MWC, then a second time to tell him to stop contacting me.
Matt/Daniel follows a very specific M.O. when dealing with others; It's that of a 16 year old child. He talks a lot of smack and then never acts on it. He always makes it out to be that he is the victim and not the perpetrator of the crime and when he is confronted he acts like a caged animal, lashing out verbally in all directions. It's really quite an unpleasant set of personality traits that all culminate to creating an individual I no longer wish to be associated with. This is a God Damn Hobby about building small plastic dude men. Why does it need to be tainted with useless drama and underhanded scheming? Everything about MWC almost turned me off from 40k all together, but thankfully my enthusiam was reborn when I decided that there was 1 simple factor contributing to all my displeasure: Matt's antics. Simply remove them and Boom, all is right with the world
I write all this with certain trepidation because I know that in about 5 mins I'll start getting calls from multiple phone numbers and nasty voicemails saying things like "Be a man and tell me straight up what you think of me etc." Matt/Daniel…don't bother. I won't answer your calls and no amount of childish goading will make me contact you back. I'm sure you'll make threats to kick my arse, call me multiple expletives and the like the true freak of nature you are try to friend request me on facebook a day later and leave positive comments on my blog.
alarmingrick wrote:And now it appears I'll have to sleep with my phone off the hook.
Random calls all day long. Now in the middle of the night..
I'd check your phone book, they usually have info on various services available, such as recording the number that called yours for use by the police, I'm pretty sure that calls throughout the night would consistute harassment.
Edit: wow, take a little while to make my post and Bam, ~8 others get posted making my redundant.
LuckyNo.5, respect to you coming back and writing that, it must be hard given that you have to admit being taken in by him and helped him set up further scams. Some time back you came here and quite aggressively defended 'Matt Bonder' and MWC against the accusations being made.
Yet you have been burned by him and true to form, the 'charitable' blog that was there 'only for the community' has been used by him to take money from contributors as was warned.
According to Facebook (gotta love the wonderfully public information it provides), the Daniel Mandelbaum currently in South Gate California is originally from Dallas, Texas.
Way, way too much of a coincidence given the information I've seen here. I've already issued a public warning through my own FB page,
@Lucky- Thanks for posting that, it's really helpful to hear. I'm really glad for you guys about the new blog, too.
@Panzer- His eBay accounts are, I believe, Lord.Serpius, Great.Hobby.Bits, Double.Your.Bits
However, I am eBay illiterate and not sure how to look them up. Are those the same your friend had trouble with? Ebay's built-in protections are usually enough, but not if people cancel their claims.
I would suggesting ringing Dallas pd regarding that case number and drop him in it. I would assume any shenanigans like pretending to be a copper/misuse of police documents across state lines would be a job for the Feds.
Anyway, I did a tiny bit of research on this. There is no Dallas PD case on their database that the public may access with the coding 199585-Z. Combining this with the fact that the caller allegedly from the Dallas PD had a Caller ID from outside of Texas, I think we can quite safely conclude that this is a hoax.
RiTides wrote:@Lucky- Thanks for posting that, it's really helpful to hear. I'm really glad for you guys about the new blog, too.
@Panzer- His eBay accounts are, I believe, Lord.Serpius, Great.Hobby.Bits, Double.Your.Bits
However, I am eBay illiterate and not sure how to look them up. Are those the same your friend had trouble with? Ebay's built-in protections are usually enough, but not if people cancel their claims.
Now you'll see that Great Hobby Bits has not been active for a little while but the other two have both received some feedback in the last month. The Lord.Serpius one has the feedback set to Private. There has been some feedback left in the last month one of which is negative. Shame we can't read it, but this was the account that Susan Beasley apparently owned and came on Dakka to defend against accusations that it was actually Matt Bonder. Seeing as she died over three months ago, this seems more proof that she wasn't the one running the account on a daily basis, I think we knew that anyway, but it's another piece of the picture. That said, 'Susan' claimed to be running all three accounts and Double.Your.Bits is still trading.
BlapBlapBlap wrote:Anyway, I did a tiny bit of research on this. There is no Dallas PD case on their database that the public may access with the coding 199585-Z. Combining this with the fact that the caller allegedly from the Dallas PD had a Caller ID from outside of Texas, I think we can quite safely conclude that this is a hoax.
I have done a lot of work with the cops, from city to county and federal.
A couple things about the whole "Dallas PD called me" makes it pretty unlikely that it was Dallas PD.
1) Any official cop cell phone would have a Dallas area code.
2) No cop would use their private cell phone to call anybody related to any kind of case. Why would they want bad guys to have their private number.
3) If Dallas PD thought that there was enough of a case, then Dallas PD would not call Rick. They would call the PD of the city where Rick lives, and have that PD go and talk to Rick since he is in their jurisdiction. Especially considering that this "case" crosses state lines.
Anyway, more silly emails:
I don't think I posted the entire string of back to back emails that resulted in me getting the pictures that include the case number:
Proof that i am not the police officer that was called or the second one that was called when rick called 5 more times from 4 am until 5 am.
Look up the case number, see the officers name and report.
How dare you mother fethers say i claimed to be the police.
You people are sick.
On Sun, Aug 12, 2012 at 5:18 AM, Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com> wrote:
HAHAHAH hwe just called again and now ive called the police again to come back out to file another report.
On Sun, Aug 12, 2012 at 5:13 AM, Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com> wrote:
Rick called my dad at 4 am claiming I called him first. My phone records clearly show I didnt and I already called the police. They have already come out taken a report and are well aware of Ricks harrassment towards me and my family. They also laughed when I mentioned you guys say Im matt. They looked him up and saw hes not me.
So now I have a incident report and if rick calls, or posts more bs, I will file another charge. After 3 he can officially be charged.
Enjoy that.
I on the other hand based on the officer, did not call enough to harrass Rick or anyone. I was trying to explain to you people stop accusing me of being someone im not. Even the police know the facts and realize how fething insane you all are.
Care to see the incident report i just filed in person with the officer?
So yea, go tell them to file on me and i wish them the best.
Also, being slow according to the police is a CIVAL MATTER. ITS NOT CRIMINAL.
Go get a life now and enjoy the kits you got with the extras.
And then the email I just got:
Anyway, I did a tiny bit of research on this. There is no Dallas PD case on their database that the public may access with the coding 199585-Z. Combining this with the fact that the caller allegedly from the Dallas PD had a Caller ID from outside of Texas, I think we can quite safely conclude that this is a hoax.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
what a fething liar. They are closed on the weekends and you cant get any info until money. I showed the report paper, the slip, you guys have the officers name, call the fething police and ask if hes a police officer.
Stop making fools of yourselves.
And hell call the feds, its a real case with THREE harassment charges in it against rick calling at all ours of the night.
Enjoy your day because clearly you fools at dakka are to stupid to realize a cival matter and a criminal matter. Rick is the later.
--
Daniel - Three Stage Studios
No officers name in any of my emails, and no officer name on the slip of paper.
Anyway, I did a tiny bit of research on this. There is no Dallas PD case on their database that the public may access with the coding 199585-Z. Combining this with the fact that the caller allegedly from the Dallas PD had a Caller ID from outside of Texas, I think we can quite safely conclude that this is a hoax.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
what a fething liar. They are closed on the weekends and you cant get any info until money. I showed the report paper, the slip, you guys have the officers name, call the fething police and ask if hes a police officer.
Stop making fools of yourselves.
And hell call the feds, its a real case with THREE harassment charges in it against rick calling at all ours of the night.
Enjoy your day because clearly you fools at dakka are to stupid to realize a cival matter and a criminal matter. Rick is the later.
The levels this chap will go to show he is delusional. And desperate.
Daniel, I recommend you plead being mentally unwell when you go in front of the court. Your emails aren't convincing anyone of anything except your own instability and minor larceny.
There is an Officer Kenneth Dietrich on the Dallas PD rolls since August 2009 as a uniformed officer.
Call the Dallas Pd and if a complaint was filed they will have a record of it and the outcome. You can ask to speak with the officer about the case because you have new info. They should look up that complaint call and help. Talk with the officer and if he did not call you then file a report with Dallas pd and your local pd.
As a 11 year veteran of military and civilian law enforcement an officer would file a report but would never call the offending party threatening action against them especially outside of their jurisdiction.
I still feel that this is unjust, however, from what Rick has been reporting.
However, I still can't find it through searching the last name 'Mandelbaum'. It's a call report, not a notice of any offense being committed, yet 'Daniel' still seems to believe it's evidence.
SilverMK2 wrote:The link above just brings up a server error for me... I assume others can see it then?
Works for me, also know his full name and date of birth now as well as an assault and drugs possession charge. Damn the internet is good at digging stuff up on people. Well at least he's known to the police, you might even be tempted to suggest where all Alpharius's money went...
Yes now that you have everything you need to file formal charges for fraud and theft I would file. With the number of incidents of theft and fraud the local district atty will file. Plus if most of it is across state lines, paid with over the internet it is a Federal case of Wire Fraud. And since some of you sent miniatures across state lines it would be a federal charge also. With his report to the Local PD and not denying the the key issues of the case he has opened himself up.
Plus you have his name, address and birthday. Start filing small claims suits in your respective counties and send him the summons to court. If he fails to show then you win by default then report him to a collection agency for collection of the funds for money you sent or the cost of the replacement of the minis you sent. I do not believe you can write off court awarded costs in bankruptcy.
A report means nothing... If anything it helps. He made a fake call posing as a police officer, based on it being from a CA code and telling Rick not to post on the net, etc. That's a felony.
At this point he seems like a TV villian that could have gotten away with it, except he just couldn't help himself from taunting the Hero one last time.
holy poo !!!
type in michael Mandelbaum then check under michael gary mandelbaum aged 54 so his dad ? charges include telephone harassment ,harassment,cheque fraud,sale of controled substances,drug dealing.theft misdomenor.
The guy has said he was wrong, and has added information about what happened in the thread (which you casually dismissed as "Lots of Stuff"). That's more than a lot of people would do if they found out the wool had been pulled over their eyes.
I also imagine most of the people in that thread are/were more worried about this Daniel character than whether someone he fooled apologies to them for being fooled.
CURNOW wrote:holy poo !!!
type in michael Mandelbaum then check under michael gary mandelbaum aged 54 so his dad ? charges include telephone harassment ,harassment,cheque fraud,sale of controled substances,drug dealing.theft misdomenor.
run in the family ? lol
To be fair, every single one of those was dismissed or quashed. That's a bit relevant when mentioning things someone has been charged with
CURNOW wrote:holy poo !!!
type in michael Mandelbaum then check under michael gary mandelbaum aged 54 so his dad ? charges include telephone harassment ,harassment,cheque fraud,sale of controled substances,drug dealing.theft misdomenor.
run in the family ? lol
To be fair, every single one of those was dismissed or quashed. That's a bit relevant when mentioning things someone has been charged with
That is quite true, but keep in mind the fact that the vast majority of people posting on these forums (and everyone else for that matter) has never so much as been investigated for a crime, much less charged. I could shrug it off as a mistake if there were a single dismissed charge on his record, but this guy has more than a half dozen.
Saldiven wrote:That is quite true, but keep in mind the fact that the vast majority of people posting on these forums (and everyone else for that matter) has never so much as been investigated for a crime, much less charged. I could shrug it off as a mistake if there were a single dismissed charge on his record, but this guy has more than a half dozen.
well, for a start, a dozen is 12, he has 5, half a dozen is 6. In what reality does he have "more than a half dozen"?
secondly, not mentioning that they were dismissed or quashed has the effect of distorting the facts about him, which is just not a sensible or decent thing to do. Can you draw some conclusions based on the number of charges? sure, but those conclusions will probably not be accurate or reflect the reality of the situation without complete knowledge of the circumstances. we don't know why they were dismissed, we don't know who brought them, but the facts are: no convictions were made. It could be that the charges were brought maliciously, it could be that there was no merit to them, it could be that there was insufficient evidence - we have no way of knowing.
I may be labouring the point, but in a thread where people are digging up someone's background and discussing legal action, it's kind of important to mention pertinent details like "Every single charge against Daniel's dad was dismissed".
Sorry to ruin your glib little snark about hereditary criminality with some reality, but do at least attempt to stay classy.
Saldiven wrote:That is quite true, but keep in mind the fact that the vast majority of people posting on these forums (and everyone else for that matter) has never so much as been investigated for a crime, much less charged. I could shrug it off as a mistake if there were a single dismissed charge on his record, but this guy has more than a half dozen.
well, for a start, a dozen is 12, he has 5, half a dozen is 6. In what reality does he have "more than a half dozen"?
secondly, not mentioning that they were dismissed or quashed has the effect of distorting the facts about him, which is just not a sensible or decent thing to do. Can you draw some conclusions based on the number of charges? sure, but those conclusions will probably not be accurate or reflect the reality of the situation without complete knowledge of the circumstances. we don't know why they were dismissed, we don't know who brought them, but the facts are: no convictions were made. It could be that the charges were brought maliciously, it could be that there was no merit to them, it could be that there was insufficient evidence - we have no way of knowing.
I may be labouring the point, but in a thread where people are digging up someone's background and discussing legal action, it's kind of important to mention pertinent details like "Every single charge against Daniel's dad was dismissed".
Sorry to ruin your glib little snark about hereditary criminality with some reality, but do at least attempt to stay classy.
A charge can also be "dismissed" because of a plea and deal or admission into some sort of program or community service.
CURNOW wrote:holy poo !!!
type in michael Mandelbaum then check under michael gary mandelbaum aged 54 so his dad ? charges include telephone harassment ,harassment,cheque fraud,sale of controled substances,drug dealing.theft misdomenor.
run in the family ? lol
To be fair, every single one of those was dismissed or quashed. That's a bit relevant when mentioning things someone has been charged with
That is quite true, but keep in mind the fact that the vast majority of people posting on these forums (and everyone else for that matter) has never so much as been investigated for a crime, much less charged. I could shrug it off as a mistake if there were a single dismissed charge on his record, but this guy has more than a half dozen.
Then you best get the rope out and sharpen the pitchforks.
This sort of thing reminds me of the mob that drove the pediatrician from their house in order to protect their children.
It also also dakka up to potential legal proceedings.
my point was ,,the cases that were brought against this michael seem to be of the same kind of things that daniel has been accused of here and if it is the same michael charged with ie fraud ,telephone harrassmant ,drugs charges .
and just because the criminal charges for the fraud/harassmant were "dismissed" it dosnt mean that a civil case wasnt brought against them .
marielle wrote:Then you best get the rope out and sharpen the pitchforks.
This sort of thing reminds me of the mob that drove the pediatrician from their house in order to protect their children.
Don't overreact and start feeling too much sympathy. This situation is hardly like a bunch of idiots confusing a completely innocent 'paediatrician' with a 'paedophile'. For a start we know that Daniel Mandelbaum has been ripping people off to the value of thousands and his father has been shouting and threatening towards members of this forum over the phone. So that fact his father has been charged with such similar things is of some interest if not particularly useful.
I think the main thing is not to lose focus, his father isn't particularly relevant to the problem at hand. It's Daniel Mandelbaum who has been running the scams that have stolen from the community, not his father, as far as we know.
CURNOW wrote:my point was ,,the cases that were brought against this michael seem to be of the same kind of things that daniel has been accused of here and if it is the same michael charged with ie fraud ,telephone harrassmant ,drugs charges .
and just because the criminal charges for the fraud/harassmant were "dismissed" it dosnt mean that a civil case wasnt brought against them .
Yes and my point is that the data protection act is there to specifically stop websites from encouraging people in just such supposition.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Howard A Treesong wrote:
marielle wrote:Then you best get the rope out and sharpen the pitchforks.
This sort of thing reminds me of the mob that drove the pediatrician from their house in order to protect their children.
Don't overreact and start feeling too much sympathy. This situation is hardly like a bunch of idiots confusing a completely innocent 'paediatrician' with a 'paedophile'. For a start we know that Daniel Mandelbaum has been ripping people off to the value of thousands and his father has been shouting and threatening towards members of this forum over the phone. So that fact his father has been charged with such similar things is of some interest if not particularly useful.
I think the main thing is not to lose focus, his father isn't particularly relevant to the problem at hand. It's Daniel Mandelbaum who has been running the scams that have stolen from the community, not his father, as far as we know.
Is it not?
So fishing around in police database and highlighting details - that may or may not relate to the people involved, and making dark claims about no smoke without fire over allegations that have been legally dismissed. It strikes me that this kind of mob activity is exactly the same.
I realise it is boring, but it is far more useful to simply gather actual evidence and take it to the police. The law might be an ass, and it might slow, but it beats playing Secret Seven.
well i havnt published any of these peoples personal information only linked to a goverment website that makes certain information about people freely avalible to the public domain.
oh and from the data protection act in the section of exemptions to the act.
Section 29 - Crime and taxation. Data processed for the prevention or detection of crime, the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, or the assessment or collection of taxes are exempt from the first data protection principle.
nevermind the fact that it only covers the holding of personal information . i dont hold this information i am simply showing the agreved partys where some of this freely avalible information is avalible . and thus pointing out coincedeces bettween the information and the above events.
also the data protection act 1998 only covers residences of the UK and information held within the E.U.
Moreso, it's Texas. Probably one of the worst places to be a criminal what with all the gun toting citizens and incredibly accessible information if you've ever been arrested. Texas laughs at your idea of protecting criminal information.
Anyway,
As stated, the Dallas PD site search doesn't show any actual file being made by Daniel or his dad. All it shows is that at some point Michael called them, and on that form there aren't any reference codes for what it is he called about. Basically it's a pdf with his name and an address on it
As mentioned, Dallas PD have zero jurisdiction in OK, and as such wouldn't be calling Rick, AND if they did it would be from a Dallas PD phone number which would be publicly accessible. Also, I'm fairly certain that any officer here in the US MUST provide their badge number at any time when asked, so if you get another call Rick, just get a badge number as well as precinct.
As for Ebay, the Double.Your.Bits account was selling stuff as recently as a few days ago, but no longer has any current auctions up, which may have to do with his paypal getting locked out(since ebay owns paypal).
Also, for the public record on Daniel: For the charge of Drug Possession he pleaded PGBC Agreed plea of guilty before the court.
Aerethan wrote:As stated, the Dallas PD site search doesn't show any actual file being made by Daniel or his dad. All it shows is that at some point Michael called them, and on that form there aren't any reference codes for what it is he called about. Basically it's a pdf with his name and an address on it
As mentioned, Dallas PD have zero jurisdiction in OK, and as such wouldn't be calling Rick, AND if they did it would be from a Dallas PD phone number which would be publicly accessible. Also, I'm fairly certain that any officer here in the US MUST provide their badge number at any time when asked, so if you get another call Rick, just get a badge number as well as precinct.
As for Ebay, the Double.Your.Bits account was selling stuff as recently as a few days ago, but no longer has any current auctions up, which may have to do with his paypal getting locked out(since ebay owns paypal).
Also, for the public record on Daniel:
For the charge of Drug Possession he pleaded PGBC Agreed plea of guilty before the court.
Thanks Aerethan, that is all very helpful. Facts are good, let's stick to the facts!
At this point, I think all the information has come out, and if anyone has been victimized by Daniel they could contact any number of people posting in this thread for his information, if needed, and then contact his local police department.
So there may not be much reason for this to continue to remain open, but it is very, Very good to have the facts available about this person, in case they try to scam others in the future. Additionally, his behavior since being exposed may be grounds for criminal charges... but that's for those he has been harassing to decide whether or not they want to go forward with. Personally, I think a quick call to the police would do the trick, given the information that has come forth.
Aerethan wrote:Moreso, it's Texas. Probably one of the worst places to be a criminal what with all the gun toting citizens and incredibly accessible information if you've ever been arrested. Texas laughs at your idea of protecting criminal information.
Anyway,
As stated, the Dallas PD site search doesn't show any actual file being made by Daniel or his dad. All it shows is that at some point Michael called them, and on that form there aren't any reference codes for what it is he called about. Basically it's a pdf with his name and address on it.
As mentioned, Dallas PD have zero jurisdiction in OK, and as such wouldn't be calling Rick, AND if they did it would be from a Dallas PD phone number which would be publicly accessible. Also, I'm fairly certain that any officer here in the US MUST provide their badge number at any time when asked, so if you get another call Rick, just get a badge number as well as precinct.
As for Ebay, the Double.Your.Bits account was selling stuff as recently as a few days ago, but no longer has any current auctions up, which may have to do with his paypal getting locked out(since ebay owns paypal).
Also, for the public record on Daniel: For the charge of Drug Possession he pleaded PGBC Agreed plea of guilty before the court.
He said his badge # was 9933, and that he was in the North Dallas precinct. His phone # was a 616 Mi. area code, and the voice mail stated his name was "Jay". Didn't sound like a cop to me.
I really appreciate all the support from you guys. It means alot.
And to LuckyNo.5: Thank you for your message. I know exactly how you feel. I was a defender of Daniel's for a while. At first I believed him, then I did it hoping he'd not screw me. And it was all for not. Everything everyone warned me about came to pass. I got screwed. Lesson learned. I know how hard it can be trying to support someone who's hell bent and determined to destroy themsleves.
As for this whole Daniel mess going forward, I'm done dealing with him or any of the family at any level for any reason. I've figured out with my local cable provider who I get my phone service through, there's a series of #'s I can press to mark a call as "harassing". They can then provide that list I've marked to local police agencies. If they continue to call, I'll be left no choice. I will be happy to provide whatever help I can to this community and anyone who's been hurt by Daniel to the best of my abilities. I will not be intimidated into letting one more person get the short end of the stick with Daniel and the rest of the Deliverance clan.
Good luck to everyone that has been ripped off by this person, whatever his name is, the sad thing is I bet there are a LOT more people out there that have been left without items and no refund, has anyone thought of doing a blog or fb page or something to collect more data on how many people have been left high n dry by his number of 'companies' and ebay accounts?.
Has the mod on here, sorry I forget his name seen this post with up to date information on here, 1,3k dollars is a fair amount to lose out on,
As to the charges against this Michael, I will only say one thing on, theres no smoke without a fire, there needs to be more fact finding and data collecting going on in regards to the people that have been ripped off, dates, payments used paypal address, whether it was ebay TSS MWC etc and most importantly how much they were/are owed.
Dallas PD officer 9933 is Kenneth Dietrich, who works in the North Central office(214-670-7253). His shift is midnight to 8am. Definitely NOT "Jay".
This information took me all of 5 minutes and 2 calls to get.
So Rick, I would suggest calling Officer Dietrich and inform him that people are impersonating his badge number in harassment calls, and give him the information pertinent to those involved.
EDIT: it just occured to me.
Rick, what time was your call received from "Officer Jay"?
The report that was linked showed that the complaint was made at like 2:35pm or somewhere about there, 8-12-12, which is today.
If Officer 9933 was off at 8am, how did he take that call and why did he call you when he was off duty?
Ok, after a little back reading, AlarmingRick said he was called by Officer Dietrich on a 616 number. So perhaps Daniel did a little more homework in that he used a real officers name and badge number, and also called during the hours that said officer was on duty. This means that, if Officer Dietrich denies calling you, then whoever called you made a mess for themselves, as the number can be traced if it isn't a burner cell.
I suppose I could call North Central again and ask if calling from personal phones is protocol or not, as well as threatening people out of jurisdiction.
EDIT2:
Just looked at the Service Assistance Information form that was shown to d-USA. All it shows is a case number. No officer name, badge number, or even time of incident. The online reports database doesn't show anything by that number, or with anyone named Mandelbaum. The idea that it won't be up until monday is false, as reports from the last 2 days are already up there. Service #0199585-Z would indeed have been made early this morning, but wasn't uploaded to the database, the closest number being 0199589-Z which was a vandalism complaint.
Who knows, maybe the Mandelbaums are friends with officer Dietrich, who just isn't smart about hiding his ID. If you give a fake name, why on earth would you give your real badge number?
Update: http://policereports.dallaspolice.net/publicreports/ReportOutput/1042570576.pdf Public records are fun. This report was taken by officer 8353 and clearly shows in the database, which makes me wonder why 0199585-Z doesn't show at all. There may be a decent reason for it, but without that reason it casts suspicion on 9933. Also got confirmation that Officer Dietrich did in fact call Rick at 4am or whenever claiming to be "Jay". I'm sure his senior officer will enjoy that phone call.
CURNOW wrote:oh and from the data protection act in the section of exemptions to the act.
Section 29 - Crime and taxation. Data processed for the prevention or detection of crime, the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, or the assessment or collection of taxes are exempt from the first data protection principle.
That sounds rather like the justification offered by journalists in the phone hacking enquiry.
Anywho...
Regardless...
How many people have actually made a complaint to the police with regard to the fraud?
Also have the other alleged offences been reported to the police?
Anyone involved should contact North Central Dallas PD at 214-670-7253 to file fraud reports. Paypal is wiring fraud, and if he never sent your models back then it's mail fraud iirc.
I don't suppose we are lucky enough to have a Dallas dakka member who could follow up with this in person?
Saldiven wrote:That is quite true, but keep in mind the fact that the vast majority of people posting on these forums (and everyone else for that matter) has never so much as been investigated for a crime, much less charged. I could shrug it off as a mistake if there were a single dismissed charge on his record, but this guy has more than a half dozen.
well, for a start, a dozen is 12, he has 5, half a dozen is 6. In what reality does he have "more than a half dozen"?
Not sure what you're looking at, but if you go to that link and search for Michael Mandellbaum, there are eight records. Some have the middle name, some have middle initial, some have neither, but the DOB matches on all but one that doesn't have a DOB listed.
So, yes, he absolutely does have "more than a half dozen" arrests.
The rest of your post completely ignores the fact that the vast majority of the people reading this have not managed to get themselves arrested even once, much less eight times, for a range of crimes going from harassment to drug violations. I'd give someone a single instance of an arrest that might have been a case of mistaken identity or a false report of a crime, but eight times is just asking too much.
CURNOW wrote:oh and from the data protection act in the section of exemptions to the act.
Section 29 - Crime and taxation. Data processed for the prevention or detection of crime, the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, or the assessment or collection of taxes are exempt from the first data protection principle.
That sounds rather like the justification offered by journalists in the phone hacking enquiry.
Anywho...
Regardless...
How many people have actually made a complaint to the police with regard to the fraud?
Also have the other alleged offences been reported to the police?
I for one am not going to set here and list all of Daniel's past transgretions. I have to go to
work tomorrow before I'd be finished typing. Go read up on Redstarone. Here and on Bartertown.
That should keep you busy for a long time.
I've filed a police report with the Moore PD. And I will everytime they(Michael or Daniel) call. I will not
be intimidated into silence because a person doesn't like the fact they've got a past and present to make
right with a lot of people. I've personally got nothing I want from him. I cut my loses a long time ago after
Justin Wu stepped up and paid me part of what Daniel owed to me. But I will not also aid him in my silence.
I've also called Offiecer Deitrich's precinct. I left messages for him and his desk sgt. to call me back.
Ya... I have to agree... I know how this looks if you are unfamiliar with the depths of honorless thieving crap this guy has pulled for years... I know it looks like a witchhunt if you don't understand just how long and depraved the ordeal with this clown has been.
All I can say is please, have a little faith in the people in this thread, as much as you can.
MajorTom11 wrote:Ya... I have to agree... I know how this looks if you are unfamiliar with the depths of honorless thieving crap this guy has pulled for years... I know it looks like a witchhunt if you don't understand just how long and depraved the ordeal with this clown has been.
All I can say is please, have a little faith in the people in this thread, as much as you can.
The amount scammed is in the thousands. This thread shows all of the connections between Redstarone(Matthew Bonder) Lord.Serpius(Susan Beasley) and Three Stage Studios(Daniel Mandelbaum, who was using the previous names).
This has been a rather informative 7 pages, and I do hope that every single person who was scammed by him reports it and files suit, whether civil or criminal. Do not sit idly by while he continues to scam people.
Someone posted another link to the first basic reporet from 414 am.
Any more accusations?
And Ken is owed NOTHING. He blackmailed Susan for more items and was shipped3 shipments from me. Go fething ask him you witch.
On Sun, Aug 12, 2012 at 9:53 PM, Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com> wrote:
My moher ran her ebay stores./ I had to close them after 5 months as per ebay policy so I could finish HER sales.
You are a fething idiot doing no research.
Oh and lego contacted me. I buy those off ebay and gave lego the ebay seller name. They dont care about me as I dont cast their crap.
The highlighted part has me confused. Then the last email had this little tidbit after I asked for the ebay seller name he mentioned:
On Sun, Aug 12, 2012 at 10:32 PM, Three Stage Studios <threestagestudios@gmail.com> wrote:
sure. give me 5 minutes to find him. in fact the OP in the TSS thread talked abouit getting a terrible recast from the guy.
Give me 5 minutes for the link.
Also side note, the actuial offence report shows detrichs 9933 badge number. the other badge numbner was the 2nd officer that I talked to to make the complaint an offense.
I will say this too. I talked in great detail to the cop, had him inside, showed him emails of you guys saying this or that abnout me being a theif. He said flat out artists being slow is a cival matter. There is no fraud attempt being made and i refund anyone that doesnt wait. Accusing me of other people does nothing as the police simply looked up all the names I gave them.
Luna, did you notice that some of the feedback on the two accounts you listed were from other accounts of his? It looks like he "buys/sells" to himself sometimes to build his ebay feedback.
...He said flat out artists being slow is a cival matter. There is no fraud attempt being made and i refund anyone that doesnt wait. Accusing me of other people does nothing as the police simply looked up all the names I gave them.
There are several people here who haven't been refunded, and some have been waiting for years. Just how long after accepting a commission is the 'artist' allowed to work before it becomes a case of fraud?
By all means, Daniel, get the police involved. We have all your information now and if you ever scam anyone in the wargaming community again we will have this file to reference with your local police.
helium42 wrote:Luna, did you notice that some of the feedback on the two accounts you listed were from other accounts of his? It looks like he "buys/sells" to himself sometimes to build his ebay feedback.
...He said flat out artists being slow is a cival matter. There is no fraud attempt being made and i refund anyone that doesnt wait. Accusing me of other people does nothing as the police simply looked up all the names I gave them.
There are several people here who haven't been refunded, and some have been waiting for years. Just how long after accepting a commission is the 'artist' allowed to work before it becomes a case of fraud?
I'll leak more info I guess. He is bulk buying chinese recasts to resell. He wont be out in the open for a long time... cuz... he wont need to I guess...
Not sure if I'll call the 2 accounts I linked as proxy accounts... since their existence is for deflection accounts when faced with complaints of counterfeit from buyers ( he WILL get hit )
and he'll get away with it /sigh -_-
though Im not going to say negative thing about that... as certain dakka GD winner does the same thing himself
RiTides wrote:By all means, Daniel, get the police involved. We have all your information now and if you ever scam anyone in the wargaming community again we will have this file to reference with your local police.
Game. Set. Match.
From my emails with him, it seems he very well might do that. Wouldn't that be glorious?
I really wished I lived in Dallas so that I could pursue legal action further. Alas, I'm states away.
Also, all that business with Officer Dietrich was cleared up by his sergeant. Officer Dietrich did his job as instructed. If someone thinks it's illegal, take it up with Dallas PD. The sergeant was quite understanding and helpful.
More or less, it's time for Postal Police and a lawyer. File suit in Oklahoma, which will force Daniel to either show up(which would be hilarious and I'd actually drive out there to watch) or he'll no show and you'll win your damages.
I don't know about those 2 accounts, and they're small, but his other 3 linked to earlier in this thread are larger and used to sell with. Mostly legit so far. However, I have a feeling eBay and PayPal would like to know who they're dealing with, and may not want to put up with him if he ever puts another toe out of line.
As I said, we have ALL Daniel's info now, and will be watching. Any future scams will be connected to his real name, not "Bonder", and reported to his local PD using this file, as well as to eBay and PayPal.
And Ken is owed NOTHING. He blackmailed Susan for more items and was shipped3 shipments from me. Go fething ask him you witch.
Matt/Daniel - You are a filthy, shameless liar. Which wouldn't be so bad for you if it wasn't compounded by you being an absolute idiot who has been lying so hard and so long you can't even keep your stories straight. I spoke to Ken on 'Susan's' behalf, there was no direct communication between the two of you for some time. I was afraid of a witchhunt and was taking steps to defend 'Lord Serpius' from attacks without proof. How stupid was I?
You, as 'Susan', latched on to my calls for facts only and benefit of the doubt, and started PM'ing me. Never, ever once did you admit to being Matt (Daniel), you were totally being a poor old lady just trying to do right, who was completely offended by the poor morals of Mr.Bonder. I have every single PM still. You offered to get Ken his stuff as a token of goodwill. Halfway through, we found out for sure it was you. You sent the 2 tanks to him 'to make things right'. Then when we didn't hunt down every single post alluding you were Matt(Daniel) you lost your mind. You tried to buy your way out of bad (and truthful!) press, without even admitting who you were lol. So let me get this straight, you tried to lie about who you were, volunteered to send Alpharius a small portion of what he was owed, and then when that didn't make us your personal secret thread killing police, we screwed you over? LOL. So again, let me get this straight... you volunteered to send Alpharius a tiny portion of what you STOLE from him and he blackmailed you??? He wants nothing to do with you and hasn't for over a year, and he has nothing at all to do with this thread, which should come as no surprise to you since your tactic has always been to ignore and lie until confronted strongly, then to freak out and start spreading misinformation to make yourself the victim until the person gives up. You were always such a smart ass because of your aliases and multiple accounts... daring people to come after you. Now we've got your number. Literally.
You are an absolutely disgusting thief, Daniel Mandlebaum. I am enjoying watching you sweat and freak-out all over the map, as you should be. The party is over son. I would say stop harassing all the people you have brazenly ripped off, but that would just deprive us from collecting even more legal ammo and records against you, so by all means keep lashing out and breaking the law. Keep screaming you are the victim of blackmail, cancer, conspiracies and dead everyone you ever knew. It's totally going to work again. Totally.
From the emails that I'm still getting(even though he said he'd stop emailing me) Daniel claims to apparently have only sold 3 Crusader Heavy Assault Robot models, all of which were delivered.
He also claims to have issued full refunds to everyone who asked for them.
So, if you could all save some time and PM me if he owes you models or money, I'd appreciate it. Even better would be screenshots of paypal transactions, though I understand reluctance to message that kind of info around.
If we are able to compile a solid list of victims with evidence, a lawsuit could very well come to fruition.
If we can't all work together, then most likely he'll keep doing this.
Also, apparently my call for a Dallas Dakka member to follow up in person was misconstrued as a threat of violence, when in fact if you read what I said in the context of the post, I meant that a Dallas member should follow up with Dallas PD, and not with Daniel directly. You can see how that was mistaken for a threat, if you don't really think about it.
And apparently he thinks that posting public records with his info on them is the same as posting his info.
I really hope everyone victimized or who had shady dealings with him, even if it came to fruition with him can forward the info, I have always thought if enough of you got together, the PD would have a hard time ignoring that much evidence... like I said, 100's of dollars of fraud individually... 1000's or 10000's all together.
MajorTom11 wrote:Oh, and ps, don't do it for yourselves, do it for all the future 'you's' this guy will be going after if he isn't stopped.
this is why I'm doing it. I never bought anything from him. But the situation drew my attention, and the whole deal with Alarmingrick and d-USA made me start looking things up and calling people.
Aerethan, I think that's fantastic. Everyone who has been ripped off by Daniel should PM you. The only hitch is his latest round, he has mostly refunded folks after Lots of pressure, since his name's on the line. However, I believe there were some overseas folks waiting on a large commission last time this came up, and are likely still waiting with no idea about this thread. I'll see if I can find them.
I would make a request: d-USA, Aerethan, alarmingrick, and anyone else he has emailed: Block/filter out his email address, and don't post his messages here. He doesn't deserve a voice in this to spread lies and misinformation. It has been helpful, since as always he exposed himself more, to the ultimate degree.
But now, let's work together and PM aerethan all we can, to bring Daniel Mandelbaum's house of cards down. No more pasting, or even reading, ranting voice/emails. He has no voice here. Ignore him.
I haven't read all 7 pages of this but I got ripped by 3SS, only for $20 but hey it's still fraud, I'm sending a last email asking for a refund, if he doesn't comply I'll pm my details if they're wanted..
Just a quick note:
I spoke with Ofc. Dietrich this morning(2min agao!), and told him I was sorry for my behavior towards him when he called
me sunday morning. I explained that I thought it was Daniel acting like him. He appreciated the call, said don't worry about it
and THAT HE COULD TELL DANIEL HAD INSTAGED THE WHOLE THING. Glad my life of "crime" has come to an end!
I have not had any dealings with Three Stage Studios but just by looking at both the "store" and the blog site, I can see that they are a questionable group. The have no other way to contact them but by e-mail. I do't trust any "retailer" that can only be contacted by e-mail. It has been my experiance that a website that wants money for something but only provides e-mail for contact is a fraudulent company. With the way my luck has been going lately, they could even be supporting a "group" that wants me dead cause I don't think like them.
I think it was a paraphrase, Silver, and just emphasizing that the officer did not view Daniel as being the victim. He's been harassing Rick so it's nice to hear the local PD aren't buying his story about Rick doing the reverse.
PM'ed you info, Aerethan. I'm wondering if the FBI might be more interested than local PD actually, too, given his use of aliases, international scams, etc.
RiTides wrote:I think it was a paraphrase, Silver.
I did think about editing it to saying paraphrase, but am in the lab so could not really be bothered
Personally I would be somewhat hesitant to post the views of any of the officials involved in anything that may go forward into legal action. Especially if I did not have their permission.
RiTides wrote:I think it was a paraphrase, Silver, and just emphasizing that the officer did not view Daniel as being the victim. He's been harassing Rick so it's nice to hear the local PD aren't buying his story about Rick doing the reverse.
Well their previous list of offences, dismissed or not, would suggest that Daniel and his father are in the unfortunate position of being "known to the police", which won't help them much.
I haven't had any dealings with Michael or whatever he chooses to call himself, but I'm glad to see that Justice, although slow at times, is working. You have my support.
I just want to say that it is awesome to see the community on Dakka unite against this guy. I got ripped off by a moving company that never even showed up. $800 bucks gone and cc company founded in favor of the movers and refused to compensate me, regardless of the hundreds of complaints against them on ripoff report.com. It's nice to know that sometimes these asshats get what's comin to em.
On another note, said thief is clearly suffering from some major personality disorders and like a true campy villain has dug his own grave through his inability to keep his lies straight and letting his ego off the leash and saying too much. Ultimately he's his own worst enemy
Randy
I received a full refund after 4 months of waiting for my models to be shipped. Yes he did refund me, even threw in an extra $5 while telling me how ungrateful I was for posting on the first page of this 8 page expose. ...It is wonderful to see a community come together and find someone who likes to play games with peoples money and emotions. Grateful I am not in Dallas....
Thanks to the mods for keeping this up and I do hope that follow through continues and satisfaction comes to those who dont appreciate scammers, liars and thieves...
I have to second the thought (or tenth/twentieth the thought) that Rick, the MODS and Aerethan have been doing a great job seeing this "creature" brought to justice. I'm glad I haven't had any run-ins with Dan/Matt (ironically, the names of the two singers from my favorite band) and my gaming-heart goes out to you guys he's screwed over. Please, follow up on making sure this goes to court so he can know that you don't mess with nerds. I kinda want to see a demotivational poster entitled "don't mess with the internet" and see this guy's picture running from all the memes out there...
Again, on topic, thanks to all the guys working hard to see justice done, making the internet safe for the rest of us. I haven't been burned by him yet, but as is the case in Russian Roulette, it may have only been a matter of time before my bullet was up-so thanks in advance.
Well after my emails of today I can say I've been fully refunded with a tip for my troubles.
There were some points he wanted me to post included in the PayPal payment (which I can't copy/paste) but were to the effect of if you can demonstrate you are owed he will d=consider your claim.
Actual quote off email:
'At least you can see the REAL ME. A man that made mistakes in thinking I could do more then I could but is more then willing to correct those mistakes.'
So there we go then. I'm happy at least and have purchased alternatives elsewhere; as this all started mid April (for me).
Mods feel free to redact/edit/delete if this post isn't in keeping with the above from aerethan but I did say I would post what he wrote when happily refunded.
Aerethan, while that is admirable, my concerns are actually more so with older scams of Daniel's. Daniel Mandelbaum = "Matt Bonder" = posing as his mother "Susan Beasley" = Miniature Wargame Conversions = Three Stage Studios = Conversion Corner. Plus all the eBay accounts. Now his real name is connected to all that.
I want to know what happened to the 2 scratch built thunderhawks that DANIEL owes from last year. I'll post the info when I'm home.
No matter what he's told you, I am NOT negotiating. I did so for months with him with little results. All I want from this thread is for victims to contact the POLICE, not Daniel. He knows what he owes and pulled the negotiator trick on me, and it was just to delay more.
No negotiations, no posting Daniel Mandelbaum's wants. Only facts, contacting the police, and making sure everyone in the wargaming community knows Daniel Mandelbaum = Matt Bonder. That is all that matters. His negotiations are worse than meaningless, and not worth relaying here.
I will never speak to him again, but I will speak to his police, and let everyone who will listen know Exactly who this scammer really is: Daniel Mandelbaum.
I am not interested in capitulating, following any of his conditions or not hammering home this guy is Daniel Mandlebaum who is Matt Bonder who is RSO.
Like Ritides said, we have played this game before and put ourselves in the middlemen shoes, and here he is again screwing people over a few months later with the same pathetic and souless excuses as before. No Daniel. Not interested. Not this time.
Don't let him fool you. He is doing the 'right thing' because you guys cornered him, not because he wanted to. He will pull his usual crap of 'oh I/we/they had cancer' or 'oh I bit off more than I could chew' or 'oh I didn't know I owed you anything' followed by allegations of blackmail or wrongdoing or lying against anyone who speaks the truth about his activity etc etc etc. Usually, he would get his latest unfortunately fooled friends to come in and defend him, after riling them up with appropriate bs about how we are victimizing him. After they came in and cause a huge fight usually ending in the thread being locked, Matt would go silent for a few months and then re-appear with a new alias or company or both and start the whole cycle over again.
This time though, seems he burned all his bridges. No one is going to come in and have this thread locked on your behalf this time Daniel/Matt, and if you manage to dupe someone new into posting in your defence aggressively with the intent of locking the thread I will delete their posts so fast it will make your head spin right off your lying scamming shoulders my friend, mark my words. I don't give a rats if you get a happy customer in here to say you delivered on something either. I only care about your victims, and that's it. You are a thief and a predator of the wargaming community, and i'll be damned if anyone says differently ever again on my watch in these forums.
No green mushroom extra life for you this time Daniel Mandlebaum/Matt Boner/RSO/TSS/Lord Serpius/Susan/Damian. This time it sticks.
Aerethan, please do not take this wrong, we are so viciously against it because we have played the role you are trying to do right now several times between us already. No joke. He will try to play on your own positive morals by seeming reasonable and playing to sympathies any normal person would feel bad for. It is all lies. He will say things to you no other human being you've ever met would lie about, you will feel bad for him. You will feel a need to solve things without punishing him because he is already oh so beat up. Then he will turn around and rob another of our friends a few months later, and find someone else to be his proxy in a thread like this 'to keep things calm' and 'reasonable' and 'stick to facts'. He will do these because the very morals he will use to manipulate you are precisely the qualities he lacks. Don't be his pawn, don't let him fool you into thinking you could make him stop. Trust me. I promise you it's not worth it to speak to him. He lies like you breathe.
Unfortunately, I can tell you this with 100% surety only because he duped me a for a short time into defending him in his guise of of Susan Beasley/Lord Serpius. And that was only a few months ago...
This is by far the sexiest - most awesome - thread I have ever seen. Only goes to show that people who are vile, lying, scammers can hopefully be brought to justice - and by justice I do not just mean a "refund;" because if I can agree with Majortom11 here... it seems he is trying to fall back because he is cornered.
Send information that can be used to build a case. No more negotiations, or second/third/ninetieth chances.
I won't be able to pursue legal action myself that I know of as I'm not a victim here, but I will help compile evidence if any actual victim wants to step up the game and get a lawyer.
At the end of the day, I'm trying to help Dakka, not Daniel. I'm most certainly not trying to clear his name. Whoever decides to pursue legal action let me know. If no one does, then this issue will continue to happen.
I will assist in any way I can. I'll also edit out my previous post so as to avoid any confusion.
Aerethan wrote:Very well. On that note how about this:
Send information that can be used to build a case. No more negotiations, or second/third/ninetieth chances.
Totally agreed here. And as Tom said, he and I both know negotiations are futile only because we were both duped into that role before, having never traded with him ourselves, trying to help his victims.
The only way to help his victims is to spread the word about him, and go directly to the police when they are found (or have them do so). Most email Daniel for months in the dark before venturing onto a forum. He knows exactly who they all are, and exactly what he owes them. I hope you have those reimbursement for those 2 thunderhawks ready, Daniel- it's a large enough amount for the police to care.
No negotiations. Only getting the word out, and then getting all the information we can to the police.
I also agree negotiation will be wasted time and breath. I wish it could be so, but he'll just drag it out and frustrate whoever he's dealing with.
I feel all of Daniels deals as RSO/Matt Bonder/whoever need to follow him. Once someone has done what he's doing repeatedly, without remorse,
I don't see anything changing other than what he's scamming people with.
There is also someone on B&C that hasnt recieved items from TSS. I 100% agree with keeping this thread open and active, why because of the current purge of refunds from the fella, yes he could well be refunding from his pocket/bank account or could just be refunding from other peoples money, i.e a prymid scheme. This is pure guess work I have nothing to back that up other then a gut feeling based on his history, but imo its worth noting espicially as it will be a few more months until this would come to light. Feel free to delete as I appericate before you have said you only want facts
No need to delete, you are likely right, and if we let it go, he WILL do it again. Please, if you can, post in B and C a link to this thread.
Automatically Appended Next Post: And give my regards to the boys over there, it's been a while since I was a member there, but I was a B and C'er in the early/mid 2000's
I have pointed the poster on there and anyone else on there who havent recieved goods from TSS to post over on here as well, I doubt anyone will be able to get a good estimate off how many people have been left 'hanging' by TSS RSO et al but doesnt mean we shouldnt try.
Here's what I was referring to about the Thunderhawks, btw. In contact with this person to find out more up to date info:
Spoiler:
Shikimori wrote:Hello!
forgive me for the late reply, i was away for the holidays and haven't checked the forums since.
I'll try to cover what happened as best as i can.
I contacted Matt on Feb. this year, i got eluded into the idea that he could scratch build 2 Thunderhawks (For myself and a friend). I did all the talks with him through my personal email.
At first he would reply instantly (same day or the next). We went over the specifics and after several emails, we both confirmed on the price tag and the completion date (he said it would take 4 weeks). However, as the weeks went by, his replies were slow till the point were i am ignored now.
He asked for half of the cost to begin work, and to receive the other half after showing the complete products. I kept asking for WIP pics, but he never provided any, always stating that he would eventually show me something.
Within weeks, i began to panic because he never showed nor spoke of the commission. I do not recall when it was (i would guess about 3 months), he vanished..... no word, no email, nothing.
I then discovered he had a blog, and that a bunch of people share the blog. I sent an email asking if Matt could reply back to me, i was told that he left the country for work and that his return to the country was not known.
Then comes September and Matt finally replies back. He sent me 2 pictures of a single Thunderhawk in different angles, without saying anything. I did not know what to make out of it and asked for a refund.
I've asked him many times to refund the money sent but he replied back " i dont have the cash, either wait for me to sell the thunderhawks or till i get paid"
His last email (september 27th) i told him "im afraid to send you money, since ive been waiting since feb." , he replies back with "I didnt ask you to send money did i?"
Now from that statement alone, im under the assumption "i will work on this at my own pace, if i want to, and when i do get it done, i may send it over" something along those words...
I do have a record of the emails.... its the only thing i got to back my story up....
Sorry for the long post, i hope that it made sense (forgive my grammar and punctuation)
If you need further details, please dont hesitate to ask. I appreciate your efforts to warn the community, i would hate for someone else to be fooled again by Matt.
Have a great day
This is from last year, and the person only stumbled on the last thread on Dakka by chance. That's the problem here- Daniel takes commissions on in private after building up a new blog/name for himself, and it rarely comes to light until much later how much and how many people he owes.
It's fantastic that he was caught in the act early on with Three Stage Studios, but I am more concerned with older scams he still has running, as these more recent cases are (by comparison) easy to resolve through Paypal, since he doesn't want to sully his own personal Paypal account name (Daniel Mandelbaum).
If anyone has more information on the above or any other long-standing debts of Daniel's as "Matt from Miniature Wargame Conversions" or "Three Stage Studios" or any permutation of his, please post here / PM me, and most importantly, contact his local police at the numbers listed in this thread.
Ritides...thanks for keeping on top of this. In my email transactions with him, daniel cursed and berated you...let me know i /you had triggered something for him.
Daniel uses a refund as hush money and thinks we won't talk. When confronted he begins to panic and become aggressive...all over email.
I have compassion for him but no sympathy and do hope there is enough evidence gathered to begin proceedings against him.
I will continue to watch this and keep my postings active on other sites so people are kept aware of this fraud
High five to RiTides and others for keeping after this clown all these years. It's good to know we finally know who he is and hopefully some people get their money back on this fiasco.
RiTides wrote: Daniel Mandelbaum = "Matt Bonder" = posing as his mother "Susan Beasley" = Miniature Wargame Conversions = Three Stage Studios = Conversion Corner. Plus all the eBay accounts. Now his real name is connected to all that.
I will never speak to him again, but I will speak to his police, and let everyone who will listen know Exactly who this scammer really is: Daniel Mandelbaum.
I think it's important to remember that we've also had one of his fellow staffers at MWC post on here confirming that info. I know he caught hell for it, but LuckyNo.5 did post on here that they are indeed the same person, and had behind the workings knowledge of Daniel's dealings.
Deleted off topic quotes, thanks for the sentiment though D-USA - MT11
And none of these posts bring anything constructive to the thread. Please, lets keep this OT and focused on trying to make things right instead of stuff like this.
Not because I am trying to defend anybody, I just don't want to see this thread get dragged OT and closed.
Guys, please keep on topic, this is quite serious.
I will be putting together a comprehensive document to send to various authorities in two weeks or so. Testimonials are welcome for those who have had financial dealings with Daniel/"Matt". If you wish to provide one, please PM it to me, including your full information (name, address, and phone number, in case the authorities need to get in contact with you).
Screenshots of Paypal transactions, or at least the transaction ID or the like, would be helpful to include, as well. It may actually be best for you to PM me for my email address, and then email information so that attachments can be included if necessary.
Anyone posting foolishness in this thread will have their posts immediately deleted and will be subject to warnings. This is serious stuff guys, not a place to make wise cracks.
I honestly don't imagine seeing TSS stopping anytime soon unless legal action is taken.
As for the IP issues involving the head of the Crusader robot, Daniel claims he only resells them, not casts them(I can find the email for that if I need to).
He claims that he buys them on ebay and resells them. I could not find a single instance of the model on ebay.
Also, him reselling them makes him a retailer, and not an artist, in reference to his defense that "artists" are not restricted to time frames for delivery, a statement that I have not researched further really as it doesn't apply on the robot.
So either he casts them himself as an "artist", or he resells them as a retailer at which point he is bound by law to a 30 day delivery time frame, as he has not specified any time frame himself on the site.
Alas, the IP issue has zero to do with the scams, but the shipping law does.
What I'd really love to see is one person - maybe someone like Alpharius, who got taken for a big ride - get together all of the transactions that got pulled, all of the scams, all the dollar amounts, as much information as possible, and then present it to a US Postal Inspector. I have dealt with them before and they are polite, easy to work with, and absolute serious business. All the other internets Hardy Boys stuff is useless until something like this happens. Yes, I know the going sentiment is "well, it's not enough money, blah blah blah" but I think one of you guys should be a squeaky wheel on this and try to get yourself some actual law enforcement grease.
RiTides wrote:Ouze- I'm going to try to do just that. Going to take my time, though, and get together as much evidence as I can first.
Anyone who would like to include a testimonial, please PM me.
I wish you the best of luck with this. After preparing your report, I'd also forward it to his local law enforcement as well, and maybe Paypal just for the hell of it.
As for the IP issues involving the head of the Crusader robot, Daniel claims he only resells them, not casts them(I can find the email for that if I need to).
He claims that he buys them on ebay and resells them. I could not find a single instance of the model on ebay.
Also, him reselling them makes him a retailer, and not an artist, in reference to his defense that "artists" are not restricted to time frames for delivery, a statement that I have not researched further really as it doesn't apply on the robot.
So either he casts them himself as an "artist", or he resells them as a retailer at which point he is bound by law to a 30 day delivery time frame, as he has not specified any time frame himself on the site.
Alas, the IP issue has zero to do with the scams, but the shipping law does.
Aerethan,
I will try and get you some of the Ebay transactions I have - FROM EUROPEAN (France/Italy/Monaco) re-casters. I have seen a few U.S. Ebay sellers - but these were 48 States only shippers so I never bought any from them. I have shipping labels for two of these guys (France is the latest. My wife told me I'm going be pissed off and probably hunt this guy down next time we are in Bordeaux to get my money back).
I want to make it clear the - I have not received any of the Knight/Robot models from Daniel (TSS) or from Matthew (RSO). Additionally the Daniel (Ebay) in my posts - it refers to another Daniel that lives in either CA or MN and does not match up to any of the Daniel (TSS) accounts.
RiTides wrote:Ouze- I'm going to try to do just that. Going to take my time, though, and get together as much evidence as I can first.
Anyone who would like to include a testimonial, please PM me.
I wish you the best of luck with this. After preparing your report, I'd also forward it to his local law enforcement as well, and maybe Paypal just for the hell of it.
Agreed, I'm going to send it along with other evidence I have to any authority I think may be interested- up to and including the FBI due to his using various alias in order to commit scams.
Good job guys on all the hard work. You have my support and I encourage anyone whoe was swindaled to come forward as well. If you can get enough people together I would imagine the dollar amount would sky rocket fairly fast considering how much GW charges.
I do have a question though, How does knowing his real name stop him in the future? Couldn't he just make up another one? I ask as a new beginner I dont want to be taken for a ride by this guy either. What are things that we as noobs can do to gard from this sort of thing? Are there early warning signs we can look out for.
RiTides wrote:Agreed, I'm going to send it along with other evidence I have to any authority I think may be interested- up to and including the FBI due to his using various alias in order to commit scams.
It is not just the many scams that the FBI would be interested in because the scams were across state lines and dealing with Paypal which would be considered interstate wire fraud. Right there it puts the ball in their court.
@wowsmash- Finally knowing his real name allows us to report him to authorities. Doesn't keep him from making and using aliases, but raises the consequences Greatly once caught.
howdy...just wondering id anyone has posted this to warseer...i dont have an account there but my post on ammobunker has warned off several folks who were thinking about dealing with TSS...
lionofjudah wrote:howdy...just wondering id anyone has posted this to warseer...i dont have an account there but my post on ammobunker has warned off several folks who were thinking about dealing with TSS...
I agree. Surely the first priority is damage limitation, then getting this guy caught is second? Otherwise, we could end up with him caught but loads of people still without that money due to him having spent it...
Spreading the word will also rally more people to the case and hopefully, provide more and more evidence of these foul practices. This could be it, press on good people. No pity, no remorse, no stopping now until that bastard is punished at long last.
Why is it now that people are so set on attempting to pursue this? Why not when Everyone thought his real name was Bonder? Or when he was discovered the last several times? Why has Alpharius been so set against pursuing this issue when it is obvious that he has been robbed more than anyone so far (As I have seen, at least)?
I am not saying stop it. I hope this guy spends actual prison time getting violated by each gang in turn. I just don't understand why now? I get that his real name helps, but everyone thought we knew his real name when it was Mathew Bonder and all that was done then was complain and fight his defenders. No one attempted to contact the law. Alpharius stated he wanted nothing to do with any of it and all anyone did was state "Someone should do something.", "Alpharius souls go after this guy.", etc. Yet nothing was done.
1. We have his real name now. When people tried to pursue it before, searches for Matthew Bonder turned up nothing relevant.
2. Alpharius dealt with the issue for a very long time, and has since removed himself from the situation as he's tired of dealing with it. The community here made efforts to replace the items stolen from him.
3. Not only do we have his name, we have his real info. We know criminal history, addresses, phone numbers, and we have testimony from people he's worked with directly.
Aerethan wrote:1. We have his real name now. When people tried to pursue it before, searches for Matthew Bonder turned up nothing relevant.
2. Alpharius dealt with the issue for a very long time, and has since removed himself from the situation as he's tired of dealing with it. The community here made efforts to replace the items stolen from him.
3. Not only do we have his name, we have his real info. We know criminal history, addresses, phone numbers, and we have testimony from people he's worked with directly.
And given all of this new found info, which of his victims is going to spearhead this potential lawsuit? To the best of my knowledge, unless an actual victim presses charges in a case like this, the law does nothing. I understand that Alpharius may be fed up with dealing with it, but he is the most wronged here and would make a good person to start the ball rolling. Once he leaps, I am sure others will join up. If it's a financial issue, I am sure that fellow dakka members will make donations. When Alpharius lost all that stuff, dakka members replaced most or all of it. I am sure they would step up again if he started an actual lawsuit.
As for the IP issues involving the head of the Crusader robot, Daniel claims he only resells them, not casts them(I can find the email for that if I need to).
He claims that he buys them on ebay and resells them. I could not find a single instance of the model on ebay.
Also, him reselling them makes him a retailer, and not an artist, in reference to his defense that "artists" are not restricted to time frames for delivery, a statement that I have not researched further really as it doesn't apply on the robot.
So either he casts them himself as an "artist", or he resells them as a retailer at which point he is bound by law to a 30 day delivery time frame, as he has not specified any time frame himself on the site.
Alas, the IP issue has zero to do with the scams, but the shipping law does.
Aerethan,
I will try and get you some of the Ebay transactions I have - FROM EUROPEAN (France/Italy/Monaco) re-casters. I have seen a few U.S. Ebay sellers - but these were 48 States only shippers so I never bought any from them. I have shipping labels for two of these guys (France is the latest. My wife told me I'm going be pissed off and probably hunt this guy down next time we are in Bordeaux to get my money back).
I want to make it clear the - I have not received any of the Knight/Robot models from Daniel (TSS) or from Matthew (RSO). Additionally the Daniel (Ebay) in my posts - it refers to another Daniel that lives in either CA or MN and does not match up to any of the Daniel (TSS) accounts.
He lists it as a homemade item. One of my EU friends tells me there is an even more convoluted IP/selling system of laws here in Europe.
My wife says the model pieces that came are yellow with brown/grey things that make it look like a chocolate chip cookie has met some oatmeal and hardened. I'll admit I'm not looking forward to seeing it.
There is an issue of re-casts, illegitimate production of Forgeworld parts in Germany, the rest of the EU and Russia. I have bought some of these on Ebay. I am sad to say in some instances I prefer the quality of the re-casts/illegals to the originals produced by GW/Forgeworld. Note - not that I support this kind of stuff being done.
That’s why I've been trying to find the person who owns/casts things like the True Scale Terminators and the Knight model. I would like to get quality products, at a fair price, have the items shipped and delivered in a timely manner and not feel bad about the transaction. Much less have to go through the whole issue of law suits/police/threats and crap that appear to be happening to so many people related to the TSS purchases.
It may be true that only the terminator kits, not that horrible knight, were Daniel's original work, then. In which case, that knight may deserve it's own thread. If you want a knight, Dreamforge is kickstarting for a fantastically better one for about the same price, just FYI.
I don't see this being that relevant since most folks ordered the true scale terminator kits, anyway, not the few casts of the knight that he offered.
Shepherd, fair points, and once I have the entire document together I may seek out a volunteer victim to actually file the charges. Anyone interested, please PM me rather than posting here.
RiTides wrote:It may be true that only the terminator kits, not that horrible knight, were Daniel's original work, then. In which case, that knight may deserve it's own thread. If you want a knight, Dreamforge is kickstarting for a fantastically better one for about the same price, just FYI.
I don't see this being that relevant since most folks ordered the true scale terminator kits, anyway, not the few casts of the knight that he offered.
Shepherd, fair points, and once I have the entire document together I may seek out a volunteer victim to actually file the charges. Anyone interested, please PM me rather than posting here.
RiTides,
Roger on the Knight. I just wanted to make sure it was clear - I did not order one from Daniel (TSS) and the ones I have purchased have been through Ebay and that they are up for auction.
Additionally – the information is intended as a warning to not overpay for a crap from this Ebayer either. Not my intention to derail. Just keep things above board and provide the 5 Ws and how.
Thanks for the link I'll check that out. I've never participated in a kickstarter, but that maybe the way to go.
No problem, Panzer! I have a bunch of Dreamforge's smaller resin version of what I linked to, and they're awesome. But the full size ones in the Kickstarter are bigger, and pretty much the same price, since they're plastic.
I was very disappointed when I found out that TSS were actually Redstarone up to his old tricks again.
The reply you got in that thread mentioned this name, I dont recall this one being mentioned in the thread here previously, did I miss it or is this yet another alias?
If anyone has solid information on this alleged scam artist's identity - such as pictures of packaging, return address, etc - please send a PM to me. I am in law enforcement, and after having issues with this individual I am looking into the possibility of pursuing criminal charges against him. Also, if you are located in Georgia and were a victim, please contact me as I am looking into the possibility of extradition should that become appropriate.
jacqualine47 wrote: If anyone has solid information on this scam artist's identity - such as pictures of packaging, return address, etc - please send a PM to me. I am in law enforcement, and after being scammed by this individual I am looking into pursuing criminal charges against him. Also, if you are located in Georgia and were a victim, please contact me as I am looking into possible extradition.
I'd suggest PMing Aerethan and RiTides, they're the resident experts/team on this it seems.
In the interests of being fair and respecting everyone's privacy I'm not going to disclose any information in a public forum on who has and has not contacted me or provided me with information.
Also, please be aware that I am not planning on pursuing any such investigation myself, as my business with Three Stage Studios precludes my involvement in any investigation as anything other than a credible witness or a complainant should the need arise. Any information I gather will simply be forwarded to colleagues of mine whom will look into the matter if they deem it to merit an investigation. Opening an investigation or considering opening an investigation should not be construed as an implication of guilt or innocence, but rather simply that enough concern has been expressed about the actions of an individual by enough complainants that the matter merits attention to determine if any crime has or has not been committed.
My personal and unofficial recommendation is that anyone whom feels that they have been the victim of any crime - including but not limited to fraud - contact their local police department. Many states, but not all, have laws in place that are applicable in this situation. Those whom steal through artful means prey upon those whom are too uninformed or don't care enough to pursue criminal action.
jacqualine47 wrote: In the interests of being fair and respecting everyone's privacy I'm not going to disclose any information in a public forum on who has and has not contacted me or provided me with information.
Also, please be aware that I am not planning on pursuing any such investigation myself, as my business with Three Stage Studios precludes my involvement in any investigation as anything other than a credible witness or a complainant should the need arise. Any information I gather will simply be forwarded to colleagues of mine whom will look into the matter if they deem it to merit an investigation. Opening an investigation or considering opening an investigation should not be construed as an implication of guilt or innocence, but rather simply that enough concern has been expressed about the actions of an individual by enough complainants that the matter merits attention to determine if any crime has or has not been committed.
My personal and unofficial recommendation is that anyone whom feels that they have been the victim of any crime - including but not limited to fraud - contact their local police department. Many states, but not all, have laws in place that are applicable in this situation. Those whom steal through artful means prey upon those whom are too uninformed or don't care enough to pursue criminal action.
The FBI's Cyber Crime division might also appreciate a report. I was scammed last year and that's the step pay pal recommended I take.
I didn't lose any money from the transaction, but my friend did. I do not have contact with him, but he's met him IRL - I should be able to give you his old 2009~ location and what type of car his dad/he drove.
Hey .... He told me four times my stuff was sent with a number he wouldn't give me. Love that you have a number...hope there's actually something in the mail panzer!
jacqualine47, I'll be in contact. Just got back from vacation and had some messages waiting for me. Let's coordinate on this and if you're in law enforcement and can pass the information on to the right people, so much the better.
Particularly, I've heard from several folks that Daniel isn't responding anymore / giving out refunds. That's up to him, of course- but it will greatly strengthen our case against him by having people who are currently being scammed by him and have not been refunded.
I have also unearthed a few old cases of long-running scams where the people have pretty much given up on being refunded. This points to his trend of activity and should be of interest to law enforcement, whether it is the FBI or Postal Service for mail fraud.
At this point, I think it makes sense to continue discussion behind the scenes. No point letting Daniel know what we're doing, as he is obviously checking this thread.
But the more recent folks he fails to refund, the stronger our case will be when I file it... which will not be long. So, dig your heels in Daniel and stop refunding! It will make it that much easier to catch you.
So as I said, I don't think I'll be updating on my process here, as that would just give him warning. If anyone wants to know, just PM me...
Regardless, let's all be on the lookout for any new scheme of his. I'll certainly always be watching... and now that we know his name and information, it will be that much easier to catch him. Even if he scams folks, when his house of cards eventually comes tumbling down, as it always eventually does, he will now have to face real consequences through either his local police, postal service mail fraud, the courts, or even the FBI. Knowing his real name has made a huge difference in all this.
Someone linked me to this thread and I am most annoyed with TSS.
I pre-ordered about $300 worth of goods that never arrived. Because I am in the UK and shipping might have taken a while/combined with the face that I pre-ordered by the time I thought something was amiss I missed the Paypal dispute time.
I am still in contact with TSS. He claimed he would send replacements, never provided any tracking information and now says he will refund my money but I not seen anything come out of it.
I know my options are limited being in the UK but $300 is not an amount I just want to walk away from.
I have a full email history with him and all his promises. I also wrote to several Blogs asking them to stop posting any new releases from TSS and they have agreed,
PM'ed. Also, I would tell him that you will be contacting Paypal anyway. MagickalMemories from Bartertown always advises folks to try- Call, say you were unaware of the deadline, etc etc. It can work.
He may want to refund you to keep you from doing so... whatever you do, don't just give him more time, contact Paypal ASAP if you don't see a refund immediately.
Yes, definitely contact Paypal and/or your credit card company. What I am putting together is for Daniel to face charges. To get refunded, Paypal is your best chance.
I could use a few more people's contact info who are waiting on models/refunds from Daniel/TSS. Please PM me.
RiTides wrote: PM'ed. Also, I would tell him that you will be contacting Paypal anyway. MagickalMemories from Bartertown always advises folks to try- Call, say you were unaware of the deadline, etc etc. It can work.
He may want to refund you to keep you from doing so... whatever you do, don't just give him more time, contact Paypal ASAP if you don't see a refund immediately.
To be fair, I always say to call even if you sent the payment as a "Gift." I've honestly never heard of PayPal helping anyone who missed the 45 day window.
My advice for those who miss the window is to go straight to the institution (credit card or bank) where the money came from. Sadly, if you paid via an existing PayPal balance, I really don't hold a lot of hope.
On the other hand, if those who miss the window begin complaining en mass about scammers and "pre-order" situations, it might just just prompt PayPal to be more responsible and increase their limits to 90 days.
PayPal isn't a bank so, AFAIK, they don't have to follow banking regulations. Regulation E gives you certain protections under the law. I am of the opinion that PayPal should have to follow these and other banking regulations. Perhaps we should all contact our local designated political appointees?
I HAVE A SUCCESS STORY FOR YOU GUYS>>>>THERE IS HOPE
wow
my story is almost the same as the first poster to set us on this thread, except i did not make the 45 day paypal deadline because three stage asked me to revoke my claim. all the promises and free gifts and excuses ensued....
I had had enough so played some hard ball.
i informed him i would be making a claim to the RCMP (royal canaidian mountain police) internet fraud dept. The rcmp is sort of like canada's FBI in some ways. That got his attention after being ignored for months and he finally began to reply ,very defensively , and said he could no longer send my order (which was in the mail at least 4 times already hahahaha )
seems some one else would be casting them because of demand...
anyhow, i got a REFUND!!!!!
RCMP and threatening to tell everybody here on dakkadakka, warseer, bolter and chainsword, bell of lost souls etc got him to move his butt.
he over paid me aswell, saying he hoped that would make up for it (i got about 15$ more than what i spent)
i suggest you guys use the RCMP if you are canadaian, or use whatever your countries equivalent is. Keep on this guy, tell him you have a group putting a case together, tell him you'll bash him on the forums, make him feel guilty....fight dirty guys, keep it up.
Machinator was the one who showed me this thread. He also helped me out in realising my true scale dream as well. BLOOD AND SKULLS INDUSTRY is a stand up company with a great guy who DOES give a nickle about us.
This suggests he may be fearful of criminal proceedings against him.
If people relax on pursuing him, he will come back and do this again and again and again.
Do not relent and continue to seek law enforcement's involvement here, or he will go to ground for a while and then come back to do this yet again. It will require more effort but I suspect it's what he's fearful of now.
I am a licensed investigator in Texas. I have only just started looking into this matter. I look forward to conspiring with other interested parties to bring some (legal) justice to our common foe.
I want to see some justice. Good luck with everything, and if I can do anything tech-related, I'd love to help. I have a background in web design/development and IT Security.
I've been back since last week from my TDY. I'm sorting through professional and personal life as fast as possible.
1) Terminators have shown up. They were sent relatively fast. If someone wants I'll post pics of them.
2) Angelo is squared away on this as well. He has his money and a set of Terminators.
3) Tracking about the new knight kits on Ebay.
4) The community has my thanks for the support and advice you have all given me.
I no longer feel as though my time and trust has been ripped off. I doubt I will ever consider doing business with Daniel again, but he is square with me and Angelo.
I wish the rest of you the best of luck and will continue to monitor the post.
.
. Must have forgotten that Matt and I have history, not Daniel.
