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Shikimori, personal info (such as addresses) cannot be posted on Dakka, however I do believe a number of users have this- it may even be in the Bad Trader Report on Matthew Bonder / Redstarone on Bartertown.

To answer his question- the reason he's not in jail is that no one has taken the rather large amount of trouble that it would incur to get him to trial / etc, and even then, I would think the damages would be financial. He also apparently does not have a lot in the way of finances (hence small scams over relatively small amounts of money for the effort required to get it for toy soldiers being appealing).

I can also attest that he can Definitely check emails at any time of day. He replied to me instantly during the periods I was interacting with him when he was upset. This is a very common excuse of his and is simply an outright lie. If anything, he's on the web near-constantly. He'll defend that lie to the death, but that's what it is.

In your case, I'm not sure what recourse you have... you could consider contacting his local authorities- people have tried this before, I believe, but it is definitely worth another shot. Being that you are in another country, maybe that will count for something with them.

And over this guy, we lose talented Dakkaites like Redscorps.... Truly disappointing....

MajorTom11 wrote:And over this guy, we lose talented Dakkaites like Redscorps.... Truly disappointing....

What happened to Redscorps?

He's from the same city as me.

I believe, as he posted in this thread, he's decided not to post on Dakka anymore as a result of this. (He is an occasional contributor to Miniature Wargame Conversions, and took offense)

Unfortunate, as he's very skilled...

RiTides wrote:I believe, as he posted in this thread, he's decided not to post on Dakka anymore as a result of this. (He is an occasional contributor to Miniature Wargame Conversions, and took offense)

Unfortunate, as he's very skilled...

Good riddance. No matter how talented you are, if your going to side with a scammer or take offense, especially with all the evidence, their not worth having around.

carmachu wrote:

RiTides wrote:I believe, as he posted in this thread, he's decided not to post on Dakka anymore as a result of this. (He is an occasional contributor to Miniature Wargame Conversions, and took offense)

Unfortunate, as he's very skilled...

Good riddance. No matter how talented you are, if your going to side with a scammer or take offense, especially with all the evidence, their not worth having around.

Yup his choice however there are plenty of talented people here on Dakka that simply amazes me on their skills. So I highly doubt that he will be missed.

I don't think we need people who facilitate a scammer by defending him and helping him set a respectable front from which to operate.

Unfortunate? Maybe, maybe not. We dont really know who he is and while he deserves the benefit of the doubt we have to remember for our own piece of mind that when the thief and the honest man are asked if they are a crook, they both say the same thing.

We have no safe choice but to dismiss Aridmonks comments as possibly being a front for fraud.

If you are there lurking Aridmonk, you are not unwelcome on Dakka, but would be better off joining other topics. Later if we learn to trust you then you can tell us how to safely deal with MWC.

While I can see where you're coming from (and initially had the same reaction), I don't think "good riddance" is the way to respond... I'd much prefer any of them return to the discussion and see the error of their ways, than vanish altogether!

I was hoping this thread would result in that- we'll see if AridMonk returns. I left a comment on his blog (which he recently advertised in a post on MWC) and his work really is good! I'm not sure why he and the others can't see what's obvious to so many about Matthew and endeavors involving him and money, though... particularly the fact that he used the site they are contributing to for such purposes.

Guilt by association is also obviously something that cannot be swept under the rug... but from what I can tell none of the contributors have anything to do with Matt- it seems those he is able to get to contribute have more of a "head in the sand" attitude with regard to his dealings... otherwise, they wouldn't have agreed to contribute in the first place! But I would have thought that when confronted with evidence and an overwhelming number of people who have had problems with him, they'd listen to reason and change their minds...

True, but we can't compel them to respond. If they've decided they don't wish to concern themselves with Matt's previous (and outstanding) dealings while supporting his site there's not much that can be done.

RiTides wrote:While I can see where you're coming from (and initially had the same reaction), I don't think "good riddance" is the way to respond... I'd much prefer any of them return to the discussion and see the error of their ways, than vanish altogether!

I was hoping this thread would result in that- we'll see if AridMonk returns. I left a comment on his blog (which he recently advertised in a post on MWC) and his work really is good! I'm not sure why he and the others can't see what's obvious to so many about Matthew and endeavors involving him and money, though... particularly the fact that he used the site they are contributing to for such purposes.


Guilt by association is also obviously something that cannot be swept under the rug... but from what I can tell none of the contributors have anything to do with Matt- it seems those he is able to get to contribute have more of a "head in the sand" attitude with regard to his dealings... otherwise, they wouldn't have agreed to contribute in the first place! But I would have thought that when confronted with evidence and an overwhelming number of people who have had problems with him, they'd listen to reason and change their minds...

After close toa decade on bartertown, I have ZERO tolerence for folks that either throw up their hands and say "not my problem" or takes offense becuase it might be a bother to his group over there, that someone is a theif and a liar and ripped folks off. None. Dont let the door hit you in the ass. I've seen far too many scammers get away with crap because of people like him cant be bothered, or its offensive or whatever else his motives are.

Yes, Miniature Wargame Conversions is guilty by assosiation. They are giving him both cover and legitimacy by keeping him around, instead of either making sure he follows through OR kicking his ass to the curb. If they dont like that or thinks its offensive, too bad. Thats the reality of the situation.

It is a fair point, and obviously in a sense I agree- hence my posting this thread about the site. However, I do think there's a chance some of the contributors will see reason and no longer support the site and give Matthew the front that it was in danger of being... hopefully, the word is out more now and will continue to get out if MWC is able to struggle on, as it seems to be.

The real danger is people who don't read forums / etc, and just happen upon the site through the From The Warp blogger group / ring as there are many blogs there that link to one another. It's why I communicated so long with the person who runs it, but unfortunately they decided that MWC hadn't violated their standards. I can't necessarily blame them... it's also hard for us to act when, say, a user PMs one of the swapshop moderators that another user is a scammer. Who to believe? I had hoped they would be able to err on the side of caution and remove them from the FTW blogger group, but that wasn't the case.

Regardless, many people are now aware via this thread, and hopefully can point others to it if they are considering commissioning Matthew Bonder or any unknown person communicating as "Miniature Wargame Conversions", and be warned of the danger in dealing with him.

Shikimori wrote:
This has been the excuse he uses for him ignoring and/or replying after long periods of time:

"ive explained i will not get fired over risking sending emails from a work place especially one in a different state or in worse, a different country. I will not get stranded for being fired for opening emals when thats against the policy everywhere ive been."

Huh, he must've run out of family members to fake deaths for.

Good afternoon I saw this post while doing random googling involving an incident and felt I should post as well.

Back in the months of July/August I saw an article on the miniature wargames conversion website involving a new production of a fan made knight paladin kit. More or less I'm referring to this type of model here , http://bloodofkittens.com/40kblogs/2011/07/05/miniature-wargame-conversions-knight-paladin/ , though I can no longer find the original article on the MWC site. There was also a link to an ebay offering from the user jackfrostjack007007 selling the models in question. Naturally after a bit of research to make sure it was not a scam I went through the motions of getting three of them.

Needless to say they never arrived, and after a few initial responses from the seller he stopped replying altogether. Unfortunately due to negligence on my part I missed out on the reporting periods for both paypal and ebay and was stuck trying to track down the seller to see what had occured. So I went to the website that had hosted the article and used the primary contact email to try and see if they had any information on the individual. I received an email shortly afterward saying that the person making the kits was not actually part of the site, but that they would pass along my phone number to him and he would call me. There was also an indicator that there was more than one person that was checking emails.

That very night I did in fact receive a phone call from someone who was supposed to be the man I had sent money to for the kits. His name is apaprently Mike and i was informed that he had suffered an unfortunate problem with paypal locking his account over a identity theft issu and then ebay also doing the same. The conversation was pleaseant enough and after getting an email acount to use for more direct contact I left the matter to lie for a couple of weeks.

Since that evening i have not been contacted again, nor have any of my emails been responded to. I of course attempted to use the miniature wargame conversions email to see if they had further news on the individuals condition, but even they have refused to reply.

After seeing this thread here I figured I'd post my own personal experiences. But unless the person being complained about lives in Texas I doubt they're the same individual and as I've said the replies and conversations with the MWC folks and the caster in question ahve been pleaseant and civil.

EDIT: Oh hey, just got a reply from the email I sent right before I wrote all of this.. Guess it pays to do things like this at 8am.

It would appear that I should have waited a few more minutes before I made my post earlier. I also forgot to mention that I only send emails once every three or so weeks, so it's not like I've been sending daily requests for information.

Also worth noting that I don't really lay much blame on the website or the majority of its contributors since some of this I can also blame on my own procrastination. Even if I never see my toys I don't think I'd hold much of a grudge against anyone except the bloke that ends up with my money.

Though I'm still annoyed it's taking so long and this most certainly will make me less lenient when dealing with late shipments on Ebay.

If this new ebay seller "Mike" is actually RSO you will never see anything but heartache out of the situation.

George_Labour wrote: But unless the person being complained about lives in Texas I doubt they're the same individual and as I've said the replies and conversations with the MWC folks and the caster in question ahve been pleaseant and civil.

Matthew Bonder, the creator of the knight titan kits and the one who was selling them, as well as being the person who is the basis of this thread and the creator of Miniature Wargame Conversions, lives in Texas.

Did you email MiniatureWargameCo@gmail.com? If so, that is the email address that I also found on the website, and that I was responded to by "Jeff" and "Damien", neither of which are listed as contributors to the website. Now, both have apparently quit and Matthew is taking credit for the responses from the email address.

If you are corresponding with that email address with someone named Mike via that same email address, that will be quite damning evidence. None of the genuine contributors that I contacted who use the site said that they can check that email address. It has already been shown that the two names I was given from it were people who cannot be verified in any way, and who have no apparent connection to the site, and in all likelihood are Matthew Bonder using an alias.

It is good that you are not holding a grudge- however, I'm very glad that google led you to this thread, as it may help keep others from this same trouble. The fact that you bought knight titans based on seeing the post on the blog (which has since been deleted after I accused Matthew about it, as you've noticed as well) makes the need for this thread obvious. The site lends legitimacy to these offerings, and the site email address lends legitimacy to communications that would otherwise be viewed as very suspicious.

As it is, I think it extremely likely that Matthew is communicating with you using an alias and the site email address (or other email address at this point) as a cover, just as he was with me. There may be a way that you and I can compare the IP addresses of these emails, to add further evidence and figure out if that really is what's going on. I will PM you my email address to see if you would be interested in checking that out.

No word from Matt yet.
I've sent both rude and polite emails, none got his attention it seems.
It's difficult to put this behind me...

Believe me, I feel your pain.

Eventually you'll either get your goods (unlikely) or you'll realize that you'll never see them, accept that the fact that you've been the victim of a thief's actions, chalk it up to an expensive lesson learned, and write them off.

Or something like that.

Alpharius wrote:Believe me, I feel your pain.

Eventually you'll either get your goods (unlikely) or you'll realize that you'll never see them, accept that the fact that you've been the victim of a thief's actions, chalk it up to an expensive lesson learned, and write them off.

Or something like that.

And there in lies the rub..... you can worry your self sick about it, get grey hairs and ulcers...or you can just chalk it up to a learning experience and be satsified in shutting the thief down everytime he pops his head up, kinda like Tony Heath eh?


I do hope in the end that there is enough evidence againsted him that someone can get him into court one day and sue him back into the 19th centery.

Alpharius wrote:Believe me, I feel your pain.

Eventually you'll either get your goods (unlikely) or you'll realize that you'll never see them, accept that the fact that you've been the victim of a thief's actions, chalk it up to an expensive lesson learned, and write them off.

Or something like that.

I know what it feels like to be the victim of a fraud, you feel guilty and it is indeed an expensive lesson which leaves you much less likely to trust people in the future.
I was very lucky as I read the transaction report where Alpharius explained what happened to him days before I was going to order models from RSO and decided not to, at that time the report was recent.
I really wish this man ends up convicted for his crimes as it seems he frauded people for a pretty good total.

Hello folks, Dragon here. I'm sure more than a few of you remember my own spat with [censored] Bonder.

Eventually, I called him out in VERY unkind terms on both Astronomicon and Heresy Online in front of a few people he was trying to actually enjoy discussion/sharing with.

Because he valued their opinion there (only at Astronomicaon, Heresy We do not permit blanket insults toward other forums here. -Mannahnin) I was able to gall him into sending me the original model I had paid for (I had been waiting for months for a suppisedly redone/converted version of it),

Anyways, I knew then that MWC would become a front and basically called it for what it was.

redstarone
redstarone222
redtheconversionist
miniaturewargameconversions
Matt Bonder
Damien
Ralf the Psychic fething Monkey

These are all fronts for him to make at least 1-3,000 a year in cash without doing anything, all the while actually sending the occassional model here and there while making friends and talking up a good game.

Trying to convince his supporters to take a stand for accountability is pointless. The Manson supplicants took YEARS to get over it when it was in their face. MOST of the people dealing online in our hobby never even have to look the bereaved parties in the face so they care about 300X less.

Quite frankly, unti it happens to them they don't give a gak.

My only suggestion is to ticker tape the sites from Astronomicon, to Warseer, to Bell of Lost Souls, to Heresy Online, to Bolter and Chainsword... and beyond.

Spread awareness.

I will go so far as to say I think this joker is the #1 scammer in our craft as by now we can verifiably account for THOUSANDS of dollars of product that was never sent. If you really feel hard about this you might want to consider taking it beyond discussion on boards and target the companies and organizations he is affiliated with on MWC.

Gather your facts, witnesses, etc and present it as you can to the businesses or whomever MWC is connected to. If they pull ads, associations, or whatever ii is going to level MWC and HIS bottom-lines by at least a little.

I suggest starting with Galaxy Gobbo, Dragonforge Design, and bits and kits. These are the businesses.

For the charities I guess you have Livestrong Wargaming Project, and Heroes of Armageddon.

What you choose from this point is on you folks. I think what you've already accomploshed is commendable.

The Dragon wrote:Because he valued their opinion there (only at Astronomicaon, Heresy is filled with pricks who excuse anything and everything) I was able to gall him into sending me the original model I had paid for (I had been waiting for months for a suppisedly redone/converted version of it),

This is basically what I ended up doing, too. Only the threat of posting about the situation online resulted in any progress. It's pretty obvious if you think about it... bad press will lead to less people biting on commissioning him. So if you're really determined to give him bad press, he reacts.

Unfortunately, it's a Lot of work and headache... but I felt it was worth it, given the amount he owed Alpharius and the fact that he was pretending he'd already sent it. Exposing that gave Alph some closure, I think, and also warned people who might not be aware of Matthew Bonder's previous actions that he was still around and using the same old tricks.

But definitely, public exposure seems to be the only thing that will work with him. That, or if he ever makes the mistake of taking a commission from someone who lives in Texas, since they can then easily recoup their funds via small claims court. This whole experience has made me realize that that's the only definitive route to take, and if I ever have a commission done in the future, it will be in-state by someone I know. There are also a few very reputable commission sites, if you can afford them and can wait to get in the queue. (GMM comes to mind). But doing it local and getting a receipt / paper trail seems to me to be the only way to ensure you have an avenue to try to get your money back if things go sour, without going through more legal expense than what is owed, as you can resort to small claims court in-state.

For those who are currently waiting on Matthew to send you items, please update here when you can... but the "damage" has been done here, so to speak, so if you are a regular poster on Astronomicon or Heresy Online it may be better to do so there. Keep in mind 2 things, though: once you do "go public" so to speak, your bargaining chip with Matthew is mostly lost. Also, if you post on a forum where you are not known, your post will likely be locked quickly as "trolling" or "none of their business"... unfortunately, we found this out when Alpharius tried to get the word out. I can't blame the other forums, as forum trolls Do behave in that way (and how can they tell the difference? without a little homework, at least...) but that's just the reality of the situation.

Sad but true.

btw... the psychic monkey moniker isn't actually an alias, lol. Just me exhibiting the craziness of the situation.

I'd feel bad if there IS an ID of that doing trading/commissioning and it got burned, lol.

Keep the faith gents, keep the faith.

Through Him, the Emperor, all is possible.

The Dragon wrote:Gather your facts, witnesses, etc and present it as you can to the businesses or whomever MWC is connected to. If they pull ads, associations, or whatever ii is going to level MWC and HIS bottom-lines by at least a little.

I suggest starting with Galaxy Gobbo, Dragonforge Design, and bits and kits. These are the businesses.

For the charities I guess you have Livestrong Wargaming Project, and Heroes of Armageddon.

While I agree that we should keep ourselves (the wargaming community) abreast of people with whom we should deal cautiously, I'd like to counsel caution in dealing IN THIS MANNER with people who advertise on his site.
I'm not saying don't give them your money. GOD, NO! Most or all of those are legitimate businesses/charities. I'm saying that, if you contact these guys, don't treat THEM badly or devolve your communications into threats of any kind.

Eric


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I'd also like to go on record (again) to state that *I* have outstanding business with Matthew Bonder.
Whenever one of these flare-ups arises, I inevitably end up with between 1 and 50 hate filled emails from him. Amongst his claims are that I'm a liar, thief, etc.

So, let me put this on the record:

Matthew and I made a deal for a conversion (by him) in exchange for a bunch of Adeptus Mechanicus type bits I had. He was supposed to provide his model to me within a couple months. Something like 6 months later, after no small amount of cajoling on my part and attitude on HIS, the model arrived.
To say it was not up to Matthew's usual standard would be an understatement. The man's gifted. I've seen his work. This, though, was slapdash and looked hurriedly assembled. It also did not match the agreed upon appearance of what i wanted.

Considering the issues with Matthew at the time (and even since), regarding his lack of proper communication and (some would say) dishonest trade practices, I contacted him and told him that I would not be sending a return package to him until he provided me with some very specific (and easily obtained) information (that would not compromise him in any way). This was in an effort to protect myself. What I asked for was NOT unreasonable, nor out of the scope of any typical trade.

Well, in the years since that's happened, I've received plenty of ranting, accusatory emails -and even once, a threat to come from TX to MO to retrieve his property PERSONALLY (LOL), but have never received what I asked for.
I can not and will not ship this box until receiving said information.

So, there we are. It's all out on the table (again). This is not the first time I've posted this publicly. Hopefully, however, it'll be the last.

Eric
(Mods - I hope this is not taken as off-topic, all things considered. If you choose to delete it, PLEASE PM me a copy. I don't have one of my own and would prefer to copy/paste in the future. LOL --Thanks)

The Dragon wrote:
For the charities I guess you have Heroes of Armageddon.

.

how was he involved in this ?

^^I think he built a super heavy tank for the Steel Legion army. Not 100% sure though.

Most of the sites that are shown on Miniature Wargame Conversions, particularly charities he supposedly donates to (I can't verify one way or the other) do not have any connection to Matthew Bonder.

Still, it doesn't hurt to make them aware, if anyone has contact with them.

I spent a Lot of time and effort communicating with the head of the "From The Warp" blog ring, making them aware of the situation... unfortunately without results, as he determined not to remove Miniature Wargame Conversions from the blog ring.

I haven't directed him to this thread since, but I doubt even the new people who are awaiting commissions from Matthew would change his mind. It's "outside the scope" of what the ring can monitor was the reason, I believe... this is somewhat reasonable, but I would think in a case such as this with an overwhelming number of horror stories to support the side that Matthew should Not be trusted to run a conversions website, particularly one linked to by other sites as a member of a trustworthy ring, would be an exception and the site could be removed from the ring...

Perhaps in the future if Matthew tries another round of obvious scamming. But from the responses to this thread, it seems that he does more "under the radar" scams as he goes, and (hopefully) isn't likely to try something broader and more obvious. Putting his Knight Titans up on ebay was pretty bold, but the ones that sold through ebay I believe were mostly sent (due to ebay protections). It's the people who are tempted into commissioning him outside of the protections of ebay or the like, or that are convinced not to file a Paypal claim within 45 days, that end up not receiving their items...

Like any good scam, there has to be a grain of truth (some people receiving items from a skilled converter) for the scam to work (getting commissioned for large projects, and never delivering months and years later).

Why don't all of the people that have been ripped off by this guy contact each other, put together all the evidence they have against him and turn it over to the postal service.
It seems like he could get nailed for a felony or two with the amount of money he's ripped off.
If I'd been ripped off by this guy, I'd chip in with other victims to hire a good PI to get the goods on this clown.

Relapse wrote:Why don't all of the people that have been ripped off by this guy contact each other, put together all the evidence they have against him and turn it over to the postal service.
It seems like he could get nailed for a felony or two with the amount of money he's ripped off.
If I'd been ripped off by this guy, I'd chip in with other victims to hire a good PI to get the goods on this clown.

Well, this guy appears to be some kind of pro at scamming. People can never seem to pinpoint him, but I have a feeling one day he's going to get clotheslined by the karma gods.