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That's where the PI comes in. Get a good one and you would have all the evidence thats needed within a week.
It sounds like enough people have been hosed that kicking 50-100 bucks into a kitty could amount to a sizable enough sum to hire the kind of help you'd need that would have the resources to get enough on this guy to put him behind bars.

It's definitely a thought... enough information is known about him (I believe one Dakka member actually stopped by his house a few years ago...) that it'd be easy to give an investigator something to go off of.

However, the chance of that resulting in any recovered models/funds for the various people who have been scammed by him is slim...

We did take up a collection in the DCM section last year to help out Alpharius, as he's an integral part of this community and was, to my knowledge, the most egregiously scammed. If future funds were pooled by those scammed by Matthew Bonder, I don't know if it would be better to hire an investigator to try to "take him out" so to speak, rather than to refund some of the people he'd stolen from...

At this point, it looks like there are only a few "current" scams that he has going on... but a few is enough

I would just chip in Steve that unless RSO is actually held to account for his actions, we are leaving the door open for him to simply create more and more victims.

I am all for 'taking care of our own', it was me I believe who chipped in first on Alpharius' fund... but my personal view would be that the greater service to the community at large would be to make sure there are no more Alpharius' (lol you know what I mean Alphy!).

At this point IMHO a proactive solution as opposed to a reactionary one is the only real way out...

All just IMHO, I am not saying the PI is the only viable answer either... I just think it is the quickest way from A to B.

Being someone who RSO ripped off years ago I would be all for the PI idea.

Having not been scammed by this person, but having grown fond of this community and those who HAVE been scammed, I'd be willing to chip in towards a PI or whatever means is decided upon to get this dealt with. Recovered models/funds may not happen, but some amount of jail time is needed IMO.

This guy having a PI turned loose on him would definitely give any other scammers pause for thought.
Just make sure your reason and evidence is good enough to go this route. A good PI will let you lnow if you have a potential case before he starts looking for evidence.

I will look into the possible cost / routes to take / outcomes and see if there is a reasonable way forward regarding a PI. I had not considered this possibility previously and am not sure if it would be too expensive to attempt. But I will research it more... if others have experience in this area, it'd be helpful to know, too.

Obviously, any person hired to investigate Matthew Bonder's actions would need to be local to him in Texas, which limits the possibilities...

I work at a Worker's Comp insurance company and prices will vary depending on what you want to have done or who you hire, obviously, but surveillance with a report will run you about $45-50 an hour. I'm not sure what other stuff would cost as surveillance is about all we do (our fantasy is to catch someone with a back claim doing 500lb deadlifts in their garage).

Last post on Miniature Wargame Conversions (from Dec 21)... it seems the negative publicity has discouraged most of the current contributors from posting much.

Miniature Wargame Conversions wrote:
Want To Be a Guest Writer On MWC?

How's everyone doing? Good? Fantastic! Me too, as we here at MWC, in our sloth of writing lately, have got a great idea that benefits everyone! It encourages us to continue on with our laziness and gives our readers a chance to speak their mind to a very large following of their fellow readers. So without rambling too much, if you or anyone you know would like to be a guest writer for MWC on any topic that is modeling related, please post a comment here. We are looking for a few good guest writers to bring in some fresh ideas and view points on all the games out there.

So if you play one of the lesser known games, feel free to leave a comment here! Even if 40k or WHFB is your game of choice, that works too!

Spread the word! Let us all share what we have learned to those just starting out in the hobby!

I guess they're looking for fresh folks who haven't heard about all the baggage Matthew is carrying around with him, and dragging his website into...

Perhaps some canny dakkanauts could write for MWC about the perils of internet trades in our hobby and about the ways in which certain scumbag predators try to steal from us.

Looks like someone has bitten...

Yeah, I noticed... one of them (the most recent poster) is from Philly, who I just sent a warning to (and mentioned that he can check with mikhaila, since his store is just outside Philly, if he needs confirmation). I cannot find an email address for the other new contributor (who is in the UK), though.

Wow, I just got a rather heated email back saying that, in no uncertain terms, they didn't care about Matthew Bonder's other dealings...

I find it shocking and hard to believe that people can act/feel that way... he also mentioned that he won a raffle and received what he was supposed to, and the charities on the site... but in the same breath denounces the relevance of Matthew being involved in scams (and as this thread shows, there are Current ones, and he's used the name of the website to aid him in them).

It's people like this who are enabling Matthew to do his scams. Being "Matt from MWC" legitimizes him... and it is rather discouraging to see that attitude.

It'd be one thing for people to look at the evidence and then dismiss it. But the fact that contributors to the website have consistently responded heatedly without considering the evidence... I don't know, it makes me think that this is the kind of people Matthew attracts to himself, or something. Otherwise, it just doesn't make any sense...

Something that scammers do, from what I've seen, is respond extremely aggressively when pressed. But the fact that other people are doing this for him... that's what really baffles me about all this.

I feel like if I was part of a blog group, and found out the runner/founder was: 1) Using the name of the blog to aid in defrauding people 2) Still had delinquent commissions and had many, many previously... I would instantly question my involvement/association with it, even if it was great otherwise. What am I missing here?

Well, Ritides, one of two things probably occurred here.
Either you fell for Matthew's ruse, and it was him that posted as the guy from Philly - I really wouldn't put it past him, or the guy you tried to help is just not smart enough to get it.
In that case, I say let him go. If he wants to act that way, then let Matthew hose him over. When he comes crying to you for help, give him back what he gave you and tell him to go handle it on his own.

Eric

I'm quite sure it was a genuine contributor based on their personal blog (I always check at this point) which is why it is so perplexing...

The thing is, people like that aren't in any danger from Matthew. They're more valuable to him as people "on his side". But they're helping him be a greater danger to others who aren't aware of his methods (the standard, deliver on some commissions, and be delinquent on just enough of them stretched out over long enough periods to keep from getting taken to court or the like...)

RiTides wrote:I will look into the possible cost / routes to take / outcomes and see if there is a reasonable way forward regarding a PI. I had not considered this possibility previously and am not sure if it would be too expensive to attempt. But I will research it more... if others have experience in this area, it'd be helpful to know, too.

Obviously, any person hired to investigate Matthew Bonder's actions would need to be local to him in Texas, which limits the possibilities...

I'm not terribly far from his address (my friend lives down the road from him) and would be glad to help if I could somehow, even if it just involved calling a few PIs. PM me if interested.

IT semms matt or RedStarOne is the man of many faces. I am certain that the brand new user who joined right after this and only posted here may well be him. If you can link the IP of that user to the emails and furthermore to the site then it would appear hes trying hard but uninteligently to make us think its not possible. Also is it possible that the blog is faked for lack of a better word? Its not that hard to change the dates of entries into a blog to make it appear older than it is.

RiTides wrote:Wow, I just got a rather heated email back saying that, in no uncertain terms, they didn't care about Matthew Bonder's other dealings...

We've already seen on this thread that Matt's supporters dismiss evidence and are commonly aggressive... they are a collection of some of the most unpleasant hobbyists I've come across. A good example was an earlier post, now deleted, on this thread which I had the fortune to read in which someone threatened physical violence. Maybe I'm naive, but in all my years I've found the modelling and gaming community to be a friendly, helpful one - which is why those supporters of his that do speak out, stand out.

Matt either attracts aggressive, delinquent characters such as himself, or he is in fact running several personae.

I mean it is nice that a person that comes out to contribute to his site is also a winner of his competition. Nice and cosy eh?

---

I also assume that 'Rictus' is the same Rictus that I've seen post here in the past. I certainly recognise some of the models (the sentinel power lifter for a start)

OK after doing some research i have found some things one of which gives absolute clarity to the is matt using fake people on his site issue.

So he has changed his website completely even with a new url using the same certifications for his old website thus making the website seem older than it is but its only been this way for a monthish.

on his contact information to reach Matt from mini wargames it has the following information listed which I believe may cause some people in the thread to peak up in interrest as per the first few posts in the thread.

Facebook: Damian on Facebook

Facebook: Tales from the Warzone Facebook Fan Page

Twitter: Damian on Twitter

Skype: lord_shaper

I am not sure exactly what prompted him to not think this through but here he basicaly openly admits to bieng damien the recently terminated employee.

Could you take a screenshot of the page you're referring to? The reason I say this is that other pages we have pointed out that had incriminating information, but didn't save, he changed very quickly. So if you could take a screenshot of it (and also post the direct url for while it is currently showing that information) that'd be really helpful!

Would definitely confirm what we were discussing on the first page of his pretending to be non-existent persons connected to Miniature Wargame Conversions... which none of the "real" contributors seem to believe, and it'd be great to have some more evidence of that (besides my word and some voicemails that are probably not appropriate to post publicly, along with emails).

@ Treesong, it was 'Lucky No. 5", who has a personal blog and other contact info, who I emailed and got the heated response back from. I didn't find alternate contact info for Rictus, and so hadn't contacted him (I didn't realize he was on Dakka). Not sure if it'd be worth it, though, given the track record thus far! And I think Matt is prepping folks he invites to contribute for myself or others to contact them about him, somehow...

http://www.talesfromthewarzone.com/contact/

There is the direct url about half way down you will see said information with which I am discussing.

Here is the actual image which i have saved to thumbdrive so i now have permament records of it.

I can't remember, but did 'Damian' ever post here? If he did then he's defiently sockpuppeting, just one more thing to hang him on when this all comes out.... and hopefully it will all come out and he gets what he diserves.

TheNewMexicanGeneral wrote:on his contact information to reach Matt from mini wargames it has the following information listed which I believe may cause some people in the thread to peak up in interrest as per the first few posts in the thread.

I guess what I'm not seeing is, that page is on Tales from the Warzone. I've never seen a contact page or link for Matt on Miniature Wargame Conversions... on there he just posts as "Miniature Wargame Conversions". Hence, making it easy for him to pretend to be false contributors when emailing me, despite the fact that he has several legitimate contributors posting.

But I'm just not seeing how the contact page on Tales from the Warzone connects to Miniature Wargame Conversions and Matthew Bonder. Did a link from Miniature Wargame Conversions lead you over there? Or is it possible you just have the two sites confused?

@ FrabricatorGeneralMike- As far as I know, the names "Jeff" and "Damien" have only ever come up in Matt's voicemails and emails to me. They're not listed on his site, and haven't posted here. I doubt he's indiscreet enough to have a profile page for "Damien" up anywhere linked to his account... but it would have bee helpful if that had been the case. He's usually smarter about not leaving a trail behind...

Man you guys are something else....I don't join your quest and now you're trash talking me on Dakka?

Apparently I'm an alter-ego for Matt or a delinquent character?

If anyone was gong to be giving me a bad reputation online it's you fools and not Matt.

Seriously, leave me out of this BS. There's a reason I haven't joined Dakka In the past and this is a clear example of why.

It's not about your reputation at all.

It is about people with a good reputation (you) giving credibility to a known fraud by affiliating with him.

But then of course, you don't care about that.

That is the consequence of putting your name to an enterprise fronted by a known scammer who has scammed multiple people in a very brazen fashion over the years.
Deal with it, or do something about it. Don't come whinging here, it doesn't make your case any stronger. Reading this thread gives multiple examples of RSO's fraudulent behaviour and thievery.

LuckyNo.5 wrote:Man you guys are something else....I don't join your quest and now you're trash talking me on Dakka?

Apparently I'm an alter-ego for Matt or a delinquent character?

If anyone was gong to be giving me a bad reputation online it's you fools and not Matt.

Seriously, leave me out of this BS. There's a reason I haven't joined Dakka In the past and this is a clear example of why.

Well unfortunately for you, with the amount of scams Matt has and has attempted to pull off, anyone who defends him should rightly be treated as if in league with Matt, if not Matt himself IMO. Matt has his reputation, and anyone and everyone who doesn't have a problem with it is probably going to have a problem with everyone else. That's just the reality. As someone Matt has tried to scam in the past, anyone I see defending him I'll put on my 'Do Not Trust' list.

I've stayed out of this thread until now because, quite frankly, I am so very tired of Matt Bonder and the drama that is in anything connected to him.

Amazingly enough though, through the hard work of RiTides and the generousity of many of my friends here on Dakka Dakka, I did manage to recoup a lot of what he 'misappropriated'.

He does, however, still owe me quite a bit:

1) 1 set of Space Hulk Terminators
2) 5 Rhinos
3) 2 Vindicators
4) 1 Baneblade

He's owed me these things going all the way back to 2009/2010, and to date, I still do not know why he hasn't shipped them to me.

Well, OK, I DO know, but I've never received an 'official' explanation from Matt - and I don't expect I ever will get one, or the still missing items, either...

Good luck to anyone else that he's wronged, but the best advice really is to stay away from him, and anything he may be involved in.

LuckyNo.5 wrote:Man you guys are something else....I don't join your quest and now you're trash talking me on Dakka?

Apparently I'm an alter-ego for Matt or a delinquent character?

If anyone was gong to be giving me a bad reputation online it's you fools and not Matt.

Seriously, leave me out of this BS. There's a reason I haven't joined Dakka In the past and this is a clear example of why.

Because people don't like seeing a known scammer continuing his fine work? When there are people he currently owes money and models to while he carried on business as usual? Dakka isn't the bad guy here, it's trying to warn people away from a person who has been scamming for many years. And it appears that he is continuing this behaviour even recently. You say "leave me out of this BS" as though you can support his website and give it legitimacy but shun any accountability for the actions that it and its owner carries out.

Why is it that people who support Matt refuse to acknowledge the many people he has stolen from, or dismiss it as not being their business? By supporting him and his site you are involved. What's your view on his scamming? Are the many people he has stolen from all in some conspiracy against him? Or do you just not care?

The nature of Matt Bonder is known to you now, how you use this information will reflect upon your reputation online, not what us "fools" say.