"Sivik" aka "Riot" is an experienced scammer - BEWARE!

Hey guys,

I posted a thread in the freelancer section looking to get some php scripts coded. "Sivik" responded and he gave me his skype username (arpstorm) and we talked for about an hour going over details. I sent him $650 via paypal (funded by credit card), and he assured me delivery by 8AM the next morning. I wake up and nothing is in my inbox, he won't respond to emails, pm's, skype messages, etc.

This is when I get worried. I do some research and see he has scammed someone before:

http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/shit-list/216482-dont-deal-member-sivik.html

I did some more research and found through his profile his only friend on the forum was a user named "Riot". Riot, coincidentally, has the skype username (arpstorm) listed in his profile. I do some research into Riot and see he has scammed at least 3 other people as well before getting banned by Harro:

http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackh...-me-my-search-engine-optimization-report.html

http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackh...-riot-his-company-quwd-com-rippin-me-off.html

I have gone ahead with the Paypal dispute. Luckily I used my credit card to fund the payment and my CC company has assured me that once the transaction gets posted they will go ahead and issue a chargeback as they have a 100% buyer protection policy against fraudulent activity.

What really grinds my gears is that when I phoned Paypal the rep told me that since it was an "electronic product", they don't offer buyer protection, and that he will most likely get the funds released to him after the dispute process is over. I am planning on escalating it to a claim and having Paypal shut down his account at least. Anything else we can do to make sure this dirtbag doesn't get the money?

So beware of SIVIK! He is an experienced scammer with elaborate stories. He definitely talks the talk, he has a good knowledge of programming and browser exploits. IMO, he is capable of getting the jobs done, but he would rather scam people out of their hard earned money.

MODS, please IP ban this guy! I've already discovered two of his accounts, who knows how many other accounts he is operating right now on here.

One more thing, he referred me to Panama hosting company called offshorehost.ws which redirects to spirit-international.net/, so they may be scammers as well.

Say he was supposed to send the goods on CD-ROM by mail and that he never did.

Looks like Sivik is the same person as Riot, a few of the details match up. Sivik is perm banned, hopefully the OP's CC dispute comes through.

Sivik if you're reading this and you'd like to refund the OP or provide any info that proves you aren't the notorious scammer Riot, feel free to contact me.

email: [email protected], [email protected] (possibly him as well)
Skype: arpstorm
AIM: riot
MSN: [email protected]
Yahoo: [email protected]

Buyer beware.

I dunno bro, I would be worried if I were you. How did you pay?

Normally we wouldn't act on something like this so fast as it lowers your chances of getting what you paid for - but in this case the scammer was linked to a previously banned user and we can't have him running around scamming people while we wait for a reply. if any info surfaces about him making good on any of these orders please let me know.

Since you don't have the CC company to fight for you I recommend filing a dispute. Choose "Computer hardware/software" as the category. And say he was going to send you a CD.

when you have many transactions you normally get in yur favor. I had someone payed for forum posting and i also wrote that in my dispute and got my money back.

Scumbag!

Hope you get your money back......

Too bad that you do not have his real name and so on

well he told me he was a systems administrator and this was really simple for him to do - and was begging for the job paying $20

it was easy for him to contact me trying to get the job - but once paid all I got was... my internet is not working

then I said just give me my money back - he said his paypal was limited and not heard a thing since


these are not the dealings of someone who - is legit

also he insisted the payment be made as a service - so he knows all the ways of trying to screw the buyers.

as I said to the OP - the guy has had chances to make things right - so better to protect yourself until he proves to be more trustworthy.

I was scammed by this guy too. This guy should have been banned.

I got scammed by this guy too. How do we team up and get the authorities to chase down this guy? I got scammed for $400 bucks by Sivik/Riot .

I got scammed by this guy. There are enough of us who have been scammed.
Let us get together and subpoena paypal. My brother-in-law works for the law enforcement and man, I am ready to tell him about this guy. If we find out this guy's real identity, he will be scared enough to refund us our money. One thing that might work is us writing a joint complaint to TrustE , the privacy outfit that many web sites are scared of. FB resolved my problem pretty quickly after i filed with Truste

smh @ how many of us this guy scammed.....

Why so much ppl were scammed and they all say so late?

I know a "friend" of his he owes 3500 USD to. Anyone want to band together and get back at him? He's supposed to have come into some money recently. PM me.

I am sorry to hear about all of you that were scammed by this guy. I do not discourage anyone from trying to hire freelancers through this forum, but make sure they are reputable and always ask for REPUTABLE references.

If all else fails, I suggest Rent A Coder/VWorker.
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