Scammed by labs8vivek, be wary of link promises in Huff Post, Forbes, and others

[teamdesign]

In the thread relating to this scammer a moderator asked people to post to the shitlist if they lost money. Our company lost $220 to labs8vivek who promised to deliver a Huffington Post article. He has disappeared and apparently some others lost exponentially more money that we lost. He seemed like a decent person and only wanted half the money upfront and replied to me that it would be a week late. Since that time he has disappeared from everyone and hasn't posted to BHW for some time. I filed a dispute with Paypal so hopefully they will help out.

Please avoid labs8vivek and be wary of any similar offers promoting links in major publications (he offered Forbes, Techcrunch, many others too).

 

[albi7918]

Purchased services from labs8vivek on July 20th from this thread

http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/seo-link-building/769959-instant-traffic-permanent-high-impact-do-follow-links-forbes-mashable-usa-today-etc.html

Purchased articles on Huffington Post and SocialMediaToday for 50% deposit, which amounted to $390.

On 7/27 he sent me the topics for the articles which I approved, and I received both articles on 8/3 for approval. I thought the articles were pretty well written, definitely didn't seem spun and I copy and pasted some sentences to find if it was duplicate content, none turned up. I told him to make some changes to anchor text and he said he would no problem. Never heard back from him. Contacted him on 8/11 via skype and email, I got an autoresponse saying he was out of the office due to personal emergency.

I have screenshots of all emails, paypal transaction IDs and skype conversations which I can send to a moderator.

 

[saranin]

I paid  $245 to labs8vivek for a Huffington link on 29th July and after our initial email I haven't heard from him again. Seems I'm not alone, see threads below. I submitted a PayPal dispute today listing the seller as fraudulent. Doubt I'll see any of that money back again but at least it's been disputed now. <br><br>REF:<br>Seems as a new member I can't post full links here so I've had to remove the linked threads

 

[OldSalt]

labs8vivek has been notified he has 48 hours to respond.

Normally I would not have approved any of the posts above - none of them have followed the SL rules:
http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/shit-list/499995-shitlist-rules-procedure.html

because they did not include proof of their accusations... however, being that there are 3 of them and with the BST posts and the lounge thread that was posted, obviously something is going on that justifies a SL; so I am merging the three threads and allowing this to continue.

I will need to see some proof of the accusations above however - follow the SL rules and post your proof after removing or covering personal info.

OS
PS. Reminder to all who have current issues, keep it PROFESSIONAL. No name calling or other insults.

Reminder to everyone else:
Shit list rule #4:
If you are not directly related to the situation, or are not offering information directly related to the situation: do not post in the thread.

 

[tentimes]

I too lost $220, paying for half upfront then never hearing from him again. Filed a dispute with paypal.

 

[OldSalt]

@tentimes, did you read what I posted above about the other 3? I'll make it easier for you to find what I'm referring to:

I will need to see some proof of the accusations above however - follow the SL rules and post your proof after removing or covering personal info.

OS

 

[kriminal]

- Purchased on 22/7/15 (left comment in thread)

http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackh...ow-links-forbes-mashable-usa-today-etc-3.html

Paid $220USD for 50% deposit payment through paypal, can provide proof.

- Received article for proof reading on 6/8/15 and paid another $88USD payment through paypal, can provide proof.

- Was to pay the remainder balance after submission to Huffington Post but is not responding to emails or Skype chats.

 

[dadiaar]

This guy is fake, he scammed me too.

- Purchased on 14/7/15
- Paid by Paypal to [email protected] ID: XXXXXXXXXXXX0903C
- I got a single page text by e-mail, asked me to modify what I wanted and sent a second bill.
- No reply to Skype nor e-mail for 3 weeks already.

Hard way to learn BHW market is still far from being secure enough. In order to improve it, maybe the admins could get an optional deposit fee or similar.

Be aware

 

[RCKid]

Got hit for $600

I haven't been on BHW for a while but I noticed an interesting email sent to me from here advertising this guy's service. Looked great. I figured it was endorsed by BHW so it's all good.

I'm more upset because I look like a complete idiot in front of my high budget client. I got them all hyped up about the prospect of having a ton of press coverage for the next 3-12 months. I overpromised the opportunities and now lost their confidence. Thanks, James. Played me very well. Attaching conversation...

 

[BUYSMM]

I got scammed by this guy too, for 220$. I was promised a HuffingtonPost article.
I paid for his invoice. paypal [email protected]
Transaction ID: XXXXXXXXXX7407
Paid on July 22.
I have contacted paypal and they helped me to open a dispute, because for some reason I wasn't able to open it by myself from my paypal account.

 

[jjlangwii]

I've paid 245$ for Huff post with article provided by myself.

I've opened a dispute at paypal and escalate to a claim instantly. The scammer didn't respond to my claim for 10 days and today I've received a full refund from paypal!



Next time I'll be more skeptic about these kind of offers... (However, if you know a decent service like this please let me know

 

[kriminal]

How did you get a refund. Did you say it was for goods? Not for services?

 

[jjlangwii]

How did you get a refund. Did you say it was for goods? Not for services?

No, I didn't mention what it was exactly. I've just escalated a dispute to Non-receipt claim and wrote that the seller didn't deliver a post he has promised and that he is not responding to my emails. After 10 days without any respond from him to PayPal they resolved the claim for my behalf and refunded my account.

 

[hardhat]

me too - i was scammed by the user labs8vivek

i have skype correspondence , paypal transaction id etc...
paid him more than 3 weeks ago and he disappeared, not responding to his james franklin email Nor his skype.

 

[SkyrocketSEO]

File a dispute and wait for payPal to escalate it to claim. They will wait 10 days to get an answer from this scammer but since he is not answering you should get your money back. I did this.

Also, why is scammer not banned for purchasing his fake account on Freelancer? I mean, that's not allowed, right?

 

[subster]

- Purchased 14th of July.
- Link on Glamour.com
- $639 have been paid, I got an official invoice by his "company".
- Got an article, but it was awefull and would never be taken by Glamour.com, so I asked for a better one. Topic was wrong as well.

Transaction ID 0C779289C0XXXX64X , not refundable anymore - just recognized it today and was too late.

PROOF sent to OLD SALT

 

[BUYSMM]

- Purchased 14th of July.
- Link on Glamour.com
- $639 have been paid, I got an official invoice by his "company".
- Got an article, but it was awefull and would never be taken by Glamour.com, so I asked for a better one. Topic was wrong as well.

Transaction ID 0C779289C0XXXX64X , not refundable anymore - just recognized it today and was too late.

PROOF sent to OLD SALT

I suggest you to still try to email or much better to call to paypal and tell them about situation, tell them that multiple people have been scammed.
I wasn't able to open dispute myself but they have opened it for me from their side, my issue wasn't same one but it might work for you too.

 

[tentimes]

- Purchased 23rd of July.
- Link on Huffingtonpost.com - $220.50 was been paid up front, the other $220 was to be paid after delivery (never delivered)
- Transaction ID # XXXXXXXXXXXX690H
- No reply to email or skype

Paypal proof sent to Old Salt

 

[subster]

I suggest you to still try to email or much better to call to paypal and tell them about situation, tell them that multiple people have been scammed.
I wasn't able to open dispute myself but they have opened it for me from their side, my issue wasn't same one but it might work for you too.

Thanks man - that worked!

 

[OldSalt]

Although most of the posts did not include much, if any proof...the sheer number of them shows what's going on.

labs8vivek has been perma-banned.

OS