I'm Devastated. Need Your Help - Fast..

If he's in the US track him down and just inform him to refund or you're calling the police and reporting him for fraud. Don't wait for things to "work out".
 
look all of this friendly ways waste of time if he ripped you he wont back your money. well this is normal in this world people are becoming more scums every day, its hard even reputable members start screwing too so you never know. i would try offer him some nice job and to talk with him again with diffrent info and see if he give you same name,add..phone, tell him u want to call before payment. if u think he is near you take some not friendly guy with you who knows what to do and go try to find this student, if u get ur cash back pay half money to that person, and dont remember if u find him to get him naked and take every bucks he have with him. will see if he have balls to report u to cops :) if you not have time and not for this things, forget about money and be more carefull next time. good luck
 
In times like these, nothing works better than a letter from a lawyer. It costs you almost nothing, but the effect is amazing.
 
Weve outsourced to many programers and haven't found age to make that big of a difference, but culture is a huge factor.

culture... in which ways have you found it to be a huge factor?
 
Just sent you an idea of what to do. Better not share in public, but if you feel safe i can post here!
 
When he signed your NDA did he also sent you documents proof such as ID or anything else ? If not and the phone number also doesn't this will prove difficult to resolve.

As long as you can nail him I would recommend you to use your second email as a decoy make as if you were a client looking for another job done and this time collect real data such as a copy of his ID etc.
 
culture... in which ways have you found it to be a huge factor?


It's all about the stereo types

Would you outsource your book keeping to someone in Nigeria ?

Culture differences and stereo typing are a type of indicator good or bad on what could be expected from a freelancer. My opinion is this comes from strong family units / communities, regional politics and religious backgrounds.

For example Many of the Filipino freelancers I work with are religious, have strong family units and are their households primary source of income.This makes them put a lot of value on job stability giving the majority of Filipinos a hard working and Loyal mindsets.

This is where the culture makes a difference. You wouldn't want to hire a Filipino part time regardless of how much you pay. To them part time is temporary. It's viewed as if you don't have enough work for them and it could stop completely at any time. They will continue to look for other work.
Hire full time and keep a steady flow of projects going and you'll be amazed.

Compared to an India freelancer that has no preconceived ideas about part time work. In my experience they've been satisfied with a well paying part time gig.

India is made up of many different cultures much like the USA has west coasters, mid west and east Indians are more entrepreneurial than Filipinos. They are more willing to take risks.

Ive had good experiences with outsourcing to India but more bad than good.


How you handle the cultural differences can effect the quality of your freelancers output more than you would expect.
 
call him and try to figure it out amicably is your best and easiest best. don't take vague promises/answers because that's pretty much how he'll reply. get concrete answers and if he can't provide them then he's probably screwing you.
if he is and his is info is real then you have a lot more options, mainly legal.
if not, hire him from a new account and get real info before making a move.
good luck
 
It's all about the stereo types

Would you outsource your book keeping to someone in Nigeria ?

Culture differences and stereo typing are a type of indicator good or bad on what could be expected from a freelancer. My opinion is this comes from strong family units / communities, regional politics and religious backgrounds.

For example Many of the Filipino freelancers I work with are religious, have strong family units and are their households primary source of income.This makes them put a lot of value on job stability giving the majority of Filipinos a hard working and Loyal mindsets.

This is where the culture makes a difference. You wouldn't want to hire a Filipino part time regardless of how much you pay. To them part time is temporary. It's viewed as if you don't have enough work for them and it could stop completely at any time. They will continue to look for other work.
Hire full time and keep a steady flow of projects going and you'll be amazed.

Compared to an India freelancer that has no preconceived ideas about part time work. In my experience they've been satisfied with a well paying part time gig.

India is made up of many different cultures much like the USA has west coasters, mid west and east Indians are more entrepreneurial than Filipinos. They are more willing to take risks.

Ive had good experiences with outsourcing to India but more bad than good.


How you handle the cultural differences can effect the quality of your freelancers output more than you would expect.

I absolutely refuse to get any work done by Indians anymore. I'm sorry, but the amount of money I've lost dealing with them, I just cannot take it anymore. I have like a sixth sense now, and can sense an Indian just by they're writing.
 
I absolutely refuse to get any work done by Indians anymore. I'm sorry, but the amount of money I've lost dealing with them, I just cannot take it anymore. I have like a sixth sense now, and can sense an Indian just by they're writing.

Really? You can "sense" an Indian by they're writing? You must have some extraordinary writing skills, to be able to discern a person's country of origin, just by they're writing. I've herd that they're kind of writing is vary different then ours, but only certain people can tell just by they're writing. Is it they're spelling that gives them away? They're punctuation? Or is it they're grammar. I've herd their not vary well educated, so maybe it's the way their taught to write that is the problem.

Anyways, it's good to have a high-quality writer like you on the forum, protecting us all from they're bad writing. Many thanks.
 
If you use Google for your business emails then install yesware.com which includes tracking feature. That way you can see if he has opened your emails including geo location, OS etc.

I'd try calling him as well.

Good luck with this mate.
 
First scan and send a copy of the executed NDA to "jog" his memory. Then tell him you will be enforcing it.
 
Guys, first many thanks for all the replies. I was away for the week so I just got to read all the replies now.

Here's a quick update:

On sunday I got a email reply from him. He says he was thrown out of his parents house and he's lost everything. He doesn't have his laptop (he claims).No money. Nothing. If he would have money he'd pay me (he says). Then he writes he's helpless and he won't fight any action I take take against him.


I doubt any of this is true.. What do you guys think?

Where do I go next?

Also I wouldn't be surprised of he was reading this.. I know he's on WF.
 
where is that coder from, post a link and we will check it
 
^ From Freelancer.com don't want to post a link to his profile in public
 
On sunday I got a email reply from him. He says he was thrown out of his parents house and he's lost everything. He doesn't have his laptop (he claims).No money. Nothing. If he would have money he'd pay me (he says). Then he writes he's helpless and he won't fight any action I take take against him.

I doubt any of this is true.. What do you guys think?

Hire him to do a job from another account, and when he takes the job, shitlist him as a scammer.
 
What about all the secret info? The money is only a small part of the problem..
 
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What about all the secret info? The money is only a small part of the problem..

That's gone. The more you think and talk about it, the greater it's perceived value becomes. The only thing you can do at this point is warn others against hiring him, and possibly create a "scorched earth" situation that might make him give you the money back, but I highly doubt that is going to happen.
 
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