The job ad was riddled with typos, bad grammar and bad style. Why did you even respond to it? The domain name on the email account was different from the name of the company. The person running this "Shivum Gautama" has zero history in google. etc.<p>Overall, Mr. Gautama might have been a creep but atleast he was decent enough to show his true colors so early in the game.
This reminded me of something the other way around.<p>Back in 1998, I was on summer break before going to college. My parents said I had to get a summer job, so I got an entry level PR job at a Web design agency (new media, baby!) in London. Somehow, within a few weeks I was attending recruitment interviews. One totally normal looking guy came in, sat down, and after a quick introduction the CEO asked him what his background was. The guy jumped up, shouted "you can go f!@k yourselves!!" and ran out slamming the door. Never saw him again.<p>I was only at the agency a month in the end, but just the crazy things <i>I</i> saw there could fill a book. In hindsight, I regret quitting.
We've seen this guy a number of times under different guises over at 99designs.com.<p>Our anti-fraud systems mostly pick him up now, he's not particularly bright.<p>Does anyone have a contact at 37Signals that I could provide with details?
I wonder how likely that guy would have been to respond that way in a face-to-face meeting? I mean, I suspect he would have been somewhat likely, but on some order of magnitude less so than for internet communication.<p>Why do people treat internet based communication differently than other, older forms? I've never had a misunderstanding in person, over the phone, or over snail mail devolve into such a vile display of human worthlessness.<p>Does the mode change people or does the mode bring us into contact with more people who would be likely to respond in this manner? I know I have gotten into more arguments online than in person, but I also know that most of the people I know in person are fairly reasonable people. The relative anonymity of the internet tends to hide details that would lead me to avoid certain types of people long before such an argument appeared.<p>Maybe in 20 years, when everyone can no longer remember a time before the internet, we will have figured out "etiquette" properly. Ha, that reminds me, I haven't seen a "'netiquette" posting in so long; they used to be so popular 10 years ago. Do we just assume (wrongly) that every gets it?
While I agree you dodged a bullet, I wouldn't use PayPayl either after the numerous stories I've heard about how they keep people's money for various undocumented reasons. That combined with the fact it's near impossible to actually get someone on the phone who can directly help you can give you significant risks by using them.<p>Look into wire transfers as they're a lot safer and the money goes directly into your account. Sure it might cost a bit of money but if you split the cost with your employer you don't have to go through a middle man then.
Obviously the posting is still up. Have you emailed the transcript along to the folks at 37Signals? They should really pull this (or better yet append the transcript to the job posting).
This is why I always prefer to look them in the eye and ask for a face to face meeting. If that's not possible, then I'll do a Skype video conference. That's not going to weed out all the crazies, but at least it'll give you a better feeling to complement your initial guy instinct.
<i>How the brief was written scared me a little, but 37Signals charges a pretty decent amount to post a listing so I figured it was all going to be kosher.</i><p>So, the question here is: why didn't you trust your gut feeling? Why did you value your (simplistic) rationalization more?
I've been insulted in a chat by a HN member, too (chatting about contract work). Disconnect... I actually found it interesting to meet that kind of person (even if just virtual). To think that some put up with that kind of abuse every day in their office jobs...<p>I wouldn't like to use PayPal either, though.
Actually, running through Odesk or Elance as he suggested can be pretty safe if done right, but the fees kind of suck. You could have also transferred your funds into Paypal. I didn't get from the conversation that he would have been a guy to screw you over with non-payment, but you could have been screwed over by changing scopes and unrealistic expectations. If you are okay with doing hourly, then that's probably the best way of dealing with these sorts of clients, and Odesk pays weekly for hourly work.
Add Akshay Rustagi (posted from Craiglist) to the list of scammers. Their usual trick is skype chat or talk. The best way to identify scammers is to talk face to face.
I don't do a whole lot of freelance work, but when I do I <i>always</i> talk to the person over the phone (or face to face if local) before starting. You can pretty much read a person after a minute of conversation and know, but with IM or email you just can't (unless the guy goes crazy on you like this one).
how does this scam work though? at what point does he actually get money out of people he approached to employ?<p>don't tell me he's scamming people out of web-design labor.
<a href="http://is.gd/d7eBI" rel="nofollow">http://is.gd/d7eBI</a> it looks like this guy posts job ads under different names. all of them have red flags so it shouldn't be hard to avoid scumbags like this.