Hello fello members, its a serious issue I am a freelance writer and I have got a mail from this lady called raagvi(p.raagavi@gmail.com). She wanted us to write daily 10 articles of 500 words. We agreed on $5 per article. However, she told us that it will be a monthly affair.. We will be paid once in a month. We agreed and started working very sincerely, keeping in mind the quality and deadlines. Once the month was over, we prepared an excel sheet and sent her so that she can pay us.. She told us that she will pay on 10th... Yesterday, when we asked for payment, she sent us such a shit mail(ITS REAL SHIT GUYS>>CANNOT READ ALSO).. Mail contains all: -Abusive language - Bad words - disgracing words I got scammed for $800.. How people can cheat and then run away saying all nonsense.. Can any one out here help us out to get rid of this problem.. WE have written so many articles for her..Can we sell all? How can we catch that person? Is there any way.. Your help is our motivation
Unfortunately, unless you had a written "signed" contract, nothing you can really do on a verbal or "e-text" agreement... but you are taking the right steps to outing this scammer!... Just chalk it up to experience, and take this expensive lesson that im sure you learned from, and start requesting deposits on your work, and if it sounds to good to be true, most times it usually is!.... Just keep in mind what your time and work is worth to you, and stick to your guns. I've been scammed, and a lot of others on here have to, just trying to make an honest buck and experienced con artists take advantage of that. Anyway just my two cents
Verbal and electronic correspondence can infact bind you into a contract depending on what is agreed upon and if a transfer of goods or services is made. Keep in mind that the purchaser is going to need to agree to accept your work or you must have proof that they are using it in commerce. Either way, while it's always BEST to have a signed contract stipulating terms so issues like this do not arrise in the future, cases such as your have been decided in the consultants favor. Since it appears as though the client is unresponsive and combative, you may want to pursue finding an attorney to send him a demand letter for payment. Furthermore, you can also look for a collections company to attempt to collect on the funds owed to you. However, each option is not free and depending on the information you have on the client and their whereabouts it may or may not be a waste of time and money.
You're not totally scammed since u have ur articles with you, just resell the same since it's you who has complete rights over them and not some theif.
If i have the handle on this correct you have been sending the articles to the 'buyer' on a daily basis? If this is true and infact they have used these articles without purchasing the rights to do so then you do have a legal leg to stand on, find the articles they have posted, note all of the URL's, ensure they have not altered them by copyscaping them and then go to their server provider. No server provider will be willing to stand with a client that is breaking copyright laws as they too would be included in charges should they not take any action. They will most likely contact the site owner and tell them about the issue but forward all emails etc to the server providers and they will close their hosting account and access to their cpanel. GL
Well one thing is that its a lesson learnt. Most of us who offer services like these will have to face these scams one time or the other. The first few times you do business, insist on part payments. Once the trust issue is resolved the quality of work will be much higher and there will be much better communication. Maybe you can send abstracts and after payment send the entire articles. Never threaten a client. If you ask me there is very little you can do in this regard and the only proof you have that the work is yours is the communication through email i suppose which is not a very strong proof as it can easily be faked. The only thing practical now will be to post on highly rated forums about the website using your articles. There are several ways to affect her website but none of them may actually get the cash back. You can make as much as you can by selling the articles again
If you can find a website or something of hers google can shut it down report it here and maybe they can investigate the email because is it owned by google. http://www.google.com/Top/Computers/Internet/Abuse/
You obviously know nothing about contract law. To the OP: I suggest periodically running your articles through www.plagium.com until you find a website that your work has been posted on. From there, you can file DMCA notices, subpoenas to get the registrant's information so that you can sue over copyright infringement, fraud complaints with local police, etc.
Oh sad to hear this, there are so many unfair people out there who wants you to work for them, spending a lots of time then after this then would ran your money.
Unfortunately,you don't have much to do.You got scammed and you should accept this - life goes on =) Be smarter next time do not trust people which you don't know them
Always keep involve in a written agreement than a verbal agreement Accept it and go ahead.. Treat this as an oppurtunity to be prepared for the future.. Be Sure You dnt commit this yet again..
That's horrible! Before the scammer beats you to it, I suggest that you publish your articles online right away... The posting date should be proof that you wrote the articles first.
TAKE ACTION! Copyscape your files and find where she posted your articles. Save the urls. Get a lawyer, show him the urls. Legal action will be taken. NOTE: don't just report their webhost and get their website taken offline, there goes half your proof down the drain.
Welcome to the INTERNET. What is concerning in this case is that - what if the said "client" was actually a middleman who was siphoning off articles received from you to some one else for a remuneration. Even if you file a DMCA, the other party will have enough proof to prove that he/she bought it off for someone and paid for the same. It was clearly your mistake to accept a "monthly" gig from someone without properly verifying his/her credentials and the legitimacy of his/her business. You, however, still hold complete rights to the articles, but it becomes a disputed property now if any of the above case happens to be true. So, I would not recommend selling them - since your potential client will be in even more trouble if he faces a DMCA takedown notice from any of the above people. On another note, you may create a website and post the articles on them along with a disclaimer that such a thing happened. You can have a perfectly established website with the quantity of articles, that we're talking here.
you should have immediately put the articles up on ur own accounts/websites so if they hadn't already they'd be marked a dupe..
Never give so many articles WITHOUT payment. Lesson learned, also on the "find the articles" bit. All they would have to do is spin them and then its unique and you have zero leg to stand on.
I think the only reasonable thning you can do is just get over it and resell the articles...If they're good I'm sure someone will be eager to buy them
anyone who asks you to extend credit as a writer will burn you. it's too tempting. Half up front for big jobs or nada.
You should have enquired about her website or company. Try to find out who is using ur articles copy scape might help you in this. and sell those articles to some one else. Always take part payment before delivering complete work.