Macon Squaredealer
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Posted - 2006.04.14 14:33:00 -
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I've waited a day to respond to this thread because it would seem a tad cruel to kick people while they are still recovering. I do feel sorry for those of you that got scammed by this guy because a betrayal of trust is always far more hurtful than the actual money loss. Now that a day has passed I think it would be fair to say that there were some pretty clear warning signs about this offering:
1) Proton Power's (a well known and respected industrialist) post right after the OP pointing out what was wrong with the offering and why he wouldn't invest money in it.
2) An alt character not being vouched for by an established character. We're not talking about "you're a noob and I can't trust you", we're talking about a flat out alt that nobody knew or stood up for, in an alt corp.
3) Lack of transparency in the business plan. No hard numbers, locations, or specifics. Everything was unsubstantiated arm waving and generalizations. For those factors that really had to remain secret a respected member of the community could have been brought in to verify the offer. The few numbers actually offered looked phony.
Basically the offer came down to "Hi, I'm an alt in an alt corp who makes a lot of money but I'm not going to tell you where or how beyond generalities because itÆs all super duper secret - please send money". As scams go this guy didn't even put a huge amount of effort into it.
Can you ever be 100% confident that something isn't a scam? No, but you can take reasonable levels of risk based upon how much information is being provided, and in this case the whole offer smelled from start to finish.
I'm sorry for those of you who bought shares from this guy and hope that you look at the money you have lost more along the lines of being tuition in order to improve who you give your trust to and send your hard earned money to. Take a bad experience (like losing a ship for example) and TRY to take the emotional pain out of it and then analyze why it happened, what mistakes you made, and how to improve your performance in the future. I know thatÆs easy for me to say, but try 
Sorry if this post comes off like IÆm some sort of smart aleck know-it-all, I am truly sorry for you folks.
Warm regards,
Macon
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