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Finally, a wise statement. Hopefully, now some of the loud mouths doing more harm than good when yelling for the staff to ban him. Do you understand now, why we CAN NOT and SHOULD NOT ban him???? He has a red tag with an icon on his profile and you can see it with every post. That is more than enough punishment for now. If you still don't get it, read between the lines.
To circle back to the whole, "Is he a scammer or just comically incompetent" debate, I'll point out a few facts since they may have gotten lost in the noise:
The above is all known to be factual. The rest, we may never know the full truth. But some additional points to be made:
This of course ignores all the previous stuff: Nulled WHMCS license, using swap space as RAM, the last crypto incident, him lying about his age on LET for years, trying to buy leaked WHMCS databases, etc.
I just don't see the appeal of this forum as a marketplace for providers or users if things like this goes unchecked. Over the years this place has really obtained a more questionable reputation from a place once known as a technical hobbyist community with some great deals to just having one foot in the door of a being a light version of HackForums with random Discord kids running businesses.
Calin will be fine without LET. Let him continue to serve the Hostloc Chinese audience and IPTV streamers until he gets a knock on the door. I'd say based on his previous history here and his most recent actions he deserves to go. I mean, y'all got rid of the other Romanian provider (Florian or whatever) when he was probing Calin's WHMCS for vulnerabilities and shared it here.
A shitty red tag is more than enough punishment for scamming 20k? Idk about that one
I said read between the lines. This is an ongoing CASE. There is a reason he is not yet banned. Read the word before 'banned' that I just typed. Did I make it simpler for you?
This whole thread is a self promotion for @Calin boasting how he’s upgraded his network (assumably with the 20k he scammed) he is literally laughing in your face at this point. Every new post with someone looking for a new server he is the first to “like” it with his new “marketing” tactics. It’s absolutely insane at this point
This isn’t even the first time this has happened and yet some people act surprised or somehow defend it.
You can read between the lines all you want but he’s making us all look like idiots at this point
regards
I think he wants to say that a simple ban right now would be an easy way out. Even if the bank releases this money, his client would never see it again. That way, there's at least a slight chance that Calin will do the right thing and return the money.
Calin is very adamant in blaming his client for his own fuckup, so there's serious doubt that he will ever return the money, but anyway.
Banning him to go into the sunset peacefully with 20K in his pocket once they are released has some pluses and minuses, I guess.
In any case it may be okay to forbid him from opening those promo threads that aren't direct sales but are still his business promos.
Yes of course but he should be more restrictions in place, his clients couldn’t give a shit if there’s a red tag over his name or not look at the way he markets his services with the dmca ignored everything allowed etc. He’s literally strolling about like nothing has happened letting his nuts hang boasting about his network upgrade and low key promoting himself and his “services”
And for the record yes it’s sad someone’s lost 20k here and I don’t support scammers, but I personally couldn’t a shit about this whole thing it’s just another LET drama…however I think it just makes this forum look bad for the way it’s being handled. Don’t forget this is a multiple time offender who got away with it originally to
There are no lines. You're allowing a scammer to continue advertising and collect money from members of this forum.
I don't think your investigative case of a few messages between admins makes any difference to that.
Oh, I didn't know you were in the multiple hours meetings and in the decision making process as to BEST serve the actual victims (not you) of this situation. I must have not seen you there...
I'll pick out just a few, not to say you wrote that with ill intention or that it's plain wrong, but to point out some subtlety that is so gravely missing in this whole thread.
Did he really? Depends, I guess, on how one defines 'receiving'. I agree that the money seems to have been transferred. But there also seems to be another relevant side to it: to refund, @Calin must be able to actually dispose of the money and to deliver the service (for which he got that money) the same is true but probably not in full.
I'm not so sure about that. But maybe my interpretation of what I saw is wrong.
Which is neither positive nor negative per se. And probably simply necessary because probably he can not pay in crypto-"currency" for the hardware needed.
At least as a small business one pretty much has to accept what the bank says/demands/... as long as it's not clearly illegal.
In fact I "read" this whole story since the Coinbase to bank transfer as a clear sign of ignorance and stupidity (from Calin) but not an intention to somehow scam. Also, many people on sales will happily promise pretty much anything to close a deal. That's not nice (in fact I find it despicable) but it's widespread and frankly, any mature person risking any not small amount (like e.g. 22k$) without getting it in writing in a form that's acceptable in courts is playing lottery and unreasonable.
Probably, yes. Not only for that purpose but using his request for help for that purpose too.
Well, I guess then Calin is pretty much fucked. But well, Calin is Calin ...
I do not see criminal intention or fraud in that. Actually I rather assume that the client pays not for 100 Gb/s but rather for say, 80 and it just seemd to be smart in Calins eyes to put the other 20 Gb/s on top of the bandwidth for his nodes and quite cheap at that. Not exactly a mature and professional move but neither a criminal or fraudulent move.
Why? Those are two entirely different things, plus, I presume that Calin intends to either deliver the service or refund gossd once the money is unfrozen
Again, I'm not saying that I'm definitely right, nor that you are definitely wrong. The sad fact is - for all of us - that we simply don't know all the relevant facts. That however is required to come to a valid conclusion.
Also interestingly the largely "burn the witch!" crowd has completely ignored that gossd isn't squeaky clean neither.
Be afraid, very afraid of a heated crowd arrogating to play judge!
I didn't say I was either and I'm not shouting obscenities or trying to play immature power games online.
Okay, so now you're in multiple hour meetings over a forum and Calin's business. You are an expert on all things and have secret knowledge of the unknown! My deepest apologies .
So, now the "we attack everyone who doesn't fully agree with us" campaign is extended to include moderators as well?
Just a quick question: Do you have proof that gossd was scammed?
@Arkas has laid out reasonable considerations. He wasn't required to do that but he was kind enough to provide some insight, even a clear hint - and that is what he gets for it?
@jsg You are his client, you can't be taken seriously, you don't have an objective view on the issue, you have a clear interest in him staying around.
Hey. This isn't the first instance of Calin defrauding a client. There are multiple. I don't particularly care about the specific GoSSD incident.
As always, don't turn this into something it isn't just because you have nothing better to do than write essays with grammatical errors.
Wrong and wrong.
I was his client and I have neither an interest in him staying around nor an interest in seeing his business belly up.
Here we go again. This disillusioned guy really lives in an alternative reality or something.
grammatical error? Oh my, how terrible! Btw, how perfect is your say, french or german?
As for the topic, let me help you out: "This isn't the first instance of Calin being accused of defrauding a client".
In case you mean the 4.5k$ allegations: Yes, that didn't look good (as in "very immature, careless and unprofessional) but IIRC @crunchbits publicly confirmed that Calin paid back the credit crunchbits so generously and kindly gave him in full and as agreed.
On mobile so hard to respond to all the points.
We receive a lot of crypto. I pay for servers, colocation, some licenses where able and other bills WITH crypto. It doesn't go to our wallet, to Coinbase, to the bank to be considered "received".
Calin received it. He admits he received it. His reception of the money is how it arrived to his bank, because after he received it he moved it there.
Here we go again. This stupid guy really thinks that ad hominems can replace arguments.
Well, are you really surprised that a young guy in Romania who's relatively new to the hosting business isn't as mature, professional, and business smart as you are? *g
And Yes he received the crypto-"money", and I already said so, but maybe, just maybe, he needs to pay in real money for the hardware, and did not (yet) receive money he can pay with?
Since when do you care about other people's arguments? There's literally half the forum telling you that you're wrong, explaining their reasoning, etc., but you, being you, simply ignore all the arguments, preaching about the products of your imagination packed into long paragraphs with zero value for the discussion.
It's not like you're receptive to any argument except your own.
I actually could prove that wrong - but hey, it's just from you, so /ignore
And how is this his clients' concern?
Now imagine a situation where there are crypto payments from 50 clients piled up, or from 200 clients, or something... that he decides to cash out one day.
Once the crypto hits his personal bank account excanged for fiat and the bank would require him to provide the source of the funds.
Would you then blame his 200 clients while they would be the ones without money and without service because of Calin's screw-up?
No one, absolutely no one, forced him to accept crypto payments from his clients. That's on him. What he does with the crypto afterward is not the clients' concern.
This is so stupid.
If the money is actually frozen by the bank, it means there's an ongoing investigation by the authorities. If Calin refunds anything to someone who denies KYC during this investigation, he could be found guilty of money laundering and could end up in jail.
His customer was very quick to lose interest in getting a refund or having the service delivered, so delivering the service is no longer an option.
The only thing Calin can do is wait for the authorities to make a decision.
This is likely not going to happen anytime soon, and if the authorities find anything illegal, it will be handed over to the police, who will then take it to court. This process could easily take a year or more.
The most important part is that people are warned about this dispute and Calin no longer is allowed to sell anything on LET. Banning him won't help anyone.
This is so stupid - I mean, making up stories. And it's not the first time you've done that. You should write fantasy novels or something.
It's not the buyers' money that's blocked, it's Calin's. What's too hard for you to understand here? He's the one who should prove the source of the money to his bank when he converted it from crypto to his personal bank account.
Just because a few of you are stupid enough to believe his claim that his bank requires his clients' bank account information, etc., doesn't make it any more true.
If your clients pay for your service with crypto and, at some point, you transfer the money you earned to your bank, and the bank wants to know how you got that money, it’s you, and only you, who needs to prove that you earned it through legitimate business.
Of course, this will be harder if you're foolish enough to transfer it to your personal account instead of your business account.
Someone who truly recognizes their mistake would want to address their plans for correcting it. Instead of doing that, Calin seems more interested about speedtests. I'm not trying to add pressure on the mods, but it would be better to just ban him until the issue is resolved rather than letting him stay and have these discussions over and over again. After being banned, he can focus on the issue if he wants to and he would still be able to keep the mods informed through alternative ways.
If he were truly interested in solving this, the money would have been returned by now already through whatever means possible, just to put the matter behind him. But sincerely, as I see it, the chances of us seeing Calin resolve this are nearly zero, and even if it could be, it could take months or years. That's why I'd rather see him banned.
How about you return to the real world instead of falsely accusing me of lying?
There are several laws that dictate how the bank and the authorities have to handle this, and I assume that the LET admins have asked for evidence that the money is frozen by the bank.
It's super simple, Calin - Why can't you give the guy his money back?
And you're of course law expert! Oh, wait you uncle is, right?
What part from the text you quoted is too hard for you to understand?
Let me help you again: