Customer Cons Front-End Developer, Tech Revenge Ensues

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mattstaff
Jan 16, 2022 1:00 PM EST

Oh boy does Bob sound like a real nasty piece of work. The thing about Bob's whole immoral series of plays was that he vastly underestimated the lengths to which a talented front-end dev/SEO guru would go to undermine his whole shady operation. To say that the pro revenge was massively effective would be its own kind of understatement. Bob got completely rekt. If you're looking for some more juicy pro revenge drama check out the time that a client tried to screw an employee over by locking them out of the system, and then how it totally backfired. 

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  • 01
    Font - 1 1 42 e 28 3 44 1 32 Not pay me for the website I built? Say goodbye to your business, house and reputation. This happened early 2000's. I used to be a freelance front-end dev and a search engine optimisation guru. Back then getting on the front page of Google was pretty simple. Link exchanging was popular but risky. I never did that but I did have a single website that had serious page rank clout due to it being linked as a trusted source, directly from one of the top and most trusted w
    via u/nzdevon
  • 02
    Font - One day I was approached by someone l'll call Bob. Now Bob sold travel packages. He needed to revamp his basic, existing website, with a complex website built with pretty tricky backend coding. I could do the front end but I had to hire a backend dev to build the functionality. Bob had a major launch in a months time and it had to he ready. I usually ask for 25% deposit up front but BV said no, he was stung by the last dev and wasn't going to lose anymore money.
    via u/nzdevon
  • 03
    Font - Now from the moment I met Bob my gut was telling me this was going to end badly. The problem was I needed the money and it was worth quite a lot of money for me and the dev. I skipped the deposit on the promise he paid in full before it went on his server. Bob agreed. For an entire month we worked day and sometimes all night to get this done in his timeframe. With a day to spare we had done it and l'd never been so proud of what we had achieved. I was honestly excited to show Bob. The nex
    via u/nzdevon
  • 04
    Font - We went backwards and forwards but he was insistant the site has be uploaded and tested on his server before he parts with a penny. I chatted to my Dev. He didn't like it either but agreed we would upload our work onto his server. Bob gave me the FTP details and server login and I uploaded the site. I told him it was live and then... nothing. I sent several emails and then phone calls. The emails went unanswered and the phone went to voicemail. Sensing a major problem I rushed to my compu
    via u/nzdevon
  • 05
    Font - For several days I tried phoning until one morning he answered the phone and said "listen, l'm not ever going to pay you and there is nothing you can do about it", then Bob hung up. Rage was a good word for my feelings, I was shaking while I still held the phone in my hand. For the next hour my range of expletives was growing in complexity. As I sat there figuring out what to do, it hit me. Revenge will be mine! I registered a new domain name, which was Bobs travel domain name plus sucks
    via u/nzdevon
  • 06
    Font - Within a month my website jumped above his website in google for every conceivable search phrase you would use for the packages he sold. No matter what you typed in, my site was the first result and his was always below mine. During that month I created a second website, which was Bobs full name with sucks at the end. On this second website I posted what happened, screenshots of his emails and warning everyone what a conman he is. Bob had a somewhat unusual first and last time. Again with
    via u/nzdevon
  • 07
    Font - About 4 months later I get a cease and desist email from a solicitors firm. A quick google showed the solicitors firm was made up and didn't exist. I reply back with "I'm not ever going to take them down and there is nothing you can do about it!". Every now and then l'd get emails from people he had conned by taking their money for a travel package but never booking their package. l'd put those on both of my websites, making sure those juicy important keywords; his full name and company n
    via u/nzdevon
  • 08
    Font - A quick search and what do you know; it isn't even on google. No one could find it. I reply back for a second time with his comment to me. As each month passes I'm getting more and more people emailing me saying they've been ripped off. I keep adding them to my website. Turns out the travel agency world is well regulated and they started an investigation into Bob's company, using my website as their main tool. I get a call from Bob. Bob is not a happy Bob. In fact, Bob is more of a desper
    via u/nzdevon
  • 09
    Font - Bob pleads and literally begs me to pull the sites down. Not only is he being investigated by the travel agency association, but he had some very important friends that didn't appreciate the bad press he was causing in their circles. He offers to pay me the money he owed. Nothing more, just what he owed. For the third time, and with a massive smile on my face, I say "listen, l'm not ever taking them down and there is nothing you can do about it". Roll on a few months and I discover his tr
    via u/nzdevon
  • 10
    Font - During the collapse one of his ex employees contacted me and told me how hard he had worked to get my websites off the first page. He had registered dozens and dozens of other domains in the hopes some would jump ahead. Little did he know only the top dozen websites in the world could jump it. Apprently his property was tied into loans on the failing business and he lost his house too. It took me just about a year to turn his business from a cash cow to a dead cow. Motto of the story; if
    via u/nzdevon
  • 11
    Font - Many of you are saying I should have taken the money and not pulled the sites down. At that point it wasn't about the money. He thought he could simply buy his way out of it after pretending to be a solicitor and then trying the same thing on me. Him knowing I didn't care about the money anymore must have driven him crazy, because money was all he cared about. He then knew he could do nothing to stop his business going down the pan and all he could do was watch it all fall apart around hi
    via u/nzdevon

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