The Jake/FreePay Scandals

This saturday marks the 7 month anniversary of my freebie-seeking life.

Over the course of this chapter of my life, I have experienced a multitude of things and have come full circle.
From starting off as a clueless noob to having the second highest trade record in the history of free sites, I have seen and learned many, MANY things.
Some memorable moments in my time spent here
-Paying people $5 for freeipods.com greens
-Replacing Vulcan as a moderator (how many of you remember him?)
-Watching sofasets scam $5000 from members of this community. Many of which were people he called friends.
-Blowing the whistle on the 4nocash scam
-Having a little too much fun with Sweeedfish and getting both of us demoderated.

The list could go on, but my time is limited, and something tells me you people aren't too interested in my memories, as fond of them as I may be. ;)

The reason I am even writing all this is because I know my time here at FIPG is indeed limited, and it seemed as thought a proper goodbye was appropriate.

And now, for the Scandal.

Over the course of the past three weeks, I was actively seeking 3604free.com greens. As you can imagine - with a trade record over 125, the sites that I am available to sign up for are, to say the least, limited.
While there is always the option of paying people to sign up, I prefered trades.
I have recently changed job locations, and at my new office, I made an acquiantance by the name of Jon. After constantly seeing me post on this forum, and brag about my free stuff, he told me that he wanted in.
I explained to him how the system works, including rules, TOS, etc.
As it turned out, he had his own private computer and internet connection at work - meaning he could sign up for free sites without any fear of violating the TOS.

Jon was sincerely interested in completing the FreePay sites, and wanted to sign up immediately. Because I helped him understand how it all worked, Jon said he would sign up under whatever links I provided for him.
Using the powers of deduction (;)), I concluded that this was a Godsend and that everyone was going to prosper from this relationship...

[b0d4edbe62b]Boy was I wrong.[/b0d4edbe62b]

Over the next day or two, I set up a trade thread listing all of the sites Jon was willing to sign up for. In just about four days every site available was traded for by users of this forum. They went green on my 3604free and then I gave Jon the user-specific referal link. He then signed up using his own unique computer, internet connection, and information and completed offers on all the sites. As promised, Jon greened on every site that he signed up for, and the trades were complete...or so I thought.

About 10 days later I was notified by a few users that each and every freepay site that Jon signed up for turned RED! shock
I asked him to confirm this, and he did indeed have a HOLD placed on every account.
"How could this be?" I thought to myself, and had Jon write a customer service inquiry on his freeipods.com account.
Their response is as follows
[quote0d4edbe62b]Jon, your account was placed on hold for violating our terms of service. For us to consider taking you off hold, we will need you to provide us with some information. 1-Please confirm your full name and address. 2-Please explain what your relationship is with a, b, c, d, e, and f (each letter represents the email address of the user who jon signed up under - one for each freepay site he greened on)[/color0d4edbe62b][/quote0d4edbe62b]

Jon sent an immediate response in, letting him know that those people were users on this forum who he had signed up under.
Two days passed without a response....

So I did the only thing I could do - contacted Jake.

To my suprise, Jake was less than forthcomming with any help or information. He contended that he can't divulge information regarding other users accounts to me (I guess he forgot that I was a mod for a weeee bit and saw the occasional post by him regarding user-specific information).
"No problem" I said, and had Jon contact Jake regarding the matter.
To my suprise (again), Jake wasn't having it. He refused to get into detail regarding the specific reason as to why all six accounts were put on hold. The only response he had was a copy/pasted portion of the TOS stating a user may not have more than one account.
...roll...
Peeved, I contacted Jake again.
His response? Nothing.

By this point, I was starting to get suspicious...and I started thinking.
Then, one day at lunch while talking to Jon about the situation, the lightbulb came on !

Jake assumed I was Jon!

Hmm...an assanine assumption to make, but easily remeeded.
I contacted Jake again via PM and told him I knew what he was thinking, and to prove that he was wrong [u0d4edbe62b]I would get Jon to fax him a copy of a paystub AND his State Issued ID[/u0d4edbe62b] (Jon doesnt have a liscense)

His reply?

[quote0d4edbe62b="Jake"]Alex,

We know you are using his information to garner trades for yourself.

The decision stands.

Sincerely,

Jake[/quote0d4edbe62b]


! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !


When I read that response, the scandal became crystal clear....

If you have read through this much of the post thus far, you are most likely familiar with how the freesite system works. They make their money by people only half completing their requirements.
It's sites like FIPG and A4F which have put a SERIOUS dent in their business model. WE are the reason free stuff sites go out of business all the time. The higher the % of requirement completion, the less money freepay makes.

Jake, being an employee of FreePay, is concerned with one thing and one thing only Revenue.

He came to this forum with seemingly good intentions Provide users with support on their accounts. He quickly gained appreciation and noteriaty with the users of this site, and was given a special status.
A few weeks into his new position, Jake inquired about being given more privledges, specifically - full moderator status (reading other user's private messages, viewing IP addresses, personal information, etc).
It was granted immediatly...

Since that day, Jake has been using his moderator status on this forum to help his company make more money.

Jon can provide PHYSICAL EVIDENCE proving he is who he says he is. But for some reason, that isn't good enough. Because of his actions - myself, Jon, and six other users on this forum have been adversely effected.

What crime did any of us commit? What TOS were violated?

The answer my friends, is simple - We are making them lose money.

Once he realized I was onto him, Jake actually requested permission to ban me. His reasoning? I sent him more PM's then he cared to get.
If he honestly thought banning me would keep me quiet, he was dead wrong...

The only remaining question I have is why Jake decided to pick this fight, when there are much more blatant and obvious examples before me.
IE - Scarlet & Scarlet's Mom, ipodjon & his sister, sweeedfish & his girlfriend.
I guess my 120 TR and penchant for freebies makes me an easy "target".


Unfortunatly, I do not have the ability to give those 6 people their greens again.
I am obviously never allowed to sign up for a FreePay site again, and I would have a hard time talking anyone else into it after the horrible experience Jon has had.

I doubt this thread will do much to get the situation changed.
But at least this way you all know the truth.

To the six people who have been left out to dry (and anyone else who feels compelled) please PM Jake and let him know that abusing his moderator status (which he shouldnt even have) and placing legitimate accounts on HOLD for the sake of garnering his company more money is ridiculously unethical.

As for me... Well, my future here on FIPG is less than certain.
If I am infact banned and never to be heard from again (;)) I just want to let you all know that I THOROUGHLY enjoyed my time here. And if I ever gave you grief or argued with you - liI didn't mean itli. I am not the type to hold a grudge and stay angry - even with you Sweeed (seriously).


Forever Looking Up,
Wood

I swore i wouldnt cry...

[quote42630935ff]i would say something to jake, but i dont wanna get put on hold[/quote42630935ff]

I can't say I blame you.

cut.

It seems like it was only inevitable for this to happen... it seems like it would only be a natural step for freepay to place a non-trading statement in their TOS... but since they don't have that, you are completely in the right... you did not walk Jon through the process so they should have no beef with you.

Although it doesn't seem like something they would do to a prominent member of this community... I'd say Jake has some kind of beef with you.

[quote9ab596e032="slease"]Although it doesn't seem like something they would do to a prominent member of this community... I'd say Jake has some kind of beef with you.[/quote9ab596e032]

Like I said, "easy target"

I can't believe that this site gave Jake that kind of power. That's insane

Thanks for posting this, it was a really important piece of information. I'm hoping it doesn't get deleted. More people need to see this.

If you are banned, that will say an enormous amount about the integrity of this site, so we shall see.

You were using his identity to garner trades for yourself... so whats the misunderstanding here?

also whats wrong if jake can read our PMs? we shouldnt have anything to hide.

[quote368d86d795="JOSHBOX"]You were using his identity to garner trades for yourself... so whats the misunderstanding here?

also whats wrong if jake can read our PMs? we shouldnt have anything to hide.[/quote368d86d795]

reading PMs should be a priveledge reserved for people who are doing it TO HELP THE FORUM COMMUNITY.

it shouldnt be used to help some 3rd party company make money.

at least that's my opinion...

[quoted55ab2d51b="JOSHBOX"]You were using his identity to garner trades for yourself... so whats the misunderstanding here?

also whats wrong if jake can read our PMs? we shouldnt have anything to hide.[/quoted55ab2d51b]

I wouldn't care if all I was sharing was a cake recipe, no one should be able to read it!!!

you can give up your liberties if you want JohnBox, but don't think everyone will.

I dont have anything to hide, im not trying to sign up for myself under other ips or whatnot so I dont see what the problem is, you wouldnt have a problem with it if you had nothing to hide.

Alright - I'm locking this until Jake gets here tomorrow.

Here's a couple things to keep in mind
1) If you take a minute to think about this situation WITHOUT consider what wood has explained, it DOES seem very suspicious.
2) This could be a huge misunderstanding
3) All moderators have always had access to IP checking. That's standard policy. Jake did not request additional privledges, he always had them.
4) The PM reading ability has been something I've always been sort of back and forth on. I settled on allowing moderators access to it because it really helps in tracking down fraud, especially in the trade module. Everyone who reads PMs does it only when it is called-for. There is no unnecessary spying or peeking. I even have a custom inserted warning message "Don't be nosy, don't be retarded, and for god's sake, don't delete anything." So although we CAN read your PMs, I still consider them privledged information unless we have strong reason to believe that we need to read them.

Edit and to those of you who believe you have some right to privacy, I'd like to direct you to the terms of service
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You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-oriented or any other material that may violate any applicable laws. Doing so may lead to you being immediately and permanently banned (and your service provider being informed). The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. You agree that the webmaster, administrator and moderators of this forum have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic at any time should they see fit. As a user you agree to any information you have entered above being stored in a database. While this information will not be disclosed to any third party without your consent the webmaster, administrator and moderators cannot be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being compromised.

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Thank you for unhiding/unlocking this post.

I want to get one thing straight before this gets any more replies...

I didnt spend 30 minutes typing up this entire thread for shits and giggles. I also didnt type it up in hopes of getting the accounts placed on hold, reinstated. If anything, making this post public probably sealed my fate. But that's the price I'm willing to pay.

I only posted this so you, members of FIPG, can know the truth behind Jake and his seemingly "honest" intentions on this forum

Do with the information what you will...I'm sure it doesnt mean something to everyone...but as history has proven itself in the past, only good things can come from speaking the truth.

Hey look ! It's me .... =) ... Just read through this post and wanted to post a minimal amount of info I had on the situation.

When I was a mod I had looked how Wood was doing freeipods and some other high demand gratis sites several times for individuals. He'd pm newbies looking for freeipods and say sure lets do it "2 for 1" ... He did it several times so I was wondering what was up. To my suprise I found that Wood had signed up about 6 times for freeipods through his "career" at FIPG. Here are 6 accounts on freeipods.com that I was able to find on him

Freeipods
jon.ryan12@lili.com
fruity.patooty@lili.com
Fruit.punch1@lili.com
arw25@lili.edu
minimacme@lili.com
alexwood11@lili.com

Not saying he created all of them, but I know three to four of those emails are his emails...

And for freeflatscreens here are two I scrapped up

Freeflatscreens
alexwood11@lili.com
minimacme@lili.com

And I know both of those are his emails.


[quotede4cd7964d="wood"]
The only remaining question I have is why Jake decided to pick this fight, when there are much more blatant and obvious examples before me.
IE - Scarlet & Scarlet's Mom, ipodjon & his sister, sweeedfish & his girlfriend.
[/quotede4cd7964d]
Meh, my girlfriend wanted $250 so I helped her find referalls for yourfreeflatscreens.

Well anyways, just thought I'd post my little knowledge on this matter, I figured it was only a little time before this would happen anyways.

Thanks for reading my short novel ... BYE !

[quotefd7c7bb34e]To my suprise, Jake was less than forthcomming with any help or information. He contended that he can't divulge information regarding other users accounts to me (I guess he forgot that I was a mod for a weeee bit and saw the occasional post by him regarding user-specific information).[/quotefd7c7bb34e]

This situation is NOT regarding your account. So therefore, you have no right to access information regarding the account that got placed on hold in the first place. I could care less if you could provide physical evidence about the identity of the user that you are complaining about. The user himself should be doing it. Please read the terms and conditions to understand this. Occasional posts regarding user specific information? Please show me those threads...

[quotefd7c7bb34e]To my suprise (again), Jake wasn't having it. He refused to get into detail regarding the specific reason as to why all six accounts were put on hold. The only response he had was a copy/pasted portion of the TOS stating a user may not have more than one account.[/quotefd7c7bb34e]

In your communication with me, you admitted to actions which are a clear violation of our Terms and as a result, the affected accounts were placed on hold. I sent you a message explaining this and you conveniently omitted it from your post.

I am not at liberty to discuss specifics on a public message board as it would compromise the personal privacy of the people involved in the dispute. Would anyone here like me to air everyone's dirty laundry? I highly doubt it.

Wood is the one who wanted to make this public instead of leaving the situation be and facing responsibility for his actions.

[quotefd7c7bb34e]A few weeks into his new position, Jake inquired about being given more privledges, specifically - full moderator status (reading other user's private messages, viewing IP addresses, personal information, etc).
It was granted immediatly...

Since that day, Jake has been using his moderator status on this forum to help his company make more money.

[/quotefd7c7bb34e]

You like to assume a lot don't you?

Wood thinks I have 'special treatment' as a rep of Freepay and that I am some power mad moderator. What he fails to realize is that I am allowed to moderate MY forums and nothing else. Does anyone else think it is unreasonable for me to be able to moderate the Freepay forums?

I have also made a concerted effort NOT to abuse my limited moderator powers because I want to remain a part of this community and maintain the relationships that I have developed with the users on here. Had I really wanted to flex some muscle, wood would have been banned already alongside a number of other users that have bothered me to an extent over the time that I have spent here. However, this is not the case. The users who have pestered me are still on the board and can remain here for as long as they want to.

[quotefd7c7bb34e]What crime did any of us commit? What TOS were violated? [/quotefd7c7bb34e]

This was explained to you. You just conveniently left it out of the thread.

[quotefd7c7bb34e]Once he realized I was onto him, Jake actually requested permission to ban me. His reasoning? I sent him more PM's then he cared to get.
If he honestly thought banning me would keep me quiet, he was dead wrong... [/quotefd7c7bb34e]

I asked if your behavior warranted a ban. If I had wanted to ban you, this thread would never have appeared.

[quotefd7c7bb34e]The only remaining question I have is why Jake decided to pick this fight, when there are much more blatant and obvious examples before me.
IE - Scarlet & Scarlet's Mom, ipodjon & his sister, sweeedfish & his girlfriend.
I guess my 120 TR and penchant for freebies makes me an easy "target".
[/quotefd7c7bb34e]

Don't think too highly of yourself now. Your hubris blinds you. I didn't 'pick a fight.' You're the one who decided to put this out in the public eye, not me.

[quotefd7c7bb34e]Unfortunatly, I do not have the ability to give those 6 people their greens again.
I am obviously never allowed to sign up for a FreePay site again, and I would have a hard time talking anyone else into it after the horrible experience Jon has had. [/quotefd7c7bb34e]

It sucks having to pay people back for screwing up doesn't it?

[quotefd7c7bb34e]I doubt this thread will do much to get the situation changed.
But at least this way you all know the truth.
[/quotefd7c7bb34e]

This story is far from the truth. Most of it is based on groundless assumptions which have no basis in fact.

[quotefd7c7bb34e]To the six people who have been left out to dry (and anyone else who feels compelled) please PM Jake and let him know that abusing his moderator status (which he shouldnt even have) and placing legitimate accounts on HOLD for the sake of garnering his company more money is ridiculously unethical. [/quotefd7c7bb34e]

Please stop making stupid assumptions. You conveniently left out details which would incriminate you and your credibility. You know why those accounts are on hold and refuse to admit it.


All I do here is help out users and attempt to put a face on Freepay so that you guys can have contact with a normal human being who can help you as much as possible in your quests for your free stuff.

Wood has decided to turn this into politics and rhetorical nonsense.

If you continue to drag my name and the company whom I represent through the mud, the consequences may not be very pleasant for you.

Open for wood's reply.

why so this thread can continue so wood can have the last word

[quote7e07748474="Stroid"]why so this thread can continue so wood can have the last word[/quote7e07748474]

wtf are u talking about stroid? get off my back ffs.

i didnt ask for this to be reopened

Good i relocked it dont make another post about this