https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FlatlandTo the #reddit-uk community,
It has come to our attention that the user ‘Affi’ (Ryan Gentle) is a known Internet scammer. His earliest known scam dates back to 2006 and he has continued to scam others under his current company.
We hope that this will prevent any users in #reddit-uk from being deceived by Affi.
1. Linking Affi to Ryan Gentle:
- The Internet user known as Ryan Gentle is heavily reported as responsible for numerous scams: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7].
- Ryan Gentle is linked with other aliases such as Ryan Dawson, Ryan Albright, Ryan Fletcher and Vievei: [1]. Ryan, with varying surnames, has scammed others through his companies such as FumiNET (as Ryan Dawson); NEVA Digital (as Ryan Fletcher); ZefieNET (as Ryan Gentle). These scams often involve the prospect of free or very cheap hosting, only for the web hosting company to magically disappear/go under a few weeks later.
- This is Affi’s Facebook (screencap). He is identified here as Ryan Kennedy but his company (which he professes to be ‘Managing Director’ of), ‘uDESIGN.me’ is registered under the name Ryan Gentle.
- Affi has another Facebook (screencap) - he has added #reddit-uk user Zofrex with this account.
- Ryan Gentle’s photos also show physical similarities with Ryan Kennedy (photos taken from his Facebook). His Facebook photo #1 / Facebook Photo #2 and other photos of Ryan as found on ED (slightly younger): [1][2][3][4].
2. Proposed Community Action:
- All in #reddit-uk to /ignore Affi - Affi thrives on attention and we believe it would be beneficial if he moves on from this community; Refer to your IRC client’s documentation on how to ignore someone (or just ignore him the old-fashioned way).
- If you are in the UK and have been scammed (by Affi or anyone) please report it to http://www.actionfraud.org.uk/ - you can also report attempted scams, or scams that happened to other people (with their permission)
3. Additional notes:
http://companycheck.co.uk/company/06972703
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=929282
Ruby Vision / rubypay.co.uk
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=852268
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=859553
Names Used for companies:
Ryan Kennedy
http://company-director-check.co.uk/director/913980670
http://company-director-check.co.uk/director/915987929
Ryan Gentle
http://company-director-check.co.uk/director/915521400
Ryan Albright
http://company-director-check.co.uk/director/912642866
Ryan Fletcher
http://company-director-check.co.uk/director/915076467
Hazel Fletcher
http://company-director-check.co.uk/director/915376727
Ryan Dawson
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=695493
Ryan Francis Gentle
http://company-director-check.co.uk/director/910586730
Typical MO:
- Selling web-hosting at too-good-to-be-true prices, or giving it away for free and then asking for money to cover expenses. Often delivers on smaller contracts, disappears and goes offline with money from 12 month in advance contracts. Often replies to complaint threads about his company pretending to be equally affected - either claiming the upstream hosting provider is screwing him, or posting as another company claiming that they, too, were scammed by the first company (sometimes under fake names). e.g. posting as Neva Digital in a thread about Avalon Systems - http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=929282
- Selling electronics (blackberries, ipads, etc) online, again at cut prices. Pressures for a quick and easy sale; prefers direct bank transfer payments instead of Paypal.
Further details:
- Ryan has claimed to be a qualified lawyer on multiple occasions and has threatened to sue many people, however nothing has ever come of these threats.
- His wife has gone by the names Hallie Gentle, Hazel Fletcher, and Hazel Kennedy. Her details have been used in registering companies however there is no indication that she is implicated or even aware of any scams.
- IMPORTANT: Please do not contact or harass Ryan. More importantly, do not contact or harass his other family members, as there is no indication they have done anything wrong. If you come into contact with Ryan and his scams, please ignore him, report his actions, let others know to do the same, and move on.
Signed, #reddit-uk, C6 Branch
