Hello, today I’ll share how I got scammed by Dinkay.
NOTE: My Time-zone is GMT +8 and the details on the screenshots will be based on that but I’ll state the date/time based on PST and/or EST, however I may get mixed up at times. I might also mix up some dates, and order of events but you can always check the full chat logs.
Background
I had a small factions server that just opened a few days ago, and I was looking for ways to advertise it. I went on MC-Market (referred to as MCM for the rest of this document) to find people to stream on my server. I came across Foallow’s thread and I became interested in hiring Dinkay so I PMed him on MCM. I added him on Discord and he then added me to a group chat with Dinkay.
Sealing the Deal
We discussed some things and settled with $65 for a 2 hour stream on 5:30PM PST - October 6, 2017. I sent $65 via G&S and Dinkay told me that he’s refunded me and that I should send it using F&F so he won’t receive PayPal fees. I re-sent the payment of $65 via F&F which totalled to $67.40 as I had to handle the PayPal fees. Everything went smoothly and earlier in the day of the stream I asked him if he could stream an hour earlier than our original deal because of a family event that came up, and he was alright with it.
Showtime!
Around 5 minutes before the set time to stream a problem comes up, apparently Foallow wasn’t aware that the stream was being done on that day. I decided to give Dinkay a chance to do it the following day instead, since he apparently fell asleep and I assumed he had a long, and rough day.
Showtime (again…)
It was time to do the stream that I’ve rescheduled for him. I waited a little over an hour for him to arrive since he came late, before going on the server he told me I was gay for having a 1.8 server - how is that in any way related? I was already pissed at this point (I’m human too, and I already gave him a chance to re-do yet he’s acting this way.) He went on the server for a few minutes and he kept asking me on Discord for a base and I decided to comply and world-edit a base in the end. While I was creating his base he left the server and he hasn’t logged on since. This is when the deal fell apart, I was losing my patience and wanted a refund from a service that I never recieved. I gave him one other chance, and he was late. Due to his attitude I decided to ask for a refund, and to cancel the deal - which is what I could’ve done when he was a no-show on the actual streaming day.
Chasing the Scammer
After he left the group-chat I got really nervous - did I just get scammed? (spoiler alert: yes) I then proceeded to PM Foallow about it, however he didn’t respond to me until I opened a scam report against him on MCM. I had my suspicion that the “Dinkay” I was talking to was fake, so I decided to DM him on Twitter. Dinkay stated on Twitter that he didn’t use Discord much, so I thought that Foallow had played me.
After doing some research on Google I was able to locate Dinkay’s Fan Discord, and figured out that the Dinkay in that group chat was the real Dinkay. I sent a friend request and DMed him. He then pretended that he wasn’t Dinkay, this went on for a while until I finally choked the truth out of him. He agreed to refund me my money, but he never did.
I thought that we finally resolved the issue however he dragged this on for a long time, having a new excuse every time I would PM him about it, and at this point I was losing hope. I figured out that it wasn’t going anywhere, and since I really needed that money back I offered him to convert it into trailer re-uploads and he agreed. A few days later I asked him to re-upload my trailer and he hasn’t responded since then.
I try my best to understand the different situations of people, however, after doing some research on him I found out that he had an article written about him, and that he studied in La Salle which is a private school in my country that only upper middle-class people can afford. I wouldn’t say I’m poor, but compared to his financial situation I have a lot less. He has a part-time job which pays around $7/hr, and he comes from a family that is able to fly out to a different country (plane tickets are usually $300/person) and spend $4000 within two weeks. I wouldn’t say I ‘worked hard’ for the money I paid him, but I certainly did some sacrifices. $67.40 is a little over 6 weeks worth of lunch money for me. I’m a frugal person, and my server is the only thing I spend a significant amount of my money on. Call me a cry-baby but I’ve shed tears on this a couple of times, aside from losing a big amount of money, I also got played and was treated like shit by someone who owes me something.
I did my best to chat like a decent human being even though I was already going through so much stress but Dinkay acted like a complete asshole. I even offered to DO WORK to get my money back from him indirectly (by reselling trailers) and yet it seems as if I’m the one asking for a favor from him. I contemplated on posting this for some time but I finally decided to. It will, at most, spark a short outrage from the community and I guess the satisfaction from that possibility is the only thing I can get - so I’ll take it.
EVIDENCE
Chat-log of Discord DMs with Dinkay: https://chatlo.gs/ZKTTgO3x
Mobile screenshots of Discord DMs with Dinkay
Chat-log of Discord Dms with Foallow: https://chatlo.gs/J6JywIgd
Mobile screenshots of Discord DMs with Foallow
Chat-log of Discord group chat w/ Dinkay & Foallow: https://chatlo.gs/09G267nQ
Mobile screenshots of Discord group chat w/ Dinkay & Foallow
EXTRA
He has money:
His family has money:
He didn’t delete his PayPal (contradicts what he said somewhere in our PMs - where he claims he can’t click refund on the payment I sent him):
He saw my PMs but didn’t reply:
He called me a whore:
That’s about it. I’m obviously still going to mourn over my lost money, but writing this down has relieved some of the stress. Thank you for taking your time to read this, :).
UPDATES
December 15, 2017 8:48 PM GMT +8:
Update on our DMs:
Mobile Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/QxFhf
I will be busy tomorrow with pre-scheduled events, however I will try my best to reply to any inquiries regarding this.