Konstantin Maltsev
Every country has its own story about a werewolf. In most days, he can be a law abiding citizen, a caring as well as educated person, even an excellent family man. But come the full moon and he shall be transformed into a giant wolf that will be more than happy to murder his own children.
What do the person that hides under Skype nickname Powenteh and this fairy tale have in common? Only the fact that he can skillfully transform himself into other people in order to deceit others and get their money. And he does that every day, not just on full moon nights.
In this article, this individual will be named according to his Skype nickname – Powenteh, since even Google does not provide his real name for now. He was working as Constantine Maltcev and Alexander and even under the nickname of a girl-freelancer.
We know only some general info:
- E-mail: [email protected]
- Phone number (it is also QIWI account, that he used periodically in order to receive money) registered to a LLC "Personal Communication Systems in Ryazan", Nijegorod region, +7 960 176 81 53 (Beeline), +7 9081617901, he also has others
- ICQ: 149984636, 145601532, 661569097
- Skype: powenteh
- Nicknames: differ, depending on what he is doing
- General places of activitiy: Maultalk and Search
His scheme consists of:
- an ad is placed on a forum or a freelance market – it is a request to solve a certain issue. It could be just about anything – website optimization, domain purchase, webinar enlisting, DMOZ, visual content;
- very quickly the client on the forum or the freelance market receives a personal message. The text is always pretty much the same: “Good day! Regarding your ad – I would suggest you to contact XXX”. Praising words follow – these should describe how good of a specialist this person is;
- afterwards, the fraud is offering his Skype along with his ICQ number to stay in touch. He explains that this great specialist rarely visits this particular forum or freelance market and this is why it is best to use that contact so as not to lose any time.
- Of course, it may raise suspicions, so he adds that this person is occupied or that he has great prices and quick terms. This is necessary to press all the right buttons of the reader – who would not want to solve the issue quickly and affordably?
- at times, he uses an ace up his sleeve and claims that he also is in line to benefit from the specialist’s work.
The events that follow are being played out very quickly: if the client does not add himself in his Skype or ICQ, he sends him a message from the account that he names XXX. As you can see, this is the very same nickname that he is recommending in his own private message. Therefore, when you see a request to be added to your contact list from a person with a known nickname – it will make you a whole lot less suspicious. The important thing is the fact that he uses information about the popular freelancers, provides links for their topics and knowingly discusses all the mentioned conditions.
Powenteh acts decisively and even aggressively – he claims that he has time and that he is prepared to work on the project. The phrase “I am now free, I can begin to work and will deliver the results by morning” is in nearly every complaint, only the terms are changing. He demonstrates that he is an expert, which is worth praising, since he knows how to deal with different topics, starting with working on websites and visuals.
But he needs a down payment – at least 50%. He indicates a sum that is generally lower than the one on the freelance market and claims that he will get the job done quicker. It is also worth mentioning that he was using relatively small sums – from 400 and up to 1000 rubles. So it is more than enough for the client to provide him with a down payment.
In most of the cases the client will need to send money to the +7 960 176 81 53 (Beeline) phone number, although recently he was also using the Alphabank card, Sberbank card, PayPal and even Privat24. Needless to say, after he got the money, Powenteh would disappear and the deceived clients were left with no money and no results. For him the story with those clients would end, but for the real freelancers with those nicknames the problems would only begin. A lot of them were complaining that unknown people were contacting them, showing them screenshots with the correspondence o ntheir behalf and were demanding to return the money or to get the job done. As you can understand, these freelancers sincerely did not realize what is the problem and why they need to do that.
The quantity of forum topics on the matter is enormous, hundreds of people are among the victims of the fraud. This is why administration of some resources is introducing a new rule – not to talk to the people that are offering their services via email or other messengers under the names of forum and website users. If the conditions are way too attractive, it is important to check if the person is actually the one who he said he is through the personal message system.
Some people took that rule as their basis – they were offering Powenteh to send the necessary contacts through personal messages and were also trying to make him write from the necessary accounts. But all of those efforts were ending up the same – Powenteh would quietly leave the internet space of these people. They are more lucky – they did not lose the money and have a reason to warn others about a new precedent.
There is always a category of victims, which considered that they did not lose too much money and so they did not check Powenteh data at all. They found out that he is a fraud from the forum topics that they were regularly visiting.
At times, he would transform himself into a seller and would offer to sell certain content. He would even take loans, appealing to his “experience” of being on the forums and great reputation in online payment systems. The story would always end the same – people would lose their money and Powenteh would receive new funds on his accounts.
It is only a shame that people, who were building their reputation with blood and sweat over the years were hurt through the actions of this brazen fraud. After his deceit, a lot of them were forced to convince their clients and colleagues that it was not their doing – they would provide them with screenshots from forums, where Skype and ICQ contacts appeared quite often and would prove that they are working honestly.
Another question is still open – the Powenteh nickname appeared on may popular websites. Names would change every single time, but the general contact info would remain the same. He was acting through the course of several years, periodically disappearing and then reappearing again. So why is it important for the people to get the job done quicker and cheaper even if it is obvious that it is a fraud? Everyone can only provide a sincere answer once he will spend the money in vain, sending down payments to Powenteh.
List of sources for each person
