I have been ripped off (by Mick Mason of Leicester - Facebook scammer/thief)

[Benjamin Bassoon]

His home address is out there if you wanted to check Companies House.

 

Two addresses listed, I'd start with the Blaby one if I wanted to have a word.

[warwickhunt]

Mick Mason is openly advertising gigs for his various tribute shows, has no one who has been scammed just popped along to see him and ask for a refund... genuine question?  I've just seen that 3 FB friends of mine are FB friends with him and all do regular tribute work, it'd be interesting to see if they've ever actually met the guy.

 

Mick Mason > Mick Smethurst are defo one and the same then?  

[mcnach]

9 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

I accept I might be in the minority here, but I am in my 50’s and have been playing gigs for about 40 years including some long stints in tribute bands. I still do theatres with my 80’s band and not once has a band I’ve been in ever paid a deposit to get a gig. Is this a common thing I’ve just not been party to all these years?

 

 

If you're hiring a venue it's common to make some kind of payment beforehand, at least in my (limited) experience.

[mcnach]

2 hours ago, Beedster said:

Multiple ‘minor’ offences each of which individually he can probably blag an excuse/apology for and render the whole thing ultimately a PITA to prosecute? Law enforcement will see a lot if it as caveat emptor, and other stuff requires a lot of proof that musicians who tend to be quite a trusting bunch might not be able to produce. He’s learned from experience to keep his crimes below a certain threshold on the above basis 😟

 

 

I think you're completely right. He's found that by doing many small scams he's too small fish to fry.

 

The thing is, there's so many people involved (and growing) that it's only a matter of time until somebody lets their frustration take the better of them and does something more serious than reporting him.

 

 

[Beedster]

24 minutes ago, mcnach said:

 

 

The thing is, there's so many people involved (and growing) that it's only a matter of time until somebody lets their frustration take the better of them and does something more serious than reporting him.

 

 

Yep, as the economy gets tougher people aren’t going to be so happy to write this stuff off 

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

1 hour ago, mcnach said:

If you're hiring a venue it's common to make some kind of payment beforehand, at least in my (limited) experience.

Yes, if I was hiring the venue directly as a self promoted gig I would expect to have to pay a deposit, but I thought this guy was acting as an agent?

If so, that’s not how the agents I’ve work with operate. We play the gig, the venue pays the agent, the agency take their cut and the rest comes to the band.

[warwickhunt]

23 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Yes, if I was hiring the venue directly as a self promoted gig I would expect to have to pay a deposit, but I thought this guy was acting as an agent?

If so, that’s not how the agents I’ve work with operate. We play the gig, the venue pays the agent, the agency take their cut and the rest comes to the band.

 

This guy is obviously operating on lots of levels with (dirty) fingers in lots of pies!  If he can convince someone that he is acting on their behalf and 'he' is stumping up most of the deposit to book the venue, it'll not take much for some poor so and so to think it's a good deal and pay him a percentage up front... that's just off the top of my head how he might scam it. 

[Downunderwonder]

3 hours ago, warwickhunt said:

Mick Mason > Mick Smethurst are defo one and the same then?  

I have been asking the same for some time with nobody coming forward with anything concrete.

[fleabag]

There's another thread on this but the other one needs mod approval, so just post here

 

 

[Groove Harder]

How on earth has this guy not been picked off yet?!

[prowla]

5 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

I have been asking the same for some time with nobody coming forward with anything concrete.

Maybe there's two of him!

[SamPlaysBass]

He’s been active in South Wales as well. Same story, ‘double booked’, acting on behalf, no contact, taken money etc. 

 

Has anyone had any face to face dealings with him at all? I know it’s not unusual to work from behind a screen (especially post-Covid) but he seems to be getting away with an awful lot at a professional level even after having his name dragged through the mud. 

Edited August 26, 2022 by SamPlaysBass

[Rich]

Surely if he's going to play the Equity/MU legal card, then the MU and Equity should be made aware of the guy's thieving behaviour? 

[ped]

18 hours ago, Groove Harder said:

How on earth has this guy not been picked off yet?!

 

Because the police 

[Wolverinebass]

It seems that this has gone way past "a couple of sansamp pedals." It does seem that defrauding venues is now on the agenda as well as bands. Whilst I appreciate that the Cops are immensely constrained in terms of budgets and personnel, surely we're getting to the point where they have to take notice as we're now talking thousands and thousands of pounds, not just a couple of hundred quid on scamming people on pedals.

 

Since the guy is stupid enough to do this stuff and have his address freely available on the internet, I'd imagine it's only a matter of time before things turn nasty and people pay him a visit in light of no legal action being taken. Or they might just do that anyway.

[Jakester]

Wow, if he's graduated from £00's to £000's it's really only a matter of time until someone actually takes proper legal action against him. 

[Velarian]

As this is clearly now a trade scam surely Trading Standards, who dealt with his previous scam that resulted in a conviction, should be informed and no doubt they would be interested in taking him on?

[Beedster]

He’ll be on site and face to face when organising future prison gigs, should avoid further miscommunication?

[yorks5stringer]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

He’ll be on site and face to face when organising future prison gigs, should avoid further miscommunication?

Johnny Cash Tribute band?

[prowla]

When the SansAmp thing happened, I had contact from someone musicians say they hadn’t been paid for gigs. 

[ambient]

I'm truly shocked at the scale of this.

 

I found out a couple of days ago that he conned a band a friend of mine plays in. I think what we're seeing here is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

I have a few mutual muso friends on Facebook, I've just alerted them to this thread, I’d hate for them to be scammed too.

[lemmywinks]

He scammed a friend of mine over a drum machine a bit ago as well, I directed him to this thread.

 

I spoke to a retired DI friend about this and he said Facebook is a nightmare for police to investigate as they won't co-operate at all without a warrant (or some police speak, can't remember exactly as we we're at the pub). I don't think Mick knows this so will be full of confidence about his ability to get away with scaling his scams up into the sort of territory where people won't let it go so easily and he won't have the same sort of protection. He's not exactly a criminal mastermind so this will catch up with him sooner rather than later I would expect.

 

Given his criminal history you would think next time he'll get a bit more than a slap on the wrists as well.

Edited August 26, 2022 by lemmywinks

[Beedster]

5 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

He scammed a friend of mine over a drum machine a bit ago as well, I directed him to this thread.

 

I spoke to a retired DI friend of mine about this and he said Facebook is a nightmare for police to investigate as they won't co-operate at all without a warrant (or some police speak, can't remember exactly as we we're at the pub). I don't think Mick knows this so will be full of confidence about his ability to get away with scaling his scams up into the sort of territory where people won't let it go so easily and he won't have the same sort of protection. He's not exactly a criminal mastermind so this will catch up with him sooner rather than later I would expect.

 

Given his criminal history you would think next time he'll get a bit more than a slap on the wrists as well.

 

Yeh, in so many walks of life the big mistake is the result of too confidence, people mistaking the lack of response from people as stupidity, agreement or permission. Until of course you go that little step too far and you find out it was that they were just waiting for you to go that little step too far.

 

I'm reminded of the glorious Python Piranha Brothers sketch....

 

Presenter: And so on Feb 22nd 1966, Dinsdale blew up Luton. Even the police began to sit up and take notice.

 

[mcnach]

It might be a good idea to try to get those selling groups on Facebook to display a prominent note about what a bad idea it is to pay using Paypal F&F, since that appears to be this guy's main way to get money. 

 

A link to these threads would also be great but I see why some may be reluctant to get involved (he said, she said...). However a warning to not use F&F is non-accusatorial and soft, yet effective if people pay attention.

[Benjamin Bassoon]

To those who have been scammed through his business you will have recourse through the Small Claims Court, available online.

 

I'm sure that before parting with deposits you will have had contracts in place along with Terms and Conditions. 

 

You will therefore have a paper trail which can be produced as evidence.

 

Assuming that the Court finds in your favour he will be given a deadline date by which you must be repaid.

 

Failing that the bailiffs will be called in.

 

It's a slow process but it does work.