RE: Who Is Jeff Berwick? Scam Artist or Businessman?
I might do that. I find this type of stuff interesting as well, and I am very anti-scammer. However, just a verbal accusation is not enough to come here and promote those accusations. Did he provide you any proof? If you want your post to stick, or rather if they want their complaints to stick, and affect the general Steemit public's opinon of any scammer, you have to have substance. I could create 3 websites and make multiple posts that say @stellabelle has ripped me and my friends off repeatedly. She owes me money. Check out these websites for proof. I could even post numbers and say contact me and we can discuss it. That clearly does not make it true or factual. And this is not to slander you nor your point. You obviously seem to think he's dishonest and a scammer, and doesn't deserve the attention or rewards that he receives on here, and that's a noble and valid concern that most people on here would have. But I still think it's a very emotional response to hearing the accusations. When we hear about people who are dishonest, it's natural to not want them to be rewarded or to potentially hurt someone else. But do you see the danger in posting something like this and it has no backing of factual evidence? Hopefully, if you dig, and you are correct, some of the people making these claims can produce solid evidence of their complaints. But I wouldn't trust these people to tell the truth as much as I wouldn't trust Jeff Berwick. I don't know any of them. If he were scamming on such a large scale, there would more than likely be a huge paper trail. That's what is needed to validate these types of stories. And if it's true, then that is very sad and very unfortunate for people to lose such large amounts of money for attempting to better their lives. This could be such large sums of money that could have been years of savings, if they aren't already rich. I hope to see something of more substance. I am glad Kevin left his email and phone number. This could be interesting to dig into. And for me it would be very disappointing, because I am an anarchist, and while Jeff's delivery methods are questionable at times, I do find value in the basic theory of anarchy that he pushes. He's one of many that has helped push these ideals forward. So anyone that pushes the ideal and values of the non-aggression principle to turn around and harm someone else is probably the biggest let down if this were to be true.
It's only natural to want to hold up champions and cling to people that seem to represent our ideals. I liked a lot of what I heard on Anarchast too, before I got closer and peeked behind the curtain. Fortunately, even though men can be corrupted and killed, ideas and principles cannot. The trick is to just be your own hero and don't invest your identity in anyone else. That's a hallmark of true personal responsibility.
I don't know why I cannot reply to your post below @piedpiper. Believe me when I say I do not champion or cling to ANYONE, including Jeff Berwick, or any other anarchist. I do however love the ideas of anarchism and decentralization. But even those concepts do not rule my life. Nobody is perfect, so I don't see any reason to put anyone on a pedestal. And in reality anarchism is in line with what you said. I don't put faith in governments, or politicians, or political parties to take care of people, create jobs, or solve everyones problems. So when I say i'm disappointed if this were true about Jeff, it's because he claims to have similar values as me, and scamming people would not hold up to those values. However, like anyone else with any other idealogical view, there will be people who do not live up to what they preach. I'm not convinced that he has scammed anyone, because I see no legal action against him. I do see in the videos that he has had problems with his businesses and money. And he also has addressed his personal problems in other videos and posts. I think the key thing here is to try to separate bad business with intentional scamming. Maybe someone will shed some light on this. Maybe Jeff himself will address @stellabelle on her post of accusations. I'm sure he's had to defend himself on these issues elsewhere. The other thing to think about, is what about the financial incentive to call someone like Jeff out. I mean one of the easiest ways to see posts upvoted here is to call out a power user on Steemit. Hell, you could call out @stellabelle on here and your post would probably do well. I'm not saying that was her intent, just an observation. P.S. if anyone can tell me why I was not able to reply to @piedpiper below, I'd appreciate it. I can see the post but there is no reply button.
Hi @framelalife Yeah, unfortunately, there's a limit to how long a back and forth conversation can be carried out here. I hope they fix that in a future update.
When dealing with international scams, there are very few options available to people seeking refunds and restitution from scammers. It would require the police from both the victim's country and Mexico to cooperate in a joint effort, which only ever happens in major cases involving terrorists, drug smuggling rings, etc. I doubt something as small as Jeff's little racket would get such care or attention. Also, it's a shady business model to begin with, which require clients to either remain willfully ignorant of the laws that are being broken or disregard them intentionally. Most law enforcement officers would most likely think that you deserved to get scammed because you tried to subvert immigration laws. Ironically enough, this is likely the kind of situation that calls for some vigilante action from the victims themselves.