Been there, done that :). I completed about 10 orders for Writerighteam and hardly received payment for 2. The list of excuses provided to me were exactly the same. I wouldn't have minded so much if she had come right out and told me that my papers were crap. That, I can live with. But she kept coming up with more and more outrageous excuses, some of which literally made me think that she was on her death bed. After a point, I no longer wanted to even think about it as I realised what a fool I had been and I decided to cut my losses. Overall, I would say I was cheated out of around 700$ (which according to H was sent to me multiple times - through post, through courier, through paypal, you name it - but each time mysteriously failed to reach me). I know some company representative might now pop up and say my work was crappy but I have several mails in which she has called my work flawless and a screenshot which shows I was a gold writer. Moreover, the quality of my work is hardly the point, I am just trying to highlight their modus operandi :)

I think I posted the message a bit late. After I checked a few more threads, I realised that they are probably out of business now, their websites aren't working at any rate. I hope that's the case. After all, karma's a *****. Sorry for resurrecting what was probably a dead topic..

Freelancewriter, I am really amazed by the amount of patience and dignity you have displayed in this. I reached the stage of "get out of my life" with Hala after only a couple of months and decided to cut my losses. I completed about 10 projects for writerighteam and was hardly paid for 2. My writing skills are nowhere as good as yours (I typically take up only highly technical or programming related tasks), yet Hala used to heap praise on me for being a "superb writer". I knew she was lying through her teeth, especially because I am under no illusions about my "superb" writing skills but I went along simply because I just wanted to get my money. She kept coming up with more and more outrageous excuses (some of which made me think she was literally minutes away from dying and yet was somehow trying to make sure I got my money). I went along with it to an extent after which I lost patience. I too have all the transactions, mails, screenshots etc but I am really not sure what I can do with them. I lost about 700$ and quite a bit of my sanity during the entire saga. Their client and writer websites are no longer working, I do hope it means that they are out of business now.

By the way, I must mention that whenever Hala called me, she used to get confused about where I live, the amount I was owed, the last transaction that was supposedly made to me etc etc. Could never keep her stories or details straight. It often made me think she had lost it. But now I realise that she was probably confused because she was trying to con many people at the same time with the same bunch of excuses and it was probably becoming tough to keep track. In one of her mails, she told me she had purchased ipads for my kids (I don't have any) and I was really baffled. They were probably for your kids, I am so sorry :):). In hindsight, I'm finding this really funny though it wasn't at that time.

LOL, that's too funny. Not mine for sure. When they are born, I'll make sure to let them know she is always ill or jet setting, poor thing.

Frankly speaking, I don't think she was ever genuine. She probably pretended well for a while because she knew that it was the only way to lure business (and writers). I cannot believe that any genuine, sane person can handle it so badly. If things were going badly, she could have probably apologized, explained things, paid whatever she could and be done with it instead of spinning yarns and yarns of crap.

By the way, the driver or "chauffer" was a pretty regular feature in her mails to me too, no matter which part of the world she claimed to be in. He always had the money too. Oh, and her sister mailed me too. This was her exact mail:

Hello,
I am Dina, Hala;s sister. Fr the first tie ever she gave me her computer password! And a list of people to respond to (just 3) if they write. You are on the list.

She has bee in hospital - sinus operation and severely bleeding stomach ulcers (she keeps throwing up blood) since last Saturday midnight. She'll be released tomorrow but will call you. noy write, as she will be very tired. But she is very eager to talk to you. She told me she found her `right hand girl' in you!

The three people she is talking about must be me, you and Freelancewriter, LOL.

Umm, no, I was probably not important enough to warrant such security measures. In fact, around 6 or 7 times, my money was put in plain envelopes (hidden between papers, of course) and sent to me by regular post to "avoid service charges".

Don't even talk about all those glorious lost opportunities. I was actually going to be hired to do SEO optimization for all their websites, write a book for them, take over the administrative end of the business and get paid around 2000$/mo for just being li'l old amazing me. I think I'm gonna cry....

LOL, I was being sarcastic. You don't think I really believed all that nonsense, do you :). Her claims of giving me advance money, bonus etc is hardly different from the spam mails we all get from some war widow in Nigeria who's decided to leave all her money to us due to some inexplicable reason. H had absolutely no reason to give me any extra money or job or whatever...and neither was I expecting her to. It was just her tactics to stop people from being rude, although I am completely at a loss to understand her overall purpose behind the entire saga.

Apparently, she sent me the money through regular post because it was the only way due to "new banking regulations". When I asked her what those new banking regulations were, she said she would send me the details. When I pointed out that I was receiving payment from other sources perfectly well through western union and paypal, she said she would send me the screenshot of the errors she got when she tried to make a transaction. Obviously, all the screenshots and details must have vanished somewhere along the way and so did the money because I never received any (even though she claimed to have resent it atleast 6-7 times)

You've hit the nail on the head, couldn't agree more. Normal, sane people probably can't even imagine making the kind of absurd claims and promises she made, those are the trademark tactics of people who con others for a living. I mean, her promises of paying me 2000$ extra (apart from the 700 she genuinely owed) is hardly different from the spam mail I got yesterday from Ms.Liza Wong who promises to transfer a billion dollars to me if only I'd give her my account details. Only con artists make such ridiculous promises. Why would a genuine person want to pay loads of extra money to a virtual stranger?

I just hope that she and her bunch of crooks won't resurface under some other company name now.

I think I'll forward the link to this discussion to her mail id just to make sure, LOL.

C) Don't build guesthouses on top of Trump buildings for your "chauffers" because then you'll never know where you live. D) "Opposite to a park" is a nice, accurate way to give out your address.

On a serious note, I am a newbie on the forum and i have been exploring the different threads. One thing I have noticed is that Hala was definitely quite good at this. She had quite a few people fooled which probably made it all the more difficult for those duped by her to raise their voices. I mean, Freelancewriter is probably one of the senior members of the forum and a well respected one at that. Moreover, he was smart enough to record all her idiotic promises. Hala probably knew better than to argue that he is one of the bitter, failed writers. But I see that others who complained against her were always accused by her of being fired, being incompetent etc (might even be true in some cases). However, when it happens, it is often difficult for other forum members to make up their minds, especially if one of them has managed to fool everyone with her holier than thou attitude. I wonder if anyone would have believed me if I had posted my own experiences before her insanity became public knowledge, considering that I did not record any of her calls. I do have the mail conversations but how long does it take for someone to claim that they are altered or fake? I am not an established member like FLW and I am most definitely not capable of dazzling everyone instantly with my English skills to prove that there's no possible way I can be a failed writer. Infact, she as good as implied it in several of her mails that noone is going to believe me if i tried to publish my experiences online (though not in the context of this forum).

I am just wondering what writers like me can do in such scenarios to warn others. I say this because I am sure there were many other writers coming on board even as I was fighting with her. I often saw requests for newer writers (writer 395, 396 etc) long after I stopped taking orders. I did write about the experience in my blog and another public site but someone from their team left a comment there saying I am a liar so I don't know how much of a difference that made. I lost a lot of my hard earned money and mental peace during the process. I do not blame myself for signing up with them, I had researched the company well before signing up and found nothing negative. So, I guess am just wondering - what is the learning I am supposed to take away from this?

No, I don't. I had researched the company well before signing up. There was nothing negative against it at that time. In fact, there were a lot of positive vibes. Even assuming I was foolish, how do you explain the other senior writers who have been scammed too? So, you tell me, what's the learning here? Of course, not believing promises etc is all fine but by that point, I had already lost the money. Like Perry mentioned, by that point, it was more of a Pascal's wager.

I agree and I think it's a risk most writers are willing to (or have to) take when they sign up with online companies. Everyone knows that most of the time, there is very little you can do except vent out your frustrations on public forums when it happens. Still sucks but yeah, I can't really claim that I was unprepared. On the other hand, there were warning signs like Freelancewriter pointed out - the promises were too good to be true, the company was pretending to be way too generous and virtuous, the rules were a little too flexible, they were way too forthcoming in their praises.....it was almost as if they had established a company specifically for my benefit.

I guess the learning is that whoever said "if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is" was cleverer than us, aunt hala and her ipads nothwithstanding :)


I really hope not :(

Aah, glad to see that you are finally out of the hospital...considering your numerous ailments, surgeries and what nots. The fact that you really think anyone still believes you is a Joke. But anyway, here you go....

You don't have to worry about my failures, look after yourself. After all, you have been on the death bed so many times now.

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The orders list...7 orders :)

Talking about idiots, have you seen all the comments on the multiple threads regarding what people think about you? I really do not have the time to waste on stupid, jobless characters like you. Rant all you want, just know that noone believes you. You did not give me any time to take any screenshots, I requested you to close my id because I was so sick and tired of your site. I have given up on the money long back, I have nothing to gain by arguing with scam artists like you.....I have around 200 mails of urs proving it. And I am sure many others do too. If you really think anyone believes you now, you need to get yourself checked into a mental hospital. Like I said, you can go on ranting, I do not have time to humor scam artists.

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I can probably dig up the details of all the orders too but frankly speaking I don't have the patience. In any case, all the orders are unpaid for. First, it was just 1 order that I completed..when I posted the screenshot, it became 2...again when I posted the screenshot, it became 7 but all are useless..... Wonder why i got the "gold" status then. You say you are not senile, but i seriously doubt it. Your actions are beyond the comprehension of sanity. I, for one, have better things to do with my time than dig through my old mails and post evidence against every lie you utter because frankly, you are incapable of anything else. Go on ranting on all the threads, obviously you have nothing better to do. Cheers....

I can see how you are having so much "fun". Arguing with people who think you are crazy must really be fun in your world. Continue to have fun.....

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Listen you absolute moron, match the order details with the orders in my list. You said none of them were actual orders so I posted evidence that it was. I am claiming that they were mine because they are there in my orders list, just match the order numbers...I know you are senile but try using your brains for once. I know you don't have a penny in your name to pay me and I am not going to dignify any of your idiotic messages with a reply anymore but I am sure anyone with half a brain can see things for what they are.

By the way, I have never been to Phillipines in my life..when people are senile they often tend to confuse things so no hard feelings there.