merlinvfx.com Merlin Malory -- Did not deliver services after I paid, he kept my money and hard drive, stopped responding to emails. Los Angeles California
WARNING - BEWARE OF THIS PERSON/BUSINESS
It appears he uses the name, Merlin Malory, as a pseudonym - not as a real artist uses a pen name for privacy, but as a scam artist uses a veil for secrecy. I paid him some money upfront in order for him to provide VFX and Color Correction services via PayPal. His method is to require in his invoice that payment be made as "Friends and Family" rather than "Goods and Services." He went as far as to meet me in person to collect the hard drive, so I know that the suspect is a male. He did not deliver any of the VFX or color correction services he was paid to perform and absconded with both the money and my hard drive. He feigned cooperation to return both, but did not refund either my money or return my hard drive, which contains my footage. Both PayPal and the authorities have been notified, so some recourse may come for me but unlikely. Beware of his general modus operandi.
6 Updates & Rebuttals
Jill
Los Angeles,United States
How creepy!!!!
#7Consumer Comment
Fri, March 01, 2019
Thanks for the new info Derek!! How creepy oh my gosh!! He needs to be taken down!
D
Los Angeles,California,
United States
New Info - Real Name: Caesar Collazo
#7Author of original report
Wed, August 22, 2018
Caesar (Manuel) Collazo has been creating fake businesses and aliases for nearly 20 years. Merlin Malory of MerlinVFX is the latest known fake name/company, though he may already be working on his next since this one has been on blast all over the internet for almost 2 months. He does not only scam people in the VFX world, he also preys on women. BEWARE!
List of known fake companies:
Quidam Studios
AIO Studios
Wardour Studios
Excaliber Films Studios
EdisonCarterVFX
MerlinVFX or Merlin VFX
List of known aliases and/or associates:
Edison Carter
Edison Giovanni
Collazo Versace
Ai Guo Tang
Steven Nia
Dominick Knight
Derek
Los Angeles,California,
United States
Photo of Merlin Malory
#7Author of original report
Tue, July 24, 2018
Photo of Merlin Malory
pat
California,United States
linkedin
#7General Comment
Fri, July 13, 2018
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominick-knight-75081360
Derek
Los Angeles,California,
United States
Sorry to hear that, Jill!
#7Author of original report
Fri, July 13, 2018
Definitely report to PayPal and don't let them give you the run around -- they wont be able to refund your money if you paid through "Friends and Family" but they will look into his transaction history to see that multiple people filed a dispute. My suggestion is to also dispute the transaction with your bank and they will investigate for you, but do it as soon as you can. I'm in the process of filing a police report, might be helpful to file a joint one. You can find me on facebook "derek bryan" if you'd like. I actually have a photo of him.
Jill
Los Angeles,California,
United States
The same thing just happened to me
#7Consumer Comment
Fri, July 13, 2018
The same thing just happened to me with him, how do we take him down? I also paid through Paypal, and will be reporting the transaction. What does he look like in person? I never met him but he was willing to talk on the phone so I knew he was male.