My original post accused Shakedown and Old Skool of scamming poolies out of their money. While some people have not received money they are owed, this may not have been a scam but just a situation that got out of hand that included changed phone numbers and email accounts.

I am sorry for jumping on the witch hunt prematurely and calling out these guys a scammers. Should have let cooler heads prevail but I guess this damn lockout has me edgy

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What did you use as payment? You can get a refund by way of paypal and credit card easily, in most cases.

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My understanding is that Shakedown has been going through some really tough times in his personal life and basically just wanted to rid himself of the hassle of fantasy sports so closed everything and basically attempted to excommunicate himself. Ethical? Probably not but I don't think it is his intent to scam people. He just wants out. Completely.

I happened to have been competing in one of his "fun only" leagues and he closed all of those too. Some of the other managers in the league who knew him better were able to track him down and get him to help get the site to renew our league and have since continued the league so it's not like he can't be reasoned with, it just might be really difficult/impossible for you to track him down.

But here's the thing, I've been in leagues with him for five or so years now and he's always been a very impetuous commissioner. He'll start a ton of leagues in a flurry and then drop them after a year and move on to his next project. Still, with me he was always reasonable (at least until this fall) with getting me or someone else to take over as commissioner. From what I've heard he hasn't always been that reasonable but this fall was the first I had seen of it.

Obviously I can't help you get your league or your money back but I don't want to tear the guys name apart. Maybe he's lost the right to be trusted as a commissioner but I'd gladly pool with Shake again. He was, in my experience, a smart manager and a really good guy to chat with.

So I'll reiterate, I know it's shitty how things went down but I don't think he was truly trying to scam anyone. Life just got way too hard and he felt it was best to just get out of the fantasy game entirely. It wasn't the best way to go about business, nor was it necessarily reasonable but I just don't want to see his name get dragged completely through the mud.

Edit:

Having said all that, I did not see his latest attempt to jump back into the fantasy game within the past couple of weeks until just now. I'm at a loss for words.

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I never got scammed by him, but he did string me along for quite a while with a baseball league. I missed other opportunities because I had a spot in his league. About a month before the "draft" I messaged him and he gave my spot away. Granted, it's not as bad as taking people's money, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth.

I see metaldude's point about not scamming. But shutting down a money league, without refundnig money, would be fraudulent whether he is trying to do it or not.

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And this is why I dont join money leagues online with people I dont know IRL. I am in one money league and its with co-workers/friends. I know where they live.

It sucks boys, but thats the reality/risk of these situations when you dont know the person holding your money personally.

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I didn't join OldSkools new league, but had briefly exchanged messages and said he used leaguesafe for funds.

Edit: sounds like he ripped a lot of ppl off

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First, find out if there is a refund policy that you can use with the service that allowed you to make the payment. If the payment was just a small one it might not even be worth going to that extreme though. Just be careful moving forward. There are tons of ways to get screwed over on the internet.

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I pretty much agree with all this, he treated me really good until recently, he has really taken a turn in the last month. I was in about 7 leagues he started then dropped out of, shutting leagues down out the blue was not cool. The alias thing was the nail in the coffin. His current reputation will drive buzzards from a meat wagon.

It was always fun to point out his first draft pick before he picked it.

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This is not the case of one GM trying to scare people. I was in over 15 leagues that "Brandon" had started, some money and some not money. I was in almost all of his leagues but not all of them. Most of these leagues had owners in common or guys who knew guys. Word started spreading around. As I said. I was one of his biggest supporters. I defended him when guys began calling him a scammer. I even offered to make the league payouts because I trusted that he would pay me back. There are 100 guys on the CBS fatasy sports website who will back me up. All I am trying to do is make sure people are not fooled into giving over money that they will never see again. What he is doing is fraud and is illegal, in Canada and the U.S. I hope he reads this because some people are trying very hard to find him including contacting law enforcement in both countries and hiring a private investigator. "Brandon" pay back the money and stop trying to take more I beg you. Even after everything that has happened I don't want to see you arrested and charged with a crime. That will ruin your real life and family, not just your fantasy sports reputation.

Sorry Steve, but the time for defending him is past. He says he needs time away from fantasy sports and then he starts a whole bunch of new money leagues? He spends the money he collected on "medical bills" and then he starts collecting more money under assumed names? I was like you in the beginning. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and supported him. His actions and inactions have proven that my trust and faith in him were msiplaced and so is yours.