Gene Steinberg's Financial Shenanigans @ Paracast forums

[goblin]

So I decided to take a look at my mail archives from 2010 (when I believe that Gene started his begging campaign using Paracast subscribers). Here are some of the first messages I could locate.

I honestly didn't remember that he had had his bank account "hacked" back then as well! I wonder how often he gets "hacked" and how does it keep happening? I have been unable to locate the original newsletter where he says he talked about this.

It's fascinating to see how nothing has really changed in the eight and a half years since.

This first message is from March 10th 2010 - just notice all the similarities:



Here is the follow up 6 days (16th March 2010) later:



A new marketing person then?

7 days later - 23 March 2010 there was this:



On the 29th March we got:



From 3rd April 2010:



Looks like he got lazy with cut and pasting quite early on. These just go on and on and on as we well know. I hadn't realised how frequently he was posting these back then. It wasn't daily but it was every few days, at least once a week. Anyway have a look and see what you think. I have only had a skim of these as I don't have much time right now. Will go through properly later but the similarities with the storylines are just ridiculous. When you lay it out like this the fraudulent nature of it all becomes so obvious.

Wow, the 'identity theft' claim... as someone said at (iirc) @SchemeGeneRC, he's the most snakebit man alive.

I like how hyperbolic he gets with this stuff. "Nightmare". "Ordeal". It's just how he lives and for a guy who claims to hate it, he's done everything he can to drag it all out as long as possible. It's almost like he doesn't know any other way to live.

 

[The shadow]

So I decided to take a look at my mail archives from 2010 (when I believe that Gene started his begging campaign using Paracast subscribers). Here are some of the first messages I could locate.

I honestly didn't remember that he had had his bank account "hacked" back then as well! I wonder how often he gets "hacked" and how does it keep happening? I have been unable to locate the original newsletter where he says he talked about this.

It's fascinating to see how nothing has really changed in the eight and a half years since.

This first message is from March 10th 2010 - just notice all the similarities:



Here is the follow up 6 days (16th March 2010) later:



A new marketing person then?

7 days later - 23 March 2010 there was this:



On the 29th March we got:



From 3rd April 2010:



Looks like he got lazy with cut and pasting quite early on. These just go on and on and on as we well know. I hadn't realised how frequently he was posting these back then. It wasn't daily but it was every few days, at least once a week. Anyway have a look and see what you think. I have only had a skim of these as I don't have much time right now. Will go through properly later but the similarities with the storylines are just ridiculous. When you lay it out like this the fraudulent nature of it all becomes so obvious.

how many times has he been hacked breached or had money stolen?

 

[goblin]

Steinberg / Beizer level minds at work: ‘You don’t go to jail for lying on TV’: GoFundMe scam suspect allegedly says in tape

 

[goblin]

how many times has he been hacked breached or had money stolen?

I'm sure it would be startling to know how many times he's claimed this.

 

[GhostofBiedny]

how many times has he been hacked breached or had money stolen?

At least twice this year and we have this "incident" from 8 years ago which I had forgotten about. Who knows how many other time he has claimed this. Would have to go through all the messages and there must be thousands by now. Need an AI that can sort through them and make a spreadsheet of all the claims.

 

[GhostofBiedny]

Please write me directly if you wish to use a different payment method, such as a wire transfer to my bank account. If anyone is willing to bankroll the entire sum, I'd be willing to work out a loan arrangement with a reasonable payback plan.

I wonder if this is how that poor fellow got dinged for $44K that was in the bankruptcy.

We were already suffering from all those mounting expenses. Now the nightmare has grown even worse, which is why I probably need your help more than ever. And, no, this is not the time to attach blame. Things happen.

Not sure what he means by not being the time to attach blame. I wonder if some people had questioned his integrity for calling himself a tech expert and managing to get hacked.

Please Note: If you just discarded the original message, or never saw it, here's a link a blog post that explains what it's all about: http://www.technightowl.com/2010/01/an-urgent-request-from-the-night-owl/.

It's interesting that this webpage has been deleted. Gene decided to try to cover his tracks.

Some of you wonder if I should just give up this business and try something else. Well, aside from the fact that getting good paying jobs in the fields in which I'm skilled is difficult if not impossible as the result of the current economic mess, this is, as I've said before, strictly a short-term problem.

Shirking work back then as now. Also the delusion of a temporary problem.

We will eventually get the money stolen from the bank account, although it will come too late to help deal with the current emergency.

Sounds very familiar.

Also, a new marketing person will be joining the company soon to help build income and get us back on track.

Also very familiar. Wonder what happened to this marketing person? Probably suffered the same fate as the late Anders i.e. Gene's very bad memory for his own lies killed him/her.

 

[Standingstones]

Joe Btfsplk was a character from the Li'l Abner comics. Joe was all about bad luck. He walked around with a black cloud over his head. Does this remind you of anyone?

 

[erickson]

There are people facing housing nightmares with few resources:

The Camp fire created a massive housing crisis and left thousands homeless with nowhere to go - BuzzFeed News https://apple.news/AdxDQbl0bQb2VyT7UebLwTw

Gene is not one of them

 

[goblin]

I wonder if this is how that poor fellow got dinged for $44K that was in the bankruptcy.


Not sure what he means by not being the time to attach blame. I wonder if some people had questioned his integrity for calling himself a tech expert and managing to get hacked.


It's interesting that this webpage has been deleted. Gene decided to try to cover his tracks.


Shirking work back then as now. Also the delusion of a temporary problem.


Sounds very familiar.


Also very familiar. Wonder what happened to this marketing person? Probably suffered the same fate as the late Anders i.e. Gene's very bad memory for his own lies killed him/her.

Yikes - if this is how Gene got that personal loan he wound up... man. Very sad. I don't know how to go about it but I am so tempted to get whatever court records one can get for that case from the AZ system. I'm just too nosy about this and if it shows Gene did get a personal loan for the alleged woes of 2010, could people STILL keep defending him? Well, probably....

The 'attach blame' thing, I wonder if this is when he was claiming Barbara got suckered by a Nigerian 419 scam or the like...? Pretty sure that was his story once upon a time.

And yeah - SO much here sounds so familiar. I somehow find it unnerving, almost frightening to read. How can people just dismiss this as having no bearing on his character or credibility?

 

[Standingstones]

Steinberg is very cunning as to how he deals with criticism. "Contact me if you have any questions" so he says. If you contact him he can weed you out, delete your comments or better yet, ban you from his websites.

That way the ship runs smoothly and he paints the picture that he wants everyone to see. Poor Gene has had a run of bad luck. Just a few more donations and everything will be okay. Unfortunately, this whole scam has gone on for 15 years or more. There is no end in sight either.

 

[goblin]

Yikes - if this is how Gene got that personal loan he wound up... man. Very sad. I don't know how to go about it but I am so tempted to get whatever court records one can get for that case from the AZ system. I'm just too nosy about this and if it shows Gene did get a personal loan for the alleged woes of 2010, could people STILL keep defending him? Well, probably....

The 'attach blame' thing, I wonder if this is when he was claiming Barbara got suckered by a Nigerian 419 scam or the like...? Pretty sure that was his story once upon a time.

And yeah - SO much here sounds so familiar. I somehow find it unnerving, almost frightening to read. How can people just dismiss this as having no bearing on his character or credibility?

Gah I mangled my last post, above. But what I was trying to say was... if Gene's 2010 begging brought him that $44K personal loan he default on in his bankruptcy in 2016, yikes. How could anyone defend that behavior, if so?

Plus I think seeing it all laid out that way, the now all too familiar explanations and appeals in emails 8-9 years old, just makes it so transparent what a con the whole thing is and has been.

Gene is just lucky to have planted a flag in UFOlogy, where for some reason his behavior has been tolerated as long as it has. And yeah I know he's been called out before for his ways but, it doesn't seem like his system fell apart until O'Brien finally bailed on him. I give a lot of credit to the UFO Trail blog, @SchemeGeneRC on Twitter and this thread for bringing and keeping a light on Gene, but I can't escape the feeling if Chris O'Brien were still in place on the Paracast, Gene would have a lot more people still supporting him.

 

[GhostofBiedny]

Here's a message from 5th May 2010 that also has many of the tropes we have become familiar with. It is interesting that at this time he was going heavy on the medical expenses route. I believe more recently he admitted that he has no medical expenses - they get those paid for them by the state. So either the situation was different then or (more likely) it was just another lie to get more donations.

I like how he is calling out fake requests for help which he receives every day.

Also it is interesting that at that time he was saying he needed $20k as opposed to the recent figure he quoted someone which was well over $200k. I suppose his greed has increased in the intervening years.

YES, THIS REQUEST IS REAL -- AND URGENT!

(Mailing list information, including unsubscription instructions, is located at the end of this message.)

Day in and day out, I receive loads of bogus requests from total strangers who claim to need help because of a financial or medical emergency. In light of that avalanche of unsavory material, totally fake of course, it's no wonder most of you probably don't believe my situation is genuine, or that I really need your help,

However, I'm happy to verify the details as much as I can. In fact, my real mailing address is at the bottom of this newsletter, so you know where to find me.

In case you haven't been following this ongoing soap opera, my financial nightmare began before the end of 2009, so I am sure many of you have been wondering whether there's any end to our misery. This has become of major importance in light of the fact that I continue to ask for donations or loans.

The answer is yes, this mess will be over! There's a light at the end of the tunnel and these problems are strictly temporary and not long-term, and there will be a solution at hand in the near future, though not soon enough to handle current financial emergencies. I've been reluctant to mention how much I need, in total, because it will probably frighten the rest of you away, but the figure presently exceeds $20,000 to give us at least a running start and tackle some of the most immediate obligations. Remember that medical bills by themselves easily go over $100,000 for what seem to be simple procedures, so I suppose we're not so bad off.

If you still feel you can help us, your donations are still welcomed and deeply appreciated. To be perfectly blunt: The situation has left us with zero cash and we urgently need to cover a number of critical expenses. Please send your contribution via PayPal to gene (at) technightowl (dot) com. Or click this direct link. Please write me directly if you wish to use a different payment method, such as a wire transfer to my bank account. If anyone is willing to bankroll the entire sum, I'd be willing to work out a loan arrangement with a reasonable payback plan.

I've also heard equally disturbing reports from some of you who are suffering from similar problems. As a result, I am considering whether to create a special Web site devoted strictly to public appeals for donations and loans to help as many of you as possible.

In any case, if you've tired of reading these appeals, feel free to ignore this message or just use the Unsubscribe feature at the bottom of the message to get off the list.

Many of you have asked for the specifics about how this financial emergency came to be. Rather than waste space in this message by repeating everything, I’ve placed all of the information in a special article on the subject. Please read this article for an updated status report:

An Urgent Request from The Night Owl!

 

[goblin]

Here's a message from 5th May 2010 that also has many of the tropes we have become familiar with. It is interesting that at this time he was going heavy on the medical expenses route. I believe more recently he admitted that he has no medical expenses - they get those paid for them by the state. So either the situation was different then or (more likely) it was just another lie to get more donations.

I like how he is calling out fake requests for help which he receives every day.

Also it is interesting that at that time he was saying he needed $20k as opposed to the recent figure he quoted someone which was well over $200k. I suppose his greed has increased in the intervening years.

Gene Steinberg complaining of receiving bogus requests for help because of someone else's 'totally fake' financial emergency may be the funniest thing I've ever seen.

 

[GhostofBiedny]

So while we wait with baited breath for the next installment in the Crimeberg saga I found some interesting tidbits in this message (posted below) from 26th May 2010:

1. Gene talks about an online hate campaign started by a "friend". I'm wondering if this was just after David abruptly left the Paracast in disgust and went on the Church of Mabus podcast where he talked about his concerns regarding Gene's grifting. David telling the truth would in Gene's warped perspective be a hate campaign.
2. He goes big on describing how modestly he is living really downplaying his accomodation (which later public records revealed to be rather dishonest) and also talking about his ancient furniture - the same modest, worthless furniture he now asks for storage payments on.
3. It is also funny how he says "we don't go out to expensive restaurants" - tellingly what he doesn't say is that they don't go out to restaurants at all when he has said multiple times after this that they always eat out. It doesn't matter if he goes to expensive restaurants or not, eating out is many times more expensive than eating at home. I think he is trying to mislead people with this statement without making an out and out false declaration.
4. He also seems to be talking about the GCN deal here and claims it is a "key new business opportunity" - the implication is that it will solve his money troubles but he must have known while trying to get on GCN that he would receive no money from their ads (which is what he claims) as well as the limited scope of their broadcasts in relation to his show. It seems to be the same kind of unrealistic thinking in regards to the website upgrades and new store.
5. There is also the interesting thing in the cut and paste section of many emails from this time where he says he is hearing of other people in similar situations and he is "considering whether to create a special Web site devoted strictly to public appeals for donations and loans to help as many of you as possible". I wonder what happened to that plan. I remember it used to be on all his messages for quite some time, in fact I seem to remember him saying he would definitely do this. I suppose it ended up just like his promise to forward money to hurricane victims.
6. He puts his mailing address at the end of this email. I suppose it may add more legitimacy but Steinberg probably knows he is not going to be there for long (before he gets evicted) so he likely thinks it is a low risk strategy. By the time people realise the truth about his scamming he will be somewhere else.

From: "Gene Steinberg's Personal Messages" <gene@technightowl.com>
Subject: About That Hate Campaign!
Date: 26 May 2010 at 02:02:17 BST
To: "Gene Steinberg's Personal Messages Subscriber"
Reply-To: "Gene Steinberg's Personal Messages" <gene@technightowl.com>

ABOUT THAT HATE CAMPAIGN!

(Mailing list information, including unsubscription instructions, is located at the end of this message.)

Some of you have been made aware of an online hate campaign against me. Someone whom I once called a friend is now busy trashing me both privately and publicly, claiming that I'm asking readers and listeners for donations while living large or something like that. All this comes at a time when, as most of you who have read these newsletters know, I've been flat broke for reasons that I've clearly explained. What's more, my extravagant lifestyle is, in reality, a pretty modest existence, and I hope you will agree with me that kicking a person when they're down is a really nasty and inexcusable thing to do.

To bring you up to date: I was able to make some progress Monday, with enough funds to cover a reasonable car payment and remove the threat of repossession. So the situation has begun to take a positive turn.

It hasn't worked so well in other areas. Neither the health insurance company nor the rental office will take partial payments. It's all or nothing, and the same holds true for the power company, although they have also received a small amount of money. I've also been able to cover some other bills, but these three remain most critical for me and my family and our continued survival.

As I said before, the eviction notice has already been served, but I was able to postpone a court date, which buys us a little extra time. We still face the loss of health insurance and electric service. It has reached a point where, as I said, we have to pay a lot of money immediately to keep the vultures from striking.

So just how are we keeping family expenses in check?

Well, when I emptied my bank account to help with my sister-in-law's issues some years ago, as described in more detail in the original plea for help, we moved to a smaller home, an apartment located across the street from a strip mall. Most of the household furniture was purchased years ago, including the wicker chest and end tables in the bedroom. I'm still using the same computer table bought in 1993. And the last vacation, a few days in Las Vegas to attend a paranormal convention, happened in 2006. We don't go out to expensive restaurants, and the last visit to a movie theater occurred last December, to celebrate my wedding anniversary.

Meantime, the money you have so generously donated (or loaned) to me is meant to keep us going until the situation is resolved, as it will be. More to the point, I have ad renewals and ongoing consulting gigs that will soon begin to restore the lost income. A key new business opportunity just opened up for me, an agreement with a network to syndicate both radio shows. But today the situation is scary.

I realize some of you wonder if these requests are real, in light of all the crazy spam with bogus requests for help that pollute the Internet. Yes, it's all real, and I'm happy to verify the details as much as I can. In fact, my real mailing address is at the bottom of this newsletter, so you know where to find me.

In case you haven't been following this ongoing soap opera, my financial nightmare began before the end of 2009, so I am sure many of you have been wondering whether there's any end to our misery. This has become of major importance in light of the fact that I continue to ask for donations or loans.

If you still feel you can help us, your donations are still welcomed and deeply appreciated. To be perfectly blunt: This confluence of financial emergencies, those high medical expenses, and the bank ID theft, partly based on fraudulent business transactions from a former client, left us with zero cash and we urgently need to cover all those critical expenses. Please send your contribution via PayPal to gene (at) technightowl (dot) com. Or use this direct link: Send Your Donation to The Night Owl. Please write me directly if you wish to use a different payment method, such as a wire transfer to my bank account. If anyone is willing to bankroll the entire sum, I'd be willing to work out a loan arrangement with a reasonable payback plan.

I've also heard equally disturbing reports from some of you who are suffering from similar problems. The stories, some of which involve family members I've not heard from in years, are heart-wrenching. As a result, I am considering whether to create a special Web site devoted strictly to public appeals for donations and loans to help as many of you as possible.

In any case, if you've tired of reading these appeals, feel free to ignore this message or just use the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the message to get off the list.

Many of you have asked for the specifics about how this financial emergency came to be. Rather than waste space in this message by repeating everything, I’ve placed all of the information in a special article on the subject. Please read this article for an updated status report:

http://www.technightowl.com/2010/01/an-urgent-request-from-the-night-owl/

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

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Gene Steinberg's Personal Messages

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sucker@yahoo.com

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Gene Steinberg
15111 North Hayden Road
Suite 160-144
Scottsdale, AZ 85260

 

[The shadow]

Gene Steinberg
15111 North Hayden Road
Suite 160-144
Scottsdale, AZ 85260



15111 N Hayden Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85260 - 142380222 | RealtyTrac

8 years ago and he still is a LIAR!!! take a look at the address he lived in....a strip mall?

 

[The shadow]

15111 N Hayden Rd is a community: shopping center, mini-mall located in Scottsdale, AZ 85260. Built in 1988, this property features 1.12 acres lot, and 14,138 sq ft of living space.

For the surrounding community of Scottsdale, AZ 85260, the nearby schools are excellent and include Sonoran Sky Elementary School, Horizon High School and Desert Shadows Middle School. The overall crime risk for this area is low. The natural disaster risk for this area includes very low earthquake risk, very low tornado risk, and moderate to low flood risk

WTF... so he gave his address as a strip mall????

 

[The shadow]

now suite 160 today it is host to a special need ride service.
VIPRide in Scottsdale , AZ

 

[GhostofBiedny]

15111 N Hayden Rd is a community: shopping center, mini-mall located in Scottsdale, AZ 85260. Built in 1988, this property features 1.12 acres lot, and 14,138 sq ft of living space.

For the surrounding community of Scottsdale, AZ 85260, the nearby schools are excellent and include Sonoran Sky Elementary School, Horizon High School and Desert Shadows Middle School. The overall crime risk for this area is low. The natural disaster risk for this area includes very low earthquake risk, very low tornado risk, and moderate to low flood risk

WTF... so he gave his address as a strip mall????

He said it was next to a strip mall:

"Well, when I emptied my bank account to help with my sister-in-law's issues some years ago, as described in more detail in the original plea for help, we moved to a smaller home, an apartment located across the street from a strip mall. "

I wouldn't put it past him to be using a fake forwarding address that was in a strip mall though. I have seen other shady businesses use this practice. That way they can accept mail but if someone has a complaint and goes looking for them there is nobody to complain to.

 

[nivek]

Here is across the street from the strip mall, it's online trading something, can't make out the last word...

 

[GhostofBiedny]

Here is across the street from the strip mall, it's online trading something, can't make out the last word...

View attachment 4780

View attachment 4781

I think on the balance of probabilities we can presume he was using a forwarding address at the strip mall. It's certainly not unusual for people who scam.