[triton.]

Sorry I know Off Topic but thought this was interesting read for all.

20 year old guy tries to scam tune shop in Florida.

Jap Works is the Tune Shop.

Summary of Events
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/08/14/c...out-of-16k-jo/

Actually Thread on TampaRacing.com 121 Pages Strong
http://www.tamparacing.com/forums/ge...a-scammer.html

Recap
Here at TampaRacing.com, something pretty interesting/epic has happened that has actually already been aired on at least one syndicated morning show. Local shop owners, Aaron and Brandon, have been scammed $16,000 worth of parts, material and labor during its stay at their shop (called JapWorks). The project took about 4 1/2 months, and the vehicle was a 2004 Toyota Celica that was expected to bring the fledgling business some needed income. Unfortunately, the person thought to be the owner of the vehicle had no intention of paying the $16,000 worth of car work.

Mr Joe Dono (20 years old) had provided some parts over the course of the makeover of the vehicle, giving the impression to the shop owners that there was a possibility of payment (against their better judgement). He had also assured the shop over and over again about how his grandfather was picking up the bill in full, and that it was a present for him for college. Since there was money fronted for some of the paint job, the shop owners continued forging ahead. Mr Dono claimed that the grandfather was very adament about being "old school" and wanted the work done before paying a dime. Mr Dono was reminded repeatedly that because of the situation, the owners would have to take further risk, and invest in the project from their own bank account. Mr Dono had even posted in the forum where this incident was brought to light, about how he was waiting on the vehicle to be finished. When it was finally finished two days ago, Mr Dono had informed the shop owners that he had not signed any contract indicating that he needed to pay that amount. What happened next has spun this thread into the epic proportions that it is delivering.

When he had sent his mother to retrieve the vehicle, she was under the impression that he had paid for materials and that he had "sponsors" that were paying them to do the labor. She wanted to know why the car was taking so long because Joe had told her it was just simply getting painted. When the mother was unable to retrieve the Celica, he had sent his girlfriend over, and attempted to give a $60 down payment for the work, as well as pay off the $16,000 worth of work in installments. After that did not work, Mr Dono requested the shop owners to just leave the car outside overnight, making sure it was washed and etc.

The shop owners were/are not having any of that. As of right now, the vehicle has been towed to an alternate location to protect any theft or destruction of the countless hours that were put into fixing the vehicle up. Mr Dono still frequented the forum less than 30 minutes ago, promising that he is going to get his vehicle, (without having to pay) by the end of the week. "Mark his wurdz"

After further discussions with Mr Dono in here, it was learned that the vehicle was financed by his mother, and not actually owned by the man that does not want to pay. Things seem to still be escalating.

Yesterday, Mr Dono had come in to the shop with police officers to retrieve the vehicle without paying for it. After the owners had the Florida State Attorney speak with the officer, the officer then informed Mr Dono that he shop owners were allowed to hold onto the vehicle since the work put into it had not been paid. Mr Dono came back several times threatening the owners that they are going to get arrested for keeping his vehicle, all with the same result - no Celica.

As of right now, the shop owner is waiting on his mechanic's lien to come through, but, with the vehicle still being financed, there is a likelihood that the job will be paid for by the financing company. Until the financing company pursue's this issue, the owners of the shop are currently at a risk of having their shop closed, due to the investment that was expected to come through. This is still an ongoing issue. The publicity that this seems to have spread worldwide, bringing together a large online community that was quite unexpected. This incident is becoming an internet phenomenon, only because this is not the first time Mr Dono has tried to scam someone.

When word of this attempt to scam JapWorks got out, several people from the community recognized Mr. Dono as the perpetrator of prior scams -- for example, taking payment on auctioned items without ever sending them and editing pictures, stealing the copyright that is legitimately their own among other things. It became obvious very soon that this is not the first time Mr Dono has scammed people. Apparently, he is a known scammer on many different forums for several other things he has stolen from those members.

Right now, there is a paypal open to donate, allowing the shop owners to re-coup their loss. All the information will be provided in the next few posts. Mr Dono continues to post, informing us that "mark his words" he'll get his Celica by friday. We'll see what happens.

[SolidSnake2634]

[simp0man]

Complete news to me, that sucks. Sorry not all of us here are on the posts everyday.

[darkphantom]

wow, just saw this on autoblog...retarded kid, and even more retarded the people who didn't get this in writing...

[triton.]

Sorry if this is a repost mods, feel free to move this, just figured a lot of people never go to the off topic section (like me).

I can see this happening though, probably became kinda friends or a regular at the shop, gave em enough of a carrot and sense that he was legit. There's a shop I go to for basically mechanical work, there's a trust built up there, they do the work without confirming with me, then I pay them.

This is on a different scale though, and I'm not a 20 y/o who has my mom paying for my car.

[continentalg5]

What a dick!

[josephr25]

When that kid gets to hell, he'll have the hottest Celica ever.