How 52 people were lured to work for a fake design agency - BBC News

More than 50 people were tricked into working for a glamorous UK design company that turned out to be fake.
People from the UK and all over the world were hired to work at a company called Madbird during lockdown.
They were convinced it was a successful business through an online universe of fake profiles, stolen work and lies.
The employees were “Jobfished” and having spent as long as six months working for no pay, they were devastated.
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[@Justin-jh4ym]

If anyone offered me a job with no salary for 6 months I would run a mile.

[@ZJS0113]

Exactly. The set of idiots. Zero sympathy for them

[@teabagtowers3823]

I'm currently looking for job as a business graduate if you ever see a job ad that says "competitive salary" or pays on commission like this company run and run fast. Because either the company is a fraud or the pay is so pathetically low that you'd probably earn more working in McDonald's.

[@Alex-ns9ud]

@@ZJS0113 not idiots, people who were looking for work during pandemic!

[@harrrybailey]

Unfortunately it’s pretty common in the design industry

[@desyreemalig9329]

Unfortunately in the design/creative industry.....it's to be expected

[@vonclair6808]

Ok NETFLIX, it's time to make another documentary!

[@bojack3827]

This guy needs to be charged with fraud and thrown into prison.

[@markgiles313]

I am an animation producer and consultant. I have been job phished on several occasions by fraudsters posing as real producers on LinkedIn. Quite sophisticated scams!

[@waterairfire]

LinkedIn is nothing but scammers anymore. It's dangerous keeping your personal information on it.

[@Turanic1]

The cancer of Design and Creative industries is the unpaid internships to build experience, but in this case a ton of experienced workers worked for this scumbag, it's good this story is all over internet, young creatives especially straight out of UNI need to know that if you are unpaid for longer than a week , drop that company or freelance project

[@JD-de5mq]

Moral of the story, if your not being paid don't work there.

[@davidmichael2011]

His reaction and response pretty much leaves little reason to believe that there is another side to the story. Even, if for the sake of argument that, he was just trying to create opportunities for others. He should not have started with deception. Be upfront and let the people decide if that job is worth the risk for themselves. If you have to deceive then why should anyone believe YOUR side of the story.

[@domedwards5256]

Well, literally there are 52 other sides to the story and they all reflect that his is not true.

[@CS-zq7qn]

The indeed swindler 😂 Funny that they have similar styles but honestly my father taught me to search a company through Companies House to see if it’s legitimate. Check when it was established. Then you have to do your research. Only accept a salary and check with tax authorities if they have your correct code for PAYE but I guess you never know until the first pay doesn’t come through

[@justanotherpersonxo]

The Audacity of this guy. The narcissism of some people

[@yasemintly]

Everyday I tell myself that my job actually isn't real.

[@ingridyau3012]

But the money is🤭

[@roboldx9171]

I'm surprised this kind of con took so long. Artists and professionals really need to do due diligence in our time of the gig economy and above all. Contracts and get paid.

[@tiannasticks3276]

What?

[@jbroad8194]

I'm surprised they're not sueing him? Surely not paying and including false information in their contracts is against worker rights law

[@Immortal-Daiki]

I think it is illegal. Maybe the people will eventually sue him to oblivion later on

[@jbroad8194]

@@Immortal-Daiki seems a bit premature for the news to run this story then, what if he runs?

[@kiragoe]

I remember a similar story on This Morning about a fake modelling company set in London hired loads of models got them to pay for certain modelling packages (alot of money) and never gave any of them a single job. And the company could legally do this and are still operating now through legal loopholes. They have hired hundreds of models over the years made them all pay alot of money and never gave any a single job ever. So they can't be sued or police intervention, the loopholes in the business world are insane. All the media can do is warn people about these scammers.

[@ZJS0113]

@@kiragoe 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 that's hilarious

[@Ad-Lo]

@@ZJS0113 what is wrong with you?

[@stephfoxwell4620]

You need 50 employees for the biggest Covid grants.

[@j.jwhitty5861]

well spotted

[@desyreemalig9329]

Really? Send him to jail!

[@sallymwasi]

Now I understand

[@Stephan__ox.]

Please ‘jobfished’ is NOT a word! Can we stop? This guy needs to be in jail because absolutely no one can find the motive/intention for this.

[@Ad-Lo]

It _is_ a word, now. 🙂

[@nickpn23]

In a sense the company did exist - the victims were collectively functioning as such. They should continue to cohere.

[@benshaw255]

haha that would be great, axe the tossers responsible, get some proper business owners and create a proper businesses.

[@jimbo1480]

Why would you agree to work for no salary for 6 months? That's a huge red flag and I'm sorry but you have yourself to blame if you fall for this.

[@xin0]

They said it is commission for 6 months. There are jobs out there doing this. Even charity jobs

[@jimbo1480]

@@xin0 commission only jobs are a huge red flag as you are entrusting someone you don't know to pay you depending on what you bring to the table which can be easily manipulated to not pay you. The type of jobs these guys were doing, there's plenty of companies that pay salary hence huge red flag when this said commission only.

[@xin0]

@@jimbo1480 like I said, there are other jobs that do commission. They are mostly marketing promotion jobs. Not red flag, those jobs are just hard to make money if you don't know the system.

[@barrydavies9747]

Who can afford to work for months no pay this guy should go to jail. These people seemed intelligent but still fell for this so I feel sorry for the even more gullible the one that get all there life's savings taken

[@desyreemalig9329]

Unfortunately in the design/creative industry.....it's to be expected

[@curiositycloset2359]

Hey, he didn't lie to them. They chose to sign up for it. Pretty dumb

[@TerbrugZondolop]

This sums up the state of the world economy in a nutshell. Same goes for the speculative stock market etc. He is just ONE, there are corporations that do this type of thing on a daily basis and nothing happens.

[@wallacegarcia777]

Journalist be like "WHY ARE U RUNNING"

[@issavirgo4838]

Thats a great idea from a criminal perspective ive got your passport drivers license and other id that i can sell later

[@adamkhan7234]

Quickest apology ever from a fraudster @3.53 😂😂

[@thepilgrim1581]

Deciever but Clever. 50 educated smart, Intelligent people got lazy and didn't do their homework.

[@mynameisnotjerome1803]

They heard what they wanted to hear.

[@mxbx307]

I don't think I even understand the point of this scam. What was in it for him if the company was making no money? Was he going to steal their work and sell it on himself?

[@aminzann7586]

I think he was trying to package his team, produce some work for free, and "sheepishly hope" some other PR or Ad agency will acquire them or start giving them clients or accounts based on the body of work his agency produces. I think he let his imagination run too far away with him.

[@razony]

Why are some people so gullible? Does the net make people stop thinking and rely on wishing/hope without thinking?

[@NatashaRaisorGlam]

What did he get out of all the fakery?

[@tree3969]

I wondered that too. But then I realized he’s an art thief and he’s gonna resell that work. And when I think about this whole NFT wave, he could sell it and make a HUGE profit off other people’s art.

[@desyreemalig9329]

Apparently you need 50 employees to qualify for covid relief funding 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@miam1074]

@@desyreemalig9329 that should send him to prison for sure

[@mxbx307]

I still don't quite get it. All I can think is that he was trying to steal their work and sell it on for himself to personally profit. Or somehow bludge COVID relief and furlough money? Who knows. The company wasn't making ANY money so it's not like he had riches he could run off with. Either that, or he 'has issues'.

[@TheTwolesslives]

@@miam1074 nope, uk government have written off all fraud from covid loans. They will get off with this.

[@macar8011]

All the efforts of making a fake, when he could have done something real....

[@Troy-ol5fk]

I have been looking for a job as a web designer, this really scares me

[@Michael-en7rk]

2000 jobs? There something wrong with his application

[@amgeneralbuilding]

That is a crime straight up. no… oh let me tell you this it’s a civil matter that… unbelievable. My firm has been hit so many times just because there is no law to defend real and hard working class people. An if you press for your money this will leads to harassment and you’ll end up in court and get charged for your own money that you not even got for your hard work you have done. I have lost over 25-30k because of claims like this doing work for people and not paying for it. and soon as you contact them for your money they will report you to the police and CPS. It’s shocking. Taken a customer to small claim it’s been 1 year and half yet haven’t got my money mean while my customer has had a lovely bathroom all this time. They paid the £700.00 deposit. I feel sorry for those people that have been hurt coz as a small business owner I have been hit so many times and I know what is like. You could say this is different but it’s not they worked for their money they should got paid. This is unreal.

[@nflynn]

All agencies do this, fake client lists, pointless over designed websites, then loads of buzz words. All an ad agency does is act as a middle man, work for yourself. If you have a creative skill do not join an agency, real or fake they are all sketchy.

[@steve6375]

Just work on fiverr!

[@Hennheirr]

Similar things are happening in the NFT market right now. The Cyber Legends project built a 200k fans community with the promise of a play-to-earn metaverse. As I am writing these lines, Aaron Bastin the founder have disappeared with $600000 in his bag.

[@Ad-Lo]

The gall of him! Wow!

[@mistybehaviours]

This sort of thing happens a lot in the Middle East, Dubai, they make fake design companies then, look for clients, clients then pay them for job then they get the employees that work for free to do the work, then after the job is done, the person who made the fake company runs off, sometime it goes on for years.

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

I think this is possibly the key to this. The problem was that "Jane Smith" unexpectedly blew it all wide open before the company had a chance to truly get going. But all being well, Madbird might have made some decent money and become viable at which point Ali Ayad has actually built a proper company. It feels like "fake it till you make it".

[@chaz2405]

I think It's misleading. He didn’t take/give any money to those employees then He hired them for doing what? Free work?

[@astroboirap]

what a mad lad

[@hobiton_sufiatur]

Just ask for full payment or 70% down payment before send any final design

[@JonyKamoni]

what was the intention or motives behind the fake company? looking for guilt do any good in this story but dig to the source of the problem may lead to something more interesting

[@Justin-jh4ym]

Fake it till you make it, they were close to signing new clients.

[@JonyKamoni]

@@Justin-jh4ym right, business is based on compromises but how far can you go with such a dismeasured project! It feels like there a bigger story behind the curtains

[@Justin-jh4ym]

@@JonyKamoni Ali the owner seemed like a narcissist, he had fake photos of him posing for various designer brands in photoshopped magazine shoots - Tag, GQ etc. I'm sure he did it for the social media validation, he has around 90k followers on ig. It's the same with the Tindler swindler, Anna Delvy. Conning people to live a luxurious lifestyle on social media.

[@shack12319]

Probably something to do with govt covid money for businesses

[@desyreemalig9329]

@@shack12319 - bingo!

[@onetruekeeper418]

Never accept assignments on spec. Always demand a fee upfront for your time.

[@kiragoe]

Can you do that if you're not freelance? I mean for most jobs you have to do a certain amount of work before you see your first pay check.

[@PRINCESSGEMINI1987]

That only works if you are a freelancer.

[@zingbawi2023]

Truly professional swindler 😂😂😂 You should have let him tell his side of story. I wonder why is he still walking around freely? He should be charged.

[@ajjoshi]

Anyone that got duped by this agency, please feel free to get in touch... I'd be happy to help you with our agency and future work.

[@omarikebiro164]

The victims should move on with the team ,they were literally a company. They should contact me to be their temporary boss.

[@Coyote1.618]

Well there's a lot of News stories sometimes that are a waste of time.

[@app213]

What is she a low pay P.I? "Her investigation" "research" as she puts up a collage on the board 🤣

[@jacobhsu09]

We’re afraid this similar case would have spread to any place in the world if the victims don’t get a suitable offer and this swindler doesn’t go to the jail.

[@David-lm2tl]

let's blame the company, not the infrastructure which allows this to be possible. #2022 Britain

[@auro1986]

this is why bill watterson stopped when the other bill revolutionized personal computing for bbc

[@TheShriekingPortrait]

Did she mean Nike? 3:17

[@priceandpride]

And?

[@hyab74]

Sick

[@nothingtosaymuch7622]

52 people…. 52 mins ago uploaded

[@sourabhkarmakar8040]

Numerology

[@nothingtosaymuch7622]

@@sourabhkarmakar8040 yuh 😅

[@sourabhkarmakar8040]

@@nothingtosaymuch7622 also today's date 22.2.22 😆

[@nothingtosaymuch7622]

@@sourabhkarmakar8040 oh yeah! The synchronicities are high today 👀✌🏻

[@kaeden0]

Case of “fake it until you make it”

[@Skysdalimit247]

how can i watch this doc in the USA?

[@MrSoljak]

I didn't understand the point of this scam until I read Steph Foxwell's comment below. Is BBC unable to explore this angle?

[@steve6375]

Well, looking at it in an optimistic light, he was 2 weeks away from signing contracts with paying customers. Presumably he would have then passed on the payments to the developers...

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

I can't find that comment now. But my feeling is that Madbird was a case of "fake it till you make it" and was expected to become legitimate and viable at some point, making proper money. Unfortunately "Jane Smith" blew that wide open early doors. What I think would happen is that once the company became viable, the likes of "Nigel White", "Dave Stanfield" etc. would all mysteriously sell their share and move on, then the alter agos retired.

[@scribblezgfx]

No one done a google reverse image search on the portfolio

[@ivoferin8176]

But where was the money coming from??

[@essexa777]

the clue was in the name of the fake owner -nobody learns!

[@bobbobby2092]

How did he get away with it?!?!

[@brunogolombieski]

this could become a netflix show

[@mabonbran8913]

6 months and NOT 1 contract, nothing created, what work were they doing?

[@lchjr]

Like a Fire Festival for web design? And what was the “other side” of the story? Bad editing, or bad reporting; but I’m not supposed to have more questions.

[@rmdebora]

I don’t get it. Were they working for free? But for which clients? Which projects were they getting if the company was fake?

[@Turanic1]

I guess those were tenders and generally competition projects, where best designs get the client

[@madmunky8989]

Work for free 6 months.... not gonna happen mate.

[@cordisgermain932]

*I will forever be in-depted to you 😇 you've changed my life I'll continue to preach about your name for the world to hear* *you've saved me from a huge financial debt with just little investment, Thanks Ms Karen Investment*

[@oliverjackson160]

Ma’am Karen Investment is a Humanitarian indeed, my financial life changed with the help of her great work on Investment plannings

[@gurametsadashvili1888]

Imagine investing and receiving $24,000 weekly profits Karen investment is the best

[@helensteve2817]

I will advice you should stop trading on your own if you keep loosing and start trading with Karen Investment

[@gregmunsey7272]

That’s sounds truthful I really want to invest $1000

[@brianr1686]

🤔hmmm yes just imagine if pretty much all the news was fake too😂

[@mynameisnotjerome1803]

Coming to a podcast documentary series soon.

[@ZeeshanMuhammadX]

Not to victim blame, but if you don't do basic Google image reverse searches, double speech quote sentence searches (to see if a piece of text was stolen) and don't check to see if Companies House lists a valid registered company, and you accept six months with no minimum pay conditions in your contract, you aren't doing basic due diligence and will likely sadly get exploited.

[@Arwar555]

Sadly thats what happens when you work in the "net world". At the end you need to go to an OFFICE AND PHYSICALLY SEE SOMEONE ...

[@new-knowledge8040]

This guy was a total loser. Unlike the super rich people of today's' world, who successfully became super rich through the absolute perfection of lies and deceit, and thus these were perfectly hidden lies and deceit, this guy just did not get it right. I know, I know. You are going to say that all super rich people are not all liars and deceivers. Like I said, they perfected it.

[@MiSt3300]

No I am not going to say that "all super rich people are not all liars and deceivers". They are. And they also are a burden on the society, because they create monopols and lobby the government and bribe officials. They are horrible.

[@new-knowledge8040]

@@MiSt3300 Possibly the reason I don't like rich people, is due to me being disabled, and thus having to survive on a disability income of only $9,744 CAD per year. That is equivalent of earning $4.99 per hour. Here in Toronto Canada, the minimum wage is $15.00 per hour. Oh yes I forgot to mention, I was disabled due to a doctor giving me a specific drug. He and several other doctors then worked together to cover up the truth for obvious reasons. Anyhow, for me to become as rich as the richest, I would only have to save every penny of my income for 29,319,371 years. No biggy. It's just roughly a mere 29 million years.

[@jonathanjones6657]

Big cats like lions and jaguars love catnip, too.

[@behavior852]

But, what was the/his end game?

[@luciatheron1621]

No money, no work!

[@ljosef.7358]

I am very curious what is another side of the story, what is Ali really wants to say to the BBC. If there is any hidden motive besides scamming people for Ali

[@NeetReel]

This looks like this isn't a case of fraud... There is more to this. Curious what it turns out to be once there is an official investigation

[@sarahesckey9334]

cool information

[@taejun9017]

so how in the world do we watch this documentary

[@PRINCESSGEMINI1987]

BBC iplayer if you are in the U.K.

[@musembiphotography7042]

Part 2 please 😅😅

[@gregorymorton3783]

I really don't get how 52 people fell for this I really don't 😕

[@Turanic1]

I assume it was a lot of graduates, but I don't get how experienced people fell for this

[@anth00000]

Gullible social-media obssessed morons, that's why

[@pllp8003]

@@anth00000 Or maybe desperate people who couldn't land a job during thee worst pandemic in recent history.

[@LudgiDolla]

Nasty works

[@michaelfrankie8443]

The Internet and online banking will be your down fall 🤣🤣🤣

[@rafaelfigueiredonascimento5694]

I don’t understand. How was the business model? How did Ali make money?

[@mikepict9011]

Now you know how American lawyers feel

[@issiewizzie]

It will be interesting if an AI recruited all those people. That would've made an interesting story

[@NJ-uy9br]

You don't understand AI hun. AI is a bunch of commands thats all.

[@issiewizzie]

@@NJ-uy9br execute a command based on logic

[@julianaylor4351]

What a bizarre fraud. 😮

[@SA-ff9uc]

He hasn't been deported?

[@sutats]

I wonder what was achieved?

[@devgear7524]

He probably sold all their work online & made good money out of it. That's his version of the story. People don't even need to code these days to create a good looking website just saying.

[@rippedhole9101]

It was simply a social experiment, relax.

[@noidea1396]

I sense a new Netflix series coming

[@bradleywilson5641]

Work for free for 6 months mugs 🤣🤣

[@vrclckd-zz3pv]

That's just how things work at a lot of start ups. The first Facebook employees were initially paid in stocks.

[@Mannsy83]

What was the end goal though? Must have been for something

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

I think it was a long con that got stopped early when "Jane Smith" sent the e-mail out. Probably a case of "fake it till you make it", at some point the company would have made some real money and become actually viable. Quite clearly Ali Ayad didn't benefit financially from this. It doesn't even sound like a COVID furlough scam either. Definitely something else at play, apparently it's quite a common thing in the Middle East for fake companies to steal the work of others and be paid for it.

[@coreywestwell]

I bet none of them had graphic backgrounds or degrees etc.

[@caesar7734]

Those are useless degrees

[@coreywestwell]

@@caesar7734 well, they’re not when you’re applying for a graphic design job. But that doesn’t mean that you need a degree to get the job.

[@Alex-ns9ud]

Actually they did have graphic backgrounds and degrees :)

[@Alex-ns9ud]

@@caesar7734 I suggest you first google what graphic design is really about and then you’ll know that it actually surrounds you :)

[@coreywestwell]

@Taipan Tails it is yeah, but that on the basis people with apparent degrees somehow thought they would work 6 month on commission. I guess more fool them, however having looked a few of them up on LinkedIn, some of them didn’t actually have degrees in the relevant subject, so again, that would probably be the reason why, someone with a degree, would take a commission based job. It just doesn’t make sense having spent however much per term.

[@curiositycloset2359]

"Imagine if you found your job wasn't real" said the person working for the BBC lol

[@simplytheguest8455]

Luckily, it wasn't casting couch. Wasnt too bad after all. Didnt lose any money just did somw free work.

[@prithwirajjadhav1611]

How does someone steal work?

[@Turanic1]

copy paste?

[@Martial-Mat]

Commission only for 6 months? Do me a favour! How dumb were they. That said, this feels like only half a story. Come on, do your diligence BBC.

[@antithanos5246]

Nah man

[@debbiemarquis3231]

Bai .hmmm

[@gina3498]

Snap him into nothing

[@sethandruby]

Brussels Broadcasting Company (BBC) spin ?

[@SubvertTheState]

People need to demand more in general, well people who actually do hard work which is critically needed but vastly underpaid.

[@BD4-ManchesterIsRed]

What on earth are you talking about?

[@icantsleepbutyoucansweetdr5416]

I’m very surprise these people got a job… 😨😱

[@GameSpyDarkAge]

Talking about the metaverse