News Local man not alone in game scam
It has now emerged that a writer from Swinefleet who was conned by a computer games businessman for more than four years was not the only person to fall victim to false promises after an American artist has come forward to tell his story.
The Goole Times reported last week how local author Ray Clark was promised by a so-called businessman from Knottingley that a computer game was to be made based around The Lord of Misrule, which is the last short story featured in Ray's horror book The Lord of Misrule and other stories.
But after years of stalling and problems, it became clear that Mr Clark was being fed lies and the game never materialised.
Now Timothy Fobbs, who lives in the United States of America (USA), has come forward to tell how he also fell victim to the false promises delivered by the Knottingley-based businessman after responding to an advertisement for artists on www.gamasutra.com's message board.
Mr Fobbs supplied art to the businessman for two years without any pay, on the promise that he would be paid with the commission made from the game once it was sold.
After two years, the businessman offered Mr Fobbs a full-time position with his computer game company, offering to pay him $15,000 per year to work on Ray Clark's computer game.
But Mr Fobbs told the Goole Times: "The first game was never released because there was always some major problem, which usually involved a computer problem or a former employee stealing from the businessman.
"When it was time for me to receive my first pay cheque for £3,500, it did not come. Then, he accused me of stealing art for another freelance artist and passing it off as my own, and said he would have to put my payment on hold and my contract in limbo.
"Finally, he sent me an internet cheque as an e-mail attachment. There is no such thing as a cheque that you can send by e-mail, but this cheque that he sent to me was signed and has a routing number pointing to a bank in Knottingley."
Mr Fobbs added: "I have not officially reported him to the police, but I have spoken to them and I was told that, since I am in the USA, it would be a virtually impossible case to pursue.
"Also, because he did not steal money from me, but simply did not live up to his contract, this was a civil issue. All attorneys told me to forget about it, since I lived in the States.
"However, he did slip up and commit a verifiable crime. He wrote me a fake cheque, of which I still have a copy with his signature on it.
"But once again, since I live in the States, the police were not much help."
Published on 10th January 2008 in News.
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