I suppose we never outgrow some semblance of naiveté, and on occasion I am reminded of that.

Ripoff Report is a site that’s been around for almost twenty years now, and I never paid much attention to it other than posting on it occasionally, or responding to a post.

I suppose I thought it was a bit like craigslist, a site that someone put out there to help people.

Recently reports I and several other people posted on the site were suddenly glossed over with about 12” of verbiage praising Jessica Horton & Associates, and most of what it said was untrue. It appeared and claimed that RipoffReport.com was giving a glowing endorsement of a company I know from personal experience to be of ill repute. So I wanted to see how this happened.

On this page is a collection of various postings, articles, emails, and court docs I found on the net, and believe me, there’s a thousand more. In a nutshell, if you have a bad report posted by someone you’ve done business with; you can pay for a good report and a supposed “investigation”. Apparently in my case, that investigation didn’t include talking to me; though they claim they tried to reach me, and that is false.

So, at least now I know the site is nothing more than a tool to shake down business owners; it makes more sense now, that’s for sure. From what I’ve read recently, it’s the most scurrilous site on the net. Visit RipoffReport and see what Jessica Horton got for her money.

Page 25 - RIPOFF REPORT (www.RipOffReport.com) is incorporated in the State of Delaware as XCENTRIC VENTURES, LLC ("RIPOFF REPORT). ED MAGEDSON is the owner, operator, and "EDitor" of RIPOFF REPORT.

RIPOFF REPORT earns money through  advertisements on its website. RIPOFF REPORT is an Arizona based company, but is incorporated in the State of Delaware. RIPOFF REPORT derives financial benefit and income by selling advertisement space on its website and through its "Corporate Advocacy Program" and its RIPOFF REPORT Verified™ program (collectively "CAP"), both of which are expensive services provided solely by RIPOFF REPORT, which mitigate, and in some instances, remove negative, defamatory RIPOFF REPORT complaint for a hefty fee.

The RIPOFF REPORT enterprise markets the CAP programs to the subjects of Reports, typically after strongly urging them to file rebuttals. By joining CAP or otherwise making financial arrangements with the RIPOFF REPORT enterprise, a subject can buy the privilege of essentially writing (or approving) his or her own Google search result.

The CAP member writes or approves between 250 and 350 additional words of positive content that will be inserted into the body of a Report and also in a known strategic location in the HTML for the Report. 250 words is just the right amount of text to push the surrounding negative content so far down in the HTML as to be irrelevant to search engines.

Thus, negative content virtually disappears from the Google search results for CAP members, replaced by the words approved by the CAP member. Because Google's search algorithms are generally influenced to select text that "matches," between both a web page and the corresponding HTML (that is, identical text that is present in both), putting the positive content in the strategic location in the HTML, along with a matching block of text in the Report effectively negates the harmful effect of the Report with the Google search engine.

According to RIPOFF REPORT employee I agent SIAMACK YAGHOBI (aka SAM YOUBANKS), RIPOFF REPORT I XCENTRIC VENTURES is worth more than 35 million dollars.

                     STATEMENT FROM JESSICA HORTON & ASSOCIATES:

This report is false because: This is a personal matter. However, the writer of the report elected to attack my business. My business has NOTHING to do with our personal issues. I leased a property from this individual (he was also one of my real estate agents that I had to reprimand for misconduct). We had to termite our lease (lawfully) with him because the company that I was working for went under and didn't pay me. He threaten to post this report if I didn't agree to pay him additional monies. He tried to extort me. Our personal rent issue has NOTHING to do my business. But, yet, he attacked my business to cause me harm.

Jessica Horton is by anyone’s definition, a pathological liar; she lies so much, I think she begins to believe the lies she tells. One thing is for sure, she gets really upset if you even hint that you don't believe her line of bullshit.

Now she has posted the above comment on RipoffReport.com claiming she never owed me any money, and exited her contract "lawfully" (whatever the hell that means).

The emails below show quite clearly she is lying through her teeth, and I will forward these same emails to anyone that wants them directly from the email account involved. As for the "reprimand", I'd love to see it, because it's the first I've heard of it.

From: EDitor@ripoffreport.com

Sent: Friday, December 31, 2004 7:36 PM

To: seanluke@earthlink.net; Chris McFarland; Steve Miller

Cc: EDitor@ripoffreport.com; 'Maria Crimi Speth'

Subject: Proposed settlement offer Federated Financial... RE: as per our last conversation

Chris McFarland & Steve Miller

If you want the Corporate Advocacy Program, I would give you a reduced fee of $2,500 up front and a monthly monitoring of about $125 a month.. paid every 4 months.

The normal cost for the amount of Reports you have would be about $9,000 and much more of a monthly monitoring fee:

THIS WOULD INCLUDE:

An investigative Report by Rip-off Report. In this case, we know it would be a very positive one, turning all the negatives into a positive. Anyone would want to do business with your company. You will wish there were more Rip-off Reports on you, ...NO joke...

Monitoring and verifying FIRST all Rip-off Reports and REBUTTALS. they would be contacted within in 30 minutes of their filing and put into a holding bin,  we would also be explaining a positive view of what has happened over time and how we know, (and we do know) that you will take care of the situation, and they would be given your special contact e-mail address to take care of any issues they did not get resolved by your staff with in 14 days.

AS a part of this program, Federated Financial (like all its other members) would be guaranteeing complete customer satisfaction and a refund of fees if they were not satisfied. ( if applicable)  (this can vary with different businesses and can be discussed). There is a lot more to the program, I will sent that to you if you want, it will come  as an attached document....

Have a happy safe and healthy new year!

sincerely,

ED Magedson

The RIPOFF REPORT enterprise markets the CAP programs to the subjects of Reports, typically after strongly urging them to file rebuttals. By joining CAP or otherwise making financial arrangements with the RIPOFF REPORT enterprise, a subject can buy the privilege of essentially writing (or approving) his or her own Google search result.

The CAP member writes or approves between 250 and 350 additional words of positive content that will be inserted into the body of a Report and also in a known strategic location in the HTML for the Report. 250 words is just the right amount of text to push the surrounding negative content so far down in the HTML as to be irrelevant to search engines.

I thought it might be useful to list the cases involving RipOff Report that I have located so far and indicate their status. If anyone knows of others, please let me know so I can add it to my list. For example, I know there is a Canadian case that I’ve left out here. For your information, Xcentric Ventures, Badbusinessbureau.com, RipOffReport.com, and Edward Mageson are all the same party.

Ottis v. Magedson—Filed October 18, 2007, in the Nebraska District Court under cause number 4:2007cv03251. Mr. Ottis is asserting both libel and RICO Claims. Case Pending.

Children of America v. Magedson—Filed February 2007, in Maricopa County Superior Court in Arizona under cause number CV 2007-003720. The Court ruled that CofA may have a claim against Magedson for creating and developing complaints and/or titles to complaints. The case is still pending. If anyone has further information about this case, please let me know.

Xcentric Ventures v. Stanley—Filed May 20, 2007, in Arizona’s District Court under cause number 2:2007cv00954. This is an unusual case because ROR is the Plaintiff. Further, one of the named defendants is The Defamation Action League. How cool does that sound? There are some very interesting documents in the docket here. My favorite is a police report filed by Magedson regarding threatening letters that he received. He drops the complaint once the police begin investigating. You be the judge: Does it sound like Magedson made the whole thing up? The case is still pending with discovery (disputes) active.

Global Royalties v Xcentric—Filed May 10, 2007, in Arizona’s District Court under cause number 2:2007cv00956. The case is still active and pending a decision by the 9th Circuit ruling on the Roommates case (which will interpret the CDA). UPDATE: The case was dismissed in February 2008. The District Court granted ROR's Motion to Dismiss, ruling that mere allegations that ROR encouraged third parties to create defamatory postings was not sufficient to get Global Royalties around the broad CDA immunity. Notably, the question of a RICO act violation was not before the Court. Instead, the Court ruled consistently with prior CDA cases stating that if a third party wrote the content, ROR is not liable for defamation. This is true even when the original poster of the defamatory content later admits that the statements are not true and asks ROR to remove them. The Court states, "Unless Congress amends the statute, it is legally (although perhaps not ethically) besides the point whether defendants refuse to remove the material, or how they might use it to their advantage." You can read the Court's entire Order here.

GW Equity v. Xcentric—Filed June 1, 2007, in Texas Northern District Court under cause number 3:2007cv00976. This one is the source of some great declarations by a former employee who throws Magedson under the proverbial bus. Magedson’s only retort is that the employee was lying and that it was actually the employee inventing these stories. The case includes a RICO claim. The case is still pending and discovery is active.

RSA v. Rip-OffReport.com—Filed April 23, 2007, in the New Jersey District Court under cause number 2:07cv01882-HAA-ES.  RSA also sued Google in this case. That was a mistake. Case voluntarily Dismissed in August 2007. The report is still online and there is a rebuttal from the owner.

IGIA v. Xcentric—Filed January 2007, in the Southern District Court of New York under cause number 1:07-cv-00222-SAS-KNF. Complaint alleges RICO Act and Defamation claims. Default Judgment entered on December 20, 2007. The Defendant did not appear and defend the lawsuit.

Manchanda Law Offices v. Xcentric--Filed July 25, 2007, in the New York Southern District Court under cause number 1:2007cv06708. Originally failed to plead RICO, but amended the Complaint in October 2007 to include a RICO claim. The lawsuit was never served and was withdrawn by the Plaintiff in November 2007. The negative “reports” are still on Ripoff Report.

Magedson v. Sharp—Filed February 2007, in Maricopa County Arizona State Court under cause number CV2007-001968. The case is still pending. If anyone has further information about this case, please let me know.

Energy Automation Systems v. Xcentric Ventures—Filed November 2, 2006, in Tennessee’s Middle District Court under cause number 3:2006cv01079. Recently Settled.

Cambridge Who’s Who Publishing v. Xcentric—Filed December 11, 2006, in New York’s District Court under cause number 2:2006cv06590. Settled January 16, 2008.

Magedson v. Federated Financial Services—Filed October 2005, in Maricopa County Arizona under cause number CV2005-015552. Case dismissed December 2005. If anyone has further information about this case, please pass it on.

Hy Cite v. Badbusinessbureau.com—Filed December 11, 2004, in Arizona District Court under cause number 2:2004cv02856. The plaintiff amended its Complaint to include defamation, RICO Act claims, and trademark infringement. The Court dismissed the trademark associated claims, but ruled that the RICO Act claims and the claims that Magedson authored and/or edited defamatory statements can go forward. The case includes a thoughtful and well-written Order authored by Judge Earl H. Carroll going through the legal arguments and defenses. Surely, this well-reasoned order created the impetus necessary for the parties to settle in May 2007. Interestingly, Hy Cite is still listed on RipOffReport.com, but unlike other rebuttals to complaints, the rebuttal appears in the title and above the Complaint. I speculate that this could have been part of the settlement terms. [Note: Hy Cite originally filed in Wisconsin. However, that case was dismissed because the Wisconsin ruled that it didn’t have jurisdiction over RipOffReport.com et al.]

Whitney Information Network v. Xcentric—Filed January 27, 2004, in Florida’s Middle District Court under cause number 2:2004cv00047. This case is helpful for providing evidence that Magedson solicited reports designed to harass businesses. See document 158-2, which is an excerpt from a deposition with Magedson in which he discusses an email where he invites a disgruntled employee to “post something or part of the e-mail below? This would be great, and it would definitely piss them off!” UPDATE: This case is now dismissed. In February 2008, the District Court dismissed this case after Ripoff Report filed a Motion for Summary Judgment. The only claim before the Court was defamation. There was no RICO Act violation alleged in the Complaint. The Court ruled that RipOff Report cannot be held liable for defamation by having created the drop-down menu of descriptions (such as "scam" and "rip off") from which the person filing the report chooses to describe his or her report. In other words, drop down menus don't make you an author. The Court noted that Ed and other RipOff Report employees submitted signed statements indicating that they had never authored a report. The plaintiff did not submit any evidence that RipOff Report authored the reports at issue in the case. Thus, the Court held that the case was dismissed because there was no evidence that RipOff Report authored the reports at issue in this case. You can read the Court's Order here. Also, you can read Eric Goldman's summary here. While looking for the Court's order in this case, I found the transcript from Ed Magedson's deposition taken back in August 2007. I'm sorry it is broken up into many many pieces. I'm going to list them here for those who are interested. Parts 1-9 are the deposition and index; the remaining parts are exhibits.  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30

George S. May Intl v. Xcentric—Filed September 15, 2004, in Illinois District Court under cause number 1:2004cv06018. Agreed dismissal in February 2007.

Pritchard v. Magedson—Filed April 14, 2004, in the Western District of Pennsylvania under cause number 2:04-cv-00567-JFC.  Case closed on Plaintiff’s Motion on May 2004.

Leavenbaum v. Xcentric—Filed October 2004, in Maricopa County Superior Court for the State of Arizona under cause number CV2004-020368. Case closed on October 2005 by an Order on Dismissal. If anyone has further information about this case, I am curious.

Alyon Technologies v Badbusinessbureau.com—Filed 2003 in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court In the High Court of Justice Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis Saint Christopher Circuit under claim number SKBHCV2003/052. Default Judgment entered on July 4, 2003 for $27,100,932.00 because the defendants failed to appear and defend themselves in the suit.

MCW v Badbusinessbureau.com—Filed December 2002, in the Northern District of Texas District Court under cause number 3:06cv0179. There is a valuable opinion from this unpublished case that states Magedson is not entitled CDA immunity to the extent that he is developing and creating “report titles, headings, and some of the defamatory messages posted on the websites.” Case closed and the report is still online with no rebuttal.

Magedson v Village Voice Media--Filed January 31, 2008, in Maricopa County State Court under cause number CV2008-002416. Unfortunately I don't have access to the Complaint that was filed. However, I imagine that Magedson is suing because of this article written in the Pheonix New Times News. Ironically, he may be suing the news paper for defamation-related claims. If anyone has a copy of this Complaint, please send me a copy. UPDATE: ROR write defensive letter about filing this case.

¹ It was brought to my attention on March 21, 2008 by David Gingras, an attorney for RipOff Report, that this comment may "invite people to make knowingly false allegations." Although I don't think my article does this, I want to make sure that the reader understands I am not advocating dishonesty. Please do not make knowingly false allegations against any person or company at any time. 

² Previously, inaccurately reported as RipOff Report's former employee.

³ It was brought to my attention on March 28, 2008 by Maria Crimi Speth, another attorney for RipOff Report, that Ed Magedson is not the owner of RipOff Report. Xcentric Ventures is the legal owner of RipOff Report. Ed Magedson manages Xcentric. Many Complaints allege that he operates and controls Xcentric and RipOff Report.

"If you have been defamed on their site by a false report, you have to pay them a $2000 fee & they will "consider" removing it"

"Recently, a person I did not know & had never done business with, contacted me & demanded a "refund" of $1800 & threatened to add my name to a complaint unless I gave him money. I did not know this man & had never been paid a fee by him for anything. I did not pay him. Then, about a month later, I was told by a potential client that there was a ripoff report that mentioned my name. I checked this website & to my horror, found a false report that mentioned me. I wrote a rebuttal explaining what this total stranger had done. He then wrote a rebuttal, repeating the same falsehoods, yet again. I posted another rebuttal, but the damage to my reputation is done"

"The operators of this disgraceful website won't remove anything even though they know that at least some of their reports are false. I suppose that some reports are true, but many are not true, and they know it. I can't pay $2000 to get rid of this”

"They told me that I could have this post that is online taken off the web for $2000.00. I again stated that "we have never done work in this state, why would you charge me $2000.00 to have something removed if it was not true." They said "that's what it will cost if you want it removed."

"This company has full-time legal staff to handle all the lawsuits file against them where they allow anyone to post slanderous postings. They will not remove it even if the person that placed the post wants it removed. Oh, wait yes for $2000.00 they consider it. Oh wait one more way they make money for $600.00 a month they will block it"

"The only response I received was in my email from them stating I can pay $$$$$$$ to have the review bumped down to the bottom of Google and other search engines. I said "Hell no. That's a scam." Then I replied back and no response again"

"I made the mistake of joining in on a ripoff report post for somebody that had been conning people out of money. He retaliated with a completely fabricated report on me on rip off report under an anonymous name. They didn't verify the validity of it and won't take it down and want $2000 to amend the report"

"This is a defamation of character. The rip off report is the true Rip Off!! You want to charge an innocent person $2000.00 to remove lies??"

"We have added a rebuttal to the original author's complaint, but the only way to get Rip-off Report to do anything is to *pay them*. That is the definition of *extortion* - something they purport to be against as a "champion of the consumer" - but in fact this is their business model. Pay a fee, and your problems go away"

"I am really angry at this website where any one can write down anything about any business without verifying the truth and that they need $2000.00 to verify. What a scam"

"Ripoff betrays your confidence. Do not trust them! Ripoff report is not the website that you naively think it is. They mislead that they post all reviews and never remove reports from their database. This is not true. Companies paid Ripoff report not to post negative reviews. Their advice to you, not to reveal your real name is a trap, since they give it to the companies without your consent. You are unaware that the company knows your name. Behind the misleading Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation and Customer Satisfaction Program, Ripoff report doesn't post the negative reviews. He gives your name to the company, and they contact you personally. The consequences could be very damaging for you and your reputation. Rich companies found the way to eliminate the negative reviews. Be careful never, ever write your real name when you create a profile and do not use your personal email address."

"Ripoff report posted a "review" from an anonymous person. It states nothing but lies and made up facts. I searched a bit and saw it was posted from Arizona, where the company is located. We are in NJ. They will help you make the review positive IF YOU PAY THEM. It's a total scam. I don't know how anyone could feel good about working for a company like this"

"Stranger tried to destroy me personally on ripoff report - I lost most of my friends, my job. Not to mention anyone new I meet. Anybody who googles me gets this huge lie written by a stranger on page 1. I've asked to remove it and been told it's $20k to mediate, or $2k to arbitrate. Google won't remove it either, because clearly, they love Ed Magedson"

"They encourage negative posts about your business, then call you up as they did me and demand substantial amounts of money to manage your reputation. They said if I gave them $1200.00, they would make the claim less prominent on the first page of Google"

badbusinessbureau.com
Corporate Customer Advocacy Program
Assisting companies working towards a better image

Hy Cite - Royal Prestige
Ingrid C. Arvalo Villanueva (608) 273-3373 x 6126


Ingrid,

As you have seen, the web site (RipoffReport.com) has the goal to help consumers. 

What badbusinessbureau.com will do: 

After your written approval, we will E-mail all the consumers who feel they were victimized, stating that they will get a full refund plus a min of 5% more for their inconvenience explaining (something to the effect of) management did not realize this was going on, and they are glad (as we discussed by phone) that these Rip-off Reports were there to let them know of the problems. With over 900 offices, there will always be some complaints and things happening out of their control. And the fact that your company seems to be happy this was brought to your attention, wanting to rectify a problem you were not aware of and are now fixing it and offering a full refund. We can also explain the fact that these are independent offices and you have not control as you explained on the phone.

We will include in a mailing to the unsatisfied customers a contact number and e-mail address of a specific person handling these complaints at Hy Cite? 

Once a complaint is resolved, the Report will be updated in the Rip-off Report title to show the companies willingness to work with their customer. 

Rip-off Report will contact Hy Cite within 48 hours of a NEW posted Rip-off Report. As we notify your designated person, we will e-mail the unsatisfied customer on who to contact, because your company wants to take care of all these situations. 

We will also include a link onto the specific Rip-off Reports about your company, a statement from Hy Cite (which you will write) .. that will be your letter to existing and future consumers on why are you helping them, something about your business and your commitment to getting to the bottom of these problems. This will be very convincing to any consumer to do business with you after looking at the specific Rip-off Report on your company. 

If for some reason the consumer will not respond to our mailing, we will try calling them, If we get no response, at all, we will then UPDATE The Report as to our investigation, and the title and the Report will reflect Hy Cites willingness to satisfy this customer, but apparently they either filed a bogus Report, or they are a disgruntled employee, a competitor etc, what ever our findings, with some assistance from you, as to the possibilities of why they did not respond, the Report will reflect that and will definitely put you in a good light, if any customer reads any Rip-off Report on you, ..because you will be trying to make all the unsatisfied customers happy. 

What Hy Cite needs to do: 

Live up to their agreement to satisfy all complaints that come to Rip-off Report 

Hy Cite will only give a refund if they have the web address of the customers specific Rip-off Report, so when the customer has been satisfied, that info will be sent to CorporateAdvocacy@ripoffreport.com, so Rip-off Report can assist your customer, making sure they UPDATE the Report to let everyone know what good business people you are. 

What badbusinessbureau.com will receive for this service: 

We see that you have about a total of about 25 to 30 complaints. After you submitted to us your explanation as to the reason for these complaints, badbusinessbureau.com will evaluate your statement, to see if we can work with it to make this program work.. 

If accepted , before the mailing goes out to start this Corporate Customer Advocacy Program to your unsatisfied customers, we will require a check for $30,000 made payable to badbusinessbureau.com. Once this mailing goes out, and all the reports are UPDATED in a positive light by either HY Cite refunding their money or by stating Hy Cite tried to refund and the author of the report was either a disgruntled employee..etc etc ? 

Once all the Reports are updated, we would receive an additional $20,000 with in 5 days of the last Report being UPDATED, we would notify you by e-mail . We will notify Ingrid (or whoever you designate) of this, and would expect the payment to be sent over night mail to a designated address at that time? 

ALSO (additional cost) : 

badbusinessbureau.com is willing to assist in any investigation or complaints about your company, and willing to explain your willingness to comply as we truthfully see it. You may have prospective customers and possible franchises call us.. 

If we get any e-mail on your company or a Rip-off Report comes in, that indo will be immediately be forwarded to your designated employee. We will give you a chance to take care of the situation avoiding a possible new Rip-off Report being posted. 

Starting 30 days after the second payment of $20,000 we would require a monthly retainer of $1,500. Assuming the e-mail complaints and or Rip-ff Reports do not exceed more than 4 a month? 

IN Closing: 

You should know, we looked hard at your situation, and called several of the Report Authors on your company, ..this is a difficult case, where it is hard for us to understand why your company and your independent offices treated these people they way they have as these customers truly feel very violated. 

We feel this will make authorities take another look at what you are doing before furthering any investigation, as they will see you are taking care of business, even though it may not be all Hy Cites fault, because you cannot watch every move across the country? 

We feel by you doing this program, you will be able to use it with future clients as a sales tool as to how you do business? after all? 

Every company receives complaints, but how they handle those complaints separates good business from bad business. 

Sincerely,
ED Magedson 602-359-4357
Editor@ripoffreport.com
badbusinessbureau.com

Ed Magedson - ripoffreport.com

Ed Magedson Ripoff Report Cyberbully: Home Address

Ed Magedson, founder and editor of Ripoff Report is an emotional terrorist who makes millions of dollars a year from publishing false and offensive content masquerading as ‘consumer advocacy’. As is evident in this Forbes article, Magedson seems to take delight in his power to hurt people. Magedson apparently did not like the Forbes article and very soon after derogatory content was published on Ripoff Report about the author, Adam Tanner. Magedson regularly publishes the home addresses, phone numbers and even birth dates of minors on webpages containing false content about their parents (such as referring to them as prostitutes, pedophiles and/or deadbeat dads and mothers).

Even if the webpage on Ripoff Report contains a legitimate consumer complaint, Magedson refuses to remove terms such as ‘fraud’, ‘whore’ ‘skank’ or ‘drug dealer’  unless he is paid by one method or another. Magedson regularly refuses to remove identifying details and photographs about children even after their parents literally beg  him for months to at least remove the content about their kids. This may prove to be Magedson’s ultimate downfall!

Ripoff Report publishes maps of the home location along with photographs of the children on many of the webpages. Magedson is a monster who, by these actions puts children in danger from pedophiles. He appears to ‘get off’ from his power enabled by a high Google page rank and ability to inflict harm and this is portrayed in the Forbes article as well as numerous blog posts.

There is current evidence that Magedson actually paid a troll who was publishing content on Ripoff Report to include photos of minors because he was ‘angry’ with the children’s father.  Magedson will only remove content if he is paid thousands of dollars. Ed Magedson purports to be the voice of the consumer but he is an extortionist who pays his minions to write false material. In fact, Magedson’s  self described ‘reputation hitman’, Darren M Meade was recently  indicted in a US court on a range of charges including extortion and witness tampering.

So it was quite amusing, but not surprising to learn that Magedson has somehow annoyed members of Anonymous and 4chan. According to various reports, Magedson is in hiding because people want to kill him. I don’t condone violence but I cannot say that I am surprised. The video showing his residence that was published by a member of 4chan was removed from YouTube within hours because Magedson complained. I am informed that is will be back online 100 fold very soon.

Clearly, although Magedson uses ‘freedom of speech’ as an excuse to earn $15 million  a year from his various extortion activities that are masked as consumer advocacy. Magedson does not believe that the re-publication of factual information or opinion applies to information about him and sends his attorneys Maria Crimi-Speth and Adam Kunz to shut down, more often than not unsuccessfully, the dissemination of anything he does not like. In fact, as is evident in a range of documents submitted into  the Iowa case, the removal of material from Ripoff Report for substantial payment is rife. In fact, this extortion has been going on for more than a decade.

This is Magedson’s home address. He owns a luxury house in an upmarket suburb, Fountain Hills, near to the city of Phoenix Arizona. Ed Magedson’s home address is registered with the county court so it took  a mere couple of keyboard clicks for anonymous members to find it.

Ed Magedson

15821 E Jericho Dr

Fountain Hills, AZ 85268

Magedson bought this house in 2009 and a Google search for the address displays extensive maps of its location as well as photographs and specifics of its layout.

If my blog host and server company receives a complaint  from Magedson’s attorneys (Jaburg & Wilk) let me say this: Before you consider taking this post offline, please check the Maricopa County Court Documents. I think that you will find that Magedson’s address is a public record. Anonymous found it quite easily. Please also look at this list of URLs from Ripoff Report. It is clear that Magedson publishes the addresses and location of minors because he is cruel and gets a kick out of his power to not remove them even though it relates to children. Ed Magedson clearly likes the power to destroy lives afforded to him by Ripoff Report but apparently Magedson has pissed off some people with more power and resources than him.

I have heard rumours that a drug cartel is looking for Magedson because he refused to remove a ror report that included location details about one of their people’s family. I can imagine that by nature of their business drug traffickers don’t like their identity and location publicised on the internet. I cannot say if this rumour is true. Magedson is prone to  cry to the police or FBI with exaggerated tales that there have been death threats against him. For the record, I have not heard first hand that members of  a drug cartel that does business in the south west of Arizona (he only lives a couple of hours drive from the  business center of the most powerfull drug cartel in that area) is looking for Magedson. It is just a rumour. However, from what I have read, it is not wise to cross these people if one values their life.

From what I have read, even bodyguards are not sufficient protection because they can be bought off or persuaded. Magedson is notoriously cheap and I doubt he would pay enough to ensure loyalty. Plus those cartels have way more capital and resources than Magedson. I doubt whether the loyalty of any bodyguard to a client would extend to giving up his families lives. Maybe it is better to take the extra cash and see the client’s head on a stick than those of their families? All I am saying that Magedson has pissed off too many people by refusing to remove material from the website. If I had dissed a family member of a drug cartel I would not even trust people on the payroll let alone bodyguards, especially if one liked to party with young guys, or order take-away food.

So while Anonymous and 4Chan are his current problems at least they are displaying their grievances in the public domain. Moreover, they are not violent and Magedson is in no danger of personal harm from them or their associates.  But  I doubt whether Anonymous and 4chan are his biggest problem. It is just a question of who gets him first, the Feds or the cartel. If I were in his position I would be knocking on the Feds door. Magedson has hurt a lot of people but he has also pissed of some who are more powerfull than those that can be kept at arms length by his attorneys. I do not condone violence or drugs and I have no links to those that do. But I have done a lot of research over the last four years for my case. All I am saying is that if I were Magedson I would worry that my head would turn up on a stick in affluent Fountain Hills and my body south of the border and not trust anyone, let alone those he pays for protection and other services.

It seems that our victims’ advocacy is not the only people to stand up to Ripoff Report. After four years of reading emails, blog posts and comments  from victims detailing their unanswered pleas to this despicable extortionist  to remove humiliating, false and offensive material from Ripoff Report this video shows an actual extortion attempt: