MXP Direct: Latest incarnation of DVD scammer

For those of you who produce DVDs, be on the lookout for an email from MXP Direct. It's the latest incarnation of what used to be known as either Myracomm or MWE Interactive.

The scam is to go to a small-to-medium sized producer and convince him that MXP can take huge orders (1000 to 4000 units is what they typically promise). Then they have you send samples. They claim that they "don't like" to deal with distributors and will deal only direct with studios. If you ask them detailed questions they don't like, they stop responding entirely.

Here the stories diverge: A lot of people never hear from them again, and a couple have reported shipping a large order paid with a credit card, where the purchase is subsequently charged back months later.

The place claims to have a 1.2 million name email list of "opt-in" customers, yet it has no website, not even a domain name of its own, no physical address (other than a UPS Store location), and no apparent employees other than one guy whose name seems to change as often as his company name, and no phone number.

So... in case you get an email from them, heads up... it's a scam.

A thread with details is here

Thanks for making the new thread! Scammers are so hard to keep track of!

We got our first one today. bet they never reply.

you think they would have moved away from the "M" company names by now LOL!!!

thanks for the heads up!

Chris,

We have been doing business for 5 years now, we produce our own dvds
but we dont produce any gay titles ourselves. We have purchased gay
titles from PleasureD, JJ Productions, Sassy Productions, XFactor, and
the wholesaler IVD.

We would look to make small purchases in the beginning(around 400
dvds), but as things progress and if your titles are in demand from
our customers we would boost that up to 1000 - 2000 dvds per order.
Do you have a price list that you can send me for bulk orders(start it
at 400 dvds to 2000 dvds).

Please send me the pricing at your earliest convenience. Thank you.


Sean J. ~ MXP Direct

Be interesting to know if they have, in fact, purchased from any of these companies, and if so, how long they have been doing so.

One source I heard from said they (or rather, MWE) did ship a large order (couple thousand units) paid with a credit card, which was charged back about 2 months later.

Be also interesting to get their physical address and phone number :)

Hey Chip, do you know if the address and information are the same?

We are interested in mid level to high end dvds. No low end, comps or
playgirl style dvds. We can prepay for any volume we sent you once we
decide what we move forward with.

Our mailing list is a private mailing list. We use to run a number of
websites that brought in traffic and allowed us to get people to sign
up for deals. We dont sell or trade the list with anyone. We dont
spam anyone.

If you want to send us some dvd screeners so we can take a look at
what you have to sell please do. Not asking for a large amount of
screeners, we do like to start off with about 10 so if you wish to
send that much that would be fine. Just gives us an idea of what you
have, we review the material as well as the pricing you give and then
we can make a determination on what to buy from you. If you can send
a catalogue of your dvds as well as the some dvd screeners too that
will work well.

Here is our address:

Here is our address:

MXP DIRECT MEDIA
2629 N. State Road 7
Suite#29
Lauderhill, FL, 33313


Thanks and take care,

Sean J. ~ MXP DIRECT
561 935 6208

It's a different address. The only two things I can find at this address are a Cash Plus check cashing place, and ASA Computer Center, an apparently defunct computer store. Looks from Google Maps like a small shopping center.

Also the area code for the phone number doesn't match the landline area code for that area, so it's a cell.

I note he's updated his scam pitch so he now has a (totally implausible) explanation of where his email list came from. I suppose he's claiming that he emails people and tells them to call to place orders? Not likely.

Be nice if someone who is near that area could drive by and see what's really going on there.

scammers are everywere these days :(

Just to update everyone, they have not sent me any replies to my last email to them. lol maybe they found the thread like last time.

There's a lot of us here who make video and make DVDs... and want a distributor who we can hand off to, to do the distributing: Duplicating / Replicating, inserts, cases, shipping.

Are there truly some out there, who want to actually distribute our DVDs and deal with the mechanics of distribution after we shoot, edit and author DVDs of our vids?

We got our first email from this guy today and researching his company name brought us here :D

We usually ask for four business references (company name/contact person/phone number) so we can verify that they're on the up and up. On most cases that's the last we hear of them. Once in a while they try to use real company names with fake phone numbers but a quick net search reveals them for fake pretty quickly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gaybucks_chip

Also the area code for the phone number doesn't match the landline area code for that area, so it's a cell.

---

Or it could be a Skype number.. in which case he could be anywhere right?

I got this email from them today.

Dean,

I am looking to purchase some of your dvd titles wholesale. We are an
e-tailer(email marketing company) that sells adult dvds directly to
email customers.

We have a vast number of adult customers(1.2 million email customers)
who buy our adult dvds directly, if you are interested and in a
position sell us your titles in large quantities please let me know. I
look forward to hearing from you and possibly doing business with you.

Best Regards,


Sean J. ~ MXP Direct
561-935 6208

They didn't ask for samples? We've gotten those emails where they want 50-100 samples, different tiles of course.

They will ask for samples and the first time they emailed us we actually sent them screeners. but learned.

Hi Everyone, wanted to let you know that Myracomm/MXP is back and sending emails to producers that are listing in the Adam Gay Directory. Here is the lasted email that they have sent to one of my producers. This is the 2nd email in 2 weeks that I have seen. Please be warned that they have never made a pruchase from anyone that I know and/or work with. They request samples and then never respond.


Latest Email:

> Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 13:34:13 -0500
> From: mxp1direct@gmail.com
> To: XXXXXXXXXXXXX@msn.com
> Subject: Buying your ManHandle Media dvds*bulk
>
> My name is Sean with MXP Direct, we sell adult dvds direct to email
> customers. With a vast customer list of 1.2 million people we are able to
> market dvds to a wide number of interested buyers world wide.
>
> I am interested in buying some (if not all) of your adult dvds on a
> wholesale basis, provided you are in a position to sell wholesale.
> Please touch base with me if you wish to do some business with us.
>
> take care!
>
> Sean J. ~ MXP Direct

These people just don't give up.

Bump! Sorry boys, but they are at it again! Beware!

------

From: mxpdirect@wildmail.com
Reply-to: mxpdirect@gmail.com
Sent: 11/19/2008 2:56:08 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: Purchasing ur adult dvds*bulk




My name is Sean with MXP Direct we are an email marketing company with
an customer list of 1.2 million emails. We sell our customers adult
videos directly. I would be very interested in buying your adult dvd
titles in bulk from you and selling them to our customer base. If you
are interested then touch base with me, I look forward to hearing from
you and possibly doing business with you.

take care!



Sean J. ~ MXP Direct

From: MXP Direct
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:54:44 -0500

Subject: Buying your adult dvds*bulk

Our company sells adult dvd titles DIRECTLY to email customers. Our
customer list is quite extensive(OVER 1.2 million email customers) and we
would be interested in purchasing your dvd tiles in bulk-wholesale.

I would be very interested in buying your adult DVDs in bulk from you
and selling them to our customer base. If you are interested in then
please get in touch with me. I look forward to hearing from you and
the possibilities in doing some business together.

Take care,

Sean J. ~ MXP DIRECT
mxp1direct@gmail.com

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gaybucks_chip

For those of you who produce DVDs, be on the lookout for an email from MXP Direct. It's the latest incarnation of what used to be known as either Myracomm or MWE Interactive.

The scam is to go to a small-to-medium sized producer and convince him that MXP can take huge orders (1000 to 4000 units is what they typically promise). Then they have you send samples. They claim that they "don't like" to deal with distributors and will deal only direct with studios. If you ask them detailed questions they don't like, they stop responding entirely.
A thread with details is here

---

DOES THE EMAIL LOOK LIKE THIS?

Subject: Buying your adult dvds in bulk
From: MXP Direct
Date: Fri, January 23, 2009 12:50 pm
To: info@nowat1entertainment.info

My name is Sean with MXP Direct we are an email marketing company with an customer list of 1.2 million emails. We sell our customers adult videos directly. I would be very interested in buying your adult dvd titles in bulk from you and selling them to our customer base. If you are interested then touch base with me, I look forward to hearing from you and possibly doing business with you.

take care!
Sean J. ~ MXP Direct
http://sebastianpass.com/mxp.JPG
I received this email today. And I replied. Thank god I found this!

I see he's now changed his name to Sean and they're now claiming 1.2 million subscribers.

The interesting thing is, when you ask, they have no website, no catalogs available to view, no way to add yourself to their mailing list, and won't give you the names of any other studios they work with, and they refuse to use distributors.

Our distributor told us the guy years ago ordered a bunch of stuff on a credit card and then charged it back.

It's amazing that people would fall for this, but obviously people still do or else they wouldn't still be emailing.

The thing of it is, they sound real... they're emails really sound real and promising. After thinking about this.... our email @nowat1entertainment.info is a catch-all email account. And we have never used info@nowat1entertainment.info. We made this a catch all account incase our customers or who have you has a typo in @.
So after looking at that email again, where they are sending it to becomes rather suspicious like a game.

I am so very glad that I read this before any further communications arose from the originating email response sent by me.

Thank you all!

NOTE: we always reply to get all their details for all you fabulous people!


From: MXP Direct
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:08:15 -0500
Subject: Re: Buying your adult dvds*bulk

We would need to review titles first and I would need pricing from you
according to these volume numbers:

300 units
600 units
1000 units
2000 units


Please send 1 of each dvd and pricing to:

MXP DIRECT
1007 N. Federal Hwy
Suite#94
Ft. Lauderdale,FL
33304

Once I finish reviewing the titles/pricing we will then make a
prepayment for whatever number of dvds we wish to order. Thanks and
have a good weekend.


Sean J. MXP DIRECT

Chris/PornTeam was nice enough to give me a heads up on this guy. (The latest rendition of the email he posted was sent to me this morning). It obviously would be a sweet deal to sell a bunch of dvds, but a couple red-flags came up. Not least of which it just seemed a little too good to be true. That, and he's using some free gmail account... I mean, c'mon, if you're seriously a business with over a million customers you'd expect a little more of a professional flare.
I told him I'd require payment up front in cash/check which is when he asked my to send in the freebies for "review." It didn't make much sense considering there are previews on my site. I didn't realize he's but up to this trick for, it looks like, quite a while!
Anyway, I emailed the guy back and am trying to get a phone number. Will post his response, if any.

ENTER WITH CAUTION!

JJ's lover works for Dun & Bradstreet. And they don't have a good Duns Report. They have been sued 7 times just within the past 2 years, the amounts were not small. 4 of the cases they did not show and received a default judgment.
They have 1 employee listed which I'm assuming is this Sean guy... The name listed is "S. Bradford."
They are late on paying their debts.
They have 2 evictions filed against them for not paying their office lease or rent I am guessing.

I would provide a screen capture to this effect. But, I cannot in lieu of protection of JJ's partners employment.

Just received this reply....

Derek,

Its nice to hear from you Derek. I hear what you are saying but w
will still need
to move forward in a certain way even though you do drop shipments. We dont
have a problem with drop shipping at atll. Firt let me tell you a
bit about how
we opperate. We produce our own material BUT I am always looking to focus
efforts on providing our huge email customer base with the largest
variety of product
we can give.

Do you ship all of your titles in box cover packaging? We only
purchase titles in box cover packaging. Once we pick out the titles
we wish to move forward with, we make a prepayment for that order.
Please let me know the acceptable payment methods and location where you
ship out for our records.

To get things started, we will need to screen some titles, with email
customers they are very picky and we as a company can never afford to upset
them in any way because if they opt out of our email list, we loose that
customer for life! That is why we are so very dilligent with respect to
when product will be read and quality of footage,packaging,etc. Please send
20 - 35+ different DVD titles for review we can start from there.
We will then
choose the best titles(minimum of 15) and then we can look at buying your
titles in bulk.



These are the volume of units I need you to construct pricing on with
respect to your dvds:

400units
900 units
2000 units
3000 units



Here is our address:

MXP DIRECT MEDIA
1007 N. Federal Hwy
Suite#94
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
33304
Att: Sean J.


I look forward to doing business with you!


Sean J. ~ MXP DIRECT

Yup, same old same old. They want a ton of free product and then you either get no orders, or you get orders prepaid with a charge card which they then charge back.

This guy is still at it...he's calling the straight companies now.

pornnewz.com/2009/03/adult-studios-watch-out-for-this-guy

I was contacted again by this guy (I guess he thought third time would be a charm) and called him out on the scam. He wanted this message to go out on the boards:

--------
Well then send this back to the message boards for us...We and the
companies that do sell us dvds have been laughing our asses off at the
morons on the boards. They dont even know how badly they have hurt
their own businesses...but I am not going to elaborate more than that,
dont want to give anything away....but its nice to know that now your
company is being added to the list.
If it were a scam I would have changed the name of the company etc.
My buyers are getting a good laugh at the morons on the boards. Get a
clue!
--------

Umm, Sean, you already have changed the name of your company. Twice.

We are still getting emails from him also on a weekly basis. We simply reply not interested please don't contact us again. They have done the same. We contacted GMAIL and forwarded them all of his emails. We haven't heard from him since.

Got another new email from the guy today.

I would like to see Florida law enforcement go after him.

I was going to suggest that he at least get a domain of his own, like mxpdirect.com. But then thought it'd be more fun to just register it myself. Gone. :fuckyou:
Anyone want to contribute to the site?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 619Vid

I was going to suggest that he at least get a domain of his own, like mxpdirect.com. But then thought it'd be more fun to just register it myself. Gone. :fuckyou:
Anyone want to contribute to the site?

---

I would be delighted to contribute.

Of course... he will just change his name, and his company name again. But at least, until he figures it out, we can have some fun :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 619Vid

I was contacted again by this guy (I guess he thought third time would be a charm) and called him out on the scam. He wanted this message to go out on the boards

---

The interesting part is... he first posted here under a fake login, claiming to be a dvd producer who had done *wonderfully* under his program. Then he got offended when his fake login was revealed.

And then he posted under his own name, giving a bunch of BS.

What I suspect happens is studios who send screeners, those screeners probably get sold on Ebay or at flea markets.

I heard from a reliable source that studios who are dumb enough to send a large order, paid by credit card, that the credit card is charged back several months later.