Emails from Voice Up – Scam Alert Related

A while back I was alerted that the Indian Voiceover Scam outfit Voxbox has started to list jobs under a different name. Voice Up, or at least this is what we thought was the case.

Shawn Pereira was the one listing the jobs under Voice Up and Melroy DeMello was out of the picture… in hiding I suppose.

But today I was contacted my Shawn … and he wanted to clear his name. He sent me this email:

Hi Taji,

Im writng in to discuss a very serious issue that has my name and reputation tied into it for no justifiable reason.

I’ve been following TVE for a while now and you have mentioned my venture which is Voice Up as a black listed company.

Given the actions of Voxbox and my past association as an employee with it – this would be seem justifiable. However i request you to not put a huge hole in my reputation for the irresponsible actions of others.

I worked as an employee for Voxbox and during my tenure there (which ended a while back) I personally had no control or decision making power regarding the release of the payments to Vo artists or the  decision to delay their payments.

My venture –  Voice Up (is separate from Voxbox) is a legitimate and honest effort from my end, that has not been involved in scamming any voice-over artists at all. I honestly  feel that it is not right to deface  a business and frankly my lively hood that i work hard for, when there is no evidence to prove the same.

I request you and do hope that in the future you would not associate me with the image  that Voxbox has left on professionals who have been more than accommodating as far as, rightfully receiving payment for work that they have done.

I’m very committed to running a legitimate business (one of the reasons is due to the various experinces I have had myself with people claiming one thing and doing the other)

I know that in the future I can prove this to you with more than just words.

Sincerely,
Shawn Pereira.

Although I appreciate Shawn’s effort to clear his name. I don’t believe he understands the concept of Guilty by association. The fact that you worked for a criminal makes you someone who is involved in criminal activity. But anyway let’s get back to the topic.

Shawn wants to clear his name …  and I applaud his effort so this is what I wrote back:

Hello Shawn,

I am glad that you took the initiative to contact me and clear your name. I will remove your company’s name from the scam list and include your email…

but beware that all eyes are on you… if you were associated with Melroy then you should have contacted me sooner to distance yourself from him and get your company’s name cleared.

I would ask you to go one step further and write me a detailed account of what Melroy used to do and has done with regards to scamming voiceover artists. This is a big request but it will go a long way toward exonerating you and distancing you from Melroy.

Your name will take a while to clear … being associated with a thief (because let’s face it if you take something and don’t pay for it… you’re a thief) is a terrible thing for your business and if you don’t take immediate actions will alienate you from the rest of the voiceover community and ruin your reputation with Clients.

I will publish your email in the blog but I cannot remove your name from the emails that some of the other voiceover artists sent in as proof that voxbox ripped them off.  What I can do is remove your company name from the main scam alert page.

Regards,
Mahmoud Taji

I will not release Shawn’s email online but if you want to say something to him. Leave it in the comments.

Thanks,

Taji