A warning to all online leagues out there about a cheating owner

[cesser]

I've already been given approval by the mods here to post this....


Our league, the PFBL, in existence since 2002, had an issue with collusion 15 months ago, in which we found out, after several seasons unfortunately, that we had three owners posting on our forums from the same IP address. They were obviously one person running three teams. The names and emails this person used in our league were Chad Carter (qfl1@yahoo.com), Mark Lee (big_lee@fastmail.fm), and James McCarthy (jmccarty@budweiser.com).

We kicked him/them out. In response to my expulsion email to him at the time, this person sent back this reply:

Well, I'm astounded that it took so long, but we knew this day would
come eventually. This game within the game was incredibly addictive.
I'm surprised we didn't get caught with 2 teams, so we had to add a
3rd. In any case you're rid of us. Farewell-

Mark J. McCarthy

They had traded among themselves all the time. Unfortunately, this had been going on for multiple seasons in our league before we uncovered the scandal as the trades they made got more and more outrageous. We had to contract their 3 teams after their expulsion because 2 of the teams had become way too strong (their AAA teams probably could've competed for the major league title). Basically this person used one of his teams to "tank" each season by playing all scrubs. He'd then get the first pick in the draft each season, and would also pick numerous underdevloped propsects in the Rule 5 draft each year, play them at the major league level immediately, the team would suck, the Rule 5'ers would be sent down the next season, then the picks and prospects, over time, would be traded to the other two teams he had in exchange for over-priced, declining veterans. So two of the teams would always get top notch young players, while his third team acted as a dumping ground for crap players the other two didn't need anymore.

While, in hindsight, it looks pretty obvious now as to what was happening, at the time, at least at first, it didn't seem too out of the ordinary. We pretty much figured that the one owner who kept "screwing up" his team was an owner that was still learning the ropes and trying out new strategies to improve his team. By the time we kicked him/them out after finding out what was really happening (as the trades just got more and more one-sided and we had our other "legit" owners crying bloody murder) our league's owners and myself were very frustrated and we nearly folded, as we almost couldn't decide how to proceed. After 45 days of bickering back and forth, we finally decided to contract those 3 teams, bring in 3 new owners, and make 3 new teams along with holding a dispersal draft as well for the remaining teams. Luckily things went well, and now our league is stronger than ever.

Anyway, back to the point - yesterday I was emailed by the commish of another league. He had advertised for openings in his league on the online leagues forum recently and filled up his league right away. However, he noticed that 11 of his new owners were posting on his forum from the same IP address as well. He then discovered that on the PFBL's owner history page (http://takeyourbase.com/ootp/pfbl/pages/teamchanges.htm - see season 2013) that three of his new owners had the same names as the ones that the PFBL kicked out last year. It just blows my mind that this person is actually still using the same names and even the same email addresses he used in my league, but for some strange reason he is.

Doing further reserach on the OOTP boards (searching for any of the three email addresses used by this person), I have discovered that OOTP user woburn is the person in question. I found at least 2 past posts from woburn in which he used both the yahoo and fastmail email addresses he used in my league in different posts:

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...l1%40yahoo.com (yahoo email)

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...%40fastmail.fm (fastmail email)


This person also, using the name Chad Carter, used to run the QBA baseball league a few seasons ago (I believe the league is now defunct).


Woburn is still posting on OOTP's boards btw (last post 10/20/06 over in the OOTP2006 forum).

I know of at least one other league that this person is currently in, using the name Chad Carter, along with the same email address. Yesterday I emailed the commish of that league to let him know who he's in bed with.

Seeing all the crap we had to go through in our league to fix things (not to mention the permanent blemish we now have in our history because of this), it seemed like a heads-up would be appropriate for all the other commishes out there so that they don't suffer the same fate we did and have to do a major clean-up job.

Since this happened to us, I've made our forums private and also do extensive background checks on any prospective new owners. I also DON'T keep a waiting list going, as this is how James and Mark got into our league - instead, if possible, I actually look for people on the OOTP boards that are LOOKING for a league instead of us advertising an opening - much safer that way.

Be on the lookout for this guy(s). It's very possible that he's also in other leagues out there at the moment as well in addition to the two I've mentioned.

I'm not sure why any person would get a kick out of doing this, and especially KEEP doing it. Get a life already.

[so49as]

I'm the commish that was burnt by this bloke recently. Youthful enthusiasm led to poor screening.

Here are the other names/e-mails/AIMs this character used:

Mark Lee - Minnesota Twins
e-mail: big_lee@fastmail.fm
AIM: big_lee6

Chad Carter - Atlanta Braves
e-mail: qfl1@yahoo.com
AIM: cc02446

James McCarthy - Milwaukee Brewers
e-mail: jmccarthy@budweiser.com
No Instant Messenger

Dave Honeywell - Oakland A's
E-Mail: djhoneywell@operamail.com
AIM: djhoneywell

Joe Norman - Baltimore Orioles
E-mail: cappy_cap111@hotmail.com
AIM: cappy_cap111

Andy McBride - San Diego Padres
E-mail: boofbonser@minnesota-twins.net
AIM: mcbrideA1

Brad - Houston Astros
E-Mail: coleman112233@aol.com
AIM: coleman112233

Pete Quincy - St. Louis Cardinals
E-Mail: doctorball@mail.md
AIM: None

Nigel Barrett - Pittsburgh Pirates
E-Mail: wembley@postmaster.co.uk
AIM: wembley2006

John Bulger - Chicago Cubs
E-Mail: frankie_2@myway.com
AIM: oldblueeyes242

Tommy Bridges - Los Angeles Dodgers
E-Mail: tommy_bridges@outgun.com
AIM: bridgesrburning

Anthony - Kansas City Royals
E-Mail: sharky91@exite.com
AIM: None

Dan Griner - Cleveland Indians
E-Mail: dano@2trom.com
AIM: dano00

Lary Sorenson - Florida Marlins
E-Mail: lary2@uymail.com
AIM: ghost1776

Matt Webber - Cincinnati Reds
E-Mail: webber@neworleans.com
AIM: webber28

[disposableheros]

wow. im shocked that someone would go through all that trouble.

[LFC1892]

15 ID's? Someone has too much time on their hands.

[Simon_Nesbit]

I'm sorry but I have to LOL at this.

A couple of years ago I was playing in an afl (aussie rules football) management game, with about 30 or so teams (one team per player).

As a 'kid' (in college) I had heaps of spare time, and spent most of it wheeling and dealing to get myself a 'super team'. Every year a team would come out of the blue to dominate, with my team usually finishing 3rd or 4th.

One draft day, the commish (who also ran a team) picked a player with unreal ratings (straight away in best 10 players in league) with the 20-something pick, a player that wasn't on anybody elses list.

I quit, along with two or three other players, and it suddenly came out that the commish was in fact running seven teams, another player six, another four, and a couple of others running two. Turns out there was me, and some '3rd div' teams (1st season teams) that were run properly, and 80% were double-ups.

They'd kept it up for four or so seasons, with little to no suspician, despite the fact the commish went back-to-back the leagues first two seasons.

[JDScorch]

They must garner a heck of a lot of satisfaction, winning by cheating. I personally find no attraction to it. If you can't win playing fair you didn't really win. Hopefully this guy gets a job, gets locked up, or goes back to High School so he can quit harassing the poor folks that run all these leagues.

[lasuper]

wow!!! thanks for the heads up.. that is ridiculis that some loser has that much time and has to cheat to win... wow.. thanks though

[rem]

11 teams? wow

[cesser]

A little extra info for those of you that may want to check the IP addresses of your users on your forums...

These are the three IP addresses this person posted from on our forums 15 months ago:

- Duracell, Bethel CT
- comcast Boston
- comcast Boston


These are the two IP's this person used most recently in the OOBL over the last 2 weeks:

mspout.honeywell.com
mn.comcast.net


Looks like he posts both from home and from work.

If you wind up finding any of these IP's on any of your forum posts, you've probably got a problem.

(Edited by Admin. - Please PM cesser for more information on IP addresses. For protection, those should be discussed privately.)

[bp_]

wow. sorry to hear this happened to your league. thanks for the heads up.

[Getch]

Originally Posted by JDScorch

Hopefully this guy gets a job, gets locked up, or goes back to High School so he can quit harassing the poor folks that run all these leagues.

You mean, gets laid.

[Spindel]

Thanks for the info. I'll try and keep an eye out.

[HolyCow98]

Wow.....how lame do you have to be.....

[remington]

I recently took over two leagues that I have been in for a while.

This information is appreciated.

Chad Carter had actually been in one of the leagues and quit on his own.
Right now, we have one of the owners on the list above, but no others. James McCarthy was on our waiting list, but has been since removed.

I will be looking at where people log in from regularly to see if anything gets suspicious, as well as keeping an eye on reasonability of trades.

One question, you say you did extensive background checks on owners. Care to elaborate?

Chris

[HolyCow98]

You should be able to check to see if two different users have the same IP number via your forums....assuming you are administrator on your forums.

[Jason]

I'm really sorry this had to happen to your league. I've run leagues in the past and know the work that can go into running a good league and when someone does this it's like someone walked up and spat on you.

Good luck in the future man. Thanks for bringing this up here.

[cesser]

One question, you say you did extensive background checks on owners. Care to elaborate?

I probably exaggerated a bit by saying that

- I always check to see if this person is in other leagues
- I try to contact other commishes to see how this person is as an owner
- I try to read their forum posts on other leagues to get a sense of how active they might be, if they have a sense of how to maintain or build a team, how their demeanor is to others (I don't want some 12-year old kid who cusses every other word), etc
- I do a search on Google for their name and/or email address with the term OOTP to see what might come up
- I try to read their past posts on this (ootpdevelopments) board to see if any red flags appear (joins and quits leagues ad nauseum, etc)

[cibl commish]

Originally Posted by HolyCow98

You should be able to check to see if two different users have the same IP number via your forums....assuming you are administrator on your forums.

I found this tonight and did a check on the CIBL forums and the IP's are identical with the owner and with the waiting list posts.

What a shame.

[fhomess]

Does forum software have the ability to notify the forum administrators when two different logins post from the same IP? That would seem like something that would be very useful in cases like this.

[canadiancreed]

Originally Posted by fhomess

Does forum software have the ability to notify the forum administrators when two different logins post from the same IP? That would seem like something that would be very useful in cases like this.

some do yes.