The YAN-3 Fund.

[AWDBOB]

And he DID make it to Jalopnik.

http://jalopnik.com/5923689/meet-vlad-the-webs-most-infamous-bmw-owner

[markseven]

YAN, did the car get repainted the same color? To me it looked Imola before - what color is it now? Is it still on CHs? Did you put the Dekra number plates back on?

Like most folks here, you and your car are inspirational to me...

[markseven]

And he DID make it to Jalopnik.

http://jalopnik.com/5923689/meet-vla...mous-bmw-owner

One of my comments on R3V is on that screen cap :nice:

[UNHCLL]

To the best of my knowledge, the car was not repainted. It has sat in Yan's garage with limited use since this all transpired.

[phreshkid]

To the best of my knowledge, the car was not repainted. It has sat in Yan's garage with limited use since this all transpired.

Can anyone confirm this? Maybe reach out to Yan and ask him directly?
I hope this isn't the case.


Have we verified that Yan did in fact receive the fundraiser money to get his car repainted?




None of this is making any sense.

[UNHCLL]

Can anyone confirm this? Maybe reach out to Yan and ask him directly?
I hope this isn't the case.


Have we verified that Yan did in fact receive the fundraiser money to get his car repainted?




None of this is making any sense.

A proper repaint on an E30 M3 is $10k+. Materials alone are $3k.
Yan would need more than that due to the errors and issues caused by Vlad's work... the prep work to "repair" the damage on Yan's car is far greater...
Given that Yan is in the service, and I'm pretty sure we don't pay our troops at the same rate our politicians get paid, I doubt he just had an extra $8k lying around to throw at getting the car repainted... again.

If he had, I suspect it would have been painted by a different shop than Vlad's in the first place.

-Chris
PS: Yan's car was here are VSR before it was repainted for mechanical work. So I've seen the car in person, prior to the respray ordeal. I'm not just Internet-Hypothesizing from photos.

[phreshkid]

A proper repaint on an E30 M3 is $10k+. Materials alone are $3k.
Yan would need more than that due to the errors and issues caused by Vlad's work... the prep work to "repair" the damage on Yan's car is far greater...
Given that Yan is in the service, and I'm pretty sure we don't pay our troops at the same rate our politicians get paid, I doubt he just had an extra $8k lying around to throw at getting the car repainted... again.

If he had, I suspect it would have been painted by a different shop than Vlad's in the first place.

-Chris
PS: Yan's car was here are VSR before it was repainted for mechanical work. So I've seen the car in person, prior to the respray ordeal. I'm not just Internet-Hypothesizing from photos.

Chris,

Don't get me wrong, I know full well what a quality repaint goes for (currently up to my eyeballs in 3 separate BMW 2002 builds, all of which are receiving higher-end paintjobs). I also know Yan is the most American guy on R3vlimited, serving in multiple tours and literally fighting so that we can sleep at night.

But my concern coincides with R3v's financial generosity, and whether or not the funds made a difference for Yan and his series of unfortunate events.

This thread was started over three years ago, and many people donated a monetary sum to the cause (both through Paypal, or privately), but I have not seen a ending. Not a happy ending, not even a sad one. No ending at all.

Before Yan entered this ordeal, he was a common contributor on r3vlimited and many of us enjoyed his company. Now he rarely posts anything at all. Not drawing conclusions, but I just hope that there isn't a correlation between the two.


Let's set the record straight once and for all. For R3vlimited. For America.

[Balleristic31]

For R3vlimited. For America.

[UNHCLL]

Chris,

Don't get me wrong, I know full well what a quality repaint goes for (currently up to my eyeballs in 3 separate BMW 2002 builds, all of which are receiving higher-end paintjobs). I also know Yan is the most American guy on R3vlimited, serving in multiple tours and literally fighting so that we can sleep at night.

But my concern coincides with R3v's financial generosity, and whether or not the funds made a difference for Yan and his series of unfortunate events.

This thread was started over three years ago, and many people donated a monetary sum to the cause (both through Paypal, or privately), but I have not seen a ending. Not a happy ending, not even a sad one. No ending at all.

Before Yan entered this ordeal, he was a common contributor on r3vlimited and many of us enjoyed his company. Now he rarely posts anything at all. Not drawing conclusions, but I just hope that there isn't a correlation between the two.


Let's set the record straight once and for all. For R3vlimited. For America.

I suspect the lack of repaint and the immense frustration he must feel every time he looks at the car has contributed to it. Knowing Yan, he probably put the money in an account and earmarked it for the repaint. I'm sure we've all gotten to a point in a project when it's become so unbearable/frustrating/draining, the only thing you want to do is put a cover on it and forget about it.

I'm not Yan, so this is just conjecture...
Given he was so active prior to all this, I am willing to wager if it had been repainted/repaired, he's have posted about it... I think the lack of follow-up is the indicator.

But hey, like I said, I'm not Yan... just a Yankee behind a computer screen buried in 12' of snow during February. :weak:

-Chris

[phreshkid]

I suspect the lack of repaint and the immense frustration he must feel every time he looks at the car has contributed to it. Knowing Yan, he probably put the money in an account and earmarked it for the repaint. I'm sure we've all gotten to a point in a project when it's become so unbearable/frustrating/draining, the only thing you want to do is put a cover on it and forget about it.

I'm not Yan, so this is just conjecture...
Given he was so active prior to all this, I am willing to wager if it had been repainted/repaired, he's have posted about it... I think the lack of follow-up is the indicator.

But hey, like I said, I'm not Yan... just a Yankee behind a computer screen buried in 12' of snow during February. :weak:

-Chris

You're probably right, but both you and I don't know what happened; we can only speculate at this time.

Let's stop the speculation, and get some facts to settle this.


Janderson, Yan, anyone else who was directly involved in this, please speak up so we stop wondering and asking "what if". This is such a good thing you've all done. Now let's give credit where it is due.


Thanks,
phre$hkid

[Jand3rson]

There is an update, and I'm sorry to inform everyone, it isn't a happy one. It's also quite embarrassing. Regardless, it shouldn't have taken this long to tell everyone about this, but I was petrified of the result. So here it is, putting it all out there.

Shortly after the last donations were received, the Paypal account that the funds were being held in was hacked. Over a couple of months, several amounts were transferred out of the account to different accounts, with people's names I'd never heard of. I wasn't aware it was even going on because the email account that I received the notifications at had been changed, even the account password had been changed, and I hadn't been checking the account regularly, I had no reason to.

I didn't have a very secure password on the account, and I'm guessing that someone in the community easily figured out and waited until the enthusiasm over the thread had died down, and flew in before I transferred the funds to Yan and began their work. In about the month or so prior, I had actually gotten an email at some point stating that someone had tried to log in to my account unsuccessfully. I had gotten these emails before and not really thought anything of it, as half the time, they're fake or phishing scams. I checked my account, and it was fine.

The worst part of all this is that since I couldn't prove the transactions weren't made by me, Paypal would not refund any of the funds. I was extremely frustrated with their service, I tried actually calling them on a few occasions, and was 2 out of 3 times placed on hold for almost 30 minutes. In the past, they wouldn't even properly change the name on the account from my wife's name to mine. When I tried to file a fraud case, it took them forever to get back to me, and once they finally did, I was continually told that they were unable to verify where the funds were sent to. This was the email I finally got back:

"Through careful research of your claim, PayPal’s Fraud Team has determined the transaction(s) you submitted do not represent unauthorized account activity because they are consistent with your account’s transaction history. As a result, we have denied your Unauthorized Account Use Claim."

I never made any of this public to the forums because I was firstly so embarrassed by the situation, and secondly because I was afraid of what it would look like. Looking back on it now, it's clear that using my own account for this type of thing was a HUGE mistake, since I used it all the time prior to this incident for all sorts of things like ebay and other things. I tried emailing Paypal a few more times trying to get more information from them, but all I would get were canned responses stating that the matter was closed, and there was no further information available. I shortly after closed the account completely, and hadn't opened a new one until recently, when I started selling things on ebay again, but with one hell of a password now...

Since then, I've wrestled with ways to try to get the funds back somehow, even replacing them myself, but I've never been able to. Yan was made aware of the situation some time ago, but I suspect didn't want to make it public and blow this whole thing wide open again. As I said before, my suspicion is and has been that someone in the community that knew what was going on, as well as how much was being raised was able to get into my account and steal the funds (someone banned for the debacle, I suspect...). To this day, I still feel personally responsible for this, and will be forever trying to find a way to set it right. If I could go back and be more vigilant over it, I would. I wanted to wait until we had a substantial enough amount to present to him that would take a bite out of what it would cost to have the work done, and I waited too long.

I make no excuses for what happened, and I accept that it was my fault for using not only my personal account, but for not securing it more properly, and not delivering the funds to Yan prior to the incident in a timely manner.

[DrJosh]

There is an update, and I'm sorry to inform everyone, it isn't a happy one. It's also quite embarrassing. Regardless, it shouldn't have taken this long to tell everyone about this, but I was petrified of the result. So here it is, putting it all out there.

Shortly after the last donations were received, the Paypal account that the funds were being held in was hacked. Over a couple of months, several amounts were transferred out of the account to different accounts, with people's names I'd never heard of. I wasn't aware it was even going on because the email account that I received the notifications at had been changed, even the account password had been changed, and I hadn't been checking the account regularly, I had no reason to.

I didn't have a very secure password on the account, and I'm guessing that someone in the community easily figured out and waited until the enthusiasm over the thread had died down, and flew in before I transferred the funds to Yan and began their work. In about the month or so prior, I had actually gotten an email at some point stating that someone had tried to log in to my account unsuccessfully. I had gotten these emails before and not really thought anything of it, as half the time, they're fake or phishing scams. I checked my account, and it was fine.

The worst part of all this is that since I couldn't prove the transactions weren't made by me, Paypal would not refund any of the funds. I was extremely frustrated with their service, I tried actually calling them on a few occasions, and was 2 out of 3 times placed on hold for almost 30 minutes. In the past, they wouldn't even properly change the name on the account from my wife's name to mine. When I tried to file a fraud case, it took them forever to get back to me, and once they finally did, I was continually told that they were unable to verify where the funds were sent to. This was the email I finally got back:

"Through careful research of your claim, PayPal’s Fraud Team has determined the transaction(s) you submitted do not represent unauthorized account activity because they are consistent with your account’s transaction history. As a result, we have denied your Unauthorized Account Use Claim."

I never made any of this public to the forums because I was firstly so embarrassed by the situation, and secondly because I was afraid of what it would look like. Looking back on it now, it's clear that using my own account for this type of thing was a HUGE mistake, since I used it all the time prior to this incident for all sorts of things like ebay and other things. I tried emailing Paypal a few more times trying to get more information from them, but all I would get were canned responses stating that the matter was closed, and there was no further information available. I shortly after closed the account completely, and hadn't opened a new one until recently, when I started selling things on ebay again, but with one hell of a password now...

Since then, I've wrestled with ways to try to get the funds back somehow, even replacing them myself, but I've never been able to. Yan was made aware of the situation some time ago, but I suspect didn't want to make it public and blow this whole thing wide open again. As I said before, my suspicion is and has been that someone in the community that knew what was going on, as well as how much was being raised was able to get into my account and steal the funds (someone banned for the debacle, I suspect...). To this day, I still feel personally responsible for this, and will be forever trying to find a way to set it right. If I could go back and be more vigilant over it, I would. I wanted to wait until we had a substantial enough amount to present to him that would take a bite out of what it would cost to have the work done, and I waited too long.

I make no excuses for what happened, and I accept that it was my fault for using not only my personal account, but for not securing it more properly, and not delivering the funds to Yan prior to the incident in a timely manner.

QFP


R3V got Goxed.

[phreshkid]

Josh, you really don't expect us to believe this, do you?

Your story is suspect on many levels.




This is horse shit. Three year old horse shit.

[Jand3rson]

I don't expect anything, I know how it looks, which is one of the major reasons I didn't ever bring it up again, which was a mistake.

All I can do is own it.

[ak-]

Over a couple of months, several amounts were transferred out of the account to different accounts,

There's $2,000 of donated money that the community put trust in you for. How do 60+ days go by where you don't check up on it? If this was a job, you'd be terminated instantly whatever the excuse.
And, three years?! The story would have much less more doubt if you brought this to the attention of the community during time it happened. It's $2k!

What was the account's email changed to before you closed it? Wouldn't you need email confirmation to do that(something you didn't have anymore because it was changed)?
I'm confused.