Update - Melbourne Eastern suburbs scammer and fraudster
Nomen Nescio
This email is about a person (Joe or Joseph Couscouris) doing business in Melbourne (mostly the Eastern suburbs). This person has ripped off a large number of people on Ebay and through his dodgy computer business in Melbourne and interstate: Many people have reported having personal information go missing, having unauthorised charges made to their credit card, money go missing from the bank account, being sold second hand items which were being sold as new, never receiving items, warranties not being honoured, being sold pirated software as legitimate, being over charged for services or goods, being charged for services not provided, having various items of property go missing after Joseph Couscouris had worked at their home or business premises - including parts of their computer systems being replaced with much older hardware. If you have been ripped off by this person or think you may have been let others know about it and report the matter to the Police and Consumer Affairs.
If Joe has done any work for you it is recommended you get someone reputable to go over your computers and the work he has done to make sure he doesn't have access to your systems and private information and to record precisely what he did/didn't do. You should also check your bank accounts carefully and keep an eye on them for any unauthorised transactions.
We have managed to find this information online and through contact with people that have had dealings with this person he goes under various names including:
Joseph Nichols
Joseph Nicholson
Joseph Williams
Joseph Wilson
Trading under various business names including:
TMedics
TMedics Auctions
Techmedics
Techmedics IT Support
Techmedics On-Site
Kids Clothing Australia
Kids Clothing & Computers
Joseph Nicholas Couscouris
Probably a false address:
69 Cardigan Rd Mooroolbark 3138
Real address
1 Edna Walling Lane
Mooroolbark
(Cnr Bickleigh Vale Rd)
Double Storey Brick
Phone numbers:
0418 333 800
0418 333 801
(03) 8888 5148
(03) 9733 4096
(03) 9761 8354
1300 883 349
Postal address:
Techmedics
P.O. Box 24
Mooroolbark Victoria 3138
Australia
Email addresses:
tme...@optusnet.com.au
j...@tmedics.net
sa...@tmedics.net.au
www.tmedics.net
He is now also registering domains and hosting email, not a good idea to be giving him access to your consfidential emails and banking details.
Below are some more reports and information about Joseph Couscouris:
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I had a computer that was infected with spyware, Joe took the system away and returned it only after two weeks and numerous phone calls. He demanded we pay over $400 in cash for removing the spyware or he would not return our hard drive. after we got it back many of the same problems reoccured and it was clear that he had not really cleaned the spyware from the system. My husband was furious and called Joe only to be told that it was his fault and the system had been cleaned properly, repeated phone didn't go any further and resulted in Joe making threats of violence, he then became uncontactable. We had to pay someone else to cleanup the spyware properly and we were advised that almost nothing had been done by Joe to remove the spyware. He would have to be one of the shiftiest, unethical and sleezy people I have ever had to deal with.
______________________
I unfortunately contacted Joe when I first moved to this area for repairs
and a web site. This web site is crap and I am out of pocket a long way.
Joe has repeatedly failed to return calls or answer his phone. His
attitude and abilities are far outweighed by his bullshit. I don't know that I
have any legal comeback to him, but he has treated me badly as I am sure he
has done to everyone else. I would be glad to assist in any way.
______________________
Any assistance would be of value as my nephew has lost a great deal of money to this person and his confidence tricks and we are seeking to take action. He has had his business destroyed by Joe, information taken from his computer was passed on or sold to competitors and he was charged a fortune for endless computer repairs which only increased in cost.
_______________________
I haven't dealt with this person but my mother did have the bad luck of dealing with him. I was out of town at the time and she had no other option but to call someone local because she was having computer problems. So she calls this Joe guy. In less than a minute of looking at the PC he told that her computer had serious issues when the only problem was that her CD drive wasn't working and she wasn't able to play her card games. Instead this scum told her that the computer was having all sorts of problems, had viruses (the computer isn't even connected to the internet) and needed to be upgraded and disinfected. So he upgrades it from Windows 98 to XP, installs anti-virus software and replaces the faulty CD drive with a crumby used drive that you wouldn't pay $5 for. He then returns this machine in barely working order (and provides no CDs for the software) because it's only a P2 300Mhz with 96Mb of memory and charges her $500 for all this and became intimidating and aggressive when he demanded she pay up. He has since gone into a hole and refuses to take or return calls, not surprising given that he is willing to con and elderly lady living on her own.
_______________________
I ordered a motherboard and a copy of Windows XP Professional from this person, what I got instead was a CD in a paper sleve with a serial number written on it (turned out to be illegal) and after several weeks gave up on the motherboard. All up I was dudded for over $350 and ebay have been of no help.
_______________________
My sister-in-law could not get her PC to start, and she eventually gave up and
left it for a few weeks Her elderly mother thought she would do her
daughter (a single mum) a favor and call a tech to come out and help her.
He quoted a price of $50.00 per hour to fix the problem. The tech showed
up without any tools. he insisted he had to bring the computer back to the "shop"
(probably his back yard shed).
Joe called her and said he had been working on it all day and started
berating her saying it was the worst computer he had ever seen.
He said he had been working on it all day and was not able to find out if
the HDD was working or not and that the best thing would be to replace
everything. When pressed for further information he rattled off some
technical jargon, when this confused her, he verbally attacked her
telling her he was the tech, and she was just a user. He knew what he was
talking about, she didn’t have to. He also said he was an instructor of
computer repair and had worked for MYOB repairing computers.
When my sister-in-law wanted her PC back he told he wouldn’t return
it unless she paid for 3 hours of his time working on it or she could go
through with the “repair”. Left with little choice she agreed. She finally
got the PC back after over 3 weeks and her mother paid $580 and the PC
never worked properly eventually it was replaced. Joe never retuned calls
to fix the PC properly under warranty.
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I called Techmedics since I couldn't load windows XP. They were supposed to install
the new version. They did it after a couple of weeks (!), but when I got my computer
back I realised that they erased my whole hard drive! I had years of work on that disk,
and I couldn't make a backup before they took it away since Windows wouldn't load.
I told Joe that I needed my data backed up and becasue this was not done I lost all
my work! I called Joe and explained this to him and he said he would try to retrieve
the data. He said he would personally call me when it was done, but of course he lied,
so I had to call in day in day out since I was running a business and I really needed the
computer. Finally, after two weeks it was done, he couldn't retrieve the data, and went
into a rambling story how the drive had failed and that he repaired it so it was working
now but that was why the data had been lost. When I finally got the computer back and
turned it on it wouldn't work at all No windows, nothing on the drive!
Feeling very angry I called Joe and told him I wanted the PC fixed he told me that he
would charge me for coming out to fix this problem. This really upset me, but Joe refused
to let me take the computer to him to have a look at no cost. After about ten days it was
finally returned working, The computer did work for a few days, but then it crashed!
So, $400 later, I was without computer, I lost all of my data and Joe never returned any
further calls. I filed a complaint against him with consumer affairs but after all the complaints
I have seen about him it seems little has been done to shut him down.
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