A couple days ago I posted my personal story with Dennis Yu.
The post I wrote was the longest post ever written on ShoeMoney.com. Over 4,000 words. This guy is a very dangerous person and I wanted to tell the entire story in as much detail as possible even if some of it was really embarrassing to me. You CAN’T give con men any room to go anywhere and the only real way to stop them is to get the truth out.
Dennis has issued a response and as you can tell it’s all fluff about how he is only being attacked because he is hurting the industry. Which is strange because my post was not about that… it was about my personal dealings with him and he does not dispute anything I said… or anything that anyone in the comments said. Facts are a bitch like that though.
A flood of emails and calls came in from people telling me about their personal dealings with him. Everyone from former employees to large companies. The allegations go all the way up to some very serious criminal offenses.
Also people commented and emailed me pointing me to Dennis’ current list of Advisors to his company.
I was also asked by some mainstream press and companies about the advisers listed and if I knew their specific roles and equity positions in the company.
The list includes:
Gillian Muessig – Founder/Owner SEOMOZ
Stephen Spencer – Net Concepts
Todd Malicoat – Internet Business Consultant
I reached out to them and pointed them to my post. They made it VERY clear to me that they did not know Dennis very well and will be addressing this soon.
I will tell you Gillian, Stephen, Todd, and DK are very good honorable people. I have known them for years and in most of their cases 5+ years.
I am sure they had no idea of the Spam/Scam/Porn empire Dennis was running and played no advisory role in any of that. I hope as the criminal proceedings on Dennis come out their names will stay out of it in the press because obviously unlike Dennis they will be big targets because of their status in the industry.
I also do not believe any of them are investors or hold any equity at all in the company but again they can clear that up if they need to.
The only investor in BlitzLocal I can confirm is Plenty Of Fish founder Markus Frind.
About half dozen companies that called me stated that Dennis was trying to extort money from them saying he was going to use their company as the next example on a TechCrunch post if they did not pay them. The evidence of that is pretty amazing also from what I have seen. This is criminal extortion.
There is also many people who said Dennis told them he has 4 other posts ready to go for Techcrunch. Well, just so happens I know Mike Arrington and asked him about it and he replied with this:
I haven’t spoken to him, there are certainly no additional posts that we’ve discussed. So, not true at all if in fact he’s actually saying that.
I am not a lawyer but please listen to me and take this advice. If Dennis is trying to extort money from you, go to the FBI right now. You are not alone. TRUST ME. Also, feel free to contact me privately (jeremy(at)shoemoneydotcom) and I will hook you up with the others Dennis has tried to extort.
This also includes current & previous BlitzLocal employees with knowledge of criminal activity. I will keep your identity anonymous.
Do not let this piece of trash intimidate you.
I am currently sorting through evidence of some of these alleged extortion attempts and other stuff by Dennis & BlitzLocal and will be posting more as I can. Much more to follow.
About the author...
Jeremy Schoemaker – who has written 2412 posts on ShoeMoney.com.
Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.
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{ 104 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, this is really heating up! I’ve heard that the affiliate industry has some shady characters, but this guy has really found his way to the top of the pile.
Its funny how he did not address 1 of the items you detailed out that he did. Great line though “facts are a bitch like that”
Lol… this whole fiasco… just full of fail from Dennis. hahaha
Keep it going, Shoe! Remember: It takes adequate pressure to crush a tick, and sounds like this little bastard is full of blood, and by blood, I mean bullshit and failure.
The trick– Deniss was always moving with missing peace of jigsaw puzzle which you guys was always searching.
Just shot you a email.
Jeremy thanks for having the courage to stand up to this dirtbag. I think many of us who had been taken by Dennis thought we had no recourse.
I’m glad I read this article. I had read a piece he did on local lead gen recently that I thought was pretty good but this sheds a whole new light on him :-s
Bigger and Bigger.. I first read about Dennis Yu here and later found other bloggers saying the same thing. I think if the blogging community rallies around prosecuting him, he’ll get his comeuppance. Thanks Jeremy for ‘outing’ him. The Internet/blogosphere is so vast and bad news travels fast. As of today, is there anyone in the blogging community who hasn’t heard of Dennis Yu? Where is he going to hide now?
Well, I think we all had a feeling that there would be a fallout of some sort when Dennis learned of your long post.
Anyway, keep up the candor and stomp on him like the roach that he is.
this is getting better than any novel.
keep going guys:)
And in the end our hero Mr. Jeremy will win the battle by his hard working and sharp mind.
This is a crazy week.
Maybe Dennis is the mastermind behind David Letterman and Cindy Crawford. HA!
Keep Denis writing more often, I will definitely follow regularly
The most funny part of his follow up was this –
But what I didn’t expect was that folks like Jeremy Schoemaker would be out for blood, misstate facts, and even email our advisory members.
I reached out to him, to give him a chance to explain why he would go so far out of his way– so far, no response.
…
For example– a number of ad serving posts, as well as most of the ShoeMoney Xtreme guides.
Now that douchebag is name-dropping FTC. Yeah, right, we love you long time Mr. Yu.
Crazy shit I tell you!!! I met Dennis a few times back in college through a friend and I am so shocked by all of this.
Keep the updates coming Jeremy!
Did you go to SMU?
I saw the post Dennis made on his blog that he actually wrote a bunch of your Xtreme guide. I kinda thought some of that guide was written by someone else since some of the information in the guide was totally inaccurate. Just shows even more that he has no idea what he is talking about.
Looks like the real war has started
Winner will get all the “Free Shirt Friday” on winning day.
Pretty sure that attacking the messenger and not facing up to the message is a bad idea.
http://www.bizop.ca/blog2/adsense-and-fraud/what-is-the-con-here.html
Michael,
In case you missed the point, Dennis is using the trust he’s gained to extort people. The allegations he made in the TechCrunch post are absolutely untrue.
It’s not a case of attacking the messenger.
I would be very careful about using the language of “extortion”.
And, it does not appear that the allegations he made in the TechCrunch post are false – indeed Mr. Schoemaker agreed with substantive parts of the post about Facebook.
These are very serious allegations and I surprised that Mr. Schoemaker is responding in a manner which suggests that the message must be wrong because the messenger is “worse than originally thought”. Mr. Yu may be the affiliate equivalent of Sam Antar or Barry Minkow – but that would give his message more credibility and not less.
What are you talking about messenger?
Are you just some retarded sock puppet for Dennis?
Shoe talks about his personal story about getting scamed by dennis and how he is extorting companies conducting criminal behavior.å
Michael Webster is a commercial litigation attorney out of Canada and as far as I know never heard of Dennis Yu until the past couple days.
I think what he’s trying to get at is that it’s necessary to have insider information to tackle issues like Facebook spamming and scamming (i.e., it’s very simple to set up anonymous corporations tied to anonymous bankc accounts as Professor Jason Sharman pointed out in this study
Personally, I thought the information in the TechCrunch article was extremely basic when it comes to scamming, so it did make me question how much of an expert in running scams on FaceBook he actually was – something I called him on to which he claimed there was information he “couldn’t post publicly”.
However, if Dennis was actually running a “Spam/Scam/Porn empire” as Jeremy has stated then obviously that would be potential insider information of interest to law enforcement.
Of course, so would any evidence of extortion if the allegations that people have made about that here are true.
No doubt this is one of the stranger scenarios I’ve seen playing out.
Get out of here needle dick, nobody likes your kind.
“Needle dick”?
“Nobody likes your kind?”
What kind would that be, someone who wants people to think for themselves, analyze, and look at facts and not mere allegations?
This far extends beyond the BS of the techcrunch article, believe me, that’s just tip of the iceberg on what Shoemoney is touching on here. Name drops to reel them in, and bullying to make them comply with his backwards standards. Mistreatment of clients, employees, and god knows what else. Keep your ears pinned on this one, and don’t think I’m just some crackpot shooting their mouth of – I was there for the majority of it.
So are you saying there will be no more musical tributes?
http://geekcast.fm/archives/just-local-ads-a-charity-musical-tribute-to-dennis-yu/
Michael,
You don’t know who or what you are talking about. This is a psychopath who twists truth, lies through his teeth to get his ways and manipulates people. The TC article is his attempt at becoming an expert on FB advertising. He name drops like mad and gossips to no end. He is anything but professional. He should be flipping burgers or behind bars, not leading “company.”
Shoe you the man!
I know you took great risk in exposing this asshole and just know its much appreciated.
Dennis I have a joke for you:
What kind of bird can’t fly?
Jailbird!
Extortion is no joke. Ask David Letterman
Detective Shoe! Haha. These 2 posts are probably my favorite shoemoney posts of all time. This guy is way out there as far as boldness with trying to bully people, but I’m sure other people get away with bullying people on a smaller scale by threatening them. Go shoe!
For the record:
All of the below is to the best of my memory, but I believe is very accurate.
I have never been on the board of advisers of Blitz Local, or any company owned by Dennis Yu.
I have never received stock, or compensation by Dennis Yu or any company owned by him, other than a meal, and some small gifts
with an estimated total value of less than $300.
I made one or two phone calls to a client of Blitz Local to possibly offer some help, but no paid business for me or Purpose Inc. resulted from that.
Dennis had a programmer help restore and upgrade one of my sites after it got hacked, which was approximately one days work.
I also allowed Dennis to write a guest post on my blog.
All of the above were done as one way, good will gestures between myself and Dennis with no agreements made for any of them.
Dennis paid money for his entry to the Purpose Inc. thinktank. Dennis also paid for another entry spot which was never used and later refunded.
Other than the above, I have had no other financial transactions with Dennis.
dk – Dr. David Klein – Purpose Inc.
I and a room mate of mine worked for Dennis at one point in time. He seemed shady from the start offering me many nice gifts to work for his company. I accepted like the dumbass i was, and accepted very well compensation for what seemed like an easy job task. Within days, Dennis was making threats and accusations and changing deadlines and generally made me feel like shit. After i refused to do something for him at 4am, after i had been up for two days straight he fired me and threatened to sue me if i didn’t send his gifts back. He went as far as to tell my room mate that if he didnt kick me out, that he’d be fired as well. Sure enough, out I was booted.
Remind me to never piss you off shoe! What an ordeal this has become!
I was talking to Jeremy yesterday, and the exact same words came out of my mouth. Jeremy is definitely not someone you want to piss off.
The funny thing is that it in my experience it is very, very difficult to piss him off. He is an amazingly tolerant guy.
Phew. The internet gets more exciting everyday.
I just hope that those in the right, receive vindication and justice, and that those in the wrong, get what is coming to them.
I hate dishonesty, it’s such a destructive force.
Dennis is really getting hit by all this, surely this is getting juicer by the day.
Dino | Dinono.com
What if this is the most brilliant form of LinkBait devised by both Shoe and Yu?
You really think Shoemeister would sell out to this degree?
He would just tarnish his name if this was a calculated scheme
Uh.. Yes.
Are you stupid, it’s called BUZZ.
You know you’ve really made it when you’re post is most read on Affbuzz.
Shoe told me this was really just a made up scandal to get Dennis Yu’s name even FURTHER out than it previously was.
……………………….. sike.
Well they better never be seen together enjoying pina colada’s or the cover is blown!
Also, you must think with all these “facts” that there would for surely be a lawsuit from all of this…That will be a way to tell if this is BS
I don’t think he would with all the facts coming into play but it was just a thought. This Dennis Yu thing is spreading like wild fire and if it was Link Bait, it would be genius.
Keep us posted!
I love it…You’ve got Forensic Files, The First 48, and now you’ve got….
“Illusive Internet Icons”
Great show! KEEP IT UP!!
Sounds like a possible screenplay plot after all. …..
Very good …
I loved the material.
Your blog is very cool
I hope this Dennis Yu gets everything he deserves. Scumbag.
Good Lord! You’d think this guy would just go away and stop with the bs when he’s exposed like this.
Go Shoemoney! We’ve got your back.
This whole saga is hysterical, from all angles. NEEERDD FIGGGGHTTTTTTTT
+rep – would read again
Is there going to be a cage match at ASW? I’d put my money on Shoemoney.
Wow! I do think that when it rains it POURS! Thanks for the info and I hope others take it to heart. Looking forward to more info.
I am looking to get in touch with ex-employees of blitzlocal.
Please contact me: contact4blitz [at] gmail.com
Admiral Ackbar says “It’s a trap!”
So being new to this business I am not 100% familiar with all the details here although it sounds messy. Key take away from me is you have to be really careful with who you do business with.
He’s just making it worse for himself, at this point.
I can’t believe how someone can squander the opportunities that Yu was presented with. I mean, I don’t really know how he managed to get in contact with so many top IM’ers, but how the hell can he think it’s a better idea to try and cheat them than to seek legitimate cooperation opportunities?
Good for you to tell your story. This kind of behavior is inexcusable.
keep us posted!
Where is the popcorn? This just keeps getting better and better.
This is just insane!! as Volk said, I am getting popcorn and awaiting for the follow ups. Extortion? Dennis is in deep shit!
goog search “Guest post by Dennis Yu” and guess what! u guys are still feeding him.
for example: http://www.shoemoney.com/2009/07/21/what-is-facebook-post-quality-score/
not hatin, just statin
Thanks for that… looks like i missed one.
All I have to say is
Dennis is a complete peasant and is the most vindictive human being I have ever met.
I don’t quite understand what could drive Yu to do these things. I mean, if a person is struggling just to pay the rent, I can understand why they *might* do some shady things, but when given the opportunity to work with the best in the business, what kind of mental retardation does it take to screw them over?
Well, all the chatter from the first post has been VERY entertaining. Second past as well. Though Shoe has always been up front about telling us that controversy does indeed bring about discussion and eyeballs, I can’t see him doing this here on his own blog, and stating names of many well known figures in the internet/affiliate/blog/SEO etc fields. So, I’m with ya Shoe- keep it up. Makes for some FUN reading!
You are really going after him. Seems like he is next to a nobody and just ignoring him would be good enough.
Lets clear this up
1. I never invested a dime into blitz local.
2. I invested in a company that was doing social media sites for charity of which dennis was a part owner. The company went under and somehow my shares somehow turned into blitzlocal shares.
3. I have never had a blitz local board meeting, I have no idea who any people in the company are other than dennis. I’ve never seen a business plan or anything else from the company.
4. My ROI was in ideas and introductions I haven’t seen a dime in return from this “investment”
Looks like Dennis is still throwing your name around:
http://www.affiliatesummit.com/dennis-yu/
“The company was funded by Markus Frind of PlentyofFish.com in 2006.”
Well, someone is lying. Either Markus or Dennis. Anyone want to place bets?
Quote: “1) My mentors and I had conversations to weigh the merits of responding. To respond would draw further retaliation from Mr. Schoemaker, especially given his past history of “calling out” individuals in ego battles. Our angel investor, Markus Frind, was the victim of such an attack a few years ago.”
From: http://www.workathometruth.com/blog/2009/11/18/dennis-yu-vs-jeremy-shoemaker-the-saga-continues/
Be very careful when a rat is cornered it can be very dangerous! and sneaky
Markus is claiming on wickedfire he never invested a dime with dennis, might want to confirm that info again.
Shoe just iced Yu, bringing their total body count to 15773. Shoe is offering you a special bonus to make you as fierce as they are!
LMAO!!
Hey Shoemoney – Markus is saying he never invested in Blitz Local, so if Dennis Yu said that it’s a load of shit.
Can we expect a cage match anytime soon?
What do people get doing this?
See this is exactly why you don’t expose other peoples dirty laundry when your hamper is full at home.
Hey I think Dennis tried screwing with the wrong guy this time!
Shoe you are taking it too personally. If a crime is being committed either name the persons who got extortion call here so that some readers may budge the authorities or being a good citizen you report it to authorities.
Also Markus Frind.. hmmm.. Jeremy’s old flame. Somethings nvr die
Hey Shoe,
You were wrong, Markus Frind just said he is NOT an investor in Blitzlocal:
http://plentyoffish.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/shoemoneys-post/
Shoe is just repeating what dennis claims, which is that markus is an investor (obviously another lie)
Damn this is more serious than I thought. Pretty crazy, and shame on him I hope the dust settles before its too late. Scums like him should not be in the industry or any industry at all.
Haha,
I knew there was something fishy after reading
http://www.johnchow.com/going-from-zero-to-popularity-real-examples/
Dennis in that “guest post” has mentioned different websites but ironically most of them point to his blitz site
Now 2 questions I have got
A) Is John Chow backing him ?
B) If not, how on earth did he accept a post like that?
Regards!
You seem like such a nice guy, I like how you have a tough side to you.
You remind me of Donald Trump in how you don’t take crap from anyone. This will certinly make people think twice before trying to pull something on you in the future.
All I can say is wow.
Running to the FBI ain’t gangsta! I say next time you see Dennis Yu, swing on him and nip it in the bud.
Its funny how he did not address 1 of the items you detailed out that he did.
I think Dennis tried screwing with the wrong guy this time!
I actually saw his TechCrunch post and first thought was great insight, well, seems to be degressing daily. I think you are doing right though, let the truth be told and get the scammers out for good!
I read about the story at http://www.datingcare.com/is-porn-behind-markus-frind-creator-of-plentyoffish/ and still can’t believe it. wow
Is hard to believe he is not involved in porn afterwords.
dennis is a disgrace to asians
Not surprised there are scumbags like this going around online. There truckloads of them in the offline world.
Amazing what people buy into. Wonder how many people he hurt.
FBI? If this case goes into the federal court, your blog will explode with traffic!
I don’t know what the truth is, but the kind of public posts that Shoe is putting up are really sleazy. If you’ve got the goods on the guy, sue him or report him to the authorities. Don’t make public blog posts.
Do the successful businessmen that you strive to emulate behave like this in public?
Uh Stan, Shoemoney is a blogger, that’s what he does.
You’re comment is just plain weird.
WTF? Looks like there never was a board of advisors. Check this out… that advisors page on blitzlocal.com now redirects to the following statement:
The Press Release you searched for is not ready for publication. BlitzLocal is planning to create a Board of Advisors. We have issued invitations and are awaiting responses. When the Board is established and we have received permission of the members, we will post a press release here.
To clarify any misunderstanding, please note that none of the following people have ever served on a BlitzLocal Board of Advisors (nor any board of BlitzLocal), have never been employed in any capacity by BlitzLocal at any time, and have never had any investment or financial connection to BlitzLocal in any way:
Gillian Muessig
Stephan Spencer
Todd Malicoat
Hi Jeremy, I read about you on El-Plumber’s blog. I’ve been trying to contact you since then until I came across this site. I read about the free internet course (materials) but unfortunately, I got to know a bit late. Just got fired and really need to embrace Online biz as no job is forthcoming and I’ve got a wife and 2-month old son to cater to. Your response as well as effort in helping me out will be HIGHLY appreciated. I understand your tight schedule but Kindly be your brother’s keeper. I’m a newbie in Internet biz & willing to learn. Thanks in anticipation. Keep up the good work
There is something very strange going on here. Dennis’s company has an A- rating with the better business bureau http://www.bbb.org/denver/business-reviews/marketing-consultants/blitzlocal-in-boulder-co-90094542
Furthermore techcrunch never took down or otherwise rescinded Dennis’s post. He is currently posting on http://www.allfacebook.com which is a reputable site.
He did a presentation for the university I work at and the tools he has and the clients he represents all seem to be legit. But, reading your postings has made me very nervous. I’m really not sure how to get to the bottom of this.
I’m pretty sure shoe is incorrect. I’ve talked to Dennis before, and he is legit. Gillian and he have a real relationship as well. I won’t go into details, but my dealings with him have been VERY successful and positive.
I’m quite sure that there is industry hate simply because Dennis isn’t sharing how he does it, and this industry is full of greedy leeches. Dennis isn’t one of them.
Yes, Dennis and Gillian clearly have a very close relationship. That’s why such a mediocre online marketer of a type that exist in the millions online has managed to achieve such huge success: she sets everything up for him and uses her name to give legitimacy to his high class corporate con jobs. I’d love to know why it happens but doubt I ever will.
Why can’t you ‘go into details’ about your successful dealings with Dennis? If he’s so legit then maybe you can enlighten us? Dennis get’s away with his fraud because most people have a positive experience with him during their initial dealings while he sets them up for the eventual blackmailing and financial loss.
If you want us to think for ourselves why are you giving us your pathetic “attorney” type conclusion?
Your mates at the “bar” might give you a good ass licking but as far as I’m concerned you’re talking crap.
Hate to break it, but Michael is right. I don’t think he’s siding with Dennis, just saying people should get the facts before throwing the first stones, Which i do not doubt Jeremy at all since I’ve heard countless stories that correlate together.