A failed real estate speculator who created a popular Web site touting his exploits has begun threatening to sue his critics and claims to be in hiding in Australia.
Casey Serin, arguably the world's most-hated blogger, rocketed to Internet stardom after disclosing his pending foreclosures, marital strife and unwillingness to find a job. But the 24-year-old's online fame was hardly flattering: it arose from legions of readers who call themselves "haterz" and frequent his iamfacingforeclosure.com blog to ridicule his financial missteps and urge Serin to pay back up to $420,000 he is said to owe creditors.
The latest kerfuffle arose last week after Serin blogged about a contract with a mysterious "independent publisher" for self-help material about how to deal with foreclosure. To the so-called haterz, this represented an enticing challenge, which they met by outing the publisher as self-styled Internet marketer Marty Stewart and even unearthing a confidential business plan for iamfacingforeclosure.com and related audio files that Stewart left on a Web site that was not password-protected. The files have since been mirrored elsewhere.
Now Serin and Stewart are crying foul. We're going to "aggressively be pursuing any Web site that has our private content posted on it," Stewart said on Tuesday in the US. "Obviously it's copyrighted content and it's being smeared all over."
"We've been letting everything go for so long, people think they can just do this without any penalties," Serin added.
Serin handed the haterz even more ammunition this week by disclosing that he had left his wife, Galina, behind in West Sacramento, Calif., with only about $300 in the bank and had set up operations in an undisclosed location in Australia. Because Serin has refused to get a full-time job--preferring instead to chase dreams of instant wealth through real estate deals--Galina lives with her sister and cleans houses to pay for food and rent.
A reader of ZDNet Australia sister site CNET News.com appears to have footed the bill for the Australia trip. In an e-mail message on 2 June, that reader offered to pay $1,000 to keep the blog going -- and apparently followed through. Serin wrote in follow-up message four days later: "That guy WAS for real. A true supporter. Crazy things happen when you're blogging."
Speculation has turned to where Serin is hiding out and whether he's on the run from the law. Serin refuses to disclose where he is except to say he's somewhere in eastern Australia and is living for the next few months with some fans who offered to let him stay with them for free.
Amateur detectives have unearthed an Internet Protocol address they say might be Serin's. The address would put his location in the Sydney suburb of Northmead in New South Wales. Others have urged readers to "please contact the AFP immediately".
(One common charge is that, by lying on mortgage applications, Serin violated state and federal fraud laws. Serin uses the term "my mortgage fraud." He also admits: "I overstated my income, misrepresented owner occupancy intent and concealed the cash-back from the lenders.")
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