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Last updated: April 11th, 2023
Anibal Damiao - 100 % fraud?

I've been debating with myself whether to do this write-up in Danish or English. But since Anibal Damiao does not communicate much in Danish, since he seems to be doing fraught against non-Danish speakers too, and since I have a suspicion that he is sonner or later going to move to another country to do his scams, I have decided that it is best to write in English.

If at some point you realize that you are going to do business with a company that is owned or run by Anibal Damiao, then keep clear and avoid at all cost! This man is nothing but a liar and fraudster. Below I have proof from three companies he has been running that has all been lying, cheating and stealing money from customers, clients, associates, and/or employees. In the latest case it has gone so far that the national Danish news broadcaster has spend several hours on radio and in online articles describing he's methods.

WARNING: NEW SCAM!
Please be adviced, that the dear Anibal Damiao is now at it yet again with a new company. This time he claims that he is developing some kind of robotic farm equipment. Currently it is only set up to scam people who will work for him (in the end for free, because he is never going to pay the promised salaries), but he is already in the initial stages to take "pre-orders", so regular customers must be aware that he will take your money without ever delivering anything!

If in doubt, then please read about boattent.com, just below.

Jump here for more information about his new scam.

Case 1: Boattent.com (website shut down)
This where I got scammed back in 2015. The idea sounded pretty descent, when it was mentioned in some Danish boat magasines, for instance here:

minbåd.dk: Boattent

Here is a shorter English version:

Sail-world.com: Boattent launches a cockput hood cover without metallic parts

and I ended up backing his Indiegogo project which ran in December 2014 and January 2015. I had previously (and since) backed several projects on Kickstarter, all of which have, while delayed, otherwise delivered as promised. As the boattent product is not exactly rocket sience, I though it would work out too.

However, after around 8 months, he send out an email that boattent was ceising operations, that he was very sorry, and that he would reimburse us out of his own pockets. Below is a copy of the email. It is worth mentioning that just a few months earlier he had tried to make us put orders for various add-ons, none of which I was interested in (fortunately).

In the end they delivered somewhere around 2 to 4 boat tents, and the remaining 10 customers (me included) got nothing, except the following email:

After a thorough consideration, I decided to stop boatTENT. Operations will resume if/when we get substantial financing that allow us to build our great product efficiently.

My goal will now be to refund those affected by this situation.

[...]

I am responsible but not able to continue granting timelines from our manufacturing in Portugal which is currently affected by uncertainty. The bigger the size of the boat, the bigger the uncertainty and we shouldn't have accepted those orders at first, although we didn't know.

We decided to build our own production facility after our initial crowdfunding. Total funds raised weren't enough but I personally invested in it to build a quality, custom-built product that China wouldn't.

[...]

There are a comparatively minor number of affected clients, but those had a bad experience from delivery delays. I totally understand and sympathise with it. Please get back to me if you're one of the affected.

and:

Since boatTENT in Portugal may be closed, I will personally refund you from my own pocket. I am not able to do so yet, but will revert as soon as possible and pay back via mobilpay.

We had a great product and may get back in the game after we get some funding. But for now it is not fair to keep things in a lingo since clients MUST expect more from us.

Apologies for this. I know you were one of the first backers, and were patient all along.

I contacted him with about 6 months intervals in the following years, but he just kept dragging out the payment with half-lame excuses and in the end he started threatning that if I kept bugging him he would definitely not pay anything at all. Honestly I don't think he ever had the intention of paying anything back. This is a copy of he's last threats:

As i said before, IF I am able to pay in the future i will. I won't be able to rush it. If you keep with the persistence, I'll default to what typically happens in unsuccessful crowdfunding campaigns and will stop trying.

That's not the answer you'd like but it's the best i can get

As the years passed I noticed that he had tried to start some kind of internet advertising company (called InfluAds), but as these companies are typically never growing to anything particularly big, and since they're quite often doing fraudulent business I didn't take much notice. Any client of such a company already ought to know that it's shady business.


Concept drawing


A prototype on a Dufour 34 (without windows)


Another prototype (with poorly made window)

Case 2: Nemlevering.dk
I had also noticed that he had later started a company called nemlevering, which basically is a competitor to the major national package distributors Postnord, GLS, FedEX, and so on. Also in this case I didn't take it too seriously, as anyone who wants to compete with these big guys and don't have a history of getting big investments was not something I considered particularly serious.

It seems, however, that he actually managed to get a few clients, some of the smaller ones got scammed, as he claimed he would charge only a small amount for shipping, while in reality he sent out bills 3 times higher. Also a fairly big online fashion reseller Boozt.com seems to have fallen in his trap, as there are quite a few complaints on trustpilot about people receiving their Christmas presents after Christmas, and others complaining that the packages went missing, or were not delivered at the scheduled time. These complaints are normal for any reasonable big shipping company, as mistakes are bound to happen, and some of the clients will be so unhappy that they write complaints. However there are two complaints on trustpilot that stands out:

"Ufine metoder!
Vi har samarbejdet med Nemlevering.dk omkring én forsøgsordning med leveringer til kunder i Jylland og på Fyn. Jeg blev lovet priser på 100-150kr per levering i forsøgsperioden af den ansvarlige over telefon, men blev til min store forbavselse faktureret 344kr+ moms per levering (mere end dobbelt de lovede priser). Dette er uacceptabelt. Samtidigt er vi blevet opkrævet 6000kr "up front" for at indgå samarbejde med dem, hvorfor vi øjeblikkeligt sagde "nej tak" til et samarbejde. Det er ufine metoder, hvorfor jeg på ingen måde kan anbefale et samarbejde med denne virksomhed."

My translation:
"Nasty methods!
We have coorporated with Nemlevering.dk regarding a trial period with deliveries to customers in Jylland and Fyn. I was promised prices of 100-150 kr per delivery in the trial period by the seller on on the phone, but were to my astonishment billed 344kr + VAT per delivery (more than double of the promised prices). This is unacceptable. On top of this we were charged 6000 kr "up front" to begin doing business with them, therefore we immediately said "no thanks" for doing business with them. This is nasty methods, due to which I can in no way recommend anyone to do business with this company."

and further:

"Undgå samarbejde med dette *fjernet*
Jeg har gennem en tid samarbejdet med Nemlevering, Drevet af CARGO3 IVS. De har desværre en ret ufin måde at handle på. Jeg opdagede da betalingen til mig var gået 16 dage over tid, at *fjernet* stod til at være under konkurs. Jeg tog kontakt til *fjenet* ved Nemlevering, der nægtede at kende noget til dette.

Jeg afbrød efterfølgende mit samarbejde, da jeg ingen penge fik. Jeg har efterhånden fået trusler om diverse fra Firmaet der har fået fjernet deres konkurs begæring. Ligeledes har jeg fået en regning på 60.000 + moms. Da de mener jeg har været skyld i deres tab af kunder. Undersøger man deres regnskab på CVR.dk står det også til at være i minus. Kan på ingen måde anbefale at samarbejde med dette firma. Alt i alt et rigtig dårligt firma af samarbejde med dette firma, Det hele stinker langt væk af fusk!"

My translation:
"Avoid coopoeration with this *removed*
I have during some time worked with Nemlevering, run by CARGO3 IVS. They have unfortunately a rather foul method of doing business. I realized that my payment was 16 days overdue, that *removed* was under bankrupcy. I took contact to *removed* at Nemlevering, they refused to know anything about this.

I therefore terminated my business with them, since I did not receive any money. I have thereafter received threats about various things from the company that has had their bankrupcy removed. Likewise I have received a bill of 60.000 + VAT. Since they think I have been the cause for their loss of clients. If you study their financial statements on cvr.dk it is stated as being negative. I can in no way recommend doing business with this company. All in all a really bad company to work with. It all smells of fraud!"

Case 3: 100 % Øko (website shut down)
What happened next is rather interesting. I actually didn't realize he had done this until I saw an article in BT that his new company was filed for bankruptcy, and the article listed his name. However it turns out, that he has significantly increased the scope of his scams. So much so, that the national Danish Radio has had a lot of articles and a half hour radio show just about him and his fraud.

This company tried to sell biological, recyclable, Christmas trees in Denmark. The idea was that you pay more or less tripple price to get a clean concience. After Christmas they would come to pick up the used tree, and then they would replant it in a new forest in Denmark, where it would grow for the coming 15-20 years. On top of this 30 DKK of each payment would go to one of three NGOs. You could choose between three NGOs when making the order.

So, what happened here:

  • They wanted to replant 260.000 christmas trees. They sold about 3000 trees.
  • 62 has been replanted.
  • A lot of trees (hundreds) were left at a storage facility to rot. They were later burned.
  • Several customers never got their trees picked up (7 weeks after Christmas).
  • A lot of customers never received their trees even though the payment was processed (this is clearly illegal in Denmark).
  • 3 NGOs were promised donations, they never received them.
  • Several employees did not receive part of their salaries.
  • Several consultants did not receive their payments.

The following are quotes from the articles in Danish:

"Men et eller andet er gået galt. Pengene er trukket fra købernes konti, men der mangler juletræer rundt om i de små hjem.":

https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/kunderne-raser-over-juletraeer-i-potte-jeg-er-glad-det-ikke-er-flere-penge

Og selvfølgelig har de ikke returneret pengene:

"De fik aldrig deres juletræ. Alligevel har de betalt for det. Og nu kan de ikke få pengene tilbage." Her kommer det nok ikke bag på læseren, at virksomheden kom med en løgnehistorie af en undskyldning og svaret fra Nets lyder: "Det er rigtigt, at Nets kortvarigt har opsagt 100% Økos kontrakt. Det skyldes dog ikke en artikel i Ekstra Bladet, men at 100% Øko har trukket penge fra kunder, før varerne er afsendt. Det forklarer pressechef Povl Rasmussen." Selvfølgelig har de trukket pengene før de har afsendt varerne. Det er jo svindleren Anibal Damiao, som står bag, så sådan en ulovlighed er han ikke for smålig til at lave. Men han er da heller ikke for pæn til ikke at lyve mht nogle donationer til velgørende organisationer: "For hvert juletræ, der blev solgt, lovede 100% Øko at donere 30 kroner til et velgørende formål efter kundernes eget valg." Det kommer nok ikke som en overraskelse, at intet er blevet udbetalt: "- Vi har endnu ikke modtaget den aftalte minimumdonation på 4.500 kroner, selvom de ifølge den indgåede aftale skulle indbetale donationen senest den 31. januar 2020, forklarer Tina Ringgren Lovén, der er vicepræsident i Din Nødhjælp, til Detektor mandag i sidste uge.":

https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/detektor/detektor-udskaeldt-juletraesfirma-skylder-stadig-kunder-penge-nets-afviser

https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/detektor/detektor-juletraeer-skulle-leve-videre-i-naturen-nu-visner-de-paa-et-lager

https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/detektor/detektor-juletraeer-skulle-leve-videre-i-naturen-nu-er-firmaet-erklaeret-konkurs

og nu også i BT:

https://www.bt.dk/erhverv/efter-shitstorm-nu-er-firma-gaaet-konkurs

Selvfølgelig mangler medarbejderne at få udbetalt noget af deres løn (det passer fint i Anibals historik):

'Detektor' har tidligere talt med flere medarbejdere fra virksomheden, som påstår, at de ikke har fået udbetalt løn. Dette bekræfter Kristoffer Sparre, som mener at vide, at der er tale om 'minimum ti personer inklusiv ham selv'.

"- Det var lidt sværere for mig at passe mit arbejde, når virksomhedens ejer også var der. Han mente ikke, at vi skulle bruge så meget tid på at undskylde overfor kunderne. I stedet skulle vi videre og bare sælge flere juletræer, siger hun. På trods af flere rykkere til 100% Økos ejer, Anibal Damiao, har Katja Trolle Taksholt to måneder senere stadig ikke fået løn for sit arbejde." Og han bruger tilsyneladende stadigvæk samme taktik, som jeg var udsat for: "- Da jeg rykkede for lønnen, sagde han, at han ikke var sikker på, at jeg var de timer værd, som jeg krævede løn for. Jeg fortalte ham, at vi jo havde en kontrakt, og at jeg ikke var timelønnet, siger han.

- Så blev han sur og kaldte mig respektløs."

Source: https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/detektor/detektor-ansatte-knoklede-juletraesfirma-men-har-ikke-faaet-loen

Further information from reddit about foreign consultants not being paid for their services:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Denmark/comments/dcnv2e/worked_as_a_freelancer_with_a_danish_company/

"Jesuuuuus dudes! I just got into this problem! The same company!!! I worked for over 5 weeks as Senior UX/UI Designer and Anibal Damio (the CEO) refuses to pay by giving me excuses and then I asked my workmates (who were leaving the company week by week) and they had the same problem. This month he already scammed 5 people"

To be honest I am not the least surprised that this was yet another fraudulent company. In other words: Stay far away from something Anibal Damiao is involved in. This guy is a true con-artist.


Storage facility with trees thrown around


Storage facility with trees thrown around


Trees rotting away

Case 4: Going Small
October 2020: I am utter speachless. It seems the dear Anibal Damio has gone back to the basics. He has started growing so-called biologic (I am sure he is cheating) produce at a farm area north of Copenhagen. And of course he's still at it with breaking rules and being a crook:

I am staggered!

Case 4B: Bankrupt but still trying to start a new attempt
October 2021: He's now in the process of liquidating his company "Down South Ventures", which naboerne.com was run by. DR's Detektor has the story: https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/detektor/detektor-foerst-ville-han-genplante-juletraeer-nu-er-hans-nye-virksomhed-meldt-til.

Customers and former employees had claims for more than one million kr. He has moved more than 200.000 kr from the company accounts to his personal accounts without proper paperwork. The curator has identified criminal activities, so the case was handed over to the police in November 2021.

However, he has created a new farming website called "Nærgård", which doesn't seem to have a cvr number in his name, mostly operates on Facebook, and only takes payments to a MobilePay account belonging to his girlfriend. Apparently he's starting to feel the heat.

Unfortunately he has trapped more people to work for him, obviously without paying their salary or agreed-on expenses, and when they start to demand their money he gets nasty. In other words: He continues the same pattern that I saw many years ago. Here is a really sad story about a bloke that worked for a month without pay AND who spend a lot of money on travel, and lodging, which Anibal kept promising he would pay (of course he never had any intension to do so):

Another guy being frauded by Anibal.

I *really* hope that people start to google his name, before they start working for him!

Case 4C: New attempt
April 2022: And he is at it again. He has tanken his old cvr number from InfluAds and made a new company called udplantning.com. I am NOT going to make a link to his fraud, but I need to write it here, so people he tries to hire will have a chance to get warned.

Well, technically it's not really a new company, it is run under the "one person company" (enkeltmandsvirksomhed) scheme that Denmark has to enable its citizens to fairly easily, and inexpensively create and operate small companies. In my oppinion this is a great scheme, but of course crooks can abuse any type of scheme.

Never-the-less each "one person company" has a unique cvr-number, that is linked to the person who created it. Thus if you open one of these entities, then shuts it down, and then later again reopens it, you will have the same cvr-number. Therefore we can see the trail. Note that InfluAds was registered as both a "one person company", an Aps (now liquidated) and an IVS (since October 2021 a defunct type of company in Denmark).

During the liquidation of naboerne.com the curator wanted to put him under qurantiene from creating new companies. I do not expect that this part of his case is currently finished, but no matter what the outcome of that is, it does not matter, since he is still allowed to be operating existing registered companies. I call that a loophole!

Case 5: Robotic Farming
Apparently Anibal quickly got tired of removing weeds from his farming endeavours. Maybe that's why he got into robotic farming equipment with a new company he calls charlesrobotics.com?

The first part of this scheme is that he is trying to get people to do all the development for him for free. He is looking for people here: https://thehub.io/startups/charles. He is surely promising the candidates some kind of salary and promising some kind of ownership percentage - note that he is looking for "partners". Rest assured that he is NOT going to pay salary, and you will NEVER see any kind of what-ever else he promises, such as stock options or the like. You will, however, work for free (as happened to many people working for his 100oko company (see above)). I have already heard from a few people who almost got cought in his trap with this new company!

Here is what one guy told me:
I am a new MSc engineering student in Denmark. While looking for some job posts I came across these [job postings on thehub, that are no longer present]. I found it weird that he was asking for 240h of free work before salary and also offering grants to students, so I tried to dig deeper [...]

I share this just in case you wanted to know what the guy is up to now. Hopefully, other students will not fall for his bullshit.

And here is what happened to a guy working on one of his previous endeavours:
I was the freelancer who posted on reddit about 100oko. During the time I posted it, he even tried to hack into my reddit and Gmail. Awful guy, never saw a cent.

[...] hopefully save a people from going through what I went through.

But this is not all. If you go to his website charlesrobotics.com (link left out on purpose), you can see that he now (April 2023) is almost ready to accept "preorders". Please be aware, that he has a history for doing this, but he will never deliver anything (see boattent above for an example). In order words: DO NOT pay him for preorders! Most likely he will run away with whatever preorder money he can gather, so there will never be any regular orders!

I will try to keep an eye on him, but if you notice something before me, please feel free to contact me using the contact form on this website.

Post script
It is now quite a while ago I lost faith in getting reimbursed for the money I paid to him via Indiegogo, but it came as a surprise to me that he has made such a big blunder that he made it to become infamous in the national Danish news. Hopefully he'll never be able to run a company ever again in this country, but I am a bit worried that he may move his activities to another country.

At one point the website anibaldamiao.com had a tribute to the fraudster Anibal Damiao, but it seems he has somehow taken over the domain, and now it's just a commercial for himself.

I've now stumpled upon an interesting case, where it seems he is unhappy with one of the major insurance companies in Denmark, called Top Danmark, because he apparently didn't set up his payments correctly:

https://www.trustpilot.com/users/5e889d3b4d2b56f1cdbf3b79

The poor fellow now has to pay a fee of 8000 kr, because his insurance was not valid for several months. Obviously this means that it'll take even longer before I see any of my 5000 kr again (as if he was ever going to reimburse me).

I will continue to keep an eye out for what his next scam is going to be. I am sure we have not seen the last from him. However, now that he has been this much in the news in Denmark, I wonder if he is going to jump to another countery. We'll see, and I'll update this page when I get any news. If you happen to hear anything about what he is up to you are also welcome to contact me using the contact form on this website.