It looks like some of our fellow local anime and J-pop fans were burned by the same unscrupulous event organizer.
I genuinely feel sorry for all these kids who have been taken for a ride, as well as royally pissed at the fact that this lowlife event organizer managed to scam people not just once, but twice! Curious? Here’s how it all went down.
No-Go Kaisho
Way back in May 2010, an event named Go Kaisho was announced with much fanfare. It promised to be an event organized by fans, for fans — eschewing corporate sponsorship in favor of exhibitors from the local community. A fairly large number of toy and merchandise shops run by fans welcomed this change, and took them up on their offer.
The organizers also tried to make things easier for fans by offering ticket pre-selling at various locations. Just like the exhibitors, a lot of people took them up on their offer and trooped to the sale points to purchase their tickets.
However, there were telling signs that things were not going according to plan. First, the exhibitors were mostly in the dark about the event — no meetings were called after the rental money was collected. As for the fans, the ticket pre-selling was a mess — some fans got their tickets, others did not.
Things came to a head in the wee hours of the morning on con day: Go Kaisho was postponed, and no explanation was offered. People showed up at the venue tickets in hand, only to be informed by the building managers and security staff that although a reservation was made by the event organizer, no deposit was made so the booking was cancelled.
Fans were livid, and took their complaints online. Unfortunately, the lead organizer — a person known only as Kensou Monta, was nowhere to be found. Measures were taken to track down this good-for-nothing scammer, but eventually the furor died down and the complainants simply gave up.
Project NuOtaku: Scam Pack
Fast forward to August 2011, and a new event called Project NuOtaku popped up on the radar — once again promising to be an event for fans, by fans. Calling bullshit on it, we proceeded to make a point-by-point comparison on Project NuOtaku’s site versus Go Kaisho’s site, hoping that it would serve as a warning to cosplay and J-pop fans.
Project NuOtaku’s first event pushed through — we’ll give them that. However, by the time their second event Jam Pack was announced, the same disturbing signs were showing that things were going the way of — well, Go Kaisho.
First, the admins of Ongaku Society received a series of text messages from NuOtaku organizer Kensou (sound familiar?) (who was actually Monta, but now going around calling himself Kensou) asking the well-established Japanese music organization to foot the bill for the Jam Pack venue (Disclosure: I have been one of the moderators for Ongaku Society since 2004). The organization refused, as their funds were already earmarked for an upcoming gig.
Having seen the outcome of Go Kaisho’s shenanigans first hand, I asked fellow OS mods if it was a good idea to inform bands in the line up of the event organizer’s preparations (or lack of thereof). However, a fellow mod advised that we should let the Project NuOtaku people succeed or fail on their own, without our interference.
On the day of the event, we kept getting updates on Facebook that many of the bands who agreed to play at Jam Pack were being royally mistreated. The event schedule was not followed — leading to a cut in the band performance sets from four songs to two. Many bands — some of whom came all the way from Laguna and Bulacan, were even bumped off their sets altogether.
Eventually all the bands took to the stage, and the event ended hours after it was supposed to. When the bands looked for explanations as to why the event was a complete and utter failure, Kensou once again disappeared. As expected, most of the band members were pissed, but I have to say it’s a small blessing for them that the venue and sound system rentals were already paid for — otherwise they’d be left behind to deal with it especially the ones who were charged PhP 100 each as “entrance fee” to play at the event. Shame shame shame 😐
Nu Name, Same Scam
The name of the game is Constant Vigilance! Not all event organizers are good people — some of them are out to cheat you, if you let them. Do not be too dazzled by professional-looking site design and fancy graphics — scam event organizers use this to lend an air of legitimacy to their events (like this alleged scam event in Kuala Lumpur).
Try to find out if the event organizers are known names in the community — like the Japan Foundation, Hobbiworx, Collectibles Unlimited, and Cosplay.PH. Big-name organizers are less likely to split the scene even if things go wrong. Last but not least, do not be easily swayed by claims that the event is designed for fans by other fans. Just because these people are fellow fans, it does not necessarily mean that they are good fans.
Update on 1st February 2012
In light of some new information revealed by several victims in the comments box, I have revised several lines of this post for clarity. However, you can still view the original text behind the strike-through. Thanks!
JPOP Manila 
The creepiest part of all these (or should I say the most blatantly obvious) is the fact he/she still using that same scammer name! Or maybe he’s a different guy all along using that scammer name just to make people srewed up before think that he/she’s the same person cheating you? O___O
And the most frustrating of all many fans are still guillible to believe on these bastards. Runs in the Filipino blood? >,<
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sorry — major miss on my research: the organizer used to call himself “monta”, and later changed it to “kenso”.
however, based on statements from people who had been involved in both debacles he is clearly one and the same person — if you can even call him a person…
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Its funny how some people would say about an incident “ok just forget it, move on!” only to find out how things repeat itself through ignorance. Sometimes I feel the best option is to simply let these people learn it the hard way.
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I’ve heard too many negative comments about this event. This said event had convinced even those well-known bands from the J-pop/J-rock music community here in the Philippines. And as stated on the latter part of this post, they’re a bit lucky because they didn’t end up paying the bills for the venue and the sound systems.
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I knew there was something fishy with that event… That’s why I decided to go to Otaku Expo instead.
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Looking at the comparison pic, it seems that they both use the Mystique theme most sites use. That is the similarity.
The logo designs are great, which tells me one thing: “are they created by the same person?” This might involve some planning to create these logo designs (which is great, yes).
“The event schedule was not followed — leading to a cut in the band performance sets from four songs to two…” — I see what the organizers did there. They need an explanation or else they will be in the same place as Kaisho.
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Until now they havent paid back my Go Kaisho exhibitor fee><
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yikes! i hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you will probably never see your money again 😐
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i know ate:(( the group who helped him only paid the sponsors. they promised na isusunod kaming exhibitors.. pero wala na nangyari.
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You and all other exhibitors should sue those people! Gahd I know how f*cked up justice system in this country, but at least if you all help together put these jerks to jail or at least let them know you’ve already brought this thing in court they will never have the face to set up phony cons like these…Things like these are serious stuffs, money and deceit are involved. 😦
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it will never fly — the fiscal’s office will throw the case out of court for being “too trivial”.
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It was really a sad event.. but lessons were learned specially for us as a new band.. we prepared 4 songs to a point that some of us got sick because of frequent rehearsals yet na-cut kmi into 2 songs.. so sad 😦
the only nice part is that we met new friends 🙂
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Actually, they contacted us to perform on that event with just a week for practice and all. We obliged and gave it a chance even though we are skeptical since we also found out that their site looks like the event that never happened.
So we got our schedule. They told us we would be performing at 8:40pm. Cool.
Come event day, I asked my band mate to text somebody who is in that event already for some news. It was around 6pm and the texter said that they have just started the band performances and it was the 3rd band who was on stage.
Since I had other agenda that night, I let my other band mates go there first then I’ll just follow. Then my band mate texted me that some bands backed out and some band scheds were moved so we might have a chance to play earlier. I hurriedly left where I was and went to the venue.
Much to my dismay, there were 6 bands before us and the supposedly 8:40pm sched did not push through. They gave each band 20 mins but that wasn’t the case. Some even performed longer than expected. I was pissed — not with the bands but with the schedule and how ‘professional’ they are.
Here’s more. I heard news that the other band members were manning the event. 1 vocalist helped host the event. Some were checking the amps and stuff. Real total mess.
I left the event since I needed to go back to my tita’s house. Good thing, my band was able to perform but the 4 songs were cut to only 2 to accommodate all the bands.
Sigh.
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ugh — the lack of stage management is just bad bad bad organizing. if they want to waste their time and money and effort in their useless events, the least they can do is not get innocent musicians involved!
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On the day of the Nuotaku event, Kensou sent text messages to the bands that he needs to pay the venue rental of 4k until 6PM. He said the band members won’t be charged for the Entrance fee, but at the event, he was too busy waiting at the gates and collecting money from each band member coming in.
After the event, he again sent a text message using a different mobile number saying that he got robbed and lost his phone. He then apologized for the event being a failure.
Never heard from him again. Geesh.
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OMG so that means that the bands did end up paying for the venue rental?! that’s positively barbaric!!! he should be ashamed of himself!!!
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Yup.. When we arrived at the venue, there were no posters, tarps, backdrops or any indication that there was an event being held. You can just tell by the sound of the bands playing. Inside, there were just 4 tents with 1 food stall and the sound system setup. We were like, “aside from the sound system rental, what else did he pay for?”
Really looked like a mess.
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and did you know, that he told the exact same lie during the gokaisho scandal?
“got robbed walking home”
paawa ang gago.
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and did you know, that he told the exact same lie during the gokaisho scandal?
he must think that people are idiots 😐 what a gutter-dwelling lowlife!
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Sheesh, the nerve of him! Good thing, I didn’t have to pay. But if that’s the case, I would have asked my band to back out.
Grabe!
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his nickname during the go-kaishou scandal was Monta. and on the Jampack scandal, Kensou.
I was with my fellow bandmates when the meeting for gokaisho in mcdonalds, somewhere in taft, happened and I really regret that I didn’t took a single picture of him,
I could describe him though! he has this gay-ish aura and looks gay too, you could mistake him as a college student, and very weird and awkward way of addressing people, and be informed that this guy knows nothing! as in! I could remember that I asked him if there would be monitors on stage, and he thought i was referring to TV MONITORS!
and that was in gokaisho,
during the jampack event, he was just at the gate “asking people for donations”. I knew he looked familiar but I really wasn’t sure because he was wearing something overhead and a towelette, but damn, when I told my band mate that he looked familiar, he agreed. mofo was just there at the gate doing nothing but collect donations, and as if preparing to run for his life or with the money (which he did!).
The Jampack facebook group was a mess, that kensou never answered any important questions, and was using an innocent group member to inform the group itself. so unprofessional!
beware of that guy! you’ll know it’s him, when he won’t give you his real name, and acts so unprofessional! is it proper to ask the bands for financial support on the event day itself? organizer fail. the only wrong thing that the bands did was we let this guy manipulate us. bands were so eager to do anything, just to be able to perform. and that makes me want to kill that guy! he even got the nerve to ask the bands if the event was a failure, !!tsk
again, i forgot to take a picture of him! next time I’ll nail that f*cker!
he might now have minions, so be very careful!
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The Jampack facebook group was a mess, that kensou never answered any important questions, and was using an innocent group member to inform the group itself. so unprofessional!
if the organizer is tight-lipped about the event to the exhibitors and performers, it’s usually a VERY BIG CLUE that things are headed for the toilet 😐
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The organizer doesn’t even know which of the bands should play next. He gave the list to one of the band members to do the job. And that band member became the MC.
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I already expected a failed event, for us we were just there to enjoy the company of fellow bands. it was just sad that they had to ask for a voluntary contribution for the equipment and that the event was delayed
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Hm, can’t that Kensou person or whatever alias he uses be traced using the identification he uses when making venue reservations and such? Although he could use another person for that, at least he could be traced and properly identified.
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FYI guys the real name of scammer is Jomar “Monta a.k.a. Kensou” Custodio he is from Concepcion Marikina City. He used to study in PUP Sta. Mesa, AB theater Arts 4-1. He never graduated. We currently works for a call center right now. His modus operandi goes something like this………
1. He recruits HIGHSCHOOL Staff because they are easily manipulated.
2. He is very aggressive
3. He is already BLACKLISTED from Exhibitors courtesy of Hobbyworx
4. He is already BLACKLISTED from established Jrock Bands
5. He is already BLACKLISTED from SPONSORS.
6. He is already BLACKLISTED from majority of the established Anime Guilds.
Unfortunately we could not pin this guy because we need respondents. We Highly encourage every body not just blog but to HELP US STOP THIS GUY.
According to our sources he is lurking in Quezon.
We expect that his next modus would either be.
1. Unsuspecting school orgs. , or
2. Move to another province or location
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additional information:
Kensou would always use the alibi: ” NAHOLDAP SYA SA CUBAO NANG MADALING ARAW”
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He always use another person upfront to represent him. So he is so hard to catch. The last time he did this he used a fil foreigner ” Half japanese guy” to be the front man. So guys beware. Always ask for a government issued ID. and MOST SPECIALLY if its an event organizer……..HE WILL ALWAYS HAVE A PERMIT FROM CITY HALL if the venue is outside the school.
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I knew it from the start that the event will end up nothing but a failure, but reality comes worst than I expected. When we got there, I was, “WTF” is with the venue, looks creepy, big metal gate just like a criminal’s hideout based on the movies I’ve watched, no poster or whatever, there was no sign of an event is on going.
Upon entering, two guys are waiting at the entrance, asked them if do we need to buy a ticket and answered no, but they said that they need donation because their plan is not followed as they expected and they have a debt of more than 20k for the system, with our sympathy, me, my friends and my bandmates, we gave P100 each so that at least we can help them pay the debt.
And upon seeing this post, I was, again “WTF”
All I can say is WTF is wrong with them.
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