Disgruntled web developer hacks website to try to get $3000 payment

A disgruntled website developer is believed to be behind a website hack that occurred on the website of electricity and gas comparison site GoSwitch.
According to Mumbrella, visitors to the comparison siteโs homepage on Wednesday morning were greeted with a banner ad saying โPay Up Jamieโ, which appears to be a reference to founder of digital agency DCODR Jamie Silver.
The GoSwitch site was emblazoned with the words โJamie at DCODR didnโt pay the developer of the site and has an outstanding balance of $2975.00โ.
A music video for the song โBit*h Betta Have My Moneyโ by pop singer Rihanna was also added to the site.
DCODRโs website lists Go Switch as one of its clients along with Chrisโ Dips, Need It Now and the Victoria Racing Club.
Mumbrella reports a red banner with the words โuntil the outstanding balance is paid in full the intellectual property that powers this site is being stolenโ also appeared.
Craig Reardon, founder and director of independent web services firm The E Team, told SmartCompany this morning GoSwitchโs web developer has used its power to get a message across in a very public way.
โThe polite thing to do would be to take the site down and say the site is unavailable,โ he says.
Reardon says he has heard of SMEs using different โembarrassment techniquesโ to highlight payment issues in their industries.
โIโve heard of tradesmen going into shops and yelling about quality of food because it havenโt been paid,โ he says.
โItโs a digital equivalent.โ
Reardon says while he senses the web developerโs frustration, there are other approaches to expressing concerns over pay.
โThereโs a bit of a culture of the rebellious young tech designer, but the industry is growing up a bit and has to put in pretty professional business practices.
โItโs tempting, but most of us would not do that.โ
Reardon says from a business perspective, the public message probably just inflames the situation.
But questions also need to be asked of the business, Reardon says, because for web developers in most cases there are payments at various milestones in the development process.
โYou have to look at the agency and say were payments enforced at those times,โ he says.
โYou have to say, how did it get to this stage? Everyone wants to be paid on time.โ
Reardon says the best case scenario is the alleged non-payment is โcheekyโ but it can also be seen as unprofessional.
โItโs at best cheeky, at worst itโs not a great look for them,โ he says.
โYou would have reservations about going with them knowing they could take this approach.โ
SmartCompany contacted Jamie Silver, GoSwitch and DCODR but did not receive a response prior to publication.ย