Today, we would finally like to introduce the guy who is behind the Safabyte, ComponentForge, XtraComponents and ComponentSoft.net scam. His name is Đặng Minh Thắng, although he usually simplifies this to Thang Dang Ming or Thang Dang. Sometimes he calls himself Thang Minh, Hoang Minh or Jimmy Dang. He was born on June 9th, 1980, which means he just turned 30 today! Until recently, he might have lived or worked at 107 Phố Đức Giang in Long Biên district of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
After finishing his studies at Hanoi - Amsterdam High School, a prestigious Vietnamese high school, he studied information technology at Hanoi University of Technology. In 2003, his team won the first prize at his university's Students Scientific Conference for an emedded system that controls car engines. After finishing his studies, he went on to work for various software companies located in Vietnam and abroad (such as FPT Software, one of the Vietnamese largest software companies).
At this point, Thang Dang was on his way to become a well-known and respected professional. Instead, he turned to the dark side of copyright infringement. In 2007, he launched his grand project: Safabyte, the fraudulent .NET component vendor - selling software based on code stolen from long-standing .NET component vendors such as Rebex, ComponentSpace, ComponentAce or LanapSoft. After changing his brand name and payment processor many times (once every few months recently), he still continues with this practice until this day under XtraComponents and ComponentSoft.net brands.
(You can find a photo of this Thang Dang here or here.)
We have been informed that he currently lives in the United States, possibly studying for an MBA at WKU and residing at the campus (College Heights Blvd 1806, Suite 201). This opens a wide range of opportunities! Perhaps studying law might have been a better choice for him after all? :-)