Who are Ben and Moe?

Ben Hunter aka Ben Nino Hunter aka Ben Halifi

Ben Hunter, who's name was originally Ben Halifi, (see name change document here in Santa Clara County) is also known as Ben Nino Hunter. Born in 1975 in Israel, Ben immigrated from Israel with his first wife, Yifat Lichter, in the early 2000's. After moving from NJ to CA, he found himself work as a salesman for a contractor most likely through family connections.

Since the very start, there have been many complaints about how Ben works. He promises you everything you want to hear. He will find out what you like and he will like that too - everything from telling you he runs animal shelters to telling you he also has cancer. He also lies about his service record, saying that he served in military intelligence, the special forces (both Israeli and American), that he served in a special K-9 unit and other fantastical, ridiculous stories.

Ben is a good salesman. He is able to convince people to use his services, often tugging on people's heartstrings by claiming antisemitism as a reason he isn't successful (it isn't). He also spends a great deal of time with you during the upfront sales cycle, which is something that gives people a great deal of comfort. Ben also shows many photos of his work and points to his many positive reviews online. The photos of his work are fake as are the positive reviews.

His third wife, Jacqueline Hunter aka Jacqueline Toft is often behind these fake reviews. She also spends a great deal of time online using a large variety of fake accounts with stolen photos to promote her husband's fraudulent business. One account she uses is Nicole Mendoza (linked here) using photos of a Sarah Bandino (btw, Sarah Bandino, if you are reading this, email Jacqueline Toft Hunter and have her remove the photos of you). "Nicole Mendoza" does nothing but promote Welbilt's services in a variety of Facebook groups, see here, here and here. This is illegal, as both California law AND Federal law prohibit fake reviews equivocally. Welbilt has a long history of putting up fake reviews on Yelp, Houzz, Google Reviews and other more minor home improvement review sites. They were all completely fake.

Why are the fake reviews so crucial? Because when people spend hundres of thousands of dollars (or if you are Mr Thayer, almost 1 million dollars), they look at reviews. Would you give someone with terrible reviews hundreds of thousands of dollars? No.

This is the scam, homeowners, listen up. You will have them over to your house, they will schmooze you and find out what you are interested in. They are likable and fun. The bid comes in very reasonable, middle of the pack. They sign you up, you pay a nominal deposit and they get started. Right off the bat they find a whole bunch of problems - the plumbing is not done correctly and needs to be redone totally - cost? $20-30,000. Sorry, they say, we could not have known. The problems multiply. Siding needs to be replaced. There is mold. There are leaks. There are problems with ventilation. Electrical wiring is dangerous. The change orders are now over $100,000. More bad news they say - the foundation is a problem. For all of these change orders, large deposits are required. If you don't pay, they tell you we will stop work immediately. So you pay, and watch your money dwindle. Work is done, but as the days go on, less and less is done. Workers that were showing up every day are now showing up every other day, then every third day and then not at all. The subcontractors (Chaco, Elazar, Kevin etc) complain that they can't get ahold of Ben or Moe to approve materials. Heck, you can't get a hold of Ben or Moe either for the most part. The project slows down. Mostly you are left with a house that the demolition has been done but not much else. Ben and Moe will hit you up for more money for various reasons. They need to order different material - its more expensive than they thought. You start leaving voicemails and sending text messages. Nothing. They have sucked you dry and you realize through out the change orders that you have paid them much more than you should have. They have 80% of your money and have done maybe 20% of the job. You tell Ben and Moe that they are fired. You finally hear from Ben, and he is now very aggressive. You can't fire me, Ben will tell you. You owe ME money on your contract. His signature move when he owes you money and you want it back is to get verbally aggressive. Some people have reported that he has also threatened violence (allegedly). If he is threatening you, you should know that he knows you are in the right.

It is this scam that Ben has pulled for more than 20 years through out his "career" as a contractor. Ben completes the demo (which is cheap btw) and you drive up the change orders, once you realize that you can get no more money from the customer, you abandon the job. As a homeowner, what do you do? Well, if you are lucky, you can file a lawsuit. However, that is expensive. Most people have to chose between fixing their house and filing a lawsuit. So despite that Ben has pulled this scam hundreds of times and has caused damages in the tens of millions of dollars, he never gets punished. The CSLB investigations take about a year. Ben has moved on and scammed ten more people by then.

BTW if you are thinking of suing him - Ben has only in one case that we know of, actually finished paying out a settlement. Ben has no assets, no cars in his name. He rents. He knows exactly what he can get away with and how to make sure that he keeps the maximum amount of your hard-earned money.

What are the economics of this? Well, from the data we have, Ben and Moe did about ten to twelve jobs per year in 2022 and 2023. They got about $150,000 a job, in some cases more. So lets estimate income of about $1,600,000 for both Ben and Moe. They spend about $10,000 per job (estimation, in some cases more if they think they can get more from you) between the demo and lead generation and the minimum payment of subs (the subs have all complained that payments to them are routinely delayed by weeks, that when they are paid, it is not the full amounts and that they have to request payments for work done multiple times. These are working-class Hispanic men who often don't feel like they have legal recourse because they don't have the money for a lawyer or they are undocumented and don't want to cause trouble.). That is about $100,00. That leaves about $1,500,000. They pay a significant of money to their lawyer, Edrin Shamtob, so possibly $250,000-$300,000? That leaves $1,200,000. Moe takes a lesser cut, probably about $400,000? Ben takes a larger cut of $700,000*.

What do they do with their money? Well, firstly they don't save it. Saving money would mean that there would be something for you, the wronged consumer, to go after. They spend it all. Opulent vacations multiple times a year. Disney world. Luxury labels like Prada and Louis Vuitton. Multiple leased luxury cars for Ben, Moe, Jacqueline and Moe's wife (G Wagon, new work trucks a leased Alfa Romeo for Moe's wife). A brand new leased Land Rover for Ben's barley 18-year-old son. Expensive private schools.

*These numbers are approximate, based on our inside sources and are for illustrative purposes only.

Ben Hunter aka Ben Halifi aka Ben Nino Hunter

Moe Elkarif/

Moran Elkarif

Moe Elkarif is the latest in a long line of side-kicks that Ben has had. While Ben is the "brains" of the scam, Moran is responsible for the execution - dealing with subs, trying to calm people down after Ben has been angry with them. Moran was born in 1981 and grew up in Israel, in the beach-side town of Nahariyah (address was Khanita Street #2, apartment 2, Google map image here, thanks to the reader that wrote in and corrected the city and added the actual address!). At some point, his father and Moran immigrated to the US to join some of his paternal family in the LA area. His mother, Fany Cohen-Elkarif and siblings seemed to have stayed in Israel (and I might add, are all gainfully employed in fields such as HR and have so far somehow found ways not to scam anyone). His father, Shlomi Elkarif has subsequently moved back to Israel, works a sales job and is active on Israeli dating sites (though he lists his age as 50 when he is really 64. Maybe telling lies runs in families?). Moran's first marriage was to a woman far more motivated and talented that he was. This first marriage didn't last long, for reasons unknown. I am redacting her name as to not continually conflate his name with hers, but she is extremely successful and clearly very good at her job. Her family ran (and still runs) a successful contracting business. Perhaps Moran got his start with them? Coinciding with his first marriage and subsequent divorce, Moran held a security guard license for two years (Feb 2012-2014). It is unknown if he ever used it.

Moran, sources say, was never terribly successful in the construction business. He had various companies - MM Contructions (yes, misspelled), Elite Home Remodeling LLC and G&M Remodeling. When Ben returned from his sojourns up in Northern California, he needed a lackey. Somehow, he met Moran (and no, before you ask they are NOT cousins) and Ben promised him a great deal of money. In that respect, Ben has kept his promise to Moran. But Moran, since you read this website, you should know that we know Ben going back many, many years. He has never been loyal to anyone but himself and he will dump you whenever it is expedient for him.

Moran Elkarif aka Moe Elkarif

Moe's second marriage seems more successful in the sense that he has managed to stay married for longer. However, he does have two small children (under 5 and so perhaps that is the reason that he has stayed married..) and his wife is either more amenable to Moran's scams or she does not want to know.

One thing Moran has in common with Ben is his love for luxury goods. Moran, like his mentor and teacher, loves the finer things in life - and he does not mind scamming others in order to get the Givenchy shoes ($675) or the YSL Espadrilles for his wife ($745). There are $1400 in shoes in this photo alone. I have not explored the clothes, the watches or anything else.... Yet. Moran also likes his $425 haircuts in Beverly Hills as per his review on Yelp (yep, a Brazilian blowout for a man and a haircut is $425 plus a tip - see here here). Moran, let me tell you I shop for clothes at Target and get my hair cut at Supercuts - the Westlake Village location is fantastic (ask for Amy or Annabella)! Also, stop spending my money that you owe me on fucking ridiculous things and just give it back to me. He also has both his kids in private school that costs $40,000 a year EACH, and neither of them have started first grade. Moran's rent is $7,500 a month (his address is available via public records, Zillow shows what the house was rented for). I do not put this information in my website to dox Moran or to shame him for his spending. But now that his company is suspended by the CSLB and he can no longer work as a contractor (see here and here), and just his rent and tuition for his kids is $170,000 a year what is he going to do? Remember, Moran has a high school education, and the only other thing he is seemingly qualified for is as a security guard making probably around $25 an hour. He clearly has made massive amounts of money running this construction scam with Ben Halifi Hunter (aka "Archie").

The irony is that Moran's last name Elkarif in Arabic means literally "The Bringer of Autumn" when translated directly. The Arabic subtext for the name (and how it is used in Arabic to this day) means "one who brings about positive impact", it is someone who brings transformation to their surroundings. Moran, you fail to live up to your name. Shame on you. I hope your family never finds out what you have been doing. If they are anything like my family, you would be disowned immediately.

Moran's acquaintances note the tremendous stress working with Ben has put him under. He has changed beyond all recognition. He sold his soul in pursuit of the almighty dollar. Moran, you can do better. Moran is now using phone numbers: (424) 722-6794, (310) 403-9974 and (424) 944-2328.

Jacqueline Elizabeth Toft, aka Jacqueline Hunter

Jacqueline Elizabeth Toft Hunter - It might seem odd that only Ben's wife is listed on our website by name and with a photo. This is because Jacqueline has played a significant role in obtaining customers for Welbilt, and so she is integral to Ben and Moe's fraudulent business. (As far as we can determine, Moran's wife is not involved in Welbilt and so she is not named nor is her photo shown). Jacqueline Elizabeth Toft Hunter was born in Toronto, Canada on September 4th, 1985. Happy Birthday Jac! We hope you enjoy this writeup we have done on you!

Her father, John Toft was a trucker whose parents emigrated from the UK to Canada, where Jacqueline was born (he passed away last year). Her mother, Bonifacia, is of Polish descent, her family coming from Galicia. Bonifacia’s mother comes to the US after her family was murdered in WW2, settling in the north side of Chicago. They speak Polish at home and Bonnie, as she is known in English, also works as a translator for various publications. In 1990, Jacqueline’s family moves to FL from Toronto. She has several half-siblings from both her mothers and father's sides. She was known for being bright, motivated but also troubled with a passion for dance. She graduates from high school in 2004. What happens after graduating from high school in Spring Hill is unknown, though she works a series of waitressing (PF Changs as a bartender), healthcare admin and other office jobs (thank you to the anon who sent in Jacqueline's resume, so helpful!). She has one child with a long-term on-again-off-again boyfriend with whom she has a tumultuous relationship, with the police being called to their house at least once. In 2011 when her child is 2, she enrolls in the local community college with a goal of becoming a nurse. After completing her prerequisites (and getting a score of 72 on the TEAS exam) she gets accepted to Pasco Hernando Community College's RN program in the spring of 2014. She works at Moffit Hospital in Tampa as an RN after working there in various capacities. Shortly after getting her RN license, she moves with her daughter to California. She speaks about CA as if it is the promised land - full of things that will solve all her problems, California is a place that is almost magical to Jacqueline. At this point she is back together with the father of her child, and he joins them in California several months later. She works various RN jobs at this time, at one time full-time at Kaiser but then also picks up shifts elsewhere, such as an eating disorder clinic and at an addiction center.

Jacqueline Elizabeth Toft aka Jaqueline Elizabeth Hunter

Money is still tight for Jacqueline, this is particularly because, as one person who knew her well said "She has a taste for luxury products". Jacqueline and her boyfriend get evicted at least once together and Jacqueline goes on to live in a series of ADUs with her child. It is through Ben's second wife that Jacqueline meets Ben. She has, like Ben, an affinity for the finer things in life and is wanting more designer clothes, fancy leased cars and a bigger house. The timeline of Ben's divorce from his second wife, the ending of Jacqueline's relationship with her daughter's father and the beginning of Ben and Jacqueline’s relationship is fuzzy. One person who knew both Jacqueline and Jennifer at that time told me that Jennifer called her to complain that Ben was cheating on her with her friend, Jacqueline. Ben quickly disposes of Jacqueline's longtime partner and Jacqueline moves in with Ben very quickly as his second wife moves out. At the beginning of 2021, Jacqueline Toft marries Ben Hunter and takes the name of Jacqueline Hunter. This is Ben Hunter's third marriage (first wife is Yifat Lichter, second is Jennifer McDevitt-Callahan-Mather-Hunter) and Jacqueline's first.

Of interest to the readers of this website are two things: that Jacqueline takes over the social media aspect of Moonlight Construction, Welbilt, Welbilt Supreme Craftsmanship and now of West Coast Builders 2. Jacqueline's social media strategy is built on having multiple accounts on Nextdoor, Facebook and Yelp (to name a few) in multiple names. She uses these accounts to promote the business of West Coast Builders 2 fraudulently by posing as a happy customer saying things like "West Coast Builders 2 remodeled my kitchen and they were so wonderful that we hired them to do the bathrooms too now. Call Ben at xxx-xxx-xxxx." It isn't hard to find the accounts that have posted these fake reviews. She has used her own Facebook account (Jacqueline.toft - see here and here and here and here. Please note that Jacqueline has changed her name on Facebook several times - she was Jacqueline Elizabeth for a long time and then she changed it to Jac queline, and the name Nicole Mendoza on Facebook and this account is used to promote Welbilt exclusively (here and here). The Nicole Medoza account uses a photo of a family, and reverse image searches show that this image belongs to a Sarah Bandino. Interestingly, Sarah Bandino is from Spring Hill and graduated from Spring Hill High School in 2004, just like Jacqueline did. Even more interestingly, Jacqueline Hunter (@Lady_el_matador on Instagram- screenshot here- is friends with Sarah Bandino on Instagram.

Other people have sent me screenshots of her using the name Nina Brennan (then changed to Tina Brennan) on Nextdoor as well as the names Pete Redding, and others. If you have read our website at all you will know that faking reviews to increase business is illegal and punishable by fines up to $50,000 per offence. Yep, per fake review. $50,000. Fifty thousand dollars. I have at least 40 screenshots of you trying to defraud the public Jacqueline. That's $50,000 x 40 = $2,000,000. That's a shit-ton of money.

In addition to putting up fake reviews, Ben/Moe/Jacqueline used several companies for lead generation: Home - Astoria Company for example. Why is this relevant? Because Ben and Moe don’t ever stay around to build a reputation slowly and organically. Since having to correct all the damage that Ben caused to my house, I spoke to different people in the trades. NOT ONE of them has ever advertised. Ever. It’s all done by word of mouth. Ben’s companies last all of a few years. Welbilt. Moonlight Construction. O&J Enterprises. Bulldog Handyman. Orion Remodeling. These are only the companies that Ben has been DIRECTLY involved with. There are others: Pacific Construction, G&M Remodeling and others. Anything Ben and Moran touch turns into a lawsuit and a fight.

Another thing: that despite that Ben refers to her as a doctor, she is a nurse. She has never been a doctor. I am not knocking nurses - they are valuable and very needed - but when Ben lies and tells everyone she is a doctor, I want you to know better. (Confusingly there is another Jacqueline Hunter that is a Nurse Practitioner in California, but that is not her. Jacqueline's nursing license is here.)

Jacqueline has also scrubbed herself off the internet. This is because Ben is constantly getting himself into legal trouble. The things she has said that are public, as Ben well knows, can come back to bite you. Ben has virtually no public internet presence until our website was published and Jacqueline scrubs the internet of almost all of her public postings. Moran follows Ben’s example and he also has no public presence. This changes slightly when Welbilt Fraud is published. In order to push us down and suppress the search results if you are googling “Ben Hunter” or “Moran Elkarif” they have created some fake social media profiles that are not connected to any friends or family nor do they post anything meaningful. Back to Jacqueline: there are several pictures of her that are still publicly available, however, she looks nothing like the photos that she posts. The photos that she posts are heavily edited, airbrushed and her face is thinned down.

She also has a terrible driving record. So many tickets! Here, here, here, here, here, here and here, and a few more I need to dig up from Ventura County. Lady, put down your phone, make sure your car is registered, stop speeding and running red lights. Goodness gracious.

You know how Ben always told you that he ran a dog shelter and rescued animals? Yeah, not only is that a lie, Ben and Jacqueline re-homed a dog when they could not make him get along with their other dogs. They also bought him from a breeder in Serbia apparently. "Nicole Mendoza" was all up in the comments. See here.

Thank you, thank you and thank you to all the anons that sent in information for this write up, could not do it without you guys. There are quite a few of you, and I won’t mention you by name… But as always, thanks! If you have any questions or corrections or any other comments, shoot me an email. I’m around most days.