You would be wrong. Enough clues were left. Look at the retrospective blog posts - OP started work with design agency in October 2021. So look at September 2021

You would be wrong. Enough clues were left. Look at the retrospective blog posts - OP started work with design agency in October 2021. So look at September 2021 'freelancer/seeking freelancer' (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28380660 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28380660) search throw using unusual words from blog post. read likely posts. stop for some air. click through website of likely candidate. hold breath. check CEOs name. not the same but... Elementary my dear Watson. Ele-flipping-mentary. CEO takes the time to post in freelancer thread. They can write a comment to give us their side and hopefully announce the full return of all monies to OP. Because the popularity of this post is soaring like a plane or weather balloon.