That really sucks and I'm very sorry to hear that. FWIW, like mentioned above, it's always best to check references etc, b ut then that never really gives any guarantees.
I freelance my coding abilities and as i'm just starting out, I don't have many references, and so to instill confidence, I never ask for payment up front, but will do the work and keep the scripts and designs on my server until the client is satisfied. Payment is then dealt with. If only more people would do this, it would annihilate this type of scum.
