posted on January 12, 2001 12:06:50 AM new
Hi y'all...
I went to an auction seminar a couple days ago for a guy who says he will split profits with you if you go to auctions and complete bids for him. I heard about his seminar on the radio, and it sounded like an interesting way to increase earnings while shopping for eBay merchandise...so I went.
It cost me $25 for the seminar, which was supposed to allow me to be an 'auction agent' for this company. They would email me a schedule of auctions in my area with a shopping list. I would go to the auctions, bid on the list items. The guy would then turn around and sell the items bought at the auction and split the profit with me.
Low and behold, I was not able to become an auction agent. To do so, I would have to give this clown an additional $950--cash only. Red flags and alarms started going off in my head. I went home and researched this guy and his company. All sorts of negative reports and complaints came up on him and his company.
The Federal Trade Commission and Better Business Bureau have named him a con artist. He moves around the country with this auction agent scam. You pay him money...then you never see it or him again. He just works a state until he gets kicked out...then moves on to another state and changes his name and the name of his company. So I lost my $25 on the seminar.
Right now he is in Louisiana. He said he was going to Mississippi next. I believe he is working his way east. So if you hear of a seminar for something this, don't go.
When I first heard about this, I thought it would be a good idea...since I'm going to auctions for eBay stuff...I might as well pick up some extra money. Well forget it! What really killed me was that there were older people there at the seminar giving him money. One of the victims was in his 80s--very sad.
When I found out he was a con artist, I reported him to 2 police departments, 2 sheriff departments, the FBI, the FTC, the District Attorney for New Orleans, the security for the hotel he was staying at, the local newspapers, TV station, and the radio stations he was advertising on. The radio stations pulled his ads.
Sadly, the authorities say there is not very much that can be done about someone like this. The only result of my efforts was that this con's ads were stopped on the radio, and the FBI's data base was updated on his whereabouts. Basically I learned it is 'Buyer Beware'.
So look out, he's a predator and a thief.
Can I name his company here? He was already declared a con by the Federal Trade Commission.
[ edited by mzalez on Jan 12, 2001 12:09 AM ]
posted on January 12, 2001 11:31:09 AM new
The first two links are specific to the one scammer, but everyone ought to read the third one as well, for it goes into more general characteristics of such scams. To quote fragments from the FTC page:
"Thousands of consumers throughout the country have attended "seminars" in hotel rooms or other public forums where they are persuaded to invest in fraudulent business opportunities and investments.... lured to the seminars by infomercials or letters promising instruction in how to operate a home-based business,... buy and sell real estate,... trade in securities... among other things, in order to earn big income.
"At the seminars, however, consumers learn very little, if anything.... Instead, they are treated to slick sales pitches for schemes that are essentially worthless. Often consumers succumb to these pitches because... hucksters create the impression that anyone, regardless of experience, can buy their program and earn a lot of money.
"Scam artists... have the gracious manner and impeccable grooming that projects an image of respectability, legitimacy and prosperity.... Seminar hucksters have bilked consumers out of millions of dollars."
The link further describes this and proceeds to cite a number of good tips on how consumers can better protect themselves from being scammed over such things. In general, I'd say to beware of being pressured or smooth-talked into buying something until sure as possible that it is for truly real and actually useful.
mzalez: Everyone needs a good set of alarm bells like that in their head , ones that go off whenever there is hype, slick talk, pressure, or words like "easy," "quick," and "cure-all." I don't care much for multi-level marketing either, so I'd toss in words like "upline," as well as phrases from pyramid schemes like, "remove the top name from the list and add yours to the bottom."
Spammers, scammers, snake-oil salespeople -- we'd be better off without the nonsense or outright damage they put people through, so it helps when people learn to recognize such problems as they are.
----
What's being done in the name of direct marketing nowadays is crazy.
The above are all just my opinions, except where I cite facts as such.
Oh, I am not dc9a320 anywhere except AW. Any others are not me.
Is eBay is changing from a world bazaar into a bizarre world?
[ edited by dc9a320 on Jan 12, 2001 11:38 AM ]
posted on January 12, 2001 03:42:20 PM new
dc9a320, the big alarm for me was that he was very aggressive about taking the $950 charge as cash only--and you had to pay within 12 hours.
The other clue was that if someone asked a reasonable question, he became very angry, insulted the question asker, and then changed the subject. He said this program was so easy you should involve your whole family--even your 5 year old child could bid on auctions. When I told him it was illegal for a minor to bid in auctions, he tried to make me look stupid and ashamed that I wasn't rich. Then he immediately changed the subject.
I noticed he also kept appealing to peoples' greed to get them to buy into his scam. You could buy a mansion, sailboat, or a BMW for pennies on the dollar...and of course he had full color pictures of all these things. He also said he had a lady in her 80s, one of his top agents, who traveled around to auctions and made $200,000 a year.
femme, he said we (as his auction agents) would only go and bid at the auctions. His company would pay for the auctions...having made the financial arrangements ahead of time. He said we could only become his agent if we paid the $950 cash, which would be promptly refunded--along with our first commission--after the first completed auction purchase. Of course it would be direct deposited into our bank account!
Anyone who has given this man money has lost it...and there are thousands of victims. Please spread the word about this.
By the way...the radio station that pulled his ads...today they are broadcasting a program on how to detect and avoid scams.
posted on January 12, 2001 03:57:48 PM new
These guys operate all over the entire country! I know enough about them, although I'm not at liberty to elaborate, to tell you for absolutely CERTAIN that you should not give them one red cent!!!!
Be sure to read that first notice that mzalez posted as it gives information including the main names involved and the names of their "companies"!!
, ones that go off whenever there is hype, slick talk, pressure, or words like "easy," "quick," and "cure-all." I don't care much for multi-level marketing either, so I'd toss in words like "upline," as well as phrases from pyramid schemes like, "remove the top name from the list and add yours to the bottom."