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Tag: Better Business Bureau

  • Narc That Car President Fidgets, Struggles Through Lengthy Fox 4 News Interview In Dallas; Confirms That Members Who Don’t Recruit Make $5 A Month And Will Not Break Even For Nearly Two Years

    EDITOR’S NOTE: At the bottom of this post you’ll find links to the Fox 4 News website in Dallas-Fort Worth. We recommend you watch the video of the main report on Narc That Car broadcast by the station, and also the videos of a sit-down interview with Narc President Jacques Johnson. The interview was eminently fair, and yet the pyramid concerns remain . . .

    Narc That Car President Jacques Johnson confirmed yesterday in an interview broadcast by Fox 4 News in Dallas-Fort Worth that members who enter license-plate numbers into the company’s database but do not recruit are paid only $5 a month — 50 cents per plate.

    Narc That Car also is known as Crowd Sourcing International or CSI. Narc limits its data-gatherers to entering only 10 plates per month.

    Fox outlets in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Dallas now have broadcast reports about Narc. Despite being given access to the airwaves, no Narc representative or official — including Johnson — has been able to lay to rest questions about whether the company is operating a pyramid scheme.

    Johnson struggled in the lengthy Fox 4 News interview when trying to explain why Narc limits members to recording only 10 plates a month if its aim is to build a well-populated, viable database that would be appealing to clients willing to pay a fee for the information.

    As has been the case in its previous encounters with the media, Narc’s explanations left more questions than answers. Despite being given ample air time by Fox 4, Johnson still left the pyramid concerns on the table by confirming there is virtually no way to make money in Narc if a member does not recruit other members and by declining to name Narc’s clients for its database product.

    Johnson agreed with reporter Steve Noviello that it would take a Narc member not interested in recruiting 20 months — nearly two years — just to break even. Narc charges members a one-time, $100, up-front fee to join the program, which has a “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau.

    If a nonrecruiting member chose to pay Narc an optional $24.95 a month for a website on top of the $100 sign-up fee, the costs of belonging to the program never could be retired because paying Narc the fee would carry with it a built-in loss of $19.95 a month even if the member stayed with Narc long enough to retire the up-front fee, according to the Fox 4 report.

    Even if such a member opts not to pay for a website, the minimum amount of time it would take for the member to retire the $100 fee is about 600 days because of the 10-plate-per-month limit. According to the math of the program, such a nonrecruiting member would earn an average of about 16.66 cents per day.

    Johnson struggled throughout the interview to explain basic claims about the Narc program. The Fox 4 package includes multiple parts, including a lengthy interview with Johnson divided into four parts. (See the link under the video box below to visit the Fox 4 website.)

    Visit Fox News 4 to view the entire interview with Johnson.

    NOTE: This story has been republished at a URL that is different than its original URL. Although this post reflects a date of June 13, it is not the original publication date. Click here to read why.

  • Narc That Car’s ‘F’ Rating Remains Intact As BBB Closes Inquiry; Firm ‘Failed To Provide Specific Information’ To Allay Pyramid Concerns

    Various claims about Narc That Car "training" have appeared online, as have videos of checks and even the postmarked envelopes in which the checks were enclosed.

    Narc That Car, also known as Crowd Sourcing International, did not provide the Better Business Bureau “specific information which would eliminate the BBB’s suspicion of the existence of a pyramid promotional scheme,” the BBB reports on its website.

    The BBB has closed its inquiry into Narc, leaving the company’s “F” rating intact and saying Narc also “admitted that they could not substantiate the claim that any major motor manufacturer was a client of Narc Technologies.”

    An “F” is the lowest rating on the BBB’s 14-point scale.

    Claims appeared online that Narc was working with Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Co. Narc blamed the claims on affiliates who violated its advertising policies, saying it had a process to weed out false claims, the BBB said.

    Although Narc claimed to have hundreds of clients for its database product, the company had not substantiated the claim as of May 25, the BBB said.

    Narc, whose Crowd Sourcing International identity often is referred to by the acronym CSI, had been the subject of a BBB inquiry since January. The company purports to be in the business of paying people to record the license-plate numbers of cars for entry in a database used by companies that repossess vehicles.

    For its part, Narc says on its website that it is getting a bum deal from the BBB.

    “America was founded to create new opportunity,” the company said. “Our government created the Small Business Administration (SBA) to help new businesses. Over 2,000,000 people lost their jobs in 2009. New businesses create jobs. New businesses accounted for 70% of job creation over the last 10 years, stated by President Obama on March 17, 2009. Yet, the BBB penalizes new businesses.”

    Read the BBB report on Narc (Crowd Sourcing International) as of May 28, 2010.

  • FTC Gives Nod To BBB For Helping It Solve Advanced-Fee Scam Operated By Recidivist Offender; James Nicholson Banned For Life From Telemarketing, Hit With $17.2 Million Judgment, Loses Power Boat

    A Florida man who operated a previous scam has been banned for life from the telemarketing business after state and federal authorities and the Better Business Bureau worked together to expose the operation, the Federal Trade Commission said.

    “The FTC received invaluable assistance in this matter from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the University of Central Florida Police Department, Largo Police Department, and the Better Business Bureau of West Florida, Inc.,” the FTC said.

    James Nicholson, who operated a company known as Group One Network and offered a “Credit Line Gold Card,” was sued by the FTC amid allegations the company charged an up-front fee for a “supposed, general-use credit card,” the agency said.

    The card scored an “F” from the BBB — the organization’s lowest-possible rating on a 14-step scale.

    It turned out that the card was no general-use card at all; rather, it was a card that only permitted customers to spend money at websites associated with Nicholson.

    “Telemarketers working for Nicholson’s chief company, Group One Network, also claimed that consumers would get access to a significant line of credit that could be used for cash advances, and that their payment histories would be reported to the three major credit bureaus,” the FTC said. “In reality, consumers who paid the fee received an online shopping card they could only use to buy products from Group One’s Web sites, they could not get cash advances, and their credit histories were never reported to the credit bureaus.”

    Nicholson also participated in a bogus “advance-fee interest-rate reduction/debt negotiation program,” the FTC said.

    His recent run-in with law enforcement was not his first. In 1995, Nicholson pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a telemarketing scheme.

    Nicholson now has been banned for life from telemarketing. In a settlement with the FTC, Nicholson gave up a 31-foot power boat, a Nissan Pathfinder, and jewelry and art valued at more than $10,000. He also is on the receiving end of a judgment for $17.2 million, which has been suspended because Nicholson and co-defendants are unable to pay.

    See the “F” rating of the Credit Line Gold Card at the BBB website.

  • Narc That Car’s ‘F’ Rating From Better Business Bureau Unchanged; BBB Says It Asked For ‘Comprehensive’ Client List To Determine If ‘Bona Fide Product With A True Market Value’ Exists

    Narc That Car (NTC) told the Better Business Bureau in Dallas that it would take a “few weeks” to respond to the BBB’s request to provide the organization a “comprehensive list of third-party clients,” the BBB said today on its website.

    The information was requested from NTC March 3 in an effort “to determine if the company is selling a bona fide product with a true market value,” the BBB reported.

    The BBB opened an inquiry into NTC Jan. 18 to determine whether NTC was “functioning as a pyramid promotional scheme.” BBB lowered NTC’s rating to “F” — the worst possible score on the BBB’s 14-step rating scale — earlier this month.

    Meanwhile, the BB said it also asked NTC Jan. 18 to “substantiate some claims made in its advertising.”

    Two months later, the advertising inquiry remains open, the BBB noted.

    Some NTC affiliates said last week that NTC was changing its name to Crowd Sourcing International — or CSI for short. The name-change announcement was made a week after the BBB issued the “F.”

    Read the updated BBB report on NTC.

  • Better Business Bureau Revokes Accreditation Of Speed Of Wealth After SEC ‘Green’ Ponzi Action; Firm Experiences ASD-Like PR Disaster In Wake Of Allegations

    The accreditation of a Colorado company implicated in an alleged $30 million “green” Ponzi scheme by the SEC has been revoked by the Denver/Boulder branch of the Better Business Bureau.

    BBB now gives Speed of Wealth a rating of “F” — the worst possible score on a scale of “A+” to “F” — and says the accreditation was revoked because the company did not comply with BBB standards.

    Speed of Wealth’s BBB accreditation was revoked on Dec. 16, precisely one month after the SEC accused the firm of selling a Ponzi scheme for Philadelphia-based Mantria Corp. A rating for Mantria was not immediately available. The BBB of the Mid-Atlantic region, Metro Washington, D.C., and Eastern Pennsylvania says on its website that the organization is in the process of updating its report on Mantria.

    Under “Government Actions” in Speed of Wealth’s BBB listing, the organization summarizes the SEC allegations against Speed of Wealth and Mantria and provides links to the SEC’s charging document and news release in the case (emphasis added):

    On November 16, 2009 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission “SEC” filed a complaint with charges against Mantria Corporation, Troy B. Wragg, Amanda Knorr, Speed of Wealth LLC, Wayde M. McKelvy, and Donna M. McKelvy alleging that they are involved in perpetrating a $30 million Ponzi Scheme, which they persuaded more than 300 investors nationwide to participate in purported environmentally- friend[ly] investment opportunities.

    Click below view the entire press release and the complaint from the “SEC”:

    http://denver.bbb.org/Storage/33/Documents/9-16-09%20SEC_Complaint_Speed%20of%20Wealth.pdf

    http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2009/2009-247.htm

    PR Disasters Mark Speed Of Wealth, AdSurfDaily Cases

    Speed of Wealth’s website now throws a server error and appears to have been disabled. In a column in the Denver Business Journal last month, reporter Renee McGaw said she attempted to email Wayde McKelvy, a Speed of Wealth principal, to get his comments on the SEC action.

    McGaw reported that her email to McKelvy resulted in a steady stream of pitches to join wealth-building programs.

    “YOU MUST START YOUR OWN BUSINESS Renee!” McKelvy exclaimed to McGaw in one email. “What You Have Been Taught About Building Wealth is DEAD WRONG!”

    The Denver Post also wrote about the Trump Network emails from McKelvy in the wake of the SEC action. A college professor interviewed by the newspaper said words such as “amazing,” “unbelievable” and “phenomenal” used by McKelvy to describe the Trump Network should be considered red flags.

    The emails demonstrated that a crisis affecting one company can bring an unwanted spotlight on wholly separate brands. Indeed, the Denver Post reported that it contacted the Trump Network for comment on McKelvy’s emails. The calls were not returned.

    Even the names of President Obama, former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton became part of the Mantria/Speed of Wealth story. The companies used a video that included images of Obama, the Clintons and other politicians and media figures in promotional materials.

    Meanwhile, the McKelvy emails were reminiscent of the experiences reporters had when they tried to contact Florida-based AdSurfDaily for comment after federal prosecutors seized tens of millions of dollars from the firm amid Ponzi allegations in August 2008.

    Like Speed of Wealth, ASD also has a rating of “F” from the BBB, which cites government actions against the autosurf firm. Unlike Speed of Wealth, ASD has unresolved consumer complaints, according to the BBB.

    Reporters who called ASD got a recording featuring the voice of ASD President Andy Bowdoin. Bowdoin, whom prosecutors later said had “followers,” intoned in the recording that that God was on the company’s side.

    Thirteen months later, Bowdoin told an audience listening to a conference call that his ongoing legal fight against the government was inspired by the story of a former Miss America who now operates a Christian organization. The PP Blog contacted both the Miss America Organization and the Christian organization for comment.

    The Miss America Organization did not return the call; the Christian organization, Salem Family Ministries, responded by saying it had no comment, except to say it did not recognize Bowdoin’s name. The Secret Service transcribed Bowdoin’s remarks in the conference call and presented them to the federal judge hearing the forfeiture cases against the firm.

    Companies in legal crisis can lose the PR war quickly if their initial actions lead to more questions than answers. Within days of the federal action against ASD, Bowdoin invoked “Satan,” comparing the U.S. Secret Service to the 9/11 terrorists who killed nearly 3,000 people.

    In a Nov. 19 conference call with participants, McKelvy described the SEC allegations as “ridiculous,” but at the same time acknowledged he possibly sold securities without a license, according to the Denver Business Journal.

    But in the same conference call — just days after the SEC action — McKelvy also said he was turning his attention to the Trump Network, an MLM opportunity. The comment — and the emails Speed of Wealth sent out to promote the Trump Network — led to more headlines in newspapers, forums and Blogs.

    Read Speed of Wealth’s BBB report.

    Read ASD’s BBB Report.