East Haven "Work From Home" Scam Busted – Hartford Advocate
Online scam preyed on elderly and disabled
Online scams often prey on people who can’t leave home and have a tough time finding employment.Bryan in new York wanted the job to earn money for his wedding. Jodie in Colorado hoped it would help her avoid homelessness. a pregnant nursing student in Louisiana planned to work from home while taking time off after giving birth.
On the consumer complaint website RipoffReport.com, Bryan, Jodie and the mom-to-be all complained of being swindled by East Haven-based Louis Salatto’s “bogus” work-at-home offers.
Last month Salatto’s business was put on temporary hold after a lawsuit was filed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, seven months after the FTC went after similar scammers across the country.
“Federal and state law enforcement officials will not tolerate those who take advantage of consumers in times of economic misfortune,” said David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection at a February press conference in Washington, D.C., to kick off “Operation bottom Dollar.” “If you falsely advertise that you will connect people with jobs or with opportunities for them to make money working from home, we will shut you down. we will give your assets to the people you scammed, and, when it’s appropriate, we’ll refer you to criminal authorities for prosecution.”
This isn’t the first time the FTC has told Salatto to knock it off. In the late 1990s, he got in trouble for running a work-at-home scam using e-mail spam.
Money for nothing
Salatto’s scam was simple. He’d pay a few hundred bucks to run ads in classified sections of daily and weekly newspapers across the country, like this one:
“$$$WORK FROM HOME$$$ Earn up to $3,000 Weekly Working from Home assembling Information Packets. No Experience Necessary! start Immediately! FREE Information. CALL 24hrs. 1-888-202-1012.”
After calling the toll-free number, those lured in by the too-good-to-be-true promises were sent a description of the envelope stuffing program:
“Dear friend, HERE IS YOUR CHANCE to earn extra money at home by becoming an active participant of our sucessful [sic] mailing association. you receive cash weekly for the envelopes you stuff. you can stuff as many as you wish up to 550 envelopes per week. … It’s up to you and the success you want to achieve.”
They’d earn $8 for every envelope they’d stuff.
“A lot of these victims are unemployed, elderly or disabled and have a tough time leaving home. They’re not so easily employed,” says Len Gordon, the FTC’s Northeast regional director. “These scams prey on people who are desperate, and the desperate do things they wouldn’t do if they had a nice job and health benefits.”
Gordon says the assumption is that more people are falling for these scams because of the economy.
In some advertisements and letters, Salatto’s victims were told this job was “recession proof” and they could earn thousands. Job seekers were also assured there was a 90-day “risk free guarantee” that would offer a full refund if they were unhappy with the program.
They were asked to mail in an application with a $40 check or money order to one of several post office boxes in new Haven. then they waited for Salatto to mail them their work. it never came.
What did arrive, to some of the duped people, was a “Secret Home Employment Guide,” which listed other bogus work-at-home opportunities and a guide to tricking people into sending you money by lying in classified ads.
Those angry enough to ask for their refund almost never got it, because no one answered the phone number, says the FTC complaint. (Salatto could not be contacted for comment for this story for the same reason.)
Payback
Starting in 2005, Salatto ran what the FTC calls a “bogus” envelope stuffing operation under the names American Publishing, American Publications, American Power Publications, ESM Group, East Shore Marketing Group and Global U.S. Resources.
Last month, the FTC put a temporary stop to Salattto’s business with an injunction filed in U.S. District Court. next week a judge will decide whether or not to make that injunction permanent. currently, Salatto is only facing administrative charges. Gordon says the FTC hasn’t decided whether or not to pursue criminal charges also.
The FTC claims that Salatto’s been filing false advertisements and has falsely represented that he operates a legit business in violation of the FTC Act, which is designed to protect consumers.
The FTC’s complaint asks the court to prevent Salatto from doing further harm. His business assets have been frozen by the court and the FTC wants the court to force him to repay his victims (the FTC is still trying to find out how many victims there were) and refund the government the cost of filing the lawsuit.
Related posts:
- Feds Shut Down an East Haven "Work From Home" Scam – New Haven Advocate
- Latest Work From Home Offer Just Another Scam – Articles Inventory
- Work At Home Freelance- Freelance Work From Home-Part Time Work At Home-Full Time Profits-Not Scam « Wahm's World
- Work At Home Positions Available. Beware Of Another Scam – By RatRaceWinner
- Work At Home Freelance- Freelance Work From Home-Part Time Work At Home-Full Time Profits-Not Scam
Written by Tim on October 9, 2010 under Work From Home.
Comments