Legitimate Business or Not? You Can Be The Detective

Legitimate or Not? You be the Detective!

Would you like to help us investigate some businesses and websites?  Every day we receive emails from people who believe they have been scammed by a business.  In some cases it is a simple misunderstanding, but most of the time, we find that it is a scam, and the scammer made up the name and address of a business that doesn't even exists!

See this page for resources to help investigate a potential scam.

Products and services advertised on TV, radio, newspapers and magazines

 

Businesses:

You can help us uncover frauds!  Click on the links below to read these letters, and if the address of the business is near you, next time you drive past it notice whether there really is a business there with the name indicated.  If you can take a picture of the building at the address and email it to us, all the better!

Websites

Here are some websites we're looking into, at the request of site visitors.  Have you bought anything from them or had any experiences (good, bad or indifferent) with them you'd like to tell us about?  Click here to send us feedback!

  • www.puppyfind.com - A visitor writes:
    "I believe puppyfind is THE OUTLET for puppy fraud and mills. I am so sure after the conversation I had with them today. They admit that they are the "gate" but accept no responsibility because they have a disclaimer on their website. They stole my pictures off of my website and are selling them as the parents of the puppies they are trying to sell. They told me that all they require is an email address and MONEY to list on their site. And because of this policy of THEIRS they are unable to police their listings. They do not accept physical address of the their buyers. This was told to me today by AMY PACHECO at 877-295-4032.. They also own their own ISP because anyone reputable would have kicked them off by now. RUN DON'T WALK away from that site. or lets file a class action for negligence."
    We haven't been able to independently validate or deny this information yet.  If you have any experience with PuppyFind.com, please tell us about it!

  • (Note from CFR: As far as we know, PuppyFind.com is NOT a scam; but often scammers use it, by either placing false ads or responding to ads.  The key is when the respondent says

    • he is abroad and
    • wants to ship the dog, sight unseen,  and
    • to send the money via Western Union.  

    When all of those conditions are met, it is almost certainly a scam.
     

  • www.onlyreviews.com - "Jason Ryan Isakson" claims to provide "reviews on 43 of the most popular money-making opportunities and business opportunities".  We received one comment from a visitor (Dec 12, 2006):

    • "He reviews tons of marketers and mlms/business opportunities. Some he likes and some he pans. But then he says Here is how I make my money-and when you go to a link what is he selling-his program. After you buy it it tells you that the only way to make money is to copy his program and then do what he is doing, set up a review site and try to sell it to others. What a ^%$$$%^^. I think you need to check this one out and add it to your website."

  • http://www.mazu.com/ - "My name is Matt Gagnon and I'd like to welcome you to Mazu.com....the world's first and largest opportunity review website. I've had many other sites and would-be competitors try to copy what I do over the years, but the fact remains that when I pioneered the model of reviewing online business opportunities nearly ten years ago there was no one else doing it."

And please let us know about any suspicious calls or emails you receive.  We look for patterns so that we can alert the authorities and victims to new scams, before it is too late!

 

 

 

For a comprehensive list of national and international agencies to report scams, see this page.