Tracking Down Rogers Camera

Don Wiss managed to find the “headquarters” of Rogers Camera.  Check out his photos here.

Fumfie.com: Is Fumfie Legitimate or a Bait and Switch site?

Fumfie.com is a relatively new website that has good reviews on resellerratings.  I personally don’t buy it.  Here’s a photo of their “headquarters.”  As the Don Wiss website points out, Fumfie claims that it “began its operation in October 2001 with the vision of expanding its New Jersey-based retail chain into the online arena. The internet operation has successfully broadened its customer base from the regional to national level, fueling the company's growth as a leader in home shopping e-tailing.”  Yet the domain was registered in 2008 and the site didn’t appear until January 2009.   Per the Better Business Bureau, the business started in April 2008.

The Fumfie website goes on to state:

“Fumfie.com's mission is to provide an online home shopping emporium that caters to the home connoisseur.  As Fumfie.com has grown, so has its product selection. It features an eclectic variety of over 10,000 items sure to dazzle any home enthusiast. With its intrasite search feature, customers in a rush can easily find the item they need, while those with time to browse can feast their eyes on the vast selection within each category.”

That’s weird.  They don’t actually provide the name of the “New Jersey-based retail chain.”  Maybe that’s because they never had one, and they actually just stole the above language from www.homeandbeyond.com:

HomeandBeyond.com began its operation in October 2001 with the vision of expanding its New York-based retail chain into the online arena. The internet operation has successfully broadened its customer base from the regional to national level, fueling the company’s growth as a leader in home shopping e-tailing.

HomeandBeyond.com's mission is to provide an online home shopping emporium that caters to the home connoisseur. Formerly operating as Polsteins.com after the name of its parent retail chain, the internet operation was renamed Homeandbeyond.com in November 2005 to more effectively brand the site as an expansive source for home goods and more.  As HomeandBeyond.com has grown, so has its product selection. It features an eclectic variety of over 100,000 items sure to dazzle any home enthusiast. With its intrasite search feature, customers in a rush can easily find the item they need, while those with time to browse can feast their eyes on the vast selection within each category.

Here’s the link to Home and Beyond.  I’ve saved a copy of the Fumfie About Us page, as they most likely will take it down once they read this.

Additional evidence that hints this questionable:

Here’s a negative experience on ripoffreport.com.

They are not registered as a corporation with the State of New York.

Read this discussion on Photo.net.

Please post your experiences with Fumfie below.

 

Wall Street Journal: Banks Aiming to Play Both Sides of Coin

There’s a very interesting story in today’s Wall Street Journal, which you can read here.  The banks are lobbying the FDIC for permission to use bail out funds to bid on the very toxic assets that they are putting up for sale as part of the Public Private Investment Program.

From the article:

“PPIP was hatched by the Obama administration as a way for banks to sell hard-to-value loans and securities to private investors, who would get financial aid as an enticement to help them unclog bank balance sheets. The program, expected to start this summer, will get as much as $100 billion in taxpayer-funded capital. That could increase to more than $500 billion in purchasing power with participation from private investors and FDIC financing.

The lobbying push is aimed at the Legacy Loans Program, which will use about half of the government's overall PPIP infusion to facilitate the sale of whole loans such as residential and commercial mortgages.”

So the banks want to be able to sell the loans, to themselves, at a huge loss, buying them back with government money.  As an example:

Assume that the bank has a real estate loan for $10 million that is now worth far less.  The bank then uses the LLP funds to purchase it for $3 million.  They’ve removed the toxic loan from their balance sheet, and created a write down of $7 million, a huge write off for tax purposes.  They then use the cheap government financing to profit when the asset rises, without risking anything, since they are using the government money.

These are the same banks that spent millions in campaign contributions and lobbying efforts to sink the cramdown legislation, which would have reduced the amount of mortgages to the actual value of the house.  Now that they’ve prevented this change in bankruptcy law, we can expect a HUGE wave of foreclosures.  There’s no end in sight to the housing crisis, but that doesn’t stop the banks from trying to make money at tax payer expense.  If you are thinking of buying a home right now, don’t.  Read this article first.

 

 

Seeking Victims of Brooklyn Bait and Switch Scams

If you’ve been ripped off by one of the various bait and switch camera sites (soniccameras.com, rogerscamera.com, ontimedigital.com, bingocameras.com, jerseyshoredigital.com, cameragiants.com, etc), and you would be willing to cooperate in their prosecution, please email me your name, contact information, and a brief description of what happened (bait and switch tactics, wrong product delivered, credit card fraud, restocking fees, etc.). Also, if you've received a product from them, provide the address that is on the package and paperwork, as well as any phone numbers. Click here for the email.

It’s time to do more than blog about these guys. I’ll prepare a summary of the complaints and send it to the State of New York Attorney General’s office, the FTC, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, as well as to various media outlets, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Finally, I’ll send the information to numerous Google executives, putting them on notice about this fraud, which is enabled by them through their Adwords program.

Beware of Jersey Shore Digital aka jerseyshoredigital BAIT AND SWITCH

The newest website showing up on fake price comparison site everyprice.com with unrealistically low prices is http://www.jerseyshoredigital.com/. It’s an alias of 1wayphoto.com, AN ABSOLUTELY FRAUDULENT ENTERPRISE, as evidenced by the reviews here. The operators of 1wayphoto have taken down that site and replaced it with this one. Please, read the reviews. If you do not, these criminals will abuse you and rip you off.

How do I know that Jersey Shore Digital is a bait and switch website?

The URL was registered in March 2009. Yet they have posted what are obviously fake positive reviews here, including one from “Sandra P.” that states she has placed several orders over the “past several months” despite the fact the site hasn’t been around that long. Buried in these testimonials is one from Thomas K.:

WOW! what an experience. Let me tell you what my rep Kevin did for me. I had my wifes birthday in little less than a week, After talking to her friends i narrowed it down to the Nikon D200. The only problem is I knew nothing about cameras. Then after speaking to kevin(which felt like an hour),we set up the perfect lense package and got my wife exactly what she wanted.Thank You Thank You- Thomas K.

What a coincidence! Look what Thomas K wrote on the 1wayphoto website:

WOW! what an experience. Let me tell you what my rep Kevin did for me. I had my wifes birthday in little less than a week, After talking to her friends i narrowed it down to the Nikon D200. The only problem is I knew nothing about cameras. Then after speaking to kevin(which felt like an hour),we set up the perfect lense package and got my wife exactly what she wanted.Thank You Thank You - Thomas K.

Although the 1WayPhoto website is down, you can take portions of other testimonials on the jerseyshoredigital website, put them in quotes in Google, and then find the exact testimonials on the old 1WayPhoto website.

But most damming is the following, which as of May 23, 2009 is on the jerseyshoredigital website, and I’ve saved a copy of this page for possible future use in litigation:

I want to send you an e-mail thanking you for the excellent service you provided to me during my recent purchase of a Nikon D70 S camera package. I had spent about a week researching many brands and models of SLR digital cameras. The choices are overwhelming. After deciding what camera and lens combination I was Interested in, I checked prices on the internet and at local retail stores. Jerseyshoredigital.com had the best prices and offered a large selection of Nikon products to choose from. I sincerely want to thank you for assisting me in finalizing my purchasing decision. Without your help I would not purchased the optimal camera, lens and flash package for the type of photography I plan to do. The service you offered was exceptional and all of the items I purchased were shipped together and received on time. Again thank you for making my purchase with 1Wayphoto a pleasant experience. "I will be back" - Paul S.

In case you didn’t catch it, these guys forgot to replace 1Wayphoto with Jersey Shore digital. Not only are they criminals, they are sloppy.

There are numerous other signs that this website is completely fraudulent. At this point, I am actually concerned that they are doing more than bait and switch fraud, and may be in fact conducting credit card fraud, based on the reviews on resellerratings and certain signs on their website. A search using Yougetsignal indicates that they are located in New York, not New Jersey. The links at the bottom of their testimonials page do not work. Thus their “Hacker Safe” logo indicates that it was last tested in August 2002 (this normally is a hot link, tested daily). Their “verified by Visa” and “MasterCard SecureCode” logos are also not hot links, indicating they’ve simply cut and pasted a JPG. This is pretty ominous.

If you’ve made the mistake of giving them your credit card, cancel it immediately. Report this company to your own State’s attorney general, the Feds, and to the State of New York. Please post any contact information that you have for them (address, phone number) below in the comments section as well.

Update: In less than a day Jerseyshoredigital took down their "testimonials," apparently after reading this post. Through sitemeter, I can tell the location and IP address of visitors to this site, and a visitor from Brooklyn spent well over an hour reading various posts, including the jerseyshoredigital post. As mentioned above, I saved the webpage of the fake testimonials, which I'll post shortly. If you happen to be a bait and switch website operator and are reading this, I will relentlessly expose every single site that you put up until you are out of business.

Update #2: If you have had the misfortune of ordering from jerseyshoredigital, please email me the return address on either the package, invoice or shipping material. You can send it to dave.michael@rocketmail.com. Thank you.

Real Estate Market: Nowhere Near the Bottom

Lately there have been numerous articles suggesting that the real estate market has bottomed out. Don’t be fooled; it hasn’t.  The moratorium on foreclosures that expired in March will result in a huge new influx of foreclosures, flooding the market.  In addition, many of the exotic loans are going to reset, and there is simply no way to refinance these underwater mortages.

 

With the failure of the recent cramdown legislation in Congress, you are going to see a large percentage of home owners simply walk away, since the other provisions of Obama’s program do nothing for homeowners that are drastically underwater.  Take this house in Lincoln, Ca.  It sold for $784,000 in 2006.  It’s now for sale for $314,900.  That’s a 60% drop.  It’s lost $470,400 in value.

 

What sane homeowner would stay in this house?  Not only will they never, in their lifetime, breakeven, the neighborhood is flooded with rentals inhabited by undesirables, living in these mcmansions.  Unbelievably, this house is doomed to lose another 20 to 40 percent of its current value.  The unemployment rate in this region is 12%, and there is no hope in sight.

 

The banks and Congress have now made simply walking away the only logical solution, since they refuse to write down principal.  These losses are going to eventually hurt the banks, but they apparently are trying to simply put off this pain as long as possible.

 

The fact that the banks are in denial is evidenced in last month’s Businessweek interview with Ken Lewis, BofA’s CEO, which you can read here.  Businessweeks’ Maria Bartiromo asked him “Consumer credit was obviously a sour note for the quarter, losses of $1.8 billion. How bad are BofA's credit problems ahead?”

 

He replied “They're so tied to levels of unemployment that you can almost look at that and look at future bankruptcies and come up with what you think they might be. So we don't see consumer credit losses peaking until sometime early in 2010 because we expect unemployment levels to continue to increase to that point. We do not, however, think that unemployment will get to 10%. We think it will still be in single digits, around 9%.”

 

Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that unemployment will peak above 10%.  So Mr. Lewis’ worst case scenario is going to be realized, resulting in even more substantial credit losses.

 

We haven’t seen the worst of this disaster yet, and all the happy talk in the world won’t help.

 

 

Taped Conversation with Shop Digital Direct

Here’s an actual tape of what you can expect when you deal with Shop Digital Direct, which also goes by the following: Best Price Cameras, Photo Dynasty, Razz Photo, Infiniti Photo, and numerous other scam sites. Check out detailed information here. (To clarify, I found this on Youtube; I, unfortunately, did not create it).

Warning: Avoid RogersCamera aka Rogers Camera - Bait and Switch

New bait and switch websites are popping up on Google Adwords daily.  One is RogersCamera. They are offering the Canon XH-A1 for $1,249.  The suggested retail is $3,999.  No, Rogerscamera.com will not, ever, sell you the camera for that price.  They are a scam company run by criminals.

 

You need to avoid Rogerscamera at all cost.  Do not waste your time talking to them and do not give them your credit card information.  Their URL was created in February, and they have no physical address on their website.  Their fax number is listed as 866-000-0000.  Here’s a discussion on Fredmiranda.com.  They are brand new, so there isn’t much information yet, but please be assured that they are a scam.  If you have any dealings with them please post a comment below, with any contact information that you receive, such as an address or alternative phone numbers.  I will then forward it to the NY State Attorney General’s office as well as the FTC.

 

While you should never purchase from these guys, please remember to ALWAYS click on their sponsored links.  They get charged each time by Google.  Something tells me this will drive them nuts.

 

Warning! Allstarcameras (All Star Cameras): Bait and Switch Fraud!

AllStarCameras.com is now showing up on Google Adwords as having the Canon XH-A1 camcorder for $1,499.  Don’t be fooled; these criminals will NEVER sell one at this price unless you buy overpriced accessories that negate any deal. They are brand new, having launched the site, according to Internic.net, on April 1, 2009.

 

All Star Cameras is an alias for Sonic Cameras, Bingo Cameras and Stop and Shop Digital Direct, two of the worst bait and switch websites on the Internet.  Read the reviews here for Shop Digital Direct; some of the absolute worst reviews of any website in the history of the Internet.  Here’s the sonic cameras review.

 

How do I know they are related?  They use the same, exact language in their various websites. 

 

I can say, without fear of lawsuit, that these guys are violating State and Federal law and you absolutely will be ripped off by these felons.  Do not, in any event, give them your credit card number.

FTC Sues Fake Warranty Companies

If you’ve ever received one of those annoying phone calls that your car warranty is about to expire, then this is good news.  Perhaps the FTC can go after some of the Brooklyn bait and switch sweat shops next.

 

Per Fox Business:

The Federal Trade Commission said Thursday it has filed suit in federal court against the alleged promoter of the robocalls and a telemarketing company that allegedly carried out an “illegal, deceptive” campaign.

Court papers detailed a massive scheme that robbed consumers of more than $10 million, forced more than 30,000 Do Not Call complaints and generated unwanted calls to everyone from consumers and business owners to 911 dispatchers.

“This is one of the most aggressive telemarketing schemes the FTC has ever encountered,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement. “I’m not sure which is worse, the abusive telemarketing tactics of these companies, or the way they try to deceive people once they get them on the phone. Either way, we intend to shut them down.”

According to court papers filed by the federal agency, the Florida-based companies -- Voice Touch and Transcontinental Warranty Inc. -- successfully conned more than $10 million out of consumers by selling phony extended auto warranties and using deceptively marketed service contracts.

The agency said it has requested a temporary restraining order to halt the practices, impose an asset freeze on the defendants and put two of the corporate defendants under the control of court-appointed receivers. The FTC is also asking for a permanent injunction to force the companies to give up their “ill-gotten” gains so they can be used for consumer redress.

 

The Linkedin bio for Transcontinental Warranty’s owner is still up. 

Christopher D Cowart

President / CEO at CDC Capital Ventures, LLC

Location: Miami/Fort Lauderdale Area

Industry: Telecommunications

Current Owner at TransContinental Warranty

President / CEO at CDC Capital Ventures, LLC

Past President / CEO at Beneke Corporation

Education Louisiana State University, Paul M. Hebert Law Center

Recommendations 2 people have recommended Christopher D

Connections 10 connections

Websites My Company

Public Profile http://www.linkedin.com/pub/christopher-d-cowart/6/aba/6b0

Summary

Currently have 46 employees and strong presence in direct marketing thru telecommunications, internet and direct mail.

Specialties:  Direct Sales, Market Penetration, Creating Brand Identity & Market Share

 

President / CEO CDC Capital Ventures, LLC

Venture Capital & Private Equity industry

January 2006 – Present (3 years 5 months)

Marketing Firms specializing in direct B2C sales, mergers and acquisitions.

President / CEO Beneke Corporation

Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Real Estate industry

September 2005 – April 2007 (1 year 8 months)

 

Education

Louisiana State University, Paul M. Hebert Law Center 1979 – 1984

Update on Prophotonation aka Pro Photo Nation

Prophotonation is again showing up as having the lowest prices on fake price comparison sites everyprice.com and shoppingcartusa.com.  I can safely say that Prophotonation.com is AN ABSOLUTE FRAUD and will likely commit credit card fraud with the information that you give them.  Here’s how they operate.  They advertise unrealistically low prices.  Once you place an order they then try and upsell you on overpriced accessories.  If you don’t agree, the item is magically out of stock.  Unfortunately, if you’ve given them credit card information, there’s a good chance you’ll see false charges on your account.  These are unscrupulous criminals.

Read the resellerratings reviews here.

Here’s an actual picture of their storefront, not the photoshopped version on their website.  The Don Wiss website indicates that they are an alias of JES Digital.  Per this article in the New York Daily News, these guys WILL ILLEGALLY USE YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER! 

 

CAMERA STORE FOCUS IN SCAM. MAIL-ORDER MIDWOOD BIZ RIPPED BY BUYERS OVER BAIT AND SWITCH

BY JIMMY VIELKIND DAILY NEWS WRITER

Monday, August 7th 2006, 9:33AM

TALK ABOUT buyer beware.  Would-be clients of WaWa Digital, a mail-order Midwood camera supplier notorious for pushy sales, were told they had to buy overpriced accessories after being lured in by high-end cameras advertised at rock-bottom prices. Consumers who backed off the classic bait and switch risked suffering the consequences - from someone who already had their credit card number. "He said, 'I will ruin your credit,' " said Rochelle Parry, 43, a Web and graphic designer from northern Washington who ordered a $300 camera from WaWa Digital. "I actually ended up getting sick after that episode," she said. "I had never been treated that way and I've bought a lot of things. I wish these guys could be shut down." Over the past few months, the Better Business Bureau has logged dozens of complaints against WaWa, with some customers alleging credit card fraud.

Lorna Roskop, a 45-year-old teacher from suburban Kansas City, was hit with more than $15,000 in fraudulent charges when she canceled an order after giving her credit card information to WaWa Digital. "We strongly suspect they had a hand in ensuring we were 'punished' for not buying a camera from them," Roskop wrote in an e-mail. The News found a bare-bones store at Avenue O - with no signage - and employees initially admitted to working for Stargate Photo.  Workers then threatened reporters while denying allegations of credit card fraud. "You stupid idiots! Low-lifes!" Scott Saff, 21, who claimed to be an employee of JES Digital, said while charging toward a News photographer. "It's not us." He refused to elaborate on what business JES Digital engaged in, but the Better Business Bureau said the companies were the same. "They have a pattern of complaints, mostly due to the bait and switch, gray market goods, high pressure sales tactics . . . you name it," said Anthony Barbera, manager of information and investigations for the BBB NY office.

He noted that WaWa Digital received an "unsatisfactory" rating. "It's not illegal to sell gray market goods, but it's the buyer beware," he said. Some consumers say they will think twice before buying online again. "At this point, I'm scared to death," said Amy, an Alabama customer who refused to give her last name after a run-in with the camera company.

"I'm not letting my guard down yet. I'm terrified of these people and what they could do. These are scammers."

 

If you’ve given them credit card information, CANCEL IT NOW or you’ll be sorry.  They also go by regalcameras.com, techondigital.com, thedigitalnerds.com and thecamerawhiz.com.

Wells Fargo Receives TARP Funds, Pays Lobbyist to Defeat Cramdown Measure

The website firedoglake.com compiled a list of financial services companies that hired lobbyists to influence recent Congressional legislation. It’s interesting to note that Wells Fargo, which received $25 BILLION in TARP funds, paid $700,000 to the lobbyists. Per this disclosure document, they paid Daniel Archer, Anita Eoloff, and Julie Slocum specifically to influence HR1106 (the cramdown bill), as well as HR787, HR1728 and HR1. Daniel Archer is the Director, Federal Government Relations for Wells Fargo, and former Legislative Director for Senator Chuck Hagel. He’s a graduate of Creighton University. He’s donated to Senator John McCain. Julie Slocum formerly worked for Democrat congressman Jim Matheson. Her lobbyist ID is 700063939. I’m working on finding more information on this women. The disclosure report was completed by Anita B. Eoloff, Senior Federal Government Relations Director for Wells Fargo, who herself is listed as a lobbyist. Her phone number is 612-667-9917, and email address is anita.b.eoloff@wellsfargo.com. Anita joined Wells Fargo in 1993, managing Federal Government Relations for Norwest Corporation. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, she workedas a professional staff member of the House Banking Committee and also legislative aide to individual Members of Congress. She’s a graduate of St Olaf College, Minnesota.

Per this report from watchdog.net, Anita B. Eoloff’s filing ID is 700068145. Here’s a list of donations she has made in 2008, on behalf of Wells Fargo. In addition to $15,000 donations to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, she donated the following amounts to Senators who voted no on the cramdown amendment:

$5,000 to “Montanans for Tester”

$3,000 to Collins for Senator

$3,000 to the Bennett Election Committee

$2,500 to the Grassley Committee

$2,500 to Texans for Senator John Cornyn

$2,500 to Friends of John Barrasso

Here’s the complete list of Senators that voted against the cramdown amendment:

Alexander (R-TN)

Barrasso (R-WY)

Baucus (D-MT)

Bennet (D-CO)

Bennett (R-UT)

Bond (R-MO)

Brownback (R-KS)

Bunning (R-KY)

Burr (R-NC)

Byrd (D-WV)

Carper (D-DE)

Chambliss (R-GA)

Coburn (R-OK)

Cochran (R-MS)

Collins (R-ME)

Corker (R-TN)

Cornyn (R-TX)

Crapo (R-ID)

DeMint (R-SC)

Dorgan (D-ND)

Ensign (R-NV)

Enzi (R-WY)

Graham (R-SC)

Grassley (R-IA)

Gregg (R-NH)

Hatch (R-UT)

Hutchison (R-TX)

Inhofe (R-OK)

Isakson (R-GA)

Johanns (R-NE)

Johnson (D-SD)

Kyl (R-AZ)

Landrieu (D-LA)

Lincoln (D-AR)

Lugar (R-IN)

Martinez (R-FL)

McCain (R-AZ)

McConnell (R-KY)

Murkowski (R-AK)

Nelson (D-NE)

Pryor (D-AR)

Risch (R-ID)

Roberts (R-KS)

Shelby (R-AL)

Snowe (R-ME)

Specter (D-PA)

Tester (D-MT)

Thune (R-SD)

Vitter (R-LA)

Voinovich (R-OH)

Wicker (R-MS)