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Report: #41826

Complaint Review: American credit solutions, Assail Inc. - St. George Utah

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  • Reported By: Des Moines Iowa
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  • American credit solutions, Assail Inc. 1071 E. 100 South St. George, Utah U.S.A.

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For those of you who feel you have been ripped off by Assail Inc/American credit solutions: Read This!

Federal authorities raid local companies
Assail part of credit card scheme probe
By JENNIFER WEAVER AND RACHEL OLSEN
The Spectrum

-----------------------

Nick Adams/The Spectrum
A federal agent wearing a U.S. Secret Service shirt escorts employees of Assail Inc. to the building entrance at right as the St. George business undergoes a raid as part of a federal investigation Wednesday morning.

A company that has its headquarters in St. George is allegedly behind what could be one of the largest credit card schemes in the United States to be investigated by the U.S. Secret Service.

Assail Inc. in St. George, owned by Kyle Kimoto, and Infinium Inc. and its affiliates Allied Teleservices and Market-Reps.Com, owned by Brian Schofield in Cedar City, were raided Wednesday after the culmination of a three-year investigation of credit card fraud.

Dan Reinberg, who represents Kimoto and works at the Chicago firm Foley and Lardner, said he has seen no official charges, and no arrests have been made in connection with the alleged fraud.

"We were able to track $29 million, but there was the potential of bilking U.S. citizens for $73 million," said Mike Fithen, special agent for the U.S. Secret Service office in Salt Lake City.

Fithen said the Secret Service had known about suspected fraudulent practices for about a year and a half, although Cedar City police began investigating fraudulent practices three years ago when Kimoto and Schofield were business partners.

"We believe the network ran from these two telemarketing companies, but we believe there are subsidiaries in Florida and Waco, Texas, that fraudulently conducted business that extends across the United States, into Canada and worldwide," Fithen said.

The alleged principal business of the companies was the phone, mail and wire solicitations of people possessing poor or no credit with the opportunity to improve their rating with a Mastercard or Visa for a fee of $175 -- cards which Fithen said these companies never had authorization to market.

After acquiring bank account information and the required fee from customers, a merchandise card, not a credit card, was sent accompanied by a catalog. Sales associates would render follow-up calls and try to up-sell merchandise and other services, including long-distance and cellular phone service, Fithen said.

Reinberg said the Secret Service is mistaken in the allegations because Kimoto's company, Assail, Inc., never marketed credit cards, only pay-issue-go cards, which it sold as packages for another company.

However, Fithen said the Secret Service believes Assail, Inc., and Infinium, Inc., to be the companies to have perpetrated the fraud.

Reinberg countered that the U.S. Secret Service was hasty in making its allegations, he believes Assail will be cleared of wrongdoing. He said Assail historically has been cooperative with the federal government, and the company will work with the government in this investigation.

"The government unfortunately chose an extreme form of going about (their investigation)," Reinberg said.

Suspicions were raised when Cedar City Police Chief Bob Allinson said the police department started receiving complaints and turned its initial investigation over to the Utah Division of Consumer Protection and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

"It's been different agencies coming together from this point," Allinson said. "Initially, (city involvement) was pretty heavy, but lately it hasn't been that heavy."

Allinson said the police department was on the scene only to provide manpower assistance to federal authorities and make sure the search warrant was executed smoothly. It did not participate in any searches.

Craig Harding, spokesman for the St. George Police Department, said his department was also only on the scene at 1071 East 100 South to assist.

Investigating agencies included the Secret Service, U.S. Division of Consumer Protection from the Department of Commerce, Internal Revenue Service and Federal Trade Commission, Fithen said.

Thirteen Cedar City police officers from the force of 31 assisted the federal agencies with their search warrant at the two locations; 1552 W. 200 North and 1579 N. Main St.

Market-Reps.Com employee Lydia Mackun said she was stunned by officers wearing bullet-proof vests forcefully entering the business on 200 North in Cedar City, shouting, "Step away from the computers," and "Hang up the phone."

"The next thing I knew, we were all being herded into another room and handed questionnaires to fill out, wanting all kinds of information," Mackun said.

Mackun remembered answering questions about bank account information, hourly wage, length of employment and anticipated wages owed by the company.

"We were then taken in groups of four into another room where we were interviewed by a Secret Service agent," Mackun said. "They searched through our personal stuff and basically told us the company's accounts were frozen and not to expect a paycheck or a job tomorrow."

City officials estimate that if the telemarketing companies in Cedar City close, a minimum of 75 and as many as 200 people will be unemployed.

St. George offices are also closed for the time being, and the court-appointed receiver for Assail, Inc., will determine when the hundreds of employees in St. George can begin work again, Reinberg said.

Kimoto said he and Schofield are no longer associated. According to the business filings with the Nevada Secretary of Commerce from March 1, 2000, Kimoto and Schofield were listed as officers in Assail, Inc. Then, when Assail, Inc., filed again on Feb. 13, 2002, Kimoto was the only officer listed.

What appeared to be the catalyst for separation involved a settlement agreement dated Jan. 11, 2001, with the U.S. Division of Consumer Protection from the Department of Commerce. The statement revealed that $18,500 was ordered to be refunded to complainants from 15 states and the District of Columbia from Assail, Inc. owned by both men and Credit Marketing Services, owned by Schofield.

Kurt Carr of Woodway, Texas, was one of the complainants who received a full refund from the settlement agreement that stipulated the business as a credit service organization would cease unless first registered and bonded.

Carr said he received a solicitation in the mail from Credit Marketing Services that led him to believe that for $180 he would receive a Visa card.

"I really hesitated, but I did it anyway and sent in my money," Carr said. "I gave them my checking account information and credit information, and they approved me for their line of credit, that I was under the impression it was a Visa."

Carr said after about three weeks, he received a package with a revolving account from the company to use for purchasing merchandise out of an accompanying catalog.

"I made a phone call to them and told them what I got wasn't what I was expecting," Carr said. "They told me I needed to get permission from the company to send everything back in order to get my money back."

Carr said getting approval to return the unwanted items was impossible.

"They told me I misunderstood the transaction and my not understanding didn't merit a refund," he said.

Carr called the Texas Consumer Protection Agency in April of 2000, and that agency took his complaint. Months later, he was notified that an investigation was pending, and he was asked if he would testify.

"I received a full refund months later," Carr said. "Would you believe, I still receive solicitations from those people? I just throw them all away now."

Despite numerous attempts Wednesday, The Spectrum and Daily News were unable to contact Schofield for comment.

Reporter Greg Marano contributed to this story.

About The Company

Assail was incorporated in Nevada in February 1999 as a non-profit organization. Nevada records indicate the company headquarters are at 1071 E. 100 South in St. George.

Brian Schofield was listed as an Assail officer on March 1, 2000.

Kyle Kimoto, Brian Schofield, Credit Marketing Services and Assail Inc. were named as defendants in a lawsuit brought by the Utah Division of Consumer Protection in December 2000. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of 38 complainants in 15 states and the District of Columbia, alleged 114 counts of deceptive act or practice of supplier and 86 counts of prohibited practice of a credit service organization. In January 2001, the lawsuit was settled for $18,500. As part of the agreement, Kimoto and Schofield agreed to cease conducting businesses as credit service organizations. Before conducting such business again, Kimoto and Schofield were ordered to first be duly registered and bonded.

Infinium was issued a business license in Cedar City in January 2001.

Assail was issued a business license in the city of St. George in February 2001.

In 2002, St. George resident Kyle Kimoto was listed as the president, vice president, secretary and treasurer of Assail as of February 2002.

Allied Tele Services was issued a business license in Cedar City in February 2002.

Assail, Infinium, Allied and Market-Reps.Com were all raided Wednesday by the Secret Service.

Assail is the 10th largest employer in Washington County. The company employs between 200 and 299 people, according to the Department of Workforce Services.
Originally published Thursday, January 16, 2003

Joe
Ames, Iowa
U.S.A.

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on American Credit Solutions

CLICK HERE to read about Credit Card Scams... find out how to get your money back. Consumer makes harsh but accurate statements. *Rip-off Report Investigation follow-up provides valuable information.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 01/17/2003 11:20 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/american-credit-solutions-assail-inc/st-george-utah-84790/american-credit-solutions-assail-inc-read-this-st-george-utah-41826. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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#10 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Words of truth from a former Assail employee...

AUTHOR: James - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, June 15, 2007

I started working at this company as a very impressionable 17 year old looking for some extra money during the summer. I remember being trained about my noble duties for helping the downtrodden masses to reestablish their damaged credit with about 12 other people. Many of them were of questionable gender, intelligence or odor, yet all were hired. This was a bad sign, but I tried to keep a good attitude.

I asked a lot of questions while working there. Maybe my conscience is just more prominent than other people's. I asked why we said we were from "First Choice Processing Center" instead of Assail Inc. or why another employee said he was calling from a bank when we were clearly a call-center, and I was told to just get back to work. My suspicions grew and after some research I found our company had dozens of names/thousands of complaints in just 4 years.

One of my friends was making insanely good scratch there as a manager, and he wrote me off as some crazy conspiracy kid when I came to him with my findings.

Something didn't sit right with me: the insanely fast and quiet recording that people agree to in verification, the fact that we get severely repremanded for calling it a "credit card", the person who told me I was full of sh** and knew loads about our company when I called him saying he'd been pre-approved for "blah blah blah"; it all pointed to one thing-- SCAMOLA!

The final straw for me was when I was having a particularly slow sales day, and they put some blubbery sales guru named "Bob" next to me. Bob assessed my situation, and said
"James, you have conscience issues don't you?"
I responded, "Yeah, I think I do."
His reply made leaving the company easy: "Man, I waved bye bye to my conscience years ago".

Anyone who is pleading Dan, Alec, Clif, Brian or any other Assail Driver/Manager/CEO's innocence is in gross denial. I wasn't even out of highschool, not privy to hardly any sensitive information and even I had an inkling that people were getting a worthless piece of plastic that's impossible to cancel. The administrative staff of assail are guilty.

Even some of the lower-paid employees could smell the roses and milked it for as long as they could. They knew what was up and they silenced that little voice in their head that tells them not to take advantage of their fellow man. I left after 2 and a half months of screwing people over on the phone, and I wish there was something I could do about it. The least those weasels can do is own up to their shady behavior and try to do something decent for once.

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#9 UPDATE Employee

Who he really was...

AUTHOR: Robert - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, May 25, 2006

So I have been silent for 4 years, and I want to at least take this opportunity to speak up and say something here because it is something that really upsets me.

Brian Schoefield was an amazing man. He was an amazing friend, and I do not for one second believe that after knowing him for the 5 years that I did, that he knew or intended to rip anyone off.

I was the I.T. behind Infinium Inc, and Market-reps. I believe that in the position I was in which involved dealing with and housing the data, as well as sending it to the appropirate locations, I would know if something was not right.

I spent 4+ years working for Brian, Where I befriended him and his family as well as all of the people involved in our call center. I believe in my heart that Brian was never anything but honest and that he tried his best to take care of all of his employees like family. I can not tell you how many times he allowed me more slack than normal, or hand outs to help me in times of need. He was always a genuine friend in whom I could confide and in whom I could trust to be there for me.

I also want to state that without the knowledge he allowed me to pick up, and the ability to progress in my field of I.T. I would not be working for the largest Linux vendor in the world today. The benefits and gifts that he gave me are not measurable.

I feel for him, I feel for his family. I can not even remotely comprehend what it must feel like to be in his shoes and to constantly have to defend ones self against these over zealous lies.


--------------

Kyle Kimoto on the other hand is a crook. He always was, and always will be. It is in his blood and all you need to do is be in a room with him to feel it.

I am probably one of the most objectionable people involved here as I was FIRED before 2 months before this raid happened and was forced to defend myself in a court agains people that I beleived were friends. I have been upset about this far too long and I want to barry the hatchet so to speak.

This all said, I know that regardless of anything anyone says, Brian and his family are wonderful people who will always have a place in my heart.


Brian: I wish you the best. Thank you for allowing me to start my career, for trusting me and for believing in me.

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#8 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Clueless = I NEVER ONCE cheated reps out of commission. I went overboard on too many occasions because of situations or friendships.

AUTHOR: Bj - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, July 13, 2005

I love it when people claim that they knew what was going on. I've spent the last two years not knowing what went on. I NEVER ONCE cheated reps out of commission. I went overboard on too many occasions because of situations or friendships. I NEVER ONCE took money from any rep in an attempt to "scam" the employee. You've contacted one old customer while i have attempted to contact thousands. Give me a break. YOu have no idea what i know and don't know. One day when you have your own company and employees to worry about I hope they spit on you when you try to help them. I hope that when you go out of your way to attempt to make their jobs better that they make up lies behind your back. Best yet, I hope everything bad happens to you on the front page of the paper and no good is ever talked about. Then and only then will you have the ability to judge me and say what you say. Like I said before and I will say it again: I never ever once knew of any fraud and to this day I am not convinced that fraud took place. I still don't know what happened exactly. goodnight.

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#7 Consumer Comment

Kyle Kimoto, Assail Inc, Infinium knew darn well what was going on.

AUTHOR: Emily - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, July 11, 2005

As a former employee of Assail Inc, (I met my husband there) I would offer the opinion that Kyle Kimoto and the upper management of Assail knew darn well what was going on.

I worked there for 6 months..longer than most people do. Almost all of the night employees were high schoolers or kids putting themselves through college.
The morning shift people were grown-ups who couldn't get a "real job". I was on the morning shift for about 2 months.

I didn't work under Kyle, but I worked for his partner (they split before the feds came in) Brian Schofield.
We told customers that for $219.95 they could get 3 credit cards to build their credit.
I believed it. I believed we were helping people. After a while I noticed that I and my coworkers were being stiffed on our commissions. I started to think, if they were stiffing US, what were they doing to people in other states..

Then I saw a notice in the local paper...saying that anything that promised you a "guaranteed" credit card if you gave them money WAS A SCAM. It is against federal law to do this and this was EXACTLY what I was being paid to do.

I quit that day..I spend 2 days trying to remember the name of the last customer I called, Keith something-or-other in Klamath Falls OR. I search google, call everyone with his last name, trying to find him and tell him to close his bank account or whatever he has to do before they debit the money.

I still feel pretty sick about all of it.

And do you know what..when the FBI auctioned off Kyle Kimoto's house I TOURED it...13,000 sq ft, 12 bedrooms, a full gym, a playground, 4 studies. How much of that did I personally pay for? I'm sorry to anyone I talked to...I wish I could take it back.

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#6 Consumer Comment

Kyle Kimoto, Assail Inc, Infinium knew darn well what was going on.

AUTHOR: Emily - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, July 11, 2005

As a former employee of Assail Inc, (I met my husband there) I would offer the opinion that Kyle Kimoto and the upper management of Assail knew darn well what was going on.

I worked there for 6 months..longer than most people do. Almost all of the night employees were high schoolers or kids putting themselves through college.
The morning shift people were grown-ups who couldn't get a "real job". I was on the morning shift for about 2 months.

I didn't work under Kyle, but I worked for his partner (they split before the feds came in) Brian Schofield.
We told customers that for $219.95 they could get 3 credit cards to build their credit.
I believed it. I believed we were helping people. After a while I noticed that I and my coworkers were being stiffed on our commissions. I started to think, if they were stiffing US, what were they doing to people in other states..

Then I saw a notice in the local paper...saying that anything that promised you a "guaranteed" credit card if you gave them money WAS A SCAM. It is against federal law to do this and this was EXACTLY what I was being paid to do.

I quit that day..I spend 2 days trying to remember the name of the last customer I called, Keith something-or-other in Klamath Falls OR. I search google, call everyone with his last name, trying to find him and tell him to close his bank account or whatever he has to do before they debit the money.

I still feel pretty sick about all of it.

And do you know what..when the FBI auctioned off Kyle Kimoto's house I TOURED it...13,000 sq ft, 12 bedrooms, a full gym, a playground, 4 studies. How much of that did I personally pay for? I'm sorry to anyone I talked to...I wish I could take it back.

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#5 UPDATE Employee

Charges Settled

AUTHOR: Mekare - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, October 16, 2003

Charges against Kyle Kimoto and Assail Inc. have been settled and no one is being indicted because we were innocent! You can contact the Spectrum News in St. George Utah.
Signed, a very happy employee who always told everyone we were innocent!

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#4 Author of original report

FTC Charges Telemarketing Network with Selling Bogus Advance-Fee Credit Card Packages

AUTHOR: Tim - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, January 30, 2003

For Release: January 17, 2003

FTC Charges Telemarketing Network with Selling Bogus Advance-Fee Credit Card Packages

The Federal Trade Commission has filed charges against seven corporations and nine individuals, the Assail Telemarketing Network, for engaging in deceptive and unfair activities in the marketing of advance-fee credit card packages under the names Advantage Capital, Capital First, and Premier One. The Commission alleges that the defendants operate an advance-fee credit card scam through a network of boiler rooms, Canadian front men, and outsourced fulfillment and customer service centers. According to the FTC, the scam targets people with poor credit histories, offering credit cards that never materialize, while upselling various benefit packages through an incomprehensible, computer-generated "verification" tape.

On January 9, 2003, the court temporarily halted the defendants' operation, froze their assets, and appointed a receiver to take over the corporate defendants.

The complaint names: Assail, Inc., headquartered in St. George, Utah, its president, Kyle Kimoto, and two of its officers, Cliff Dunn, and Mike Henriksen; Infinium, Inc., Market-Reps.com, Inc., headquartered in Cedar City, Utah, and their president Brian Schofield; Specialty Outsourcing Solutions, Inc., headquartered in Waco, Texas, and its officers, Jay Lankford, and Lee Murphy; Summit Communications International, Inc., purportedly headquartered in Carson City, Nevada, and doing business as Advantage Capital, and its president, Matthew h*o; Capital First Benefits, Inc., headquartered in Miami, Florida, and its president, Ben Lee; and Premier One Benefits, Inc., based in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and its president, Johnson Salanga.

The FTC alleges that the defendants telemarketed various products and services to U.S. consumers, or provided substantial assistance, facilitation, or support to the telemarketers or sellers of such products or services. Assail, Infinium, and Market-Reps.com provide telemarketing and other services through their own boilerrooms and employees, and through dozens of contract boiler rooms in the United States, Canada, India, and Caribbean countries.

According to the FTC, the scam works as follows: the defendants contact consumers with poor credit records, refer to their purported prior applications for credit, and tell them that they are now guaranteed to receive a credit card. The credit card packages are often sold under the names of Advantage Capital, Capital First, and Premier One. In fact, the defendants do not provide credit cards to consumers. Instead, they use an incomprehensible, digitally recorded "verification" process to conceal that the proffered credit card is actually a "benefit" package that includes an application for a stored value "pay as you go"card. After consumers submit the application, even this card also fails to materialize. In addition, the defendants slip in multiple "upsells" of expensive and dubious products at the end of the verification process. The defendants then debit consumers' bank accounts for the upsells, sometimes with additional recurring monthly charges, without the consumers' authorization. The FTC alleges that consumers commonly incur debits against their bank accounts for approximately $174 for the "credit card" package and an additional $50-$100 for each upsell.

The FTC alleges that when consumers try to cancel their purchases and prevent further debits, they are frequently met with a well-orchestrated "customer service" scheme designed to frustrate consumers' attempts to obtain refunds and cancellations. Even when consumers are successful in canceling some of their debits, the defendants often fail to cancel future debits for other products purportedly purchased during the telemarketing call. As a result, consumers' accounts are later debited for additional sales about which they were not aware.

The complaint alleges that the defendants violated the FTC Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule, and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act by:

making deceptive misrepresentations and engaging in unfair billing practices;
assisting and facilitating others in fraudulently inducing consumers to pay for goods or services, and requesting payment upfront for the goods or services; and obtaining bank account numbers from consumers by means of false, fictitious or fraudulent representations.

The Commission vote to authorize staff to file the complaint in federal district court was 5-0. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division, on January 9, 2003, under seal. The seal was lifted on January 16, 2003.

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#3 Consumer Comment

response to response of rebuttal

AUTHOR: jim ` - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, January 20, 2003

I too have done some research, and I have to say that I jumped the gun a little. I know that Infinium Inc. and its affiliates are only call centers, but I don't know about Assail. Not enough to make any kind of judgement.

I am certain that in regards to the article and what it claims, that Infinium Inc. and its affiliates are innocent. I am positive. I don't want them getting any kind of bad name because of some false accusations. For as long as the feds have supposedly been investigating this, they sure are uninformed. I have no resect for them. I'm only concerned because I think it sucks for someone to have to go through something like this for no reason.

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#2 Consumer Comment

Response to the Rebutt ..You almost got me, but I found this site

AUTHOR: Mike - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Sunday, January 19, 2003

To say no one knew what was happening or innocent is a farce. This is a prime example of people getting involved in things that aren't on the up and up and really do hurt innocent people for there own greed. This kind of stuff needs to stop in any form.

I'm tired of receiving all the solicitations from people with the intent to deceive knowing or not knowing that they are a part of it. All the people involved should be ashamed of the misery you have brought to many people just trying to get by.

You almost got me, but I found this site and started reading about this. Hopefully and finally, all the people that wrote in can have a much deserved sigh of relieve that action may be taken to stop this kind of stuff in the future. There are other scams out there, you people that are involved knowing or not knowing should get a conscience and do the right thing to your fellow man or woman. Good on the people who are taking steps to prevent this stuff. Thanks much, Mike

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#1 Consumer Comment

you're persecuting the innocent

AUTHOR: jim - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Sunday, January 19, 2003

In regards to the article posted; please don't misunderstand the involvement of these telemarketing companies. The companies mentioned in the article do not sell their own products. They are the middle men. Companies hire them to call. I understand that employees of these companies are confused and maybe angry, but I am confident that many employees of these companies themselves didn't understand how minimal their involvement was. It's a sad thing that in this country we are apparently not innocent until proven guilty, but guilty until proven innocent. Have we lost all faith in the human race? If there was any wrong doing, Infinium Inc., its affiliates and Assail Inc. were not aware. I truly believe this.

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