Capital Choice Consumer Credit Inc ripoff promise a credit card for 43.00 then wrote me a letter saying discontiued do to the consent order MIAMI Florida

The reason why things are not being done as they should is, it takes time to track these companies and time is money.

No agency or person in the legal field will take the time to do this unless there is a lot of money to be made by doing so. And the way this whole scam works is that the money being made by this scam is spread out amongst the various companies involved therefore in order to make any large amount of money on this is to go after all or most of the currently running businesses involved at the same time.

The problem is that by the time the government agencies like the FTC get a handle on a few of the companies the scam artist's open up under new company names and use new people to sign on as company owners/directors which throws them off and makes them think that they are totally unrelated companies.

In addition it takes time to gather the new information in order to have a strong enough case against those companies and it seems that by the time they do the scam has already moved forward and the money has moved on as well.

Another thing that creates a problem is that the large amounts of money being made by the scammers is being sent off shore therefore nobody can get their hands on the majority of it. So the trick is to get a few steps ahead of these criminals by IMMEDIATLY and throughly investigating consumer complaints and not waiting until there have already been hundreds or thousands of victims.

I don't think the FTC or any other agency is going to do this for us and that is why I have taken the task on myself and others can do the same if they are committed enough to help stop these crimes. This is what I do in part: EVERY time I receive a phone call from a solisitor I get as much information as I can about the company by acting interested instead of suspicious. And every time I get a piece of advertisement via e-mail, I put it in a folder which I have created on my computer (I make hard copies as well).

I then carfully read then investigate each of these companies. I go to the Secretary of state web-site for the company name search, registered agent and company officers. I then take every person listed and do a whole new search on each of them and then search on anyone connected to them and so on including any businesses each of them are involved with in any way.

I also check the State Bar's listings of each name (a number of the people involved are attorney's). In addition I back track old companies that have gone decunct which are listed in any of the names involved and see what new companies have opened involving the names following the dates of the closed companies. and also names that are simalar (company and personal) because these guys use several different names and addresses.

For instance.In the case of Capital Choice Consumer Credit, Ricardo Martinez goes by fifteen different variations of his name which is actually Ricardo Matinez-Cid (a Florida State attorney). He also uses three different signitures that I have been able to trace thus far. I then take the names and addresses and cross reference them with other names and addresses. There are a few other things I do which I am not willing to share right now, primarily because I'm sure these creeps are keeping close tabs on this site and I would't want to let them know what they are doing wrong at keeping their cover.

Once I have the names of any of the companies involved I check them out with sites such as this one and other consumer complaint sites which helps to fill in some of the blanks like what states are they targeting and when. If this sounds like a lot of work...your right, it is however I have been able to trace thier ill doing's back to 1979.

I don't expect to make a dime in doing so but I do expect to gather enough evidence to put each and every one of the people involved in this behind bars. And if anyone is wondering what is driving me so...well let's just say...a scum bag will NEVER get the best of me.

Kim,
You are absolutely correct, this has been going on for a very long time. You are also correct in stating that these scams cover the gamut of crimes. Insurance companies, Computer companies, Viaticals, Investments, Mortgage, not to mention drugs, porno, the list just goes on and on.

I understand that the FTC and the Consuumer agencies have a hard time gathering all the information they need to shut them down. HOWEVER, I do have trouble understanding WHY they can find one dishonest business, and the "connections" that go to it, and not stop it. It is huge, and many of the owners are different countries. Maybe that is the problem? I do not know. I just have a very hard time understanding all of it. Maybe they have not found all the connections?

Are they even working on it? WWW.FTC.GOV ...BUG THEM...ASK THEM, OVER and OVER. Contact ALL consumer agencies, and just raise hell with them. After all, YOU are paying their wages, make them EARN IT!

Bottom line, people are getting ripped off every minute, and usually, people that that can least afford it. This is what upsets me, to no end. I visualize babies going without milk, children going without food, elderly going without medicine, and people being evicted from their homes losing their automobiles. Very upsetting!

My mother has tried to get the television stations to do a PSA to warn people not to respond to these "offers", to no avail. After all, if people were AWARE there are these types of scams, they would not fall for them.
It would also put a dent in the pocketbooks of the people that are doing this.

Organized Crime and Racketeering is very, very big! FBI, Secret Service and the organizations that in place to deal with this sort of thing...where are they? Can they not subpeona the records of these mail box etc, and find where this money is going? they really need to follow the money trail! "Godfather"...Where are you? I think, in Italy.

File a complaint with the FTC at WWW.FTC.GOV, and ask them what this means. After all, Ricardo Martinez may have Capital Choice filed in the courts, but that does NOT mean that it is STOPPED, because it is NOT!

Capital Choice Consumer Credit is just one of MANY DBA's they use, so if they are going to "get one" why not get them all? What about them filing for a few billion for redress to the consumers? ASK THEM.

Why are they dragging their feet with this? You better believe they will collect fines to cover the cost of what THEY do! Consumer Protection?

USA Federal Trade Commission recently "made a deal" with Australia, to open up communications on frauds, which is good, but they need to open up the lines of communications within their OWN agencies as well.

The reason you have received this letter from Capital Choice Consumer Credit is because as of April 9,2002 Capital Choice Consumer Credit,E-Credit Solutions,Millennium Communications and Fulfillment, National Research Group, National Credit Shopper,Ricardo E. Martinez (with many AKA's)and Scott A. Burley are in litigation with the FTC at the current time under a temporary restraining order and there has been a freeze put on some of their assets.

In addition they have been prohibbited from continuing business under the above mentioned names while this order is still in force. The court has allowed them to resume the marketing and sale of the Optimun Benefits Program, the Hartford Auto Club Program, The Thousand Minute Mega Saver, The Premium Mega Saver program and offer other programs, provided that the marketing and sale of such programs is not deceptive and is in compliance with section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and Telemarketing sales rule.

In addition, paragraph 10 and 11 of the court proceedings are as follows: 10. With respect to customers who have enrolled in the Capital Choice program and have ordered from the catalog, defendants will respond to the first communication from them with a letter in a form approved by the monitor and shown to plaintiff's council, notifying them that the program has been discontinued and of the pendency of this action.

11. With respect to customers of who have enrolled in the Capital Choice program and request a refund, defendents shall send them a letter, in a form approved by the Monitor and shown to plaintiff's council notifying them of the pendency of this action. As of April 15, 2002, immediately following this restraining order, Capital Choice Consumer Credit registered a new name "Capital First Benefits" using Ben Lee as their president and Paul Smith as their registering agent. The Hartford Auto Club is part of their benefit package that has taken unauthorized funds from it's members so it is obviously the same scam ring.

Other companies that are connected to this scam ring are Advantage Capital/ Advantage Capital Credit Card. Unfortunately their are far too many companies and names involved in this scam ring to list and because of thier success at knowing how to pull the whole thing off due to the number of licenced attorney's who are behind the whole thing, they have been robbing people for as far back as the late 70's and early 80's and possibly before that (my findings trace back to 1979). That's a lot of money folks! It has taken a huge effort on my part to fit the intricate pieces of this scam network together but I can say this and I have absolute proof, a great many of the internet and telemarketing scams that are currently running or appear to have gone defunct ARE connected to this ring. They involve many types of buisnesses far beyond the credit card and credit report/repair business and they are using their association with major credible corporations to convince millions of people that they too are legitimate. As you can see by the thousands of complaints listed on this site against Captal first Benefits, they are CLEARLY in contempt of the Capital Choice Consumer Credit court order. The FTC and several other organizations are hard at work trying to put an end to these kinds of crimes however it is a hard job to do without the help and support of comsumers therfore I urge anyone who has been scammed regardless of whether or not your losses have been refunded to file complaints with your states attorney general, the FTC, the FBI, consumer awareness sites such as this one and your state representatives (which many people fail to address). As long as there are people out there willing to stay victim to these crimes there will be criminals out there to abuse them.

I would like to thank the Ripp off Report for the courageous work they do and for inspiring me to be a better consumer. Without the help of this site I would not have been led to some of the peices of this very copmlicated puzzle.