Benjamin & Benjamin, Inc. Scammed me out of $10K for their business opportunity scam El Segundo CA

I discovered this company Benjamin and Benjamin (benjamin-benjamin.com) through the job search ads on Craigslist.org back in April 2019. Their advertisement was highly appealing, claiming to train you to make an average of $25K to $75K per month.  Naturally, I was intrigued and so proceeded to visit their site and links that offered these lengthy webinars on how to make tons of money by helping businesses obtain funding and offering credit repair if needed to acquire the business funding. 

I proceeded to have an interview with the director of the company, Dante Reeves. In his webinar training, he mentioned that there is an upfront investment of $10K to join his 2-week course on business funding and credit repair.  He really sold me on the fact that if I implemented everything he taught in his training that I would not only get a quick return on my investment but that he guaranteed that I would make on average anywhere from $20K to $40K monthly (and that for him was being modest). 

Since my husband was the one primarily providing me with the funds for his training, Dante really did a good job working him as well to convince him to part with his money and for both of us to get involved in the training.  He kept throwing these big figure amounts, even having a clause saying that if I earned $300K in 6 months that I would agree to give B&B a commission of $25K (it's written in the contract).

These exuberant statements, along with his closing arguments, were enough to convince my husband and I to put faith in his program. I started the online webinar training ‪on April 23rd‬ of 2019. The training went along smoothly enough, but then when we got to the part of credit repair (which he waited to teach until just past the 3-day refund window), he started teaching a very odd method on the subject that immediately raised red flags with me.  

Given that I was inexperienced and naive, I went along with it and did not question him, yet I learned later that it is in fact unethical- he taught us to have clients change their residential address on their driver's license in order to fool the credit bureau processors so they cannot easily verify items in their credit report.   I found out later that this is a highly questionable tactic that could get my clients and I in big trouble and my new company shut down.

He instructed us to go to the sublet section of Craigslist and contact the ads owners to ask if we could pay $50 bucks to 'borrow' use of their address for a month. He also mentioned that some students just used any sublet address without asking, and we could, but he thought it was nicer to get permission. Another idea he recommended was renting a p.o. box from UPS and using that. A couple of other techniques he taught us in his training were called 'card stacking' and  'loan stacking', yet it turns out many lenders now have anti-loan stacking clauses in place, including one of the lenders he recommends we go through (this is also taught after the 3-day refund window). 

I went along with the course nevertheless as I had already invested the money and time in his training. Upon completion of his training, I immediately set up a business bank account in anticipation to quickly monetize on my newfound skills.  I was ready to implement all the techniques as they were taught to me in his training.  I generated leads easily enough and was able to have them agree to accept my services in credit repair with the goal for them to obtain their desired funding.  

With each of my clients, when I got to the point of asking them to go to the DMV to have their address changed and get a new license, they naturally questioned this and were not comfortable in proceeding.  I really couldn't blame them as I myself felt this to be sketchy, and that is not to say that I did not try to sell them on the idea because I surely did my darndest to make even myself believe that this was a legitimate process in helping them repair their credit.

Needless to say, every time I struck out on deals, nearly all were due to the dilemma of changing the address.  It turns out the practice of changing an address to elude and deceit the credit bureaus in verifying delinquent accounts and inquiries in a credit report just doesn’t sit well with many people apparently. Someone in class brought up the fact that a couple of clients refused to do it, and he advised them that they need to 'take control of the situation and dictate to the client what they need to do, don't let the clients dictate.’

After a few months of trying to work the system he taught, I finally decided to email Dante and plead my case in an amicable manner.  I stated that I was in a dire predicament financially, and was unfortunately unable to generate the income he promised would be a 'cakewalk' to make after taking his training.  I was hoping for at least an offer of a partial refund, but instead what he offered was for me to join another of his webinars to get me back on track. 

He claimed that he supposedly does not have the authority to provide a refund at this stage, although he indeed does as he now is part owner of the company B&B along with the other owner Michael Wolfe. Since I now know that some of his credit repair and funding methods are not ethical, I did not even deem him with a response, and of course, did not attend his webinar. I’d also like to add that they are not officially licensed to conduct business in the state that I am located in, which after consulting with an attorney I found that is illegal.

This is another aspect of this business to be weary of. I will not be satisfied until I get a complete refund for his questionable training course.  Even if I do not, I feel it's important to let the public know of this man and his company's peculiar teachings so they will not fall victim to him and lose their hard-earned money like I did.  Be safe out there!