Cloud Pro Hosting, LeadsDotCom.com, Michael Kennedy, Bill Richmont, Mark Navi, Robert Miyagi Slick huge email marketing/hosting scam Internet

Caught in a big scam through email introduction to Cloud Pro Hosting I received several emails offering a profitable internet marketing business that the company would set up, clicked on the link, and watched a video describing the system. I opted in and was sent to Cloud Pro Hosting, where I had to purchase hosting for $89.70 and a traffic package. They did actually eventually set up a website, but it was totally useless. There was a sign-in place for visitors to get a newsletter, but that link went nowhere and they never told me how to set it up. Shortly thereafter, I got calls from "independent" groups referred from Cloud Pro Hosting to purchase training programs ranging in cost from $4000 to $13,000 and very hard sell.training programs ranging in cost from $4000 to $13,000 and very hard sell. Fortunately I did not follow up with them. Prior to discussing costs with me, they asked me detailed questions about my financial status and credit card limits. Then one day I got a call from a representative at Cloud Pro Hosting who set me up in a webinar with a guy named Michael. He offered a "free" system where his team would set up everything for you and he would take 20% of your profits as payment if it made you money. This sounded reasonable, and I unfortunately bought into it.

For the next couple weeks, I worked with his "team" to get ready for a big launch on Sept 4. They helped set up my website, get set up with AWeber for autoresponse etc. Michael also mentioned at one point that he owned Cloud Pro Hosting. Michael asked me about my leads but I didn't have any (I'm a complete newbie). He said I would need to purchase them thru LeadsDotCom.com at $1 each, and that they generally don't take orders under 50,000. He explained "leads" were better than "trafffic" as the conversion rate was much higher. I couldn't afford that, but maybe I could do 15,000. He then made "special arrangements" with this company to get me that "low amount" because he had a "good relationship" with them. I Fedexed a credit card check and cashiers check to LeadsDotCom that day. On the launch date his team sent me a CVS file with the leads, and my "campaign manager" Robert Miyagi took me through a step by step process to get set up with Mandrill as the email blaster. After 200 leads went out, Mandrill shut me down. I naturally contacted Michael, and after a lot of "investigation" Michael told me it was a problem with the server, and I needed a "dedicated server" to do that. He just "happened" to have an expert in email marketing named "Bill Richmont" visiting that day who might be able to help me out. Bill Richmont came on the phone and said he would comandeer my campaign, that he had years of experience making millions of dollars. He also had a "relationship" with LeadsDotCom.com, and he would get me "fresh leads" and use of their direct server which normally cost "millions of dollars." He would also get a high-end copywriter to rewrite my advertising copy, but would only "save" my account if I did all this. The copywriter would cost $20,000 and the server plus some additional costs another $30,000. He guaranteed a 24% conversion rate. I said no.

What followed was a very hard sell. I finally agreed to some reduced amount, and he put me on hold to set things up. After awhile I hung up and I started receiving multiple calls which I didn't answer. Some of them had the caller ID for my own phone! (I found out later there is an app for this, and the FCC calls it "caller ID spoofing" and is a violation.) Hours later I finally answered another number (I was waiting to hear from a job I applied to) and it turned out to be Bill Richmont again. Another hard sell, where he finally asked me what I felt comfortable in paying. When I said, if this is such a good system, why can't he set it up for me now, and when I made all the money, I would be very happy to pay him back the $50,000. Of course he couldn't do that. I finally said I was willing to risk $5000 to recoup my initial investment of $15,000. He offered to pay for everything, including the copywriter and direct server, if I would put up $10,000 and when I made up the "guaranteed" profit, I could pay him back. So that was set up and I was to Fedex the money the next day, provide a tracking number, and he would call me shortly afterward to start setting up my new campaign. I this point I belatedly did some internet research, and found a complaint lodged against a company called "EmailListDirect" which virtually repeated my story. Bill Richmont was mentioned by name, and another person in the company was listed as Michael (different last name). Of course, I did not send the money and turned off my phone so the "team" couldn't call me. Michael actually called a friend of mine, using my caller ID, so that he answered, then Michael asked where I was, since I missed an important meeting and he was "concerned." My friend was very discrete and told him that he'd give me the message. That is where I stand now.

I was able to block most of the $15,000 initially sent it as I had used a credit card check which they fortunately had not yet cashed. I spoke with the credit card company and they put a stop payment on it. I lost $2000 as that was in a cashiers check. . I called LeadsDotCom.com to ask why the leads failed, and I got a person identifying himself as "somebody Wilson" who sounded suspiciously like my campaign manager Robert Miyagi. He also gave me the same line about dedicated servers and them costing millions of dollars. Cloud Pro Hosting did cancel a couple of credit card purchases I had made with them at my request, but not most of them and there has not been enough time to see if they continuing charging me (which they have done with other clients). This is a huge, very slick scam. I believe they initially ran it as EmailListDirect where they actually sold you the leads list themselves and than would set up your campaign at an 80/20 split. Then they opened a new company called "Mass Bounty Affiliates" and I believe they set up LeadsDotCom.com as a separate company to give the illusion they were sending you to an independent site for the leads, but were actually collecting the money themselves. That was how I got fooled. They have a huge number of affiliates like "profits with Michael" funneling you into Cloud Pro Hosting (which Michael told me he owned), after which you get bombarded with all sorts of other scams.