I’ve been a consumer journalist for decades. One of the first scams I learned about was work-at-home schemes.
Back then, the scams often involved envelopes. It was disappointing to find out that something that could really help people – working at home – actually robbed them.
In the latest work-at-home scheme catching the attention of the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 99.8 percent of the 110,000 consumers affected by the scheme earned no money.
The Zaken Corp.and Tiran Zakenclaimed that, for a fee of $148 or more, their “QuickSell” program would help consumers find businesses with excess inventory to sell, and that they’d find a buyer for the inventory and pay consumers half the sales price.
They also falsely claimed consumers would earn at least $4,000 or more in the first 30 days and, on average, $4,280 per deal.
After consumers bought the program, they were swamped with ads to buy more business “tools” that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. Consumers were encouraged to spend an extra $2,300 if they were “serious about making money.” Those who paid that amount only received a telephone directory of companies no longer in business.
A federal district judge has ordered the defendants to pay more than $25 million in refundsto the consumers who were conned.
