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Complaint Review: First National Credit & Mahmoud Karkehabadi - Aliso Viejo California
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First National Credit & Mahmoud Karkehabadi
Nationwide Aliso Viejo, California, U.S.A.
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First National Credit & Mahmoud Karkehabadi & Steven Golgolab consumer fraud ripoff exposed by Rip-Off Report and Orange County Register Aliso Viejo California
Dear Rip-Off Report,
I was also scammed by the fraudulent company known as First National Credit, and I recently saw a story that Chris Knap of the Orange County Register newpaper wrote about their scheme.
I just want to thank the Rip-Off Report for providing the Orange County Register with so much important information, and I want to thank Mr. Knap for writing about it.
The work you have done will protect many innocent consumers.
Keep up the great work!
A copy of the newspaper story is below.
Thanks again!!
Rodney
------------------------------------
Looking for gold
Regulators say a handful of Orange County companies are mining the vulnerability of consumers who have poor credit, mimicking the names and logos of legitimate credit-card issuers but selling junk plastic.
March 17, 2002
By CHRIS KNAP
The Orange County Register
Direct-mail operators based in south Orange County are financing a lavish lifestyle with allegedly fraudulent sales promotions aimed at people struggling to establish credit.
The principals in these operations drive Ferraris, Mercedes and Bentleys and live in ocean and hilltop homes in Newport and Laguna.
Their victims are typically consumers desperate to establish credit.
"These consumers are in dire financial straits. They want credit, they need credit. They send in money because they believe they will be getting a major credit card," said Barbara Y.K. Chun, an attorney for the Federal Trade Commission.
That's not what they get.
State and federal regulators have been battling phony credit schemes for years. It's now illegal under federal law for telemarketers to offer "guaranteed" credit for an advance fee. But mail solicitations don't fall under that law.
U.S. postal inspectors and the FTC say they are now battling a more sophisticated scheme, in which the perpetrators do deliver a card, but one that can't be used in any of the ways that consumers typically use a Visa or MasterCard. State and federal regulators say that's fraudulent unless the card's limitations are fully disclosed.
Here's how postal inspectors describe the scam: The perpetrators adopt a company name that sounds similar to well-known national credit banks.
They buy a list of consumers rejected by legitimate credit providers. Then they mail out millions of postcards or letters telling recipients they have been approved for a "Gold Card" without a credit check. Recipients need only submit what the company calls a "processing fee" of $35 to $50.
"When your card arrives in the mail, you find out it can only be used to pay for orders from a specific store or catalog," postal inspectors warned in a recent Internet bulletin.
"At times the deception is magnified by the fact that the merchandise in the catalog is either inferior or grossly overpriced."
Even on catalog purchases, the Gold Card holders must pay as much as 70 percent of the purchase price in cash.
Postal inspectors say five to 10 of these companies may be operating nationwide at any one time. In the last two years, at least three such companies were based in south Orange County.
Lawsuits and postal inspectors shut one company down. The president promptly started a new company a few miles away.
"This seems to have become sort of a cottage industry in Orange County," said Deputy California Attorney General Ian K. Sweedler.
Margaret Roark of Lorain, Ohio, declared bankruptcy last year after she was swamped with medical bills when her husband suffered a debilitating spinal injury. Now he is working again, and the couple wants to re-establish their credit.
They chose an offer from an Aliso Viejo company called First National Credit because it offered a zero- interest Gold Card with a $15,000 limit.
"I thought it was a major credit card," Roark said.
When nothing had arrived more than a month after Roark paid $43 for "rush processing" she became suspicious.
Logging on to the Internet, she discovered numerous warnings about the company on RipOffReport.com and other consumer sites. After five weeks the card did finally arrive - but it wasn't a Visa or MasterCard and could only be used to buy expensive items from a catalog. Half of the purchase price had to be paid in cash.
"Money means so much to us right now," Roark said. "That $43 would buy groceries for two to three days. And they took it from me and my kids so they can go have fun. It really makes me angry."
After the Register relayed Roark's complaints, the company said it would immediately refund her money. The Register was faxed a copy of a refund check dated March 13.
Wild Chang, an attorney for First National Credit, said the company may have made mistakes and violated disclosure laws in the past, but today is a legitimate business.
"We never represent it as a MasterCard. It's not a major credit card. But it is a Gold Card," said Chang.
MILLIONS IN REVENUE
The Orange County Register used business, property and court records to examine the history of three of these direct-mail operations:
A Santa Ana Heights company selling Gold Cards under the name Capital Credit collected more than $10 million from consumers during late 1999 and early 2000, according to bank records detailed in a postal inspector's affidavit and a federal forfeiture complaint.
Capital One Financial Corp., the $16 billion credit bank, alleged in a U.S. district court lawsuit last year that Capital Credit had mimicked its name and logo to trick consumers into believing they would receive a major credit card.
In fact, the Gold Cards issued were good for only 50 percent of the price of knickknacks, costume jewelry and other merchandise in a catalog. Only 442 of the more than 266,000 consumers who purchased the cards ever bought anything from the catalog, according to the forfeiture complaint.
Postal inspectors said the company was run by Randall Matthew Young of Newport Beach, Jonathan Logan Gulla of Laguna Beach and Steven Golgolab of Corona del Mar. When postal inspectors seized the company's bank accounts in late 2000, alleging mail and wire fraud, only $1.7 million remained.
Federal court records show all the principals have a history of run-ins with the federal government.
Gulla and Young had previously operated a "work at home" scheme called PDI Clinical Labs that persuaded unwary consumers to send in $74 for "home staff worker kits" that PDI promised would earn them as much as $2,300 per week, according to a postal inspector affidavit. In fact, the recipients had to sell herbal potions and balms in order to earn any money at all, the affidavit says, and none earned anywhere near $2,300.
Last year Gulla was charged with two counts of mail fraud for the PDI scheme.
David Wiechert, an attorney for Young, said Young has not yet been charged with a crime and would not have any comment for this story. David Waltz, an attorney for Gulla, declined to comment on the mail-fraud charges or the Gold Card scheme.
Golgolab, who opened and controlled one Capital Credit account that collected more than $8 million, left just before postal inspectors raided the company last year. Federal court records show Golgolab has a history of nonpayment of taxes. The Internal Revenue Service filed a $118,000 lien against his Huntington Beach home in 1995 and in 1998 obtained a federal court summons to obtain access to his other assets.
An attorney for Golgolab said he resigned from Capital Credit when he discovered the company was cheating consumers and now regrets his involvement.
An Aliso Viejo and Lake Forest company using the names Salyon National Credit and Quicklinks.com fraudulently used the MasterCard logo to sell Gold Cards under the name First Liberty Financial, the FTC alleged in a lawsuit filed last year.
The cards were good for 30 percent of the price of velvet portraits of Elvis Presley, burl wood eagle clocks and other items in their catalog.
The FTC said the company was run by Mark Joseph Lyon of Laguna Niguel; John Donald Lyon of Boise, Idaho; and Kurt Charles Uhler of Corona del Mar. In November the FTC obtained a preliminary injunction shutting down First Liberty and freezing its assets.
Uhler declined to be interviewed but denied, through his wife, that he was involved in the scheme. Uhler acknowledged First Liberty operated out of an office he had rented. Neither of the Lyons could be reached for comment.
First National Credit of Aliso Viejo continues to operate despite court actions against it by the Oregon and California attorneys general and more than 5,000 consumer complaints to U.S. postal inspectors, the Orange County sheriff and Internet anti-fraud sites.
The company is run by Golgolab, the former Capital Credit president, and by Mahmoud Karkehabadi of Laguna Niguel, a car salesman accused of defrauding hundreds of consumers at South Bay Toyota using the name Mike Kay.
A 19-page accusation filed against Karkehabadi/Kay in February by the Department of Motor Vehicles says he "committed, participated in and/or was responsible" for 181 incidents of fraud, theft, false statements, false advertising, bait and switch, and other violations of law when he served as lease manager at South Bay Toyota in 1998 and 1999.
Karkehabadi testified in a January 2000 deposition that he collected as much as 50 percent of the profit on those deals.
Last year the owner sold South Bay and a sister dealership, South Coast Toyota, and paid a record $2 million in civil penalties to the state to settle the fraud charges.
No criminal charges have ever been filed against Karkehabadi. The DMV seeks only to revoke his car-sales license.
Through an attorney, Karkehabadi denied the DMV accusations and said he would fight to keep his sales license.
'TECHNICAL VIOLATIONS'
Calls placed to Karkehabadi and Golgolab were not returned.
Chang, the First National Credit attorney, said Karkehabadi and Golgolab were not "mentally prepared" to talk with a reporter because they have been criticized, called names and had their addresses published on the Internet by angry consumers.
Like its cousins, First National Credit offers a zero- interest Gold Card to consumers with poor credit for a fee of $37, or $43 for "rush processing and delivery."
"Congratulations, you are guaranteed approval for a First National Credit Gold Card with a credit line of $15,000," says the "Acceptance Certificate" mailed by the company to millions of consumer nationwide.
Thousands of consumers have complained that they were never told that the card can be used with the catalogs First National publishes. Even then, cardholders must advance 25 percent to 50 percent of the payment in cash.
"The prices in their catalog were just outrageous," Deputy Attorney General Sweedler said.
A state attorney general's lawsuit, filed in April, charges that Karkehabadi and Golgolab made untrue or misleading representations, engaged in fraudulent business practices and ignored consumer requests for refunds. The attorney general is seeking a permanent injunction halting the illegal conduct.
Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers also attacked First National Credit last year, calling its Gold Card an example of a "misleading promotion ... with little to offer." In November, Karkehabadi and Golgolab agree to pay $10,000 to an Oregon consumer-education fund and to refund card fees to 1,900 Oregonians.
Chang conceded that First National has, in the past, committed "technical violations" of lending disclosure laws, has offered merchandise that was not at competitive prices, and has poorly handled orders and requests for refunds.
Chang said First National received poor advice from its previous lawyers.
Chang said he has instructed the company to revise the solicitations to give full disclosure that its card is not a major credit card; to send a letter to consumers who may have responded to the illegal solicitations, extending the period for them to receive a refund; and to revise its catalog to offer competitively priced merchandise.
"We are not committing fraud. The cards are sent out punctually," Chang said. "If they call and request a cancellation, we give it to them."
Deputy Attorney General Esther Jackson disagreed with Chang's contention that the company is operating legally.
"Obviously we have a contrary position. Otherwise we would not be litigating the case," Jackson said.
Consumers interviewed this month by the Register complained that First National continues to engage in the same behaviors: It misleads people into thinking they will receive a major credit card; it takes weeks to respond to orders for the card, even when consumers pay for "rush processing," and does not disclose that the card is good only for its catalog.
"I wanted the card quick, so I sent a check for $43 payable to First National Credit," said James Livecy of Yukon, Okla. "It's been three weeks, and I still haven't gotten a thing."
"Like a lot of people I sent in my $43 to get my guaranteed Visa or MasterCard with a credit limit of $15,000. I honestly thought that this would help me repair my credit," said Monique Shawhan of Beaufort, S.C.
Shawhan said she did eventually receive a gold-colored card from First National Credit, but when she saw that it did not say "Visa" or "MasterCard" she became suspicious, turned to the Internet and discovered warning messages from other consumers. Shawhan said the company has never sent her a catalog or disclosed that the card is good only for the catalog, but keeps calling and asking her to "activate" the card.
Chang delayed the attorney general's case for months by removing the fraud lawsuit to federal court. A judge sent it back to state court in December. Last week a Superior Court judge authorized the attorney general to begin conducting discovery in the case.
In the meantime First National Credit has expanded, recently moving from a small office on Aliso Creek Road, next to a carpet cleaner, to a spacious new office building at 135 Columbia, overlooking the Saddleback Valley.
Chun, the FTC attorney, said shutting down fraudulent credit-card schemes can be difficult because authorities must amass enough complaints to convince a judge that consumers are being misled.
"It's critical for the consumers to complain to the FTC, or to the California attorney general" she said.
Even then, a refund for consumers is unlikely.
"Pretty much they spend the money as soon as they get it," Chun said.
Public records show Karkehabadi has a Bentley, a Ferrari and four Mercedes registered in his name. He owns a villa assessed at $840,000 in Nellie Gail, a neighborhood of horse ranches on a ridge overlooking the ocean.
Golgolab's address is Bayside Drive in Corona del Mar, and he has several cars registered in his name, including a 2001 Cadillac with personalized plates: 4NCVIP.
"I don't understand how they can keep getting away with it,'' said Roark, the Ohio consumer.
"If somebody is caught in a grocery store stealing an $8 piece of meat, even if they are hungry, they go to jail.
"To me it's just not fair."
Checking up on credit-card offers
Before you send in money in response to a credit-card offer, you may want to take a few minutes to check out these Internet sites, which watch for fraud:
Eye Credit lists legitimate credit-card offers as well as naming companies accused of fraudulent offers: www.eyecredit.com/warnings/index.html
RipoffReport.com is an independent advocate for consumers. You can search for a specific company or scroll lists of complaints from other consumers: ripoffreport.com/search.asp
Better Business Bureau of the Southland allows you to check on a specific company and make a complaint if you feel you have been cheated: www.bbbsouthland.org/howtoreport.html
California Attorney General: Posts general warnings and alerts on fraud and hoaxes at caag.state.ca.us/newsalerts/alert.htm
.........End of Orange County Register Story........
Thank you again Rip-off Report for being here for us consumers spreading the word that the BBB will never do.
For businesses, BBB.. "they are the best cover, money can buy."
Rod
Beverly Hills, California
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on First National Credit
Click here to read about Credit Card Scams ..How to get your money back. *Rip-off Report Investigation.
I was also scammed by the fraudulent company known as First National Credit, and I recently saw a story that Chris Knap of the Orange County Register newpaper wrote about their scheme.
I just want to thank the Rip-Off Report for providing the Orange County Register with so much important information, and I want to thank Mr. Knap for writing about it.
The work you have done will protect many innocent consumers.
Keep up the great work!
A copy of the newspaper story is below.
Thanks again!!
Rodney
------------------------------------
Looking for gold
Regulators say a handful of Orange County companies are mining the vulnerability of consumers who have poor credit, mimicking the names and logos of legitimate credit-card issuers but selling junk plastic.
March 17, 2002
By CHRIS KNAP
The Orange County Register
Direct-mail operators based in south Orange County are financing a lavish lifestyle with allegedly fraudulent sales promotions aimed at people struggling to establish credit.
The principals in these operations drive Ferraris, Mercedes and Bentleys and live in ocean and hilltop homes in Newport and Laguna.
Their victims are typically consumers desperate to establish credit.
"These consumers are in dire financial straits. They want credit, they need credit. They send in money because they believe they will be getting a major credit card," said Barbara Y.K. Chun, an attorney for the Federal Trade Commission.
That's not what they get.
State and federal regulators have been battling phony credit schemes for years. It's now illegal under federal law for telemarketers to offer "guaranteed" credit for an advance fee. But mail solicitations don't fall under that law.
U.S. postal inspectors and the FTC say they are now battling a more sophisticated scheme, in which the perpetrators do deliver a card, but one that can't be used in any of the ways that consumers typically use a Visa or MasterCard. State and federal regulators say that's fraudulent unless the card's limitations are fully disclosed.
Here's how postal inspectors describe the scam: The perpetrators adopt a company name that sounds similar to well-known national credit banks.
They buy a list of consumers rejected by legitimate credit providers. Then they mail out millions of postcards or letters telling recipients they have been approved for a "Gold Card" without a credit check. Recipients need only submit what the company calls a "processing fee" of $35 to $50.
"When your card arrives in the mail, you find out it can only be used to pay for orders from a specific store or catalog," postal inspectors warned in a recent Internet bulletin.
"At times the deception is magnified by the fact that the merchandise in the catalog is either inferior or grossly overpriced."
Even on catalog purchases, the Gold Card holders must pay as much as 70 percent of the purchase price in cash.
Postal inspectors say five to 10 of these companies may be operating nationwide at any one time. In the last two years, at least three such companies were based in south Orange County.
Lawsuits and postal inspectors shut one company down. The president promptly started a new company a few miles away.
"This seems to have become sort of a cottage industry in Orange County," said Deputy California Attorney General Ian K. Sweedler.
Margaret Roark of Lorain, Ohio, declared bankruptcy last year after she was swamped with medical bills when her husband suffered a debilitating spinal injury. Now he is working again, and the couple wants to re-establish their credit.
They chose an offer from an Aliso Viejo company called First National Credit because it offered a zero- interest Gold Card with a $15,000 limit.
"I thought it was a major credit card," Roark said.
When nothing had arrived more than a month after Roark paid $43 for "rush processing" she became suspicious.
Logging on to the Internet, she discovered numerous warnings about the company on RipOffReport.com and other consumer sites. After five weeks the card did finally arrive - but it wasn't a Visa or MasterCard and could only be used to buy expensive items from a catalog. Half of the purchase price had to be paid in cash.
"Money means so much to us right now," Roark said. "That $43 would buy groceries for two to three days. And they took it from me and my kids so they can go have fun. It really makes me angry."
After the Register relayed Roark's complaints, the company said it would immediately refund her money. The Register was faxed a copy of a refund check dated March 13.
Wild Chang, an attorney for First National Credit, said the company may have made mistakes and violated disclosure laws in the past, but today is a legitimate business.
"We never represent it as a MasterCard. It's not a major credit card. But it is a Gold Card," said Chang.
MILLIONS IN REVENUE
The Orange County Register used business, property and court records to examine the history of three of these direct-mail operations:
A Santa Ana Heights company selling Gold Cards under the name Capital Credit collected more than $10 million from consumers during late 1999 and early 2000, according to bank records detailed in a postal inspector's affidavit and a federal forfeiture complaint.
Capital One Financial Corp., the $16 billion credit bank, alleged in a U.S. district court lawsuit last year that Capital Credit had mimicked its name and logo to trick consumers into believing they would receive a major credit card.
In fact, the Gold Cards issued were good for only 50 percent of the price of knickknacks, costume jewelry and other merchandise in a catalog. Only 442 of the more than 266,000 consumers who purchased the cards ever bought anything from the catalog, according to the forfeiture complaint.
Postal inspectors said the company was run by Randall Matthew Young of Newport Beach, Jonathan Logan Gulla of Laguna Beach and Steven Golgolab of Corona del Mar. When postal inspectors seized the company's bank accounts in late 2000, alleging mail and wire fraud, only $1.7 million remained.
Federal court records show all the principals have a history of run-ins with the federal government.
Gulla and Young had previously operated a "work at home" scheme called PDI Clinical Labs that persuaded unwary consumers to send in $74 for "home staff worker kits" that PDI promised would earn them as much as $2,300 per week, according to a postal inspector affidavit. In fact, the recipients had to sell herbal potions and balms in order to earn any money at all, the affidavit says, and none earned anywhere near $2,300.
Last year Gulla was charged with two counts of mail fraud for the PDI scheme.
David Wiechert, an attorney for Young, said Young has not yet been charged with a crime and would not have any comment for this story. David Waltz, an attorney for Gulla, declined to comment on the mail-fraud charges or the Gold Card scheme.
Golgolab, who opened and controlled one Capital Credit account that collected more than $8 million, left just before postal inspectors raided the company last year. Federal court records show Golgolab has a history of nonpayment of taxes. The Internal Revenue Service filed a $118,000 lien against his Huntington Beach home in 1995 and in 1998 obtained a federal court summons to obtain access to his other assets.
An attorney for Golgolab said he resigned from Capital Credit when he discovered the company was cheating consumers and now regrets his involvement.
An Aliso Viejo and Lake Forest company using the names Salyon National Credit and Quicklinks.com fraudulently used the MasterCard logo to sell Gold Cards under the name First Liberty Financial, the FTC alleged in a lawsuit filed last year.
The cards were good for 30 percent of the price of velvet portraits of Elvis Presley, burl wood eagle clocks and other items in their catalog.
The FTC said the company was run by Mark Joseph Lyon of Laguna Niguel; John Donald Lyon of Boise, Idaho; and Kurt Charles Uhler of Corona del Mar. In November the FTC obtained a preliminary injunction shutting down First Liberty and freezing its assets.
Uhler declined to be interviewed but denied, through his wife, that he was involved in the scheme. Uhler acknowledged First Liberty operated out of an office he had rented. Neither of the Lyons could be reached for comment.
First National Credit of Aliso Viejo continues to operate despite court actions against it by the Oregon and California attorneys general and more than 5,000 consumer complaints to U.S. postal inspectors, the Orange County sheriff and Internet anti-fraud sites.
The company is run by Golgolab, the former Capital Credit president, and by Mahmoud Karkehabadi of Laguna Niguel, a car salesman accused of defrauding hundreds of consumers at South Bay Toyota using the name Mike Kay.
A 19-page accusation filed against Karkehabadi/Kay in February by the Department of Motor Vehicles says he "committed, participated in and/or was responsible" for 181 incidents of fraud, theft, false statements, false advertising, bait and switch, and other violations of law when he served as lease manager at South Bay Toyota in 1998 and 1999.
Karkehabadi testified in a January 2000 deposition that he collected as much as 50 percent of the profit on those deals.
Last year the owner sold South Bay and a sister dealership, South Coast Toyota, and paid a record $2 million in civil penalties to the state to settle the fraud charges.
No criminal charges have ever been filed against Karkehabadi. The DMV seeks only to revoke his car-sales license.
Through an attorney, Karkehabadi denied the DMV accusations and said he would fight to keep his sales license.
'TECHNICAL VIOLATIONS'
Calls placed to Karkehabadi and Golgolab were not returned.
Chang, the First National Credit attorney, said Karkehabadi and Golgolab were not "mentally prepared" to talk with a reporter because they have been criticized, called names and had their addresses published on the Internet by angry consumers.
Like its cousins, First National Credit offers a zero- interest Gold Card to consumers with poor credit for a fee of $37, or $43 for "rush processing and delivery."
"Congratulations, you are guaranteed approval for a First National Credit Gold Card with a credit line of $15,000," says the "Acceptance Certificate" mailed by the company to millions of consumer nationwide.
Thousands of consumers have complained that they were never told that the card can be used with the catalogs First National publishes. Even then, cardholders must advance 25 percent to 50 percent of the payment in cash.
"The prices in their catalog were just outrageous," Deputy Attorney General Sweedler said.
A state attorney general's lawsuit, filed in April, charges that Karkehabadi and Golgolab made untrue or misleading representations, engaged in fraudulent business practices and ignored consumer requests for refunds. The attorney general is seeking a permanent injunction halting the illegal conduct.
Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers also attacked First National Credit last year, calling its Gold Card an example of a "misleading promotion ... with little to offer." In November, Karkehabadi and Golgolab agree to pay $10,000 to an Oregon consumer-education fund and to refund card fees to 1,900 Oregonians.
Chang conceded that First National has, in the past, committed "technical violations" of lending disclosure laws, has offered merchandise that was not at competitive prices, and has poorly handled orders and requests for refunds.
Chang said First National received poor advice from its previous lawyers.
Chang said he has instructed the company to revise the solicitations to give full disclosure that its card is not a major credit card; to send a letter to consumers who may have responded to the illegal solicitations, extending the period for them to receive a refund; and to revise its catalog to offer competitively priced merchandise.
"We are not committing fraud. The cards are sent out punctually," Chang said. "If they call and request a cancellation, we give it to them."
Deputy Attorney General Esther Jackson disagreed with Chang's contention that the company is operating legally.
"Obviously we have a contrary position. Otherwise we would not be litigating the case," Jackson said.
Consumers interviewed this month by the Register complained that First National continues to engage in the same behaviors: It misleads people into thinking they will receive a major credit card; it takes weeks to respond to orders for the card, even when consumers pay for "rush processing," and does not disclose that the card is good only for its catalog.
"I wanted the card quick, so I sent a check for $43 payable to First National Credit," said James Livecy of Yukon, Okla. "It's been three weeks, and I still haven't gotten a thing."
"Like a lot of people I sent in my $43 to get my guaranteed Visa or MasterCard with a credit limit of $15,000. I honestly thought that this would help me repair my credit," said Monique Shawhan of Beaufort, S.C.
Shawhan said she did eventually receive a gold-colored card from First National Credit, but when she saw that it did not say "Visa" or "MasterCard" she became suspicious, turned to the Internet and discovered warning messages from other consumers. Shawhan said the company has never sent her a catalog or disclosed that the card is good only for the catalog, but keeps calling and asking her to "activate" the card.
Chang delayed the attorney general's case for months by removing the fraud lawsuit to federal court. A judge sent it back to state court in December. Last week a Superior Court judge authorized the attorney general to begin conducting discovery in the case.
In the meantime First National Credit has expanded, recently moving from a small office on Aliso Creek Road, next to a carpet cleaner, to a spacious new office building at 135 Columbia, overlooking the Saddleback Valley.
Chun, the FTC attorney, said shutting down fraudulent credit-card schemes can be difficult because authorities must amass enough complaints to convince a judge that consumers are being misled.
"It's critical for the consumers to complain to the FTC, or to the California attorney general" she said.
Even then, a refund for consumers is unlikely.
"Pretty much they spend the money as soon as they get it," Chun said.
Public records show Karkehabadi has a Bentley, a Ferrari and four Mercedes registered in his name. He owns a villa assessed at $840,000 in Nellie Gail, a neighborhood of horse ranches on a ridge overlooking the ocean.
Golgolab's address is Bayside Drive in Corona del Mar, and he has several cars registered in his name, including a 2001 Cadillac with personalized plates: 4NCVIP.
"I don't understand how they can keep getting away with it,'' said Roark, the Ohio consumer.
"If somebody is caught in a grocery store stealing an $8 piece of meat, even if they are hungry, they go to jail.
"To me it's just not fair."
Checking up on credit-card offers
Before you send in money in response to a credit-card offer, you may want to take a few minutes to check out these Internet sites, which watch for fraud:
Eye Credit lists legitimate credit-card offers as well as naming companies accused of fraudulent offers: www.eyecredit.com/warnings/index.html
RipoffReport.com is an independent advocate for consumers. You can search for a specific company or scroll lists of complaints from other consumers: ripoffreport.com/search.asp
Better Business Bureau of the Southland allows you to check on a specific company and make a complaint if you feel you have been cheated: www.bbbsouthland.org/howtoreport.html
California Attorney General: Posts general warnings and alerts on fraud and hoaxes at caag.state.ca.us/newsalerts/alert.htm
.........End of Orange County Register Story........
Thank you again Rip-off Report for being here for us consumers spreading the word that the BBB will never do.
For businesses, BBB.. "they are the best cover, money can buy."
Rod
Beverly Hills, California
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on First National Credit
Click here to read about Credit Card Scams ..How to get your money back. *Rip-off Report Investigation.
