Complaint Review: Fred Joseph Asset Search - Florida

Hired Fred Joseph to do an asset report for my deceaded father and paid him almost $80. What he sent me was a short email. There was no other information than the name of two banks. My father never used these banks and the two banks that he DID use were not listed. I called these banks main office and they had no record of him. When I called Fred, he assured me that my dad did once have an account with these banks but they are probably closed. I read that he always lists Bank of America and sure enough, there it was. Here is what the email contained:

"The following financial institutions are associated with this individual, unfortunately the account numbers and balances are indeterminate:   FINANCIAL RESULTS: BANK OF AMERICA     BANK OF THE OZARKS"     

I had also paid for property search, knowing that my daid owned two properties. What Fred Joseph sent me was a form letter and each catagory stated "None Found". Fred Joseph had asked many questions about my father, including SS#, date of birth, date of death, and address. All of these he used to fill in the from he sent me, so nothing was new.  

When I called Fred saying that two properties I knew of were not listed in his search, here is what Fred had to say almost verbatum, "You can't do a property search using a social security number. I has to be done by name and there are too many people out there with the same name to do a search nationwide." Therefore, I paid for and DID NOT GET a property search. His answer was for me to email his "search department" with the addresses and they would "check into it". What?!  I emailed and didn't hear back.

I called Fred again to say that they didn't respond and he stated almost verbatum, "They don't check those emails. They get bombarded with hundreds of emails a day. People even send bible verses, so they don't even bother to check it." I suspect that this email address goes to Fred, himself, and not another department. By the way, my dad did not get his social securety number in California! He was born and raised in Texas. Fred keep insuring you that more information will come later but it never does. He waits out any time frame for dispute and probably hope you will give up.   

I finally decided to check into Fred Joseph and his Asset Search company and found RipoffReport and all the many complaints, even to the point of reporting him to the District Attorney way back in 2004. Nothing has been done to stop him, to my surprise. So, I called my Credit Card company to file a dispute for the $80 and guess what? They called him and he talked a really good game. At this point they are refusing to reverse the charge! They are saying that I hired him for a service and that he provided it! I had even included copies of some of the complaints I found here on RipOffReport to show that I was not alone. I have been with Chase credit card company many, many years, and can't believe they will not honor my dispute. I have half a mind to cancel my card with them and start using one of my other cards. My challange to Chase bank is to "hire" Fred Joseph as a test and see what you get. The same crap I got and that everybody else who hires him gets.  How can he get away with this for so many years to so many people? 

My belief is that Fred Joseph is an internet scam artist and he does not perform an asset search but just takes your money and sends a standard email and form letter to make it look like he did an asset search.