Honor Among Theives?

Ya gotta love scam artists, in a way. All of us at one time or another have cheered on the likes of the characters in “The Sting,” or perhaps more recently, “Ocean’s Eleven” (and Twelve). Something about scamming the rich, the powerful or especially the greedy seems downright appropriate.

So when we see scams pulled by the little guy against a bigger guy, we may even have some sympathy for the scammer. Call it the "Robin Hood" syndrome.

But what if the little guy is only appearing to be scamming the big guy? What if the supposed little guy is actually scamming a bunch of his supposed-fellow little guys? And what if those little guys are actually victims of the kind of financial schemes this Court so adamantly opposes and routinely chastises herein? Victims desperately looking for help.

Scamming those who have been taken advantage of is lower than low. The perpetrators of these things can get in any room they want without even opening the door.

Comes now before this Court the principals and purveyors of various debt-elimination schemes, specifically persons associated with The Dorean Group and related entities. The Court recognizes half of the brain-trust behind this thing is now incarcerated in California; the other half (a former convicted felon) is hiding from an arrest warrant and supposedly blogging away to fan the fires of what has now seemingly mutated into quasi-religious fervor among some of the faithful.

The main player's circumstances don’t stop their minions from defending them and still promoting the illegal program, although one would think it would be pretty hard to sell it to anyone who has Internet access and a search engine.

From all appearances, it now appears they are positioning themselves for martyrdom, if not outright sainthood among the deluded crowd.

It is interesting to see how these folks are connected and networked together; they share a common conspiratorial theme (which are various versions of a long-held mythology so the Court won’t dwell on it) but they also have another commonality – they position themselves as having extremely valuable, secret knowledge a consumer/borrower can buy and use to save themselves thousands, even tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What a wonderful concept! And the only loser in the program is the Squaliforme?

Were it only true. The losers are those who paid money for the programs. Two time losers are the ones who actually tried to use them. Soon to be three time losers are the victims when the legal system puts them through the meat grinder and takes their property. And surprise, surprise, there’s nobody from the scammers ‘round to help out.

And when looking at those participating, it is illustrative to look at the case of one “Jed” (Joyce Earl Delancy) Lambeth.

Mr. Lambeth is by all accounts a man of many interests, including being interested in various debt-elimination schemes, one of them being the Dorean Group, with which he was named in an action taken by the North Carolina Attorney General which resulted in a court order barring them from doing what they were doing to anyone else, let alone promoting it in NC.

Now, if that one won’t work, perhaps being a partner in something called “The Liberty Group,” will keep Lambeth’s attention, seeings how they have their own mortgage elimination scheme as well as links to at least three other scams and one MLM scheme:

• A “loss-mitigation” foreclosure-rescue scheme that preys on mortgage victims about to lose their homes – which you can also become an agent for to make money while doing it);
• One (of two) car-loan elimination scams “Jed” promotes (more on the other one in a moment);
• A link to the New Leaf Associates debt-elimination scheme for which Jed is an agent;
• And last but not least, his partner's health and wellness MLM business
  

Jed also promotes the Echard & Burnham Global Freedom Solutions tax dodge program, where you can learn more of those little-known secrets of why you don’t have to pay income taxes – oh and you can buy a website to make money misleading people too.

If those and the Dorean thing aren’t enough, Jed is also an agent for another car-loan debt elimination scam set up by one David Echard [( does that name "Echard" ring any bells? )] dba “D&H Associates.” There are currently ten or so other “agents” who paid for the privilege of having a web site to lure people into a run-of-the-mill DE scam. Lord only knows how many got recruited, then paid then found out they were duped.

D&H Associates was none other than one David Echard (and a woman who will go back to being anonymous for the time being), who were themselves at one time, down-line agents for an MLM scam that had it’s home in Canada: United Financial Consumers. Back in 2003, these folks started marketing an “equity recovery” scheme that the RCMP stepped in, er, onto:

“We have just been informed by the Winnipeg Commercial Crime Division of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), of a clever scam being perpetrated by several people across Canada against life and health insurers, mutual fund companies, banks and possibly other types of
financial institutions. In this case, the company receives a well crafted 19-page contract entitled an "Agreement for the restoration of the equities including Promissory Note and Security Agreement" together with a $10 Postal Money Order representing the contract's monetary consideration. The action of any employee or agent of the company on the money order would become forensic evidence of the acceptance of the agreement which amounts to accepting liability for a debt of $2,604,810 plus all sorts of costs, including legal costs.”

Clever, eh? Well, it was for a time.

Maybe the highly-publicized demise of the Dorean Group will help dissuade victims from grasping for the lead-lined life-preservers these scammers are selling.

If only we could round them all up...I could have this one over in about an hour. Not enough cells to go 'round; they'll have to double bunk some. Then again, we could use some hard labor help 'round here.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean

Here We Go Again; FTC Lets Another Scammer Deny Wrongdoing

This latest case is a perfect example of why the species continues to proliferate.

Some people may have already heard about the Alyon scam, but for those unfamiliar with it, one very clever Stephane Touboul set up a web site back in 2003 that when a consumer clicked on a button, a download ensued which the consumer supposedly had agreed to.

So far, so good, right? People download stuff all the time.

But Alyon’s program was also a Trojan horse; it disconnected the user’s normal Internet connection then unknowingly reconnected them on a $4.99 per minute dial-up network link to the service they had signed up with. Clever these ‘net schemers are, eh?

Needless to say, a lot of the consumers found the ridiculous scam charges on their phone bills and challenged them. Some rightfully refused to pay.

Enter Echeneidae Collectoris – TelCollect, Inc., who took over the collections of the illegally-charged accounts as if they were legitimately past due, sending out thousands of letters and going after people who were victims of a scam.

Over a year later, in December 2004, the FTC finally got them to drop $17M in bogus charges.

Gosh – what a deal. Now Alyon is barred from billing a consumer unless it has “verification that the consumer is an adult who has expressly agreed to purchase the services…” as well as being barred from “planting software on consumers’ computers without their consent.”

As for the Echeneidae Collectoris? The stipulated order is similar: TelCollect is “…permanently barred from billing a consumer for any videotext services unless it has verification that the consumer is an adult who has expressly agreed to purchase the services…” Oh, and the real supposed “teeth” of this order: “The defendant is also required to obtain written agreement from each vendor it works with that the vendor will comply with the terms…” And they’re supposed to "investigate consumer complaints and take appropriate action." Right.

Once again, the FTC let’s them both off the hook: “Note: This stipulated final order is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission by the defendant of a law violation.”

Y'all in Washington know how many minutes it takes to get a few million scammed bucks stashed away into a Caribbean bank? Trust me, it aint a year. And letting them off without them having to admit they broke the law only makes it easier for the next one.

Had they pulled this ILLEGAL crap on this side of the Pecos, neither company would have survived 2003, let alone still be operating in 2005. Oh, and while we were at it, we’d a found the money. The Court could use a little beach time.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean

Time is Short; The Squaliformes are Hungry

As predicted here back in November of 2004, the Squaliformes have been drooling and are about to get what they’ve long coveted:

What most people don't realize, but more will as we age and come into contact with the healthcare delivery system in this country, medical records are an almost un-tapped ocean of personal information from which the squaliformes can make judgments about you.

Demographic profiling of medical records will allow them to analyze new risk factors and develop scores based on things like lifestyle choices, illnesses, even dietary patterns. And the data is already being collected and analyzed for the life and medical insurance Squaliformes by MIB (formerly known as the Medical Information Bureau).

So if you go to your doctor and get treated for say, alcoholism, don't you think your auto insurer would be interested in that? You bet your a** they are. And with health insurance reform coming down the pike in Washington this next session, don't be surprised if you wake up one morning and find out they've already started sharing MIB reporting data on you for things other than medical insurance claims fraud detection.

The Squaliformes are ready to trade almost anything to get around the limits on actually using the information they already have and continue to collect. It's too late to stop the collection (your medical records are routinely sent to MIB), so now it all comes down to trying to keep them from using it for something other than the purposes they say they use it for.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean

The FACT Act turned the sensitive issue of what to do about formerly private medical information over to the agencies responsible for making the rules. But of course, the Squaliformes have been holding the hands of the sleeping watchdogs in Washington for decades, and they're essentially writing those rules for the obtaining, sharing and use of medical information in credit eligibility decisions and more.

The “interim final rules” from the OCC, FRB, FDIC, OTS and the NCUA have been published and the public (read: future victims) have until only until July 11th of this month to comment.

The sleeping watchdogs’ view of the “Let the Squaliformes Hunt as They See Fit” rules and how to comment about them are here:

http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/press/bcreg/2005/20050606/attachment.pdf

It’s big – 110 pages, but it doesn't take a lot of time to download. (Nothing like making the victims work under a deadline to try to save themselves.)

A quick summary (quoting now):

“The interim final rules create exceptions to the statute's general prohibition on creditors obtaining or using medical information pertaining to a consumer in connection with any determination of the consumer's eligibility, or continued eligibility, for credit for all creditors. The exceptions permit creditors to obtain or use medical information in connection with credit eligibility determinations where necessary and appropriate for legitimate purposes, consistent with the Congressional intent to restrict the use of medical information for inappropriate purposes. The interim final rules also create limited exceptions to permit affiliates to share medical information with each other without becoming consumer reporting agencies.”

Legitimate? Necessary? Appropriate? They're making their own definitions.

The pages and the industry’s guidance in the design of the rules are the road map to the final destination: The destruction of the last vestiges of personal privacy.

Unfortunately, we’ve sat back and let them compile everything they ever wanted and are suddenly waking up to the fact that it is now probably too late to stop them. Not only is our personal financial information now bantered about without any real penalty to the perpetrators, that information blended with our medical history will be so valuable that no amount of supposed protection is going to keep it out of determined hands.

This onerous step is being taken to simply gut the FACT Act and establish a profiling system that has already been modeled for demonstration purposes.

Within that ponderous 110 pages are the legal definitions of what the Squaliformes want to be authorized to do; but we know from experience they will step far beyond the rules when it suits their purposes - especially when they get to define the purposes.

And we know any penalties for misuse (covert or otherwise) will be so infinitesimal as to not make them worry about it.

And if you think fixing a Squaliforme-enabler data broker’s contaminated credit database is unnerving and costly, wait until you find out you didn’t get a job because of the prescriptions you were supposedly issued.

If you don’t think it’s worth your time to respond, This Court hopes you are one of the very blessed few who never have a health problem.

The Honorable Judge Roy Bean