Anyone heard from these people?

[cowboyjwc]

I can get all of your contact information from the contractors license board.

 

[renosteinke]

Starting up a business is fun.

The first surprise is that all sorts of folks are willing to lend you money. The bank, the supply house, etc. So far, so good.

Alas, there are those who also prey upon the newbies. All that easy credit can easily get out of control - then, suddenly, you get a call from your insurance agent, asking about a claim on your bond. Oops.

Every time I take out a new license, or renew an existing one, I get calls from the same scammers.

My favorite was the guy who asserted he could 'supply (my) business with what I need.' Had a generic 'company name,' so there was no telling what line he was in. Nice number on the caller ID. Well ... the trouble was that the number traced back to some doctor in Idaho. Sure it did. Dr. Smith isn't hawking office supplies between patients, count on it.

Repeat calls get the same reply from me: "Oh, you're the guy pretending to use that doctors' phone number" - followed by my hanging up.

Other sales outfits get the same: give me a call-back number. Now, the GF used to give me grief for this request; she worked in (legitimate)call centers, and call centers don't do call-backs. Maybe so, but IMO real companies have real phone numbers and real addresses. You want my bank info, and I'm asking too much? Yea, right.

Simple fact is that if I don't already know you, I probably don't need to know you, ever.

 

[cowboyjwc]

i haven't gotten my call yet..... nobody loves me.... snif.

all i get are these asian guys who call my work cellphone
three times a week average, the record is three times in
a DAY, to sell me oxycontin or vicodin without a prescription
over the phone.

been going on like that for 7 or 8 years now. i can recognize
about half of them by voice alone...

"Hallo? Allan? US Pharmacy here....."

they have about 8 "real" numbers they call from, and those
are set up in YouMail with a very special, personalized greeting...
their own voice played back to them... so they end up talking
to themselves....

the ones who call in with weird garbage numbers that show up
from Skype, i handle personally....

And you said no? Just order them and send them to me, I'll send you a check for 75% down and then another 25% if the pain actually goes away. :happyyes: What's the worst that could happen buying drugs from an unsolicited phone call?

 

[Fulthrotl]

And you said no? Just order them and send them to me, I'll send you a check for 75% down and then another 25% if the pain actually goes away. :happyyes: What's the worst that could happen buying drugs from an unsolicited phone call?

john, i can do better than that... i was sneaking in a nap this afternoon before going off to work,
and they called in the middle of my nap.

PM me your contact information, and i'll hook you up.

they musta got the country turned back on, or gas in the generator.
i took some of the tips on this thread about how to twizzle them.
it was fun, then i finished my nap.

there's quite a wealth of information on US Pharmacy... they have made
lots of friends.....

 

[cowboyjwc]

john, i can do better than that... i was sneaking in a nap this afternoon before going off to work,
and they called in the middle of my nap.

PM me your contact information, and i'll hook you up.

they musta got the country turned back on, or gas in the generator.
i took some of the tips on this thread about how to twizzle them.
it was fun, then i finished my nap.

there's quite a wealth of information on US Pharmacy... they have made
lots of friends.....

I got some online Viagra, but they melted in my pocket and I had to walk around with a stiff leg all day.:lol:

Well that should get the moderators attention. :happyyes:

 

[Fulthrotl]

Well that should get the moderators attention. :happyyes:

shh. they are quiet now. don't disturb them.
it took forever to get them to settle down and go to sleep.
you wake them up now, and you will be in *BIG TROUBLE*.

 

[jmellc]

I got a similar call at 10:30 on a Friday or Saturday night. The guy left a message, but has not returned my email. My guess is that they are getting our info. from these here forums, it is a great place to one stop shop for their target customers (us)!

641-715-3900
"Hi this is Don Hopkins, we have several single family older units that we want to have re-wired. These jobs are going to be stretched out over time... I'm going to be away for a week or so... Please email my partner Tim... tim@alcar.info ..."

Sound familiar?

Exact same message. I think phone # is the same.

Update: I eventually received a voice mail from Morgan Franks, an executive with the co. Also got email from him with various forms attached. Supposedly, their customer, a tenant in the house, actually schedules with me & pays, still offering 75% up front. He says they are ready to start the projects soon. Bad as I need the work, I emailed today and told him I need 3 local references before we can proceed. Co. is jordan-franks.com in San Diego, CA. Phone # he gives is 661-228-3140. I looked at their website but it doesn't really tell much. Nearly as vague as the communications.

 

[jmellc]

Concerning your email below, Don was referring to several houses that will need wiring per a project we work with. Our primary job at the moment is to select the electrical contractor to be used. Before final questions can be addressed, it is going to be important for you to have a brief conversation with one of the principles involved so you can both eliminate any questions on either side. That would also be the time and place to address any questions that may come up. Not with me at this time. In the meantime, let me bring you up to date on where it stands at the moment so you can be prepared. After that, I should pass you up to the person you really need to discuss this with. The following are the main points I think you should be aware of before you both speak: There should be 12 to 21 single-family units over the year that should have electrical work done. There also could be more each year over the next five years if the initial units are handled properly. We?re considering the following proposed arrangement: Two thirds of the money down in advance before the job is started, half the balance the day the job starts and the final amount upon the day of completion. Do not be concerned with the job prices on your end needing to be too low or the cheapest. Quality is preferred over discounts or lowest prices. For this reason, do not approach this with discounts or reduced costs. Approach from quality results.

The circumstance around these jobs is unusual so you should be aware of some things before deciding to consider them. We?re working with two partners that manage a large project which covers housing expenses for term workers brought in for their project and the project itself controls and manages the units however the individual worker/tenant will be doing an upgrade on the unit per their mutual agreement. The upgrade involved is the electrical work. The project requires this work done by the occupant-worker within a certain time frame. A program to assist with the initial two thirds before the work begins is being considered for possibly one quarter to a third of the tenants who may need help to comply financially before the time-frame deadline. That program would advance up to two thirds to the electrical contractor for the project, based on a formal estimate from the contractor. The occupant would cover the balance. That program would be repaid later directly from the principles who also own the units and in turn would collect from the occupant later. If it is decided by all parties that this program solves the issue, both the project and the electrical contractor would have to be registered with the program in order to receive the payments up front by either direct deposit or check, per the choice of the electrical contractor who would be receiving the money directly from that program based on the written estimate supplied. The other occupants not using the above mentioned program would pay in full in the manner as would any normal resident of the unit.


For the above reasons, this divides the houses into two groups from our position:

1. Those where the worker/tenant will cover the entire cost out of pocket with two thirds down.
2. Those who will need the assistance arrangement, which again could be one quarter to a third of those involved. From your standpoint, you are paid on all of them with two thirds to seventy percent up front and balance as explained earlier.

Conclusion: If we want the rights or access to service the group using assistance as well as the others, you need to consider the points I outlined above. If we don?t want to consider the second group or in essence you do not want to consider them because of the suggested program involved, then on our side we must determine what we are going to do about them with perhaps another direction. The project would like to have one contractor for all but if you have a problem with it, we may have to go to a different arrangement.

Overall, there appears to be work available over the next 5 years as I mentioned earlier however, the jobs would certainly be spaced out over time so it wouldn?t disrupt your current workload. If you see that there is any issue at this point that would be a problem with any of this on your side, please do not follow up with us any further at this moment. It would only be a waste of time for both sides. However, if you do wish to pursue this further, please do the following: Contact the principles that control the management of the units and let them know that I have sent you to them and who you are. There are three partners however, you should only contact the one that is handling the initial setup on this project. That would be Van Telman and you should email him first at van@jordan-franks.com before trying to speak. In the subject line of the email to Van, put ?Electrical work? and nothing else so he knows right away what this concerns. In the email itself, let him know who you are and that I sent you over to him.

Caution - Do not approach anyone else on this initially other than Van or it may appear to all of them that you are trying to go around him to someone else and that would likely cause them to tell us all to forget it on the basis we are not even following their initial requests before you even do the jobs. There is five years of work involved later on aside from what we have in hand. For this purpose, the partners are very concerned about keeping things simple with proper contacts and procedures used in order to keep organized on their side. We certainly don?t want to show that we can?t handle things properly or as requested.

Once again, if you feel this is not something you can handle, please do not respond. If we don?t hear from you we will automatically assume you want to pass on this one. There will be no purpose to contact me back on this either way because I will be out of the loop on this once you contact Van.

Thank you for offering your services.

Tim Connors

Almost word for word the same I got from the same person.

I have never had legit business with anyone that kept referring me to someone else several times over. In this market, I have had almost no customers who had no concern over price. Very few & far between. Was more common in years past. I cna't help buth think thehook lies somewhere in the arrangements between them & tenant, tenant & me, etc.

At any rate, see my other post re Morgan Franks who has now emailed me & left a phone message. I have asked him for local references. I badly need the work but can't afford to get shafted. If someone local can vouch that they are legit, I will chance them. If not, I will pass.

 

[jmellc]

I think I finally see the hook, or one of them. Payments to me are to go through Consumer Assistance Payment Processing, CAPP. The fine print of their contract states that I am to pay CAPP $68 per year for their services.

I suspect that if I pay them $68, I no longer hear from anyone, or get notice that none of the projects materialized. I would likely never see my $68 again.

I will e mail about that & see what response I get.

CAPP
964 Fifth Ave, ST 214
San Diego CA 92101
858-0215-1864

 

[kwired]

I think I finally see the hook, or one of them. Payments to me are to go through Consumer Assistance Payment Processing, CAPP. The fine print of their contract states that I am to pay CAPP $68 per year for their services.

I suspect that if I pay them $68, I no longer hear from anyone, or get notice that none of the projects materialized. I would likely never see my $68 again.

I will e mail about that & see what response I get.

CAPP
964 Fifth Ave, ST 214
San Diego CA 92101
858-0215-1864

Before I would ever get to the payments portion of things I would want to talk local supervisor, owners, managers, etc. of the site where work is to be performed and have them show me the site and talk about what will be done. If we can not even get this far I am backing out of any offer they make. But the phone call sounded suspicious enough I was not really even interested in talking to them period. That was just the message they left - if I actually answered this call I probably would have hung up on them.

 

[jmellc]

My first call, from Hopkins, was a voice mail. He didn't sound all that strange at the time. Leaving a message to e mail his partner didn't seem strange then either, said he would be out of town a few days. It was after being directed to a 3rd contact that something began to smell, as well as the vague descriptions of work, etc.

 

[Little Bill]

It's a scam!!!!!!!
Different trades (plumbers, painters, roofers) have all reported this as a scam.
All got the same offer, maybe a few names changed, but same wording.

 

[Fulthrotl]

It's a scam!!!!!!!
Different trades (plumbers, painters, roofers) have all reported this as a scam.
All got the same offer, maybe a few names changed, but same wording.

yup. quite a few painters, plumbers, etc are on different forums
questioning this.

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-641-715-3900/18

this off the tail end of that link.... ^^^

========================
Sparky
28 Sep 2012
I must admit I get hung up on scams like this. I am so intrigued by them. I am going to see how deep the rabbit hole goes. I assume the CAPP portion of the email is where the scam begins. I will return the requested documentation, and let you know what happens next. Here is the latest email received from Morgan:



From Morgan Franks

RE: Moving forward on electrical Jobs


It appears we are ready to go forward with the arrangement concerning the jobs we’ve been communicating about. We have tried to keep you completely updated by both email and phone as new issues or changes have come up on our side. I want to thank you for your patience on this one. We had been moving slowly with some caution on our side because there was a lot more at stake for us down the road than just these initial jobs. This involves future additional jobs over five years that are tied into this one via a network of other projects and the idea is to use the same contractor and personnel for all of it.


Very Important - The information below must be reviewed and addressed in order to go forward on our side as planned beginning next week. The parts that are underlined below are specifically needed from your side.



The four attachments with this email pertain to moving forward and I have included an explanation for each below. Please review in the specific following order below:

Attachment 1 - Memo 5 – Contractor - This is the previous memo I sent you only in case you did not receive it. It updated everyone about the last issues we addressed that came up on our side. If you received this memo, you might want to skip this one unless you care to review it again.


Moving Forward – Instructions

Important Note: Although we have covered everything now from our side via voice and email, if you feel after reviewing this email there are still any questions on your side or you think we need to take more time and converse by phone before sending out the memo to everyone to schedule with you, please let me know. If you need to reach me, do not reply to this email address. Instead, use the following contact information specifically for this project: electric@jordan-franks.com or Tel direct 661-228-3140. I will be the only person communicating with you from now on. However, this email should address all remaining questions.

If there are no questions or issues on your part at this time. DO NOT respond to me or this memo at this time. Instead, follow the instructions below in order to move forward on your end. The personnel indicated below will advise me when they have received what they need from you, which will obviously tell me you have moved forward. For this reason, do not worry about responding to me if there are not actual issues or questions.


Please Follow Instructions Below:


Attachment 2 - Occupant Memo - The goal now is to put the attached memo out to all the unit occupants with your contact information so that they can schedule with you as soon as they can work it into their agendas over the coming months. ( See again attached “occupant memo” ). That memo will direct each occupant to you as the one they must use to get this done. The memo will go out on Management /Our letterhead and the place that is shaded in green on the memo will contain your specific contact information for each occupant to reach you for scheduling and estimates. Remember, you are not estimating or bidding against competition. Per the memo, they are not to use other contractors.

Please verify and send your specific contact information that will be placed in the green area of the memo. Even though you may have already included this information in communications before, please type it out in the exact order and way it should appear in the memo including any website or email information you wish to include. You do not need to fit your information into the actual green box on the sample. We will do that part. Just type it out in a normal email so we can copy and paste it into the memo format.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please do NOT send this information to me. Instead, forward this email to our executive assistant Alice Miller so she knows what it pertains to and simply type out your contact information for her in the email so she can copy and paste it in the memo. Her address is alice@jordan-franks.com Once again, do NOT send this information to me. Send it to Alice who has been assigned to coordinate the memo only..

However, please do not contact Alice for any other matter. She cannot answer questions in general. I will be available for everything else as your primary contact. My contact information for this project once again is Morgan Franks - TEL 661- 228-3140 EMAIL electric@jordan-franks.com


Attachment 3 - CAPP Overview We have already registered with CAPP on our end to make this work. As mentioned in previous communications, CAPP will advance 70% of what the job requires and pay you directly before the job begins. The occupant of the unit pays the balance. Per our agreement with them, once they advance you the money, they will deduct the advanced money from our account after four months to reimburse themselves. We covered earlier in the original overview memo that we would both need to be registered with this program in order to receive funds from them for some of the jobs. This attachment “CAPP overview page” gives a brief look at how it works pertaining to your side of the operation. This is the funding program that was referred to previously in the project overview that we originally sent you and was covered as well in the meeting archive. We estimate this mechanism will be used on maybe 20-30% of the jobs. It became the only solution available for those cases where money would have been an issue for getting the job done. Without this solution, we would have a problem with that 20-30 % of the units. This procedure appears to solve that money issue for those needing to use this mechanism.

Attachment 4 - SA-SER2 This is the CAPP agreement which goes into more detail about how you are paid from their system and what to do.

Look for the following line in the middle of that page:

Current Approved Groups/Companies for The Business include:

Fill in Jordan-Franks and clients on that line because it will alert CAPP that it applies to our contract with them. Once again, we are already signed on with them. Please sign and fax or email the agreement for CAPP to them to register on your side. Do NOT send that agreement to us. We do not need a copy of it. They will inform us when they have everything they need. Just be sure to follow up with the people at CAPP for what they need when they send you their confirmation after they receive what you send them. NOTE: They do not need anything else form you such as estimates at this moment. Estimates would occur when the unit is seen after occupant schedules and CAPP is supplied a copy of the estimate to know how much money to advance to you.

The memo from us will go out to the occupants of each unit when all the above is in place.

We would like to thank you again for your consideration in working with us on coordinating electrical services.

Morgan Franks
Caller: Jordan, Franks & Associates
==============================

 

[kwired]

yup. quite a few painters, plumbers, etc are on different forums
questioning this.

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-641-715-3900/18

this off the tail end of that link.... ^^^

========================
Sparky
28 Sep 2012
I must admit I get hung up on scams like this. I am so intrigued by them. I am going to see how deep the rabbit hole goes. I assume the CAPP portion of the email is where the scam begins. I will return the requested documentation, and let you know what happens next. Here is the latest email received from Morgan:



From Morgan Franks

RE: Moving forward on electrical Jobs


It appears we are ready to go forward with the arrangement concerning the jobs we?ve been communicating about. We have tried to keep you completely updated by both email and phone as new issues or changes have come up on our side. I want to thank you for your patience on this one. We had been moving slowly with some caution on our side because there was a lot more at stake for us down the road than just these initial jobs. This involves future additional jobs over five years that are tied into this one via a network of other projects and the idea is to use the same contractor and personnel for all of it.


Very Important - The information below must be reviewed and addressed in order to go forward on our side as planned beginning next week. The parts that are underlined below are specifically needed from your side.



The four attachments with this email pertain to moving forward and I have included an explanation for each below. Please review in the specific following order below:

Attachment 1 - Memo 5 ? Contractor - This is the previous memo I sent you only in case you did not receive it. It updated everyone about the last issues we addressed that came up on our side. If you received this memo, you might want to skip this one unless you care to review it again.


Moving Forward ? Instructions

Important Note: Although we have covered everything now from our side via voice and email, if you feel after reviewing this email there are still any questions on your side or you think we need to take more time and converse by phone before sending out the memo to everyone to schedule with you, please let me know. If you need to reach me, do not reply to this email address. Instead, use the following contact information specifically for this project: electric@jordan-franks.com or Tel direct 661-228-3140. I will be the only person communicating with you from now on. However, this email should address all remaining questions.

If there are no questions or issues on your part at this time. DO NOT respond to me or this memo at this time. Instead, follow the instructions below in order to move forward on your end. The personnel indicated below will advise me when they have received what they need from you, which will obviously tell me you have moved forward. For this reason, do not worry about responding to me if there are not actual issues or questions.


Please Follow Instructions Below:


Attachment 2 - Occupant Memo - The goal now is to put the attached memo out to all the unit occupants with your contact information so that they can schedule with you as soon as they can work it into their agendas over the coming months. ( See again attached ?occupant memo? ). That memo will direct each occupant to you as the one they must use to get this done. The memo will go out on Management /Our letterhead and the place that is shaded in green on the memo will contain your specific contact information for each occupant to reach you for scheduling and estimates. Remember, you are not estimating or bidding against competition. Per the memo, they are not to use other contractors.

Please verify and send your specific contact information that will be placed in the green area of the memo. Even though you may have already included this information in communications before, please type it out in the exact order and way it should appear in the memo including any website or email information you wish to include. You do not need to fit your information into the actual green box on the sample. We will do that part. Just type it out in a normal email so we can copy and paste it into the memo format.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please do NOT send this information to me. Instead, forward this email to our executive assistant Alice Miller so she knows what it pertains to and simply type out your contact information for her in the email so she can copy and paste it in the memo. Her address is alice@jordan-franks.com Once again, do NOT send this information to me. Send it to Alice who has been assigned to coordinate the memo only..

However, please do not contact Alice for any other matter. She cannot answer questions in general. I will be available for everything else as your primary contact. My contact information for this project once again is Morgan Franks - TEL 661- 228-3140 EMAIL electric@jordan-franks.com


Attachment 3 - CAPP Overview We have already registered with CAPP on our end to make this work. As mentioned in previous communications, CAPP will advance 70% of what the job requires and pay you directly before the job begins. The occupant of the unit pays the balance. Per our agreement with them, once they advance you the money, they will deduct the advanced money from our account after four months to reimburse themselves. We covered earlier in the original overview memo that we would both need to be registered with this program in order to receive funds from them for some of the jobs. This attachment ?CAPP overview page? gives a brief look at how it works pertaining to your side of the operation. This is the funding program that was referred to previously in the project overview that we originally sent you and was covered as well in the meeting archive. We estimate this mechanism will be used on maybe 20-30% of the jobs. It became the only solution available for those cases where money would have been an issue for getting the job done. Without this solution, we would have a problem with that 20-30 % of the units. This procedure appears to solve that money issue for those needing to use this mechanism.

Attachment 4 - SA-SER2 This is the CAPP agreement which goes into more detail about how you are paid from their system and what to do.

Look for the following line in the middle of that page:

Current Approved Groups/Companies for The Business include:

Fill in Jordan-Franks and clients on that line because it will alert CAPP that it applies to our contract with them. Once again, we are already signed on with them. Please sign and fax or email the agreement for CAPP to them to register on your side. Do NOT send that agreement to us. We do not need a copy of it. They will inform us when they have everything they need. Just be sure to follow up with the people at CAPP for what they need when they send you their confirmation after they receive what you send them. NOTE: They do not need anything else form you such as estimates at this moment. Estimates would occur when the unit is seen after occupant schedules and CAPP is supplied a copy of the estimate to know how much money to advance to you.

The memo from us will go out to the occupants of each unit when all the above is in place.

We would like to thank you again for your consideration in working with us on coordinating electrical services.

Morgan Franks
Caller: Jordan, Franks & Associates
==============================

I can't believe business people will read that and send money to them. The whole thing is so absurd it says scam all over it. How many projects do you do that start out this way? I haven't done a single one that is even close to the manner this one is set up to appear. How often do you get payment arrangements before you even know what you are doing, meet an owner or manager, or see the site or at least some site plans?

Once they get the first payment they have your bank or credit card information and are probably going to take whatever they can get.

 

[jmellc]

Fulthroti, that is the same as my last e mail, word for word. I don't yet see a request for bank acct info but I do see an option to receive payments by direct deposit. Next step there would be bank info & anyone who can deposit to your account can also withdraw from it. The $68 to CAPP smells too, though $68 alone is not enough reward for a well plotted scam.

I did see 1 pressure washer contractor on a painter's forum who said he'd dealt with them & gotten paid quickly. I did not see a way to contact him though. He could be part of the game.

 

[Ponchik]

I wonder how many people fall for this and sign up? :happysad:

 

[jmellc]

I wonder how many people fall for this and sign up? :happysad:

I'm sure they catch a handful of younger and/or newer contractors who haven't had their hard knocks yet. Promise of 5 years work, 75% advance payment, no junk work, middle class type housing. That is appealing all around. I know better but I'd be happy if it turned out to be true.

 

[kwired]

I'm sure they catch a handful of younger and/or newer contractors who haven't had their hard knocks yet. Promise of 5 years work, 75% advance payment, no junk work, middle class type housing. That is appealing all around. I know better but I'd be happy if it turned out to be true.

Maybe will catch guys in higher population areas, but is just not reality for such a project to exist in NE. Maybe ... and I think it is pushing it a little, it could happen in some larger cities here, but definitely not going to happen in any cities under 10,000 population which is like 95% or more of the area of the State.

 

[jmellc]

Maybe will catch guys in higher population areas, but is just not reality for such a project to exist in NE. Maybe ... and I think it is pushing it a little, it could happen in some larger cities here, but definitely not going to happen in any cities under 10,000 population which is like 95% or more of the area of the State.

True. I guess you are in a very rural part of NE? I grew up in a rural part of NC. Our town was less than 1,000 then, is about 2,000 or so now. Other small towns nearby, about the same or smaller. City of 10,000 or so to the south and and one of about 20,000 north of us. No one from out of town could do any sort of project without it being public knowledge.

I have been in the Triangle area since the 80's. Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill & satellite towns. Raleigh is now about 200,000 or more, Durham about 150,000, Chapel Hill about 50,000 or more. Cary is a satellite of Raleigh & is over 100,000 now. It was no more than 5,000 or so when i was growing up. Everywhere is crowded & busy. Someone could come in this area & do a lot of stuff & no one really know much about it. People are too busy to ask for the most part.

 

[kwired]

True. I guess you are in a very rural part of NE? I grew up in a rural part of NC. Our town was less than 1,000 then, is about 2,000 or so now. Other small towns nearby, about the same or smaller. City of 10,000 or so to the south and and one of about 20,000 north of us. No one from out of town could do any sort of project without it being public knowledge.

I have been in the Triangle area since the 80's. Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill & satellite towns. Raleigh is now about 200,000 or more, Durham about 150,000, Chapel Hill about 50,000 or more. Cary is a satellite of Raleigh & is over 100,000 now. It was no more than 5,000 or so when i was growing up. Everywhere is crowded & busy. Someone could come in this area & do a lot of stuff & no one really know much about it. People are too busy to ask for the most part.

Everything away from Omaha and Lincoln metro areas is pretty much "very rural" with a scattering of occasional 10-20K population cities, but even more common is 5K or less population cities. Distance between any city or village starts to increase in western 1/2 of the state.

There is still one incorporated village near northern border with a population of one. Used to be population of two until the husband passed away.