I found an ad in my local newspaper, The Tallahassee Democrat, claiming "$1300.00/WK GUARANTEED Stuffing envelopes at home. Call 1-800-700-5805." So, I called, knowing that there were many scams out there, but that it couldn't hurt to call an 800 number. There was a message of a man with a deep voice, and I left my name and mailing address for some free information.
I was surprised by how quickly I received the information - it must have been only 2 days. The 3-page information packet was poor-looking, photo-copied (many times over), and smelled of cigars. It included information about their "company, " with a picture of some guy who they said was "John Craig, " a letter from the "president, " "Robert Hancock." May I say that no self-respecting company would send out information with such poor photos of their Hiring Director and President. I was directed to send $25 in an envelope addressed to "ERM Enterprises, P.O. Box 788, Brandon, FL 33509-0788" for further instructions and my start-up package.
Against my better instincts, I started dreaming about how much easier my life would be with this extra money - I could pay off my credit card, and have my car paid off in a matter of months, with extra money to go to church & charity, savings, and spending. I knew my husband would discourage me from doing this, but I wanted to surprise him, so I planned to send it off. I figured that even if it was a fraud, $25 wasn't that much.
I did do some more research and looked up ERM Enterprises on KnowX.com. I paid $6.95 for corportate records & officer details. The company started in 1981 and was "involuntarily dissolved" in Dec. 1982. None of the officer names match with any of the people in the information packet, unless Michael Blank and Erkki Maatta began all this. It is curious that it was "involuntarily dissolved." Further research led me to come across the other scam reports on usacomplaints.com. I think it ironic that I found the consumer complaints by simply searching the internet for the phone number that they provided in the packet for further questions or concerns, 1-212-615-6424. All I ever got from this number was a busy signal. There is even an internet one, at http://www.geocities.com/jesieto/index.html, using a different name.
I hope these people get caught, so that no one else goes left alone with less money and false hopes. Someone needs to do something about this.
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