Aug 25,10:59 pm pdt
LOS ANGELES (KidsWire) Carl Carranza, Flashcast Kids and Flashcast Companies, Inc. Has stooped to deception again.
One would have thought Carranza learned his lesson after being convicted on May 17 of 10 counts of fraud and false and misleading advertising, and was forced to pay thousands in fines (he was also sentenced to three years probabtion). One would have thought that he'd obey the court order which says that he must list the cost of his services prominently in all advertising.
But this seems not to be the case.instead of complying with the good judge's order, and being responsible in his advertising, Carranza has opted, with trademark arrogance and bravado, and in his inimitable sleazeball fashion, to continue to advertise illegally, albeit this time through a couple of third party sources.
Carranza has enlisted web designer Jim Harmon to design a Public Relations website to advertise Flashcast Kids. The entire website, which calls itself Virtuoso PR which is dedicated to promoting one company only - Flashcast Kids.in fact, there is no directory or listing of clients; the main page opens directly to Carranza's Press Releases. This "Public Relations" site has no other clients, and it's apparent from the extensive and lengthly praise of Flashcast and its clients, along with poor grammar, that this "PR" info was written by Carranza himself. Needless to say, while this volume of information includes not just success stories, but how to sign up to Flashcast services (along with an exhaustive explanation of how their services work), it does not include any prices for any of the services.
The Flashcast "Press Release" site also includes a link to a "reliability report" at a website called - The Fair Business Association of America - which represents itself as a consumer reporting agency like the Better Business Bureau. Their main page states:
The FBAA promotes Consumer Confidence; any business that displays the Fair Business Association of America logo on their letterhead, website and store front shows and provides the consumer that they care about "Truth in Business."
The FBAA is a fraudulent "service" created by scam artist Carlo Oddo, a failed music business executive and recording artist manager who has ripped off hundreds of musicians for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The site was created to allow businesses who had been trashed by the BBB for shady business practices to mislead consumers into believing that these businesses were without complaints.in fact, many of the businesses listed on the FBAA site have unsatisfactory Better Business Bureau reports.
Carranza no doubt signed up to attempt to rehabilitate his less than stellar reputation in the entertainment business, but even with minimum investigation, it's easy to see that Carranza, like the FBAA, is out to shamelessly pull the wool over consumers' eyes again.
Here's Flashcast's Better Business Bureau report:
And here's the FBAA's Better Business Bureau report.
(URLs removed by usacomplaints.com)
The FBAA site allows Carranza, once again, to use a third party site to advertise and promote Flashcast kids, without including the cost of services as required by the court order.
In a related investigation, it has been found that Carranza, in papers filed related to his personal bankruptcy in April of states under penalty of perjury that Flashcast has been in business since 1994, when in all advertising, he indicates that Flashcast has been in business since 1988. Which is it, Carl?
Carl Carranza is up to his old tricks. Parents of the world beware.
Filed 8/25/04
kw
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