Complaint Review: ADVANTAGE AMERICA

Someone called (without mentioning Advantage America but claimed to be an employee of the U.S. Government having been investigated and approved by the F.B.I.

The man who spoke with an Indian dialect stated catagorically that I had been selected to receive a free grant in the amount of $12,500 that had to be deposited in my bank account within forty eight hours.

I asked why I had been selected and he stated that I was a U.S. citizen, over the age of 18 and had paid my taxes on time. That was the only reason given. He wanted my bank acct numbers, routing, etc and I refused

I said he could write me and send me documentation and the check in the amount of $12,500.00 as I did not need it within 48 hours. He was rude, demanding, loud and barely understandable and called me stupid for passing up the chance to get the money by not providing him the information he wanted.

I refused and he had a supervisor come on line and again I refused and told them to give the money to someone else if they could not mail it.

I hung up the phone and within minutes someone else called me back and again high pressured me to give him the information he wanted. I have an account that has very little money in it and has not been used for about five years. I gave him all the informatio except one number of the account.

He called me back in minutes and stated he keeps getting an error # 58 report that states information is not correct, and demanded the correct account number which I refused to give him.

A few minutes later, someone else called and again pressured me and I told them to give the money to someone else if they could not mail the money to me, then give it to someone else.

I found that they did actually gain access to the account and debited $49.95 even though I had told them to stop all efforts. I had $47.00 in the account and as a result of having overdraft protection, my bank slammed my credit card for $100.00 to cover the $49.95 and a $7.00 penalty for overdraft. Now I owe an extra 107$ that I did not expect.

I received a letter about one week later from ADVANTAGE AMERICA which is the first time that their name was used,mentioned , etc and they said that for a fee, they would send me a booklet that would give me information on how to file for a grant in the amount of $12,500. They also were going to charge me for membership in a health plan and more.

I called them and demanded my money back and they refused absolutely. During the original phone call they recorded my answers to specific questions, however when I called and asked for my money back, they replayed the recording and my answers were either Yes or No but they had edited out the rest of my statement so that if someone were to examine it, it would seem that I gave 100% permission to them to do everything they did.

I contacted the Arizona Attorney Generals Office and filed a complaint and they forwarded the complaint to the Florida Attorney General who wrote me that they were sending my complaint to the FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION in Washington and I should make all further contacts via their office. That letter was received today 02/13/2006 and tonight at 6PM my wife received a telephone call from someone calling himself William from the U.S. Bank asking for me. I was not available but he did not want to call back in ten or twenty minutes.

The message he coldly told my wife to give me is that the $12,500 was deposited into my bank accoun today. It is now 11:56 PM (Arizona) time which is currently 2 hours less than EST. I went online to my banks web site and there is no evidence that any deposit was made into my checking account so far. I called the customer service number and they said the accounts were not posted until after Midnight, but I do not know if that was EST or PST.

I will call the bank in the morning 02/14/2006 to see if a deposit was indeed made to that account in the amount of $12,500 and if so, I will withdraw the money, close the account and still pursue prosicution of these people who obviously have been commiting fraud, theft, etc for a long time. My complaints to the Attorney Generals of Florida, Arizona and the Federal Trade Commission in Washington D.C. may have burned their butt enough that forces them to have William (whoever he is) actually deposit the amount they claimed they would deposit within forty eight hours.

Since it has been about two weeks since the initial call from them claiming to be employees of the U.S. Government, I do not see why someone would call and leave a message for me stating that the $12,500 was deposited in my account, and then simply hang up without any further communication. I was hoping that they are running scared and maybe (hopefully) they would really come through to avoid prosecution. However, I sincerely doubt that they will do the deposit.

I decided to check Advantage America out on the website and found this site with their history of ripoff's, theft, fraud, etc which I did not do until tonight. Now, I am all but positive that they have been complained to and about many, many times in the past and they are still committing these crimes against U.S. citizens and getting away with it. Why they are not being prosecuted at this time I don't know why.

Take care everyone, they area very forceful, demanding, threatening, insulting, and it is easy to see why someone would give them the information they asked for. Why not if you are gauranteed $12,500 free of charge to use as you want to use it.

I knew it was a fraud and gave them information about a account that had only $47.00 in it and did not give them all of the account numbers but they still gained access, produced a check number authorized by me to withdraw the $49.95. They had also promised that once each year we would get another $12,500 grant for a fee of around $300.0 for handling and processing fee's.

Everything is being transferred overseas and especially to india. When I heard his dialect, I was upset to begin with and his behavior made me madder. I wanted to trap him, but even though I thought he could not get into the account I gave him, he did and my overdraft protection allowed my bank to hit my credit card for $100.00 to cover the funds and for a $7.00 penalty fee.

My complaint is still active and I will continue to try to see that they are prosecuted. Please stay away from them, if anyone calls and says you have been selected to receive for free a U.S. Government draft in any amount, slam down the phone and take it off the hook because they called me back at least four times.

Tonight William made the 5th call and that call has me puzzeled. He did not demand anything, claimed he was with the U.S. Bank and said the money was deposited in my account. I will call the bank tomorrow and will find out once again that they lied through their teeth.

Goodnight all,

D.E.D.

David
Vail, Arizona
U.S.A.