Complaint Review: American Investment Group/John Snodgrass

Like the individual above, I was also scammed by John Snodgrass/Abigail Townsend. To be clear, I know that Craigslist is rampant with scam artists that prey upon those in dire straits. That said, it seems to be a guilty pleasure of mine, and I always return hoping that there will be ONE truthful/trustworthy company. 

John was advertising his services for personal/business funding. I reached out by email, and he was extremely commnicative and helpful. He explained his services to me and said that his company provided tradelines, and also offered programs for those that were credit challenged. He wanted me to pay an exorbitant amount of money to obtain the installment loan. I explained to him that I only had about $250 in discretionary funds. Seeing as how this is not my first rodeo with CL, I came up with an amount that I would be ok with losing should there be no ROI. He agreed and explained that I would be "piggybacking" on someone's loan. He was extremely helpful in locating a MoneyGram to send the money to his company, and told me that on Monday his assistant Abigail Townsend, who I long suspected was another alias would contact me. He tried to make his process seem legitimate, and created an installment loan agreement, which he had me notarize, and even sent me a (poorly written) invoice. All of the red flags were there, but I chose to ignore them. Weeks went by, and the once responsive lender disappeared. He continued making excuses for the delays, and even claimed to have issued a refund, but none of that ever came. He has several different phone numbers, and he's a smooth talker, and seems quite knowledgeable, but he's a liar and a scam artist. Do NOT trust him or his "assistant." He'll engage you in an overdrawn process, and you'll never get the monies promised.