Fraud!!! called my business offering to advertise on community magnets that were sent to the community. Told me to expect an email with proof of how the advertising would look or i could send in a business flyer. I never did send authorize anything and they sent me an invoice for $260.00 threatening to report it to my business credit. When i tried to call the number some old lady answered rudely and kept hanging up on me.
This scam starts with a cold call from a really nice spoken Texan lady. She sounds like a good american/Texan/good hearted upbeat salesperson that will convince you that you must take this "opportunity" to advertise on a magnet that is being done by your county, in conjuction with (insert trustworthy/reputable/community organization here)... in our case the fire deparment/emergency services.
Establishing the first rapport with you of how this would be an awesome opportunity for your business she then moves to sell you space, shows you their website with sample of the services:
ideal marketing group . net /
When asked for time to think she will try to move as fast as you can because they can only feature "one business from each category".
She asks to pay ASAP, but of course, if you are smart you ask for proof of the advertising so you can correct/take a look.
Then later they will call you to collect for the advertised that "I'm sorry to say but it's overdue".
Ok, where is my proof that you never sent? you ask. Oh, sorry, here it goes.
(insert email very poorly done, with graphs copied directly from your website, or some generic google picture that is not and will never resemble a true marketing company... true marketing company have talent, which scammers lack... not easy to tell though, if you are a small business owners that never did anything like this. Unfortunately for them I advertised before with great agencies).
When you reply that the advertising is not a good fit, not acceptable they ask for corrections. When corrections are not acceptable they and you say that this perhaps is not a good fit and you are not interested... then... you can hear the anger on their voices on the phone... oh my. You unleashed something...
They will tell you "they are doing everything to work with you but you are difficult and won't pay your bills". Now turn rudeness on to the power of 1000. Here is the part where they start to threaten you, to pay, and harass you and do all those things that good and reputable advertising agencies would never do. Time for emotional manipulation... But if you were a new business and didn't know that... you could easily fall for this scheme, after all, who wants to spend their time with "collections" for such as small bill (around $400).
Don't fall prey. Report. Look at BBB, there are dozens of complains of the exactly same nature. I'm not sure how this lady is not arrested for fraud. But she is not working alone. I received a call from Germany "by accident", on the same day I was trying to argue back on phase 3 of the scam.
There is one person based on the US that makes the calls... the cell phone registered to the website is based in the US.
However there is not guarantee that the "collectors" emails or numbers are based on the US because all the businesses numbers are Google numbers.
white page their names and this is what it shows: Non-Fixed VoIP. e.g. Skype or Google Voice
Look at their file on the BBB, every complain is true.
Names used in this scam (I'm sure they will change, but it doesn't seem they have in the past 2 years)
Misty Lane , Tilly Garcia
on the news:
dailynewsandmore . com / editorial / daily_conversation / marketing-company-scams-at-least-one-local-business-out-of/article_75e8343c-f004-11e5-8e79-9f47d3383ed8.html
I'm outraged that this website is in business for the past 7 years and people are being scammed for that time or longer. Why aren't they stopped yet? Why isn't this lady arrested yet??? Come on Good USA, I believe in the American Dream. I started my business because I believe in it... can you please catch the bad guys that prey on small business?
This lady is US based and her information is listed on the website registry and online!
I made prints of everything If I can attach documents if needed.
godaddy . com / whois /results.aspx?domain=idealmarketinggroup.net&recaptchaResponse=03AO6mBfypTAptDnmmno8dacJHqapcBRyQDr1bHB4J0XGJs
Ideal Marketing Group Reviews
Fraud!!! called my business offering to advertise on community magnets that were sent to the community. Told me to expect an email with proof of how the advertising would look or i could send in a business flyer. I never did send authorize anything and they sent me an invoice for $260.00 threatening to report it to my business credit. When i tried to call the number some old lady answered rudely and kept hanging up on me.
Stole our advertisement from Direct Business Publications and represented themselves as our previous vendor for a local directory. They are NOT!
Still don't have copies of the publication or online site they are supposed to publish!!
This scam starts with a cold call from a really nice spoken Texan lady. She sounds like a good american/Texan/good hearted upbeat salesperson that will convince you that you must take this "opportunity" to advertise on a magnet that is being done by your county, in conjuction with (insert trustworthy/reputable/community organization here)... in our case the fire deparment/emergency services.
Establishing the first rapport with you of how this would be an awesome opportunity for your business she then moves to sell you space, shows you their website with sample of the services:
ideal marketing group . net /
When asked for time to think she will try to move as fast as you can because they can only feature "one business from each category".
She asks to pay ASAP, but of course, if you are smart you ask for proof of the advertising so you can correct/take a look.
Then later they will call you to collect for the advertised that "I'm sorry to say but it's overdue".
Ok, where is my proof that you never sent? you ask. Oh, sorry, here it goes.
(insert email very poorly done, with graphs copied directly from your website, or some generic google picture that is not and will never resemble a true marketing company... true marketing company have talent, which scammers lack... not easy to tell though, if you are a small business owners that never did anything like this. Unfortunately for them I advertised before with great agencies).
When you reply that the advertising is not a good fit, not acceptable they ask for corrections. When corrections are not acceptable they and you say that this perhaps is not a good fit and you are not interested... then... you can hear the anger on their voices on the phone... oh my. You unleashed something...
They will tell you "they are doing everything to work with you but you are difficult and won't pay your bills". Now turn rudeness on to the power of 1000. Here is the part where they start to threaten you, to pay, and harass you and do all those things that good and reputable advertising agencies would never do. Time for emotional manipulation... But if you were a new business and didn't know that... you could easily fall for this scheme, after all, who wants to spend their time with "collections" for such as small bill (around $400).
Don't fall prey. Report. Look at BBB, there are dozens of complains of the exactly same nature. I'm not sure how this lady is not arrested for fraud. But she is not working alone. I received a call from Germany "by accident", on the same day I was trying to argue back on phase 3 of the scam.
There is one person based on the US that makes the calls... the cell phone registered to the website is based in the US.
However there is not guarantee that the "collectors" emails or numbers are based on the US because all the businesses numbers are Google numbers.
white page their names and this is what it shows: Non-Fixed VoIP. e.g. Skype or Google Voice
Look at their file on the BBB, every complain is true.
bbb .org / phoenix / business-reviews / marketing-programs-and-services / ideal-marketing-group-in-irving-tx-1000027144/
Look at Manta:
manta . com / c / mtx96fr / ideal-marketing-group
Names used in this scam (I'm sure they will change, but it doesn't seem they have in the past 2 years)
Misty Lane , Tilly Garcia
on the news:
dailynewsandmore . com / editorial / daily_conversation / marketing-company-scams-at-least-one-local-business-out-of/article_75e8343c-f004-11e5-8e79-9f47d3383ed8.html
I'm outraged that this website is in business for the past 7 years and people are being scammed for that time or longer. Why aren't they stopped yet? Why isn't this lady arrested yet??? Come on Good USA, I believe in the American Dream. I started my business because I believe in it... can you please catch the bad guys that prey on small business?
This lady is US based and her information is listed on the website registry and online!
I made prints of everything If I can attach documents if needed.
godaddy . com / whois /results.aspx?domain=idealmarketinggroup.net&recaptchaResponse=03AO6mBfypTAptDnmmno8dacJHqapcBRyQDr1bHB4J0XGJs
9i1N87FueZvLYsqNPRSH6Sr8EsXE7Tc5JjGDtZWXX_o5Io8N_UFXUorSg29658er6thUBq6
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