Insider Scoop On A Band of Thieves.. Guerrilla Marketing For Your Dollars
By Duncan Wierman on May 31, 2010 in Duncan's Opinion, In the News
First, keep in mind that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has Guidelines concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. ( this means email marketing too ) Keep in mind that 99% of the people who endorsed this commercial foreclosure course NEVER did a commercial deal with the course. This course was solely promoted to you NOT on the quality of its content, but because of the amount of prizes that could be won. DC and Karen used incentives to get other real estate (information) gurus to promote the product on a mass launch to create false hype. This is very unethical in my opinion, and at the same time breaks the law in regards to Advertising. In short you have been scammed.
The funnier part about this is the fact that in the online forum where everyone keeps up to date with results, their was accusation of theft and not adhering to the rules to win the prizes.
First Colin Egbert, calls out Than Merrill publicly because Than has his team call up people who had sales already credited to Colin and then tell those people if they refund it, and rather buy through the course through his affiliate link, he will give them some incredible bonuses.
Then another promoter calls out Than Merrill, because he opened his call center the day before the launch and starts taking credit card order only on the phone to inflate his sales and stay ahead of the pack on the official opening day.
Then it comes down to opening day of the launch, and every guru marketing this course is trying to out do each other with bigger “hyped up price ” bonuses, and saying cancel your order you placed AND rather to BUY from my link, and I will throw in another $10,000 dollar bonus.. blah blah blah
Lets look at one example …. One affiliate originally had 60 sales credited to him, (which made him a winner of an Off Road Go-Cart Prize) LOST 54 sales, and ended with 6 sales to his name. So DC stated that he will not give the prize he had originally won to him any longer.. That sucks..
UPDATE: Here is an interesting email from another affiliate just proving my point once again..
It goes on and on .. There is no honor among the promoters and the top gurus with big email lists ( and these are the people you are trusting with your real estate career ??? )
Look at the images of the winners and how much they made. No wonder they password protect the site from public view.
UPDATE 8/13/2010
SHE STILL HAS NOT PAID AFFILIATES FOR PROMOTING HER!!!
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July 26th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Great article. I work primarily with real estate agents both as a social media consultant and as a professional coach and it is because of individuals like those you mention in your article that make them (real estate agents) leery of doing business on the net. I know not everyone promoting something on the net is out to get you but when people such as these blatantly rip off not just unsuspecting people but each other it doesn’t help the rest of us who really are working to help others increase their business.
Ed
July 26th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
LOL I love this post, it’s good to see sharks having at each other and stirring discontent in a group that causes nothing but discontent.
They were foolish to think that if their peers have no problem taking advantage of their marks to not consider them as players to be wary of.
Content+Quality for the win!
July 28th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Just read this blog, Duncan. I know it’s a business and all, but it reminds me of the snake oil salesmen on the Old West who sold their “medicines” just for the money without knowing if they were really any good or not.
It pains me to see that there are some gurus involved for whom I have a great deal of respect. Several years ago, one of these gurus in your post above kept me from losing about $160,000 on a bad deal by personally calling me late on a Sunday evening (a bit after 9 pm) before I was to close on a bad deal the next morning when he had no obligation to do so. But now I see even he is involved in this kind of stuff. I can’t believe he has changed so much from when he cared enough to spend time out of his evening to keep one insignificant student like me from losing my ass on a deal in which he wasn’t even involved.
So who do we trust now if even our once-most-trusted gurus are helping to sell products that they, themselves, have no idea are good or bad, but are just doing it for the money?
July 28th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
The lure of the dollar is strong.. The dark side is always calling .. Its so easy to make money off the launch formula and Hype factor that people buy into..
People tend to follow instead of lead .. they act before they think! I can say to myself “sure it’s hard to turn down 50K – 100k just sending a few emails out to keep the hype going and make money ” , If it wasn’t for the fact I was ripped off when I started to make me report on this kind of stuff. I’ll only promote what I use, or know works first or I know the integrity and customer support of the person selling a system – Duncan
October 14th, 2010 at 3:59 am
I have to say I am very happy I shared my story on how Karen Hanover ripped me off for the 30 thousand dollars, because I have meet alot of really great people on this blog and i’ve had good responces from other fastrackers that got scammed to that I am going to encourage to start blogging. I have talked to over 30 other fastrackers going through the same thing.
and Duncan….Thank you. xo Rebecca Smith 714-523-1546
October 14th, 2010 at 9:31 am
Check this email out that Karen sent to Rebecca once Karen was called out.
October 14th, 2010 at 11:48 am
I feel very badly for people like Rebecca who put trust in total frauds and scum like Karen Hanover. It would be nice to believe that people are generally good but Karen has proven that scum are everywhere and Karen is among the worst. This pathetic woman has to rip people off to survive apparently. I hope the Hanover victims will be able to recoup at least a bit of their money and that Karen goes to prison.
October 14th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
I forwarded some of the emails back and forth from Karen Hanover to me and I sure hope Duncan will posts it on all his blogs. I am completly beside myself today knowing that Karen Hanover and Sean Carpenter are holding a gathering to suck more money from more people that don’t even know what’s coming. This feels like a very bad dream.
I’m still in shock that Karen Hanover took my 30 thousand dollars and now I have to go through all the legalities to even try to recoupe something back. But, I will do what I need to do to be heard. And I will not stop until I am, and Karen Hanover and her help: Jill and Jena are arrested for grand larceny.
And yes Jena you know that Karen burned me out of 30 thousand dollars and you can’t say I was a problem student or anything like that. I am a good woman and I did not deserve this at all and neither did the others going through this as well. I know of alot of other fastrackers that have been scammed just like me. Posting these blogs does help and more are coming out of the wood work, I alone from blogging have over 25+ people devestated from this scam. It wasn’t just 30 thousand dollars, you even had people travel and pay thousands in travel and lodging just to rape them alittle more.
And just because you think Sean Carpenter is going to cover your ass and flaws and hurry and try to show some kind of documentation that you did walk a property with students. Oh my God. that is so twisted. other fastrackers are going to have to be played even harder than me and have to travel twice just to walk through a property so they can show some kind of proof that they did something. CRAZY!!
Any other fastracker out there reading this post that isn’t sure what to think, I understand..been there. But does this sound familiar? My first property presentation from Karen Hanover and the property she presents has no address? Ring a bell? How about being muted? Ring another bell? What about all the property information she say’s she’ll send later and then you never receive it? Ring any more bells? If you are another fastracker reading this blog, I am a real person that signed up as a fastrack student with Karen Hanover at the event she had in Dallas in June (gilly”s) and we probably met and spoke through out the 3 day event. You need to call me so I can show you, or introduce you to 26 to be exact.(and that’s just what I have from blogging) students that have been scammed. There is an attorney that has quite a few plaintiffs also. Rebecca 714-523-1546
October 14th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
OK THIS ONES TO KAREN AND HER POSSE…OR ANYONE WANTING TO DEFEND HER NAME. CAN WE HAVE SOME REAL TESTIMONIALS FROM ANY FASTTRACK STUDENT THAT GOT TO CLOSE A REAL COMMERCIAL DEAL WITH YOU? A REAL PERSON WITH A REAL PHONE NUMBER?
THAT SHOULDN’T BE A PROBLEM IF YOU ARE THE REAL DEAL!! REAL PERSON KAREN…REAL PHONE NUMBER TOO…
I KNOW I CAN PRESENT REAL PEOPLE WITH REAL PHONE NUMBERS OF REAL FASTTRACK STUDENTS THAT SAY YOU TOOK THE MONEY AND THAT WAS IT. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FROM YOU. CAN YOU TOP THAT GIRLS?? REBECCA 714-523-1546 CRICKET…CRICKET…CRICKET….COME ON!! PRODUCE! TRULY THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD BE BLOGGING GIRLS IF YOUR NOT A FRAUD. IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE. JUST PRODUCE THAT AND THINGS WOULD BE SWINGING IN YOUR FAVOR. LOOKING FORWARD TO HEARING BACK FROM YOU KAREN, OR JILL, OR JANA? ANYONE OF YOU. XO XO
October 21st, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Well I feel a real need to post this blog regarding KAREN HANOVER. I just received a phone call from a supposably FBI Agent. It looks like Karen Hanover is asking people to pose as FBI Agents and threaten you. This FBI Agent told me he was a fastracker too??? What is that all about. Well, I called the FBI Agency to complain about the threatining phone call I received and I was informed that there are criminals that can use some data that retrives business phone numbers so they can act like they are calling from that phone line.
Anyway’s, not only will KAREN HANOVER RAPE YOU FOR THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS AND MORE. She will have people pose as Federal AGENTS AND INTERIGATE YOU. WELL i’M ON TO IT kAREN. yOU ARE A true blue criminal. i WILL BE THE ONE TO TAKE YOU AND YOUR FRAUD TO FEDERAL CHARGES AND PUT YOU BEHIND BARS WHERE YOU BELONG. tHANKS FOR THE CALL THIS AFTERNOON MR. FBI AGENT. YOU JUST MADE ME REALIZE HOW IMPORTANT IT IS FOR ME TO BLOG ON A DAILY BASES SO I CAN HELP BRING IN OR HELP OTHERS THAT HAVE OR ARE THINKING ABOUT KAREN HANOVERS SCAM.
I AM A TRUE TESTIMONIAL. CALL ME IF YOU HAVE ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS OR IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TALK WITH MANY OF OTHER PEOPLE THAT WIRED KAREN HANOVER LARGE SUMS OF MONEY FOR HER FASTRACK PROGRAM. ALSO, ANY OTHER FASTRACKERS OUT THERE JUST READING THE BLOGS, I’M SURE WE HAVE SPOKEN AND IF NOT PLEASE CALL ME. I HAVE AN LA DISTRICT ATTORNEY THAT HANDLES FEDERAL FRAUD CASES LIKE THIS ONE THAT I AM SEEKING HIS ASSISTANCE WITH THIS CASE. I WILL POST HIS CONTACT INFORMATION THIS COMING MONDAY SO YOU CAN START CALLING IN AND SHARING YOUR STORY WITH HIM AS WELL.
OTHER THAN THAT…. JUST WANTED TO TOUCH BASE AND LET YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON ON MY END. HAVE A GREAT DAY… AND DO THE RIGHT THING. FILE YOUR CASE WITH ALL OF THE PROPER AUTHORITY’S…. XO REBECCA 714-523-1546
October 27th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
I now have 30 VICTIMS from KAREN HANOVERS FRAUD. 3 phone calls in one day! They are all calling 1-310-477-6565 the FBI and all the other proper authorities I advised them to call. Rebecca 714-523-1546
October 28th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
PLEASE FILE YOUR COMPLAINT WITH THE FBI AT 1-310-477-6565. THE CASE IS UNDER: KAREN HANOVER AND THE ENTITIES ARE COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT EDUCATION AND ALSO KHARMIC LIFE STRATEGIES. IF YOU TELL THEM THAT THEY WILL BE ABLE TO PULL HER FILE. IF YOU DON’T MIND CALLING ME RIGHT AFTER YOU FILE SO I CAN KEEP COUNT. WE HAVE 30 VICTIMS SO FAR THAT HAS COME FORWARD. ALSO, PLEASE CALL EVERY BUSINESS CARD YOU GATHERED AT THE EVENT WERE YOU SIGNED UP FOR THE FASTRACK PROGRAM WITH KAREN HANOVER. I MYSELF FOUND 2 MORE VICTIMS BY DOING SO. IF YOU DON’T HAVE TIME PLEASE SCAN AND FAX THEM TO ME AT: 714-523-8125 I WOULD BE MORE THATN HAPPY TO CALL FOR YOU. THANKS!! XO REBECCA 714-523-1546