I almost got scammed by Vanuity LLC (Part 1)

I almost got scammed today…just the thought of thinking of it makes my blood boil!

heres the story( its quite a long one, i divided it into two parts)

I got a call from this person call Blake Anderson (He called from this phone no 801-293-8005). He claimed to be a representative of Richjerk and told me that Richjerk is going to select 50-100 ppl from around the world for a specialized coaching program. I was pleasantly surprised and honored, because frankly getting selected for Richjerk coaching program is a huge honor!

I was excited and i let my guard down, knowing that i could potentially be coached by Richjerk himself. I mean who wouldn’t be excited about being coached by famous internet marketers like Richjerk, or for that matter Mike Filsaime, Joel Comm, etc. My heart was beating faster…

Then this guy cleverly lead me on by asking me questions on what are my goals and whether I want to make money and achieve my goals. He also asked if i want to be coached by Richjerk, and of cos i said yes to all. I almost couldn’t believe what i am hearing. I was very excited about the prospects of working with Richjerk!

To understand why, let me give a little history. I have been in internet marketing for a while, but never make it big. i made some affiliate sales here and there, but thats about it. Money is an issue for me so i have always tried learning everything on my own, i.e. setting up website, autoresponder, etc. And anyone who started with zero knowledge would agree with me that it is a very tough struggle. Any anyone who have gone through this path and with the same financial situation as me would agree with me that they wished they had some guru to coach them.

Now this is actually happening to me! Suddenly there is some Guru that says he wants to coach me! I was told i will have access to his experts and can ask them any of the technical problems that i faced. I was just thinking to myself, this is truely a godsend! I had been struggling so hard with dreamweaver and the coding and everything else, and to say I was overjoyed was an understatement (I believe anyone who is handpicked by Richjerk for a coaching program would feel honored too)

He then asked me several questions about my credit history and explained that to start a business, i need to have a gd credit history, which I am fine. Then he started asking me for my credit card limits and address. I grew a bit suspicious but still excited at the thought that i could perhaps get coached by Richjerk, i told him my credit limits and address. I briefly checked my handphone for the phone number he called me from and googled on it (The number was 703-100-1760). I could not find any company or personal details except for a few forum post that some people also received missed calls from this number.

Then I vaguely recall i got a missed call from a similar number 703-100-1760 as well, about several weeks ago. It was easy to recall, because you dun get overseas phone call all the time ( I live in Singapore by the way) And fortunately i was able to retrieve that no, and to my amazement i found that it was exactly the same number 703-100-1760! I analyzed and think to myself either this person had tried to call me before OR perhaps…just perhaps this person could have used a telephone number masking to call me.

I have a strange feeling that it could be the latter. I thought about it, why would someone used a telephone masking? I was even more suspicious now, so I asked him how to contact him if i have any problems. Interestingly, He gave me his number, which is 801-293-8005 and his email. I quickly googled this phone number, and found it was from Vanuity LLC. Recall that he had originally said he was a rep from Richjerk. So I immediately asked him again which company is he from. Now he is telling me that he is from Vanuity LLC . Still, i do not have too much doubts, because at least he was honest about it when i asked him. I thought to myself perhaps Vanuity LLC could be the coaching arm of Richjerk. He then mentioned something about whether i am willing to invest $4000-$5000 to earn $40,000-$50,000 in a few months time, and asked me if i want to achieve my goals. Initially i was skeptical, but he said that the $4000-$5000 would be paid using the money i earned, and not from my own pocket. Something along the line of Rich Dad real estate, using other people’s money to grow your money. Bottomline is he was trying to tell me that there would be little risk. He said, only when i said yes to the above, and to willing to spend time, effort, etc, then he would choose me. Getting excited again, and wanting him to choose me, i said yes!

He then congratulated me by saying me he is glad to announce that I have been chosen to be in the specialized program. And he proceed by asking me for my credit card details. Now the time when someone is most guarded is always when you are asked your credit card details. I grew defensive and I asked him why he needs my credit card details. He evaded the question and said “dun worry, i will not rip you off”. Still thinking perhaps he is really a rep of Richjerk and i din want to offend him, I said okie but to guard myself i gave him fake credit card no. I thought to myself i can always say that i had made a mistake later, but i could buy some time to do more checks.

When he hung up, I did a more thorough check up on Vanuity LLC, and to my horror, I realized there were a lot of bad reviews about this company, and that many people were scammed, some as much as $8000!

My heart sank…knowing that the hopes of being coached by a guru is all but a scam. Naturally some time later, I got a call back from him that my credit card is not working. There were some interference over the phone, so we conversed by email. You can download the email exchange here. (do start from the bottom)

Over the emails I question him over the exact cost to be debited as that was not told to me. I also asked about the refund policy. He then replied that a total of $4933 would be debited and there would be a refund policy of 3 days. Although he claimed that it was told to me over the phone, i can remember clearly that this was not the case. (click here for the email)

By now I am damn pissed by now with the dishonesty of this guy. First of all, he disguised himself as Richjerk and tricked me into believing him.Then he did not tell me exactly how much would be debited. And there is the ridiculous refund policy of 3 days for a product of $4933? I mean i can find products in clickbank that cost $47 or less with a refund period of 8 weeks! This is absolutely ridiculous! I told him i am not going to pay for the program, and actually challenged him to back himself up. (I had a rather heated email exchange with him, do read the email from the bottom up and let me know your comments)

Read about “I almost got scammed by Vanuity LLC (Part 2)” here

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