310-455-6048

Interesting. That Craigslist ad has the name "Marvin Fine" as head of Toronto Voice Telecom. Google finds this: http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/epic/site/cb-bc.nsf/en/01584e.html

Marvin Fine and DFD Telebroadcasting Inc.

On October 3, 1996, Mr. Marvin Fine and DFD Telebroadcasting Inc. each pleaded guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice (General Division) in Toronto, Ontario, to two counts of misleading advertising under paragraph 52(1)(a) of the Competition Act.

Mr. Fine and DFD were each fined $11,000 per count for a total fine of $44,000, which was paid immediately following Mr. Fine's conviction. In addition, Mr. Fine agreed to donate two telephone systems to registered charities.

A prohibition order under subsection 34(1) of the Act was also entered against Mr. Fine and DFD, and Mr. Fine was placed on a two-year probation period.

The charges to which Mr. Fine and DFD pleaded guilty concerned advertisements that Mr. Fine had placed in several issues of the Toronto and Hamilton editions of the TV Guide between June 6 and July 11, 1992, and in The Employment News between April 5 and July 5, 1992, in which job opportunities were advertised to the public. These ads invited the reader to call a "976" telephone number in order to obtain additional details about these jobs. There was a $10 charge for phoning the "976" number and the amount of this charge was inadequately disclosed to the reader.

And in 1999, Washington state sued Marvin Fine and DFD Telebroadcasting.

http://www.atg.wa.gov/pressrelease.aspx?&id=5842

Controversial Telemarketer Woos MP
                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                  [ Courtesy Of Toronto Computes July, 1992]

   Bell Canada is trying to put the squeeze on a Toronto telemarketer who has
allied himself with a local Member of Parliament.

   Responding to a barrage of complaints from customers, Bell has asked the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for rules
restricting those who conduct ad campaigns through massive telephone
autodialing.  Automatic dialing is controlled by a series of PCs linked to
hundreds of phone lines.

   The target of the complaints is Marvin Fine, an engineer who calls himself
the King of Auto-dialing.  Through his company DFD Telebroadcasting, Fine has
inundated the Toronto area with recorded messages--hundreds of thousands of
calls a day--promising high-paying jobs, credit cards for those with no credit
rating, books that teach you how to make money by watching TV and other unusual
offerings.  Fine earns $1 million a year from his various businesses.

   His auto-dialing blitz has prompted numerous complaints to members of
Parliament, the Better Business Bureau, Bell Canada, the CRTC and the Canadian
Direct Marketing Association.  Toronto Computes!  has learned that Bell made
the proposal to the CRTC largely because of complaints about Fine.  In June the
Globe and Mail quoted a Bell vice president that "an unnamed Toronto
telemarketer was a particular nuisance, prompting 'thousands' of calls." A
person who asked not to be identified confirmed that Fine is the unnamed
telemarketer.

   Last winter Fine's operations were characterized as a "con job" by noted
writer Pierre Berton in two columns in the Toronto Star.  Now Fine has extended
his operations to politics, donating his technology to help raise money and
support for Liberal Dennis Mills, MP for Broadview-Greenwood.  Mills is
promoting a flat-tax scheme similar to that of former California Governor Jerry
Brown, an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

   Fine's activities may soon be severely curtailed if Bell gets the CRTC to
adopt its plan.  Bell wants to give any customer the right to join a "do not
call" list.  Bell would disconnect the lines of any telemarketer who persisted
in calling people on the list.  A decision from the CRTC is expected toward the
end of August.  In February Bell responded to customer complaints by
disconnecting more than 300 phone lines from Fine's offices.  However, some of
Fine's phone lines remained in operation just outside Metro Toronto.  As well,
he still has ten lines in North York spewing out faxes for his various
promotions.

   One fax reads, "100 drivers needed, earn up to $18.50 per hour, good
command of the English language not required." Anyone interested is asked to
call 1-416-976-2273.  The bottom corner of the fax reads, "$2.00 min./5 min.
minimum".

   The fax features an illustration with sketches of people resembling
sketches in an ad for Computer Fest (see accompanying article in box).

   The 976 exchange allows Fine to charge $10 to anyone phoning for
information.  The $10 is deducted from the caller's phone bill, of which Bell
remits about $9 to Fine, while Bell keeps the rest.  For the $10, the caller
gets to use a push-button phone to choose one of a menu of messages.  One
message tells you how to earn up to $18.50 an hour handing out pamphlets.  In
fact, said a source, those who hand out pamphlets seldom earn half that much.
Only those who can distribute pamphlets at a superhuman speed can earn $18.50
an hour, she said.

   Another message tells the caller about a book that can teach you how to get
a credit card, even if you're bankrupt or have a bad credit rating.

   The credit-card pamphlet costs an additional $10, and is a thin photocopied
document that looks hand-stapled.  The pamphlet, bearing the name Marvin Fine,
explains why some people can't get credit cards.  It advises those who are
unemployed to get a job or get a credit guarantee from someone who has a good
credit rating.  Another offering from Fine is a "Vista Gold Credit card"
(that's Vista, not Visa), a promotion savaged in the Toronto Star by Pierre
Berton.

   "It isn't a credit card at all, it's an invitation to order from a
catalogue full of merchandise.  It costs $10 to order the card, and another $40
to order the catalogue.  Marvin can't lose." MP not bothered

   The torrent of complaints and criticisms don't bother MP Dennis Mills.  "I
know that there's lot of stories out there about Marvin Fine but I'm not
involved in his business," he told Toronto Computes!  "Some of his work has
been closed down, sure, but there's lots of people that have been shut down."

   In an earlier interview Mills said he was happy to be the first politician
in Canada to use auto-dialing.

   Mills's recorded message on the flat-tax scheme is short and invites the
recipient to hang up if they don't want to listen to his ideas.  In a flat-tax
system, all taxpayers would pay the same rate, say 25 per cent, regardless of
income.

   The tax reform message goes out daily over 82 lines.  Mills had hoped to
place about 100,000 calls a day.  However, he's only been getting out about
30,000 to 60,000, but he said that's good.  "It means people are listening to
the whole message without hanging up."

   Mills was approached with the idea by Fine who sympathized with Mills's tax
reform crusade and offered his calling system for free.  "It would cost Dennis
$18,000 a month if he was paying for it," Fine said in an earlier interview.

   Mills said that Fine told him he could talk to a million people a week
through autodialing.

   "Can you imagine saying that to a politician?  Geez, if I can talk to 50
people at a town hall meeting, that's pretty good." Fine and his brother Ed
spent seven years and $1.5 million developing the system, called Power Calling,
which runs under DOS and contains about 200,000 lines of programming code.
According to a DFD spokesperson, if you don't want to receive recorded calls,
you can phone DFD and have your number removed from the company's database.

   But DFD does not adhere to a large do-not-call list compiled by the
Canadian Direct Marketing Association which represents 700 telemarketers in
Canada.  All members of the CDMA refrain from calling the 115,000 people who
have had their names entered on the list.  DFD is not a member of the CDMA
which is backing Bell's proposal to the CRTC.

   CDMA spokesperson Christina Sears said the CDMA is "very aware" of Fine
because it has had "a number of complaints about him.  We've had a number of
discussions with Bell Canada on exactly what to do about him."

   Sears said most telemarketers are honest.  "The vast majority of
telemarketing is above board, and people don't have a problem with it.  But one
or two operators cause all the problems for everybody and gives the industry a
bad name."

   She said 75 per cent of telemarketing is company-to-company or involves an
existing relationship, such as a bank calling a customer to remind them it's
RSP time.

DFD Telebroadcasting: http//www.myfreeoffice.com/woxof/dfd.html

Dfd Telebroadcasting Inc

163 Limestone Cres
North York ON, M3J 2R1

Phone: 416-665-7997


Approximately three employees work at this location
Sales: $500,000 - $1 Million
Products and Services

Telecommunications Consultants
Business Consulting Services

(listed elsewhere as selling "security systems". Fax number 416-665-2958)