727-252-0516

According to Steve Baker, Director of the FTC’s Midwest Region, this is probably one of THE largest telemarketing scams in recent history. They estimated Suntasia aka Strategia made over $100 million dollars, operated in 18 different locations around Pinellas County, Florida and employed 800 employees.

Consumers complained in near-record numbers about Suntasia’s practices. In total, the FTC collected and reviewed more than 5,000 formal consumer complaints against Suntasia that were submitted to various law enforcement agencies and the Better Business Bureau.

You can’t keep scamming people and get away with it. Yes I am very happy they shut down this shameful company. See what happens when you open your mouth and start bragging? Bryan Wolf and the rest of those crooked owners were simply just too over confident and cocky that they would never get caught. Well, well, well they finally were. Buying yachts and living the high life off the backs of innocent people. Chalk one up for the good guys.

So now here it is folks. The media blitz on what we all now know as one of the biggest telemarketing scams in history. Click on the links below to see the video of the news stories on the feds bust.

Baynews 9 Report

http://baynews9.com/content/36/2007/7/25/2745 ... marketing+fraud

ABC Action News Report

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local/story ... 64-fbccf0a6f692

News Channel 8 Report

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/jul/25/telem ... /?news-breaking

WTSP – Tampa Bay’s 10 News

http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=59847

Sadly there is always going to be another "Bryan Wolf" out there who thinks they can get away with scamming the public. I am afraid to say that another "Suntasia" like company is always lurking around the corner but for now we can feel safe that our pocket books are out of the reach from these scam artists.

Claim to be Travel Life Go Direct

NOT ANYMORE THEY WON'T. LOL

Obtained my bank information with out my permission

Update

KDKA Channel 2 in Pittsburgh has updated a story they did on one of Suntasia's sub companies, "Distinct Advantage", the discount savings program that was promoted up until a few months ago when the name changed to "Variety". Same scam just different name.

A local woman a year ago named Shirley Smorey of McKeesport, Pa was one of the consumers to get caught up in the scam. She says she was promised $100 in gas coupons and $500 in airline vouchers just for trying a “free” membership in a discount buyers club. I am sure she is happy to know these scam artists were shutdown on Wednesday morning July the 25th. You can see Consumer Editor Yvonne Zanos new report by clicking on the link below and then just click play on the video at the upper right corner of the page.

http://kdka.com/consumer/local_story_207184342.html

Former Employees Speak Out About Suntasia's Inside Operations

For those who don't know how everything operated at Suntasia Marketing, I am going to link you to a website that gives you inside information on how these crooks got away with this scam for so long. Everything that has been posted here concerning the questionable practices of this company is true. Now here it for yourself.

Alex Eckelberry is the host of the website http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com where he did a podcast interview with two former Suntasia (aka Strategia Marketing) employees. The two women agreed to be interviewed providing that their REAL names be with held due to fear of retaliation. They go by the names Stephanie and Carol. Many of the things they revealed I experienced myself but the fact that it is verified by these two women proves what I and others have been posting all along.

They talked about how;

* they presented the script over the phone to the unsuspecting consumer and how the agents tricked consumers by asking the name & city location of their bank so they could pull up the routing number and pretend to have their account #

* they heard other agents (ballers: high sales people) misrepresent themselves by saying that they needed the account number to verify that they had an open checking acount.

* everyone had to use the main key word "TODAY" because that was stating in the recording that they are not being billed for that day, but what Suntasia's agents don't tell you is that the consumer is going to be billed the next day and the next days to come even though it was suppose to be a two week free trial.

* they rebuttaled the person over and over again if they didn't want to give up their account information. The slick wording that was used.

* Suntasia management also scammed the employees when their paychecks were wrong and how hard it was to get it corrected.

* Suntasia doesn't care about your experience and just wanted you on the phone to make sales as quickly as possible.

* they felt the area (company grounds) was very restricted because of all the so called "secrets" between each room that was selling different products.

* the three different offers had three different numbers to call in case the consumer wanted to cancel. Unfortunately the consumer wasn't made aware of this.

* the sales person would claim they were in the shipping department and never would give details about the products being offered.


To hear the entire interview, you can download the Mp3 podcast by clicking below.

http://www.sunbelt-software.com/ihs/interview2d88.mp3

A blank screen will pop up and a little white box in the bottom left hand corner will appear. Once the audio clip has finished downloading, the screen will show a gray Quicktime audio bar. From there you can click play. The interview is very lengthy but so worth it. I hope this helps you understand how massive this scam was.

Another Ex Suntasia/Strategia Employee Spoke Out and Talked to Fox 13 News in Tampa

For weeks, Cory Millican put his nagging suspicions on hold and picked up the phone 450 times a day. What was he hoping to get? "Their checking account number," Millican said.

Millican says he didn't feel right doing it, but Strategia marketing pressured their employees to get the caller's checking account number. They did it, he says, by tricking potential customers with discounts and freebies.

He was very clear about how the scam worked and how his conscience would not let him continue. He realized that the product was a sham because there were people who had no need for the travel or gas vouchers but his manager kept pushing him to do it. If you want to see the interview click below.

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/pages/Home ... TY&pageId=1.1.1

Also Eric Seidel, he is the consumer lawyer for the station did a story on the fraud and illegal activity that went on. Click below to see video.

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/MyFox/page ... =1&locale=EN-US

I have recently rec'd a letter concerning a breech in your dept, resulting with a termination of one of your employees. Thank you for alerting me in this regard and my reference # is 00031. However, this result has caused a catastrophic response on my end. 1.) I have followed the directions and checked with Experian and have printed a complete credit history. There isn't anything suspicious that would result in contacting Pulaski and STOPPING my ability to use my credit card. I have already pre-paid $500 in hotel/ etc for a vacation with my children which starts Tues 8/14 at 10:00 am. I need for you to call Pulaski by Monday 8/13 11:00am and re-instate this consumers ability to use his Pulaski credit card. My ph # 713 465-7505 and my cell is 832 549-8967. I do expect a prompt response and a return call .            Thank You Walter W Stauble

I assume you will be interested in reading the Court appointed Receiver’s report of the operations at http://www.robbevans.com/html/ftninc.html here you will find the details that are very much different than those of the FTC and the media. Highlights include over $10 million in consumer refunds in 1 year and some $24 million in authorized sales cancelled in the same year by the company’s in house compliance department. I have never met a thief that would pass up $24 million dollars in authorized sales nor one that willingly returns $10 million to consumers. I also find it interesting that this independent report is not posted on the FTC website, perhaps it was not to their liking? I quess there really is two sides to every story.

I assume you will be interested in reading the Court appointed Receiver’s report of the operations at http://www.robbevans.com/html/ftninc.html here you will find the details that are very much different than those that the FTC and the media claim. Highlights include over $10 million in consumer refunds in 1 year and some $24 million in authorized sales cancelled in the same year by the company’s in house compliance department. I have never met a thief that would pass up $24 million dollars in authorized sales nor one that willingly returns $10 million to consumers. I also find it interesting that this independent report is not posted on the FTC website, perhaps it was not to their liking? I quess there really is two sides to every story.

Guess What...They are back in business.  They think they can hide from authorities by scamming from overseas/offshore.  Same people same scam plus some bolder scams because they think they can trick the FTC.  These guys are bolder than you think.  They think they are smarter then the feds, bragging about not getting caught and hiding all of their profits from the feds.  Aparently so since they have restarted their operations.