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A federal grand jury charged three family members from Wellington, Fla., with conspiracy and money-laundering charges for allegedly bilking investors in a phony candy vending machine business that they operated from June 2001 through April 2005, according to the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, Minn.
Stephen C. Crown, 67, his wife, Cheryl C. Crown, 63, and their son, Evan S. Crown, 39, were charged with mail fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, mail fraud and concealment money laundering. They allegedly tricked investors out of at least $320,000.
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Editor's Insight: No matter how many of these "biz op" promoters are charged and convicted, the government cannot seem to reduce the proliferation of these operators. This is why it's important for industry trade organizations to continue to promote consumer education about vending business opportunities.
The Justice Department and law enforcement agencies are paying closer attention to business opportunity scams, which is good. But their resources are limited.
The National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) and many state organizations have supported efforts to warn consumers about these schemes, but there is no sure-fire way to protect people from their own poor judgment.
Because NAMA is involved in ongoing efforts to fight business opportunity scams, it is one more reason that operators should support their national trade association. 11-19-07 by Elliot Maras
Reader Comments
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I have been involved in prosecuting, investigating, and warning about business opportunity frauds for over nine years.
I have interviewed over a thousand people during that time.
Over 95% of the victims were cheated by classic vending, payphone or ATM frauds. Not one of them knew about the NAMA or the Canadian equivalent, CAMA.
In my opinion, neither trade association is doing a very good job at fighting business opportunity scams -your own web pages are woefully incomplete and attract, as far as I can determine, little search traffic.
Please see my site www.bizop.ca for more details.