FTC shuts down infomercial-using alleged scammers

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FTC / Federal Trade CommissionThis time the alleged offense involves a program that was supposed to make its users wealthy by becoming seller-financed promissory note brokers – but most merely made the sellers of the program wealthy and had little or no success with the program. The defendants are liable for $330M.


The defendants are Russell and Catherine Dalbey, operators of “Winning in the Cash Flow Business.”

According to the FTC, “Using infomercials, print advertising, telemarketing calls, and testimonials, the Dalbeys and the three companies they controlled convinced consumers to part with hundreds and sometimes up to tens of thousands of dollars to participate in the ‘wealth-building’ program ‘Winning in the Cash Flow Business,’ according to the complaint filed by the FTC and the Colorado Attorney General in 2011”

The FTC said that almost 1M people bought into the program, initially paying between $40 and $160, and often spending hundreds or even thousands more at the behest of telemarketers to get deeper into the program.

One of the primary deceptions used were testimonials from testimonials that the FTC  said ranged from allegedly atypical to flat-out false as to the financial rewards enjoyed by users of the program.

The Dalbeys are barred from any sort of marketing for this program or any like it, and will be cooperating with an investigation that will determine just how much of the $330M settlement they are able to pay.