euphoria

Are you talking about Merchant Referral Solutions? My husband got scammed by these people a couple weeks ago. They are based in Phoenix, and according to the local BBB, they have only been in business since 9/2/09. However, when you ask how long they've been in business, they claim "7 years." How interesting, yet not surprising, to discover that they seem "new" but are just an old scammer putting on a new name. The addresses we were given for them are UPS/mailbox buildings (I Google-earthed them). They ripped us off for $219, allegedly for a "training" packet (which was just a further extension of their initial sales pitch) and when my husband, finally realizing it was a scam, canceled his credit card, he was told that another $4, 000 had been attempted, and another $999 went through AFTER he canceled the card (so our credit card company is going to have to eat that one). When he told the rep at Merchant Referral Solutions that he had changed his mind, they said "no refund, " despite that it was well within the legal "3-day cooling off period" and that he had at no time authorized them to steal our money! We have filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau, the Arizona Attorney General's office, the US Postal Service (because they used the mail), the Consumer Fraud hotline and the Federal Trade Commission. My goal is that no one else gets ripped off by these people.

Oh, and if any of you Merchant Referral Solutions/Bankcard Empire scam artists are reading this (Wayne Morris, Brian Soper, etc): Of the last five people that pissed me off to this extent, one is dead (his funeral was on my birthday), one buried a son, one buried a wife and currently has cancer, and two of them were fired in disgrace and brought up on criminal charges. Karma has a way of being very kind to me. Hope you can sleep tonight.

Isn't it funny just how many people "become confused" or "feel disappointed" in Merchant Referral Solutions? Maybe it's due to the web of lies they use to ensnare unsuspecting people into investing in their non-opportunity.

I'm not at all concerned that Merchant Referral Solutions will "take legal action" against anyone who posts the truth about them. (Here is where I would make a comparison of one of their reps walking into a court of law being akin to Satan walking into a church, if I were the type to make comparisons.) I'm pretty sure they don't want any judge looking too closely at what they're up to.

Their attempts to "push down" the list of complaints by filling the page with repetitive posts about alleged "customer satisfaction" are feeble at best. The truth is out there. It must be very inconvenient and expensive for them. What a shame.

"I believe that unarmed truth...will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"It is the reponsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and expose lies."

- Noam Chomsky

"The truth will out."

- Shakespeare

Ann: "hindering man kind?" Seriously?

Do you actually know what the terms of those "cash advances" are? Do you believe a merchant who negotiates one of those cash advances with MRS will ultimately be satisfied with the transaction? Do you honestly believe that a loan from a bank or other reputable financial institution isn't a better option for a business that needs help?

To use your armchair analogy: Suppose you are an internet furniture seller and one day a manufacturer of armchairs, let's call them ABC Company, calls and says they want you to sell their armchairs. ABC claims you can make thousands of $$ in a few short months just by providing a link in your store to their chairs (the setting up of which will cost you a variable fee, depending on how much you balk at the initial fee quoted), plus they will supply all the advertising, at your expense, to bring in customers for the chairs. ABC convinces you to purchase $20, 000 worth of advertising, plus, of course, the initial "set-up" fee to put their link on your web site.

What ABC doesn't tell you: Their armchairs are not only priced significantly higher than anyone else's, but they're of extremely low quality. Further, ABC employs the most irritating and least-effective means of advertising possible, while overcharging you tremendously for this service. Their advertising, if it even occurs (there is no proof that it does) does not garner you a single customer. And when asked, ABC will not disclose the name of even one person who has bought one of their chairs, much less one who bought a chair and was satisfied with it.

Are you feeling ripped off yet?

letdatruthbtold: apparently you haven't yet received the call wherein they try to sell you thousands of $$ worth of "advertising, " which consists of what they call "email blasts" and "call blasts." Annoying *and* ineffective - can't beat that!

Yep, no such thing as psychics, mediums, etc. Every last one of them is a scammer, bar none. Use logic, people. If psychics were real, why are there so many of them trying to take YOUR hard-earned money when all they have to do is play the lottery? They're not trying to help you; they're not your "friends, " they're big-time scammers who prey on people's gullibility and desperation. If you have real-world problems, you need to solve them with real-world answers.

We were also scammed by them and got our money refunded through our credit card company. Make sure you tell them that you filed a complaint with the BBB; also, file a complaint with the Arizona Attorney General. Once they receive enough complaints, they will launch an investigation and shut these people down.

You need to file a complaint with the Arizona Attorney General and do a chargeback on your credit card. This is the only way you're going to get your money back, because they will not refund, nor will they discuss it with you.

Have you disputed the charge with your credit card company? File a complaint with the Arizona Attorney General, the BBB, the FTC and the US Postal Inspector General (if you received correspondence in the mail) and tell your credit card company you have done so. This is how we got our money back.

The BBB has warned consumers about Merchant Referral Solutions. File a report with the Arizona Attorney General, the Phoenix area BBB, the FTC and the US Postal Inspector General (if you received items through the mail), and tell your credit card company you have done so when you file a dispute on the charges. This is how we got our money back. We also dealt with the hang-ups, the avoidance, the misdirection - they will NOT willingly refund your money; you need to go through your credit card company to get it back.

I've been compiling evidence that Bankcard Empire and Merchant Referral Solutions are the same company - since they have specifically denied this in a legal court document - and have amassed quite an impressive pile of paperwork thus far. I thought the Arizona Attorney General might find this useful, so I sent them a copy a couple of days ago.

Anything to help the cause. :)

Ah - they threatened you with legal action, didn't they? I hope you got your money back.

The Truth oo1 - or should I call you Ray Petty? Let me enlighten folks as to the reason "DW Scott Financial" doesn't (allegedly) have complaints, as you claim. Simple. The same reason "Merchant Referral Solutions" didn't have complaints until September of last year - because that's when Bankcard Empire started using that particular name! "DW Scott Financial" will have PLENTY of complaints in the near future, wait and see. And then the name will be changed yet again once that name has a sufficiently poor reputation (ie, hundreds of complaints).

And people, don't bother checking [redacted].com; the owner of that site has either been bribed or threatened, because he has posted bogus "Bankcard Empire is all sunshine and roses and would never rip anyone off!" crap. I noticed the site owner is local to Phoenix, so he may be worried about his family.

Anyone reading this who wants to know more about Merchant Referral Solutions, please see the thread on this site entitled "OSC LLC."

OH YEAH! Bankcard Empire is goin' down! Finally getting what they deserve! I hope Leslie Merskey enjoys his jail time.

Ah, once again we're treated to more schoolyard crap from one of BCE's illustrious employees. "You don't like being lied to and scammed? Well, you're all a bunch of stupid-heads!"

How would you like someone to talk to your parents or grandparents that way? How would you like your parents and grandparents to be scammed in the way you scammed so many others?

Preying on the elderly, the disabled and the desperate isn't something to be proud of. What do you get for the lies, the fraud, the forgery? Money. And that's it. Money can make your life more comfortable, but what good is it when you have no friends and no one you can trust because you have no conscience? What good is it if your children and grandchildren know how you made that money and feel ashamed of you? Money is nice to have, but better is a life lived well and honestly, so you can sleep at night and hold your head high.

Merchant Referral Solutions, AKA Bankcard Empire, has been shut down! Google "bankcard empire raid" for more details!

Whoever you are, James90, it's obvious you're one of the crooks involved in all this. Apparently you're bitter about the Postal Inspector's raid on this fraudulent operation and your subsequent lack of income. Don't blame your victims or the brave former employee who stood up to you and your criminal lackeys. You brought this on yourself, and you'll have to answer for your actions. Even if you manage to avoid legal sanctions, things have a way of evening out, especially when so many have been so wronged.

The BBB called our complaint "administratively resolved, " despite that we refuted everything in the letter their scumball legal department wrote to the BBB and told them we weren't satisfied with the outcome. So I cast a jaundiced eye on all the other "resolved" complaints, which I suspect turned out much like ours did.

You should have canceled your credit card months ago in order to stop those charges. The reason they are citing "technical difficulties" now is because the US Postal Inspector raided and shut them down in mid-April and arrested their leader, Leslie Mersky, for fraud. Do a Google search on "bankcard empire raid" and you'll find numerous articles on the subject, in which it's mentioned that the US Postal Inspector has set up a number for their victims to call. You can call or fill out a complaint form on their website. Add your voice to the many who were defrauded; there's a chance for restitution once the S.O.B. who ran the place is convicted.

Thank you all for your input. I checked out a couple of the "discount" sites and something about them seemed very wrong - like English was the writer's second language, for one! And those prices really are too good to be true. I thought I'd check them out here and I wasn't really surprised, although I'm disappointed that they are "featured" sellers on a Google search. Apparently Google doesn't investigate their advertisers. :( Fortunately I found Footwear etc., an online retailer that sells REAL MBT shoes and they're currently having a great sale on their discontinued lines (less than half price). Thanks again, everyone, for your helpful comments.

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