A federal court has temporarily shut down a business scam after a lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The scam, operating under names like Lunar Capital Ventures, Ecom Genie, and Profitable Automation, took over $12 million from consumers by falsely promising big profits from selling goods on Amazon and Walmart, the FTC charged.
The FTC claims the scam has been deceiving people since 2019, charging them tens of thousands of dollars to start online stores with promises of huge earnings. However, most consumers made little or no money, losing their investments instead.
The businesses used misleading ads and testimonials to lure people in, claiming they could make $100,000 a month. Despite complaints and lawsuits, the operators rebranded the business several times. Now, the FTC is holding them accountable.
Enticing but bogus claims
According to a complaint filed by the FTC, since at least 2022, the scheme operated under the names Lunar Capital Ventures, Ecom Genie and Profitable Automation, and before that as the now-dissolved company Valiant Consultants Inc.
Under each of these names, the scheme has made enticing but bogus claims that consumers could earn lavish profits by paying tens of thousands of dollars to start online e-commerce businesses. The promised earnings rarely, if ever, materialize, and most consumers lose substantial amounts of money.
“At a time when consumers are increasingly looking online for opportunities to supplement their income, this scheme made grand promises of guaranteed passive income,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
“Instead, the scheme’s operators took millions of dollars, lined their own pockets, and left consumers with debt and stress. Through its actions, the FTC is holding them accountable for the significant injury they have caused,” Levine said.
In online marketing and in claims made directly to consumers going back as far as 2019, the scheme’s operators have claimed consumers can generate sales of “$100K+ per month” and that their businesses could become “million-dollar” operations.
Consumers were charged tens of thousands of dollars to open their online stores, at times cashing in savings and retirement accounts, only to find that they made no money at all and lost all of their initial investment, according to the complaint.