Addison Management Group Asia
Yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from a gentleman named Mark Sherman (isn’t that an unusual name for somebody with a distinct Asian-English accent? ) from Addison Management Group Asia (http://www.addisonmanagementgroupasia.com).
Got the first call from them about 3 months ago. A very pleasant lady who’s name I didn’t take note off, explained that since I am a “successful business professional” they would like to send me an introductory information pack about Addison Management Group Asia and their wealth management services. “Fine!” I responded. About 1 month ago I received a fancy glossy brochure.
Now this call about a fantastic opportunity to invest in EM International Enterprises (EMIE.PK). According to Mark, EMIE, is a furniture manufacturer and supplier to JC Penny, Nordstroms, etc and they have just signed a global preferred supplier contract with Tesco. Luckily for me the market hasn’t reacted to the news yet but when the market does (in 90 days according to Mark) the share price of EMIE.PK will move from the current level of USD 4.00 to USD 6.75. In 90 days. Blimey!
Mark offered me to buy 10.000 shares at USD 4.00 + 1% comission and when they sold EMIE at USD 6.75 in 90 days I would get my principal back and a profit of USD 26425.
“Fredrik, tell me, isn’t that a nice profit in just 90 days?” Mark continued.
Right! After some discussion Mark understood that I had some reservations about making a money transfer of USD 40 400 to a business contact I had only spoken to on the phone.
Now Mark offered me 5000 shares and explained that he was interested in getting my long-term business so he wouldn’t jeopardize “10-20 years of your future business by offering you anything less than an exceptional investment opportunity with very limited risk as an introduction to Addison Management Group Asia.” Sounds like good business practice to me – low entry threshold and then make your clients loyal by removing risk and by creating substantial returns, time and time again!
Despite his great sales pitch I still had my reservations so after a while he was down to 2000 shares.
He kept repeating “when we sell at USD 6.75 in 90 days you will not only get your principal investment back but make a profit of XXX USD.”
I quite enjoyed listening to his sales pitch and must say that he was a skilled sales man (I have many years of experience from running tele-sales teams).
Anyway, I finished the call by thanking him for the tip, told him that I would be watching EMIE.PK the next 90 days and if the stock did get up towards the USD 6.75 mark I would be looking forward to speak to him again.
The whole conversation left me with a funny feeling. Had I just missed a fantastic investment opportunity?
I turned to Google and started searching on Addison Management Group Asia. This forum post caught my attention: http://www.hotstocked.com/message-board/about5707-100.html
Interesting, so I did some more searching.
Addison Management Group Asia domain was registered Feb 3rd 2009 by DIRECTI INTERNET SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD for one year, expires Feb 3rd 2010.
Directi is a domain registrar (http://customer.directi.com/) and if you Google on Directi you will get plenty of hits with Directi and scam in the same sentence.
According this report from February 2009 Directi comes out at the top of domain name registrars involved in malicious domain names: http://hype-free.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-directi-should-be-kicked.html
Example of scams where Directi may to be involved somehow:
Auction Online fraud: http://www.bobbear.co.uk/auction-online-solution.html
Sunrise Service Centers job fraud: http://www.bobbear.com/sunrise-service-center.html
Infobite Software fraud: http://suckerswanted.blogspot.com/2008/05/infobite-software-ltd.html
Ok, so Addison Management Group Asia online image looks a bit dodgy. But EM International Enterprises (EMIE.PK) could still be an interesting company to invest in right?
Mark’s background on EMIE.PK is somewhat correct, but I get a strange vibe from EMIE, their website is not what I would expect from a publicly traded company, http://emi-enterprises.com/. According to their site they deal with furniture for the North American market. However, they offer no information on their customers and no mentioning of their contracts with JC Penny, Nordstroms and Tesco. The domain name was registered in Feb 2008, updated in Feb 2009 and expires in Feb 2010. Seems a bit strange to me that a company goes for the shortest possible domain registration. But then again, what do I know about about domain name management? I would love to learn more about EM International Enterprises so I check their contacts page. Unfortunatly, they only offer an email address to contact them. But another Google search and I found their corporate address in Florida.
I did a search on this address. I know, I’ve spent too much time on this now…
Anyway, on the same address I find another penny stock company with a name that is quite similar to EMIE so I checked them out as well.
I’ll leave the name of this other company out but I have to share this, quite funny!
The business of this other company is described as “The Group’s principal activities are restaurant operations and sewer equipment manufacturing.” and in case you are interested “Restaurant Operations accounted for 67% of 2003 revenues and Equipment Manufacturing, 33%”.
ROFL! Wonder what their “Soup of the Day” is?
So in summary, I had a great conversation with Mark and I am now eagerly looking forward to see if he is calling back in 90 days when EMIE.PK hits USD 6.75. I certainly hope he doesn’t forget so I miss out on the next fantastic investment opportunity!
Please note that Addison Management Group Asia and EM International Enterprises probably are bona fide companies of the best kind. I am not suggesting anything else, I am just a bit concerned about their online image. Should representatives of the AMGA or EMIE read this I would like to offer my consulting services at a discounted rate to help you manage your online presence better. It could be the difference between winning or loosing that next deal.
Hey Fred,
LOOOOVE your research, and it sounds ALMOST too good to be true…. which it then most likely is… but truly interesting to see all the hard work that goes in to scamming people – and for sure there will be plenty of people to take the bait, hook and sinker and go on to loose it all….. sad, sad, sad.
But at least you made my day, a good laugh and good memories of old days in Amsterdam
All the best
Keld
I still have the hook caught in my throat, should have seen it comming, luckly I only lost a couple of thousand and not my house! Like the saving goes, if it’s too good to be true it probably is! Addison Management Group Asia is a SCAM, I don’t know how they can sleep at night, shit they even sound as though they are well educated. If only they used their minds for good instead of evil this world could be a better place.
Hi, thanks for your research and comment! I’ve also received several calls from “Addison Management Group” and they proceeded as you described above, the same amount, shares etc…, the same scheme! Only the guy’s name who called me was Peter Anson and not Mark Sherman, but it could be also the same person! My stomach-feeling already gave me an insecured feeling when he called me even it sounds good, too good to be true! For sure the next call will come soon….then I know what I have to respond to him and after that hopefully he will never call me again! I really hope others will feel the same like me and will not trust them!!
Fredrik
Thanks for taking the time to do some research and even more important, making it available on-line.
Thanks also to Anthony for confirming their scam. People like these should be thrown into jail, but they are free to lie and steel from us without anybody being able to put a hand on them.
I have had a similar experience in 2004 when a gentleman with exactly the same story as Mark Sherman called me and bamboozled me out of USD40000!
I also got called a few days ago with this unbelievable investment opportunity and decided to google the company name.
Be aware, you will loose whatever money you invest with them!
Thanks for the info, interesting reading, I was also contacted by the Addison group about 2 months ago, same story EMIE, same figures, nice shiny brochure to boot, they surely like to give it the speel on the phone but don’t seem to happy to respond to questions, like, “Where did you get my phone number and address”? (probably a stupid question)”and If you are a stock management company you’re not just watching EMIE, so there’s no reason why you cant give me a good half dozen tips on the market If you’re as good as you say you are”. Changing the subject back around to EMIE I was told EMIE were selling out to WallMart not Tesco so at least they could try and get their story straight!!! I think I’ll sit this wonderful opportunity out and see what the 90 days brings.
Great info. I was just contacted a few moments ago by Addison Management Group. I am getting a three month subscription in the mail for FREE to their newsletter. The women on the phone was not happy with some questions I asked her and said she would have to speak to management about my questions – they were referring mainly to their “global presence”. However, now I know the scam I think it is time for full steam ahead to Scam Baiting. Oh, this could be FUN! Perhaps I will start out obvious and say something like “Peter Anson already called me and told me to invest in the an up-and-coming high end shoe maker, Mark Sherman”. Happy Times ahead for me!
Tim
Guys, just to let you all know I was just about to invest before I read your comments and thank you. Richard Lynch called me from Addison Management a week ago. He told me that he had word of a construction company that was about to sign a joint venture agreement with massive US firm which would send their stock through the roof. I told him that I was not going to invest on this occassion but to keep me on his contact list. Oh, I am looking forward to his next call !!
Dear All,
Add me to the list of people to be bothered by this croud, three seperate callers in 6 months. One guy claimed to be calling me from Japan, but when I reverted to speak in Japanese he didnt have a clue what I was saying. Latest call today from Brian in Dehli, same spill on 4USD per share wanting to sell me a max of 10,000 Shares with an expected retunr of 6.xx in 90 days. He got upset when I told him I buy shares throuhg my bank.
Take care people.
Thanks for setting up this blog. It does help to stay clear!
I got a call last week from the said company, from an agent named Bill.
This time, the story was about EMIE having signed a major deal with WalMart.
The rest was the usual script that seems to be used, pretty much the same wording and promises, stock can be purchased at 4 USD, target price of 6-6.50 USD.
The stock is ‘trading’ currently at 4.25 USD, if you want 200 shares changing hands really call that..
Well isn’t all this interesting. Scam Scam Scam !!! Thanks so much for all your input and the setup of the blog itself. I have the same story as Clinton’s above; at least they are consistently scamming as the story was exactly the same as Clinton’s experience seeing its the same day. I said I would be doing the due diligence and asked him (my guy was Max Richardson)to email what he was telling me. He did email me and the details,for what they are worth, are here: he sent them from his VERY professional email address which is “Addison Management Group Asia [mail@addisonmanagementgroupasia.com]”
Max Richards, Senior Account Executive, Addison Management Group Asia
Unit #1220 Ansal Towers
38 Nehru Place
New Dehli
110019 India
Telephone +91 11 4120 7158
Facsimile +91 11 4120 7159
Haven’t bothered to ring the number in his signature. Wouldnlt you just love to meet up with these guys. Regards to All
I weakened and decided to ring the number provided for the Addison Management Group Asia ie. +91 11 4120 7158. I rang the number and asked for a fictitious person who the woman assured me was in the office but currently on the phone so I said I would wait and of course she wanted me to leave all my details so he could ring me back; is he still on the phone; “oh yes he is”. I hung up in disgust!
Thanks guys for these comments … no, really, they had me convinced, even AFTER I hollered ‘Scam’ down the phone at them to see the reaction ! A loose wire in my mind after mulling the ‘unbelievable’ intro offer of Tesco shares ( floor price of $4/share…with predictions of $9/share by 6 weeks) led me to tap in the net connection. This site showed up which I zeroed in straight off … and boy am I glad I saw this !! The pitch by Max Richards was perfect, slick and fast and nearly had me suckered for $10K which I narrowed to 5K because I stick to conservative tracks in new buys.
It is a shame. The glossy mag, loaded down with business ethics sure looked impressive, but the New Delhi operation troubled me and I think that was my ‘loose wire’ … out of the corporate reach and culpable responsibility loop… but just sufficiently credible to look legit.
I’m disappointed, I would like to think better of them, for all that flamboyant effort…but thanks to the originator of this site I think the low light will continue to tarnish the slick veneer.
My thanks to other conrtibutors here, too. I can sleep easy tonight now !!
All i can say is thanks I had got as far as had the invoice and account detials ready to pay when something said Google it dam that was close.
same story as all the above
thanks man I owe you one!!!
Similar story for me guys… except that I have been contacted by Tokyo (Tesco deal)and New Delhi (Walmart deal) (Jan & Feb ’09). Had been doing my own research… can stop now! Scam Scam Scam. Thanks for setting up the blog… and let’s hope others also have the mind-set to use search engines before parting with their hard earned cash!
It seems Addison are still going strong, I was contacted with the WalMart-EMIE deal a few months back, I deciding to sit that one out. Bill Douglas Contacted me yesterday morning with the latest hot tip, MPB Development Corp, to tell the truth I wasn’t give it my full attention, I was thinking about this forum.
I think he seemed to notice I was otherwise pre-occupied.
Their latest angle seems to be “because I don’t know you, I can’t let you in at a high level investment” we reserve the higher levels for our long term established clients”, the best he could do would be to let me in at the lower level of between 4 and 6k, Ain’t I the Lucky one? Hopefully to put a stop to him bothering me any more I e-mailed this link to him along with a few choice words,I’m also going to send in an article to Go Article and give them the publicity they deserve.
Hey, just was contacted regarding a MPDD deal with BlackStone, quote from the guy ” you as a professional investor certainly know about these details. Made me puke. These guys are as slik as it gets. Thanks for all the input.
Thanks guys,
same story, same company names and same great sales speech. I didn’t fall just because of my natural coldness of getting in such business.
Even if I spent a lot of time with the salesman, I never gave my strong agreement on the buy but I received a email confirmation included an invoice (I received the booklet and paper before). I replied immediatly to cancel and had no reply.
Today, they just called me because they bought the shares under my name (as they said …) and they just threated me to prosecute if I don’t pay. The mood was really different from the previous call. Of course I have never signed anything and the fact I had no reply and my cancellation email gave me legitimacy. After reminding me I (in fact nobody) bought the shares at 3.5 usd and now it is 4.5 usd and expect rise to whatever … he just asking me if I will pay “yes or no ?”
And then just reply no.
Now I have read your posts, I’m feeling better. Good to know the clues to track the scammers on internet. Thanks for all participation.
I make you a list of possible contact guy :
Mark Sherman, Richard Lynch, Christopher Warren (it was my lastest), Michael Sherman (Mark’s brother I presume), Bill Douglas … all of them have the same email
ps : according to the other forum, it seems LML Global http://www.lmlglobal.net is the same kind of scammers.
There is another company out there now, Century Direct Group (CDG) http://www.centurydirectgroup.com trying to sell the EMIE – WalMart deal for $4.15 and it is the same story as all the other comments above here but this time the names are Brian Archer and Kevin Tate.
These guys from Addison Management Group (Bill Harper, George Banks)are scums. I hope one day they get what they deserved.