The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Dec. 28 that it has charged a group of defendants with allegations of deceiving consumers about a “work from home” scheme.
The defendants in the case are Ronnie Montano, Hyong Su Kim, Martin Schranz, and related companies that they owned. According to the FTC, the defendants told consumers it was possible to earn thousands of a dollars a day using a product called Mobile Money Code, which the defendants owned.
Consumers would allegedly receive spam emails sent via affiliate marketers, and these emails alerted consumers that Mobile Money Code products were part of a “secret method folks are using to make thousands of dollars per day [seriously!].” Consumers were purportedly led to believe they could generate “$ 60, 000 a month on 100 percent autopilot.”
Consumers were then allegedly lured to various websites owned by the defendants, such as mobilemoneycode.com, automobilecode.com and secretmoneysystem.com, where they would be shown videos featuring individuals saying they made thousands of dollars with Mobile Money Code products.
According to the FTC, the defendants’ promises were all false. Individuals shown in the videos on the websites were purportedly just paid actors.
The FTC charged the defendants with violations of the FTC Act’s ban on deceptive practices as well as the CAN-SPAM Act. The agency voted 2-0 to allow its staff to file the complaint against Montano, Kim and Schranz―as well as their affiliated businesses Montano Enterprises LLC, JK Marketing LLC and GSD Master AG. The agency filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
