Crystal Lake Scam
A Crystal Lake business and its owner face civil charges alleging that they bilked customers out of at least $3,500 each in enrollment fees while violating both the Consumer Fraud Act and Business Opportunity Sale Law.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan on Monday filed a 21-page, two-count civil complaint against Insider Real Estate and Christopher Scanlan in Cook County Circuit Court.
Calls to Insider Real Estate, on McArdle Drive in Crystal Lake, went straight to voice mail. Messages left for the company were not returned Monday night.
According to the company's Web site, however, Insider Real Estate is committed to 'providing the best in real estate education and customer service.'
Madigan's complaint alleges that Scanlan, the founder and owner of Insider Real Estate, misled consumers into signing up for seminars designed to teach methods for profiting in the pre-foreclosure real-estate market.
Customers were led to believe that, by signing up for the course, they would get inside information that could help them make between $18,000 and $25,000 on an average transaction, the complaint alleges.
Instead, according to the civil complaint, the clients were given no inside information, but instead were trained to do networking for Scanlan and his property.
'Consumers are led to believe they are paying for an educational program,' the complaint reads. Instead, [Scanlan uses] the [Insiders Real Estate] program not to teach consumers about making money off the foreclosure market, but rather to deceive customers into paying $3,500 for the privilege of generating leads for the defendants."
At least six people have complained about the deal, according to the complaint. It also says Scanlan founded Insider Real Estate on Feb. 17, 2005, with the goal of advertising and offering for sale business opportunities regarding the pre-forclosure marketing to the public.
The complaint alleges that Scanlan and his company violated the Business Opportunity Sales Law by selling business opportunities without proper registration.
