POMPANO BEACH, Fla.—According to an article in the Miami Herald, Florida's Division of Consumer Services and the State Attorney General's office has received complaints about kiosk advertising vendor, Success Concepts International.
Hundreds of people around the nation invested their money when the company promised a hefty profit through in-store advertising displays. Now the investors are saying they're victims of fraud.
'They lied to me,' said Leo Roland of New York, who said he lost $49,000 in the deal. “They had no intention of paying me.'
In November 2003, Roland paid $49,000 to buy one kiosk, which used a flat screen to display images of commercial advertising.
He said he was told he would earn a guaranteed $3,750 a month on his investment for three years starting in March. It didn't happen.
'I just got taken for a ride,' Roland said.
David Tarr, who started Success Concepts said, he brought in a president last year to help with the business and he himself was swindled out of money.
'It was a hostile takeover,' said Tarr, who claims he lost everything and is looking for work.
Tarr developed the advertising kiosks last year, but they were unsuccessful and the company ran into trouble. 'The advertisers weren't going for it,' Tarr said.
Tarr said investors bought 681 kiosks from his company, but almost everyone lost their money. Tarr claims he had no idea that the company was closing. He said he had a 36 percent share in the company, and that he's out of money.
'They bankrupted me,' he said. ``I have integrity. I've been scammed, too.”
