> The message below came from another list I belong to. Passing it > along FYI. > > Subject: Rip-offs of the genealogy community continues > > Good Morning, friends and cousins in the genealogy community! > > The response to the identification of the genealogy rip-off operation > in Denver last week has been tremendous with a steady stream of requests > > for add'l info. > > The operation in Denver with a newly discovered "branch" in Utah is an > incarnation of the identical scheme that Halbert's used. The same form > letters, books and newsletters are being sold, and the same fake > "Crests" and other products are being created "to exacting standards". > > The new incarnation has not yet been linked financially to Halbert´s or > NUMA (Halbert parent), but the resemblance is so close, they could be > joined at the hip, operating under dba's Mountain West News Service, > Mountain Pacific News Service, and MORPHCORP. The Better Business Bureau > > reports that the company has joined the BBB in January 2000, opened in > 1985, and is rated as satisfactory. A complete history of Halbert's, > courtesy of Jeff Scism (despite our surname homonyms, we ain't kin --- > he hopes!) is available at > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~blksheep/shame/halberts.htm > > Volunteers interested in assisting in informing the genealogy community > of this scam have come out of the woodwork. We would ask the recipients > > of this email the following: > 1) A sample of the Colorado flyer is at > http://www.dfc.cc/CyberCousins/genfraud.jpg > Print it and post in the genealogy section at your library with > appropriate message and make announcements at your gensoc. > > 2) After you have read it, as a researcher you realize the fraud that it > > is. Go to the Federal Trade Commissions website at > https://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.htm and file a complaint ONLINE. For > a sample complaint and further detailed information to use, please go to > > http://www.dfc.cc/CyberCousins/complaint.txt > > 3) Forward this to every list you are on. > > 4) If you are a member of NGS (shane@ngsgenealogy.org) or FGS > (fgs-office@fgs.org), contact those organizations and ask that they get > members motivated. Gentech, Inc. (beau@connect.net) has a director and > a well-known regular conference speaker in the Denver metro. I asked > them to do some local research. No response to date. > > 5) Contact every genealogy columnist whose work you read, both local and > > online such as Myra Gormley (myravg@prodigy.net} or Dick Eastman > (ROOTS@compuserve.com) who was stalwart in early work on Halbert's, both > > of whom, as well as others, are on this list. No response to date. > > 6} If you have rec'd a flyer yourself, please report the names and > addresses to me. We need to know all the DBAs they are using. Then > take it to the local post office and file a complaint. > > 7) If you are in the Denver area, we need search of the court house > records to determine any corporate connections. If we can make a > corporate connection, I am fairly sure the restraints placed on > Halbert's can be extended by the proper authorities. > > 8) If you are a supplier (software, services, researcher) to the > genealogy community, this type of scam effects you even more. > Contribute to the effort. > > 9)This is no small time scam. Halbert's is owned by a company named > NUMA whih in turn is owned by CENDANT. Go to > http://itjobs.cendant.com/cendant_co.html to find other Cendant > companies. You will NOT be happy with how you have been doing business > with folks like this --- I promise you. > > These scams are more likely to rip off folks less involved in genealogy > than most recipients of this msg. Most of us will recognize it for what > > it is and trash it. That does not relieve us of the responsibility of > making it more difficult for these and other parasites within our > community to enjoy their ill-gotten gains. I have found far too many > that "don't want to get involved", "Didn't happen on my watch." (to use > an old Navy excuse), running from controversy and responsibility. Let > us unite in eradicating those that are behind an obvious attempt to > profit unethically from the popularity of genealogy.