Of course you remember Templar Panama, run by rabiblanco POS Gonzalo de la Guardia, manipulating land prices by falsely claiming Mel Gibson is building a resort next door and Carlos Slim a marina. And how the Division President of that Templar outfit is one Martin Roy Lamb.
Well, it turns out that Mr. Lamb has a history of scamming and stealing! Back in 2000, the US Federal Trade Commission had to start legal action to stop Martin Lamb & Co from running an "illegal lottery scam" out of Vancouver, Canada. Lamb was stealing money from old ladies and charging their credit cards without them even knowing it:
In December 2000, the FTC and Canadian law enforcers moved to halt a Vancouver-based telemarketing scam targeting senior citizens in the United States. At the request of the FTC, the U.S. District Court in Seattle ordered a temporary halt to the deceptive telemarketing practices, pending further proceedings. The court also ordered a temporary asset freeze and appointed a receiver over any assets obtained. The Consumer Services Division of the British Columbia Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General initiated a parallel enforcement action and asset freeze in the Province of British Columbia, Canada.
The FTC charged that the telemarketers, who operated under a variety of names including NAGG Holdings Ltd., Canada Prepaid Legal Services, and BSI Premium Bonds, guaranteed consumers would receive monthly payments between $5,000 and $12,000 in return for a one-time payment of up to $5,000. In addition, the FTC charged that the telemarketers called purportedly to market bonds - in some cases British Premium Savings Bonds - the purchase of which would qualify consumers for cash prizes, monthly cash payments, or bond investments with the chance to participate in monthly drawings for cash prizes. Consumers then received mailings that included a purported British National Savings Premium Savings Bond certificate and other documents indicating that the defendants would enter the consumer's name or bond numbers into the Premium Savings Bond program's monthly drawings for cash winnings. In fact, the consumers who paid the defendants received nothing of value. According to the FTC, National Savings, the second-largest savings institution in the U.K., is the only organization authorized to sell Premium Savings Bonds. Because the bonds have a lottery feature, they cannot legally be sold in the U.S. The FTC also alleged that some of the defendants placed unauthorized charges on consumers' credit cards and in some instances simply charged consumers' credit card accounts without ever having contacted them.
The complete press release is here.
One of the defendants was Martin Roy Lamb, in his capacity as president of the Calgary Concrete and Home Development Corp. See the court papers. He probably claimed Mel Gibson would personally come to your home and deliver the bonds and lottery prizes! Eventually they were fined and barred from selling anything in the US. And now he's in bed with Expat Center failure Gonzalo de la Guardia selling another fake product - land next to a Mel Gibson resort and a Carlos Slim marina that do not exist - to consumers in the US! As their website claims, they are "a team of specialists that share several decades of Real Estate sales experience" - they probably meant to write "Nigerian lottery scam experience".... Anyone here who wants to warn the FTC? You can do that here. Oh, and isn't de la Guardia a US citizen as well?
UPDATE: Here's how they do Public Relations at Templar, Bananama style: Spamming Craigslist! Muhahaha! Good luck with that, guys.