The Better Business Bureau of Hawaii is cautioning local residents about a company marketing a work-from-home scheme. The company, Medicard Associates, has already been shut down in Oregon after an investigation found promises of training and money-back guarantees never materialized. BBB warning
By Lyn Danninger
isle residents about
work-from-home scam
Star-BulletinMedicard Associates offers potential customers the opportunity to earn up to $395 a week by creating medical identity cards at home, in exchange for a $40 start-up kit. In fact, the company requires customers to set up their own businesses with its starter kit.
The company lists an address and a phone number in Keaau on the Big Island. It also has an Internet site at www.medicardassociates.com. The phone number rings to an answering machine that requests personal information, including a credit card number, for those who want the start-up kit.
Anne Deschene, president of the Hawaii Better Business Bureau, said her office began receiving inquiries from consumers a week ago.
Based on the volume of calls the bureau received, she said the company may have moved to Hawaii recently from Oregon.
"It's not unusual for companies like this to move a couple of states over," she said.
Deschene said bureau inquiries to the company by phone and letter have not been answered.
"We've tried to call, we've written letters but there's been no response," she said.
The company was shut down in Oregon and owner Gordon Schultz ordered to give refunds to all consumers who requested them. Schultz was also ordered to pay $1,000 to the Oregon Department of Justice.
Oregon Department of Justice investigators reviewed at least 33 complaints from out-of-state consumers who paid $35 to $55 for kits to sell and fabricate medical ID cards, according to a press release from the department.
The state of Oregon already issued a cease and desist order against Medicard Associates, Home Employment Opportunities, United Financial Group and Schultz, who could not be located for comment.