o       The product: This is typically a cheap and in some cases a refurbished or used credit card and / or check terminal with a market value averaging about $300 new, leased to a victim for $5,000 or more. Sometimes the product is nothing at all as in the case of the so-called "virtual terminal". It is often packaged together with "money saving" merchant services (merchant credit card and / or check processing service). The money savings is also typically the opposite; costing its victims hundreds more per month in transaction fees than what they were paying for legitimate service directly from their legitimate banks.

o       First, they continue to open new business entities all attempting to appear as though they are separate entities. For example, Microfinancial (MFI) begot Leasecomm, and then when Leasecomm was all used up and beaten to a pulp by retaliating masses, new entities were begotten such as Northern Leasing Inc., MBF Leasing LLC., Golden Eagle Leasing LLC., Lease Finance Group, Congress Finance Group, CTI Leasing, and many, many more. Some are purchased and others are created new. As each entity begins to get tarnished or assaulted by what is left of the uncorrupted law enforcement, they just open new entities and start operating them in the same way (modus operandi). Certain attempts are made to save their names such as answering all BBB complaints (at a satisfaction rate of about 51%) and settling out of court with any Attorney Generals or other authorities that have not been bought off by MFI and its many children.

o       Second, they push accountability for any fraud or deception during the initial transaction (where the victim usually signs a lease contract, among other service contract paperwork) out to what they call "ISO's" (Independent Sales Organizations). These ISO's, such as Merchant Services, Universal Merchant Services, Vericomm and many, many others are trained in the art of deception and take it upon themselves in many cases to be extremely conniving above and beyond their training. The money these ISO reps make is primarily or solely based on getting their victims to sign the lease contract. They are highly motivated because they can make $1,200 or more in commission per lease! These ISO reps use many different approaches to lure their victims into signing and even to blatantly forge their victim's signature. The most common / standard approach is to package / hide the lease amongst many other "service" contract documents the victim believes are for the purpose of saving them a great deal of money on credit card processing fees by switching from their existing and typically (though not always) legitimate credit card processing service provider. They seem to scavenge public records for new and unsuspecting business owners to prey upon. They are recruited in cities and states that are far from the entities headquarters (see how this is useful to them in the fifth step below). In some cases they will even sign a lease with a business that is already locked into a lease contract with another entity that is the same company by lying to the business representative / owner saying that they will buyout or sell the existing lease for them and not disclosing that it is in fact the same company. Many times ISO reps make up some false story about how their victim can't save tons of money unless they use the equipment they provide. In almost every single case, they refuse or avoid (as per their training) leaving any of the paperwork with the victim once the signatures have been obtained. The ISO also obtains 1 or more voided checks for the purpose of gaining access to the victim's bank account. The voided check is supposed to be for the purpose of enabling the merchant service provider to deposit transactions into the account as the credit / check card POS (Point Of Sale) terminal is used.

o       Third, there is the contract. This contract is presented by the ISO rep. as a single, mostly blank page. Various lies are given to get a signature on this one page. Once the signature is obtained, the page is sent to one of the business entities where they fill in the missing data as they wish, and attach several additional pages further detailing the unconscionable and fraudulent lease contract. This contract is then used as a tool to gain access to the victim's bank account and as a tool for intimidation of anyone that realizes the value to price ratio is way out of whack. There are several things about this contract that make it illegal and void. For example, there is a clause that says any legal action will only be allowed in New York (or wherever the particular entity is headquarted). This is a violation of the FDCA (Fair Debt and Collection Act). Also, the lease contract makes no mention or disclosure of the fair market value of the product being leased. Obviously nobody would lease a $300 item for $5,000. None of the attached pages contain a signature (because the victim was never presented these additional pages). There are many other things that make this contract void and illegal. In addition to all this, there is another clause in the unsigned pages that sneakily says that the victim must be current in payments and provide written notification of termination within 60 days of the contracts end of term, otherwise the term will automatically renew for another un-cancelable 48 months! Many victims do not realize that they have been paying for 5, 6, 8 years ($5,000, $10,000, or more!) for a $300 terminal!

o       Fourth, there is the strong-arm collection, contract enforcement and intimidation tactics. The entities that collect the leasing payments are relentless in taking the victim's money right out of their account with no regard. If the victim closes the account, the entities automatic dialers and brutal agents will bombard their victim with threatening letters demanding payment, and 10's of phone calls per day to the victim and to anyone else's phone that is used by the victim to communicate with the entity. The calls can be as little as 15 minutes apart and as many as 25 per day. The calls consist of demands for payment, threats of being sued, arrested, reported to credit bureaus and more. Other calls immediately disconnect when answered, or play a small portion of a recording before disconnecting. Any attempt to negotiate or speak to a supervisor are met with disconnection or threatening language or both. Any attempt to discuss anything except giving them a credit card number, bank account number, or some form of payment results in rudeness, threats, or disconnection of the call. The calls continue multiple times per day, every business day.

o       Fifth, they exploit the judicial system by filing lawsuits against their victims that have withstood the assault of calls and letters. They file lawsuits against their victims knowing that most of their victims will be unable to make the trip to court, because they make sure to victimize businesses that are not local to the jurisdiction mentioned as the only jurisdiction for any legal action. So the entities typically win their lawsuits by way of default judgment. Once the entities have obtained default judgment against their victims, they begin a brutal assault including garnishment, ruining credit, increasing the debt amount with various fees, and so on.

o       Although there appears to be no recourse for the victim, there is. That is the purpose of my website. You do have recourse. You CAN fight and WIN.