Fight Vanzandt

I need some help. I got a call from Aram. He's living in Wales and stays with an elderly gentleman named David. David has recently been scammed out of a LARGE chunk of change and they asked me to help.

Here's what I know:

A representative from the Vanzandt group called David and convinced him to pay them for shares in various start up companies (I've got a list of them below). The shares are worthless.

Smart Grid Systems, Inc
Seven waterfront Plaza 500 Ala Moana Blvd,
Honolulu, Hawaii 96819
Telephone (702) 664-0042.
invest@smart-gridsystems.com
www.smart-gridsystems.com

Selva Resources Corp
565 Las Vegas Boulevard, Suite 723
Las Vegas, Nevada 89109

Green Energy Live, Inc
1740 44th Street, Suite 5-230
Wyoming, MI 49519
Phone:(866) 460-7336
Fax 616-582-5943
Karen Clark
President/CEO
Green Energy Live, Inc

http://www.greenenergylive.com

I have requested more info on Vanzandt itself and I'm currently waiting for that. According to the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA), Vanzandt is not authorized to do business in the UK (http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/Regulated/Law/Alerts/overseas.shtml).

I did a little research and found out that this type of scam is refered to as a Boiler Room Scam.

Such firms are often involved in ‘boiler room’ activities and pose a high degree of risk to consumers. They frequently engage in tactics including cold-calling members of the public offering shares that later turn out to be worthless or high risk. - FSA

David's next steps are to file a complaint with his local police, the FSA and a City of London Police Task Force called Operation Archway.

David's ultimate hope is to recoup some of his money. To do that, as I understand it, his first steps are to find the country in which Vanzandt is registered and find out what the local laws are.

I know it's a long shot, but is there anything we can do?

Edit:

The VanZandt Group has phone numbers in Switzerland and are also listed on the ASIC (Australian Securities and Investment Commission)cold-calling blacklist and the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority list of Invester Alerts.

Ph: 435 002 593 and 44 308 3535
Fax: 434 302 117

Boycott Donato's

I ordered a pizza last week from Donato's online. I ordered one of their online specials and entered the code.

When the pizza arrived, we paid and the driver left. But then he came back.

"I need the coupon," he said.

"It was an online special. There is no coupon," I said.

"If you don't have the coupon, you have to pay the full price," he said.

That wasn't going to happen and I told him so. He called his manager and she said that I needed to pay the difference or give the driver the coupon. I told him I'd need to talk to the manager myself.

I called Sarah and we discussed the matter. She told me that Donato's is cracking down on coupons and that, if they don't turn in the paper coupons, then corporate won't honor the discount and someone has to pay for it.

I explained that I had used online coupons before without incident and that it didn't make sense that I would be responsible to validate an online special from their own website. She told me that's just how it is.

She asked me to print the coupon. I refused. I didn't have any ink, but I told her there was no way I'd print it under any circumstances.

Sarah told me she'd let it side this time, but next time...

I told her not to worry about the next time; there wouldn't be one.

Here's why:

When the customer fails to turn in a coupon, Donato's corporate won't honor the coupon. They take the money from the DRIVER.

The driver. Of all the links in the chain the driver is the one who pays the price.

Not to put it lightly, but I don't like that policy. I don't want to do business with a company like that. There are too many other (better) pizza companies that don't screw their drivers.