Recently, a friend that has her own S-Corp received an email and phone call from the "B2G Institute" that crowed:
A Proven Way to Grow Your Business
In 2003, nearly 20,000 small businesses across America received their FIRST government contract. Government contracts are solid, secure, and almost as good as money in the bank because the government is required by law to pay invoices within 30 days. Uncle Sam may be the ultimate customer for your business.
An Urgent Need for Your Services
The U.S. government is also required by law to award the lion’s share of its business to outside vendors of all types. Thus, the government needs companies both large and small to apply for its contracts. And the potential is huge. More than $327 billion in contracts will be available nationally this year alone. Of this total, nearly $70 billion in contracts will be reserved exclusively for small businesses.
The B2G Institute is an independent training organization formed to help private and public businesses across America master the government contract bidding process.
Hoping to get a small part of the billions being thrown around for economic stimulus and recovery, and being a minority and women owned business, she signed up and went to the seminar.
She reported that although the first three-quarters of the two-hour seminar was filled with facts, anecdotes, and government procurement websites thrown at the audience in a barking staccato style from a shaved-headed man that was introduced as a former Air Force flight instructor (there were no handouts), when he got to the last 15 minutes of the seminar things got surreal.
He began barking and chanting that attendees needed to fill out the enrollment papers just passed around – that there was no online or phone enrollment – and that, oh yeah, he needs the $5,000 charge on your credit card now.
As she and about 80% of the room were walking out after this, she noticed three orthodox Jews in full dress and beard-around-the-ears standing in the back of the room with some other B2G assistants surveying the scene. Strange, since there are no orthodox Jews in the seminar area and since they clearly were part of the group putting on the seminar.
Suspicious, when she got in her car, she Googled B2G and scam, and, lo and behold, this came up on these vultures.
From the news report:
The so-called institute is yet another creation of Telligenix Corp, Dynetech of Orlando. The company, over the years, has created a number of seminars dealing about foreclosure sales, cash flow, and one minute millionaire to name a few.
In 2007 San Diego 6 reporter John Mattes exposed one of their seminars that promised to make you money in foreclosures. The cost of that seminar was $3900. The seminar was led by a foreclosure specialist who we discovered was a bankrupt professional promoter.
A Unit 6 investigation found the B2G institute charges at least $3000 for seminars and, according to their ads, is founded by Fred Steinberg.
Their web site says "Fred is a leader in the cash flow industry. He's served as a visiting instructor for the American Cash Flow Institute (ACFI)."
Unit 6 discovered Steinberg formerly ran several companies in Florida and was a defendant in a number of investor lawsuits. His company is now bankrupt and investors claim they were defrauded.
His criminal record includes three arrests for grand theft and one where he was charged with a scheme to defraud. In 2004 he was charged with racketeering and was acquitted by a jury. None of that information is disclosed is any of the seminar ads.
It is bad enough we are in tough times and everyone is struggling, but to then have devils like this prey on the most vulnerable is beyond sleazy – it is evil.
Beware this B2G scam, and others like it.