Hi Renzo,
My 2 cents,

Ive never been tempted but, i know a gent whom has bought such an idea or "********" last year, he is a customer of mine.(they tried my wifes boss also and he is an accountant, he nearly paid them a sh*t load until my wife told him to talk to me first, lucky boy !)
I spoke to him about it and he went through the same drama.
Find out if they are based in QLD, if they are it is because the rules and regulations apparently up there have been manipulated to make this sort of thing easy to do, it apparently ties in with the "growth" of the racing industry and investment in that area,people in certain spots are turning and looking the other way, sunshine or gold coast, thats what this fella told me, what he did was this and he got the majority of his money back was,

lodge a complaint with asic,
lodge a complaint with the police both in nsw and qld(making sure you get referance numbers),
lodge a complaint with the federal police,
Go to your local member of parliment,
Attatch a lawyer to it (started with a cheap black and white no frills brand, you know the type tucked away in the back streets)
He then sent them a letter of demand, with all relevat attatched documents together with a letter of intent to take them to court for his money and costs.

He said that it was enough to make them pay.
What they do is suck you in, take your money and the old trick, most people will just give up when things get too hard, what im saying is keep at them, they prey on people just giving in, keep ringing the bast@#$*s, fax them, email them, keep a log of this, they will either slip up or get tirred of you pestering them.

Well, its up to you !
but just a tip ! slow and steady wins the race, you could have started with your 5000 bank and sslllooooowwwllly built it up and up, anyway good luck
Cheers and stay at them

other than reporting to the relevant authorities, there is stuff all else you can, or more importantly, SHOULD do to try to recover your money, else you will find yourself be fleeced by the biggest & most ruthless thieves of them all.

ps no prizes for guessing to which profession i am referring.

but then again the old baseball bat hiding in the back of the shed can often achieve a result or two.

Mad, agree entirely, I have also expressed an opinion that the Publications that carry their adverts have a lot to answer for and should also be prosecuted. They KNOW, as anyone who has any connection with racing knows ( except a few gullible first timers)* that the claims made in the ads are outrageous cannot possibly b e true, yet they still accept the ads. I was shot down in flames here on this forum for expressing that opinion, anyone agree with me??

* Not getting at anyone there, weve "ALL" done it!

Davez, yup been there done that, as you say come back as a Banker or "ONE OF THEM" hah!

to be born with no ethics or dignity? hmm.... it does have a certain degree of appeal partyp!

but no, rather be a dunny cleaner at a 20 year long diahorrea convention than come back as "ONE OF THEM"!

i should offer apologies to any members that "practice" said profession but its highly unlikely you deserve it .

Hiya all,
Thanks heaps for all your support... Am definetely going to pursue the likes of the ASIC, ACCC, federal cops etc and see how I go etc... thanks for those tips.

Bhagwan, yes it is... you 'follow the smart money' where others are betting, it's between $5000, and $10k exactly (well $5k if someone has gotten a refund like they said).
In the gold coast as well, 100%... Keep away... You'd have more luck winning by giving the money to me :-) hehehe

I ended up telling them my fiance was unhappy and wanted me to give it back as well...last thing I wanna do is aggrivate her... maybe I should get her to call them hehe.. they'd give it back right away... but yeh as stated, I'll go through all those avenues, and hopefully they will then listen.

They *have* a letter of demand from a lawyer, but they retaliated with 'bring it on'.

They also claim I'll get support from them, but hey, they changed their phone number without telling me, so I must not have been on the list.

The guy there told me the directors were o/s etc to delay me for about 3-4 weeks, and found out that HE was one of the directors as well...

I will pursue, and keep you guys up to date... it's a matter of principle now...

If anyone knows of a 'lawyer' that could do me another letter of demand, I'd be more than happy to go with a recommended one.. I'll then pick a day, and re-do the ASIC, ACCC, police, local member in the g/coast, and Letter of demand, all at once... maybe being bombarded will help.

The hardest thing is that I got off with a $5k loss... what about the others who woulda paid $10k, as well as all the other ********** around that cost more than my house is worth...

Regards,
Renzo.

Have you tried talking to one of the 6.30pm current affairs shows. They're always looking for some scammers to chase and it sounds as if you have enough of a story to interest them. It won't get you any money back but it might get you some satisfaction and give them some bad publicity.

KV

Been there,
I know it's not right and smudges the whole industry.
Idealy, if any current affairs show can do another stint and use the power of the media, get as many as possible for a class action court case.( I think that's the terminology) and make it a point this time so it goes down in history, one to be remembered.
Hound them and hound to the ends of this planet and out of existance.
I am sure there are many student journalists who would have a field day at this if it could.
Or, how about asking "Big Brother" if they can do what they do now ( and it's soo boring anyway) and get on to these sharks.
Penalty should not only be a refund of money taken,but also make them distribute their software for free with source codes,compilers, the whole lot.
Kick their butts to oblivion and beyond

Just re-itereating I reckon you should also complain to the publication where you saw this thing advertised, as the more complaints they receive MAYBE they will do something about it,.......maybe.....

"yes it is... you 'follow the smart money' where others are betting, it's between $5000, and $10k exactly (well $5k if someone has gotten a refund like they said)."

They were renting the office in ......got kicked out...EDITED

re: BACO

Yup, that's them...
****EDITED***** was one of the directors, as well as the dumb receptionist...

Don't know how that info will help me, if at all, but am pleased to know they got kicked out due rent unpaid...:-) x 100

Wonder how they can continue to operate then...

Anyone seen any ads in the local paper advertising from them? They just gave me a call out of the blue - don't know where they got my number from.

Thanks for that info.