Disposable Cell Phone Company Hop-On Wireless CEO Indicted For Fraud

from the and-yet-the-hype-goes-on... dept

Last year we had the story of how it looked like disposable cell phone company Hop-On Wireless was a scam. Since then, I've seen the company highly touted in many news stories, talking about how it was this great invention... but which no one seemed to be selling. Now, the CEO of Hop-On has been arrested for fraud, relating to work he did on an earlier company - but which brings up many parallels to Hop-On. The earlier company was an online gambling site, which he raised a lot of money for. However, they did so by showing software that was really someone else's software "cosmetically altered" to look like their own. Hop-On's "disposable phones" were really Nokia phones with their own plastic casing put around them. Then, he promised not to take any salary until the company was making enough money, but did still use the investors' money to pay off his credit card debts and then gave another shell company he owned a $500,000 contract. Eventually, that gambling company was morphed into Hop-On. This article also doesn't mention the fact that Hop-On got in trouble for not filing a tax return for a few years. They also were known for putting out press releases announcing huge deals with companies like Chevron after having a single exploratory meeting with them. I noticed in the past month or so that I'd been receiving spam emails touting Hop-On's stock. I wonder why... Hop-On had originally announced they would be selling the devices by 2001, but they still aren't for sale.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Oliver Wendell Jones, 19 Apr 2003 @ 7:27am

    Sadly...

    Sadly, I remember seeing this company touted in internal presentations at my company about how this represented a branding opportunity for us to give away cheap, disposable phones with out company logo on them and how we should support this company... :-(

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    TAD, 20 Apr 2003 @ 7:35pm

    Why Can't Someone Else?

    Why can't another company do this? It seems like such a great idea! Or is the tech just not there yet?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    dorpus, 20 Apr 2003 @ 11:34pm

    Re: Why Can't Someone Else?

    I've read that making a cell phone under $100 is not currently feasible, and not expected to be any time soon.

    It may be a good thing though -- imagine the potential for fraud, crime with disposable cell phones. Telemarketers from hell.


    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    larry sode, 23 Apr 2003 @ 1:21pm

    the hop-on saga

    i was intrigued by the thought of a disposable phone..........tried to buy one..........got the runaround for the better part of 3 years, and now i read this..............it seemed like a scam.......the picture of their "corporate headquarters" in suite 110 was the iceing on the cake..........2 million phones to india...........and in the end all they seem to have sold was a few phones at a walgreens store in garden grove california..............having said that, it still would have been interesting to see one in person

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Alice, 16 Jan 2004 @ 9:56am

    Re: the hop-on saga

    I actually ordered a Hop-On from the Walgreens store in Gargen Grove! Guess what? ... it doesn't work.
    That's why they call it disposable, I guess.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Sandra Kendall, 21 Oct 2004 @ 1:57pm

    Hop on cell phones

    What a pity that people cheat and steal, and can't use their own ideas. Hop on phones sounded really good, but all along I thought something wasn't right. The company kept advertising that they were supplying phones all over the wordl except one problem, they hadn't been introduced first in the United States. They kept changing the date that they would be offered in the United States. I wouldn't even consider purchasing a hop on phone if another company took over. THis has burned me.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Lou from Chicago Theatre, 12 May 2006 @ 9:17am

    Re: the hop-on saga

    fuck you larry.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Susan, 30 May 2006 @ 1:57pm

    Re: Re: the hop-on saga

    Well, "Lou", you may want to consider that "Larry" had a valid point, in that the company as a whole is as totally bogus as their "storefront" in Dallas, TX.
    I know, as I work in the same building, just across the hall as a matter of fact. They were kicked out months ago after all of their staffers cleaned out their offices and hit the trail. But then, maybe you were an investor? Or maybe just someone without literacy beyond words with four letters?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    David, 17 Aug 2006 @ 7:15am

    Re: Re: Re: the hop-on saga

    Susan or other people who know about this company I am interested to know more. Does the company still exist? Where are they now? Is their internet Site correct with the new headquarters?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    David Perry, 10 Jan 2007 @ 6:24pm

    Any News

    Seems to be lots of frustraion with Hop On. I worked with them several years ago in Dallas on new cell phone designs and they ordered lots of parts from us. Has anything happened since the supposed reorg last year? Did they just rip thier investors off?

    - curious

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    William Murray, 11 Apr 2007 @ 9:13pm

    HOP-ON stocks

    I noticed that the stock is still going up. It went from .0012 to .035 in the past couple of months.
    stock symbol - HPNN

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    William Murray, 11 Apr 2007 @ 9:24pm

    Has anyone noticed the date on this article?

    Has anyone noticed the date on that article? Friday, April 18th, 2003 @ 2:23PM

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Michael Spears, 2 Mar 2008 @ 1:06pm

    hop on sux

    I purchased a wireless unit for my nokia phone. Not only didnt it work, their site was useless. When you type something (a model number) in the search feature nothing happens. I mean NOTHING...like the search feature is disconnected.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    John Mayer, 3 Jul 2008 @ 4:13pm

    Hop On still around?

    I remember when the stock was hpon.pk, I invested some money in them and lost it all. I didn't know they changed there stock name to hpnn.pk I guess they are still scamming people thinking this is a real company.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    D, 6 Dec 2009 @ 4:39pm

    Re: Hop On still around?

    I was given 1100 shares of this stock for xmas many years ago...to bad it's worthless.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.