Quite The Telecom Equipment Scam
from the all-worked-out dept
Broadband Reports point us to a Forbes story concerning the huge telecom equipment scam operation called Norvergence. The company was apparently selling $2,000 router/firewall boxes (that were available for $300 on eBay) by calling it "The Matrix: a merged access transport intelligent exchange." They then targeted small, non-tech-savvy businesses with fast talking salespeople promising "unlimited broadband, landline and cell phone service with no per-minute charges." Even better, they weren't actually selling them, but "leasing" them at $300/month for a minimum five year lease. Then, to make matters even more ridiculous Norvergence sold those leases to leasing and banking companies. Norvergence got all the cash ($143 million in 2003) and ran, while everyone else got screwed. Meanwhile, the founders of Norvergence have already bankrupted another telecom startup, leaving creditors in the hole by nearly $70 million, and are already hard at work on yet another telecom startup. Why not? It seems to pay so well. Is there any possible reason these guys haven't been arrested yet?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
The Matrix
In the unlikely event they're convicted and given prison sentences, they'll likely be allowed to plea it down to nothing. Even if convicted they will not be forced to give stolen money back as a condition for reduced prison time. In the unlikely event that they have to do stir, it will probably be a special minimum-security "white" collar crime facility. They won't have assholes stretched to the size of softballs.
For scum like this, who won't be prosecuted by any agency responsible for law enforcement, there is only one punishment. Scum like this deserves immediate termination: "two in the head and one in the heart, knocks them down and keeps them dead". They won't stop until they know the terminal solution will be applied, so I say - Kill them all and let God sort out the rest.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Just wondering ...
And it certainly isn't a "scam" (in the sense of someone selling "viagra" pills that are really just sugar pills). Going bankrupt isn't illegal, or a sign that what you're doing is a "scam."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Just wondering ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]