Bart de Bont brings back memories of a nightmare. He went to jail for ripping off my mother for over $15,000, both his mother in law & his uncle for over $100,00 each. He spent time in jail before this for scamming a bank. He's out now & still ripping people off . http://courtconnect.courts.ri.gov/pls/ri_adult/ck_public_qry_main.cp_main_idx
I did some research into this sketchy company and here are some links to things that I found:
Their site: http://www.portableinsights.com/
An article about an older company, owned by the same CEO: http://criminalpollsters.blogspot.com/2008/08/opinion-factor.html
I was able to find criminal records for the CEO, Bart DeBont, and also their Senior Production Manager most likely has a false name listed, as when you view the image file, you can see his name is actually Jason Morrell: http://www.portableinsights.com/IMAGES/Jason+Morrell.JPG
DeBont has 20+ records of fraud, embezzlement, etc.
Jason Morrell has one record of robbery.
Both men were part of 'Opinion Factor', the older company that I listed above.
The records for their crimes can be found here: http://courtconnect.courts.state.ri.us/pls/ri ... ain.cp_main_idx
Please do not fall for this scam, thank you and have a good day.
Are you sure it was the right number?Spoofers will use a legitimate number.If you called back and were asked questions then told you didn't' qualify it isn't necessarily a scam[whether for this company or others doing focus groups].I have done a focus group for them.They were very upfront.Though I found a cold call more than a little weird.I have done other focus groups.Normally you contact them and either register or are phone screened.I explained to them that the cold call was weird.They understood as they used to have people call them.They changed tactics as their demographic needed diversity.I haven't been paid out yet though.So that remains to be seen.
In case it wasn't obvious I checked them out before calling them back.They left the message on my machine.
Just an update.My payment was received.It was unavoidably late.The original sponsor of the project had an emergency.I am also posting this very late as my payment was in Nov.Look, this may be the same person as other posters say, as in a criminal.I find it hard to swallow though, considering who the focus group consisted of.Furthermore what it was about.