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For the second time in about a month, the FTC sued a company that falsely promised it would show people how to earn money in real estate to get them to pay thousands of dollars for seminars.

In the latest case, the FTC filed a complaint against Nudge, a company that sells training programs and other services to aspiring real estate investors. Nudge encouraged people to attend one of its Preview Events through mailings and infomercials featuring TV personalities from shows like “Flipping Vegas,” “Flip Men,” “Renovate to Rent,” and “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles.” One infomercial featured a celebrity who promised to share a “formula for success” in real estate investing that was “proven” to get results. But these events were mainly sales pitches to get people to buy workshops costing more than $1,000.

What do you think happened at these expensive workshops? You guessed it: even more sales pitches — this time for “Advanced Training” costing tens of thousands of dollars. In all, according to the FTC’s court filings, Nudge raked in more than $400 million from its pricey seminars. What’s more, an FTC survey of Nudge customers showed more than 95 percent of people who attended the seminars ended up paying more to Nudge than they cleared in subsequent real estate transactions.

If someone says you can earn a lot of money on an investment with little or no risk, that’s probably a scam. Learn more about investment and business opportunity seminars before buying into the hype. And if you know about an investment scam, tell the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint.

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The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
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  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

NorieMimi
November 06, 2019
In the past few months I have been besieged with messages left from people claiming to be Apple. Sometimes calling repeatedly and leaving the same message within minutes of each other. Normally I would just block the calls. These folks are using numbers from around the United States. Very frustrating and alarming at how savvy the crooks are getting. If I don’t know the number, I don’t answer the phone.
Ron
November 06, 2019
Avoid the RICH DAD program - it is a rip off real estate scheme, unfortunately I lost a lot of money on this. Takes advantage of veterans based on the founder is a veteran - but they do not care about vets
Not Rich
November 07, 2019

In reply to by Ron

The same happened to me. I lost close to $6,000 and I am still renting and cannot buy a home because of bad credit. I borrowed money to pay for the program, traveling and camp. Stop them.
Ms.Muggi
November 06, 2019
FTC is super.......
Annie
November 12, 2019
I am so sick of these calls. You are expecting your doctor to call so you answer. These people are obnoxious and pushy. I have received calls every day, text and email. Why isn't Congress or our state legislature creating laws to protect us ? Make it against the law to anything more than write. I think my lender is selling my information.
roughrider
November 14, 2019
I got robbed for 1700.00
Landmark
June 25, 2020
Be careful of scams. It is important to know who are you talking or dealing a business with before giving money or personal information. For security reasons.
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