Posts Tagged ‘scam’

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Great America PAC is Yet Another Dan Backer Scam PAC

Saturday, May 14th, 2016

Hey, remember Dan Backer, the man behind such scam PACs as Stop Hillary PAC, Conservative Action Now and Patriots for Economic Freedom? Now he has a new Great America PAC ostensibly supporting Trump, run out of the same building as his other scam PACs.

If past experiences with his other PACs are any guide, expect lots of money to disappear into the pockets of Dan Becker and his associates, and very little spent supporting Trump. Which is probably one reason the Trump campaign has already disavowed Great America PAC. As of the last reporting cycle, Great America PAC sent a whopping total of $10 to the Donald J. Trump For President campaign.

Here’s another mystery: The top Great America PAC donor for the cycle was listed as Atlanta IT firm Revily Inc. giving $100,000. And the top recipient of Great America PAC expenditures? Revily Inc., who received…$100,000.

I just sent Revily Inc. an email asking about the amount. I’ll let you know if they reply.

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Posted in Elections, Republicans | 4 Comments »

Stop Hillary PAC is Another Dan Backer Scam PAC (And American Action News is a Sham Newsletter)

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2015

Recently I received a solicitation email from a “Stop Hillary PAC.” Well guess what? It’s another Dan Backer scam PAC.

Like “Conservative Action Fund” or “Patriots for Economic Freedom” or any of a number of scam PACs run by Backer and his associates Tyler Whitney and Michael Gruccio, they’re happy to take money from gullible conservatives, but almost none of that money ever ends up supporting actual candidates. Instead it gets channeled into the pockets of a small number of consultants.

Among the consultants getting the lions share of Stop Hillary PAC disbursements (warning: big PDF):

  • DB Capitol Strategies (owned and operated by Dan Backer)
  • American Action News, which has recently started spamming me with pro-Donald Trump email, and which, surprise surprise, has the exact same address as DB Capitol Strategies (203 S. Union St., Suite 300 Alexandria, VA 22314)!
  • Campaign Solutions of Alexandria, Virginia
  • Strategic Fundraising, which may be defunct
  • A Ted Harvey of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, which I assume is this Colorado State Representative.

    • For the record, here are the other groups that show up for that same 203 S. Union St., Suite 300 Alexandria, VA 22314 address:

  • American Defense News
  • Conservative America Now
  • Constitutional Rights PAC
  • EndJeb2016.com
  • innovationPAC
  • Special Operations Speaks
  • Stand With Rand
  • Stark360 PAC
  • The Tea Party Leadership Fund
  • ZP Action PAC (“ZP Action is in no way affiliated with Zeta Psi Fraternity of N.A. or the Zeta Psi Educational Foundation”)

    • It looks like I may a little late to this party: Someone outed Stop Hillary PAC as a Dan Backer scam last year. But boy does his weedy garden of fake PACs and sham news sources continue to grow like Topsy…

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    Posted in Elections, Republicans | 7 Comments »

    An In-Depth Look at Scam PACs

    Monday, March 2nd, 2015

    If you remember my pieces exposing Conservative Action Fund, Conservative America Now and Patriots for Economic Freedom as scam PACs, you know it’s an ongoing concern.

    Now Right Wing news has done an in-depth piece on 17 high-profile PACs, only three of which gave more than 50% of the money raised to candidates. It was particularly disappointing to see Tea Party Express use only miserable 5% of the funds raised on candidates and campaigns.

    Read the whole thing, including their caveats about the difficulty in measuring spending from some groups.

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    Posted in Elections, Republicans | No Comments »

    “Conservative Action Fund” Is Another Dan Backer Scam PAC

    Wednesday, October 29th, 2014

    I just got a Breitbart direct email solicitation from a “Conservative Action Fund” talking about David Perdue’s race against Michelle Nunn in Georgia.

    Well, guess what? Conservative Action Fund is another Dan Backer scam PAC, just like Patriots for Economic Freedom.

    You know how much money they’ve contributed to conservative candidates in 2014? Zero.

    If you want to contribute money to David Perdue, do it directly.

    And Breitbart should kick “Conservative Action Fund” off their list of accepted advertisers.

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    Posted in Crime, Elections, Republicans | No Comments »

    “Patriots for Economic Freedom” is a Scam PAC

    Tuesday, May 13th, 2014

    I’m on enough mailing lists that I get a lot of campaign/PAC/etc. solicitations. One of the ones I get pretty regularly in email are missives from “Patriots for Economic Freedom” seemingly soliciting for one or another notable conservative candidates.

    Take, for example, this one for Ted Cruz. They’ve also done solicitations featuring Allen West and Mia Love, and I just got one this morning for Oklahoma Senate candidate T. W. Shannon.

    Just one tiny little problem: Ted Cruz never authorized Patriots for Economic Freedom to solicit on his behalf.

    Well, actually two problems: The money Patriots for Economic Freedom raises doesn’t seem to get to the candidates. Indeed, the lion’s share seems to go to consultants Tyler Whitney and Dan Backer.

    That’s right: “Patriots for Economic Freedom” is a scam PAC, and has been pulling their scam since at least 2012.

    I don’t know who exactly is selling Patriots for Economic Freedom their email list (though I’m looking in your direction, NRO and Breitbart), but they need to stop. Every dollar spent supporting a scam PAC is a dollar not spent actually supporting a conservative candidate.

    And someone should consider suing Patriots for Economic Freedom for false advertising.

    And if you want to donate to Allen West, Mia Love or T.W. Shannon, do it directly.

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    Posted in Crime, Elections | 6 Comments »

    New Funeral Home Phising Scam

    Friday, March 14th, 2014

    Well here’s a new scam:

    We would like to express our deepest sorrow for the untimely death of your beloved
    friend and inform you about the life service celebration that will take place at
    Hubbell Funeral Home on March 13, 2014 at 2:00 p.m.

    Please follow this link to get funeral invitation.
    Please be there to honor the memory of your friend with her closest people.

    Our best wishes and prayers,
    Alexander Howard,
    Funeral home assistant

    Yeah, it’s a phising scam.

    Needless to say, don’t click on that link…

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    Posted in Crime | 1 Comment »

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