Apr 05 2008
Profitable Capital Group Alert
The Profitable Capital Group is a new company that you can find on the internet. This company promises investors a daily return from 1% to up to 9%.
On the website of the Profitable Capital Group, it states that they have signed a 3 year sponsorship with ESPN, recently launched AA and AAA plots and that they are part of (well-known) The Profitable Group.
The Profitable Group has issued a statement that the Profitable Capital Group is not part of their company and warns investors to be careful. The actual company that has signed a deal with ESPN and launched the AA and AAA plots is The Profitable Group, not Profitable Capital Group.
It is clear that the Profitable Capital Group is a scam. They are misusing another company’s name to operate a ponzi scam that promises outrageous returns. You can’t even find any contact numbers or address of Profitable Capital Group on their website. While most investors should be astute enough to see through this scam, some others might be lured and taken in by the high returns.
This has happened in the past with scams like Swisscash (or Swiss Mutual Fund) and unfortunately, history always repeat itself.
Investors beware!
Profitable capital does look like a ponzi scheme.
Profitable Capital used to show the following address (the google cache of their “about” page shows this on the 8th April).
Profitable Capital Group.
EATON VANCE BUILDING
255 STATE STREET
BOSTON MA 02109
United States.
Tel: (617) 997 4592
Eaton Vance are a highly reputable US finance company so I doubt Profitable Capital are really based there.
I looked at the Profitable Group last time I was in Singapore. They were trying to position themselves as a global strategic investment company but all they seemed to try and sell was land plots in concorde village hounslow in England. Those plots look like they have a very limited chance of return of even the initial investment based on other web sites I’ve researched. Nobody ever talks about the value of the plots if they dont get planning permission which seems very likely. I notice also that Profitable Group were using logo and information association techniques. They had HSBC and Barclays logos as a key part of their video presentations which are both big reputable financial institutions. Most of the presentaion was huge percentage numbers about the high value of UK housing rather than anything to do with how you would actually get your money back on Concorde Village. I did wonder if Profitable Group have permission to use those Barclays and HSBC logos ?
I would agree with one of your other threads that only a black swan event will give you any chance of seeing more than a few hundred dollars of your money back with these UK landbanking investments.
[Reply]
Hi Mark,
One of Profitable Group’s other division, Profitable Property, was selling the Pulai Spring Resort in the Iskandar Development Region (IDR) in Malaysia.
In the immediate future, Concorde Village is probably not going to get planning permission (application hasn’t even been submitted). But no one knows how it will pan out in the future.
Over the years, the needs of the local region might change and the land might come into play.
Having said that, investors must know that nothing (timeframe) is certain and they should only invest with spare cash. After all, UK landbanking in general has still to establish any sort of track record.
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You seem to have become a convert. What changed your mind ?
” But no one knows how it will pan out in the future.”
Agreed but surely wise investment is about predicting the chances of various outcomes before gambling ?
My bet would be that there will be no positive cash return from an investment in land banking via the various plot companies offering UK land and in 9 out of 10 cases there will be no cash returned at all not even your initial investment.
My reasoning is :- There is a very low chance of planning permision (that is a known fact), and the plots are already marked up by 15 - 30 times depending on company (also known fact). At a premium on the land of 100% I might invest and take a chance.At 1500% its significantly overpriced.
Some land banking plot companies will fail (there is a clear trend on this) and in doing so it wil become impossible to manage the collective agreement required to sell (this is already happening) For those plots where you can get your money back it will be the sale value of the plot at the time of sale that counts - not what you paid. Since most plots have a collective sale agreement who will you sell to ?
The only way I could see to make money from this is to “short” UK land banking plots on the basis they will lose value. Unfortunately I can’t find anyone who will accept that investment
I still believe UK land (or any land) is a good long term investment. I just think that investing via plots that are marked up by 1500% is not.
[Reply]
Looks like Profitable Capital got shut down as the web site has gone.
[Reply]
Hi Mark,
I’m just trying to put across a balanced view - both good and bad.
I have already spoken about the dangers of UK land banking in another post.
Since you are giving the negative here, I try to add in some positives.
At the end of the day, caveat emptor.
I just went to the Profitable Capital site and it seems to be still operational.
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Ah yeah its back up but without ESPN and the Profitable Group being mentioned - still has a fake ratepoint logo though.
The security certificates are owned by a company called profitgateway.com which is also a Ponzi HYIP site. I guess whoever runs these things runs multiple sites on a rolling basis so when one gets shut down they just start another.
Buyer beware is OK but where does a naive Asian buyer immersed in advertising, TV programs, English Footballers and high commission, high pressure selling get balance if not from sites like yours ?
I dont need latin to know you have to be true to what you know to be true.
[Reply]
Hi Mark,
Wierd, I still see the silly ESPN on the Profitable Capital website.
I appreciate your comments.
I don’t consider myself a convert; I’m just merely expressing my honest opinions.
It is true I do not know what will pan out in the future. I got a friend who owns Concorde Village and he is looking at a 20-year time horizon.
By then, who knows what the needs of the local council are?
Having said that, any potential buyers need to establish all the facts and then decide for themselve whether this is something they can sleep peacefully at night with.
[Reply]
Re Profitable Capital: You are right. Having just travelled through HK Japan to the USA they have a different internet view depending what country you are in. Quite a few scam companies seem to be doing this. I can see the logic. You report the use of the ESPN logo to ESPN and when their lawyers check it in the USA they cant see anything and assume its a crank report. It delays bad publicity or legal action by several months or even years and allows you to extract more money from the scam. It takes a while before everyone realises what is going on. In fact you can move a scam around the world by blocking countries where you have already been shut down and giving the impression that you have stopped doing it in that country. Dont assume everyone can see what you can see is the lesson i’ve learnt from this
[Reply]
Hi Mark,
That’s interesting.
Looks like scammers have gotten pretty sophisticated nowadays.
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