The people who pitched business opportunities under the brand name Ganadores – “winners” in Spanish – promised to teach consumers an “infallible system” for making big money. But according to the FTC, the Florida-based defendants bilked Spanish-speaking consumers out of millions of dollars. The complaint, which alleges violations of the FTC Act, the Business Opportunity Rule, the Cooling Off Rule, and the Consumer Review Fairness Act, outlines some particularly troubling sales tactics. For example, while advertising and conducting their “seminars” in Spanish, many of the key documents – including the purchase agreement that outlined the cancellation policy – were often in English.
According to the complaint, the defendants designed their pitch as a classic “sales funnel.” They began with ads in social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, luring consumers to a two-hour “free seminar” often at a local hotel. Once prospects were in the room, the FTC says the defendants began a high-pressure campaign to sell them three-day workshops for between $197 and $600. According to the complaint, people who attended the workshops were then subjected to amped-up hard sell tactics, promoting “mentoring” packages that cost nearly $29,000.
What did the defendants promise consumers? Ganadores’ representatives said they would teach attendees everything from “A to Z” about making money in real estate or operating an online store. In fact, the Ganadores sales funnel focused on...
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