Scam Type
Sweepstakes/Lottery/Prizes Scam
Date Reported
2023-05-02 00:00:00
Victim Postal Code
94102
Total Dollars Lost
24
Scam Description
I entered a free prize draw on Instagram on March 5th 2023 for a ‘mystery box’ of climbing equipment. On April 11th the account messaged me saying I had won and provided a discount code worth the full amount of the box, but during checkout paid $23.99 in shipping. When it turned up it was a small envelope containing some stickers and a cheap bandana made in China, worth far less than the shipping I paid. Many others have reported this scam on trustpilot and Reddit referring to different domain names that always redirect to the same website I used. All reported receiving exactly the same goods despite there being a number of higher value items advertised. That instagram account has now been shut down, however I have found many similar accounts, all with ~160k followers (presumably fake) using the same images and linking to the same website. Using details acquired from the card payment and a domain name search I traced these back to the Washington registered company SIMON LEADERSHIP INTERNATIONAL LLC, which is also mentioned as the contact on the website. The payment however, went to OUTDOOR GOODS INTERNATIONAL LLC, which is registered in Puerto Rico (presumably to evade tax). The company director is Simon Hoisington. His social media profiles indicate that he lives between Port Orchard Washington, Hawai’i and Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican company’s registered address is the office of a Puerto Rican tax company and there is a Co-working space company listed as a controlling agent and the postal address is his family home in Washington. This supports the possibility of tax evasion, which I will be reporting to the IRS. Simon’s father Steven Hoisington is the registered email contact on the Washington company and posted pictures on Facebook of he and Simon in Puerto Rico around the time the company was founded with the caption “trip to Puerto Rico this week to help Simon with expanding his business”, suggesting that Steven helped simon to set up this structure. This wouldn’t surprise me as Steven is a senior member of a multi-level-marketing (alledgedly pyramid) scheme. In a YouTube video promoting the scheme he says “I’ve taught this to my kids. My son runs a 6 figure income himself and he just turned 18. Outside of LegalShield, he does it through
