Nosy neighbor pushing "private stock" opportunity: How best to get him off our back?

First of all, I know; we can just ignore him. But that's not fun for discussion.

A couple week ago our next door neighbor, who we are friendly and on good terms with, came over during Sunday football. In a nutshell he "knows a guy" who is the "president" of a probiotics company. He says this guy is selling stock for $1 share, it will be worth $25/share next year, blah blah blah.

This week, he put a note in our mailbox inviting us over for a "session" where this guy will pitch the opportunity.

Stinks of a scam to me. and we have no interest. However, I don't know anything about privately-held companies and stock, and I'm curious if soliciting and making these absurd promises is stepping over a legal line. It almost smells like another Agape, Inc. Should I get info and report this guy to the FTC? Just ignore and walk away?

My plan, right now, is to just tell our neighbor I don't think it's a legitimate opportunity and leave it at that.

Well, if you won't ignore him, just ask him this question:

Q: If a "business opportunity" is really going to net a 2,500% return in just one year, why aren't you keeping this private and buying every single share you can get your hands on?
A: Because its a scam. There is no other reason.

The end!

Bring a bunch of Jehovah's Witness stuff to the meeting and start talking it up. You'll be asked to leave.

Since it is a Private stock (ie private company), SEC, FTC, etc are not involved.

Tell him you are not interested. Tell him you are in debt to your eyeballs. Tell him to go away.

OR

If you want him to feel stupid, tell him you are interested, but you don't have the time to research and do the due diligence... and you need him to supply you with ALL of HIS DD in electronic format, so that you can review as you have time. Tell him you will give him 10% of YOUR profits if his DD shows you should invest. Wait for dumb look on his face and then call him an idiot and tell him to screw off!

gludlow said: This week, he put a note in our mailbox inviting us over for a "session" where this guy will pitch the opportunity.
Stock scam aside, is this the official mailbox where USPS mail is delivered? Did he put a stamp on the note? If not, that is a violation AFAIK.

polaris said: Walk into the meeting in a bathrobe and say loudly "Is this where the gay orgy is again?".fixt

Its a pyramid scheme/outright scam.

Since it is your neighbor and you are friends with him, why not ALERT him that this is most likely a scam where he will be losing money, and that you are not interested.

That way he has warning he is caught up in a scam, and if he decides to invest anyway, at least you warned him.

Not the first time either. About 15 years ago I was approached with same scam, some kind of fuel saving device... $1 per <share> too. They were even had disclaimer saying it's a very risky investment but I guess they were counting on people's greed... The disclaimer about the high risk probably save them from future lawsuit and FTC? As you seen with Agape, you just can't save the stupid.

Haven't heard anything about the device since.

Ask the neighbor to lend you some money and that you will pay him back in a year or so.

report him to the SEC if you really want to get rid of him. of course, you may wake up one day and notice your car is spraypainted black and green.

this sounds to me as if it is a private placement subject to exemption from SEC Registration. However, there are very strict regulations regarding the exemption - such as no general solicitation and a limited number of investors. lots more involved, but from what I can tell what he is doing is likely against SEC Regulations.

If you are on good terms with him, probably best to warn him and let him know that the pitch is likely a scam and against securities law. he can choose whether to listen to you or not, but it should at least get him to stop bothering you.

What he is doing is illegal. You could report him to your State (not the SEC). But, my experience has been my State does not care very much about enforcing State security laws.

tripleB said: I would go with a list of complex business and science questions like,

"What is this company going to do to sustain a competitive business advantage?"
"What are the barriers to entry for rivals?"
"What is the 95% confidence interval that this product is effective? Show the math."
"Show me the marketing data that demonstrates the projected revenue based on our key demographics."
"How do the bacteria in the probiotic solution survive the acidic environment of the stomach?"
"Clinical trials have shown that probiotic therapy is contraindicated for patients with acute pancreatitis, resulting in death. How will we monitor patients for development of pancreatitis?"


This ia s guaranteed way to get your friend to stop bothering you and have fun being a jackass in the process. I do this frequently with religious friends who invite me to church. I then ask a series of evolution-based questions and tease the christians about their flawed circular logic.

I've often found myself, with the majority here, disagreeing with TripleB in other posts, but very much applaud this post. As to your latter comment, I've yet to hear an intelligent response when I point out the impossible inconsistency between being good and being all-powerful, given the history of our species from the beginning of time to the present day. Any time you get into one of these debates, ask the opponent if they don't agree that Mahatma Gandhi was a truly great man whose messages of peace and tolerance are extremely admirable. Then ask what they think of Gandhi's quote: "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians - they are so unlike your Christ."

EDIT: I'm curious whether the red this is getting is more from people who found this post off topic or more from people who were offended by the criticisms of their beliefs, criticisms to which they had no good and rational response.

Make him grant you a loan to let you buy the stock and not require repayment until it doubles in price. Really bug him for it. If he believes in the stock enough, he'll gladly accept it.

Probiotics = health scam. Ask why he doesn't use it, but if he says he does, ask why he looks old for (estimate of his age + 20 years).

Isn't it a federal crime to leave stuff in mail boxes without paying postage? Anonymously tell the post office that this person has been doing this to every area mail box.

For the record, I don't want to get my neighbor in trouble; if there is illegal activity, he's on the receiving end and is ignorant to the fact. I'd only want to get the originator of the scam in trouble

I'm going to use some of the facts here next time I talk to him; I'll ask him about the FTC exemption, get the contact name and number of the person offering the "stock" for sale, and if I get more info I'll post updates.

(Also yes, he did put it in my mailbox without a stamp, but I don't care about that)

Argyll said: If it's legal there has to be a prospectus.

And larry, probiotics is not a scam. That's like saying yogurt is a scam.

If I sell you yogurt claiming it will cure your erectile dysfunction, then the yogurt is a scam.

Anyone can sell stock who forms a corporation. Not sure where those who are screaming "scam" are getting that from. You've provided no evidence of that. Some are just born cynics, I guess. Which isn't to say it *isn't* a scam -- there's just nothing in your post to indicate legitimacy or lack thereof.

At any rate, seems to me that a firm, "Thank you for the offer, but I'm absolutely NOT interested. Please don't ask again" should suffice. Your neighbor may be offended, but so be it... he needs to take a hint. Don't provide any reasons, no matter how he tries to maneuver you into doing so. Reasons are called "objections" by sales people (which he sounds like), and they're trained to counter/overcome them.

His claims of massive returns are, at best, projections. If he could guarantee that, he'd have people coming to HIM asking to get involved.

jwardl said: Anyone can sell stock who forms a corporation. Not sure where those who are screaming "scam" are getting that from. You've provided no evidence of that. Some are just born cynics, I guess. Which isn't to say it *isn't* a scam -- there's just nothing in your post to indicate legitimacy or lack thereof.

At any rate, seems to me that a firm, "Thank you for the offer, but I'm absolutely NOT interested. Please don't ask again" should suffice. Your neighbor may be offended, but so be it... he needs to take a hint. Don't provide any reasons, no matter how he tries to maneuver you into doing so. Reasons are called "objections" by sales people (which he sounds like), and they're trained to counter/overcome them.

His claims of massive returns are, at best, projections. If he could guarantee that, he'd have people coming to HIM asking to get involved.

Sorry but it is not cynical to assume this is a scam when you're given projections of 2,400% returns in 12 months for an investment that is being pushed via word of mouth, neighbor to neighbor, with investor meetings being held in people's living rooms. That's just being realistic. If I miss out on the next Google because of that line of thinking, I can live with it.

As far as a tangible suggestion to the OP for turning this embarassing situation into fun for all involved, you might try getting the name of the head honcho that's behind this wonder product and just do a simple web search of his name. When I was fresh out of school I got a hit on an online resume posting from a "tech startup" that had a "revolutionary new product that was about to hit the market." I googled the company president's name (I think he was the only employee actually) and found newspaper articles going back decades that detailed this guy's sordid legal history as a scam artist. His greatest hits seemed to be perpetual motion machines, but my personal favorite were the deionizing washing machine balls. I didn't show up for the interview.

If you can find some dirt on this guy, OP, it might make for a fun Q&A session at the investors meeting. :-D

SUCKISSTAPLES said: Its a pyramid scheme/outright scam.

Since it is your neighbor and you are friends with him, why not ALERT him that this is most likely a scam where he will be losing money, and that you are not interested.

That way he has warning he is caught up in a scam, and if he decides to invest anyway, at least you warned him.
It's probably a scam, but some people don't like to be told they've fallen for a scam.
It might make their "friendly and on good terms" relationship turn icy.
Just a simple "all our money is locked down" or " thanks, but no." will do.
Repeat until desired effect.

PerkGetter said: Buy one share for a dollar.
After all, if it does as well as predicted, with 1 bizzillion percent returns, even a $1 invested will make you rich!

i wouldn't go into this guy's home...

raman117 said: Crazytree said: polaris said: Walk into the meeting in a bathrobe and say loudly "Is this where the gay orgy is?".I had two 55yo guys yelling at each other during a deposition... and one of them stands up and screams at the other guy... "I'll make you S**K my D**K... again...!"

I was like... wtf did you just say?

Watch "The Shield" much?Never seen it... but I'm a big fan of The Wire... best crime show on TV.