financial investments consumer fraud protective ag

Does anyone know of any local or otherwise protective government
agencies or like Better Business bureaus or international agencies who might help one with a complaint such as for example
you invested money with a local dominican agency to buy commercial paper and then they won't answer you - for example
you are afraid they stole your money?

You have got to be kidding.......consumer protection....a concept that is totally foreign to the D.R. . This is one reason there are not more small and medium sized businesses here....no legal protection.

Tell me more Bill. Who? Where? When? Drop me a line on my e-mail & if it is local to Puerto Plata I will do my best to come up with some answers. G ^_^

You are now asking questions you should have asked prior to making the investment. It something seems too good to be true it's because it is too good to be true. Caveat emptor.

[Dolores]

The Bolsa de Valores de Santo Domingo, from whom I assume you purchased your commercial papers, has a good reputation. I suggest you post your question on the DR1 Business Forum. Frederic Emam Zade was one of the founders of the institution and should be able to direct you to the right persons to take your complaint.

Please keep all the readers of this thread informed on the developements of this situation!

Fraud cannot survive the light of day and we are all watching.

Warmest Regards,
Gregory D Wales

Unfortuneately it is not in the north but in capital Santo Domingo.Anyway here it goes:
I have been trying in vain to get an explanation as to why the agent or company in Dominican Republic has not done as they promised. I was in their office personally in Santo Domingo and wrote a $10,000 US check (which has already been deducted from my account long ago) for investment in 'Empresa Caribe Tours' , one of the major travel/bus and perhaps largest bus/travel company on the island. I am not sure whether or not they were also involved in scam or not but my $10,000 US check was made out to 'Caribe Tours' I have a zerox copy of the check and other official documentation which they gave me
at their office which I can send as an email attachment or mail a copy if you need proof.Anyway they promised an interest check (one percent per month)would be deposited to my bank account at Banco del Progreso in Santo Domingo beginning first of March(a smaller amount for part of month) and most importantly they would fax and/or email attach the first page of the company document which I should recieve for the $10,0000 investment. I gave them fax number,email and physical address and everything but they will not respond. They also promised to quickly respond to any email/fax message I sent but won't.
Here is an example of the messages I have been sending them by email,fax, mail :'I sent you these messages a week ago twice. Why don't you answer!!? I bought way back on feb 20 the following and the $10,000 check has long since already been deducted from my account on feb 26. As yet I have not received either the fax or the email attachment for the first page of the Caribe Tours document. Has the first check already been deposited to my del Progreso account in Santo Domingo ?I have Recibo de Inversion for $10,000 us 12% ck.no. 1018(perf.first dated feb.20/01) for Empresa Caribe Tours,C.Por A.
in name Wade H. Smith for 365 days. My email zmth@yahoo.com Fax 1-3478237072 tel 3216900834 Address:W.Smith, 1721 Dixon 29, COCOA FL 32922-5408 ' Their address and name is (which I went to personally 0n February 20,-1 is: Transacciones Financieras S.A.' (Puesto de Bolsa) BVRD,PB-021 ,69 Gustavo Meja Ricart ,3rd.floor Edificio Datocentro bldg.Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Email:tfinanciera@codetel.net.do fax: (809)7322934 or (809)5494476 and tel numbers: (809)2270973 or4735411 or 4735401
Is it possible to atleast get someone with some authority to also inquire for me? Preferably one who knows some Spanish. Thanks

You can see the details above. Fraud is the name of the game and it unfortuneately most often does survive especially in Santo Domingo.

NO it was not Bolsa de Valores because I don't speak Spanish and no one at Bolsa de Valores speaks English plus they are so secret by not putting their address or contact in the phone book they obviously don't want to do business with anyone who does not speak Spanish which is ok and I understand their point of view. Hopefully I can learn to speak some Spanish next time if I ever get any of this money back. It's too bad Bolsa de Valores wants to be so secret. It would be nice if they had an email address but I guess that would blow their cover.

Hi Bill, Thanks for the information. I will ask a lawyer friend of mine to make some enquiries during next week. NO PROMISES as to any results but I will get back to you with whatever information I can find out.
On a positive note, if it IS Caribe Tours behind this, I would suspect your money is fairly safe - just Dominicanised late!!! Once things get into the system (& there are always reasons why it can't immediately get into the system, believe me) then things should go along fairly smoothly. 1% per month is not a tremendously high return for here, most banks pay 15-18% p.a for 'Certificados' & private finance houses pay 18 - 20%, sometimes more.
Feel free to contact me direct if you want to.
Regards - Grahame Bush ^_^