We recently received a seemingly attractive offer to lease a commercial property that we manage - a 10 year lease with 2 x 10 year options. It was from "Bon Levi" a Western Australian "Fitness and Wellness" company who want to use the premises for "relaxation massage". According to the application, it is established in all the Australian states, will expand to New Zealand, and plans a February international launch for offices in Paris, London, Brazil, Mexico and Italy!
Upon closer inspection however, our suspicions were raised when we saw that they wanted 6 months rent free, and the application looked like it was written by someone who went to "scam school", with an immoderate number of words underlined or capitalised to make them look IMPORTANT.
We googled "Bon Levi" and found out that he is aka Ron Frederick aka "Ron the Con", one of Australia's most notorious fraudsters whose resume includes numerous convictions and jail time for fraud, stealing, breaking and entering, and aggravated assault! His speciality is setting up elaborate franchise operations that inevitably collapse, leaving investors with nothing. What amazes us is that even though he is so well known, he continues to use his own name and still manages to delude enough people to keep these schemes going.
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