Californians are being warned about an online investment scam run by "Profitable Sunrise," a company that seeks to lure investor victims through biblical references.
The California Department of Corporations recently issued a "desist and refrain" order against the company, its parent firm, InterReef LTD, and its principals, identified as Roman and Radoslav Novak.
According to the CDC, Profitable Sunrise also falsely claims "risk free" investments with returns of up to 3 percent per day.
Since issuing its warning last week, the CDC has fielded about a dozen concerned calls, spokesman Mark Leyes said. He said Profitable Sunrise appears to operate similar to a Ponzi scheme, where new investors' money is used to pay off older investors.
The company advertises a number of investment plans, including short-term "hard money loans" to U.S. and global businesses. But the business is not authorized or licensed to lend or sell securities in California.
Profitable Sunrise is running "a massive, international scheme that takes advantage of religious affinity to deprive investors of their money," said CDC commissioner Jan Lynn Owen in a statement.
Californians who've invested with Profitable Sunrise are encouraged to file a complaint at www.corp.ca.govor call (866) ASK-CORP.
Call The Bee's Claudia Buck, (916) 321-1968. Read her Personal Finance blog, www.sacbee.com/personalfinanceblog.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
• Read more articles by Claudia Buck
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
Order Reprint
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.