California Department of Corporations Orders Five Unlicensed Internet Escrow Companies to Shut Down.SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Department of Corporations today announced that it has ordered five unlicensed Internet Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the escrow escrow Instrument, such as a deed, money, or property, that constitutes evidence of obligations between two or more parties and is held by a third party. It is delivered by the third party only upon fulfillment of some condition. companies, Safely-trade.net of Arizona, Express-transfers.com of New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Escrow-tripledeals.com of Texas, Escrowac.com of London and Eurosafedeals.com of Europe (United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands) to immediately stop offering escrow services to the public on the Internet. These five enforcement actions bring the total to 38 fraudulent The description of a willful act commenced with the Specific Intent to deceive or cheat, in order to cause some financial detriment to another and to engender personal financial gain. escrow sites ordered to be shut down by the Department since May 2004. None of these Internet escrow companies applied for licenses to operate legitimately in California. There are about 650 independent escrow companies in California licensed by the Department of Corporations. The Department has licensed only one Internet escrow company in California to date. State law regulates independent escrow companies in California and provides important protections to California consumers. In addition, state law requires licensing of companies that act as a middleman mid·dle·man n. 1. A trader who buys from producers and sells to retailers or consumers. 2. An intermediary; a go-between. and hold customer funds in a trust account until the confirmation of delivery of goods, services, or the performance of a promised action has been completed. The licensing and regulatory process ensures that companies, their owners and key employees have been subject to background checks, that their financial records are in proper order, and that all customer funds are segregated in trust accounts until the terms of the escrow are met. The Department is leading the Escrow Fraud Task Force comprised of the FTC FTC See Federal Trade Commission (FTC). , FBI, Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, High Tech Task Force, LA County Sheriff's Department, and the Escrow Institute of California to coordinate fraud prevention and enforcement actions against fraudulent Internet escrow companies. To help educate and protect the public, Internet escrow fraud prevention information is available at the Department's website at www.corp.ca.gov. The Department of Corporations is California's Investment and Financing Authority, reporting to the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency and the Governor. The Department is responsible for the regulation, enforcement and licensing of securities, franchises, off-exchange commodities, investment and financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. , independent escrows, consumer and commercial finance lending and residential mortgage lending. For further information or to obtain a complaint form, see the Department's Web site at www.corp.ca.gov or call 1-866-ASK-CORP (1-866-275-2677). |
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