Scam number: (986) 666-6934 (Fractel)
Call Center Location: Islamabad, Pakistan 
Calls as: “American Benefits”
Verification Officer: “Jonathan Watson”
Licensed Agent: American Amicable
The scammer sent a fraudulent cold call to my PBX number in regards to my local final expense benefits such as burial, funeral or cremation expenses before transferring me to their “verification officer,” who attempted to sign me up for an insurance plan from the American Amicable Group of Companies, which all operates from the Alico Building at 425 Austin Ave, Waco, TX 76701.
These companies include
- The American-Amicable Life Insurance Company of Texas
- The iA American Life Insurance Company
- The Occidental Life Insurance Company of North Carolina
- The Pioneer American Insurance Company
- The Pioneer Security Life Insurance Company
User complaints on their Google, Yelp, and BBB listings indicate patterns of fraudulent behavior, such as:
- Using delay tactics, deceptive practices and a lack of communication
- Repeatedly sending soliciting cold calls through third-party call centers in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
- Refusing to cancel existing plans or offer refunds.
- Taking advantage of active service members who never signed up for their services.
- Hacking the banking information of their customers
- Spoofing local phone numbers in violation of the Truth in Caller ID Act.
- Making soliciting cold calls falsely claiming it was on the behalf of the recipients’ mortgage lender.
- Making aggressive door-to-door solicitations and asking their customers to pay through CashApp
- Starting insurance plans without prior consent from the customers.
- Falsely signing customers up for a flat rate that actually jumped to thousands of dollars per month.
The company was sued by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2006 for a sales tactic that misled U.S. military personnel into believing their “horizon life” plan would make them millionaires in violation of Sections 17(a)(2-3) of the Securities Act of 1933. The company agreed to settle these claims by paying $10 million to 57,000 affected military personnel and terminating their deceptive sales program, otherwise dubbed the “building success” system.
https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-19791
The company was also sued for violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act in the states of Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas
Associated LinkedIn Accounts:
- American Amicable
- Joe Dunlap, Executive VP
- Amber Adams, Vice President and Chief Legal Counsel
- Julio Ortega, VP of Operations
- Jay Csipkes, VP of Marketing
- Paula Forero Cabrera, VP of Marketing and Sales
- Michael Holcomb, Assistant VP, Senior Corporate Counsel and Compliance Officer
- Keith Schroeder, Assistant VP, Chief Privacy Officer and Assistant Corporate Secretary
- Sadia Khursheed, Administrative Officer
- Darren Hancock, Assistant VP
- Michelle Hilliker, Assistant VP of Marketing
- Pete Mejiia, Assistant VP of Marketing Sales
- Jordan Benmeir, Lead Legal & Compliance Analyst
- Charmi Sanghavi, Software Developer
- George G., Telemarketer
Associated Phone Numbers:
- (254) 297-2777 (Grande Communications Networks)
- (800) 756-7311 (Crossbow Telecom, parked for the Medical Alert Center)
Associated Email Addresses: