HNB, just like RevGuard, utilized dozens of merchant accounts to process free trial offers. According to the Florida AG’s office, these transactions were unauthorized and amassed a large number of consumers claiming they were defrauded.
What’s interesting about HNB is that many facets of their business were at one point operated by a “3rd party vendor” named Direct Outbound Services (DOS), which is owned and operated by John Monarch. Notably DOS handled the following aspects of the HNB operation:
- Customer Service
- Responses to Consumer Chargebacks
- Manufacturing
- USPS Postal Shipping
- Warehousing
- Picking and Packing Fulfillment
Although unconfirmed, Direct Outbound may have also assisted in the marketing of HNB’s products and also may have assisted in acquiring merchant accounts through referral introductions. We have confirmed that John Monarch has an affiliation with both REDACTED and REDACTED.
McNea’s operation is strikingly similar to that of HNB, and both have structural similarities to convicted fraudster Jeremy Johnson. Johnson is currently serving a 10 year prison sentence in Federal Prison for providing false information to banks in order to acquire dozens of merchant accounts to “load balance” credit card transactions.
