[or-roots] Re:Lawsuit Against Morphcorp for Fake Family Hist...

[LinLouVan at aol.com]

Again ! ! !
Anybody remember Beatrice Bayley, then, Halberts, then "Your Name"  
Researchers?
This scam has been around as long as we have been doing genealogy. Each  time 
they
are found out, they move and change names and/or someone else takes over.  
Isn't it sad
that there are opportunists  out there and enough gullible people to  support 
them - for a 
while?
 
Linda VanOrden
Junction City, OR
_LinLouVan at aol.com_ (mailto:LinLouVan at aol.com)  
 
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 11/28/05 10:29:52 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
whizinc at comcast.net writes:

My Dad received this.  I don't remember  which genealogical society LCGS is.  
I considered buying one of these  books.
Ronda Howard
 
 
----- Original Message -----  
From: _Alice  Sanders_ (mailto:sanders922 at msn.com)  
To: _sanders922 at msn.com_ (mailto:sanders922 at msn.com)  
Sent: Monday, November 28, 2005 8:10 AM
Subject: LCGS FYI Lawsuit Against Morphcorp for Fake Family  Histories




Bill Mahoney sends the following to  share.  An FYI warning was sent out 
earlier about these fake  histories.  It is nice to know 
something may be done about the people  running this company.  Let's wish 
Arapahoe County much success in  this.
 
 
THE FOLLOWING  IS FROM THE DENVER  POST 
25 Nov 2005 
State Sues  Genealogy Company 
The suit claims 150,000 people  nationwide were swindled out of $49.95 each 
when they bought a book with fake  family histories from Morphcorp of Denver. 
By Manny Gonzales   
Denver Post  Staff Writer   
For $49.95, people who bought  genealogical "yearbooks" from a Denver-based 
company got the same family coat  of arms, the same family recipes and even the 
same family jokes, according to  a lawsuit filed Wednesday.  
And it was a lucrative scam that  swindled 150,000 people nationwide who 
bought into fake family histories,  according to the civil suit filed by Colorado 
Attorney General John Suthers.   
The suit, filed in Arapahoe County  District Court against Maxwell MacMaster 
and his company, Morph corp LLC,  seeks to cease the operation and penalize 
him up to $2,000 per book sold,  which could amount to $300 million.  
"This is a guy who has been  exploiting a natural human emotion, a curiosity 
about our family history . and  he made a lot of money doing it," Suthers 
said. "People got a standard book  that really reflects no individual genealogical 
research. The books come with  a family (crest), but if your surname is Jones 
it would be the same (crest)  used if your last name was Smith."  
MacMaster, who has residences  listed in Denver and  Kailua,  Hawaii, was  
contacted about the suit but said he had not read the specific allegations and  
declined to comment. His lawyer could not be reached for comment.   
Aurora resident  Lynette Dahl is one of 21 alleged victims in Colorado. Dahl  
said her family purchased a yearbook a couple of years ago in hopes of  
learning more about where she came from, but what she got was "generic."   
"They make it sound like you're  going to get all this great information, but 
you get it and it's generic,  fill-in-the-blanks stuff," Dahl, 42, said. "The 
book had a coat of arms for my  family, supposedly. But when I opened it, 
immediately I could tell this was  some kind of cruel joke."  
Dahl said that after numerous  attempts to reach the company and after filing 
complaints of unfair business  practices, she finally was refunded her money 
from Morphcorp.   
According to the suit, MacMaster  advertised in magazines and sent out 
mailings offering a yearbook detailing  "2,000 years" of family history.  
The suit claims MacMaster and his  then-wife made various false and 
misleading statements in direct-mail  advertising claiming that they shared the same 
last name of the consumer  targeted by the flier. The suit also alleges that 
Morphcorp engaged in  improper pricing practices.  
The company mailed out 250,000  fliers a month, the suit claims, and targeted 
mostly people over the age of  60.  
The books sold contained much of  the same information, including "family 
jokes and recipes," and family  pictures appear in each yearbook regardless of 
the surname of the consumer,  the suit claims. There were some variations, 
Suthers said. For a German  surname, the books contained the same German family 
recipes and jokes.   
Because jokes were the same in  many of the yearbooks, some Jewish customers 
were offended when their families  were referenced as being Catholic, the suit 
claims.  
It's the second time MacMaster has  gotten into hot water for an alleged 
genealogy scam. In 1996 he signed an  assurance as president of a company called 
Mountain Pacific News Service to  cease operations. Suthers hopes to prove 
MacMaster violated the agreement,  which would be another violation of the 
Colorado Consumer Protection Act.   
The attorney general has been  investigating the company for about a year, 
since complaints were submitted to  the Better Business Bureau.  
"As these complaints roll in, it's  almost comical how this guy would try to 
fool people," Suthers said. "Anyone  with any sophistication almost 
immediately would identify the yearbook as  boilerplate."  
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be  reached at 303-820-1537 or 
mgonzales at denverpost.com.  




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