JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A May 2022 lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission accused a Jacksonville man, Michael Rando, of harming people through a credit repair business.
Now, a woman is speaking out, saying she’s a client in a new business venture marketed by Rando, and claims she hasn’t received services promised to her, either.
Action News Jax first reported on Rando and his credit repair business, “The Credit Game”, in 2022. People we talked to complained that Rando didn’t help fix their credit, and even dropped their credit score, after paying him to render the service.
Last month, the FTC announced it was sending more than 9,000 payments for more than $3.5 million to people who paid for Rando’s credit repair services. That was after the FTV sued Rando and his companies and the defendants agreed to pay money to settle.
Today, Rando goes by “Investor Mike” on social media where he markets himself as an entrepreneur and Airbnb coach.
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His TikTok account has nearly 50,000 followers with videos promising to teach people how to start their own Airbnb business.
Sabine Lovett paid $2,500 to join the course that connected her to the group through a WhatsApp messaging chain.
She told Action News Jax, she believed the payment for the online courses came with help from Investor Mike to close deals on properties, pay the first month’s rent, and give her access to a software program that determines the value of the properties.
“He doesn’t close any of the properties with you. He sends you to work with one of his admin, (and) they don’t get you the free first month’s rent. If you talk to all the students, it does not happen very often.”
Lovett said when she wasn’t given those services and she requested a refund, but her refund was denied. Investor Mike’s team told Action News Jax that students of the course can only request a refund within three days of their initial payment.
“What hurts my heart the most is that he’s on TikTok every single day telling more and more and more people to come do this and that he’s going to do all these things for them, and then you’re a little tiny fish really having to figure it all out on your own.”
Lovett said it wasn’t until she found our previous reports on Michael Rando, or Investor Mike, that she feared a similar situation could be happening to her and other students of the online course.
Online, we found “Advanced Biz Scaling LLC” listed as the LLC associated with Investor Mike’s Airbnb TikTok account. But the LLC is inactive, and doesn’t list Michael Rando as the business owner, but a “John Rando” instead.
When we reached out to Investor Mike’s team about Lovett’s complaints and Investor Mike’s ties to his former credit repair business, the team responded, saying, “The team understands that they are 2 different companies and with different owners.”
And to Lovett’s complaints, the team sent us this statement:
“We are going to state our side very clearly. We only issue refunds within 3 business days of the purchase. Sabine has been with us since early May and has been extremely active the entire time including just last night. She joins EVERY coaching call since the day she joined as well. Furthermore, she has taken our model and is currently getting apartments with a few other students in our group.”
Since Lovett spoke to Action News Jax, she says she has been removed from all WhatsApp groups associated with Investor Mike.
“I’m just upset at the lies and that the expectation of what he says on TikTok is not the reality of the situation. I think that’s the frustration.”
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