‘Net companies ordered to stop credit-repair schemes

Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2000 | 10:24 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Two Las Vegas companies pressured by the state have agreed to a court judgment requiring them to stop telling people that they can legally change their identities to escape poor credit reports.

The companies' agreements, which include payment of fines, came after the state attorney general's office sued them in federal court.

The attorney general's office said Monday that C&A Adventures and its principal owner, Aretta Coffelt, and E-Z Technologies Inc. and its principal owner, David Walter Hulet Jr., agreed to consent judgments that permanently stop them from using the Internet to sell fraudulent credit-repair services.

Hulet was fined $1,000 and Coffelt $500.

The two firms must also send written notification to every consumer who purchased their services that it is a felony to illegally hide their identity to gain new credit.

The attorney general's office sued the two companies in February 1999 in U.S. district court in Las Vegas. The suit said C&A Adventures encouraged consumers to create a new credit file by fabricating a business and then registering it under the new name. The consumer would then be told to use the new bogus name to open checking accounts.

E-Z Technology was accused of telling its customers they could legally use an altered or fabricated Social Security number for banking and credit purposes.

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said, "Consumers cannot legally alter their identifications to conceal adverse credit information with the intent to defraud a prospective creditor. If a consumer were to use the methods allegedly promoted by these defendants, the consumer could be subject to prosecution for violations of both state and federal laws."