Hello peptone-ga,
It took me a bit longer than I had supposed to get back to your
question, but here is the information on MCI Technologies that I was
able to pull together. If anything about the information is unclear
-- or if you need additional information -- just let me know by
posting a Request for Clarification, and I'll be happy to assist you
further.
pafalafa-ga
==========
MCI Technologies -- also known, at times, as Micro Corporation
International -- is run by a fellow named Craig Duffy. Their key
(perhaps only) product line is high-priced computer software intended
to serve as a guide to investing in the stock market. A number of
people have publicly posted complaints on the internet regarding the
quality of the software, and I have included some information about
these postings as well.
==========
MCI's main website is microcorp.com.au, which redirects to www.mcit.biz
A WhoIs check on the microcorp name at:
http://www.planetdomain.com/newdnr/action/domain/search.jsp
shows the following information:
Domain Name: microcorp.com.au
Last Modified: 20-Nov-2002 03:32:38 UTC
Registrar ID: R00010-AR
Registrar Name: Melbourne IT
Status: ok
Registrant: MCI TECHNOLOGIES PTY LTD
Registrant ID: ACN 010 177 107
Registrant ROID: C0463420-AR
Registrant Contact Name: THE MANAGER
Registrant Email: craig_duffy@hotmail.com
Tech ID: C0463422-AR
Tech Name: craig duffy
Tech Email: craig_duffy@hotmail.com
Name Server: ns.host4u.net
Name Server: ns2.host4u.net
-----
Thus, you can see the relationship between microcorp and MCI, and also
see the contact information for the manager of MCI, Craig Duffy, whose
email is given as: craig_duffy@hotmail.com
==========
Searching some official government databases in Australia revealed a
bit more information.
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission at:
http://www.asic.gov.au/asic/asic.nsf
maintains records of businesses incorporated in Australia. A search
for MCI Technologies at:
http://www.search.asic.gov.au/cgi-bin/gns030c?acn=010_177_107&juris=9&hdtext=ACN&srchsrc=1
turns up the following:
-----
Extracted from ASIC's database at 04:09:35 on 07/02/2004
Name MCI TECHNOLOGIES PTY LTD
ACN 010 177 107
ABN 36 010 177 107
Type Australian Proprietary Company, Limited By Shares
Registration
Date 07/11/1980
Next Review
Date 07/11/2004
Status Registered
Locality
of Registered
Office Surfers Paradise QLD 4217
Jurisdiction Australian Securities & Investments Commission
Previous State QLD
Previous Number 80B07610P
Former Name(s) MICRO CORPORATION AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
GAUNTLET PTY LTD
These are the documents that ASIC has most recently received from, or
sent to this organisation. Page numbers are shown if processing is
complete and the document is available for purchase.
Date Number Pages Description
29/01/2004 020050551 5 484E Change to Company Details Appointment or
Cessation of a Company Officeholder
09/11/2003 0X0407117 2 480B Company Statement Annual - Proprietary
Company Statement
03/02/2003 019036028 2 316L (AR 2002) Annual Return - Proprietary Company
-----
Note several details:
--MCI has been on record since 1980, so appears to be fairly well-established.
--Its former business names are Micro Corporation Australia, and Gauntlet.
--A number of business filings are on record at ASIC and can be
purchased by visiting the ASIC site.
==========
The Australian Business Register also has a file on MCI, which does
not add, significantly, to the information on the company, but I have
included it here for the sake of completeness:
http://www.abr.business.gov.au/(ky1tv255nkf2fd45secb1c45)/WebProcessEngine.aspx?pid=10000&sid=0&outcome=0&ABN=36010177107
-----
Historical Details for 36 010 177 107
This extract is based on information supplied by businesses to the
Registrar of the Australian Business Register. Neither the Registrar
nor the Federal Government guarantee that this information is
accurate, up to date or complete. You should consider verifying this
information from other sources.
Retrieved on: 7 Feb 2004
Last modified on: 15 Nov 2002
ABN
36 010 177 107
Business Name
MCI TECHNOLOGIES PTY LTD
Status From To
Active 19 May 2000
Legal Names From To
MCI TECHNOLOGIES PTY LTD 15 Nov 2002
MICRO CORPORATION AUSTRALIA PTY LTD 19 May 2000 15 Nov 2002
Trading Names From To
Main Business Locations From To
QLD 4217 25 Oct 2000
============
A newspaper article from a few months ago in the Guardian (London)
shows that MCI has an international reach well beyond Australia. I
cannot reproduce the full article here due to copyright, but I've
included a few key excerpts:
Jobs & Money - Capital letters - Not quite the star turn.
By Tony Levene.
21 June 2003
The Guardian
A recent advert implied I could make a fortune on the stock market
with just 10 minutes work on my computer a day...This led to a firm in
central London called MCI Technologies which wants me to buy some
software called Star Trader. It sounds a lot of money at over
£6,000...
...Star Trader purchasers have to input a day's share prices from the
internet at the end of each day. The program, MCI claims, will then
alert you to shares that have met the computer's analysis...MCI cannot
recommend shares as it does not have FSA approval.
...Star Trader replaces Blue Chip Trader, a previous MCI
program....Both programs and selling methods are reminiscent of
another Australian "business opportunity" in 1996....Comstrad had a
£3,300 disc which was supposed to predict horse race winners. Comstrad
was shut down by the DTI in 1996. MCI works out of Oxford Street but
is owned by Tomato Technologies of Surfers Paradise, Queensland. MCI's
managing director is Jamie Pickering. By coincidence, Larry Pickering,
his father, was a prime mover at Comstrad...
==========
Interesting! So now we have the managing director's name at MCI --
Jamie Pickering -- and another Australian link to a firm called
"Tomato Technologies". A Google search on the company name leads to:
http://www.tomatotechnologies.com.au/about_us.htm
"Tomato Technologies Limited is one of Australia?s leading software
solutions providers. Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2001,
its core business is software research; development and marketing
combined with financial membership-based subscription
services...Tomato?s flagship technologies are Stock Market Analysis
and Portfolio Management software and Insurance software designed for
use by leading Blue Chip General Insurance companies."
Sounds a bit familiar. Looking at the company's "Contact Us" page at:
http://www.tomatotechnologies.com.au/contact_us.htm
also turns up some familiar-looking information:
Tomato Technologies
P.O. Box 1794
Surfers Paradise
QLD 4217
Phone: 1300 73 30 30
Fax: 1300 73 40 40
CEO
Craig Duffy
There's our Mr. Duffy again, whose email is given as:
info@tomatotechnologies.com.au
Other contacts listed are:
General Manager and
Company Secretary
Ian Prowse
ian@tomatotechnologies.com.au
I.T. Manager
Alastair Kennelly
Bach. Inf Tech, MACS, IEEE
alastair@tomatotechnologies.com.au
CFO
Russell West
cfo@tomatotechnologies.com.au
==========
I mentioned that not everyone was happy with MCI/Micro/Tomato's
software. You can see a discussion thread at:
http://www.britishinformation.com/chat/frame.php?URL=%2Fchat%2Fshowthread.php3%3Fthreadid%3D98
which includes a fascinating account of the MCI-Tomato-Duffy-Pickering
connection, linking it all to yet another company in Australia known
as Krysmont! Oh, what a tangled web (some of us) weave. There are
also notes from a few buyers of the software who have successfully had
their money refunded...one by filing a complaint through his credit
card company that billed the original purchase.
==========
I hope this information meets your needs. As I said above, if
anything is not clear, just let me know, and I'll be glad to clarify
things as best I can.
Good luck.
pafalafa-ga |
Clarification of Answer by
pafalafa-ga
on
10 Feb 2004 13:24 PST
Hello peptone-ga,
Yep...it's complicated, all right. I ran a bit more of a search for
the duffy-pickering connection, and came up with the following:
http://www.thisismoney.com/20010916/si37670.html
This is a good, in-depth newspaper article that goes into a bit more
detail about company inter-connections than the earlier article I
referenced.
There's also this link:
http://www.asx.com.au/asx/research/CompanyInfoSearchResults.jsp?searchBy=asxCode&allinfo=on&asxCode=TMO
to Tomato Technologies, showing Duffy and Pickering (Jr., I think) in
senior managment positions. Note that there's also a number of
company documents (e.g. a 9-page "Newsletter to Shareholders")
accessible at the site
The fact that Tomato Tech is a publicly traded company suggests (to my
mind, anyway) that they aren't terribly scandal-plauged, as
information like that tends to rise to the surface when companies are
required to publicly report to the authorities.
However, it's not possible to say for sure what the "scam" history --
if any -- is on these folks without a more in-depth search, especially
of legal records pertaining to lawsuits, regulatory actions, etc. The
search would probably have to cover -- at the very least -- Australian
as well as English case law, and perhaps other countries as well. It
won't be a small undertaking.
If you want this sort of in-depth digging done, your best bet may be
to post a follow up question here at Google Answers, and let one of
the researchers take a crack at it.
Hope this helps. But if anything isn't clear, just let me know, and
I'm happy to follow up with any additional information I can provide.
pafalafa-ga
|
