I got a proposition to become partner with a company that goes by the
name Trade Care Solutions Limited (U.K.).
Would like to know....before starting any business....if this is a
legitimate company in England.
When asked about their company this is what they replied:
Trade Care Solutions Limited, is a UK based solution provider enabling
mainly overseas companies to tap into the european marketplace. This
means we help them selling their products directly to end customers,
engaging in Cross Border Trade (CBT) . Besides Consulting we also
provide resources to our clients ranging from Payment Processing to
Brokerage to Customer Support in more then 5 languages. CBT as a
business model - compared to traditional import/export or
outsourcing/offshoring is just on the rise, so most of our clients are
small to medium sized businesses.
__________________________________________________________________________
Thanks in advance guys.

---

Request for Question Clarification by scriptor-ga on 29 Aug 2006 10:23 PDT

Dear hdm,

I have done some research, with first results. But it would be helpful
if you could provide me additional information. What do you know about
this company, e.g. their postal address, e-mail, website, phone and
fax number, or any other information? Everything might be valuable to
check whether they are legitimate.

Regards,
Scriptor

Hdm,
I think you should be patient and wait for more information before you
consider becoming a partner.
A fellow commenter here as emailed me the name of the director of
Trade Care Solutions Limited that he found at Companies House, along
with the fact that he is extremely active in founding companies and
been involved in a large number that went into liquidation.  The name
is a foreign one in England and not common in his native country.  His
name appears on blogs in connection with HYIP and the suggestion of a
Ponzi Scheme built on partnerships.
I only found Trade Care Solutions on the web at the bottom of an eBay
page selling Ralph Lauren shirts.
If you have a website address for it, please let us know.  It could
also be helpful if you could mention how you were approached:  form
letter, email, whatever.
The blog, in reference to another company connected with this person's
name, mentioned partnerships for 1000 to 10000 pounds.  Although any
company can use more capital, the activities you describe are not
capital intensive, and  - quite honestly, as helpful as the activities
sound, I have to wonder if there really is a demand for them and how
the company markets them without having any internet presence.
Of course, I could have overseen it, but there are lots of websites
that are only platforms for companies to present their services.

Be careful.  I hope you can get some hard information tomorrow.

Regards, Myoarin

Myoarin,
great info. my friend.
I think we are talking about the same guy....not 100% sure though.
I got an email from this person, his name is alex nathem, he is
interested in finding a partner in the us....he says that Trade care
Solutions Ltd. is a UK based company, but his email comes from a
German site....something like Mesa Consulting....basically he needs a
Logistics partner, our company would receive products (like trading
cards, clothing....etc.) then consolidate in our office, and then
export to different consignees.
We have some customers like that in latinamerica, so it's not
something alien to us....but something does not add up....can't
explain.
He did not ask for any money yet....
(He did mention that one of his customers is the largest seller of
Magic the gathering trading cards on Ebay)

Hi hdm

The company has indeed been registered in the UK - so it is
'legitimate' - but only as recently as October 10 2005. No Accounts
(understandably) or ANYTHING has yet been filed with Companies House:
not even the appointment of a (human) Director, apart from the company
that organised the incorporation.

It only has an Issued Capital of £20 which is held by another company
International Network Solutions Ltd (INSL), another UK company, which
also only has an Issued Capital of £20.

INSL was incorporated on October 10 2001, so lots of filings have been
made at Companies House, including the resignations of several
Directors and Secretaries.

INSL only has one Director: Thomas Weigt, a German who was born on
July 16 1958. He is usually described as either a Consultant or a
Business Consultant.

Companies House have 4 addresses for Herr Weigt: 2 in London; 1 in
Sark (in The Channel Islands); and 1 in Nice (in France).

At one of his London addresses, Herr Weigt is shown as holding 30
(Gasp!) Current Appointments; 534 (Really!) where he has resigned; and
79 (Horror!) where the companies concerned have gone into Liquidation.

The last Accounts filed for INSL (for the Year Ended October 31 2004)
show that this company had Shareholders Funds of £50,046 which are
'supported' by Goodwill of £76,685!

I heartily endorse Myoarin's Comment that A LOT more investigation is
required before you should consider any form of investment.

I have not yet found any trace of Alex Nathem but I will make
appropriate enquiries when Companies House opens later ...

If I have time!

I'm off to Kew today (that's near London) on a secret mission.

In the meantime, it would be interesting if you could pursue this and
report as much more info as possible.

Thomas Weigt, in particular, sounds a fascinating man.

All the Best

Bryan

Companies House in the UK has no record for Alex Nathem (as a Company
Director or Secretary) but a Google Search brings up several hits for
this gentleman, mostly in German and with several related to some or
other investment opportunity.

Maybe Myoarin, Scriptor or Politicalguru, who all speak passable
German (of a sort) might now like to take up the baton.

Auf wiedersehen

Bryan (with lots of other things to do!)

Hdm,
The only Alex Nathem I could find was this site:
http://www.bizwiz.com/quickprofilepages/th/theinternetagency.htm

I found such sparce information strange, since the tia.de link given
brings up a rather respectable looking website in a different area of
Germany and in an entirely different branch from his internet ad
agency, which seems invisible on the web  - for calling itself "One of
the leading german ad agencies on the net."
There is an email connection, making it easy for you to ask if this is
the same Alex Nathem who talked to you.

Rather interestingly, however, TIA Innovations GmbH, the company with
tia.de, describes itself this way, which does relate to your business:
"TIA innovations GmbH - specialist for business logistics,
marketing/distribution and Import and Export trading handling. A3, Z3,
LogAConsult."
The German text on the tia.de site is only about software solutions.

On this site, you can scroll down to a longer English description.
http://www.aeb.de/eng/the-company/partners/index.html
BUT  we don't know if this company has anything at all to do with
Nathem, who may being using the link, having chosen the name The
Internet Agency because the link has appropriate initials.
  
There is an English the-internet-agency.com, found here:
http://www.techieindex.com/cug/bea/consultingcenter/details.jsp?id=43

But if Nathem were a German agent for it, he wouldn't have given the tia.de link.
Domain Name:	the-internet-agency.com
Registrar: THE NAME IT CORPORATION DBA NAMESERVICES.NET
Registrant Contact
Name:		Chris S  Thompson
Address:	PO Box 182
 		Lymington, UK  SO41 3XG 
		GB
Email Address:	manager@the-internet-agency.com
Phone Number:	+447836364575
     
Mesa Consulting, if that was the correct name, is all over the
internet in many forms.  I didn't find one  - or search long enough - 
that seemed to relate in any way.
In the German online telephone directory, there is no Alex Nathem,
though there are 29 Nathems (some 2nd numbers), several in Trier.

This information is no positive help, but perhaps some to a Researcher.
I can retrieve the links to the websites about Thomas Weigt that I
found, if that would also be of interest.

Let's hope Scriptor does.  He is one of the experts on "odd" companies.

Regards, Myoarin

Thanks so much to everyone helping me with this.
I am at a one my clients office right now....I don't have much time to write.
I'll get back to you guys this evening....I have a couple more
questions on this guy.
Cheers.

HI,
Suddenly today, this site with posting by Alex Nathem mentioning the
company and exactly your topic popped up, giving an email address:

http://www.wholesale4um.com/about23375.html

Digitalpartners.de seems to be an inactive website, and one I could
not find, even on whois.com, although there I found digitalpartners
with .com, .net, .us, .org, that were only shells.

Myoarin

Thanks so much again.
I spent a couple of hours trying to find more info.on Nathem, on Trade
Care Solutions Ltd., and on Mesa Consulting....but in the
end....nothing really helped much.
My gut instinct is telling me that the company has no web presence for a reason.
Also, I did email him back last night and did request (in a polite
way) some additional data on the company he works for (Trade Care
Solutions) and references, in order to establish him as a new acct.,
he did not answer my request, but did say that he will be in Miami the
2nd. week of September, and he wanted to discuss the business better,
and take a look at our operations.
Also, he did say that no money was required from us....that actually
he would pay us a handling fee per letter sent (with the trading cards
inside)., and we would get reimburse 100% on the shipping and on
supplies used.
I guess I have nothing to loose....I guess.
mmmmmm.
From here to Miami is only hour and a half driving at normal
speed....so I guess I can take my chances and see all the cards on the
table.
(My wife thinks that it is a 100 percent waste of my time....that it's
a pretty interesting scam of some sort....she says that who would try
to find a logistics partner in a forum, instead of going to more
reputable places like a Chamber of Commerce for instance.)
I see the point.
I also don't know why he did not answer my emailed with the info.that I requested.
mmmmmmm.
Let's see what happens.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, hdm, indeedy!

You will get 'reimbursed' huh?

This suugests that you have to fund (some or part of) the operation
while he picks up the dough!

It would be great if you were to meet this guy but PLEASE:

1: Leave your check book at home;

2: Ask your wife to take care of your credit cards (Yeah I know that
therein lies a great risk but ... just this once?);

3: Ask your wife to sew up all your pockets;

4: Don't agree to meet him after dark; or in a sleazy bar at any time;

5: Get 'a gorilla' to accompany you. You know the sort with tattoos on his head;

6: Post a Comment here before you go;

7: Post another Comment here when you get back; and

THE VERY BEST OF LUCK!

Bryan

Hi again, Hdm.
You are absolutely right to insist on confirmation of AN's authority
to represent Trade Care Solutions Ltd, and also to ask for hard facts
about the company,
and insist on seeing them before you take the trouble to going to Miami.
It is disturbing that websites that appear together with his name
either don't work or seem unrelated to him.
If "one of his customers is the largest seller of Magic the gathering
trading cards on Ebay,"  What does that have to do with Trade Care's
ostensible activities?  I don't see a connection with the business of
Trade Care Solutions, as described.  That doesn't seem alien to you,
so I guess there is a market for such services, but have to wonder if
the market needs a new participant, especially one that seems to have
no profile and that recruits partners in such an amateur way.
Your question says that the company is looking for a "partner", and
that blog questioned partnerships in relation to another company in
which Weigt was involved, suggesting that it could be a Ponzi Scheme
(in which new members' payments are used to pay interest/dividend, for
a while giving the appearance of a very successful business, but in
the end always folding when the operators abscond with most of the
money received).  Remember, Weigt's name is involved in 79 companies
that went into liquidation.
If you go to Miami, I wonder if you  - and probably several others - 
won't get a hard sell about how fantastic Trade Care's business is, so
good that you shouldn't just work in cooperation, but buy a
partnership and share in the fabulous profit.  (But the business of
Trade Care doesn't really sound like it could generate such profit.)

But I am just speculating.  Probono's warnings about doing anything
for which you will be reimbursed is well taken.  There are scams based
on this.

If you want a researcher to continue working on your question, I
suggest that you raise the price.  $50 seems appropriate for the work
that may be necessary,  as well as the value to you  - either giving
you assurance, or saving you a trip.  But it is your money.

Good luck!
Myoarin

Myoarin,
Thanks so much for all the help on this.
Really, really appreciate it.
Bryan, Thanks so very much to you too my friend.
And, do not fear, I am not going to invest 1 dollar on this....as soon
as I hear something about putting money as initial investment....I am
out of there, traveling back at the speed of light.
LOL
I guess I need to do this, just to get it out of my mind you know.
Have a great weekend guys.

Great question, hdm. and Comments

If you do get to Miami, please let us know how you got on.

Bryan

Hdm,
On another question asking about a dubious setup, this link was given
by a researcher:
http://featuredreports.monster.com/privacy/illegalscams/

Scroll down the "Reshipping".

IF you still want to go to Miami, take your wife along and have a nice
outing after the meeting.

Good luck, Myoarin