Better the Tevel you know than the Tevel you don't

After being ripped off by a moving company called Apple Movers, I was naturally curious to find out who was behind the company. When I first started a Facebook page devoted to Apple Movers, I knew only that it claimed to be an Omni Holdings Inc. company, listed addresses in Florida, Texas, and California, and had a less than stellar BBB rating. By then I'd also gathered that whoever was running this company was also using other company names (I knew by then of Omni Van Lines and something called Abaco).

At that point, I became occupied with other matters, and more or less let it drop. Then out of curiosity about a week ago, I was doing a Google search on Apple and Omni, ended up finding a number of entries at various websites devoted to consumer complaints, and came to realize there was more than had met the eye. The name Tevel Bennoon (sometimes listed as Tevel Benoon or Tevel Ben Noon) cropped up, and the number of companies he had run in the last few years was fairly impressive. The pattern of complaints became familiar as well.

So who is this Tevel Bennoon? From what I've been able to gather so far, he is an Israeli who immigrated to the US, probably sometime around 2004 or perhaps a bit before. He's been in the moving business at least since 2004. At least one of his companies got into trouble for paying its employees with bogus checks. He apparently spent a few days in jail over that. As far as anyone seems to know, he does have a work visa (i.e., "green card"). One of his early companies was billed as a family operation, although that family image has long since been abandoned. A divorce will do that, I suppose. His Myspace page listed him as single and looking, although it hasn't been updated in a while. He presumably still lives in Florida.

That's what can be gleaned from the Internet so far. Other than that, to fill in the blanks, perhaps the book "Snakes in Suits", which deals with psychopathy in the work world would be of use. Regardless, now in his mid-40s, he's likely been in the habit of conning others for decades. How much longer he continues his current scam is anyone's guess. Given the lack of regulation in the moving industry, he could be at this for a while to come.