Profitnet is fraudulent

[sue lewis]

I represent the members of Profitnet in South Africa. Profitnet is a fraudulent business network set up by Shaun Gannon of Brighton University and Robert Taylor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The members were duped into joining the Profitnet programme on the basis of a whole lot of lies and false promises from these con artists. They claimed that the programme was running very successfully in a number of countries throught the world and promised members linkages with companies in the UK, trade partnerships, expert speakers to come and talk to the groups, training, support and, and, and....

They were given funding for the programme by the British Council, and then MORE funding on the basis of grossly exaggerated results and nonsensical claims of success. We didn't see the benefit of one penny of that money and all the promises turned out to be lies. We never saw Gannon after July 2008 and Taylor came to only one meeting, made all sorts of commitments and we never saw or heard from him again. The 4 staff members were never paid and the receipts for the operating costs, which should have been refunded from the British Council's grant were stolen by Robert Taylor and never refunded. Presumably claimed the expenses for himself.

These men are liars and frauds. They are still trying to set up new groups and claim that there are several groups meeting in various centres in South Africa - it's all lies. They are also trying to sell "licences" to run the programme - also based on all the false results and claims of success - and we urge all business owners out there to be VERY careful of these fraudsters. DO NOT fall for this scam or their lies. You will get nothing in return and they will just pocket any money they get from you. And then claim that they achieves huge success with your business too!

Please see our profitnetsa.co.za website for more information. We are trying to get the word out as far and wide as possible so that more people don't get scammed. Please forward this to all you know, wherever you are. Creeps like this should be in prison and the universities that employ them should be shut down and held accountable for their shameful behaviour.

[Gentle Giant]

Posted here for now. We are waiting for additional information about this so admins are keeping an eye on it.

any benefit i got had nothing to do with those 2 numnutz. sharing info with members was great but we could have benefited as much or more by having a beer at the pub and chatting. more fun to.

they must answer for what they have done, or not done and give us an apology

And they came to interview us halfway through the program in the first year. Supposed to be a 12 month program and they did the evaluation in July. And then claimed that it had been a great success and boasted how brilliant they were all over the place. Lots of those members had only been part of it for a month or two.

And Sean Gannon and Rob Taylor boasted that their Profitnet genius had transformed their businesses. What gets me is that nobody picked up on that. Duh British Council gave them 2 years more funding on the basis of those lies.

And how is it that we had a graduation ceremony in September and then carried on meeting til the end of December? They just used us as their guinea pigs and vanished - no more use to them. We were SO important when they wanted to sell Profitnet to us. Now they wont even respond to our complaints. Deathly silence and eff you attitude from them.

We should lay charges and the next time Sean visits his mommy using our money he'll be arrested at the airport. Different kind of welcoming committee altogether. I'd love to be there to see that. Ha ha!

Did they do anything at all? Nothing they promised ever happened.

Remember when Sahun came in 2008 and told us that 2 of our members would be flown to England to talk to the groups there, work with them etc.

never happened did it. Unless Georgie's girlfriend went and we never heard about it

The one UK website claims they have 800 members, another one says 600 and another one says 500. And Rob Taylor's website at UKZN claims there are 60 members in SA. What a LIE! They have been trying to get ONE group up and running since last September and still only have a handful of members.

How did these two morons become professors anyway? I thought you had to be intelligent to be a professor. And good at what you do. I'm beginning to wonder if those two can even read or write.

Only Taylor is a professor. Gannon just thinks he's a god. Worships himself in the mirror every time he walks past.

[sue lewis]

What we should be doing is reporting the universities to the Ministers of Higher Education in both countries for allowing this to happen. And for not firing the two frauds for stealing the Profitnet money and lying to us. That doesn't surprise me so much with the SA university but I'd expect more from Brighton University. Ethics is now something that gets taught to students but god forbid that the universities should actually practise what they preach!

And the British Council is funded by UK taxpayers' money. THAT should be in the newspapers and brought to the attention of the UK government.

Great headline:

"British Council covers up fraud. Decides to let universities 'fight it out between themselves' "

[sue lewis]

I had an email today from a Mr. Peter Korte of UKZN saying that the university takes our allegations seriously and that they bring the name of the university into disrepute. he wants to meet and discuss with me.

Its the university's staff bringing it into disrepute not us but I hope they pay attenton to what is being said. This is much bigger than the university's name and the allegations are more than allegations.

Lets see if something comes of this.

I had a meeting today with Mr. Peter Korte. He assured me that the university does take his matter seriously and it will be investigated further. He also told me that he will request a formal audit regarding the matters raised. I have been asked to prepare a formal statement and I will be asking the facilitators and some of the members from 2009 to make formal statements as well. I will append all the documentation that supports the grievances to my statement for their perusal. I will copy the statement to all members for comment and additional comment. Please would those of you who do get approached for interviews and statements cooperate and tell Mr. Korte the facts of your experiences in ProfitNet in 2008 and 2009.

I am asking the members now not to post any further comments on this website while the investigation is in progress. We do not want to 'muddy the waters' while it is ongoing and I do believe that, this time, a thorough investigation will be conducted. We can regroup next month before I leave the university to discuss the way forward.

Vasbyt! Justice will be done eventually.

All the best,
Clare