Florida Atty Gen.: Miami guy sells fake course, PADI cards

[KeysCuda]

Wow. Don't think I've ever heard of something his egregious in diving. And I'm not young.
Wonder how he thought it would last?
A link to the full complaint is below; it's worth a read for grim details. Yikes. A "certification" with two or three dives?


Release Feb 3, 2015:

Attorney General Bondi Sues Scuba Diving Company for Selling Counterfeit Diving Certification Cards​

​

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a complaint this week against Ocean Hunters, Inc., located in Doral, Fla., and the owner, Abdiel Falcon, for allegedly misleading and deceiving Florida consumers who purchased the company’s open water scuba diving certification courses. According to the investigation by Attorney General Bondi’s Consumer Protection Division, the defendants allegedly charged more than 300 consumers $149 to $399 for counterfeit and/or fraudulent Professional Association of Diving Instructors certification cards, among other things.

The Complaint alleges violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, including that the defendants allegedly:

• · Made misleading and deceptive representations in the marketing, advertising, selling and teaching of open water scuba diving certification courses;
  · Issued counterfeit and/or fraudulent PADI certification cards when in reality, the defendants are not authorized to teach PADI courses, perform diver training or issue PADI certifications; and
  · Issued fraudulent and/or worthless open water scuba diving certification cards or simply failed to provide consumers with any open water certification cards after completing defendants’ certification course.

The defendants are facing a permanent injunction, restitution to all consumers, civil penalties amounting to $10,000 per violation of the Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, a penalty of $15,000 for each violation involving senior citizen victims, and reimbursement for fees and costs associated with the investigation and litigation. The Complaint also seeks to prohibit the defendants from engaging in, rendering or providing any open water scuba diving training, instruction or certification services to Florida consumers.

Consumers may file a complaint or fill out an affidavit about the defendants or any other companies by visiting MyFloridaLegal.com or calling the fraud hotline at 1-866-NO-SCAM.

Link to full complaint:
http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/KCAN-9TDPRF/$file/OceanHunters.pdf

 

[Tony387]

Incredible.

 

[Pinecube]

Wow! The things people do for a buck...

I'll be honest, when I saw the store locator on PADI's website, I checked to make sure the shops I was thinking of getting certified with were on there, but that's me... I don't expect that the majority of people would do that. Living in Canada (and I imagine it's the same in the U.S.) I think we get a false sense of security, thinking 'something like this cant happen to me here'.

If the allegations are true; I wonder what would happen if one of the divers that they certified were injured or worse, while diving. Could this 'complaint' open the door to lawsuits or possibly criminal charges?

 

[dumpsterDiver]

So they gave out fake cards to people who did not do the training and for other people, they gave them full and complete (and valid) training, but failed to give them the cards they earned afterwards? Sounds strange to me.. Wonder if the Pam is stretching things on this one?

 

[RJP]

Not sure where to best post this:

Scuba diving shop in Doral issued fake certifications, authorities say | News - Home

Scuba diving shop in Doral issued fake certifications, authorities say

Abdiel Falcon ran a fraudulent operation out of Ocean Hunters Dive Center in Miami-Dade's Doral neighborhood

Author: Andrea Torres, Local10.com Reporter, atorres@local10.com

DORAL, Fla. -Ocean Hunters, a scuba diving instructor in Doral, was issuing fraudulent scuba diving certification courses, authorities said Tuesday.
Attorney General Pam Bondi file a complaint against Ocean Hunters Dive Center, 4005 NW 114 Ave., in Doral. The complaint said the shop charged about 300 people between $149 to $399 for the fraudulent certification cards.

"My wife and I were recently getting ready to go on a very expensive dive vacation thinking that the certification that she received from Ocean Hunters was legitimate," said Yelp user Timothy K., a year ago. "This dive shop and its instructor are a disgrace to the diving community."

The store owner, Abdiel Falcon, is accused of lying to customers. Authorities are seeking to ban him from providing any open water scuba diving instruction.
Falcon was not an authorized Professional Association of Diving Instructor, as he claimed to be. Authorities said he is facing civil penalties amounting to $10,000 per violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

Falcon is also facing a penalty of $15,000 for each violation involving senior citizens, and reimbursement for fees and costs associated with the investigation and litigation.

 

[Pedro Burrito]

---

---

A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Merged two threads

---

 

[RJP]

Sounds like he was issuing PADI cards, but wasn't a PADI instructor/facility?

 

[Pinecube]

Sounds like he was issuing PADI cards, but wasn't a PADI instructor/facility?

I finally read through the full complaint "http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/KCAN-9TDPRF/$file/OceanHunters.pdf"

Yes, it looks like he created PADI cards (see page 10). Page 12 shows a PADI letter warning people that he "is not a PADI instructor, and not authorized or trained to conduct PADI Diver Courses...".

According to ... somewhere in that document, I can't seem to find it again, the instructor number he had printed to the back of the cards might actually be the number of a woman in Canada.

 

[Chugwhump]

WHOA!!!
So the class I took from this guy to earn my PADI Lunar Diver card is not valid?
Oh great.
So long $400 and astronaut application.

Chug
Lives in Floriduh.

 

[mrfixitchapman]

So, I won't be getting my Nitrous Certification?

DC