Fortress Buildings

William –

Victim Location 32810

Total money lost $20,240

Type of a scam Online Purchase

To whom it may concern,

I had been researching and looking for a suitable metal building supplier for several months. I wanted to add an addition to my home. Through my research I was contacted by people offering closed out steel buildings at a reduced cost. I believe they fabricated a bogus call to say that Fortress Buildings is a reputable business and handles most of the metal building manufacturing in the state of Florida. These fraudulently induce people into buying a building that is not going to be delivered. The front company is named Fortress Buildings, or Fortress Metal Buildings. Neither of the names can be found in the https://dos.myflorida.com/sunbiz/search/ records.

The scheme takes the following form. The sales agents will reply to a request for a price on a building. Via the internet, I reviewed several platforms. Some offered multiple agents for competitive bids. I was contacted by Michael J. Bunnicelli, claiming he represented Fortress Buildings He told me he could procure a building for me that would meet my specific requirements. He told me that a couple of manufacturing facilities had recently closed down, making clearance buildings available at a reduced price. This would save me 25% if I could make the clearance building fit my requirements.

I spent a couple of days going over what we could make work from the supposed clearance buildings. I was talking to someone named Michael; but the email address he gave me was [email protected] . I was now dealing with multiple people on the details. After agreeing on size, details and a price, I was informed that in order to lock in the clearance building and price, I needed to provide a deposit. I received the DocuSign contract from Joseph M. DiGraziano via email. In the early phases of the discussions, they called and emailed me constantly, encouraging me to move forward with the deal and to sign the contract, and to provide the deposit. I was instructed to pay $6000.00 with a credit card to Fortress Buildings and to wire the remaining balance as instructed by the Michael DiGriziano’s email. Instructions read: $14,240.00 to a bank account out of New York NY, account named “Steel Core Structures LLC.” – Steel Core Structures LLC is inactive as of 9/27/19.

Several days later I received the Fortress Building Welcome Package in the mail. After receiving my money, I had difficulty getting any response from anyone. I started calling to engage with someone to help with the plans. We needed to review door locations and other details; but the plans were not forthcoming as per the time frame specified in the contract. They no longer returned my calls; and emails were responded to slowly. My phone calls went to voice mail and not returned. Responses to my emails took days and weeks to be returned. This unprofessional behaver and lack of follow through went on for months, as their employee turnover is constant. Eventually I realized that I had been “had.”

After 4 months, the engineered drawings , nor anything else has ever arrived.. I sent an email to [email protected] and told them to stop all efforts on my behalf. I asked that all my money be refunded because of the lack of performance. Jason emailed back promptly saying that he would relay the message and he would have someone reach out to me the next day. Three weeks have passed, without a response or my refund.

If one checks on line at https://dos.myflorida.com/ to look up the officers’ names and LLCs, one will find many complaints from folks who have had similar experiences. The ScamPulse.com shows 26 complaints in the last year.

Looking into the details of these men and their LLCs, the following were found listed on the Division of Corporations for Florida at https://dos.myflorida.com/sunbiz/search/ Michael Joseph Bunnicelli, Joseph M. DiGraziano, Aaron P. Troy and their positions of the following LLC:

LLC name: complaints LLC status Bunnicelli DiGraziano Troy

MBJD STEEL (shows up as Fortress) 31 ScamPulse.com inactive AR RA, MGR, AR no info

J.A.M. inactive VP P VP, RA

CLASSIC STEEL BUILDINGS inactive VP P VP, RA

HURRICANE STEEL BUILDINGS 26 ScamPulse.com inactive VP P VP, RA

FORTRESS BUILDINGS 33 ScamPulse.com no info

Steel Building Sales that take your money and keep it. No, you don’t get anything in return.

SUMMARY

Classic steel buildings LLC (inactive) used Bank of America as receiver of Bank wire funds.

MBJD STEEL LLC (inactive) name used as the seller,

SFL STEEL LLC (inactive) name used in the contract header,

HURRICANE STEEL BUILDINGS LLC (inactive)

Fortress Buildings…Fictitious name listed on my contract

Fortress Metal Buildings…fictitious name listed on the bank wire instructions,

SFL/MBJD STEEL LLC…fictitious name listed on my contract header;

The above company names and/or LLCs are/were used as a business fronts by a small group of men in southeast Florida. Other business names and/or LLCs (active or not) associated with the same office building complex and/or associated with the same men are: SFL STEEL LLC (inactive) and others

Joseph M DiGraziano, Michael Joseph Bunnicelli, Aaron Troy and other employees claim to have clearance buildings at a reduced price. They had fake competition call to say that Fortress is a reputable business and do most of the manufacturing in the Florida area. This group cons people into buying a building that is not going to be delivered. The contracts are done on DocuSign via Email and the payments are broken down into a credit card payment and a money wire. They call and email constantly to get you to sign and pay. After you send money, you get a welcome package in the mail. Constant calls and emails from me, are answered with delays. Engineered drawings never come and neither does the building you put the money down on. When you cancel the order they keep your money. After 4 months of working with them, I called and emailed to cancel the contract do to lack of performance. To date no response, no refund. I’ve been conned.

I am attaching copies of my contract, the wiring documents evidencing the payment and a copy of my credit card statement.

It is my request that the appropriate Consumer Frauds Divisions of the US Attoneys office, US Postal Service and applicable state and local law enforcement officials will investigate my concerns and prosecute these people and entities to the fullest extent of the law.

Sincerely yours,

RDR