Investors cry foul, investigators look into scooter company

CHARLOTTE — People say they invested thousands in a scooter company with money that they don’t think they’ll see again.

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We’re talking about Lightning Shared Scooter Company, often shortened to LSSC, said Action 9 attorney Jason Stoogenke. Its website bills it as a company that builds electric scooters people can rent.

There were pitches on social media and in-person presentations to get people to invest.

It appears investors used a trading platform to buy into LSSC and the platform had around $49 million in it, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investors say the business encouraged them to bring in more people to invest. More people, more money, or so they claimed.

“When you become a manager, you get $5,000 more. You become second level manager; you get 10,000. It’s quite exciting,” said investor Bernard Blake.

He says he put in $12,000 and now can’t get his money back. He says people invested globally.

“From here to Africa. A lot of people in Africa actually joined this business. I have some friends in Europe that joined before me,” he said.

The Better Business Bureau says LSSC appears to be “a pyramid scheme,” that people lost between $1,000 to $55,000 each and that “investors were given what appeared to be an SEC certificate. However, the document was riddled with typos, grammatical errors, and a fabricated certificate number.”

“The opportunity was presented to members of a church. And so, unfortunately, there was a concentration of victims there because they’re surrounded with people that they know and trust and they felt comfortable,” says Holly Salmons, who is with the BBB.

Some law enforcement agencies -- from California to Canada -- are also warning consumers.

“It impacted a lot of people. You know, it hurt. It hurt a lot of families,” Blake said.

WSOC didn’t find an office for LSSC in the Charlotte area, but its sister station in Orlando went to one. They say no one was around. They called the phone number listed on the sign, but the message said the number wasn’t accepting phone calls at that time.

Stoogenke says if you think you lost money to this -- or any investment opportunity -- start by reporting it to law enforcement, the state attorney general, and the Federal Trade Commission.

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