Who’s Really Behind Tom? Part 2 – The Camera Guyz!

In “Who’s Really Behind Tom? Part 1” I revealed what many of us already know, that one of Monitronics largest authorized dealers is a major participant in this ongoing telemarketing campaign. But of course there is always more to the story, and in this part I’ll begin to help readers understand the layers of relationships that this business is built upon. Here’s a graphic:

So a few weeks after my round of conversations with Maximum Security Alarm, I had a call (Oct. 31st, 2011 @ 1:43PM) from another California call center. This time the caller ID just said “out-of’-area” and after answering the questions successfully I got a call back from 706-705-8888. It was a nice young man named Scotty who said he was the General Manager of 911 Security Alarm in Sacramento. He was actually pretty helpful in giving me information about their operation on Placer Lane in Rancho Cordova. It was the standard pitch for a GE Wireless home system, 2-way voice intercom, monitoring for $36.99 a month through Monitronics, with a $69-109 activation fee. I inquired about a CA or TX Alarm Operators license and Scotty told me his boss Csaba (pronounced Chubba like Bubba) had recently formed the company and they were fully licensed. When I asked for the number he gave me #3394475 and that it would be under “The Camera Guyz…”. A little online research failed to uncover any entity named 911 Security Alarm, or a CA BSIS licenses, but there is a CA Corp named The Camera Guyz Security & Alarm Services.

They’re certainly not licensed in my state of Texas, so who are these guys? The main principal is a man who uses a few different names, might even be his middle name, but is registered with the CA Bureau of Security as Csaba Bessenyei. He operates this business as 911 Security Alarm even though the license is under The Camera Guyz.

CSABA BESSENYEI AKA CSABA GABOR (Picture Below)

Remember, I’m talking with Scotty in October and November of 2011. The CA license isn’t valid until Feb 2012. So When I look further into their operation I find marketing like this on FACEBOOK. Here it seems that Mr. Bessenyei is going by the name Csaba Gabor and they post this business card:

The State of California Business and Occupations code (7599.44) requires that the Alarm license number be featured on every advertisement and provides for a penalty. In this case the license number is in fact the corporation registration number for a company not revealed on this ad. The eventual license is for both a company with a different name,  and a different individual name.  And make no mistake, Mr. Bessenyei is proud to be the CEO of the organization as he shows on his LinkedIn page (no mention of Camera Guyz):

According to sources claiming to be former employees of Maximum Security,  Mr. Bessenyei was actually a long time employee of Maximum Security Alarm. Although he lists employment with Monitronics as their West Coast Sales Manager, it’s unconfirmed if he was actually a Monitronics employee as he claims on his LinkedIn page.  There are two possible scenarios: One, that he has falsely claimed to be a Monitronics employee, or two he was a Monitronics Manager and operated with full knowledge of the telemarketing scheme we know as “Tom”. (There is a second Bessenyei LinkedIn page with two other business entities)

Maybe they’re operating 911 Security as a DBA of Camera Guyz? No, that’s not the case, The Fictitious name filing lists a Bessenyei (NOT CSABA)  as the owner. (I won’t reveal info about spouse and family unless I know for sure they’re involved).

In a follow up call I made to Scotty (he was going to email me a copy of their install and monitoring agreement) he told me that the paperwork (at that time) was all handled through Maximum Security Alarm. This is what they seem to call in the alarm industry “running the paper” through an authorized dealer in order to get paid.

It’s amazing what people tell you when you’re nice and pretend to be interested. In this case, I told Scotty I was interested in starting my own security alarm business in Texas and I wondered how he got the leads to call. He spills the beans in the next post so stay tuned!