BBB warns Jackson man's online business might not be legit

The Better Business Bureau is warning customers to use caution in dealing with a Jackson man whose new website it said may not be trustworthy.

Jody Williams, 23, previously ran websites including Cigar Lovers Paradise, Apple Refurbishing, Microsoft Refurbishing and Sparked Fashion, all of which have received the lowest possible ratings from the BBB -- "F" -- according to a news release from the organization.

Williams now has started discountcigarettemall.com, which offers cigarettes as well as clothes and electronic goods.

Williams said during a phone interview Friday the business is legitimate and the BBB has engaged in "data manipulation" to harm his past businesses.

"We're advising consumers to be cautious," Joey Keys, director of the Cape Girardeau regional office of the BBB, said in a phone interview Friday. "His track record is not delivering to consumers."

The web address of Williams' new site is one letter different from that of a cigarette vending site based in the United Kingdom, though the BBB could not determine any connections between the two entities, according to the news release.

Keys said the BBB does not have a profile or rating for Williams' newest site yet.

Williams told the BBB his newest website is a legitimate enterprise, and any problems with his previous sites were because of his inexperience in the field.

"This business is legitimate. My other businesses were legitimate," Williams said.

"My attorney's going to have a field day," he said, adding he had retained legal counsel and is preparing to "file suit for character defamation."

"The Better Business Bureau has overstepped their bounds," he said.

Online court records show Williams pleaded guilty to two counts of passing a bad check in Creve Coeur, Missouri last summer, for which he is on probation.

He also said he is in the process of changing his legal name to Boris Casio Escobar.

tgraef@semissourian.com

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