What happens when you purchase a fake business?

When I signed the purchase agreement for a small trucking company in April of 2024, I thought I had taken a major step into the world of ETA after a two-year search. What I actually stepped into was complete fraud. The company I acquired didn’t operate the way the seller claimed. The contracts were either non-existent or forged. The trucks weren’t theirs to sell. The revenue figures? Completely fabricated. Taxes, wayyyy over inflated. Bank statements and wire transfers, forged. Overnight, I had a business on paper...but no operations, no customers, and a loan that had to be repaid. This wasn’t just a deal gone bad. It was a full-blown scam. How Did This Happen? Looking back, there were red flags I missed or didn’t push hard enough on. The biggest one? I should have insisted on speaking directly with current clients before the acquisition. I was told a major change had just been made to the operating authority and that talking to clients as a “potential new owner” might scare them off and it was a hard no pre-acquisition. Another buyer had backed out due to the SBA personal guarantee and they had already been down that road (which was told to us by the broker). In hindsight, I’m not going to beat myself up over it. As easy as it was to fabricate the business to this scale, it would’ve been just as easy to stage fake client calls. (And for context this deal still passed six months of SBA underwriting and a third-party business evaluation.) So What Did I Do Next? Instead of folding, I got to work. I built out a real business from scratch. This experience tested everything: resilience, resourcefulness, and risk tolerance. It could’ve been the end of the story. Instead, it became the beginning of a new chapter. What I’ve Learned ETA isn’t just about closing a deal it’s about what happens after the ink dries. Here’s what I’d tell anyone evaluating a deal: Verify everything. Call customers, confirm contracts, speak to vendors, validate asset ownership. Don’t rely on documents alone. Assume post-close chaos. Have a plan for the worst-case scenario. Document everything. Your legal recourse may depend on it. Know your ‘why.’ That purpose will carry you if the rug gets pulled out from under you. Where I Am Now I’ve transformed a fake company into a real one. We are officially 1 year old as of April 12th and although it’s still early I'm grinding every day. I expect to double operations by the end of the year and be in a better place than the business I thought I was buying. If you're in the middle of a deal or just want to talk through something, feel free to reach out. Happy to share what I’ve learned or help give advice to turn something around you may have regretted purchasing. The fraud I experienced caused over 6x the damages of the Anna Delvey case (I get a friendly reminder on the 1st of every month when the 5 figure loan payment is deducted), and I'm pursuing the same level of justice. If you know anyone in the legal system who might take interest to speed things along, I’d be grateful for the intro.