OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Imagine opening your own store without the worry of paying rent or stocking shelves. A Sarpy County couple saw an opportunity to bolster their retirement income. Instead, they lost most of it.
Greg Koehn is a retired minister. He and his wife, Lois, invested $36,000 with online brand store promoter Profitable Automation, also known as Ecom Genie, after seeing a Facebook ad.
“Since we sold our home and we had money set aside, we thought, well, OK, we can invest in this store and everything made sense — it looked good,” Greg Koehn said.
But the Better Business Bureau gives Cleveland-based Profitable Automation an F rating.
“They have promised customers that they can make more than six figures in the first 10 months. We have asked them to back that up with real data and they have not responded,” said Josh Planos of the Better Business Bureau.
FTC shuts down the company
The FTC shut down Profitable Automation and won a court judgment of $20 million from the owners. But that is taking time to collect.
“There’s no way of finding out what the status is on the case, so it’s been pending,” Greg Koehn said.
The retirees do not know if FTC action against the company will recover their investment money.
Lois Koehn said the loss has hit hard.
“He was always in the ministry, he never took much money for anything. I worked at Central High School for 30 years, so it’s not like we have a big retirement,” Lois Koehn said.
The couple depends on Social Security, which only goes so far.
Waiting and hoping
The couple must wait on the FTC to receive and release any refund money from the online store settlement.
“Nobody communicates with us. We’re at our wits’ end on what we can do,” Greg Koehn said.
In the meantime, the Koehns are not able to buy a newer car. Their current vehicle has 160,000 miles on it.
“Just pray we can recover those funds,” Greg Koehn said.
Copyright 2026 WOWT. All rights reserved.