PatrickPretty.com: PatrickPretty.com: Covering Ponzi Schemes, pyramid schemes, securities fraud, investment fraud and Internet crime.

A Florida man has been arrested by the FBI on 21 counts of wire fraud amid allegations he operated a forex Ponzi scheme, collecting more than $10.2 million and pocketing $1 million for himself.
The announcement of the arrest of Patrick H. Rakotonanahary, 34, of  Punta Gorda, Fla., was made in Hawaii after a joint probe [...]

It entered the autosurf world in January 2009 with the stern bang of a drum in a promotional video. The message was dire: “The World Is In Crisis,” it warned. “Turn On The News, And You’ll See. The Stock Market Is At A Record Low. Foreclosures Are At An All-Time High. Thousand’s (sic) Are Losing [...]

Welcome to the rapidly evolving world of Planet Fraud, U.S. Region — or, more precisely, the U.S. Region of Planet Cyberfraud, the electronic web of deceit that often exists out of view and is sucking wealth at an alarming pace.
Its capitals last year, according to a new report from The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), [...]

An individual or group of individuals believed to be operating internationally created a website that mimicked the website of the U.S. Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC) “in an apparent attempt to target [Bernard] Madoff victims” in a fraud scheme, SIPC said.
SIPC and the SEC issued warnings immediately, as did the court-appointed receiver in the alleged [...]

You might find yourself a rank amateur in the new business of writing down the license-plate numbers of your neighbors for entry in a database if you don’t pay Data Network Affiliates (DNA) a one-time fee of $97 and a monthly fee of $29.95 for the right to use what the firm describes as a [...]

UPDATED 5:21 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) On Feb. 23, the U.S. Secret Service raided the Minneapolis offices of INetGlobal, a company operated by Steve Renner under the Inter-Mark Corp. umbrella. The raid occurred amid allegations that INetGlobal was operating an autosurf Ponzi scheme and also engaging in wire fraud and money-laundering.
A week later — on March [...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Untargeted, unfocused traffic and participants who did not have websites to advertise are two of the issues in the AdSurfDaily autosurf Ponzi scheme case. They also are issues in the INetGlobal case.
UPDATED 8:20 A.M. ET (March 10, U.S.A.) Public records and other information suggest INetGlobal was becoming largely dependent on cash from Mainland [...]

First, some news: A website titled DeanBlechman.com now resolves to a parked page at the offshore registrar directNIC. As first reported on the PP Blog, the site previously redirected to the website of Data Network Affiliates (DNA).
directNIC is “based in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands,” relocating from its former base in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, according [...]

UPDATED 1:42 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) The Better Business Bureau branch in Dallas has given Narc That Car a rating of “F,” the worst-possible rating on the BBB’s 14-step rating scale.
Narc That Car’s previous rating was “NR,” meaning the firm had no rating with the BBB, which opened an inquiry into the company Jan. 18.
The BBB [...]