Tuesday News And Notes: ASD, AVG, Noobing

UPDATED 3:44 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.)

Topic: In their response to an Andy Bowdoin pleading, federal prosecutors yesterday pointedly referred to ASD  insiders as Bowdoin “associates” and “confederates.”

Is it a signal?

Topic: Shad Foss, whom the receiver in the CEP Ponzi scheme case views as a Ponzi promoter worthy of pursuing for clawbacks, sent an email in late March encouraging people to sign up for AdViewGlobal (AVG).

AVG has been running a 200-percent, matching-bonus program, and has close ties to ASD. ASD once advertised that it used the services of CEP Trust, the failed payment processor run by the operators of the CEP Ponzi scheme.

Foss got some of the math wrong in his AVG pitch. Regardless, he managed to use exclamation points to end four consecutive sentences in his 200-percent promotion (emphasis added):

That means $500 turns into $1500 instantly!

$1000 turns into $3,000 instantly!

$2500 turns into $7,5000 instantly!

$5000 turns into $15,000 instantly!

AVG members now are expressing nervousness about trouble the company has been having with payout issues and getting banking and payment-processor issues fixed.

Some members have questioned whether a process involving a button that permits one AVG member to transfer money to another from within the AVG system might constitute money laundering or tax evasion. Members say it’s a means for upline sponsors to make sure members of their downlines don’t have to wait to have AVG purchases credited, but law enforcement could take a dim view of the system.

AVG members also are complaining about low rebate rates, as the surf firm continues to offer huge matching bonuses electronically — a way to collect large sums of cash without requiring people to be physically present to qualify for bonuses. ASD filled its coffers by offering matching bonuses to people who attended “rallies” in U.S. cities; AVG is not conducting rallies, but instead is offering rally-like bonuses electronically.

Topic: Noobing, a surf site that targeted people with hearing impairments, now has been given an official scam label by asamonitor. Noobing used a rebate model similar to ASD, then slashed the payout rate. When members then received only tiny rebates, they complained, claiming bait-and-switch. A Noobing employee said the company slashed rebates because of an unclear ruling in the ASD case.

Topic: Mods at the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum continue to champion Andy Bowdoin. Some of the Mods and members also are promoting AVG, but AVG members have been complaining that they aren’t getting satisfactory answers from the Mods or the company. Meanwhile, some Surf’s Up members are openly questioning the Mods’ undying devotion to Bowdoin.

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3 Responses to “Tuesday News And Notes: ASD, AVG, Noobing”

  1. the internal transfer system is a big deal to HYIP and ponzi scheme pros. It allows a member convert funds he has locked up in the system to cash, often after “problems” have slowed payouts through the regular channels. In the PIPS scam a few years back, PICPAY transfers nearly destroyed a town in Ireland (Kells) because one or two early joiners had huge balances on a screen, but as PIPS went through several periods of payment processor problems, getting actual cash from your “investment” was a problem. Until someone discovered that you could transfer your PICPAY funds to the new member, and accept cash from him, it was so convenient!

  2. Hi Gregg,

    For a week or more, there has been a pronounced reluctance on the part
    of AVG to offer meaningful explanations for any of the behind-the-scenes
    problems.

    No one seems willing to become the “face” of the company and step out in front of all of these issues.

    The plan seems to have been to raise cash in large sums and then get AVG members ported to SolidTrustPay. AVG rebates also were slashed, and there appears also to be problems with StrictPay.

    AVG appears to have lost some or all of its ACH capabilities, which could mean large sums needed for payouts are trapped between two worlds. If true, that’s ASD, without the checks.

    Talbert reportedly no longer is CEO, but no leader has emerged. Members are sensing trouble.

    The thing about money-laundering is that this is the type of situation the government contemplates: Trapping money between two worlds. ASD likely let checks back up because it knew the Feds were close. Game over if they bank those checks in a known entity, so the struggle becomes finding a bank willing to take your money.

    AVG perhaps doesn’t have a bank willing to take its money. It could be sitting on — or blocked from — a large sum.

    Patrick

  3. The Canadian regulation of payment processors is a joke and I think STP and AG are teaching them the hard way why the US regulations are needed. To set up a processor like STP in the US would take over $2 million in deposits, bonds and fees not to mention background checks etc…it’s almost as much paperwork as an IPO in the US, in Canada, from what I can tell you have to have an address and a pulse. STP would never get permits in the US, their founders in the past ran a HYIP scam themselves. Evan as it is, the Canadian processors are feeling the heat and are limiting funds movement of some HYIP accounts, but unless and until they are left on the hook for some admin who runs with the money, Canada is fast becoming the Scammers Choice of places to run dirty money thru.