Data Network Affiliates Now Says Launch Is ‘Beta Test’; Adds ‘JK Wedding Entrance Dance’ Video To Sales Pitch; Former CEO May Make Statement This Week
After delaying its launch twice in February and finally settling on a March 1 launch date, Data Network Affiliates (DNA) now describes tomorrow’s launch as a “Beta Test.”
Meanwhile, the company has added a hugely popular YouTube video known as “JK Wedding Entrance Dance” to its website, using the video to promote DNA.
On the YouTube site, [...]
DEVELOPING STORY: Blogger In Czech Republic Who Called INetGlobal A ‘Scam’ Last Summer Says She Was Threatened With Lawsuit; Blogger’s Name Means ‘Prophetess’ Or ‘Oracle’
EDITOR’S NOTE: Sybille Yates, the subject of the story below, contacted the PP Blog Feb. 26 and Feb. 27 from an IP in the Czech Republic, after reading our coverage of the Ponzi scheme allegations against INetGlobal. The PP Blog asked Yates questions in follow-up emails, and this story is based on her responses and [...]
BBB ‘Remains Concerned,’ Still Has Questions About Narc That Car After Firm Says Only 1 Percent Of Commissions Stems From Sale Of Data To Third Parties
Narc That Car has told the Dallas Better Business Bureau that only “1% of total commissions paid out to independent consultants are for the sale of license plate information to third parties,” the BBB said today.
That 1 percent, which Narc That Car referred to as “client share,” is the “only repeatable form of compensation which [...]
BULLETIN: CFTC Shuts Down Alleged Ponzi Scheme That Pitched Itself On YouTube; Ronald W. Smith Jr. Charged With Operating Forex Fraud; Judge Orders Video To Be Preserved
In a case that may spread a chill among fraudsters who use YouTube to promote bogus money-making schemes, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has charged a Virginia man with fraud.
Ronald W. Smith Jr. of Vansant used a YouTube video to promote a Forex Ponzi scheme that gathered more than $800,000 from 34 investors, CFTC [...]
SECRET SERVICE: INetGlobal Forced Members To Keep Money In The Company With ‘Automatic Repurchasing’ Scheme; Undercover Agent Sent Email To Support, Which Verified Repurchase Was Mandatory
UPDATED 11:07 A.M. ET (U.S.A.) One of the undercover Secret Service agents who joined INetGlobal discovered that the company had implemented an “automatic repurchasing” program by default and that the program could not be switched off, thus distancing participants — many of whom may not have understood English — from their money.
Although it is unclear [...]
BULLETIN: Receiver In Affiliate Strategies Inc. (ASI) Case Asks Federal Judge To Add Noobing Autosurf To Receivership Probe After Inquiries By ‘Tax Authorities’
The court-appointed receiver in the fraud case against the parent company of the Noobing autosurf has asked a federal judge for the authority to add Noobing to the receivership probe.
Larry Cook, the receiver, said that Noobing and 14 other companies under the Affiliate Strategies Inc. (ASI) umbrella have become the subjects of “numerous inquiries” from [...]
BULLETIN: Dean Blechman’s Name Removed From Data Network Affiliates’ Website; Audio In Which CEO Threatened Critics Also Removed
UPDATED 12:24 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Is Dean Blechman no longer the chief executive officer of Data Network Affiliates (DNA), an MLM firm that purports to be in the business of recording license-plate numbers of cars as they move from destination to destination?
Blechman, who identified himself as the CEO in an audio recording and was identified [...]
AdSurfDaily Cited In INetGlobal/Steve Renner Search Warrant Application; Former Company CEO Helped Agents Prior To Raid; Undercover Agent Joined Surf Program; Agents Witnessed Spectacle At New York Function
The U.S. Secret Service observed Minnesota-based INetGlobal’s operations for weeks in January, dispatched undercover agents to join the autosurf, learned that a bank recently had closed accounts tied to the firm amid money-laundering suspicions — and already had received incriminating information from the firm’s former chief executive officer prior to executing multiple search warrants Tuesday, [...]
ASDMBA, Jaffa Partners Websites Offine; Registrations For Both Are Current
UPDATED 2:59 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Both sites discussed in story below are back up. . . .
Two websites associated with AdSurfDaily mainstay Bob Guenther are offline. The sites — asdmba.com and jaffapartners.com — both are returning this message:
“OOPS. This site is currently unavailable.” The message includes a prompt for ASDMBA and JaffaPartners to contact the [...]
Secret Service, FBI, IRS Raid Steve Renner’s INetGlobal Operations In Minneapolis; Scene Resembled AdSurfDaily Raid In Florida
UPDATED 10:40 A.M. ET (U.S.A.) Federal and state agents have raided the Minneapolis offices of Inter-Mark Corp., seeking evidence of a Ponzi scheme, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis/St. Paul is reporting.
Inter-Mark Corp. is operated by Steve Renner, who also operates a purported “advertising” service known as INetGlobal. In a scene that resembled the August 2008 raid [...]
Robert Guenther Named Defendant In Feb. 2 Shareholder Lawsuit That Alleges RICO Violations, Conversion, Unjust Enrichment, Fraudulent Transfer
Robert Guenther and a woman referenced as “Jane Doe” are listed as defendants in a shareholder lawsuit filed Feb. 2 in Arizona by investors in Cheyenne Mountain Games (CMG) and Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment (CME).
Guenther is the de facto head of the ASD Members Business Association (ASDMBA), an entity that came to life in the aftermath [...]
Images Of Trump, Oprah Appear For 10 Continuous Minutes In Data Network Affiliates Promo On YouTube; Boss Has Impressive ‘Speed Dial’ List, Narrator Says
The images of business tycoon Donald Trump and entertainment icon Oprah Winfrey appear for 10 continuous minutes in a sales pitch for Data Network Affiliates (DNA) on YouTube.
DNA pitchmen have described the company as a multilevel-marketing (MLM) company that recruits affiliates to record license-plate numbers in the parking lots of retail stores, churches, doctors’ offices [...]
FTC Uncovers ‘Widespread Data Breaches’; Sends Letters To Nearly 100 Organizations, Opens ‘Non-Public Investigations’
Saying it has identified nearly 100 organizations that lost control of personal information they maintain on employees, customers or others, the FTC has notified the entities to tighten security on peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks.
At the same time, the agency said it has opened “non-public investigations” of companies whose customer or employee information has been [...]
EDITORIAL: An American Named ‘Daisy’: What Data Network Affiliates And Narc That Car Can Learn From Andy Bowdoin And AdSurfDaily — And The High Potential For Backlash
EDITOR’S NOTE: Repping for Data Network Affiliates or Narc That Car, two companies in the business of recording license-plate data? Here are some things you might want to consider . . .
UPDATED 2:21 P.M. ET (March 5, U.S.A.) Data Network Affiliates (DNA) and Narc That Car (NTC) both say they are soliciting members to [...]
Data Network Affiliates’ CEO Warns Critics: ‘They Better Be Very, Very Careful’
UPDATED 10:31 A.M. ET (U.S.A.) The chief executive officer of Data Network Affiliates (DNA) has come out swinging against critics, threatening to take legal action.
“There are some distractions I’m hearing about out there,” said CEO Dean Blechman.
An audio recording of Blechman’s remarks is posted on DNA’s website. Two DNA pitchmen warmed up listeners by exchanging [...]
Canadian Regulators Attack ‘Pay It Forward’ Scheme; Many Autosurfs, Cash-Gifting And MLM Schemes Use Similar Marketing Approach
Trading off a popular phrase, Kerry John O’Neill’s “pay-it-forward” scheme has landed him in trouble with Canadian securities regulators, wiped him out financially and implicated an associate who helped him sell the scheme.
O’Neill even named his scheme the “Pay It Forward Program” (PIF), according to the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC), which accused him of [...]
ANOTHER FLORIDA FRAUD CONVICTION: Michael J. Muzio Ran ‘Pump-And-Dump’ Scheme In Case Tied To Ponzi And Affinity-Fraud Scheme Targeting Haitian-Americans
A Florida man implicated in a pump-and-dump scheme tied to a Ponzi- and affinity-fraud scheme has been convicted and faces decades in federal prison.
Michael J. Muzio, 46, of Tampa, was convicted on six counts of securities fraud, two counts of substantive wire fraud, two counts of lying to the SEC and the FBI and [...]
Former Attorney Sentenced To 99 Years In Prison For Ponzi Scheme; Edward S. Digges Jr. Was Recidivist Offender
A Texas jury has thrown the book at Edward S. Digges Jr., sentencing the Collin County man to 99 years in prison for fleecing 130 investors in a securities-fraud and Ponzi scheme.
Digges, 63, formerly was an attorney in Annapolis, Md. He was disbarred in an overbilling scheme, convicted of mail fraud in 1990 and spent [...]
Narc That Car Video From Downline Group Known As Team Trinity International May Use Content Lifted From Public Service Announcement Put Out By Actor Leonardo DiCaprio
UPDDATED 2:26 P.M. ET (March 5, U.S.A.) A YouTube video promotion for the Narc That Car multilevel-marketing (MLM) program appears to use celebrity footage produced by Appian Way Productions, a production company owned by actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
The PP Blog attempted to contact DiCaprio for comment through the Screen Actors Guild Friday night. The office was [...]
