Archive for February 2010

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

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 […]

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’

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

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 […]

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

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, […]

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

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 […]

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” […]

BULLETIN: Dean Blechman’s Name Removed From Data Network Affiliates’ Website; Audio In Which CEO Threatened Critics Also Removed

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 […]

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

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

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 […]

Secret Service, FBI, IRS Raid Steve Renner’s INetGlobal Operations In Minneapolis; Scene Resembled AdSurfDaily Raid In Florida

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 […]

Robert Guenther Named Defendant In Feb. 2 Shareholder Lawsuit That Alleges RICO Violations, Conversion, Unjust Enrichment, Fraudulent Transfer

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 […]