DEVELOPING STORY: MPB Today Affiliate Says Firm’s High Shipping Costs For Groceries Good Reason For Federal Food Stamp Recipients To Join 2×2 Cycler Matrix; Also Claims Walmart Gift Cards Convertible To Cash; No Immediate Comment From USDA, Walmart
UPDATED 4 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Former members of AdSurfDaily who lost money in an alleged $100 million Ponzi scheme are not the only prospects being targeted by affiliates of MPB Today. Recipients of federal benefits administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) also are being targeted. If you receive federal assistance for food — [...]
KABOOM! (Florida — Again): FTC Hits Bogus Credit-Repair Firm With $14 Million Judgment; Alleged Schemers Lose Cars, Real Estate In Miami-Dade, Broward Counties
BULLETIN: (UPDATED 11:27 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The Federal Trade Commission has lowered the boom on Clean Credit Report Services Inc. of Florida and three individuals associated with the firm. In a settlement from a case brought in October 2008, the FTC has obtained a judgment of $14.4 million. The defendants must surrender their assets, including [...]
WRETCHED, TAWDRY AND CHEAP: AdSurfDaily Members Now Targeted In Pitches For An MLM 2X2 Cycler — One That Trades On Walmart’s Name While Affiliate Offers ‘Blessings’
UPDATED 7:11 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) When U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum sentenced Ponzi schemer Trevor Cook to a quarter of a century in federal prison earlier this week, the judge used some powerful words to describe Cook’s colossal fraud. Rosenbaum described the scheme that bilked investors out of at least $158 million as “wretched, tawdry [...]
BULLETIN: Trevor Cook Sentenced To 25 Years In Federal Prison; Victims Lost At Least $158 Million In International Forex Ponzi Scheme That Traded On Religion
BULLETIN: Ponzi schemer Trevor Cook has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for his role in an international Forex Ponzi scheme that gathered more than $190 million and fleeced victims out of more than $158 million. In ordering the prison term, U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum sided with the prosecution’s recommendation of a [...]
UNACCEPTABLE: ‘Hopefully One Day He Will Pick The Wrong Target And . . . Someone Will Take A Shotgun To Him,’ Internet Marketer Says About ‘Salty Droid’ Author
DISCLOSURE: I was a volunteer Moderator at the Warrior Forum (WF) between December 2007 and July 2008. I learned what is best — and worst — about Internet Marketing at the WF. Just as my Mod days were coming to an end, the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme case was coming to the fore — and Internet [...]
COMING SOON: Author Of The ‘Salty Droid’ Blog Responds To Menacing Comment Made By Internet Marketer; ‘Shotgun’ Remark On Warrior Forum Seen As ‘Dangerous And Violent’
Many of our readers know that the PP Blog has been subjected to threats, menacing behavior and cyberstalking. Later tonight, we’ll publish an editorial on a highly disturbing incident that occurred last week at the Warrior Forum (WF). The Salty Droid, a Blog that unapologetically skewers highly questionable Internet Marketing practices and some of the [...]
KABOOM! Feds Release Info On ‘Alpha Trade Group’ Forex Scheme With Ties To Mexico, Panama; Records Suggest Scheme Was Collapsing Even Prior To Promos On TalkGold, MoneyMakerGroup Forums
Yet another HYIP scheme pushed on the TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup forums has been outlined by federal prosecutors — this time in Florida. The name of the scheme was Alpha Trade Group (ATG), and web records show that the scheme was pitched on TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup beginning on Oct. 7, 2009. Court records, meanwhile, show that [...]
BREAKING NEWS: Another Spectacular Ponzi Scheme Alleged In Florida; OLINT Operator David A. Smith Charged In Caribbean Forex Caper; Extradition To United States Expected
BULLETIN: A citizen of Jamaica has been charged by U.S. prosecutors in Orlando with operating a Forex Ponzi scheme alleged to have gathered more than $200 million from more than 6,000 investors. David A. Smith had help from unindicted co-conspirators in Florida, prosecutors charged. The office of U.S. Attorney A. Brian Albritton of the Middle [...]
Son Says AdSurfDaily’s Andy Bowdoin Used Religion To Fleece Masses And Disgraced Family Name; Huckster’s Scheming Dates Back To 1960s, Another Family Member Says; ‘He Has A Criminal Mind’
Growing up a child of Andy Bowdoin and advancing through adolescence and adulthood was hard because of Bowdoin’s habitual scheming, according to Scott Bowdoin, Andy Bowdoin’s son. “He uses religion — always,” Scott Bowdoin, 42, said flatly of his 75-year-old father, noting he had not spoken to Andy Bowdoin in about 15 years because the [...]
BREAKING NEWS: Andy Bowdoin’s Son Comments On Father’s Ponzi Case; ‘He Is A Man With No Conscience; He Has Been Doing This All His Life’
The PP Blog conducted an interview this morning with Scott Bowdoin, a son of AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin. Scott Bowdoin stressed that he did not approve of his father’s conduct or support Andy Bowdoin in any way. In August 2008, the U.S. Secret Service alleged that Andy Bowdoin was at the helm of a massive [...]
UPDATE: Robert Hodgins Still Wanted By Interpol; Co-Defendant In Narcotics Probe With Link To AdSurfDaily Case Sentenced To Prison; Colombian Drug Business Used Same Debit Card As ASD
A Colombian national implicated in an international conspiracy to launder drug money has been sentenced to 45 months in prison, federal prosecutors announced. Meanwhile, another figure in the alleged scheme — Robert Hodgins, the operator of Dallas-based Virtual Money Inc. (VM) — remains at large, prosecutors said. Hodgins is wanted by Interpol on a warrant [...]
KABOOM! Vladislav Horohorin Arrested In France On U.S. Warrant After Undercover Operation On Forums; Secret Service Will Traverse The Globe ‘In Pursuit Of Online Criminals,’ Agency Says
EDITOR’S NOTE: The arrest of Vladislav Horohorin is notable on a number of levels. First, the arrest in Europe was a result of an online fraud scheme that allegedly crossed international borders and made its way to the United States, where criminal charges were filed. At the same time, the crime allegedly involved the transfer [...]
AdViewGlobal Website Offline; ‘Surfing’ Site With Close ASD Ties Suspended Cashouts A Year Ago
The website of AdViewGlobal (AVG), an autosurf with close ties to the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, has gone offline. Why AVG’s site was offline was not immediately clear. One person told the PP Blog that the site had been “down for days.” AVG’s domain, which lists a registration address in Uruguay and appears to use [...]
ANOTHER MYTH-BUSTER: U.S. Extradites ‘Legal Adviser’ To Corrupt MLM From Colombia; Margarita Pabon Castro Charged With Helping Pyramid Scheme Launder Money For Narco Businesses
EDITOR’S NOTE: It is common for fraudsters to claim that “offshore” locations insulate HYIPs, autosurfs and other investment-fraud schemes from prosecution in the United States. It is equally common for purveyors to claim the schemes are harmless. The story of the alleged DMG pyramid scheme is one in which prosecutors allege a monstrous multilevel-marketing company [...]
UPDATE: California Man Who Allegedly Filed ‘False Liens’ In Bizarre Paperwork Attack Against Law Enforcement Claimed IRS Owed Him $82 Billion
A California man accused of filing “false liens” against public officials in pursuit of their duties also filed a “bogus” tax-refund claim with the IRS for the preposterous sum of $82 billion, federal prosecutors said. Thanh Viet Jeremy Cao and his business, Phoenix Financial Management Group, now have been permanently barred by a federal judge [...]
MAXIMUM KABOOM? Woman Found Guilty On 122,000 Counts In Pyramid Case; Tells Psychologist She Could Have Saved Firm Had Government Not Interfered
Is it the maximum case of Kaboom! — coupled with the maximum case of denial? The government of South Africa hit Maritjie Prinsloo with a whopping 122,000 counts of fraud, racketeering and money-laundering in a pyramid-scheme case that involved an estimated $205 million. (R1.5 billion.) Prinsloo was found guilty last month. South African media now [...]
BULLETIN: Beau Diamond Found Guilty On All 18 Counts In Florida-Based Forex Scheme; Office Of U.S. Attorney A. Brian Albritton Is Tackling A Number Of HYIP Schemes
BULLETIN: Beau Diamond, the Florida man accused of fleecing investors out of millions of dollars in a Forex Ponzi scheme, has been found guilty of all 18 counts against him. Diamond, 32, was the operator of Diamond Ventures LLC of Sarasota. He was arrested by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office in September 2009, after a [...]
BULLETIN: Another ‘False Liens’ Case Alleged; Feds Charge Thanh Viet Jeremy Cao With Targeting Federal Judges, SEC, IRS, Secret Service And Prosecutors In Paperwork Scheme
BULLETIN: Yet-another bizarre paperwork attack on U.S. law enforcement has occurred. A California man has been charged with filing “false liens” in Nevada against federal officials and employees of the SEC, the Secret Service, the IRS, four federal judges and staff members of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, federal prosecutors [...]
MYTH-SHATTERING CASE: Local Prosecutors Extradite Ronald Paul Shade From Thailand To Face Real-Estate Ponzi Charges; Shade Also Accused Of ‘Financial Elder Abuse’
EDITOR’S NOTE: The PP Blog has covered a number of stories in which U.S. residents living overseas were extradited to the United States to face Ponzi charges. The case against Ronald Paul Shade is another one — and it’s one that demonstrates that an extradition can occur even if a defendant is not charged with [...]
