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 [...]
WebsiteTester.biz Delays Launch; Produces Video With Voice, But No Faces; Sends Members To News Release By Unnamed Author; Mysterious Firm Has 18,000 Twitter Followers
UPDATED 7:26 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A Nevada company that advertises “job” openings and is being promoted on Ponzi forums such as TalkGold, MoneyMakerGroup, ASAMonitor and DreamTeamMoney has delayed its launch. WebsiteTester.biz made the announcement on its website. Forum posters across the world had expected the launch to be under way fully today, but Website Tester [...]
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 [...]
Now, A ‘B-Movie’ Ponzi Scheme: Producer Mahmoud Karkehabadi Charged With 89 Felonies, Faces $11 Million Bail, California AG Says
EDITOR’S NOTE: If you’re keeping a Bubba Blue notebook on how to have a Ponzi scheme — as opposed to shrimp — here’s one for your list. A producer of “B-movies” such as “Confessions of a Pit Fighter” scammed investors in a $9 million Ponzi scheme by accepting “movie production loans” and promising returns of [...]
Pyramid Scheme Operated From Building Known As ‘One Pyramid Center’; Pennsylvania AG Says; Universities, Nonprofits Swindled In Alleged Caper With Offshore Tentacles
Four Pennsylvania residents have been charged in an alleged pyramid-scheme caper that gathered more than $7.5 million and bilked universities, nonprofits, local governments and other clients, investigators said. Charged in the case were Brian James Murray, 67, of Scranton; Murray’s wife, Diane D. Murray, 66; Christine M. Oliver-Shean, 51, of Scranton; and Oliver-Shean’s husband, Timothy [...]
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 [...]
BULLETIN: FTC Charges Central Coast Nutraceuticals In Acai-Berry Fraud Case That Alleges Overbilling And ‘Fake Endorsements’ From Oprah, Rachel Ray
UPDATED 4:56 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Calling the operations of Arizona-based Central Coast Nutraceuticals Inc. (CCN) and affiliated companies a “$30 million” scam in 2009 alone, the Federal Trade Commission has obtained a court-ordered asset freeze in an acai-berry fraud case. Charged along with CCN were Graham D. Gibson, Michael A. McKenzy and four companies that [...]
BULLETIN: Florida-based XM Brands Inc., Kenneth Jacobi Named In North Dakota Cease-And-Desist Order That Alleges Deceptive Trade Practices, Refusal To Cooperate In Probe; Firm Sells Acai Berry, Teeth-Whitening Products
BULLETIN: (UPDATED 6:10 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has issued a cease-and-desist order against Kenneth Jacobi and his company, XM Brands Inc., amid allegations of deceptive trade practices in the sale of acai berry and teeth-whitening products on the Internet. Jacobi’s enterprises are based in Hollywood, Fla. In the order, North [...]
SEC: Oil-And-Gas Scammer Paid Belize Company For Ad That Ran On CNBC, Fox Business News; Offer Proved To Be Fraudulent; Jon C. Ginder Charged In Emergency Action
A Texas man paid a Belize company to produce ads that ran on CNBC and Fox Business News for his oil-and-gas venture, but the offer proved to be fraudulent and the SEC has filed an emergency court action to stop the scheme, the agency said. Jon C. Grinder of Houston used “at least” $210,000 of [...]
DEVELOPING STORY: Online Claims About Acai Berry On FTC’s Radar Screen; Agency To Announce Action Against ‘Internet Marketers’ Next Week In Chicago (Oprah’s City)
In 2009, Oprah Winfrey sued more than 40 companies for trademark infringement amid claims they were fleecing the public by implying she endorsed their Acai berry products. Winfrey, an American television and business icon, is based in Chicago. Harpo Productions, which produces The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Dr. Oz Show, filed the infringement lawsuit [...]
BULLETIN: Data Network Affiliates Gets ‘F’ From BBB After Purported Data Firm Did Not Respond To Complaints
BULLETIN: The Better Business Bureau of Southeast Florida and the Caribbean has given Data Network Affiliates (DNA) an “F” rating after the company failed to respond to complaints. DNA, a purported multilevel-marketing (MLM) firm, publishes a street address in Boca Raton, Fla., on its website. The BBB’s file on DNA lists the Boca Raton address. [...]
‘Con Artists’ Who Ran Domain-Renewal Scam Hit With $4.2 Million Judgment; Thousands Of Website Owners Tricked Into Paying Bogus Bills, FTC Says
Thousands of U.S. consumers, businesses and nonprofits were tricked into paying “bogus bills” for the renewal of their website domains by “con artists” in Canada, the FTC said. A federal judge now has issued judgments of more than $4.2 million against the accused scammers. In the cases of three defendants, the judgment was suspended based [...]
EXPLOSIVE REVELATION: FBI, IRS Find More Than $400,000 In Stashed Loot In Trevor Cook Ponzi Case, Including More Than $200,000 In $100 Bills, Gold Coins, Watches, Baseball Cards
Trevor Cook’s brother was hiding more than $400,000 in cash and valuables from a $190 million Ponzi scheme, according to an extraordinary statement by the court-appointed receiver in the case. The loot was found July 23 — after Trevor Cook, whose plea agreement in the case required him to submit to a lie-detector test if [...]
SEC: Felons, Recidivists Pushed ‘Green’ Energy Securities Swindle Through California ‘Boiler Room’; 6 People Charged In $11 Million Fraud Case
About 200 investors turned over $11 million to a boiler-room operation selling investments in a purported “green” energy company, the SEC said. The alleged swindle in which Kensington Resources Inc. sold unregistered shares of American Environmental Energy Inc. (AEEI) was pulled off by a convicted felon with the help of a recidivist securities offender, the SEC [...]
BULLETIN: Montana Declares ACN Inc. A ‘Pyramid Scheme’; Cease-And-Desist Order Issued Amid Allegations Deck Is Stacked Against MLM Participants
BULLETIN: ACN Inc., a North Carolina-based multilevel-marketing company that bills itself “The World’s Largest Direct Seller of Telecommunication Services,” has been accused by the state of Montana of operating a pyramid scheme. Monica J. Lindeen, Montana’s Commissioner of Securities and Insurance, has issued a cease-and-desist order against ACN and a Notice of Proposed Agency Action. [...]
BULLETIN: DO NOT INGEST: ‘Miracle Mineral Solution,’ Also Known As ‘Miracle Mineral Supplement’ Or ‘MMS,’ Produces ‘Industrial Bleach’ And Causes ‘Serious Harm,’ FDA Says
“Serious harm,” including “life-threatening low blood pressure,” may come to consumers who drink “Miracle Mineral Solution” (MMS), an “an oral liquid also known as “Miracle Mineral Supplement,” the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned. The FDA warned consumers to “stop using it immediately and throw it away.” The product is being marketed online. When used [...]
FANTASY POST: President Cuts Short Vacation To Address Nation On ‘Grave Threat To National Economic Security’; Government Targeted With ‘Taunt’ From Purported MLM Operators Amid Sea Of Incongruity; ‘We Have The Power,’ Unnamed ‘Group’ Says
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a fantasy post. The “story” below is not real. The PP Blog occasionally presents fantasy posts, parody and satire as a means of advancing the discussion about issues in the world of online crime and marketing schemes. BAR HARBOR, Maine (PPBlog) — President Obama abruptly cut short his family vacation here [...]
