AdGateWorld

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 [...]

Dear Readers, We have received a few inquiries about a new surfing program called AdPayDaily (APD). Our initial take is that the program is a dressed-up version of AdSurfDaily, AdViewGlobal, BizAdSplash and AdGateWorld and that the operators are persuaded they’ve found a word combination and legal structure that will neutralize critics and law enforcement should [...]

Has the Golden Panda Ad Zone forum, which was renamed the Online Success Zone after federal agents seized tens of millions of dollars from AdSurfDaily and Golden Panda Ad Builder in 2008, followed the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum into the dust? The website URL — http://goldenpandaadzone.ning.com — now is returning the same error message Surf’s [...]

UPDATED 11:57 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Federal prosecutors have won the second forfeiture case against assets tied to Florida-based AdSurfDaily, meaning the government now holds title to 100 percent of the money and assets seized in the autosurf Ponzi scheme, wire fraud and money-laundering investigation. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer issued a final order of forfeiture [...]

If a thousand people tell you the autosurf they’re promoting is the “real deal” and that they’ve done their “due diligence” — they are lying. If you believe them, you are setting yourself up to be fleeced and perhaps even dragged into court, perhaps as a reluctant victim or perhaps even as a defendant in [...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This list summarizes several programs pushed by members of AdSurfDaily, a Florida company implicated in an alleged $100 million Ponzi scheme. In some cases, the programs were pushed prior to the seizure by the U.S. Secret Service in August 2008 of 15 bank accounts linked to ASD or Golden Panda Ad Builder, one [...]

You’ve seen the ads or heard the pitches trying to persuade you to put money in “offshore” ventures such as the AdViewGlobal, AdGateWorld and MegaLido autosurfs. You’ve been told they were safe. You’ve been told the people who run them are out of the reach of U.S. securities regulators and law-enforcement agencies. And you’ve been [...]

Eight U.S. Senators have introduced a resolution calling for banking sanctions against the Caribbean island nation of Antigua for stonewalling in the Ponzi scheme investigation of Allen Stanford. The senators said Stanford might have lent the Antigua government “at least” $85 million before the alleged scheme collapsed earlier this year and that the money “presumably [...]

The AdGateWorld (AGW) autosurf has gone offline and has issued a statement that blames members for having unrealistic expectations. “The original developers of the AdGate network never created false expectations or gave rebates that were not completely justified by revenues,” AGW said. ”This honest and legitimate approach using the advertising rebate model apparently did not meet [...]

Members of AdGateWorld (AGW) are complaining today that the surf is not paying rebates. AGW now joins AdViewGlobal (AVG) and BizAdSplash (BAS) in the nonpaying lineup. All three surfs launched in the aftermath of the seizure of tens of millions of dollars last year from Florida-based AdSurfDaily Inc., amid allegations of wire fraud, money-laundering, engaging [...]

UPDATED 1:43 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Friday was a day unlike any previous day in the so-called autosurf “industry.” A federal judge issued orders on two fronts: a forfeiture case brought by the U.S. government against AdSurfDaily Inc. and a racketeering lawsuit brought by ASD members against ASD President Andy Bowdoin and others. Capsule Review For [...]

UPDATED 12:15 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) AdSurfDaily Inc. President Andy Bowdoin once had members eating out of his hand, but his faithful flock now appears to be splintering. Helping drive Bowdoin’s fall from grace is a video in which he positions “Paperless Access,” a  company that appears to use a surf model, as a way ASD [...]

Ning.com sites by David Courtney that promoted autosurfs have been taken offline without explanation. It is unclear if the removal is permanent, but sites for MegaLido, AdGateWorld and BizAdSplash went offline last night and remain offline this morning. “This social network has been taken offline by its owner,” each site said. “It’s likely that the [...]

The Obama administration said today that it will crack down on international tax cheats and people using tax havens to evade U.S. regulators. In testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Obama will propose new rules to curtail international scheming. “The budget also seeks to close the ‘tax gap’ [...]

Here’s how one AdViewGlobal (AVG) promoter put it in a message to his list: “Ad View Global is now known as AV Global Association. AV Global Association is a private membership association. To help protect the members of this private association, I will no longer discuss AVG in my Newsletter.” He did not mention that [...]

When the Securities and Exchange Commission charged R. Allen Stanford Feb. 17 with operating a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme through his bank in Antigua, the news created banking pandemonium on the tiny Caribbean island and also in Panama. In the days that followed, a surf known as BizAdSplash referenced the banking situation in Panama without referencing [...]

UPDATE 2:49 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) At a gathering of creditors today, Irving Picard, the trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, said he could find no evidence that Madoff even purchased securities for customers in the past 13 years. Cash came in — and immediately went out — to sustain the Ponzi, [...]

UPDATED 12:37 P.M. EST (U.S.A.) Members of an autosurf named “Noobing” are beginning to complain about “low” rates of return. Is the surf trying to horde cash? Noobing members are complaining publicly about “bait and switch.” They were attracted to the program by suggestions of returns of up to 3 percent a day, but the [...]

UPDATED 4:30 PM EST (U.S.A.) We believe the AdSurfDaily case never has been as complex as it sounds. The root of it is Andy Bowdoin’s greed and instinct to scam. He has no more control over it than he does the color of his own eyes. Andy Bowdoin is not a brilliant or gifted man. [...]