Golden Panda Ad Builder

EDITOR’S NOTE: We were researching an unrelated matter last night, and came across this gem (outlined below). In 2008, a number of autosurfs that became popular in the aftermath of the seizure of tens of millions of dollars from the personal bank accounts of AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin tanked just prior to Christmas. One of [...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story originally was published June 30. The PP Blog later encountered a database problem, which caused the site to go down and resulted in the temporary loss of some data. The data now has been retrieved. This story is about a new site known as “WebsiteTester.biz,” but some background is in order. [...]

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 [...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Narc That Car says it is a private company and has no duty to reveal the names of its data clients. This essay challenges Narc’s arguments. The public has a compelling interest not only in learning the identities of Narc That Car’s clients through appropriate channels, but also in learning the identities of [...]

Regulators in Cyprus have referred Genius Funds for criminal investigation and released a warning that the company “[is] not permitted to provide investment and ancillary services in the Republic.” Genius Funds, a darling of the HYIP world,  was heavily promoted on the Ponzi boards. The program also is known as Genius Investments. The program was [...]

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 7:52 A.M. EDT (April 13, U.S.A.) On the very day Tom Petters was sentenced in Minnesota to 50 years in prison for operating a colossal Ponzi scheme, a federal judge froze the assets of Renee Marie Brown after the SEC accused her of ripping off clients by persuading them to invest in a mysterious [...]

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 [...]

NarcThatCar wants you to pay it $100 up front. For that fee, you become a “consultant” qualified to write down the license-plate numbers of 10 cars per month, input the information into a database and earn multilevel commissions by recruiting. After you pay the $100, you’re then charged $24.95 a month for a website, according [...]

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 [...]

The Biz Ad Splash (BAS) autosurf has tanked, taking participants’ money with it, members said tonight. Members reported receiving a platitude-filled email from Clarence Busby announcing the surf’s closure. The email, which included a pep talk and invoked God, did not say if, when or how members would be compensated. “Now what about the future?” [...]

UPDATED 11:46 A.M. ET (U.S.A.) Final judicial action in the second forfeiture case filed against assets connected to AdSurfDaily “is not expected for at least several months,” federal prosecutors said. The second action was filed in December 2008. It identified family members of ASD President Andy Bowdoin as beneficiaries of a Ponzi, wire-fraud and money-laundering [...]

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 [...]

After more than 17 months, more than 165 court filings and more than $1 million in legal fees, ASD President Andy Bowdoin has lost the August 2008 civil forfeiture case and the government has been granted title to $65,838,999.70 seized from Bowdoin’s 10 Bank of America accounts. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer, whom Bowdoin attempted [...]

UPDATED 12:04 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) BizAdSplash (BAS) now says it may be offline until Jan. 11. “due to the challenges of the transfer of our servers.” A message website visitors see is confusing because it does not state plainly when the autosurf will return. Rather, it says BAS will come back online “on or before [...]

BizAdSplash, one of the so-called AdSurfDaily autosurf clones, always is “excited” about something. This time it’s “excited” about 2010. The surf, however, says it will be offline for the first four days of the new year — and a note on the site suggests members could not log in for the final eight days of [...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is about securities and fraud allegations leveled in Colorado against Philip R. Lochmiller and others. The case was brought amid assertions Lochmiller was operating a real-estate Ponzi, although the backdrop of the story is similar to the backdrop of the story on the “advertising” Ponzi allegations against Florida-based AdSurfDaily. Some of [...]

Even though Andy Bowdoin and his family knew in January 2009 that the government intended to seize the Tallahassee home of his stepson George Harris and an $800,000 building purchased with cash in ASD’s home city of Quincy, Fla., the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf proceeded with its launch in February 2009, according to an analysis of [...]

The U.S. Secret Service feared AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin had become aware of scrutiny into his business affairs and planned to flee the country, according to a 37-page affidavit originally filed under seal in the case. Meanwhile, the affidavit revealed that a key Secret Service investigator in the case formerly was a member of a [...]