UPDATED 2:22 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) A poster using the handle “joe” at the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum advertised four egg-themed domain names that redirected to four high-yield investment programs yesterday, saying in all-caps, “ALL MY EGGS ARE NOT IN ONE BASKET.
“I MAKE $2000.00 A WEEK.”
It is unclear if the poster has a license to sell securities or act as an investment dealer or broker. The domains to which the .info domains redirected were for programs titled “Gold Nugget Invest” (7.5 percent a week); “Genius Funds” (6.5 percent a week); “Cash Tanker” (2 percent a day); and “Saza Investments” (9 percent a week).
The domains — all of which used .info extensions, the word “egg” and a numeral in their URLs — are registered to a man with the last name of “Stablein” in Erie, Pa. The spelling of the owner’s first name in domain-registration data was “Jeffrery.”
An Erie man named “Jeffrey Stablein” — note the slightly different spelling of the first name from the domain-registration data — was sued in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in June and identified by attorneys as a co-conspirator in a scheme to defraud TracFone Wireless Inc., a prepaid cell-phone provider.
The Erie street address associated with Stablein in the TracFone lawsuit is the same address listed in registration data for the egg-themed .info domains. Stablein was enjoined by a federal judge from a practice TracFone attorneys described as “cell-phone trafficking.”
Cell-phone trafficking involves the “unauthorized resale and hacking” of prepaid mobile phones, TracFone attorneys said. Future violations by Stablein could result in a $5 million judgment being enforced against Stablein, according to court filings.
Attorneys described how the scheme works after a buyer acquires prepaid phones in volume.
“The phones are then passed to middlemen who alter or remove the prepaid software and resell the altered phones as new, often in counterfeit packaging, at a significant profit to unsuspecting customers domestically and abroad in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East,” according to attorneys James B. Baldinger and Steven J. Brodie of the Carlton Fields law firm.
In September, U.S. District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin handed down a stipulated judgment against Stablein and his Erie-based firm, 1st Premier Communications, banning them “from continuing to engage in the bulk purchase, sale, or unlocking/reflashing of TracFone’s wireless phones,” the attorneys said in a news release.
TracFone aggressively litigates against cell-phone traffickers, according to the company.
In 2008, Muhammad Mubashir, 28, of Sugar Land, Tex., was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison for trafficking in cell phones.
“TracFone will continue to aggressively pursue those who participate in prepaid mobile phone trafficking because it undermines our ability to provide affordable wireless phone service to our customers,†said F.J. Pollak, president and CEO of TracFone Wireless, in a statement.
The U.S. Customs Service seized a shipment of 1,300 TracFones that Mubashir was exporting to a known trafficker in Hong Kong, the company said. TracFone obtained documents proving Mubashir sold approximately 9,000 TracFones, representing more than $1 million in losses to the company.
“Schemes like those organized by Mubashir exist across the country and involve groups of ‘runners’ who purchase prepaid mobile phones from major retail outlets,” TracFone said. “The phones are then passed to middlemen who alter or remove the prepaid software and resell the altered phones as ‘new,’ often in counterfeit packaging, at a significant profit to unsuspecting customers domestically and abroad in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.”
Some Surf’s Up posters criticized the post by “joe,” saying it was in poor taste given the serious allegations against AdSurfDaily. Tens of millions of dollars were seized from ASD President Andy Bowdoin in August 2008, amid allegations of selling unregistered securities and operating a $100 million Ponzi scheme.
Despite the allegations, some Surf’s Up posters continued to pitch autosurfs and HYIP programs, often using phrases such as “offshore” or “I got paid” as evidence of legitimacy.
One Surf’s Up poster agreed with “joe” that the programs he advertised by using the egg-themed URLs that redirected to HYIP sites were excellent.
“Your intentions are good but you are dead wrong about those particular four programs!” a Surf’s Up member exclaimed in a post directed at a member who had been critical of “joe’s” post advertising the HYIP programs.
“I also make a lot of money from those four and your remarks tell me you don’t know anything about them…..they are very reputable [companies] who have been around for years….and the money is NOT made from ‘new’ people’s money….google them and look at various forums and see what others have to say about them….I don’t even know Joe, but I can vouch for the programs!”
The government of Belize issued a warning Nov. 12 about the Gold Nugget Invest HYIP advertised by “joe” on Surf’s Up.
Surf’s Up eventually deleted “joe’s” egg-themed HYIP thread.
It is not clear if “joe” is Jeffrey Stablein, but the stipulated judgment entry in the TracFone case includes Stablein’s signature and the same address used in the domain-registration data for the egg-themed HYIP domains.
Read the lawsuit against Stablein.
Read a document that shows that a Stablein street address in the lawsuit is the same Erie address used in the domain registration data for the egg-themed HYIP domains.