Our Theory Of The AdSurfDaily Case: Steroidal Puppeteers
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. Like many con men, he excels at the niceties and can spout phrases by rote that serve as a substitute for wisdom he doesn’t possess. People easily can invest in false wisdom, words that sound prophetic or inspirational. An example of such a phrase can be found at the Surf’s Up site:
“No more prizes for predicting rain. Prizes only for building arks.”
Such phrases are key tools of people inclined to separate other people from their money by using linguistic sleight-of-hand. The phrases sound nice, but their purpose is to minimize dissension and discourage questioning.
The Target Audience
Andy Bowdoin’s target audience is people less intelligent than he or of equal intelligence; he can reel in “average people” — fundamentally honest average people — by the thousands. But the problem is that his net is so wide that it also reels in people who are much more intelligent than Bowdoin and are his equals or superiors in terms of dishonesty.
Like Bowdoin, some of them have criminal intelligence, only theirs is on steroids. They can see how to make even more money by adding additional layers of deception, and they take their ideas to Bowdoin.
The folks who possess steroidal criminal intelligence are smart enough to make Bowdoin do their bidding. They behave like spouses who know how to get what they want by planting an idea and letting their spouses take credit for it. Credit for the idea is what fuels Bowdoin and gives him oxygen for the stage. The steroidal criminals understood this right away. Bowdoin was the face of the organization, the stage presence, the charming spokesman. They were the puppeteers.
This is another thing they knew right away: Bowdoin was stupid enough to attach his own name to the autosurf business, which prosecutors abhor. Bowdoin’s public presence insulated the master puppeteers from detection while setting the stage for the organization to become a cash cow by ramping up the criminality.
The master puppeteers, however, made a serious miscalculation: ASD pulled in so much money that it had no real place to put it without drawing unwanted attention. Bowdoin wasn’t smart enough to manage a criminal operation at this level. ASD died the very day a banker closed an ASD-connected account, citing Ponzi fears.
Checks Led To Checkmate For ASD
Checks backed up in ASD’s office not because they couldn’t be recorded promptly; they backed up because Bowdoin knew that depositing them made them subject to seizure. It was the classic dilemma money-launderers encounter, and the precise situation that money-laundering, wire-fraud and mail-fraud laws contemplate.
In some ways, the checks are the best evidence of criminality. No legitimate company sits on tens of millions of dollars of undeposited checks.
ASD died the very day last summer a banker said “Ponzi scheme.” It is likely that Bowdoin compounded the problem by continuing to collect money — even as he knew there was no place to put it.
A CEP Tie
Based on our research, we believe Andy Bowdoin was a member of the CEP Ponzi scheme and borrowed heavily from the model. He was smart enough to see what a cash cow the business could become, and began to contemplate owning his own autosurf. He likely was a low-level player in CEP and other surfs, saw the criminal beauty of the model, and didn’t take the clue when the Feds began to shut down surfs while using phrases such as “Ponzi scheme” and “unregistered security.”
CEP had its own payment processor, something Bowdoin imagined himself having. And there were claims online that CEP was investing in real estate.
Bowdoin registered a corporation called “World Payment Systems Inc.” in December 2006, about two months after founding ASD. Before the lights went out at ASD, the company started buying real estate and talking about its vision of owning an interest in a bank, but the purchases themselves only weighted the Ponzi more heavily against rank-and-file ASD members.
Insiders, including members with steroidal criminal intelligence and Bowdoin family members, were extracting disproportionate shares of proceeds at virtually the instant big money began to roll into ASD. Only the true insiders knew the real truth. Bowdoin sustained the deception after the August seizure because he still needed something from the members he’d just fleeced: testimonials to submit to the court.
The testimonials did not persuade either the prosecutor or the judge of ASD’s legitimacy, but Bowdoin still had to demonstrate he was “fighting” for the members.
We believe that, as part of this “demonstration,” Bowdoin or others closely connected with ASD and with knowledge of other autosurfs to come, offered an incentive for certain suporters to stay loyal. These people were co-opted by greed into becoming racketeers because they had visions of prospering in AdViewGlobal or other autosurfs.
They now find themselves in the impossible position of defending Bowdoin despite everything that has happened — and some of them are doing it for “consideration.” The consideration could be anything from free “ad packs” to a guaranteed return on ASD funds seized by the government.
The true ASD braintrust is busy trying to port the model to Central America and South America. All three of the new surfs were registered after the ASD seizure:
Aug. 18, 2008: Domain name for AdGateWorld registered.
Sept. 22, 2008: Domain name for AdViewGlobal registered.
Nov. 7, 2008: Domain name for BizAdSplash registered.
All three surfs have members and promoters in common; ASD and AdViewGlobal have management in common. During a conference call, Bowdoin made the claim that something had happened to the ASD database, that perhaps the government had erased it. We think it likely that the ASD database was stolen or provided to insiders, and that Bowdoin was trying to cover his tracks by suggesting that government tricksters somehow had a role in the disappearance of the database.
For good measure, he added that ASD had a back-up in a secret location.
There is no way these things amount to a coincidence. And it’s also no coincidence that ASD gave its official endorsement to the “Surf’s Up” forum on Nov. 27, just prior to the launch dates of the new surfs.
Want to ask the AdViewGlobal members of Surf’s Up a question? Ask them to disclose if they received a “consideration” of any type. If they deflect, ask them why. If they deny, ask them why they’re pushing a model that is targeting U.S. customers and plainly is selling unregistered securities to U.S. customers — the same thing ASD is accused of doing.
And then ask them why there are no more prizes for predicting rain — and only prizes for building arks.
These are the people of equal or lesser intelligence than Andy Bowdoin and the same criminal leanings. The honest people are long gone. The people with steroidal criminal gifts are nowhere to be found, but they’re still pulling the puppet strings.
Great theory, I was at the Rochester Mn rally of May 17th 2008. I walked Faye, Andy’s wife back from the front. she told me the story about Andy being involed in another surf companies and told her that, “there is no way, that it could keep going with a guarnteed daily percentage.” that is why the 50% daily sales, works.
I just don’t understand why Andy did not high tail it for the great ecscape right after the Tampa convention? That was the first time he allowed people to overnite cashiers checks, and have them handed in without being there.What a great time to move.
Hi Mark,
Perhaps because he deluded himself into thinking that the lawyers could save him from all of this. He talked about the lawyers from the stage in Miami. Lawyers were very much on his mind during the month of July.
Patrick
Interesting point about “Andy is not a smart man”, you’re right, as crooks go he falls somewhere in the lower half of the bottom third maybe. I once called the ASD supporters the “Hall of Fame of Stupid” and I know that’s harsh, but let’s face it, that was his targeted market. It takes a little disconnect to not put together the “50% per day” and the “125% Rebate” and not realize there was a basic mathematical reality being violated, and there are some of them still clinging to that “world is flat” concept.
While I’m guessing the vast majority of ASD members are good people who were fooled the ones who maintain the crusade are either serious sociopaths or not very bright. To illustrate, ASD had tens of thousands of members but the ones we all love and see on forums are only a few dozen at the very most. We’re talking about the most deluded one percent of a population that didn’t have many candidates for the Nobel Prize in Economics to begin with. The Mad Professor, Arbys Indians and their lot are daily proving they belong in the special class and I really think they may need medical attention, stupid that thick can’t be healthy.
Then there’s the ones who know the truth, but just don’t care. The ones who are herding the sheep into the new offshore ventures. I really can’t wait until AVG et al fails because these people are visible and well known, there won’t be much problem finding them when people start sueing each other.
And I won’t even get into Bob Guenther and ASDMBA. For one, I had a medical procedure on Monday and I’m still on pretty good drugs, so I may be a little random and I might say something I ought not to about Bob (who I find generally will threaten to sue me or beat me up if I mention his name in any context)
He may have been, but according to one of the court documents he was aslo in 12 Daily Pro. Something I remember when 12DailyPro collapsed, there were reports that Charis Johnson claimed that there were “silent” partners who had directed her to run the scam. Maybe there will be a ceded liniments oil nut that will reveal these hidden players? We can hope so.
Hi Gregg,
Bank robbers have been known to write demand notes on the backs of their own deposit slips. Some of the Surf’s Up members are doing the Ponzi equivalent of that right now. If they get arrested, they won’t be able to persuade a judge or jury by trotting out a false-reliance defense.
It has reached the point of in-your-face criminality now. The weakest among them, though, will fold like a cheap accordion and go to bat for the prosecutors.
The ones who commit to the end will be viewed as nonviolent Squeaky Frommes.
Patrick
Great article Patrick! The good news is that the brightest folks aren’t usually inclined to pursue criminal activities. They generally are rewarded very well, and in a more satisfying way, by businesses that they work for or that they start themselves. gregg’s right, and so is Mark. Far from being a genius, Andy is clearly well below average intelligence. I’d have been so far gone so long before August 2 it wouldn’t have been funny. Take the $50 MM and split…..thank goodness for all of the good people who joined ASD that Andy is that dense. This way at least, there is a reasonable victim’s pool to be reallocated back to them. The Megalido operator vanished (for now), and there is no victims’ fund……
I’m really just furious that there are people who can be committing felonies and stealing millions of dollars, in the equal of taking out ads to brag about it. Ken Russo and Jake Amedee have 2 new ones now, spamming everyone with a pulse about them and not one law enforcement agency cares to just give them a phone call to say “don’t do that”. They let it get to where tens of millions have been stolen, a substantial portion of it gone beyond recovery and the majority of it redistributed to early participants that makes it very costly and complicated to recover THEN they close them down.
I’m sick, a little medicated and just a little cranky, so maybe I’m a bit short today. Of course, I’m kind of mean on a good day, come to think of it.
Patrick and others,
First of all, another great article, Patrick. Lots of new angles to consider. Does anyone think it’s possible that Andy (and maybe Andy and Faye) became swept up in the adulation that came their way, as people lined up to meet them and spoke about them on websites as if they were gods? I think ASD was always a con, and always intended to collapse, but I was wondering if in addition to not having any place to put the money they took in at the rallies, they’d become addicted to being worshiped?
Remember that Andy was a long-time loser and Faye had to know it, as did their family members.
In 2004 Andy was sued for $l4,000+ by a GPS firm and he simply defaulted on the debt and then failed to turn up in Circuit Court in Gadsden County, Florida and lost by default. Process servers were after him (and found him and served subpoenas on him) – not big-shot behavior, even in little old Quincy. Combined with his felonies and non-payment to his ex-wife, he was just a classic loser and those close to him had to know it. Then, in 2006, suddenly he was a millionaire, with people bragging about having met him. Heady stuff? Or was he never more than a run of the mill financial scammer, wringing the last dollar out of the last sucker? I don’t feel sorry for him either way — in fact I wonder why the decent people in the Quincy area haven’t organized picket lines every where he shows up (like Applebee’s in Tallahassee, eating with the Surf’s Up mods). But I am curious about the psychology of it all……
Hi Marci,
I do think this — at least when it comes to Andy. He awoke a rock star one morning, and it was a powerful narcotic.
The issues you cited were the real reason ASD paid cash for everything. Andy’s credit was in the tank — not as a result of legitimate misfortune, but as a result of nearly constant scheming.
But he had a problem, even when he came into money: Sending big checks to the court in Alabama to retire the court-ordered restitution could have caused people to ask questions. Had his ex known he was flush, she could have moved to enforce the judgment. So he had to lay low.
If you were to ask the Alabama victims and his ex-wife what it meant that Andy had money, you could make book that they’d respond it was scam-related.
But the problem with laying low is that sudden rock stars can’t lay low. He submitted to the narcotic, and it ultimately brought him down. People were giving this man standing ovations. He sucked in all the adulation, even as the Alabama victims who’d been scammed out of at least $450,000 and his ex-wife who was owed more than $160,000 were ignored.
In late July, Andy put a $50,000 Lincoln in the driveway. In late August, he mailed a check for $100 to the restitution fund for the Alabama victims. Rather than pay the Alabama victims and his ex-wife, he bought expensive water toys — and at least three new vehicles.
Money ASD spent on personal purchases in June alone would have been more than enough the pay off his share to the Alabama victims and his ex.
Two of the Alabama victims are in their late 70s. But with applause to be had and God talk to be delivered, why worry about them?
Patrick
The implications of your article are quite chilling. The fact that Andy fell for the rock star syndrome of believing his own publicity it without a doubt, but what is far more serious is the manipulation of this vain man by heavy duty serial scmmer puppeteers.
It is to be hoped and prayed for that they too will be dragged into this publicly and be stopped. There will always be weak and greedy people to “front” for them The arrogance of all involved is tremendous. It seems that they were behind the scenes at ASD and will be behind the scenes at every future operation if they are not stopped.
Alasycia,
It seems like some of them (but not the smart ones) might get their chance to be seen and heard as well. Some of them are actually writing to Senator Leahy and asking him to restore a $100 Million Ponzi scheme back into working order…….
I really don’t know why anyone would be surprised at any of this.
Just contemplate for a minute on the amounts of money involved here.
The amounts “$93 million” and “the missing $40 million” trip lightly off the tongues of forum posters as if they mean nothing.
Consider it’s likely several hundred millions passed through this scam during its’relatively short lifetime when payments are considered.
Then consider just where that sort of money ended up.
The answer is frightening, because no one knows.
And given the slapdash accounting/membership/receipting details now being revealed, is it any wonder criminal behaviour is rife in these “games” ???
Add in overworked and underfunded agencies, a few not quite legitimate payment processors, human greed, naivity, internet forum owners and plain pigheaded anti government sentiment and the possibilities to make a cool couple of “risk free millions” are endless.
LRM, perhaps not a surprise to anyone from the internet marketing “mini world”, but for the rest of us – yes, chilling.
The most chilling part of it is that the reall insiders will probably get away with it and we will never hear their names, and then they will be behind the next one and the next one. As I said, there will always be a Bowdoin willing to be the “fall guy”
Just consider these 3 “darlings” of the HYIP world of the past few months and the amounts involved.
Legisi USD$72million http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2008/lr20563.htm
Earn By Loaning/Quest Holdings USD$4 million http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2009/lr20890.htm
Ad Surf Daily USD$100 MILLION + http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/dc/Victim_Witness_Assistance/files/January%2023,%202009%20-%20civil%20forfeiture%20proceedings%20update.pdf
Then consider there are several thousand of these US based HYIP ponzi “games” on the various forums as we speak and “chilling” is an understatement.
You people are off your rocker. You put this conspiracy theory into play about Bowdoin and the others.
You don’t know the truth and you don’t want to know the truth.
Keep spinning and you will all go down like a led balloon.
Yours,
Crazy Cat
PP
Your 15 minutes are up.
So are the rest of you spin doctors.
You wouldn’t know the truth if it hit you in the face.
As they say. “you can’t handle the truth” because it isn’t as sinister and calculating as you want it to be.
Yours,
Crazy Cat
…..apt moniker, and it’s “lead”……
CC, can you cite any math or data to back up your position? I’ve said all along I’ll be the first to recant my position (and join ASD, AVG, you name it, as your downline) if anyone can provide any data or airtight math as to the viability of a program such as ASD/AVG/PBX/Infinity 800, etc.
Crazy Cat,
Interesting you’d offer this famous quote from a movie character: “you can’t handle the truth.”
And it’s also interesting that you’d use the quote to bolster your claim that things with ASD weren’t sinister and calculating.
The reason your choice of quotes is interesting is that the movie character who loudly shouted “You can’t handle the truth” was found to be at the head of a sinister and calculating plot to haze a U.S. Marine.
Patrick
There you go again. Figures. That is how you guys operate.
You are like roaches when the light comes on you will scatter.
CC,
Once more, a gentle request for data, or facts, or math. Thaks!
Welcome to the discussion Potty Pussy Cat. I would like to say how well thought out your arguments are. Your incisiveness use of logical argument and well thought out counter-opinions are a joy to read. Your knowledgeable and intelligent contributions have raised this discussion to new levels.
Keep up the good work. You are really showing the pure intelligence of the ponzi supporters. It is surely obvious that the argument put forward that the ponzi “investors” are of lower intelligence is plainly false.
After reading your excellent statements, I’m sure Entertained & Gregg will be offering a retraction very soon now. So soon, I think you really should hold your breath. Please do.
Interesting post, CC;
Please help me/us understand what you’ve said. I understand that you don’t like what you’ve seen here, but specifics are missing from your post.
1) What “conspiracy” are you referring to?
2) What “truth” are you referring to?
3) How is it that anyone will go down like a “led balloon” because of anything posted here?
4) What do you mean by “go down”?
Entertained,
A few days ago I noticed that one of the ASD faithful dusted off the “Ponzi charges were dropped in Florida” argument again — despite the fact the argument itself was refuted by the Attorney General of Florida himself — weeks ago.
But why permits details to get in the way of a good misinformation campaign?
One of our semiregular Pro-ASD posters has insisted since Day One that ASD wasn’t a Ponzi scheme, but never once has explained how he arrived at that conclusion.
The same poster also suggested the judge was crooked and involved in a conspiracy to undermine small business, but it was just another absurd claim in an ocean of absurd claims.
Heck, if you listen to the ASD folks, a person who had $50,000 laying around and plunked it down and got a matching bonus of ASD “ad packs” at a rally never would have to work again. They could ride on that $50,000 and matching bonus for the rest of their lives, working only 6 minutes a day.
If they didn’t own a business to advertise, well, that was OK, too, because viewing websites in ASD for a rebate could become their business.
Patrick
Patrick,
I am always game for an honest, open debate. I invite CC to present his side, and will keep an open mind. He will need to bring data or theory backed by airtight logic. If in fact he can articulate a viable model (say, a legal, sustainable, ASD with the same payout levels) that can enable me to retire that easily, I certainly can lay my hands on $50,000. Heck I’ll even gladly spring for his $50,000 downstroke — after all, what would another $50,000 be if I can make hundred of thousands, or millions, on my first $50,000……OTOH, I’ll plan on keeping my day job just in case…..
Entertained,
Here’s hoping CC takes you up on your offer of an open, honest debate.
Absent that, you might have to wait until Sen. Leahy’s endorsement comes through to blunt your mathematical concerns. Leahy, in 1974, was named one of the three top prosecutors in the United States.
When he becomes the voice for Ponzis in his current role of chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, folks won’t have to worry about the math so much. :-)
Patrick
Well CC, there is a way to run a business without figures.
No Money In and No Money out and no debts. It’s easy. Even easier than surfing 6 minutes a day.
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