AdViewGlobal Promoter Spams Website With Affiliate Link; Claims Two ‘D.C.’ Attorneys, Best Buy, Staples And Delta Air Lines Are Advertisers
UPDATED 11:22 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.): An affiliate spammer entered PonziNews.com yesterday, leaving what was described as “my friends” (sic) affiliate link for AdViewGlobal (AVG) and an advertisement for AVG.
Seven minutes later, the same affiliate spammer left another ad for AVG, claiming that “I just watched as 2, yes 2 Attorney’s (sic) from D.C. decided that they wanted to advertise on the site, and be a member of the VIP program.”
Affiliate spam is a back-door way of gaining signups for a program or service. One form of affiliate spam is to monitor websites that publish criticism of an “opportunity” favored by the spammer and then post affiliate links as part of the defense of the opportunity.
It is possible (and easy) to defend an opportunity without leaving an affiliate link, thus taking any issue of spamming totally out of play. The affiliate spammer who claimed it was a friend’s AVG link yesterday used the username of “Jeffrey,” and the link resolved to the sign-up page of an AVG promoter who used the same name.
It was not clear if the affiliate spammer also was the AVG promoter “Jeffrey.”
Software employed by Ponzi News captured the affiliate spam. It was not published. A screen shot of the spam was made and reduced in size to fit within the borders of this Blog.
AVG enthusiast sends back-to-back spams, claiming Best Buy, Staples and other prominent companies are AVG advertisers.
The spammer declared that Best Buy, Staples, GoDaddy.com and Delta Air Lines were AVG advertisers. The affiliate link used the identifier 7916, and an email address left by the spammer suggested he was associated with a company known as GuardIt Technologies.
Although the email address used the GuardIt name, it was not tied to the GuardIt server. Rather, it was tied to a server at a free email-hosting company, so the address could have been used without the authority of GuardIt.
AVG, also known as AVGA, publishes an antispam policy:
“If you are found to have spammed, without warning, AVGLOBAL ASSOCIATION reserves the right to disable or terminate your account immediately,” the company said on its website.
“All funds will be forfeited. AVGLOBAL ASSOCIATION may impose a penalty for each spam policy violation. AVGLOBAL ASSOCIATION also reserves the right to determine what violates this policy, in which case, any violation that occurs will result in account termination without refund of any monies,” AVG said.
A website associated with Mark Simmons, whom AdSurfDaily intended to call as a witness at a Sept. 30-Oct. 1 evidentiary hearing in Washington, D.C., promotes both AVG and GuardIt. Simmons was sequestered at the hearing, but never took the stand.
Federal prosecutors say ASD engaged in wire-fraud, money-laundering and the sale of unregistered securities while operating a Ponzi scheme.
On Nov. 19, a federal judge ruled that ASD had not demonstrated at the evidentiary hearing that it was operating legally and not a Ponzi scheme. Within days of the ruling, ASD stop using its own Breaking News website, instead giving the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum its official endorsement as an ASD news outlet.
In December, prelaunch buzz began to appear online for AVG, and the surf formally launched in February. At least two forums that use ning.com as a host sprouted up to promote AVG.
Some of the Mods and members of Surf’s Up manage one of the forums, and Simmons started the second forum. One Simmons’ thread pitches members on a technology provided by a website known as ErasableEmail.com, which purportedly permits users to send email and video that “self-destructs” and cannot be forwarded or saved.
Simmons said the product was endorsed by “the better hobo bureau” — a play-on-words of the name of his ning.com forum: The Unemployable Hobo Lifestyle Forum.
Erasable email and video technology can be abused. A promoter for an illicit program, for example, could make false claims about a product or service and then erase the claims so they could not be forwarded to law enforcement.
The legal community has been debating the utility of erasable email for years, wondering aloud if it can be used to thwart the discovery process in litigation and to erase evidence of crimes and misconduct.
Web Building and Advertising all at “wonderul prices?” wtf…..isn’t it like $120,000 or some crazy number.
Mark Simmons………..I’m not even gonna start on him. All I will say is he absolutely needs to be prosecuted for not only the money he “made” in ASD, but the shameless promotion of both ASD And AVGA.
Mark Simmons.. THAT’s who Guenther and his new friend UncleFesta should be harassing… Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy…
I doubt very much whether UncleFesta would wish to have friends like Guenther or Simmons or for that matter anyone who chose to participate in fraud no matter how small they insisted their contribution was.
Matter of fact, both Guenther and Simmons have both been the “star” of more than a few of UncleFesta’s pics. I don’t think anyone who has been the target for UncleFesta would describe his “work” as being particularly friendly in nature.
Nevertheless, both UncleFesta and myself like to give credit where credit is due and we both find it amusing and a little ironic to see scammers like Guenther and Simmons ripping off other scammers just as they have done. We all know that provided the bait is tempting enough the greedy never fail to take a bite.
Poetic justice I think they call it.
The issue about using erasable mail is not a reassuring sign of a legitimate business. lol.
As good businesses keep records and the destruction of records is often associated with criminal activity, the promotion of the use of erasable mail is tantamount to the admission of unlawful activity. This contrasts somewhat with the protests of the AVGA promoters that AVGA is a legal operation.
Fortunately, a screen shot of any promoters’ or company mails can be taken, renders their recommendations ineffective. It still represents a very unhealthy turn for the even worse for AVGA and certainly negates any claims of innocence by those who use these tricks.
Almost but not quite as reassuring as the promise of $125 in exchange for every $100? LOL.
Nothing will ever be better than the pic Festa made of Mark Simmons marching in the teddy bear suit…….
By the way just thought you should know that Bigstring Inc. the Parent Company is on the NASDAQ and People String is going Publically Traded in about 90 Days and your really just making a goof out yourself when you say that the technology that People String uses is illegal. They keep a Copy of every email just incase they need it for such an incident.
…not sure that anyone said Bigstring’s technology was illegal. In any case, there are lots of ways to convert emails into non-remotely accessible copies — screen shots, format changes, etc.
Bigstring.com has a market cap of less that $2 million, and declining quarterly revenues that average $16,000 over the last 4 quarters. Not catching on I guess….
There ya go,
another perfect example of “HYIPspeak”
“People String is going Publically(sic) Traded in about 90 Days.
A statement which, in real terms means: abso-bloody-lutely nothing.
A statement worthy only of being filed alongside: “major advertisers have indicated a desire to come on board,” “ASD is the future of advertising on the internet” and “Bob Guenther and the ASDBMA are the only way members will obtain refunds”
Hi littleroundman,
I’ve been struggling to find an economical way to describe the vacuous wordplay used by some ASD members. It’s not easy to reduce because the wordplay often includes fallacies of logic, tautologies, flawed syllogisms and inanities, often mixed in the same package.
“People String is going Publically Traded in about 90 Days,” for example, is an inanity unless it’s framed in a context. Entertained provided some context in his response to the post by peoplenews, so now the statement by peoplenews has more meaning.
One of the tautologies in play now in Bowdoin support circles has this general theme: “Andy will win or he will not win.”
If he loses, his supporters later will say that it cannot be said they didn’t warn people. If he wins, they later will say they’d they’d been telling people all along to keep the faith.
The post by peoplenews above has an element of an ad hominem attack — “goof” attacks the person, not the idea.
Thing is, “goof” is just a way to throw red meat to the surf fans. Many of them cheer such remarks (“evil” government, for example), but the remarks do nothing to help Bowdoin build a larger support base because they appeal only to a very narrow segment.
Bowdoin’s support base has only dwindled since August, in no small part because of the sort of tactic peoplenews employed above.
An all-time classic logical fallacy is in play within Bowdoin’s dwindling base now. This one deals with Bernard Madoff and goes roughly like this:
“Madoff is in jail. Bowdoin is not in jail. Therefore it follows the government has nothing on Bowdoin and that Bowdoin wasn’t running a Ponzi.”
Sometimes it’s presented as a flawed syllogism.
* The FBI arrested Madoff.
* The FBI did not arrest Bowdoin.
* Bowdoin did not run a Ponzi scheme or the FBI would have arrested him.
Patrick
Or, if you belong to the Bob Guenther school of law:
* The FBI arrested Madoff.
* The FBI did not arrest Bowdoin.
* Therefore Bowdoin did a deal with the FBI
or
*The FBI/Cowdoin/DoJ are incompetent
or
Bowing to Guenthers’ superior investigative skills, the FBI…………….
Oops, I overlooked the impending IPO by People String. Let’s see, it’s a spinoff of (and therefore smaller than) a company with an aggregate of $64,000 in revenue over the past 12 months. I think I’ll dig through my sofa cushions for some change and then go buy up half of the IPO……..
We might as well mention flawed syllogisms (or something that resembles a flawed syllogism), coupled with flawed premises:
* Ponzi schemes are illegal.
* Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.
* The government should be charged with running a Ponzi scheme.
Or:
* Andy Bowdoin is accused of running a Ponzi scheme.
* Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.
* The government has no right to charge Bowdoin if it’s running its own Ponzi scheme.
Or:
* Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.
* ASD is a Ponzi scheme.
* Ponzi schemes are legal.
Or:
* It is illegal to sell unregistered securities.
* “Advertisements” are not unregistered securities.
* The government can’t legally charge you with selling unregistered securities if you’re selling “advertisements.”
Or:
* An “advertisement” can become a security if it promises a payout.
* ASD didn’t guarantee rebates.
* ASD cannot be legally charged with selling securities.
Or:
* Two consenting adults have the right to enter into a contract.
* The right to engage in commerce is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
* The government cannot lawfully interfere with commerce, even if the commerce or the contact is illegal.
Or:
* The Constitution guarantees the rights of Indian tribes.
* The tribes can invite whoever they want to become Indians.
* The Indians are Sovereigns and answerable only to the tribe.
Or:
* A person can declare himself an Indian and therefore a Sovereign.
* A non-Indian court cannot intervene in the affairs of Indians.
* An Indian enjoys diplomatic immunity while off Indian grounds because of his status as a Sovereign.
Or:
* It is illegal to sell unregistered securities to U.S. citizens on domestic soil.
* South American, Central American or Caribbean soil is not U.S. domestic soil.
* It is legal to sell unregistered securities to U.S. citizens as long as you are selling them offshore.
Patrick