AdViewGlobal Website Offline; ‘Surfing’ Site With Close ASD Ties Suspended Cashouts A Year Ago
The website of AdViewGlobal (AVG), an autosurf with close ties to the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, has gone offline.
Why AVG’s site was offline was not immediately clear. One person told the PP Blog that the site had been “down for days.” AVG’s domain, which lists a registration address in Uruguay and appears to use a dedicated server that resolves to Panama, would not return a ping this morning.
Aug. 1 was the two-year anniversary of the seizure by the U.S. Secret Service of tens of millions of dollars in the ASD case. AVG, fueled by the participation of ASD members, launched in the aftermath of the ASD seizure and the filing of a racketeering lawsuit against ASD President Andy Bowdoin.
Promotions for AVG began to appear online less than a month after ASD lost a key court battle in November 2008. In January 2009, AVG graphics were seen on an ASD-controlled website, but AVG denied any ties to ASD. By February 2009, AVG was up an running, and some of the moderators of the Pro-ASD Surf’s Up forum started a forum to promote AVG.
AVG, whose site remained online after the company suspended payouts in June 2009 and announced it was conducting an audit of itself, perhaps is one of the oddest autosurfs of all time.
Although AVG denied any ASD ties, the person issuing the denial on behalf of AVG was a former ASD employee. Even while issuing the denial, the former ASD employee confirmed that Gary Talbert, a former ASD executive, was the chief executive officer of AVG.
AVG later went on to form a purported “private association” purportedly based in Uruguay. The surf bizarrely claimed U.S. Constitutional protections despite the competing claim it operated on foreign soil.
By June 25, 2009, AVG had collapsed — after running a virtually never-ending series of promotions that offered 200 percent bonuses to both existing members and the prospects they recruited. One promoter claimed that $5,000 placed with AVG turned into $15,000 “instantly!”
The surf later said it was the victim of a $2.7 million theft.
AVG went offline for a brief period in September 2009 after its domain-name registration expired. Records show that the domain name is valid until Sept. 22, 2010 — more than a month from today’s date.
Read this story for the names of other autosurfs/HYIPs promoted by ASD members.
Read this story on AVG threats directed at members and the media after its collapse.
Read this story on a method an AVG member said would help other members qualify for bonuses. (Make sure you read the comments from readers below the story.)
The country-western song says:
“You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away, know when to run
You never count your money, when you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’, when the dealin’s done.â€
Apparently the people behind this scam figured out when to “fold ‘emâ€. At least up to this point it appears that those behind this particular scam have gotten away with it.
They reportedly had tens of thousands of members – people who
reports at the time led me to believe contributed several millions of dollars to AVG. Then one day AVG closed down before any legal authorities showed up at the door, as happened in the case of ASD.
Since then I’ve heard not a single peep of news about AVG being under scrutiny by the law or being sued by the members to recover their losses. Is that the formula for “success†in the autosurf business?
– PWD
Hello Pat,
I’d be very surprised if this proved to be true. The promos for AVG were audacious and had a sort of “in-your-face” quality to them. There were many players in common with ASD — and there are suggestions that bank accounts were seized in February 2009, right around the time that Bowdoin was emerging as a pro se litigant after having earlier submitted to the August 2008 ASD forfeiture.
AVG morphed into an underground “association” around the same time the bank accounts purportedly were seized. As you’ll recall, the association was formed after a consult with a convicted felon.
Also, in September 2009, the prosecution made a veiled reference to AVG in court filings in the ASD case. Earlier, the RICO lawyers made a direct reference to AVG.
From Sept. 25, 2009:
https://patrickpretty.com/2009/09/25/government-makes-veiled-reference-to-adviewglobal-in-court-filing-potentially-signaling-deeper-trouble-for-bowdoin-and-new-trouble-for-promoters-shills-unnamed-attorneys-and-advisers/
Could it actually be that 32 years — 32 years! — have clicked off the calendar since this Kenny Rogers’ song became a big part of the popular culture?
It is nice to hear from you, Pat.
Regards,
Patrick
Quick note:
There are lots of stories on AVG or references to AVG here:
https://patrickpretty.com/tag/adviewglobal/
Patrick