PRIMING THE PUMP: TalkGold, MoneyMakerGroup Publish String Of ‘I Got Paid’ Posts From Club Asteria Members; ‘It’s No Scam Now,’ Poster Declares
Two forums listed in federal court documents as places from which Ponzi schemes are promoted have published a series of “I got paid” posts from commentators who say they are members of Club Asteria (CA).
The “I got paid” posts on MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold appeared after CA members had complained publicly about not getting paid and fretted about the firm’s slow-loading website.
Both the complaints and the “I got paid” posts lead to questions about whether CA’s revenue stream is polluted by Ponzi proceeds.
“It’s no scam now,” a poster on MoneyMakerGroup confidently opined after the “I got paid” posts began to appear. A link under the comment led to the affiliate’s CA registration page, which implied prospects were receiving guidance from an “Investment” company or professional financial adviser.
This Club Asteria affiliate's sign-up page is accessible from a link on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum. The registration page implies that CA prospects are receiving guidance from a professional "Investment" company or adviser. In May 2010, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service identified MoneyMaker group as a site from which the alleged Pathway To Prosperity Ponzi scheme was pushed. Pathway To Prosperity gathered more than $70 million, creating about 40,000 victims from "all of the permanently inhabited continents of the world," according to federal court filings in the Southern District of Illinois.
Separately on MoneyMakerGroup, another CA poster declared, “I am in over 35 forums and everyone is posting paid.”
In July 2010, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued an alert about investment scams and how they spread on the Internet. Separately, court filings from May 2008 in the SEC’s case against an alleged $70 million Ponzi scheme known as Legisi include a handwritten note from a Legisi enrollee.
“Money Maker Group.com,” the note read in part. The note was part of a 267-page evidence exhibit the SEC presented a federal judge. The SEC alleged that Legisi created thousands of victims.
On both MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold, posters have repeatedly noted that CA payments come from “Asteria Holdings Limited (Hong Kong).”
CA says it accepts money through SolidTrustPay and AlertPay, both of which are Canada-based payment processors. Both companies are referenced in federal court filings in the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, which the U.S. Secret Service said gathered at least $110 million and created as many as 40,000 victims.
ASD also was promoted on MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold. Solid Trust Pay and AlertPay also are referenced in court filings in the Pathway To Prosperity Ponzi case.
CA also notes that it conducts business with CashX, another Canadian firm. When the ASAMonitor Ponzi scheme and criminals’ forum mysteriously vanished in October 2010, the site’s landing page initially redirected to CashX.
Some CA members are selling the “program” by describing what it is not. It is not a Ponzi scheme, and it is not an investment, they claim.
So, if you eliminate all the things Club Asteria is NOT,what is left? It is not licensed as a charity, money transmitter, or seller of securities but is purportedly performing those functions.There doesn’t appear to be any, or very little external income, which certainly leads me to believe that payments to members is being derived from funds from newer members as is the classic ponzi modus operandi.
I saw yesterday the “I got paid” advertising campaign and to me it looks like this one is in the final stages. I expect to see a lot of programming problems, DDOS attacks, maybe the admin or some other key person will either get seriously ill or have a death in the family soon. We’ve all seen this movie before.
But more interesting to me is over the last week or two one of the prominent shills has pretty adamant about the critics using multiple usernames in the forums, and then recently the same guy was outed on Talkgold for having more than one user name on that forum. Begs the question of how many of the people claiming payment are sock puppets.
Another current trend of the pimps to deflect attention is attacking you for not publishing your real name, which is absurd in that [. . . Admin . . .] no mention is made of the normal practice in this so called industry of programs expecting people to send them money when in general they do not provide any useful information as to their identity. When they do, as this program does, give a real name, it’s common that they are doing so to promote some aspect of some former and tangential connection to a legitimate business. The more we find out about this “Andrea whatever her last name is, the more transparent it becomes that the “name” is not what it’s cracked up to be. They can ignore the most obvious hypocrisy when it suits them. Of course, in another scam not too long ago I got he same criticism, ironic in that I do use my real name.
I really hope, as I always do when a program implodes, that THIS TIME the tier one promoters get held to book. We’ll see.
So, if you eliminate all the things Club Asteria is NOT,what is left? Nothing as it is pure ponzi and hopefully the MMG referral collectors like omar, stroes/manolo, and 10bucksup will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law allowed.
One minor point that I’ve been struggling with, since I’m not the brightest penny in the pocket: How in the world does one generate “passive” income without making an investment?
Often this scams say that if you will few levels of pyramid under you, than your membership is free.
Often these scams say that if you fill few levels of pyramid under you, than your membership is free.(corrected grammar)