BULLETIN: North Carolina Attorney General’s Office Refutes Suggestion That Zeek Has Been Deemed ‘Legal’; ‘We Do Have Concerns,’ Agency Says; TV Station Removes Video Report Zeek Was Linking To On Its Blog
BULLETIN: (UPDATED 2:04 P.M. EDT U.S.A.) The office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper told the PP Blog this morning that it never said the Zeek MLM or auctions programs were legal.
The agency said it had asked a local television station to issue a corrected report, and the station has removed a video report that Zeek was linking to from its Blog this morning.
“We do have concerns about [Zeek],” said Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for Cooper.
Zeek has two arms: an MLM program known as Zeek Rewards, and a penny-auction site known as Zeekler. Zeek Rewards plants the seed that participants can earn a return of between 1 percent and 2 percent a day. The Zeekler arm is auctioning sums of U.S. currency and advertising that successful bidders can receive their winnings through offshore payment processors.
Zeek has denied it is operating either an investment program or a “pyramid scheme” through its Zeek Rewards’ MLM arm. It also claims to run clean penny auctions through Zeekler. Some customers, however, have complained they had not received their winnings of auction cash.
The TV station — WFMY Channel 2 — aired a video report that focused on a “penny auction craze.” The report, which made a passing reference to Zeek’s MLM arm, focused on Zeek’s Zeekler arm while explaining the concept behind penny auctions and the potential pitfalls. A Blog version of the station’s report references both company arms and notes that “a court has not yet ruled whether this operation is legal or illegal.”
WFMY’s video version, however, suggested that Cooper’s office had received a handful of complaints about the Zeek arms but had determined Zeek was conducting business legally.
No determination that Zeek is operating legally has been made, Talley stressed this morning.
The PP Blog learned this morning that Zeek’s news Blog was linking to the broadcast version of the WFMY report. The TV station now has removed the video, Cooper’s office said.
In another strange development, at least two Zeek affiliates have spammed the TV’s station’s website with offers for Zeek. One of the spams appears to have originated with Barbara Alford, a promoter of the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme and a former moderator of the pro-ASD “Surf’s Up” forum that mysteriously disappeared in 2010 after shilling for accused ASD Ponzi schemer Andy Bowdoin around the clock for more than a year.
Bowdoin pleaded guilty to wire fraud in the ASD Ponzi case last month. He is jailed in the District of Columbia. Zeek’s business model is similar to the model employed by ASD.
Cooper’s office supplied the PP Blog with a list of complaints the state has received about Zeek. (Note: The paragraphs below do not take into account all of the complaints Cooper’s office has received about Zeek. There are at least 10 complaints on file.)
One complaint that originated in Utah on May 16, 2012, alleged that a customer had given Zeek $20,000 in April but never received credit and was unable to get any satisfaction from customer service.
“The customer service is non existent and I am beginning to think Zeekler is a pyramid scam,” the customer told Cooper’s office.
Zeek responded to the complaint by informing Cooper’s office that it believed the Utah complainant wasn’t actually a Zeek customer. Rather, according to Zeek, the complainant was the father of two sons who were Zeek affiliates and had contacted the attorney general out of “personal curiosity.”
Another complaint received by Cooper’s office from a Florida man in November 2011 was forwarded to the Securities Division of the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office for review, according to the correspondence trail. No final outcome is noted.
Another complaint Cooper’s office received on May 8 originated in the District of Columbia after being sent to the Office of the Attorney General of District of Columbia by an individual in Oregon four days earlier. The District of Columbia forwarded the complaint to Cooper’s office, which opened a file.
“This is a Huge Ponzi scheme,” the sender complained. “If not [looked] at carefully and stopped by the US AG, [t]his would be a tremendous task to [sort] out to pay back the consumer. This is [n]o different tha[n] AD Surf Daily ([i]f you remember the [c]ase).”
Meanwhile, a Zeek customer in Miami contacted Cooper’s office and told the agency that he had sent U.S. Postal Service money orders totaling $1,000 to Zeek in April and that the sum never was credited to his Zeek account.
Yet another Zeek customer — this one from California — told Cooper’s office that he had wired more than $2,000 in March from his account at Bank of America to Zeek’s account at NewBridge Bank in North Carolina. Although the complainant said he’d confirmed both through his bank and NewBridge that Zeek had received the money, the money never got credited to his Zeek account.
The California customer also told Cooper’s office that Zeek closed his support ticket without providing a resolution, a circumstance that forced the aggrieved customer to open a second ticket.
Zeek announced suddenly on May 28 — Memorial Day — that it was closing its NewBridge bank account.
Another individual who contacted Cooper’s office suggested she’d also contacted her member of Congress, the IRS, the FTC and the SEC about Zeek and questioned whether a “whistleblower” award might be available if Zeek proved to be a scam. That communication identified several purported Zeek promoters, including former AdSurfDaily promoter Todd Disner.
Patrick, maybe you can query the NC AG office regarding the following:
I queried NC Auction board if there is any sort of penalty for a) running auction without a license for almost two years, and b) failure to identify oneself as holder of such a license, they never got back to me.
NC Auction Board informed me that Zeek only got an auction license in March 2012, but Zeek have been doing auctions as FSC Auctions since March 2010.
Here’s proof: Adebrandt, i.e. Alex deBrandt posted on PennyAuctionWatch advertising FSC Auction in march 15 2010, cheered on by HippieDiva, i.e. Dawn Wright-Olivares, who’s actually engaged to Alex. The thread ended by the note that they are transitioning to Zeekler brand name in June 2010.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tNdYJYFTBE4J:www.pennyauctionwatch.com/forum/showthread.php%3Ft%3D2262&hl=en&gl=us&prmd=imvns&strip=1
Quick note: Some of the comments from Zeekers on the TV station’s Blog are the precise kind of stuff that gets MLM in hot water.
“Is it legal?” a poster queried today, and then answered his own question:
“ABSOLUTELY. Has SEC and FTC signed off on the company to date? ABSOLUTELY.”
A good number of the posts at the site are just outright spam from Zeek affiliates.
Patrick
Appeal to ignorance: “Zeek is legal” is assumed to be true even though there was no proof to it.
FTC and SEC has NOT “signed off” on Zeekler, they merely have no acted on it, as it hopes to never act on any company… except on scams.
If Zeek’s not on the AG radar, it certainly is now.
[…] Pretty contacted the AG’s Office this morning and was told ”it never said the Zeek MLM or auctions programs were legal“. […]
Tell me what part of Zeek is not legal?The FTC has closed down several penny auctions and their is a class action lawsuit against one here in my state of Oklahoma.Zeek Rewards was not touched.The 1 to 2% a day is based on product sales.If the company doesn’t make money we don’t make money.The only concern I had before I joined Bidify was bids considered a product.None of the penny auctions that got shut down by The FTC didn’t have anything to do with bids not being considered a product.
Howdy Aaron,
Only time will tell but so far you are correct that Zeek Rewards has not been found to be acting illegally. That being said Andy Bowdoin’s Ad Surf Daily operated for over two years before and regulatory agency took action against it. This blog has a lot of interesting information about ASD should you be curious about his these sorts of things work.
I’d actually recommend you do some of that reading because there are some uncanny similarities between ASD and Zeek. Both were “revenue sharing” programs which claimed to only be sharing 50% of their daily profits with their qualified members and in both of these programs the average “share” was an amazingly uniform percentage. Bot programs promised to pay out more than one dollar for every dollar the affiliates put in and both programs required only a token amount of effort on their affiliates part to qualify for the “rewards.”
Also, many of the top grossing affiliates in ZR were also top grossing affiliates in ASD. At least several ZR employees (or contractors) were also employees or contractors in ASD. Zeek Rewards hired MLM attorney Gerry Nehra and consultant Keith Laggos to “prove” they were completely legal and legitimate, and so did Ad Surf Daily.
Let’s just say a lot of people around here get a distinct feeling of Déjà vu about ZR.
Thanks for stopping by.
I think the fact that they even have to ask the question as to whether Zeek Rewards is legal or not ought to raise a few red flags. Show me any established business that advertises with a “is our business legal?” slogan. In other words, the more you think you have to convince people that your business is legal, the more likely it’s not.
@Aaron:
I guess the thing which reeks of illegality about Zeek is the fact that even though they claim that the money ZR members are receiving comes from the daily auctions, extremely few if any ZR affiliates have any actual customers purchasing bids on a regular basis. Before the Zeek support forum went private, you could even see affiliates mentioning the fact that the only people on zeekler.com auctions were Zeek Rewards affiliates, and others lamenting the fact that even though they’d been placing the daily ads, they never had one paying customer. So all the “daily profit” that Zeekler is making is likely from the affiliates themselves, which means that Zeek is nothing more than a huge ponzi scheme. Ponzi schemes are, of course, illegal in the United States because when they inevitably collapse, people lose money.
If you want to prove me wrong, then provide evidence that the payouts ZR affiliates are getting are coming from zeekler customers (who aren’t affiliates) buying bids. Unfortunately Zeek refuses to release this information.
You want POTENTIALLY illegal? ZeekRewards program. Zeekler looks okay from here.
Product sales to who? Affiliates, or real customers who buy bids?
Are you aware of “inventory loading”, which is illegal in MLM?
I’m 100% satisfied with Zeek, No complaints what so ever.
That’s great to hear, but do you mean the Zeekler side, or the ZeekRewards side?
Not that it matters. Nobody had a beef with Bernie Madoff for almost 20 years either.
Some people still say they were completely satisfied with AdSurf Daily and Andy Bowdoin is innocent, even after he pleaded guilty.
Come to think of it, Zeek would be a pretty poor fraud if people WEREN’T completely satisfied with it, wouldn’t it ???
Isn’t that the whole point of HYIP ponzis ??
Keep the victims “satisfied” while you pick their pockets.
Just talked to the consumer protection arm of the North Carolina AG’s office and there have been a total of 4 or 10 complaints leveled against either Rex Venture Group or Zeek Rewards. Regardless of which side you are on, that is a miniscule amount of complaint for the amount of people involved. There are more phone calls but in order for a complaint to exist, it has to be in writing. The phone calls are not an unreasonble amount as well.
But again, you really don’t know. You don’t know the real total number of ‘members to be able to determine what you classify as ‘miniscule’ or not nor do you know the number of ‘more phone calls’. The phrase ‘total of 4 or 10’ shows you really have no information.
Now, now, Whip, even our Admin here said AG’s office had about 10 complaints.
Take into account that BBB rating for RVG is F, that means something.
Listen Whip, I was just getting to a point, igno. The number 10 came from the girl at the switchboard who stated they had about that many calls but was not sure. The actual asst. AG stated the 4 number but idiots like you don’t want to learn, you just want to howl. So, yes, I do know right from the horses mouth. You must live a pretty small life to have no do in the fight and still want to rant and rave on here.
By the way, Whip, the total members is in the 100’s of thousands. And if you trust the BBB, an F is so easy to get, it first of all does not mean anything if you do the math, and secondly, please read how the BBB rates companies and you will find just how useless they are regardless of the rating. Most major corporations who deal with the public rate poorly with BBB.
Members of the ill-fated “Narc That Car” MLM thought it prudent to attack the BBB. It didn’t get them anywhere.
It is hideous PR and easily could result in one or more reporters writing stories that say Zeek members are “defending” the company by attacking the BBB.
It’s too bad Troy Dooly seems to be going down this road.
Patrick
Aw. poor baby. You have no facts and want to be the big man defending the criminal enterprise so you can at least break even. You, ‘igno’ are the ass who posted 4 or 10 without any explanation and made yourself look like the ass you are. You think an AG’s office has only 1 switchboard op? lol. Who is to say she’s even allowed to tell you? Who is to say the AG is going to tell a nobody like you anything while an investigation is going on? He’s not bigshot. Your life would have to be a lot smaller for you to even come here pissant. You’re posting typical shill bullshit with nothing to back it up.
According to who? Your leaders? How do you know they aren’t lying? If the BBB rating means nothing as you claim, then why the need to attack it? Because it DOES mean something or it wouldn’t matter and you’re a liar.
And the number of “members” in North Carolina would be what ??
I don’t know how things run in the US, but down in the colonies, it’s normal for state Attorneys General to primarily deal with the complaints of people within the state.
Thus alerting other agencies and/or Attorneys General of the existence of the fraud under investigation.
It’s also normal practice to neither confirm nor deny information with regard to ongoing investigations
Gee, don’t they have email, letters,walk ins or confidentiality in North Carolina.
Strange systems, then,
“when in doubt, ask the switchboard operator”
and “the Attorney Generals’ office always tips off criminals when it’s conducting investigations”
Most people contact their own State’s AG who usually tells them to contact the AG the criminals are operating in. Some corroborate with the other States if need be. And, most people would feel embarrassed to have to admit they were involved in a scam. Look at how few sent back their remission forms for ASD after being told they would be pariahs if they did.
They now process monthly subscriptions under their name Zeek Rewards and they accept all major Cards. Sign ups and purchases are thru 3rd party to protect from fraud in my opinion. I have found their customer service to be a long wait but excellent once the wait is over. My opinion is that if everything worked smoothly that the best time to get started has long past you by. Seems as though you have it out for Zeek. Why would They (Paul and Staff) risk a life behind bars doing something illegal. Penny auctions are legal and highly profitable, especially when you have 1000?s posting ads to drive traffic. We cant help it that people dont always spend their money wisely. Hell just look at the way our government handles money. If any one is guilty of a ponzi it is the US government.
According to Dawn herself, there are only 15000 active affiliates as of 2011. That’s directly off the 2011 disclosure. Total members is about 65000 I think, based on the percentages given in the same statement.
So unless the company increased in size tenfold in six months, your numbers are overly optimistic.
And that, is where you get a failing grade, as most Americans *do* trust the BBB and reporters LOVE to quote you guys insulting the BBB. Makes you guys look like nutjobs. Better stop before the Zeek Squad comes after you.
In the real, non HYIP ponzi world, the fact an Attorney General in ANY state publically admits he/she “has concerns” triggers alarm bells among “real” investors.
If Zeek wasn’t front and centre in US lawmakers minds prior to this, it sure as h*** is now.
Listen Chang, All I asked anyone to do is to do your own analysis of how the BBB rates any company. And, I am not sure how you know that “most Americans” trust the BBB. Did you dream that up or just surmise it for your own “straw man” argument. I retired a long time ago in MLM but just happen to like the Zeek concept. You seem to spend a lot of time on these types of sites. I wonder how your wonderful brain would be better spent in some useful situation as opposed to be a skeptic. What is your beef with direct sales anyway? Did you lose $200 in Amway way back when and never got over it?
Rex had several hundred thousand “members” before they ever started Zeek so we have a definition of terms problem and a timeline problem here. Everyone is partially correct but not totally. As far as the lady at the switchboard, she was pretty more than an operator but the Asst. AG who handled the actuall call is the one who named the number 4 for complaints. Three for Rex and one for Zeek. Even out of 65k, that is a pretty small number. If you use 65K as a benchmark (right or wrong) for the end of 2011, and then you look at another survey independent of Zeek that suggested a 275% growth comppounded for the past few months, the numbers add up fast over the 2011 figures. It is just good to debate as much fact as possible, even if you still disagree.
Call the AG office for yourself. You don’t have to be nobody like me to get great information if you can get to the right person. Takes a while to get there but if you really want to know, do it for yourself.
Just so you know, every once in a while, I find it fun to debate. It is very interesting how others think and react to things like direct sales, etc. There is good and bad attached to everything, depending on your own self interests and your own sense of security. May God richly bless you all. I am out of here. Thanks for all your viewpoints.
Where’d you get your PR training, Ben?
OK. You started with the BBB deflection — and now introduce a version of the “hater’s” deflection — i.e., that K. Chang or any person who asks pointed questions about Zeek surely can’t be doing so in the public interest, that any person who asks such questions surely detests direct sales (or MLM) and couldn’t get over a loss in [name that company/program.]
Do your sentiments apply to “Chang.”
Patrick
LOL obviously I have no PR.training. And yes of course.the blessing.applies to Chang and Whip and all who.come here. Now I am really.out.of here cause it takes.too much effort to arm wrestle w u. Just a little fun for.me.
Fail again. Ad hoc ad hominem “get a life” attack aimed at the critic, not the argument.
So you admit to being a troll? How interesting!
Well.. first of all why does everyone judge something they are NOT involved in! Second of all the lady claiming to have put in $20,000 in zeekrewards is a damn liar cause zeekrewards ONLY allows a person to put the Max in which is ONLY $10,000 and that’s it! Minimum is $10! I know A Crap load of people in this and have made money from zeekrewards and won items and cash in Zeekler!! I myself won cash prizes in zeekler and have received it every time! Those who claim to moult have gotten it are just saying they did not get it so they can get their money back and get more money off of the company!! Those people are RIDICULOUS!! So many Liars in this world today! Its a shame that I see it everyday that many people will say whatever to have others join their own networks! Don’t lie about a company that you have no clue about! I just see a bunch of adultsacting l like a bunch of kids! *SMH* Anyway…. Both Zeekrewards and Zeekler are both Good and I see nothing wrong with them nor does thousands of people!
@D Crowe —
1) When did the 10K limit appear? Don’t assume it’s always been there.
2) Make money from it doesn’t mean it’s legal. Look at Madoff for a reminder.
3) So many naive people in the world too! Madoff tricked THOUSANDS of poeple.
4) Can you prove they lied? You haven’t yet.
5) You see nothing wrong, did you look in the right places?
I can’t speak for “everyone.” Regardless, I can tell you that this Blog exists because the United States (and much of the world) is experiencing a white-collar fraud epidemic that is undermining faith in legitimate markets, destroying wealth at the local level (at least) and redistributing wealth to criminals and hucksters.
You have precisely zero facts about this specific complaint — and yet, as a Zeek “defender,” you are calling a “lady” a “damn liar.”
First off, the complainant was a man. Second, Zeek did not dispute that the sum of $20,000 was involved. Rather, the dispute centered on who paid Zeek the money via credit card and whether the man had any standing to complain to the attorney general about anything.
Zeek implied in its response to the attorney general that the man’s two sons paid the money and were Zeek affiliates and the man WAS NOT an affiliate. Zeek did not supply the attorney general a breakdown of who paid what or say whether the sons were pleased with Zeek.
It is POSSIBLY a case of a father wanting to make sure his sons had not gotten themselves involved in a pyramid scheme. If that’s what happened — and if you want to call the father a “damn liar” while you’re “defending” Zeek, then I’d say you need to get some PR training.
You are making yourself and Zeek look foolish.
“I have called this company every day 3 times a day for 3 weeks,” the man complained. “No one answers the phone and now all the mailboxes are full. I have left 4 messages and no one returns my calls . . .”
Why on earth would you ever believe that your rant was an appropriate way to defend Zeek.
Patrick
If you look on Zeek’s own support site, now closed to the public, there are dozens of topics related to not being paid for Zeekler auctions. Now this is likely just poor execution on Zeekler’s part rather than outright fraud (because Zeek pays so little out in the auctions relative to the daily profit share Ponzi, so it doesn’t make sense for Zeek to screw Zeekler customers).
In fact, there are several topics started by Zeek employees such as Catherine Parker along the lines of “TO BE PAID FOR OUTSTANDING AUCTION WINNINGS, POST HERE”. The one that started 12 days ago has over 60 replies. There are also dozen of topics on the archived Zeek Support forum (when it was open to the public) that also had dozens of replies per topic.
So who is lying?
What you are probably trying to say is “Zeek intends to pay everyone and it is not nearly as scammy as you think, at least not the auctions” but instead you just outright call everyone a liar when the evidence before you on Zeek’s own corporate support forum (both public and private) has tremendous evidence to refute you.
And from the Zeek Support forum, from an affiliate herself. Yes, D. Crowe why don’t you call her a liar. There are dozens of these examples.
Is it outright fraud by Zeek? Not at this stage, I don’t think so. I think it’s just poor execution that can’t be blamed on “growing pains” any more. At some point you if you are rolling in millions of revenue don’t you hire more staff? You can’t have growing pains forever.
Left this on RealScam, but thought I’d copy you as well
Following is an exact quote (except the “uhs” and “okay”) from the June 5th leadership call, starting at about the 3:30 mark
When you take out your wallet out of your purse or your backpocket whatever money you have, you personally put in there, is the only money you have you can use to pay for your groceries with. You may have some cards in there, you may have some checks in there, but if we are taking about cash, which is how an eWallet works, whatever you guys would use, to go ahead make purchases from us with, is what’s in the eWallet, is what we can turn around and pay payroll with. It’s not a depositing bank account.
However, this explanation DIRECTLY CONTRADICTS what NXSystems says on their website:
Your company establishes an NxPay® account whereby you deposit your payroll / commissions funds (by check, wire transfer or ACH). Then each of your independent representatives establishes an NxPay® account as well. Once all of the accounts have been set-up, your company creates a spreadsheet (within your NxPay® account) that tells NxPay® how you want to distribute the funds deposited.
— quoted from Direct Marketing / Multi Level Marketing | NXSYSTEMS
You *do* deposit funds to eWallet provider and distributes them to people you want to pay, who also have eWallet accounts with the same provider. Everybody works this way, including AlertPay, SolidTrust Pay, Payza, Liberty Reserve, even PayPal, the granddaddy of them all.
So either Dawn Wright-Olivares is crazy and left a recording explaining absolutely bullsh__, or she lied. You decided which one. Either way, she’s ABSOLUTELY COMPLETELY WRONG about how eWallet works.
Additional info: apparently Dawn told all affiliates that in order for affiliates to get paid, they need to put more money into NxPay and pay Zeek with NxPay.
http://behindmlm.com/companies/zeek-rewards/nc-ags-office-deny-saying-zeek-rewards-is-legal/comment-page-2/#comment-80548
Looks like she just admitted that the whole system is a Ponzi.
No, K. Chang. That’s not what she said. There’s a clarification on the Zeek Rewards News site. I had a hard time understanding the e-wallet process too but once you actually use one, it’s pretty seamless and easy.
It’s funny because I had all the same concerns and questions as you. Then you know what? I just did it. I talked to people already doing it then I made a decision.
I spent most of my life stomping around, mad at the world, looking to right every wrong done to mankind. But you know what? It’s not worth it anymore.
You think ZeekRewards is a huge scam. Great! Now move along. You’ve made a decision. Great! Nothing to be ashamed of and certainly nothing to make a cause out of.
Find something that DOES interest you and make a decision to get involved. And good luck!
Oh and, by the way, the BBB is toothless/worthless, a true scam if there ever was one :-)
Oh dear, oh dear. if it wasn’t for the fact that Zeek Rewards is soliciting peoples’ money, you might hsve had a point on your first comment. But it is. Daily emails are being received, daily promotional posts are being made and daily calls are being made to “prospects” in order to get them to join this scheme and part with their money. Zeeks looks like part dodgy pay to play (the auction site) and part ponzi. it is, in addition being pimped by some of the most infamous HYIP players on the web. Red flags abound.
Ergo, some people feel that it is worth their time to point out to others the probability they are not being invited to join the greatest legit business of the year!
And your comment about BBB is straight out of the scammers handbook. We’ve heard that before. Yeah, BBB always gives bad ratings to honest businesses (not)
Oh, really? She didn’t say this?
Where she blamed the eWallet guy for misleading her. So?
I’ve had a PayPal account, the ORIGINAL eWallet, for many many years before Zeekler and ZeekRewards existed. All gift cards are also essentially eWallets. It *should* be seamless and easy to put money into and pull money out. Not this sort of random outages and “no money” Zeek is trying to fob off on the affiliates.
Put up or shut up, ought to be the new motto for Zeek…
BTW, another guy just appeared on my hub also denouncing the BBB… what a coincidence…
It’s definitely a scam or you wouldn’t be here crying that it’s been exposed hoping you’ll get your money back. It would just survive on it’s own merits and we both know that’s never going to happen.
I’m going to try this next time I’m in Court:
I had all the same concerns and questions as you. Then you know what? I just did it. I talked to people already doing it then I made a decision. I spent most of my life stomping around, mad at the world, looking to right every wrong done to mankind. But you know what? It’s not worth it anymore. You think polygamy is a huge scam. Great! Now move along. You’ve made a decision. Great! Nothing to be ashamed of and certainly nothing to make a cause out of. Find something that DOES interest you and make a decision to get involved. And good luck! Oh and, by the way, Alexa rankings are toothless/worthless/easy to fake, and can be artificially inflated if you know where to look. :-)
I see this blog is turning into a hate the free market site. I can only assume many of the posters must have boring government jobs with nothing better to do than hate. I remember Amway going through this same B.S. until they finally prevailed. Socialist simply can’t stand the free market. While I appreciate Patrick’s attempt to flush out evil doers, I can see that most of the contributors have a built in hatred towards entrepreneurs in general.
Hardly, Kevin.
Why can you “only assume many of the posters must have boring government jobs?” And why do you equate reporting and commentary designed to keep people out of harm’s way during the greatest white-collar fraud epidemic the world has even known with “hate?”
Kevin, any number of the schemes I’ve written about on this Blog are far closer to Socialism than Capitalism. Almost all of the HYIPs and autosurfs are naked wealth-redistribution schemes dressed up as miraculous business systems. I even coined a term for it: autosurfism.
You can read about it here:
https://patrickpretty.com/2009/06/19/capitalism-communism-socialism-is-autosurfism-next-members-say-adviewglobal-surf-considering-bailout/
Patrick
I don’t know…..I don’t see any ‘hate’ for legitimate businesses here. But it was killing you not to be able to use that word truthfully isn’t it? Where is your alleged ‘research’?
Amway did NOT prevail. They changed their business model enough so they do NOT pass the Koscot test as a pyramid scheme, esp. with enforcement of the “Amway Safeguard Rules”. At best, that was a draw.
Which renders the rest of your rant moot.
Quick note: The IP of “Kevin” has been blocked because it is the same IP of “Don.”
At 3:15 p.m. yesterday, “Don” posted in this JSS/JBP thread:
https://patrickpretty.com/2012/06/23/jss-triplerjustbeenpaid-now-soliciting-20000-purchase-amid-claim-of-400-per-day-payout/
Fifteen minutes earlier, “Kevin” posted in this Zeek thread.
https://patrickpretty.com/2012/06/20/bulletin-north-carolina-attorney-generals-office-refutes-suggestion-that-zeek-has-been-deemed-legal-we-do-have-concerns-agency-says-tv-station-removes-video-zeek-was-linking-to-on-its-bl/
Patrick
Quick note: “Don” also posted in this thread today:
https://patrickpretty.com/2012/07/01/bulletin-purported-jsstriplerjustbeenpaid-operator-frederick-mann-confirms-for-second-time-that-program-pays-members-with-funds-from-new-members-he-adds-that-all-payments-come-from-members-in-c/comment-page-1/#comment-30600
Patrick
The company owner Paul Burk’s is a legitimate Businessman whom has built a fabulous business model. One thing is Penny Auctions are a very lucrative business. Penny auction companies are spending into the multi-millions a month in advertisements, which shows how much the industry makes, it certainly does not take a rocket scientist to figure that out, its a No Brainer. And if the Federal Government would want to do something about the industry it would be a serious impact on aiding our countries recovery, due too the tax revenue that would be lost, and other countries taking up were we left off , and grossing a a better economy if we pass up this opportunity. My conclusion is leave this Legitimate opportunity alone, so we don’t loose one of our thriving Industries, and end up shooting ourselves in the foot.
If the Penny Auction business was so great why the need for the Ponzi investment scheme? Just pay affiliates on straight commission sales. Lol, duh, obviously.
And what is your source for this wild assertion?
What proof do you have BUrks is some sort of ‘legitimate businessman’?
I’d be worried about getting my money back out too if I were you. You got in too late.
Is this the *same* Chris that was posting various emotional appeals all over the net, esp. over at Troy Dooly’s place?
Maybe you can ask him why did he start FSCAuctions in march 2010, turned it into Zeekler in June 2010, but only obtained an auction license in March 2012? I am quite sure he is not as legitimate as you think.
Why have ZeekRewards then? What are they paying YOU for?
One could ask if this is indeed why such people join Zeek…
Interesting application of both slippery slope fallacy and appeal to emotional fallacy.
“If Feds go after Zeek it’ll destroy the US economy”. Ha-ha-ha.
And what if they went ONLY after Zeek, not the whole industry?
PP’s update on Full TIlt has two interesting aspects
1) Fulltilt setup a bunch of shell companies, and use those to disguise the nature of the funds being transacted through the credit cards, as VISA and MASTERCARD are blocking transactions involving online gambling and US cards due to regulations.
2) Fulltilt also got someone to mess with the transaction codes so they can’t be traced back to Fulltilt and to bypass VISA and MASTERCARD’s aforementioned restrictions
Here’s a theoretical question:
Did ZeekRewards did something similar by
1) (Proven fact) going to half a dozen different credit card processors around the world (AND eWallet vendors)
2) (Proven fact) mess with the transaction codes so they appear to be from other countries / merchants OTHER THAN ITSELF?
I don’t see a reason for them to do so as they are NOT internet gambling?
I’ll first apply Harlon’s Razor… stupidity sufficiently advanced are indistinguishable from malice. (Technically that’s not what it says, but you get the idea). It’s FAR MORE POSSIBLE that their IT progreammer (Dawn’s stepson Dan?) screwed up the credit card API calls, but then that doesn’t explain all the different credit card processors around the world, does it?
K. Chang’s comment refers to this post today:
https://patrickpretty.com/2012/07/03/raymond-bitar-full-tilt-poker-ceo-arrested-gambling-site-linked-to-three-u-s-banks-that-failed-feds-say-the-on-line-casino-become-an-internet-ponzi-scheme-top-fbi-official-says/
Meanwhile, it’s worth noting that the poker case in New York also has ties to this case in Nevada brought by the SEC against Jeremy Johnson:
https://patrickpretty.com/2012/02/08/receiver-in-jeremy-johnsoniworks-frand-case-issues-devastating-report-incredible-number-of-firms-referenced-in-79-page-court-update-dozens-of-companies-used-as-conduits-to-re-route-revenue-and-to/
Patrick
@K. Chang – all of the online gambling companies have used numerous third party card processors. In some cases they make 3rd party arrangements with a legit business, which is what it looks like Zeek is doing. In other cases they setup shell companies to process CC through the shell companies. Another technique is to setup multiple shell companies and round robin the CC charges. When you buy $1000 in chips you get an email saying “your purchase on your credit card will show from XYZ company”. The gambling industry knows how to scale. This way when one credit card processor gets declined, and you resubmit the transaction, you hit a different card processor.
The bottom line here is that Zeek has long bee swimming in the high risk payment processor space and it was only a matter of time that they started seeing major banking and credit card processing problems. But to hear Zeekheads spin it, no bank in the world can handle Zeek’s transactions that’s why they are having problems.
I wasn’t familiar with Harlon’s Razor so had a look over at Wikipedia.
Here’s what they say:
“Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don’t rule out malice”
Regardless, KChang, your point is well taken. :)
ARWR
Zeek isn’t a ponzi scheme, these kind of blogs are from morons who know nothing about the business. I find this pathetic to be honest.
I’m a precious metals broker and a gold company who is the biggest in the country has a A rating with the BBB and they are the biggest rip-off company in the country (GOLDLINE INTERNATIONAL. They charge over 40% in commissions and spreads, they lie to there clients and many of there clients are buried. I give the BBB ratings very little credibility!!! ZEEK has 100,000s of thousands of affiliates and 14 complaints with the BBB, really? Sorry you losers who bash a good thing and a reputable business need to get a life!!
Quick note: I have blocked “Tim SMith” and “Gary Epps” above because they are posting from the same IP with two usernames in eight minutes in apparent “defense” of Zeek.
“Gary” ventures nothing on the story above, instead claiming “these kind of blogs are from morons . . .”
Tim, meanwhile, “defends” Zeek with a strawman argument, deflects from the issues by exclaiming that “I give the BBB ratings very little credibility!!!” and resorts to the oft-repeated ad hominem that program critics are “losers” who “need to get a life!!”
Patrick
So you are admitting your alleged business sucks too? lol. What an ass. You got in too late. Not the problem of anyone here. I still have yet to see this blog go after a real ‘legitimate’ business.
[…] is based in North Carolina. On June 20, the office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said it had concerns about the company, which plants the seed that members can earn a return of between 1 percent and 2 […]
[…] itself played this miserable game. In June, a North Carolina television station carried a report that suggested Zeek had been found to be operating lawfully by the office of North Carolina […]
Why are some people here so happy about bullying or bashing Zeek and waste time with such a small fry?
If you want to be a self righteous hero exposing ponzies, and saving humanity, why don’t you focus on the biggest grand daddy ponzy of them all which is the the SS system, the Federal Reserve, the IMF, and the World Banks, who prints money out of thin air all day long? You can make a career out this gianormous ponzy!
But we know you are chcikens to go against such Gansters because you’ll be disappear in mysterious way. So go ahead, continue bashing small fries.
Start with the small stuff first. Never run before you can walk.
John,
Zeek seems largely to agree with your Ponzi assessment about Social Security — although Zeek suggested Social Security was a “legal” pyramid scheme.
https://patrickpretty.com/2012/05/22/editorial-stepfords-at-the-gate-zeek-trots-out-social-security-argument-in-preemptive-pyramid-scheme-denial-auction-site-makes-its-bizarre-case-with-exclamation-points/
BTW, John, please stick with one email address when you post here.
I received your May 29 comment in which you advised me that Andy Bowdoin of AdSurfDaily is a “small fry fish” and, like today in your remark that described Zeek as a “small fry,” further advised me to “cover the biggest ponzy scheme perpetrated by the biggest criminals enterprises of them all: The Federal Reserve, The World Bank, and the International Money Fund.”
Your May 29 comment was targeted at this thread about the “OneX” scheme Bowdoin was pushing.
https://patrickpretty.com/2012/05/03/andy-bowdoin-a-no-show-in-last-nights-conference-call-for-onex-absence-blamed-on-personal-problems-days-after-prosecutors-call-onex-a-fraudulent-scheme/
The reason I didn’t publish your May 29 comment was that it sought to plant a link to a Blog that reported “liens” were filed “against all 12 Federal Reserve Banks.”
At least you didn’t try to plant the link today while “defending” Zeek. Have to say, though, that your conspiracy theory that I’m [“chicken”] to go up against government [“gangsters”] because they’ll make me “disappear in mysterious way” has left me scratching my head and wondering how any person could come to believe that such words of “support” for Zeek were helpful.
Patrick
Note to John:
No, John, I am not going to publish your most recent would-be comment that includes links to THREE sites that are off-topic from the story above.
Post on the topic of this thread — what happened in N.C. with respect to the attorney general and Zeek — or stop posting.
The story above is not about “The Criature of Jekyll Island,” Zeigeist and the Federal Reserve” or the “Thrive Movement.”
Patrick
[…] June, the office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said it had concerns about Zeek. Cooper’s office expressed those concerns after a North Carolina television station suggested […]
[…] office first expressed those concerns publicly in June, after Zeek’s Blog linked to a television station’s report that suggested Zeek had been […]
Well well well. I see all the critics are out in full force over zeek. In my personal opinion, the biggest ponzi scheme of th. em all is the new york stock exchange. I mean honestly the working man aka zeek affiliates have a better chance of making money with zeek than in the government run exchanges. Leave us alone and worry about yourselves.
Once again……*big yawn*
You scammers really need some new material. It’s not anyone else’s fault that you got in too late