URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Massachusetts Issues Warning On ‘IFreeX’ Scheme; ‘iFreex Appears To Be Nothing More Than A Rebranded TelexFREE Fraud For Mobile Phones’

Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin.

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin has issued a warning on an emerging scheme known as “IFreeX.”

Like TelexFree before it, IFreeX is being pitched by two-time SEC pyramid-scheme defendant Sann Rodrigues and is being targeted at the Brazilian community.

Rodrigues also is known as Sanderley Rodrigues de Vasconcelos, and individuals already have filed complaints about his promotion of IFreeX, Galvin’s office said. The headline on a state news release is, “SECRETARY GALVIN WARNS OF NEW PHONE SCAM TARGETING BRAZILIAN COMMUNITY.”

This is the entire statement issued by the Massachusetts Securities Division a short time ago (italics/logo graphic added by PP Blog):

Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin today warned investors, especially persons in the Brazilian community, about iFreex, a phone service app promising lucrative returns with minimal effort. It appears to be much like TelexFREE, a scam that targeted the Brazilian and other minority communities.

According to complaints made to the Securities Division, Sanderley Rodrigues de Vasconcelos, also known as Sann Rodrigues, who was once a top TelexFREE promoter, is now promoting iFreex, enticing investors to pre-register with promises of a new iPhone.

On his Facebook page, Rodrigues, a former Revere resident, even claimed that iFreex would be the new TelexFREE. TelexFREE was charged by the Massachusetts Securities Division and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year with fraud in operating a pyramid scheme. It is now in bankruptcy.

“iFreex appears to be nothing more than a rebranded TelexFREE fraud for mobile phones,” Secretary Galvin said. “Everyone, but especially those in the Brazilian and other immigrant communities that are the target of these pitches, need to be skeptical of any scheme that offers guaranteed returns with little or no effort. Unfortunately, we have seen an increase in these pyramid schemes in the past year.”

Rodrigues, who was charged by the SEC in the TelexFREE case, was charged in 2006 with a similar telecommunications scheme . . . and barred from securities dealings in Massachusetts. That scheme, too, targeted the Brazilian community.

iFreex appears to have many of the same characteristics as other pyramid schemes the Securities Division has recently brought actions against, including Wings, TelexFREE and WCM777.

While there is little information available about the iFreex operations, management, and headquarters, it is scheduled to go live in early November and is currently accepting preregistrations with the promise to investors of a new iPhone.

Those who have information about iFreex are encouraged to call the Securities Division at the toll-free 1-800-269-5428.