OUTRAGEOUS! Emerging Scheme That Appears To Have TelexFree Ties Is Trading On The Name Of Abraham Lincoln

UPDATED 12:24 P.M. EDT U.S.A. BehindMLM.com has a story today about an emerging “program” known as “8Elos” that may have ties to TelexFree promoters, including Sann Rodrigues, already charged with fraud in the TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid case.

Rodrigues is an alleged recidivist securities- and affinity fraudster who now may be adding a shiny object scheme (emeralds) to his fraud bona fides. The evolving situation is so bizarre it almost defies description. BehindMLM, which reports 8Elos is using addresses in the British Virgin Islands and Switzerland, has published an early review here.

One of the things that caught the eye of the PP Blog is that 8Elos appears to be trying to loosen American purse strings by trading on the venerated name of Abraham Lincoln through the use of a quote on leadership attributed to the 16th President of the United States.

The PP Blog could not immediately confirm that Lincoln ever spoke the words attributed to him by 8Elos: “The greatest ability of a leader is to develop extraordinary abilities in ordinary people.”

By even attributing a quote to Lincoln, however, 8ELos may be trying to sanitize a scam in largely the same way a 2011 MLM scam known as Club Asteria tried to sanitize its scam and bring in large numbers of Indians. Club Asteria leeched off the name of Mahatma Gandhi.

8Elos may be targeting Brazilians, Brazilian-Americans and Latinos. Based on the flags published on its website, it also may be targeting Chinese, Portuguese, Spaniards and Russians.

Lincoln was assassinated in 1865; Gandhi was assassinated in 1948.

Club Asteria put a “JOIN OUR MISSION” button below a quote attributed to Gandhi.  It also placed a “JOIN NOW” button directly below an image of the actor Will Smith — this after months of trading on the names of the American Red Cross and the World Bank.

8Elos, which implies it has ties to emerald and gemstone deposits in Brazil, curiously describes itself as “the perfect link between everything and everyone, the four elements with the four dimensions, people in search of infinity and its preciousness.”

Also see PP Blog story from Oct. 2, 2012: “Was This Man Your Zeek Sponsor?”

Also see this May 29, 2014, Media Alert from the Utah Securities Commission, an arm of the Utah Department of Commerce.

From the lede (italics/bolding added):

The Utah Securities Commission issued a Final Order against Jack Phillips, an Oregon resident, for conning Utah investors into several phony investment schemes involving travel cards, foreign currency trading, and importing Brazilian emeralds for sale all while promising guaranteed returns of 300 to 500% with no risk to investors.