RECOMMENDED READING: Two Stories/Threads At BehindMLM.com On ‘The Achieve Community’

We recommend these two stories/Comments threads at BehindMLM.com on “The Achieve Community.” Access the first here. Access the second here.

BehindMLM.com covers emerging MLM fraud schemes. Naturally the site separates some MLMers from their senses because it so neatly debunks cover stories and magical constructions that have helped MLM scams trading on the Internet thrive for years.

We’d point out that, like other apparent “supporters” of other “programs,”  an apparent “supporter” of Achieve Community “defending” the “program” at BehindMLM.com is arguing that “The Achieve Community is not a scam [because] I GOT PAID . . .”

Such arguments tend to reflect the coaching of willfully blind promoters and typically are seen on well-known Ponzi boards such as MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold.

All successful Ponzi/pyramid schemes “pay.” Those payments are used as “social proof” no scam exists and help to drive new dollars to scams. HYIP-flavored scams are among the most dangerous in the world. They pollute banks and payment processors with illicit proceeds, turning them into warehouses for fraud schemes. And because bad money follows bad money in the HYIP fraud sphere, the proceeds affect the commerce stream at multiple points of contact.

Money purportedly “earned” in one “program” is used to join another. The banks and processors, in effect, end up warehousing radioactive financial waste. If that’s not bad enough, many of the schemes are exceptionally dark and murky. Money disappears down ratholes or ends up in the hands of ghosts. Such was the case at “Profitable Sunrise” and “Secure Investment” and many more.

There are “I got paid” posts for both of those “programs” on the Ponzi boards.

At Achieve Community, $50 somehow miraculously turns into $400, purportedly in 55 days or so. Our research shows that promos claim people can buy multiple “positions.” There also is a claim that, at some point in the future — a point at which Achieve Community lines up another payment processor — recruits will be able to buy 200 “positions” with two separate transactions of $5,000 each.

This could be construed as an attempt to evade reporting requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act and to “structure” transactions to evade those reporting requirements. The Massachusetts Securities Division has raised the issue of structuring in its action against the TelexFree “program.”

Structuring is dangerous because it accommodates both “micro” and “macro” scams. Some people may buy in at the “micro” level of $50, sometimes known in HYIP Ponzi Land as a “test spend.” Enough “I got paid” posts from cheerleaders at “micro” levels could cause others to buy in at “macro” levels of thousands of dollars.

Some people in TelexFree appear to have made a series of purchases, effectively turning “micro” transactions into “macro” positions. The same thing likely also occurred with the Zeek Rewards and WCM777 MLM “programs.” Like TelexFree, Zeek and WCM777 cratered.

MLMers should reject any contention that no scam exists because a program “pays” or that a member getting “paid” is proof that nothing untoward is occurring. HYIP schemes are infamous for fuzzy if not nonsensical math and for hiding scams behind green curtains.

Beyond that, all successful Ponzi/pyramid schemes “pay.” Ever hear of Bernard Madoff? He “paid.”

At the moment, 9,000 or so alleged winners are confronting clawback lawsuits to recover alleged fraudulent transfers from the c. $850 million Zeek Rewards scheme.

Put another way, Zeek “paid.” After that, Zeek caused people it “paid” to have to hire lawyers and respond to subpoenas and prepare to sit for depositions — all at their own expense.

Imagine Bernard Madoff, who “paid” far less than Zeek on an annualized percentage basis, strolling into court and addressing the judge at sentencing:

“But . . . but, Your Honor,” he begins. “You don’t understand. I paid. This is so unfair! I’ll tell you what this is! It’s a [freaking] conspiracy by the government against people just trying to help their fellow man!”

Next imagine the judge, after repairing from the bench to the restroom to projectile-vomit, returning to the courtroom and ordering the bailiff to escort Mr. Madoff through the side door to begin his 150-year tour of the prison system.

Finally, imagine Madoff sitting in his cell and having the following conversation with himself.

“If only the Achieve Community cycler had been around at the time. I could have rolled in all my clients’ money and, for each $50, I’d get paid $400 — in just two months or so, no less!”

If you can imagine these things, you can imagine the insidious world of the HYIP universe. Madoff, no stranger to chicanery, might actually be mortified at the goings-on in certain MLM circles. Even so, he never would have insulted a judge by insisting no Ponzi scheme existed because he “paid.”

Put another way, the greatest Ponzi schemer in U.S. history was more honest than the average HYIP purveyor and willfully blind promoter hoping to carve off profits from the mass production of scams on the Internet.