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Author: PatrickPretty.com

BLECHMAN: Problems Apparent In DNA 3 Weeks Into His Tenure As CEO; Company Email Tuesday Was ‘Bull’ From ‘Backdoor Guy’

EDITOR’S NOTE: Clarity did not emerge in a phone interview Wednesday with former Data Network Affiliates’ CEO Dean Blechman. Blechman was candid at times and guarded at times. His guardedness, however, seemed largely involuntary. It was as though Blechman, who was courteous throughout the interview, would have chosen full-throttle openness had a handler not been…

Mar 4, 2010
BULLETIN: Former Data Network Affiliates’ CEO Will Answer Questions In Interview Today; Says Company Is Engaging In ‘Bizarre’ Conduct And Campaign Of ‘Misinformation And Lies’

The former chief executive officer of an upstart multilevel-marketing (MLM) firm said this morning that the company was lying to members. Dean Blechman, the former CEO of Data Network Affiliates, said that members deserved to know the truth and that he will make it plain in an interview with the PP Blog later today. In…

Mar 3, 2010
Data Network Affiliates (DNA) Issues Bizarre Announcements; Meanwhile, Narc That Car Promoter Says Repping For NTC Like Working For ‘Census Bureau’

UPDATED 1:57 P.M. ET (March 5, U.S.A) Data Network Affiliates (DNA) announced via email that Chief Executive Officer Dean Blechman has stepped down, according to a member. The announcement came six days after Blechman’s departure — and one day after the company said it launched a “Beta Test” of its ability to gather license-plate numbers.…

Mar 2, 2010
Spokesman For Renner-Related Company Did Not Disclose Tie In Opinion Piece That Attacked Star-Tribune Newspaper; Name Is Referenced In Secret Service Affidavit; Declines To Answer Questions From PP Blog

UPDATED 2:25 P.M. ET (March 2, U.S.A.) The vice president and director of public relations for V-Newswire — a company in Steve Renner’s INetGlobal family — authored an opinion piece lambasting a Minnesota newspaper’s coverage of a Secret Service raid at INetGlobal’s Minneapolis offices last week on his personal Blog, but did not disclose his…

Mar 1, 2010
Data Network Affiliates Now Says Launch Is ‘Beta Test’; Adds ‘JK Wedding Entrance Dance’ Video To Sales Pitch; Former CEO May Make Statement This Week

After delaying its launch twice in February and finally settling on a March 1 launch date, Data Network Affiliates (DNA) now describes tomorrow’s launch as a “Beta Test.” Meanwhile, the company has added a hugely popular YouTube video known as “JK Wedding Entrance Dance” to its website, using the video to promote DNA. On the…

Feb 28, 2010
DEVELOPING STORY: Blogger In Czech Republic Who Called INetGlobal A ‘Scam’ Last Summer Says She Was Threatened With Lawsuit; Blogger’s Name Means ‘Prophetess’ Or ‘Oracle’

EDITOR’S NOTE: Sybille Yates, the subject of the story below, contacted the PP Blog Feb. 26 and Feb. 27Â from an IP in the Czech Republic, after reading our coverage of the Ponzi scheme allegations against INetGlobal. The PP Blog asked Yates questions in follow-up emails, and this story is based on her responses and…

Feb 28, 2010
BBB ‘Remains Concerned,’ Still Has Questions About Narc That Car After Firm Says Only 1 Percent Of Commissions Stems From Sale Of Data To Third Parties

Narc That Car has told the Dallas Better Business Bureau that only “1% of total commissions paid out to independent consultants are for the sale of license plate information to third parties,” the BBB said today. That 1 percent, which Narc That Car referred to as “client share,” is the “only repeatable form of compensation…

Feb 26, 2010
BULLETIN: CFTC Shuts Down Alleged Ponzi Scheme That Pitched Itself On YouTube; Ronald W. Smith Jr. Charged With Operating Forex Fraud; Judge Orders Video To Be Preserved

In a case that may spread a chill among fraudsters who use YouTube to promote bogus money-making schemes, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has charged a Virginia man with fraud. Ronald W. Smith Jr. of Vansant used a YouTube video to promote a Forex Ponzi scheme that gathered more than $800,000 from 34 investors,…

Feb 26, 2010
SECRET SERVICE: INetGlobal Forced Members To Keep Money In The Company With ‘Automatic Repurchasing’ Scheme; Undercover Agent Sent Email To Support, Which Verified Repurchase Was Mandatory

UPDATED 11:07 A.M. ET (U.S.A.) One of the undercover Secret Service agents who joined INetGlobal discovered that the company had implemented an “automatic repurchasing” program by default and that the program could not be switched off, thus distancing participants — many of whom may not have understood English — from their money. Although it is…

Feb 26, 2010
BULLETIN: Receiver In Affiliate Strategies Inc. (ASI) Case Asks Federal Judge To Add Noobing Autosurf To Receivership Probe After Inquiries By ‘Tax Authorities’

The court-appointed receiver in the fraud case against the parent company of the Noobing autosurf has asked a federal judge for the authority to add Noobing to the receivership probe. Larry Cook, the receiver, said that Noobing and 14 other companies under the Affiliate Strategies Inc. (ASI) umbrella have become the subjects of “numerous inquiries”…

Feb 25, 2010
BULLETIN: Dean Blechman’s Name Removed From Data Network Affiliates’ Website; Audio In Which CEO Threatened Critics Also Removed

UPDATED 12:24 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Is Dean Blechman no longer the chief executive officer of Data Network Affiliates (DNA), an MLM firm that purports to be in the business of recording license-plate numbers of cars as they move from destination to destination? Blechman, who identified himself as the CEO in an audio recording and was…

Feb 25, 2010