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  • Split In Bowdoin/Harris Family? Members Described As ‘Very Much’ Divided; At Least One Family Member Said To Have Contacted Federal Prosecutors

    Andy Bowdoin

    UPDATED 12:01 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Has the pressure of being challenged on multiple legal fronts led to a split in the extended family of AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin?

    The depths of any split are unclear, and it is believed that Bowdoin has the continued support of some members of the Bowdoin/Harris family.

    But interviews conducted by the PP Blog and information obtained through sources suggest Bowdoin is unable to travel internationally, no longer is living in Quincy, Fla., does not enjoy the uniform support of the extended Bowdoin/Harris family and has been blamed by some for engulfing them in the flames of a legal nightmare.

    At least one family member has contacted federal prosecutors, according to a source. How prosecutors responded to the overture, which was said to have been made in the summer of 2009, is unclear.

    On Saturday, numerous vehicles were parked at a Florida property associated with Bowdoin’s wife, Edna Faye Bowdoin, according to a source. Edna Faye Bowdoin is the mother of George Harris, the reputed co-owner of Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises and the AdViewGlobal autosurf, as well as the head of ASD’s purported “real-estate” division.

    Several women were present, but Bowdoin was not seen, the source said.

    A second source knowledgeable about the Bowdoin/Harris family described the family as a “family divided.” The PP Blog interviewed the second source in August 2009, and has not published comments from the interview until today.

    The source spoke with the PP Blog on the condition of anonymity, and demonstrated knowledge of the family by voluntarily answering questions posed by the Blog prior to the interview and during the interview. The Blog was satisfied that the source could offer insight into the thinking of certain family members.

    “There is already an unbelievable amount of friction in the family right now because of everything that Andy has done,” the source said. “This is very much a family divided.”

    Less than a month after the Blog conducted the interview, the state of Florida revoked the corporate registrations of ASD and Bowdoin/Harris Enterprises Inc. because neither company filed annual reports despite the continuing presence of active litigation involving both firms and despite being given a five-month window to file required documents.

    Neither Bowdoin nor family members explained why the corporate registrations were permitted to lapse. Only four days prior to the revocation, which could have been prevented by the simple filing of papers, Bowdoin told ASD members in a conference call that he had big plans for ASD.

    On the same date Florida revoked the corporate registrations — Sept. 25, 2009 — federal prosecutors turned up the heat on Bowdoin by accusing him in court filings of trying to lie his way back into the federal forfeiture case against ASD’s assets.

    Prosecutors made a veiled reference to AdViewGlobal in their filings, saying Bowdoin perhaps “was just buying time while searching for a different exit strategy that failed to materialize. Maybe Bowdoin thought that before the government brought its charges he (like some of his family members) could move to another country and profit from a knock-off autosurf program that Bowdoin funded and helped to start.”

    Three days later, on Sept. 28, prosecutors turned up the heat again, filing a Secret Service transcript of an ASD conference call and advising a federal judge that Bowdoin was telling her one story and members another.

    In the weeks that followed, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled that Bowdoin no longer had standing in the case. Bowdoin then attempted unsuccessfully to have Collyer removed as the judge.

    Collyer has granted the government’s forfeiture petition in a case filed in August 2008 involving tens of millions of dollars. Bowdoin now is seeking a reversal of that order, claiming it came as a result of judicial error. Prosecutors, however, said the judge did not err and that Bowdoin’s arguments are “impenetrably illogical.”

    Purportedly headquartered in Uruguay, AdViewGlobal, which crashed and burned in June 2009, had close family, membership and promotional ties to ASD.

    In the August 2009 interview, the source described George Harris and his wife, Judy Harris, as “very worried.”

    “Judy heard that the Secret Service was staring to investigate [AdViewGlobal,]” the source said.

    Certain family relationships are fractured beyond repair, the source said.

    “These relationships are done,” the source said. The source said that paranoia was gripping certain family members and that there were efforts to compartmentalize knowledge and limit use of the telephone.

    “They became very shady,” the source said.

    Andy Bowdoin led family members and members of ASD and AdViewGlobal down the primrose path, the source said.

    AdViewGlobal was described by Bowdoin as a “wonderful idea,” the source said, noting that Bowdoin described the successor autosurf as ASD with tweaks.

    AdViewGlobal launched after ASD’s assets were seized amid Ponzi, wire-fraud, securities fraud and money-laundering allegations.

    Andy Bowdoin wanted to proceed with AVG, according to the source, “because, with a few little tweaks, this company can make it.”

    In June 2009, less than a year after ASD’s assets were seized, AdViewGlobal announced a suspension of cashouts, exercising its version of a “rebates aren’t guaranteed” clause.

    How much money the surf collected and how much it paid out are unclear.

  • Data Network Affiliates (DNA) Changes Launch Date; Shares Vision Of Americans Recording License-Plate Numbers At Walmart, Doctors’ Offices; Now Praises AMBER Alert After Earlier Claiming Program Had ‘Astronomical’ Budget

    UPDATED 10:53 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Its domain name registered in the Cayman Islands, Data Network Affiliates (DNA) envisions an America in which members will record the license-plate number of the same cars multiple times a day as the vehicles move from destination to destination, a recorded company pitch says.

    Meanwhile, the DNA countdown clock on its website now says the launch has been delayed. The countdown clock previously said the program would launch today, a date that was changed to a later date in February and now has been changed to March 1.

    At the same time, the recording speaks glowingly of AMBER Alert, after an earlier recording suggested the famous child-protection system managed by the Justice Department was wasting taxpayers’ money. In the new recording, a pitchman says DNA has no affiliation with AMBER Alert, although the company continues to use its name in sales pitches, suggesting that DNA could provide AMBER Alert a helping hand.

    “That’s a great, great system,” the pitchman said of AMBER Alert in the new recording. “We have no association with AMBER Alert.”

    In an earlier recording, the same pitchman said, “I’m pretty sure you heard of AMBER Alert. It saved over 497 people. But guess what? AMBER Alert, I think, costs about over $100 million a year or some kind of astronomical number.”

    Walmart, Target, Doctors’ Offices

    The new recording includes remarks that the company’s aim was to create a database that tracked the movement of cars. A pitchman talked about a hypothetical “red corvette” being spotted at Walmart at noon, at a “doctor’s office” at 1 p.m. and somewhere else at 4 p.m. — with DNA members recording the plate number at all three locations.

    Other pitchmen in the recording said DNA had soared to more than 25,000 members in only days and expected to recruit “millions.” One pitchman said he had sponsored more than 700 members and had an organization that contained more than 4,000.

    Earlier in the recording, a pitchman also talked about recording plate numbers at Target, another major American retailer. He suggested that members “open up” their eyes when leaving stores to see a “couple hundred” cars parked in the lots.

    His voice quieting briefly, the pitchman talked about writing down plate numbers in the parking lots, suggesting that some members might prefer to return to the privacy of their own cars before recording the numbers.

    “If you want to be inconspicuous . . . you can do that, too,” he said. “Just look around you. Be more vigilant, and just take some information. If you can read and write, that’s it. Just jot down a license-plate tag.”

    Recording license-plate numbers in the parking lots of major retailers, he said, “can lead to some serious financial wealth for you.”

    No mention was made about whether DNA members needed the permission of major retailers or physicians to record the plate numbers of shoppers or patients.

  • Narc That Car Removes Reference To AMBER Alert In Sales Video After Justice Department Denies Link To MLM Program

    The Narc That Car multilevel-marketing (MLM) program has removed the name of AMBER Alert from a promotional video.

    Narc That Car’s removal followed on the heels of denials by the Justice Department and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) that the Dallas-based firm was affiliated with the AMBER Alert system.

    On Feb. 3, NCMEC, which manages the secondary AMBER Alert program for the Justice Department, expressed concern about the program’s famous name being commercialized. It was not immediately clear if either the Justice Department or NCMEC asked Narc That Car to remove the reference.

    Also unclear is whether Narc That Car advised its members about the removal and whether members have been instructed to cease using AMBER Alert’s name in promotions.

    Narc That Car promoters repeatedly have referenced AMBER Alert in sales pitches. The program is named after Amber Hagerman, 9, who was brutally murdered in Texas in 1996. Some Narc That Car promoters have created .org domains that traded off AMBER Alert’s name to drive business to the company.

    A domain titled AmberAlertHelp.org now appears to resolve to a blank page. Meanwhile, other Narc That Car promoters’ references to AMBER Alert continue to appear online.

    After
    Before

  • Promoter Tries To Prove Point Narc That Car Not A Scam By Registering Domain Saying It IS One: Welcome To NarcThatCarIsAScam.info

    Jah of the CashForCarPlates team shows postmark on YouTube of check received from NarcThatCar as proof the company pays. The video also displays a check in the amount of $70.

    UPDATED 2:30 P.M. EDT (March 5, U.S.A.) NarcThatCar promoter Ajamu Kafele announced that his downline team has launched a website to refute claims that the Dallas-based multilevel-marketing (MLM) program is a scam.

    The announcement was made last night, during a Valentine’s Day conference call hosted by Kafele, who uses the nickname “Jah” and is an independent affiliate of Narc That Car.

    The domain name chosen to refute claims that Narc That Car is a scam actually states the company is a scam:

    NarcThatCarIsAScam.info (Emphasis added.)

    Kafele, who operates a website and Blog known as Cash For Car Plates to promote Narc That Car, recorded the conference call, which is posted online. Kafele did not say in the conference call whether he and his 132-member downline group had obtained permission from NarcThatCar to use its name in a branded domain title that states the company is a scam and then attempts to refute the assertion by posting contrary information on the NarcThatCarIsAScam.info website.

    His hope, he said during the call, was that by suggesting NarcThatCar was a scam, the website could be used to prove the opposite.

    One of the participants in the call was a man who said he was “eighty and a half” and was working to introduce other senior citizens to Narc That Car. Kafele said during the call that there was “no substance” to critics’ concerns that Narc That Car is structured like a Ponzi or a pyramid scheme.

    Kafele dissed critics who have raised privacy concerns about Narc That Car. After paying a $100 up-front fee and spending an additional $24.95 a month, Narc That Car “independent consultants” are encouraged to write down the license-plate numbers of cars and enter them in a database.

    Narc That Car promoters have identified the parking lots of major retail chains, libraries, schools and universities as sources of license-plate numbers. Some promoters have encouraged their downline members to carry notebooks and pens in retailers’ parking lots and the parking lots of educational facilities. Others have encouraged participants to take photos of license plates or record them on video cameras, perhaps hundreds at a time.

    “Some of these guys are just mad because they think there is a privacy issue, ” Kafele said, arguing that automated technology exists that is used to collect license-plate data.

    Some critics have questioned whether NarcThat Car promoters are selling an actual product or simply an income opportunity.

    “For lack of a better word, the product is the gathering of the data,” Kafele said during the call, which mostly featured Kafele’s remarks. He suggested that Narc That Car had an “apparent client” that “already is backing up” the company, but did not name the client.

    Two third-party audio snippets recorded previously by other Narc That Car promoters were played back during the call as evidence that “due diligence” had been conducted on the company, which is the subject of inquiries by the BBB in Dallas and the district attorney of Henderson County, Texas.

    The BBB has asked Narc That Car to explain advertising claims and the company’s compensation plan.

    The audio snippets played back during Kafele’s conference call claimed Narc That Car was “very well-funded” and the product of the imagination of a “child prodigy.” A specific source of the funding was not disclosed.

    “They have a proven model,” Kafele said during the call.

    An application for “Narc That Car” as a “Service Mark” is on file in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to the government’s TESS computer system. Information in the government database says the mark was applied for in July 2009.

    Narc That Car is engaged in “Business services in the nature of collateral locator services, namely, tracking and management of lien related collaterals on behalf of lien holders” and also performs “Security services, namely, collateral locator services in the nature of theft recovery,” according to TESS.

    Gerald P. Nehra, an MLM attorney, assisted Narc That Car in registering the brand, according to the TESS database.

    Among the headlines on NarcThatCarIsAScam.info:

    • Narc That Car Opportunity: Distinguishing Fact From Fiction
    • Are The Naysayers Against Narc That Car Really Credible?
    • What Is The Truth About Narc That Car and the Texas Atty General
    • “Who Dat” Saying Narc That Car Is A Scam?
    • Video: Data Network Affiliates vs. Narc That Car Compensation Plans
    • Narc That Car Payment Proof Video

    Kafele’s Cash For Car Plates Blog repeatedly uses the word “scam” in the context of Narc That Car.

    At the moment, the word “scam” in the context of Narc That Car appears on the front page of the Cash For Car plates Blog 13 times, including the current feature story. The current feature story uses the word “scam” in a headline — “Is Narc That Car Really A Scam? — and in the first paragraph of the feature post.

    “Scam” also is used in other posts and labels on the Cash For Bar plates Blog, which is hosted by Blogspot.com, Google’s free hosting site for its Blogger platform. Among the labels on the Blog are “narc that car scam,” “make money from home scam” and “home business scam.”

    Internet marketers who promote MLMs and other money-making opportunities often use the word “scam” — deliberately associating the word “scam” with companies they are recommending — on the theory it drives traffic to their websites when prospects perform online searches.

    Some companies take a dim view of such practices by promoters, believing they can damage brands and confuse the public.

    Listen to the conference call in which Kafele announces the NarcThatCarIsAScam.info website and defines the site as a “counterintelligence” effort.

  • FTC To Announce Major ‘Law Enforcement Sweep’; Justice Department, Postal Inspectors Will Be Present At News Conference Wednesday

    Assistant Attorney General Tony West will be on hand at a FTC news conference Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

    Still pushing work-at-home schemes on the Internet? The Federal Trade Commission has a message for you.

    On Wednesday, the FTC will announce a major “law enforcement sweep cracking down on job and work-at-home fraud fueled by the economic downturn,” the agency said.

    Investigators will release “[s]till shots from the Web sites of some of the operators charged in this law enforcement sweep,” as well as a consumer-protection video.

    The FTC disclosed few details about the sweep, but it is known that officials from the the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service will attend the news conference.

    Speaking on behalf of the Justice Department will be Assistant Attorney General Tony West of the Civil Division. West was appointed to the post by President Obama in January 2009.

    Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray also will be present at the news conference.

    West, a law-enforcement veteran knowledgeable about high-tech crimes, is a graduate of both Harvard and Stanford . He has served as a prosecutor on both the state and federal levels, including a five-year stint as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California.

    As a state Special Assistant Attorney General, West advised former California Attorney General Bill Lockyer on high-tech crime, identity theft, antitrust litigation, civil rights, police-officer training and police misconduct.

    Although the FTC did not release specific details about the crackdown, work-at-home schemes come in many forms. Fraudsters, for example, often use high-traffic Internet sites operated by famous companies to post “job” listings for jobs that don’t actually exist.

    In some instances, the “jobs” have proven to be multilevel-marketing “opportunities” in which participants must pay a fee to become a sales rep and to recruit others for a chance to increase “earnings.” In other cases, the “jobs” have proven to be scams such as stuffing envelopes, entering data and labeling postcards.

    Such scams frequently target people of limited means.

    “Work-at-home scams prey on some of the most vulnerable in our society — the economically disadvantaged, the unemployed, the disabled, and the elderly — who are trying to supplement their income by working from home,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said earlier this month.

    Bharara is U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Of New York. On Feb. 3, Bharara and postal inspectors announced the arrests of Philip Pestrichello, 38, and his wife, Rosalie Florie, also 38, in a work-at-home scheme that operated in New Jersey.

    In the alleged Pestrichello/Florie scheme, participants were targeted in advertisements that assured them the companies were ethical and “NOT a gimmick or some shady ‘get rich quick scheme.’”

    Participants further were told “Our company has a rock-solid reputation,” prosecutors said.

    A check revealed that Pestrichello had spent three years in federal prison for operating a previous scheme and had repeated run-ins with regulators dating back to the early 1990s.

  • NEW NARC THAT CAR SHOCKER: License-Plate Numbers Recorded On UNLV Campus; In ‘Training’ Video, Promoter Tells YouTube Audience That ‘Libraries’ And ‘Schools’ Good Places To Capture Data

    You Tube video shows the street address of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, as the site from which a license-plate number was recorded and entered into the Narc That Car database.

    EDITOR’S NOTE: The PP Blog contacted the office of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, late tonight for a comment on the practices of NarcThatCar promoters. Reid’s office did not respond immediately.

    UPDATED 2:34 P.M. ET (March 5, U.S.A.) A YouTube video promotion for Narc That Car gives a tour of the promoter’s secure back office, displays the names of downline members and advises viewers that the parking lots of libraries, schools and universities provide a steady stream of license-plate numbers to be harvested and entered into a database.

    “So, carry a pen and paper with you,” the narrator instructs. “You can go to parking lots. You can go to libraries. You can go to schools. My wife goes to the university, and just goes through the parking lot and collects license-plate numbers.”

    An address in the video suggests plate data was recorded in or around the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The address is the same street address as the UNLV campus. Among the facilities that share the address are sports complexes such as the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion, which have large parking lots and a combined seating capacity of at least 21,248, and the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies.

    Harry Reid, a U.S. Senator, is the Senate Majority Leader. His office did not respond immediately late Saturday night to a request for comment. (Reid’s voicemail box was full, so the PP Blog contacted Reid’s office via email.)

    The video, which has a headline of “NarcThatCar Training Video” on the YouTube site, provides no instruction on the propriety, safety or legality of entering either public or private property for the purpose of recording plate numbers of students, faculty, employees or visitors.

    No mention is made in the video about whether Narc That Car prospects or members were required to obtain permission from library, school and university administrators, students, employees, campus police or other security forces before recording license-plate data from cars parked at such facilities.

    Narc That Car does not screen promoters. U.S. residents who pay a $100 fee to the company

    Screen shot: A Narc That Car promoter provided prospects a YouTube video tour of his secure back office. Frames in the video showed the names of his downline members. (The PP Blog added the red lines to the screen shot to block the identities of the downline members, which are publicly available on YouTube.)

    become “independent consultants” and are encouraged to begin to record license-plate numbers. For an additional fee of $24.95 a month, members can enter the information directly into a Narc That Car database through a website the firm provides.

    The YouTube video is 8:48 in length. The Narc That Car back-office tour begins at the 2:42 mark; the promoter’s comments on schools, universities and libraries begin at the 3:49 mark. UNLV’s address appears at the 4:21 mark, and the names of the promoters’ downline members appear at the 5:12 mark.

    NarcThatCar is a Dallas-based firm that says it is building a database for financial companies and firms in the business of repossessing automobiles. The company is the subject of inquiries by the BBB and the district attorney of Henderson County, Texas.

    In the video, the narrator said he hoped to ascend to the rank of Narc That Car “director.”

    There are several tabs in the back office, including a tab labeled “Clients.” The narrator did not press the “Clients” tab.

    “Don’t worry about that right now,” he said. He did not explain why members should not concern themselves about the tab.

    The video suggests that the Narc That Car system checks to see if plate numbers entered by members are valid. A member must enter the address at which the plate was spotted. It appears, however, that any address can be entered, and that Narc That Car cannot tell if the car was observed at the reported address or not.

    In a separate YouTube video, a Narc That Car promoter said he recorded 100 license-plate numbers in a Walmart parking lot, noting that he had enough plate numbers to give some away to incoming members, thus qualifying the members for compensation without leaving their homes.

    NarcThatCar pays members $55 after reporting their first 10 plate numbers. If the Walmart promoter recorded 100, he could give away 90 to induce new recruits to join the program and receive $55 each. If the promoter lived in say, Florida — and if he recruited a member from Alaska — the Alaska member would appear to have the capacity to fabricate an address at which the car was spotted.

    The Walmart promoter, however, appears to have soured on Narc That Car, and now has joined a similar company — Data Network Affiliates. (See reference in earlier story.) A DNA email to members suggested that Jeff Long, who published the Narc That Car Walmart video on YouTube, is now the top recruiter for DNA, which uses a domain registration in the Cayman Islands.

    Long reportedly has recruited 628 DNA members.

    “GO JEFF GO – JEFF WILL BE THE 1st PERSON IN THE WORLD TO EVER SPONSOR 1000 OR MORE ON HIS 1st LEVEL IN ANY MLM OR V.A.M. KIND OF COMPANY,” the DNA email said, according to a DNA member.

    In yet another Narc That Car video on YouTube, a camera operated by a promoter in an automobile pans cars in the parking lot of a mall or shopping center.

    Narc That Car promoters cruising a mall or shopping-center parking lot looking to record license-plate numbers say they did not want to appear "suspicious" while making their YouTube video.

    At roughly the 0:38 mark in the video, a message pops on the screen that the promoters did not want to look “suspicious” while recording the video. At roughly the 1:10 mark, a reddish Chevrolet Camaro comes into view. At roughly 1:18 mark, the couple recording the video pulls in behind the Camaro. In the following frames, the car’s plate number is recorded in a notebook.

    “And when you get your 10, what they do is send you back 50 bucks immediately,” the narrator says. “And all you gotta do to get your other $75 is just find three people that’s willing to go in and do the same thing you’re doing.”

    The narrator concludes the video by saying it’s “the New Age parking-lot” business.

    See the video dubbed “training” that includes the address of UNLV, and tells prospects that libraries, schools and universities are fine places to write down the plate numbers of automobiles.

  • Ohio Attorney Charged In Ponzi Scheme And Tax Case Indicted For Failure To Show At Trial; Dale Zucker On The Lam Since Jan. 26; U.S. Marshals Investigating

    A Cleveland attorney with ties to Texas and Florida has been indicted for failure to appear at his trial in a Ponzi scheme case, federal prosecutors said.

    Dale P. Zucker, a medical-malpractice and personal-injury attorney who practiced in Cleveland and Chagrin Falls, was indicted in August 2009 for mail fraud and filing false tax returns. The FBI said Zucker “fraudulently induced approximately 19 current or former clients of his law practice and other acquaintances to invest in businesses that did not exist.”

    Zucker’s trial was scheduled to begin Jan. 26 in Cleveland, but he did not show. Prosecutors now say he has been indicted for failing to appear.

    Zucker “knowingly and intentionally failed to appear,” prosecutors said, adding that the indictment was handed down after an investigation by the U.S. Marshals Service.

    Losses in the Ponzi scheme case totaled more than $702,000, prosecutors said. Zucker’;s law firm was known as Dale P. Zucker L.P.A.

    Zucker, prosecutors said, “lulled investors into a false sense of security by mailing them promissory notes that guaranteed the return of their initial investment at an interest rate of 10 percent to 25 percent, depending on the investor.”

    He also tricked investors by “providing them with post-dated checks for their principal investment and interest,” prosecutors said.

    In the Ponzi case, Zucker was charged with filing false tax returns for the years 2003, 2004 and 2005, and not reporting income of $588,000 in those tax years..

  • ANOTHER BIG FRAUD IN FLORIDA: Racecar Driver Henri Zogaib Arrested In Alleged $5 Million Ponzi Scheme

    Henri Zogaid: Source: Lake County Sheriff's Office

    Former Grand-Am racecar driver Henri Zogaib has been arrested and jailed in Florida for the felony crime of organized fraud, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) said.

    Once known for living large, Zogaib, 36, of Longwood, Fla., is listed as an inmate in the Lake County Jail. His bail was set at $100,000.

    He is accused of stealing “approximately $5.1 million from 19 different victims across the country who had invested their money with Zogaib through his company, Executive Investment Group,” police said.

    Among the victims were fellow racecar drivers.

    The crime of organized fraud, also known as the Florida Communications Fraud Act, is a felony in Florida that may carry a maximum prison term of 30 years.

    “Zogaib would convince potential investors to commit funds to the investment with the promise of large returns,” authorities said. “[He] supplied investors with documentation that demonstrated significant financial growth on their investments with the suggestion that the funds be reinvested for further financial gain. Investors eventually discovered that their money had never been invested and Zogaib had instead taken the money for his own personal use.”

    The arrest culminated a joint investigation by FDLE, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office and the Daytona Beach Police Department into allegations that Zogaib operated an organized Ponzi scheme, authorities said.

  • While Asking Members To Input License-Plate Numbers And Citing U.S. Based AMBER Alert In Promos, Data Network Affiliates Lists Domain-Registration Address In Cayman Islands

    UPDATED 2:37 P.M. ET (March 5, U.S.A.) If the United States or any U.S. based police agency were to purchase database entries from Data Network Affiliates (DNA), the government and the agencies would be purchasing information from a company that uses a Cayman Islands address.

    Even as it suggests the U.S.-based AMBER Alert program is wasting taxpayers’ money and encourages U.S. residents to write down the license-plate numbers of their neighbors for entry in a database, DNA is using a service in the Cayman Islands to keep the registration data of its domain name hidden.

    The street address in the registration data is used by an untold number of businesses, including porn sites and malware sites, according to Google search results. On May 4, 2009, President Obama specifically cited the Cayman Islands in remarks on his initiative to combat offshore tax fraud.

    Using capital letters on its website, DNA said the U.S.-based AMBER Alert system had recovered “ONLY” 492 abducted children, saying “DNA could help in such safe recoveries at a fraction of cost of Amber Alert.” Meanwhile, a DNA pitchman in a conference call questioned AMBER Alert’s effectiveness, even as DNA was using an address in the Cayman Islands.

    “I’m pretty sure you heard of AMBER Alert,” he said. “It saved over 497 people. But guess what? AMBER Alert, I think, costs about over $100 million a year or some kind of astronomical number.”

    The same pitchman also has suggested that U.S. church parking lots and the parking lots of giant retailers such as U.S.-based Walmart were places DNA members could harvest license-plate numbers for entry in DNA’s database.

    Why the company chose a Cayman Islands address for its website is unclear. Also unclear is why DNA would at once criticize AMBER Alert while repeatedly using its name to generate business for a company that lists its address as George Town, Grand Cayman, the capital city of the Caribbean nation in the British West Indies.

    AMBER Alert is managed by the U.S. Department of Justice. Its secondary program is managed by the U.S.-based National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

    Like Narc That Car — another company that is urging members to write down license-plate numbers — the DNA pitchman implored prospects to view the company as an excellent tool for “law enforcement.”

    “We’ll be able to reunite families,” he said. He did not reference the Cayman Islands domain registration in his pitch.

    DNA says it has an “Executive Power Team,” identifying Dean Blechman as its chief executive officer, board chairman and founder.

    “In the early 1990’s Mr. Blechman served as Director and Board Member of the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA),” DNA says on its website. “Mr. Blechman was a key strategist and lobbyist for the NNFA and was influential in the team that was responsible for the passage in 1994 of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act through the United States Congress and Senate. This bill still stands today as one of the most important pieces of legislation in the Health Food and Natural Food Supplement Industry.”

    Troy Dooly, a multilevel-marketing (MLM) aficionado who runs the MLM Help Desk website, issued a Scam Alert on DNA yesterday. Dooly’s Scam Alert followed on the heels of an earlier one he issued for Narc That Car, which is the subject of an inquiry by the BBB in Dallas and an inquiry by the district attorney of Henderson County, Texas.

    “Data Network Affiliates aka DNA makes Narc That Car look like saints,” Dooly said on the MLM Help Desk website.

    Meanwhile, MLM aficionado Rod Cook, who was threatened with lawsuits for publishing information on AdSurfDaily, which later was implicated in a $100 million Ponzi scheme, also has labeled Narc That Car a scam.

    Narc That Car is “one of the cutest pyramid tricks ever pulled!!!!” Cook exclaimed on his MLM Watchdog website.

    Separately, a You Tube site featuring a Jeff Long video for Narc That Car in which Long informs viewers that he recorded 100 license-plate numbers for Narc That Car on his iPhone as he strolled though a Walmart parking lot, now says that he has jumped ship to DNA.

    In the Narc That Car video, Long said he collected so many license-plate numbers at Walmart that he could give some way to Narc That Car prospects, perhaps even enough for them to qualify for a $55 payout without leaving home.

    Long, though, now has turned sour on Narc That Car, according to a screaming message on the YouTube site.

    “This video talks about NARC That Car,” a message on the YouTube site says. “IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON MARKETING THIS BUSINESS ON THE INTERNET DO NOT JOIN!!!!! NarcThatCar CANCELED AND DISABLED My distributorship because I put this video YouTube…I’m now the #1 leader and sponsor in their BIGGEST COMPETITOR’S BUSINESS…DataNetworkAffiliates. Again…don’t join NarcThatCar if you plan on marketing on the internet!!!!!! JOIN DNA WITH ME FOR 100% FREE!”

    Long’s name was referenced in a recent DNA conference call.

    In other Narc That Car news, promoter “Jah” says he has received a check for $70 from Narc That Car.

    Jah, who says he has a Narc That Car team of 100 members, posted a video of the check on YouTube.

    In May 2009, Obama announced a crackdown on offshore fraud. On the same date — May 4 — the AdViewGlobal autosurf announced it had secured a new international wire facility. AVG crashed and burned in June 2009. The company it identified as its facilitator — KINGZ Capital Management Corp. (KCM) — later was banned by the National Futures Association (NFA) amid allegations that it failed to uphold high ethical standards and failed to supervise its operations.

    NFA’s specific ban on KCM centered on Minnesota Ponzi scheme figure Trevor Cook, who allegedly managed a KCM investment pool. Cook is one of two central figures in an alleged Ponzi scheme and financial fraud involving at least $190 million. The other central figure is Pat Kiley, a former host on Christian radio.

    Promotions for Narc That Car have appeared on the former Golden Panda Ad Zone forum, now known as the Online Success Zone. A pitch for DNA also appears on the site, as well as a promoter’s link to DNA conference calls.

    Golden Panda was implicated in the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme.

    At least three promos for Narc That Car and DNA have appeared on the former Golden Panda forum in recent days. One of the promos for Narc That Car was deleted. Two remain: one for Narc That Car, another for DNA.

    “UPDATE: D.N.A – FREE Method of Earning GOOD Money…Just surpassed 19,000 Members and Climbing,” says the headline in the DNA promo on the former Golden Panda site.

  • EDITORIAL: Private Big Brothers Meet The Stepford Children; Armed With Paper, Pen And Video Cameras, MLM Army Coming To A Neighborhood Near You

    The probability of a public-relations backlash with Narc That Car and Data Network Affiliates (DNA) is high. Promotions for the companies have been both bizarre and reckless. The cheerleading has been downright creepy. Some local media outlets are beginning to pay attention. It quickly could become fodder for Larry King, Bill O’Reilly, Jay Leno, David Letterman and Oprah.

    A Story With Worldwide Interest Born For TV And Tabloids

    Few things make better TV fodder than a real-life “Big Brother” story, perhaps especially if Big Brother’s Army isn’t led by the government and consists of thousands and thousands of civilian commanders and Stepford children.

    This particular MLM story also is born for newspapers, including the tabloids. If the story makes its way into Europe, the headlines will suggest Americans would sell their grandmothers into hucksterism if it meant trading in the reliable old Ford for a flashy BMW.

    People in the news business know that news is man bites dog, not the other way around. The story of Narc That Car and DNA is man bites dog — and perhaps man bites himself. The man is interesting simply because he’s American. Man bites himself is one of the great themes of literature and tabloid journalism. Tabloid editors love it when the man biting himself is an American.

    MLM, which already has a bad reputation, has hit a new low. Internet marketing, which already has a bad reputation, has hit a new low. Ladies and Gentlemen, the private Big Brothers of America have met the Stepford Children. Together they’re coming to a neighborhood near you.

    Here, in italics (below), is the promoters’ cheerleading strategy — in condensed form. Whether or not it’s condoned at the corporate level is virtually meaningless. Why? Because the Stepford army already is in motion, and it is doing what the Stepford army does: Recruiting other Stepfords — money Stepfords — Stepfords who behave reflexively on cue, have no sense of PR or propriety and will do anything if money is involved. The Stepfords are biting themselves at this very moment.

    Narc That Car and DNA are coming to a neighborhood near you. Drop whatever you’re doing. Start writing down the license-plate numbers of your neighbors. Go to the supermarket parking lot or the Walmart parking lot and start writing down the plate numbers of store patrons (your neighbors).

    Don’t seek the express consent of the retailers to use their parking lots and the plate numbers of their patrons as your information goldmine and secret pathway to personal riches. No one has to know what you’re doing. Enter the information in a web-accessible database the companies provide for a fee or put it in the mail and let the companies enter the information.

    “You write them (license-plate numbers) down,” said a Narc That Car promoter on You Tube. “You take pictures of them, which is what I just did on my iPhone. I just walked down the aisle at Walmart and snapped like 100 cars, literally, on my way into Walmart.

    “And I parked in the very back, and I just walked and snapped a bunch of pictures as I was walking. I was already going in anyway, so it didn’t take me any more time and effort, and I got a little bit more exercise than I [would] have,” the promoter said. “So, it’s a win-win. So, hey, you got a weight-loss opportunity here, too. [Laughing.] You’ll walk and you’ll lose weight, and you’ll have lots of money.”

    Now, back to the cheerleading strategy . . .

    Recruit people (your family, friends, neighbors and online contacts) to do the same. Suggest they are helping AMBER Alert or law enforcement by joining these MLM companies. Tell them how bad the economy is and how bad the bad guys are. Tell them you have the solution for the bad economy and a tool that gives the bad guys a one-way ticket to jail. Imply that joining Narc That Car or DNA is like performing a public service. Perhaps put an ad on craigslist that suggests you’re part of a community “watchdog” program.

    “Get Paid to be a watchdog in your community . . .” a craigslist ad for Narc That Car prompted last week.

    One Narc That Car promoter claimed the purpose of the program was “To help The US Dep’t of Homeland Security find terrorists.” Another claimed, “We are backed by the better business bureau, the F.B.I., and the Amber Alert system . . . ” Yet another claimed, “A company out of Dallas needs to grow a data base of license plates to use for Amber Alerts and other reasons.”

    The U.S. Department of Justice, which oversees AMBER Alert, said Narc That Car was in “no way affiliated” with the AMBER Alert system. So did the National Center For Missing & Exploited Children, which administers AMBER Alert’s secondary distribution program. The Better Business Bureau has opened an inquiry into the company’s business practices and compensation plan. The FBI, an arm of the Justice Department, has not endorsed Narc That Car.

    Now, back to the cheerleading strategy . . .

    Make sure you emphasize that there are no “barriers” to entering the “business.” Startup costs are low or nonexistent. This will help you get poor people or people in the shackles of poverty in your downline. Suggest the programs are the cure for the high unemployment rate and that you’re doing your part for America by helping put people to work. Appeal to the patriotism of your prospects. Tell them they’re helping the Department of Homeland Security find terrorists.

    Drop a few names of prominent people — living or dead — in your promos or conference calls. Names such as Tim Russert, Donald Trump and Oprah work well, even if they are not involved in the programs. By namedropping, you can leech off the brands of famous people and companies and create credibility by osmosis.

    In recent DNA conference calls, the names of Russert, Trump and Oprah all were dropped. So was AMBER Alert’s name. So was the name of “law enforcement.” One promoter suggested AMBER Alert was wasting taxpayers’ dollars.

    “I’m pretty sure you heard of AMBER Alert,” he said. “It saved over 497 people. But guess what? AMBER Alert, I think, costs about over $100 million a year or some kind of astronomical number. Don’t quote me on the figures here, but it saved some lives. But the system we have in place. I want you to imagine if your daughter . . .”

    The DNA promoter then asked listeners to imagine loved ones being “kidnapped” and “molested” and “raped” — with Data Network Affiliates providing the tool to track down the kidnappers and molesters and rapists.

    In a separate DNA call, the promoter suggested that church parking lots were good places for DNA members to record license-plate numbers. Walmart, too.

    Major retailers put the address of their stores “right on the receipt,” making it easy for DNA members who are shopping in the stores to enter the information in DNA’s database after they write down plate numbers in the parking lot,” the promoter said.

    “You walk into the parking lot,” he said. “Guess what? You have vehicles all over the place. You can easily jot down 20 or 30 of them, literally in five or 10 minutes.”

    He did not say if DNA members were required to obtain the permission of church pastors to record the plate numbers of congregants or retailers such as Walmart to record the plate numbers of patrons.

    The promoter, however, did say that 100 million license plates entered into the DNA database could become “the equivalent of just about $1 billion” in potential revenue for DNA.

    Meanwhile, on DNA’s website, the company was saying this:

    “ONLY 492 children Since (sic) 1997, has the AMBER Alert program been credited for safe recovery. DNA could help in such safe recoveries at a fraction of cost (sic) of Amber Alert… If DNA help (sic) save ONE MORE CHILD it’s worth it? (sic).”

    The same sales message said, “Our mission is to turn data into dollars.”

    Now, back to the cheerleading strategy . . .

    Create an “exciting” atmosphere. Talk about how “excited” you are. Suggest people can get rich, then backpedal, explaining that you wouldn’t want people to get the wrong impression. Throw your line in the water, but reel it back quickly. You don’t want people to see themselves as the fish; you want them to see themselves as the fishermen.

    Create (perhaps) some boilerplate language that explains all Narc That Car and DNA members are independent contractors required to follow the law. Don’t let your downline give the practical realities a moment of thought — things such as whether permission to record plate numbers needs to be obtained, what to do if a store manager or patron calls the police, whether promoters need solicitors’ licenses from local jurisdictions, whether a promoter working as an independent consultant should increase his or her insurance protection or secure a bond against potential claims, what to do if promoters are confronted by retail managers, patrons or police, whether the paper on which they’re recording license numbers needs to be preserved, whether the video on which they’re recording plate numbers needs to be preserved and how they’re supposed to behave if challenged.

    Keep them focused on the money and how excited you are. Tell them you barely can sleep. Don’t mention Big Brother. Don’t even suggest other people would be apt to view acquisition of plate numbers on private property as an untenable invasion of privacy. Keep them focused on the money and on AMBER Alert.

    And, by all means, don’t even suggest there is anything Stepfordian about doing what you’re told without asking any questions: Just do it. Explain that the people who ask questions and raise issues of propriety, safety and legality are naysayers and malcontents and “haters.”

    Never imagine that a TV reporter or a newspaper reporter or a tabloid reporter is going to stick a microphone in your face and ask why you’re writing down license-plate numbers in a supermarket parking lot and trading off AMBER Alert’s name to build a database for the repo man or another customer who could monitor the whereabouts of your car and your neighbor’s car even if you aren’t suspected of murder, kidnapping, molestation or rape. Don’t concern yourself with mundane issues such as who has access to the database and whether any of your fellow plate-number recorders are criminals themselves.

    Whatever you do, don’t imagine your neighbors expressing shock and outrage and having bitter expressions on their faces. If confronted, tell them you’re writing down license-plate numbers to make America a better, safer place.

    And tell them they’re free to join, and might even want to consider registering a .org domain with a pitch that begins, “Help us.”

  • DATA NETWORK AFFILIATES: Pitchman For License-Plate Database Cites AMBER Alert, Walmart, Church; Company Website Suggests AMBER Alert Falling Short On Child-Recovery Mission

    EDITOR’S NOTE: We have been experiencing intermittent website disruptions this morning and are working to resolve the problem. It’s not immediately clear how long it will take to fix the problem, which is causing the site to go down periodically and the database connection to time out. Our apologies.

    A pitchman for Data Network Affiliates (DNA) suggested church parking lots, supermarkets and Walmart were rich targets for members of the multilevel-marketing (MLM) company, which is soliciting prospects to write down license-plate numbers for entry in a database.

    Meanwhile — in a sales message on DNA’s website — the company suggested AMBER Alert was falling short in its efforts to recover abducted children and that DNA could help the famous national and state alert system recover abductees for less money.

    “ONLY 492 children Since (sic) 1997, has the AMBER Alert program been credited for safe recovery,” the DNA website said on its main page. “DNA could help in such safe recoveries at a fraction of cost (sic) of Amber Alert… If DNA help (sic) save ONE MORE CHILD it’s worth it? (sic).”

    The same sales message said, “Our mission is to turn data into dollars.”

    DNA, which says it is launching Feb. 16 and already has recruited thousands of people to record plate numbers, operates a business similar to Narc That Car, another MLM that recruits prospects to write down plate numbers while using AMBER Alert’s name.

    The DNA pitchman said famous retailers such as Walmart put the address of their stores “right on the receipt,” making it easy for DNA members who are shopping in the stores to enter the information in DNA’s database after they write down plate numbers in the parking lot.

    “You walk into the parking lot,” the pitchman said in a DNA conference call recorded Monday. “Guess what? You have vehicles all over the place. You can easily jot down 20 or 30 of them, literally in five or 10 minutes.”

    He did not say if DNA members were required to obtain the permission of retailers such as Walmart to record the license-plate numbers of its patrons.

    The pitchman, however, did say that 100 million license plates entered into the DNA database could become “the equivalent of just about $1 billion” in potential revenue for DNA.

    Another voice on the call said that “the press is going to pick up on this sooner or later.” Earlier, the man predicted a “million or 2 million” people would join DNA by the end of the year. He added that he was so excited that he was having trouble sleeping.

    Like Narc That Car promoters, the DNA pitchman in the conference call referenced the AMBER Alert program, imploring prospects to view DNA as an excellent tool for “law enforcement.”

    “We’ll be able to reunite families,” he said.

    The URL for the DNA was published on the old Golden Panda Ad Zone forum, now known as the Online Success Zone. Narc That Car also was promoted from the old Golden Panda Forum.

    Golden Panda is part of the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme investigation.

    Narc That Car charges a fee of $100 to join and requires members to submit 10 license plates monthly. DNA charges no fee and requires members to submit 20 license plates monthly. Web records suggest that some people promoting Narc That Car also are promoting DNA.

    Listen to the DNA conference call.

    See this report on Narc That Car on NBC 5 in Dallas/Fort Worth.