EDITOR’S NOTE: We published a story Wednesday that some members of AdViewGlobal (AVG) assert is unfair. At issue — particularly from a poster who uses the handle “CORRECTION!” — is the headline that accompanied the story.
Another poster, “Pistol,” isn’t sympathic to the autosurf business and says he doesn’t suffer fools gladly on either side of the issue, but also raised a concern about the fairness of the headline. Meanwhile, other posters say the headline is fair. One of the issues is whether an AVG prospect can bypass AVG and purchase ad-packs directly from sponsors.
Here is some background, and our response to the concerns. We’ll start by republishing a comment Pistol made. Pistol’s reference to the “200% thingy” below is a reference to an AVG matching-bonus program.
The 200 percent program was advertised to have a June 29 expiration date, but AVG suddenly changed the expiration date to June 5. AVG members and prospects said they were concerned about not being able to get money to the company in time to qualify for the bonus, and an AVG promoter outlined a strategy by which members and prospects with “big bucks” could get the bonus by paying sponsors directly.
Pistol: It doesn’t seem to me that the sponsor in question is suggesting that sponsors should give/sell members adpacks/page impressions from them (the sponsors) but rather a quick and easy way that they can help new members get funds available so that they can buy adpacks directly from AVGA thereby qualifying for the 200% thingy.
OUR TAKE: During the first FOUR steps of what is described as the sponsor’s bid to provide a “quick and easy way” for prospects to buy ad-packs “directly” from AVG, the sponsor:
1.) Gathers money from the prospect and makes a private agreement with the prospect that the final recipient of the funds will be AVG and that the funds will be used to purchase ad-packs.
2.) Deposits the funds in the sponsor’s local bank.
3.) Causes a wire to be sent to an offshore payment processor or sends a check via overnight mail to the offshore payment processor.
4.) Waits for the payment processor to receive the funds and credit the sponsor’s account.
That’s FOUR steps — or FIVE, if you count the private agreement as a separate step — so an argument that positions this as a purchase made “directly” from AVG isn’t a very compelling one.
This deal cannot happen as the promoter describes, absent a private agreement between the sponsor and the prospect and subterfuge aimed at the local bank. Moreover, it can’t happen without use of the bank’s wire facility or use of a banking instrument, and it necessarily must involve the offshore processors because the prospect can’t wire funds to AVG directly.
There’s that word again — “directly.” With the exception of the prospect’s direct payment to the sponsor, there is virtually nothing direct about this transaction.
At this point, the prospect’s bank thinks he is doing business with the sponsor, the sponsor’s bank thinks he is doing business with the prospect, and the payment processor thinks it is doing business with the sponsor.
ONLY the prospect and the sponsor know that AVG is the intended final recipient — and they haven’t told anybody, FOUR or FIVE steps into the process.
Additional Steps
In the next step, the sponsor tells the offshore payment processor that AVG is the intended recipient, but the payment processor doesn’t know the prospect is hidden in the deal or is choosing not to know. The prospect’s role is to give money to the sponsor, so he can use the sponsor’s bank to get the money to the offshore processor in an environment that is conducive for AVG and most advantageous for the prospect.
The payment processor obliges the sponsor and wires the money to AVG, but the transaction still is at least TWO steps away from completion, because the money or the value thereof somehow has to get back in the hands of the real customer, the prospect.
So, the sponsor funds his AVG account, so he can use AVG’s internal system to get the money or the value thereof to the real customer, the prospect, for the purchase of ad-packs.
A sale made “directly” through AVG? Hardly. This process is at least SEVEN steps removed from a direct transaction with AVG and perhaps as many as EIGHT. This sale cannot occur — and the prospect cannot get the 200 percent bonus — unless the prospect pays the sponsor directly. The sponsor is getting paid directly for the purchase of ad packs.
Here, a person might want to ask why the prospect in search of a matching bonus before a deadline passes just can’t send the money to AVG directly and have it credited immediately. That’s the question some AVG members are asking right now. In fact, they asked it as soon as the sponsor laid out the strategy, and some AVG members are complaining out loud about money procedures that appear to be convoluted and complex.
A person also might want to ask why AVG isn’t using PayPal, and instead is using the offshore surfing favorites: SolidTrustPay and StrictPay. PayPal does not touch this kind of business because it is fraught with secret agendas.
Worth Noting
It’s worth pointing out that some of the government personnel involved in the AdSurfDaily (ASD) case also were involved in the successful prosecution of e-Gold, which basically was accused of looking the other way while it processed payments for people who were laundering money.
ASD, a Florida company federal prosecutors say once used e-Gold and engaged in wire fraud, money-laundering and the sale of unregistered securities, has close ties to AVG.
AVG, for example, lists ASD President Andy Bowdoin’s stepson — George Harris — as a “Trustee” of the AVG “private association.” Judy Harris, the wife of George Harris, also is listed as an AVG “Trustee.”
A home and a car prosecutors say George and Judy Harris acquired with money from ASD was seized as the proceeds of a criminal enterprise in a December forfeiture complaint filed by the Feds.
One of the issues in the e-Gold case was secret money transactions, and look what’s happening in the strategy outlined by the AVG promoter: The banks don’t know that the prospect and the sponsor just worked together to get funds to a final beneficiary unknown to the bank — AVG — and the processor doesn’t know the prospect is hidden in the deal or may be choosing not to know.
Incongruous Messages
AVG purports to be headquartered in Uruguay, has servers that resolve to Panama, receives money from offshore processors in Canada and Panama, but issued a news release this week with a dateline of Tallahassee.
Many of our readers probably noticed that AVG didn’t use the words “Uruguay” or “Panama” or “offshore” in its news release, but then immediately sent members an email purported to have originated in Uruguay — to celebrate a news release with a Tallahassee dateline.
It’s a message hopelessly at odds with itself. It is particularly incongruous because AVG also now claims it provides professional PR services — but just look at what is happening:
AVG can’t reconcile its own message. It is creating the appearance that it is in Tallahassee when it wants to look clean and proper — indeed, some people now say it is selling legitimate services priced from $30,000 to $200,000 — but it’s in Uruguay when it wants “advertising” rotator cash from folks who need to believe the Securities and Exchange Commission can’t touch them offshore.
How do those competing notions come into balance? And why would a company that says it can command legitimate fees of up to $200,000 from clients not be running like a man on fire to exit the autosurf business? Incredibly, one promoter said today that AVG’s plan is to remain in the surf business and use the fees it collects for legitimate services to fund the surf.
In the strategy outlined by the promoter, where is the money that started out at a local bank now? Uruguay? Panama? Florida? Elsewhere? And what routes will it take in the form of payouts to get back to members so it becomes spendable in their hometowns?
The Headline Flap
As many of our readers know, “CORRECTION!” is none too happy about this headline, which appears on this Blog.
AdViewGlobal Promoter Says Prospects Can Bypass Company And Purchase Ad-Packs Directly From Sponsors To Ensure They Get Credited With 200 Percent Match Before Deadline
CORRECTION repeatedly has demanded a retraction, although he has not identified himself as an AVG spokesperson or person in position of authority at AVG to bring a concern to our attention and ask for a clarification or a retraction. At the same time, CORRECTION will not answer basic questions about AVG’s business practices or provide evidence of verifiable income streams to refute concerns AVG is selling unregistered securities and operating as a Ponzi scheme.
Let’s take the headline sections one at a time:
/AdViewGlobal Promoter Says/
Yes, it was an AVG promoter who shared the strategy of prospects paying sponsors directly and engaging in a process that involves at least SEVEN steps and ultimately results in the purchase of ad-packs. (AVG calls ad-packs “page impressions” or “viewer impressions.”)
/Prospects Can Bypass Company/
Yes, the prospect bypasses the company and pays money directly to the sponsor, under the strategy outlined by the promoter. The only thing AVG does in this transaction is make sure the electrons settle in the proper places when told to do so.
/And Purchase Ad-Packs Directly From Sponsors/
Yes, the sponsor is selling ad-packs directly because he directly collects the money for the ad-packs, routes the money offshore, causes it to be delivered to AVG, funds his own AVG account with his prospects’ money, and then causes AVG to redistribute the funds or the value thereof to complete the sale. In this case, the sponsor is more directly involved in the sale of ad-packs than AVG itself.
/To Ensure They Get Credited With 200 Percent Match Before Deadline/
Yes, this whole strategy was published because someone wanted to know the quickest way a person with $10,000 could get the money to AVG before the deadline to qualify for the 200 percent match.
The promoter said it was a way to take care of the folks with “big bucks.”
