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Category: Writing And Branding

EDITORIAL: Top Justice Department Official Speaks On Transnational Organized Crime, References Bogus ‘Libel’ Actions Brought Against ‘Individuals Who Expose . . . Criminal Activities’
EDITOR’S NOTE: A top U.S. official — speaking today in Mexico City at the High-Level Hemispheric Meeting Against Transnational Organized Crime hosted by the Mexican government under the framework of the Organization of American States (OAS) — addressed the challenges the world law-enforcement community is confronting in the Internet Age.

In remarks apt to cause unease within the HYIP and organized-crime spheres, Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole noted that the government was wise to efforts by criminals to chill efforts to expose crimes by filing libel lawsuits. (A link to Cole’s full prepared remarks appears at the bottom of this story.)

Some recent Ponzi cases in the United States involving incredible sums of money — and the corresponding behavior of some of the participants — help prove the point . . .

Now-convicted racketeer Scott Rothstein threatened libel lawsuits when his $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme was on the verge of imploding.

AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin, named a defendant in a 2009 civil case that alleged racketeering, issued “slander” lawsuit threats prior to the August 2008 intervention by the U.S. Secret Service in the ASD scheme. The threats were issued not long after Bowdoin had returned from a trip arranged by a lawyer in which the ASD patriarch had ventured to Panama and Costa Rica, according to court filings.

Bowdoin later was indicted, amid allegations he was presiding over an international Ponzi scheme that had gathered at least $110 million. Robert Hodgins, who was referenced in 2007 ads for ASD, is an international fugitive wanted by INTERPOL. The United States accused Hodgins of laundering proceeds for narcotics traffickers in Colombia.

In advance of today’s High-Level Hemispheric Meeting Against Transnational Organized Crime, OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza noted that such crime “is the principal continental source of activities such as drug trafficking, the illicit trafficking of firearms and immigrants, human trafficking, money laundering, corruption, kidnapping, and cybercrimes.”

Befitting its importance, the hemispheric meeting was hosted by Felipe Calderón, the president of Mexico.

Among others things, Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole said this at the meeting:

“The advance of globalization and the internet, while hugely beneficial to people everywhere, has also created unparalleled opportunities for criminals to expand their operations and use the facilities of global communication and commerce to carry out their criminal activities across national borders.”

Although Cole did not use the term “HYIP” in his remarks, it is clear that the U.S. government is well aware of the dangers online fraud schemes pose as they reach across borders to accumulate tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars — sometimes through a single fraud scheme.

As the PP Blog read the text of Cole’s remarks, another thing leaped off the page. Indeed, Cole said this (emphasis added):

“Because of the sophistication of the world economy, organized crime groups have developed an ability to exploit legitimate actors and their skills in order to further the criminal enterprises. For example, transnational organized criminal groups often rely on lawyers to facilitate illicit transactions. These lawyers create shell companies, open offshore bank accounts in the names of those shell companies, and launder criminal proceeds through trust accounts. Other lawyers working for organized crime figures bring frivolous libel cases against individuals who expose their criminal activities.“

Cole, of course, wasn’t talking specifically about the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case and ASD’s preposterous claims that Bowdoin had found a legitimate way to pay interest of 1 percent a day on the tens of millions of dollars sent in by participants and that ASD would create 100,000 millionaires in three years.

Even so, the words Cole uttered in Mexico City today have deep relevance to the HYIP sphere. Indeed, ASD reached across international borders and relied on an international sales force.

Here is how ASD worked: It relied on “legitimate actors” of the sort Cole described — in ASD’s case, a lawyer who allegedly scrubbed the “opportunity” to ensure compliance, and Moms and Pops and entrepreneurs (and people down on their luck) who signed up and became the friendly faces to their prospect bases. The salespeople were paid 10 percent for recruiting a friend with money and 5 percent more if the friend could recruit a friend with money — on top of “surfing” earnings of 1 percent a day and even more through the purported miracle of “compounding.”

The current HYIP scheme of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid has the same type of payout schemes that ASD foisted on the marketplace. One big difference is the JSS/JBP says it can provide twice the daily payout of ASD.

JSS/JBP’s purported operator is Frederick Mann, a former ASD pitchman.

In September 2011, the U.S. Secret Service described ASD as a “criminal enterprise.”

You’ll note above that Cole today used the same phrase to describe one of the inherent threats of transnational organized crime. And, as noted above, he also spoke about bids to chill critics through the filing of libel lawsuits.

Those same types of threats were made in the ASD case, beginning in the summer of 2008. In fact, federal prosecutors even included an evidence exhibit in case filings that alluded to one such alleged threat. Unmentioned in the initial ASD case filings were the bids to chill reporters in at least two states and a newspaper in Georgia.

If you’ve been following the HYIP sphere for any length of time, you know that threats to sue members of the antiscam community are part of the landscape — so much so, that it has become an HYIP cliche. The bids to chill are not limited to threats to sue for libel and “slander,” however.

It also is becoming an HYIP cliche that the operators and apologists for brazen HYIPs threaten to file complaints with the ISPs of members of the antiscam community — i.e., if you report about us we’ll take down your Internet connection and/or sue you for copyright/trademark infringement.

These things are transparent bids to chill speech. They also are designed to have a secondary “benefit”: to make the marks — who may consist in part of people who are otherwise “legitimate actors” — believe that harm will come to them if they ever complain, that there are severe consequences to those who complain.

These nefarious methods have surfaced in scheme after scheme after scheme, as have various assertions about “offshore” venues and the purported “safety” the “offshore” venues provide. Longtime observers know the claims are part and parcel to the HYIP sphere — and that claims that someone is a successful businessman who has presided over multiple companies almost certainly will be incorporated into the sales pitch for an “opportunity.”

The FBI, for just one example, has been warning for years about securities fraud, the “shadow banking system” and the use of shell companies to disguise fraud proceeds. The director has testified repeatedly on Capitol Hill about the subject, while simultaneously warning about debit cards that are being used in nefarious ways and the dangers posed by lone wolves and “home-grown, violent extremists.”

All of these things are or may be in play in the HYIP sphere. Here are some things you should know:
- It is likely that the scheme’s operator is trading on the credibility you have with loved ones and friends within your immediate sphere of influence to drive dollars to the scam. It is equally likely that you are being denied the sort of information that would empower you to make an informed purchasing decision and highly likely you are being asked to participate in a venture that could result in prosecutions under both civil and criminal law, possibly even the RICO statute.
- The rate of return will be preposterous in any real-world context and the math will be fuzzy and confusing, if not downright impossible.
- Your sponsor will lie to you or pass on GIGO that is part of the company line because the company line is more convenient than the uncomfortable truth. It will be garbage coming in, and garbage going out.
- You will be subjected to a direct or indirect threat or a bid to chill, especially if you ask uncomfortable questions or raise any doubts.
- There is a chance you’ll be working for a racketeer or an international criminal, perhaps even a “sovereign citizen” who has hatched a construction by which nothing is a crime, that all conduct is lawful in the name of freedom and free markets. If your sentiment is against the government or “big business” because of your personal financial situation or your political or philosophical views, an extremist may try to exploit your sentiment for personal profit.
Just some things to think about in the age of the HYIP, the age of terrorism and the age of transnational organized crime as practiced on the Internet . . .

Read the full remarks of Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole here.
Mar 1, 2012
SPECIAL REPORT: Domain Registered To Purported JSS Tripler Operator Features Videos Of ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Accused In Alleged Alaska Murder Plot Against Public Officials; Meanwhile, Americans Listen To ‘Frederick Mann’ Tell Them That Even A ‘1-Year-Old’ Can Have An Account And That Adults Can Open Accounts For Others; Separate Sites Have Links To Antitax Screeds And Debt-Elimination Schemes

From grainy "BigBooster" YouTube video dated June 6, 2007. "Hi, Frederick Mann here," the video begins — with Mann speaking in what may be British or South African English. Mann, who identified himself in 2008 as an AdSurfDaily promoter three months before the U.S. Secret Service conducted a raid on ASD's Florida headquarters, was the featured guest in a conference call last week for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid. He is the purported operator of the "program."

Visitors to BuildFreedom.com are greeted by a drop-down ad for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid that encourages them to register with a free Gmail address from Google for the outlandish “program” and its purported return of 2 percent a day.

At least 11 videos featuring Francis Schaeffer Cox are accessible on the BuildFreedom page, which features remarks attributed to Frederick Mann and others.

Mann is the purported operator of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid. Here is part of what he relates in written form on BuildFreedom in the context of Cox and others:

“To what extent do the people and activities featured so far on this page provide real solutions? How far do they go toward neutralizing the real enemies? What activities need to be added to increase the prospects for freedom?”

The remarks appear to have been written prior to the arrest of Cox and others in an alleged “militia” plot on U.S. soil.

In 2011, Cox, 27, was arrested on charges of plotting the murders of state and federal officials in Alaska. In January 2012, a superseding federal grand-jury indictment was returned against Cox and two alleged accomplices.

Based on its research, the PP Blog is reporting today that BuildFreedom.com is registered to Frederick Mann at an address in South Africa. At least two other sites registered to Mann at the same address — JustBeenPaid.com and BigBooster.com — have been used to drive traffic to the JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid “program.”

The BigBooster website uses the same drop-down ad for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid that appears on the BuildFreedom domain.

As the PP Blog reported in October 2011, the BigBooster domain was used in 2008 to drive traffic to AdSurfDaily, which the U.S. Secret Service described as an online Ponzi scheme involving at least $110 million. In November 2011, ASD figure and purported “sovereign citizen” Kenneth Wayne Leaming of Spanaway, Wash., was arrested by an FBI Terrorism Task Force on charges of filing false liens against at least five public officials involved in the ASD case.

In December 2010, ASD President Andy Bowdoin was charged criminally with wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities. Bowdoin’s program advertised a payout rate half of that advertised by JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid.

The Conference Call

Separately, the PP Blog is reporting today that Frederick Mann was the featured guest on a conference call for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid last week. The Feb. 23 call appears to have been hosted by an American — and Americans and persons from at least one other country (Canada) appear to have quizzed Mann on the investment scheme after joining the “program.”

Whether the conference-call participants were aware of the BuildFreedom domain and Mann’s written comments on Cox and “neutralizing the real enemies” is not known.

The American (likely) who served as the call host was a woman who appeared to speak U.S. English. She described Mann as a “mathematical genius,” but did not say whether JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid was authorized to sell securities to U.S. citizens. Nor did she say whether she was a registered broker-dealer or whether others promoting the “program” were required to be registered in the United States and other jurisdictions.

Mann also did not speak to any issues concerning securities, including whether the “program” was properly registered in all jurisdictions in which it conducts business and whether individual promoters needed to be registered.

The first person who asked Mann questions during the call identified himself as “Randy” from “South Dakota.” Another caller who identified himself as “Chester” from “North Carolina” also quizzed Mann, who appears to speak British or South African English — or perhaps English from a different part of the world.

The call was conducted one month to the day after CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, announced that the actions of certain JSS Tripler promoters were under investigation. The CONSOB action was not addressed in the call, which also featured commentary or questions from “Michael” from “San Francisco” and others.

During the call, Mann asserted — among other things — that there was no “age discrimination” in JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid.

“So, theoretically,” he intoned, “even a one-year person” can participate.

And, he noted, adults were permitted to open accounts in the names of other adults and that registrants could send money to JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid via AlertPay, SolidTrustPay, LibertyReserve and Perfect Money.

All four of the processors are referenced in U.S. court filings as processors for alleged or proven fraud schemes.

In response to a question from “Edward” (nationality unclear) about whether JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid had a “contingency plan” in case problems with payment processors developed or if government “harassed” them, Mann suggested that LibertyReserve and PerfectMoney were part of a fail-safe strategy.

“Even if AlertPay and Solid Trust Pay get shut down, that won’t stop” the program, Mann said.

In response to a question from “Potato” from “California,” Mann also suggested it was possible to open accounts without a Social Security number that that members could open accounts for others, including teen-aged grandchildren in another U.S. state — even if a grandparent didn’t know the Social Security numbers of their grandchildren and the grandchildrens’ parents did not give permission to open the accounts.

Who would be responsible for the tax consequences of opening accounts in the names of others was not discussed.

The call appears not to have been limited to participation by Americans. A person who identified himself as “Mark(?)” from “Alberta” also was on the call.

At least one of the persons on the call complained that the “program” was confusing. Even so, he ventured that this is “quite a deal.”

In response to a question about where the “program” was located, Mann claimed JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid was “not located in any specific part of the world. We’re all over the planet.”

“Oh, OK, cool,” the caller who asked the question replied to Mann.

It was unclear from the call whether all participants who listened in or asked questions understood that the governments of various jurisdictions have acted forcefully against similar “programs” over the years, bringing both civil and criminal prosecutions.

Other Domains That Reference Frederick Mann

On a domain styled Mind-Trek.com, Fredrick Mann is quoted as writing, “In order to legally and safely beat the IRS it is necessary for you to adopt a certain frame of mind. You need to have a certain independence of mind. You need to be able to read the U.S. Constitution for yourself. You need to be able to recognize how the Supreme Court ‘judges’ and other politicians routinely violate the Constitution. You need to realize that practically all lawyers and accountants are handmaidens of the ‘terrocrats’ – terrorist bureaucrats or coercive government agents.”

Similar antitax screeds appear elsewhere on the domain. Although the domain data lists a company that uses the word “Freeman” as part of its name and a contact address in Arizona, the address appears to be nonexistent in the state. Based on the registration data, the actual address of the purported owner may be in the area of Fort Smith, Ark.

Arkansas business records show data on similarly named business entities in the state, but it is far from clear whether the “Freeman” entity listed in the domain-registration data was one of those firms.

Based on its research, the PP Blog also is reporting today that a second domain that uses the Arizona address of Mind-Trek.com exists. That domain, which also appears to confuse Arkansas and Arizona in registration data, is styled TerrorCrat.com. “TerrorCrat” is a phrase Mann has used in his writings. The domain currently resolves to a parked page that beams advertisements.

Meanwhile, this Twitter account purportedly for BigBooster suggests that Mann is an “Internet entrepreneur” from Arizona.

The PP Blog initially learned about the BuildFreedom domain through a URL that appears under Mann’s name on the BigBooster site. That URL resolved to the BuildFreedom domain. When accessed, it loads the landing page of the BuildFreedom domain, the drop-down ad for JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid and two videos and 11 links pertaining to Francis Schaeffer Cox, the purported Alaska “sovereign” indicted in the alleged murder plot.

Also during the course of its research, the PP Blog observed writings attributed to Mann on a domain that sought to attract customers for debt-elimination schemes. Such schemes also have been advanced by so-called “sovereign citizens.”

A domain that lists Mann as the author of an introductory piece makes a reference to a purported “Indian” tribe. Although it is possible that the tribe is legitimate, some “sovereign citizens” who have no Indian heritage and no standing either as “Indians” or courtroom litigants have married debt-elimination schemes to purported tribal membership in bizarre bids to hamstring prosecutions and target litigation opponents and public officials with vexatious lawsuits.

Some AdSurfDaily members have been linked to the same kind of vexatious legal filings, which sometimes included threats to arrest judges and attorneys that represent banks in collections-related litigation.

Feb 27, 2012
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: FTC Gains Spectacular Judgment Of $359 Million In Alleged Cross-Border Fraud Involving Continuity Billing; Case Features Elements Similar To Allegations Against Jeremy Johnson

David Vladeck of the FTC

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: In a case that featured elements similar to the allegations against U.S.-based Internet Marketer Jeremy Johnson, the FTC has gained a $359 million consent judgment against alleged Canadian scammer Jesse Willms and other defendants.

The agency sued Willms in May 2011, about six months after it sued Johnson. Wiilms now has settled without acknowledging wrongdoing, but the settlement appears to be a straight-line win for the agency, which lauded the Canada Competition Bureau, Service Alberta, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Alberta Partnership Against Cross Border Fraud, the Edmonton Better Business Bureau and the BBB of Southern Nevada for assisting in the cross-border probe.

“The fact that almost four million consumers fell prey to the lure of these ‘free trial’ offers is a stark reminder that ‘free’ offers can come at a huge price,” said David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Without referencing Johnson or the case against him, IWorks Inc. and scores of other defendants when commenting on the Willms’ judgment, Vladek said this:

“The FTC has stopped about $1 billion in online marketing fraud during the past two years by shutting down operations like this. But consumers still need to beware, because scam artists are constantly coming up with new ways to deceive people online.”

Johnson has denied wrongdoing on both the civil and criminal fronts. Federal prosecutors said last month that they anticipate Johnson will face criminal charges in addition to a single count of mail fraud he currently faces. And a court appointed receiver in the FTC’s civil case issued a report earlier this month that described a massive fraud scheme that crossed international borders and cloaked assets.

The alleged scams of Willms and Johnson pulled in at least $700 million, according to court filings.

A federal judge must approve the Willms’ consent order, which requires the surrender of bank account funds and “proceeds from the sale of his house, personal property, and corporate assets, including a Cadillac Escalade, fur coat, and artwork, the FTC said.

“International collaboration is increasingly important for enforcement agencies combating deceptive practices online,” said Lisa Campbell, deputy commissioner of Competition for the Canada Competition Bureau.

Part of the Willms’ scheme falsely traded on the names of Oprah Winfrey and Rachael Ray while also making false claims of cancer cures and weight loss, the FTC charged last year. In fact, the FTC said, Winfrey sued Willms.

In addition to using the names of Winfrey and Ray, the Willms’ scheme also traded on the famous names of CNN, USA Today, CBS, the “60 Minutes” television show and other brands, the FTC said last year.

News about the Willms’ settlement came on the same day affiliates of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid were using the name and image of actress Lindsay Lohan in a YouTube promo. JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid affiliates also have traded on the names and likenesses of Winfrey and Warren Buffett.

JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid purports to be an investment scheme that pays annualized returns of 730 percent. The “program” operates online and is purportedly the braintrust of Frederick Mann.

Feb 23, 2012
UPDATE: JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid Promoters Now Trading On The Name And Image Of Actress Lindsay Lohan; Video Promo Appears After Earlier YouTube Removals — And Even As CONSOB Probe Under Way In Italy

After earlier trading on the names of Warren Buffett and Oprah Winfrey and even fictional spaceman “Mr. Spock,” promoters of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid now are trading on the name of actress Lindsay Lohan.

A 1:14 YouTube promo for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid dated Feb. 14, 2012 — Valentine’s Day — flashes images of Lohan throughout the video. The promo is titled “Sexy Lindsay Lohan.”

Below the video, seven links appear for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid-related sites. The links are accompanied by a text pitch.

Here is one claim from the text pitch. (Italics added):

“Basically, You Earn 2% per Day or 60% per Month! No sponsoring Requirements. Use Daily Compounding to Increase Your Earnings! Make Daily Withdrawals to Get Your Money Out! This may be one of the easiest and best ways to earn money you’ve ever seen!

“Sponsor People to Earn 10% Referral Bonuses on the First Level and 5% on the Second! Withdraw this Money Daily, or Use It to Further Compound and Increase Your Earnings!

“You Can Start with Just $10 and Turn It into a Fortune!”

Here is another. (Italics added):

“75 DAY GET RICH PLAN!
“Day 1:
“Add Money
“Days 2 — 75:
“100% Reinvest your daily earnings
“Day 76:
“Balance now 340% bigger after Day 1 Investment deducted!
“Day 76 onwards:
“Conservative: Reinvest 70% of daily earnings and cashout the remaining 30%.
“Aggressive: Reinvest 80% of daily earnings and cashout the remaining 20%.
“RESULT: Ever Increasing Earnings and Daily Cashout Amounts!”

Incongruously, the text pitch ends with these words:

“Never join ptc and other scam sites.”

Neither the video nor the accompanying text pitch explained how JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, which purportedly is operated by Frederick Mann, could pay an annualized rate of return that is between 48 and 73 times higher than rates touted by imprisoned Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff.

The YouTube promo trading on Lohan’s name and images was posted less than a month after CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, announced that it had opened a probe into the actions of certain JSS Tripler promoters.

Within days of the announcement, certain U.S.-based websites with links to JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid mysteriously went missing. Those sites remain inaccessible in the United States, although the reason they no longer are accessible is unclear.

It is common for hucksters to trade on the names of famous people to sanitize fraud schemes.

YouTube earlier removed some promos for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, although others remained.

One Ponzi-forum promoter claimed in October 2011 that a YouTube ban would pose only a temporary problem.

“No sweat, I own over 500 Youtube accounts, so I’ll just keep making videos like normal, plus I can always use Viddler and Windows movie maker and facebook video as well,” a MoneyMakerGroup poster poster claimed.

Feb 23, 2012
BULLETIN: SEC Says California Man Was Running THREE Ponzi Schemes — One Of Them Allegedly Duped Investors Into Believing They Were Funding FedEx Distribution Facility In Las Vegas

BULLETIN: The SEC has gone to federal court in the Southern District of California, alleging that Steven L. Hamilton of Carlsbad was running three Ponzi schemes through three companies he set up “to solicit unsuspecting investors.”

Hamilton is 42, the SEC said.

One of the offers allegedly duped people into believing they were investing in a Las Vegas distribution center for FedEx, the famous courier company.

“Hamilton, however, did not have an agreement with Federal Express to build a Federal Express facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, and did not have a signed lease with Federal Express,” the SEC charged. “Instead, Hamilton converted the investor funds to his own use.”

Hamilton and his companies also duped investors into believing they were investing in real estate loans secured by deeds of trust or certificates of deposit.

Charged with Hamilton were Verde Retirement LLC of San Diego, Verde FX Nevada LLC of San Diego and Covenant Capital Partners of Encinitas, Calif.

“Hamilton used the money he raised from these three fraudulent offerings to pay his personal living expenses,” the SEC charged. “In order to perpetuate his scheme, and to make his purported investments appear successful, Hamilton also used a portion of the monies he raised to pay fictitious returns to investors when, in fact, his investments were non-existent and he was simply using investors’ monies to pay other investors.”

The combined fraud schemes operated between 2007 and February 2011, raising at least $1.6 million from at least 23 investors, the SEC said.

And Hamilton also touted certificates of deposit — while trading on the name of the government and engaging in website chicanery to sanitize the scheme, the SEC said.

“Fliers for the Verde CDs, posted by Hamilton on the Verde website, advertised ‘fixed income accounts’ that ‘earn 5x more than a comparable term current bank CD,’” the SEC charged.

Site visitors were told that capital was “protected by our highly conservative senior loans against high quality, income producing commercial real estate,” the SEC charged.

“In a September 2010 iteration of the website, Verde represented that its fixed income accounts were ‘supported by the monthly interest payments’ Verde received from its portfolio of ‘well chosen, US Government Agency guaranteed (Fannie Mae Freddie Mac), conservative, senior loans,’” the SEC charged.

At the same time, the website further assured prospects “that the Verde mortgage portfolio was ‘backed 100% by the US Government Agencies, thus ensuring [investor] principal and income [were] safe,’” the SEC charged. “By November 2010, the website had been revised to eliminate references to a portfolio that included ‘FDIC insured CDs.’”

Regulators and U.S. law enforcement long have warned that fraud schemes destroy confidence in legitimate capital markets and that the Internet has been used by hucksters to disguise criminality and create the appearance of legitimacy.

Read the SEC complaint.

Feb 22, 2012
UPDATE: Alleged JSS Tripler Promoter Referenced In Probe By Italian Securities Regulator CONSOB Also Is Pitchman For U.S.-Based Text Cash Network; Promoter’s Individual Domain Name Suspended; Ponzi-Forum Cheerleading Continues As JSS Tripler Website Encounters Problems

Certain images will not load today on the website of JustBeenPaid, a "program" tied to JSS Tripler.

EDITOR’S NOTE: HYIP critics long have pointed out that many Internet-based schemes have members in common and that the interconnectivity of certain schemes creates a condition in which fraud proceeds circulate from scheme to scheme to scheme. Such fraud schemes can mushroom to involve tens of thousands — or even hundreds of thousands — of participants.

The logistical challenges of reverse-engineering such schemes are enormous — and it’s often the case the combined international hauls of the schemes also are enormous.

A man referenced in a JSS Tripler-related action by CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, appears to have lost access to his U.S.-based website — and appears also to have been a pitchman for Text Cash Network, a U.S.-based “opportunity” linked to serial hucksters Joe Reid and Phil Piccolo.

TextCashNetwork purports to be an international text-advertising business involving cell phones. The “opportunity,” though, is decidedly murky. Affiliates have described Text Cash Network vaguely as “a new division of a five year old communications company owned 100% by The Johnson Group.” Other promoters have claimed it was owned by the “Johnson & Johnson Group,” a possible bid to leech off the brand of the famous pharmaceutical and consumer-products company.

TCN Promotional Tie To JSS Tripler

On Jan. 23, CONSOB announced the JSS Tripler-related action. Included in CONSOB’s statement were references to an individual named Mauro Messina and a website styled gruppounitoworld.com.

That website, which appears to have been hosted in the United States, now beams this message: “I’m sorry, but this account has been suspended.” No reason for the suspension was provided.

The message appears even though the domain registration is good through June 30, 2012, according to registration data.

The name Mauro Messina also appears on an affiliate site for Text Cash Network. The affiliate ID on the Text Cash Network site is “gruppounito” — the first 11 letters of the now-suspended site referenced in the CONSOB probe. (See comment from PP Blog reader Tony here. Kudos, Tony.)

Driven by a relentless hypefest, Text Cash Network or TCN launched late last year — with Reid leading the cheerleading as he had done previously for Data Network Affiliates (DNA), a Piccolo-associated entity that mixed and matched itself with One World One Website (OWOW), another Piccolo-associated entity.

Both DNA and OWOW appear to be defunct corporations, but appear also to maintain a web presence that in part has been used to drive traffic to TCN. Strangely, the DNA website now is publishing a “STOP SOPA” graphic, referring to antipiracy legislation in the United States that became part of well-publicized opposition campaigns by Google and Wikipedia (among others).

DNA, which claimed it was a data company with a cell-phone arm and appears never to have delivered on either count, has a history of brand leeching and divining ties to causes, including the U.S. AMBER Alert program and child poverty. Among other things, DNA — despite the fact its Nevada corporate registration is listed as “Dissolved,” asks prospects to “Help DNA Feed A Million[:] OVER 1000 AN HOUR DIE.”

It also purports that children are “The Heart Of D.N.A.,” even though the corporation is defunct and DNA received an “F” grade in 2010 from the BBB and is the subject of a BBB alert. After apparently abandoning its purported data and cell-phone arms by July 2010, DNA claimed it was morphing into the land-mine business of offshore “resorts” and “mortgage reduction.”

Like DNA, TCN purports that it has or will engage in philanthropic pursuits.

And like TCN, DNA also purported to do business from Boca Raton, Fla. — and to operate a “processing center” there while providing “tax” benefits.

‘Ricochet Riches’ Also Referenced By CONSOB

CONSOB’s Jan. 23 announcement also referenced an entity known as “Ricochet Riches” and a dotcom by the same name. On the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum yesterday, a cheerleader for JSS Tripler 2 or T2 — an enterprise that appears to have appropriated the name of JSS Tripler — published an “I got paid” post for T2.

Below the post was a link to Ricochet Riches.

Incongruities that challenge description and involve both JSS Tripler and JSS Tripler 2 are occurring all over the Ponzi boards. Both JSS Tripler and JSS Tripler 2 have promoters in common. Regardless, Ponzi-board posters are pooh-poohing the CONSOB action or ignoring it — even as they champion other opportunities referenced in the CONSOB action, including Ricochet Riches.

A JSS Tripler/Club Asteria Tie

CONSOB last year took action against promoters of Club Asteria, another Ponzi-forum darling. “Andrea Viz,” another JSS Tripler promoter referenced in the CONSOB action, also has been linked to Club Asteria.

The Club Asteria promo appears on a domain styled vizconsigli.com, which is referenced in the CONSOB announcement about JSS Tripler. That domain, too, appears to be based in the United States.

Hank Neeedham, one of Club Asteria’s purported principals, formerly was a pitchman for AdSurfDaily, which the U.S. Secret Service described as an online Ponzi scheme involving at least $110 million.

Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSS Tripler, also was an ASD pitchman, according to a 2008 promo that appeared online during the same period in which Needham — who simultaneously was promoting cash-gifting schemes — also was promoting ASD.

Over the weekend, JustBeenPaid, the entity that purportedly operates JSS Tripler through Mann, appears to have encountered website problems that are affecting its ability to publish certain graphics.

There is at least one Ponzi-forum report today about JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler problems:

“. . . sites all messed up chat room no mods no admins little odd,” a MoneyMakerGroup poster claimed.

The JustBeenPaid site includes information attributed to Mann on AdVentures4You (ADV4U), a “program” that collapsed in 2009 amid reports its operator had been threatened.

In the remarks, Mann asserted that he made a pile of money through ADV4U prior to its collapse.

“The biggest difference between JSS-Tripler and AV4U is that JSS-Tripler is indefinitely sustainable, while AV4U had a design flaw that ensured its eventual failure,” according to the remarks attributed to Mann.

Feb 12, 2012
UPDATE: JSS Tripler 2 (T2) Pulls An Andy Bowdoin; T2’s ‘Dave’ Comes Back For Second Bite Of Ponzi Apple To Chorus Of Forum Cheers
Although accused Ponzi schemer and AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin appears not to be among the promoters of JSS Tripler (T2), T2 appears to be relying on a Bowdoin-like playbook in announcing a restart after having earlier suspended payouts.

The bizarre international spectacle created by JSS Tripler 2 (T2) is continuing — and gets stranger and more insidious by the day. The purported “opportunity,” which is trading on the name of a murky entity known as JSS Tripler and apparently cloning its Ponzi business model, has announced a restart after weeks of existing in a state of suspended animation purportedly caused by the freezing of a one-time T2 business partner’s AlertPay account.

T2 now claims it has regained access to the frozen AlertPay funds.

A week or so prior to T2’s purported restart, promoters of JSS Tripler, the purported “opportunity” upon which T2 based its name, became the subject of a securities investigation in Europe. Ponzi-forum hucksters — some of whom are promoting both T2 and JSS Tripler — scoffed at the CONSOB probe and flooded the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum with “I got paid” posts.

It is axiomatic that all successful Ponzi schemes pay. That an “opportunity” pays is not evidence that no underlying criminality exists. The timing of T2’s restart — indeed, the restart occurred after the Italian regulator CONSOB announced that JSS Tripler promoters were being scrutinized — demonstrates that the serial hucksters driving T2 are turning a blind eye to the serious issues being raised in Europe.

The development is hardly unprecedented, given that core groups of scammers who populate the Ponzi boards and simultaneously maintain their own fraud sites thumbed their noses after law-enforcement moved against “opportunities” such as Pathway To Prosperity, Legisi, Gold Quest International, Imperia Invest IBC and others, including AdSurfDaily.

Like its namesake JSS Tripler, T2 advertises a return rate of 2 percent a day, twice that of ASD. In 2008, the U.S. Secret Service called ASD an international Ponzi scheme. Tens of millions of dollars were seized from bank accounts, and ASD operator Andy Bowdoin later was arrested on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities.

At least $110 million found its way into ASD or related coffers, prosecutors said. Several million dollars were moved into Canada just prior to the seizure of ASD-related assets in August 2008, according to court filings.

In early 2007, according to prosecutors, ASD suffered a Ponzi collapse that in part was blamed on “Russian” hackers. Bowdoin claimed the hackers stole $1 million, but he never filed a police report.

Like T2 did between at least December 2011 and February of this year, ASD existed in a state of suspended animation for months in 2007. Bowdoin eventually restarted the “opportunity” under a different name and different website — ASDCashGenerator, as opposed to AdSurfDaily — and began the process of picking pockets anew, federal prosecutors said.

Unlike ASD, T2 did not claim its payout problems were caused by Russian hackers. Instead, the “opportunity” claimed a onetime business partner known as “Chris,” purportedly living in England, was to blame.

Like ASD, however, T2 claimed it was changing names, morphing from JSS Tripler 2 to T2MoneyKlub. The name change was explained to be part of an overall restart plan in which T2 would create revenue streams by building prefabricated websites and offering them for sale at a tremendous profit. The plan, which appeared to be exceptionally forward-looking while making preposterous assumptions, presented fallacies of logic such as these:
- That T2, operating with an in-house skeleton crew and volunteer members, no declared base of operations and no compliance arm despite reaching into dozens of countries each with a unique set of laws, could at once be a web-service provider while managing a “program” that promised a return rate of 2 percent a day or 730 percent a year on top of recruitment-commission payments.
- That web-service customers would pay a premium for sites built by a murky entity whose operators simultaneously were offering investors returns that would make Bernard Madoff blush.
- That the fees generated by the sale of websites at a future point uncertain somehow could sustain a scheme that promised to pay out twice as much as ASD, whose operator already was under indictment on Ponzi-related charges and had advertised the same sort of payment schemes.
- That there would be any reason at all for T2 to continue to offer an investment program that advertised a ludicrous return if its purported sale of websites could result in handsome, self-sustaining profits for the web-service venture. (Longtime PP Blog readers will recall that the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf claimed at one time that it, too, was morphing into a company that would offer web services as a means of propping up an initial investment scheme. AVG, like ASD, promised to pay out half of what T2 claims. AVG disappeared in June 2009, only weeks after its morphing announcement.)
Also like ASD, T2 preemptively denied it was a Ponzi scheme, despite an absurd confluence of payment schemes in which T2 claimed an ability to pay an annualized return of 730 percent on top of recruitment commissions.

As previously noted, T2’s advertised return rate was double that of ASD, which prosecutors said had no meaningful revenue streams beyond payments by members. Those payments simply were recycled and returned to other ASD members in the form of classic Ponzi payouts.

Even though T2 — like ASD — purported to be changing its name, the name change appears to have hit a snag. T2 initially announced it would emerge as T2MoneyKlub on Feb. 1. That didn’t happen, according to Ponzi-forum chatter, because T2 did not have an AlertPay account in its new name.

T2, according to chatter, then defaulted back to its original name, a circumstance that apparently means the purported “opportunity” can both receive and send money, shelve its new name for the time being and reposition itself under its “old” name to reach into the pockets of new investors.

“Dave,” the purported operator of T2, according to Ponzi-forum chatter, once was a member of JSS Tripler, one of the entities referenced in the CONSOB action. It appears as though “Dave” was unmoved by the CONSOB action, so much so that he restarted JSS Tripler 2 even though claims about namesake JSS Tripler are under scrutiny and the already-radioactive name easily could become even more radioactive in the weeks ahead.

T2 payouts will come from “AlertPay, SolidTrustPay and LibertyReserve,” Dave announced on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum, posting as “Peakr8.” All three of the named processors have reputation for being friendly to fraud schemes. Both AlertPay and SolidTrustPay are referenced in court files in the ASD Ponzi case.

MoneyMakerGroup member “jieroz” quickly fired up an “I got paid” post for T2 today, saying the $25 payment had come from AlertPay.

Veteran huckster “strosdegoz” quickly congratulated “jieroz.”

“Congrats, that was fast … As usual . . .” strosdegoz blathered.

A poster purportedly from India and using the handle “hemsagar” also joined in the cheers.

“WTG! WTG!” he exclaimed in approval.

A link under the approving post of “hemsagar” led to a “benefactor” promotion in which he claims he’ll pay people to join T2 by sending them money through AlertPay.

Amid the cheerleading in the MoneyMakerGroup T2 thread, “Dave,” posting as “Peakr8,” announced he was taking a trip to “Cambodia.” This trip apparently follows on the heels of a trip “Dave” purportedly had taken earlier from England to Thailand during a period in which T2 was not paying members.

“Dave” conceded that T2’s restart had resulted in problems at T2’s in-house cheerleading forum.

“I know there are bugs, but we will stamp on em one by one when I get back from Cambodia,” Dave posted on MoneyMakerGroup as “Peakr8.”

Below that post, another post from “hemsagar” appears. Although his brief MoneyMakerGroup bio at the left of the post claims he is from India, his post about the bugs in the T2 forum makes this claim:

“Its back up here in the Ukraine.”

Whether “hemsagar” is a citizen of India now living in Ukraine is unclear.

Serial huckster “strosdegoz” later proclaimed “we need to pump up” the T2 forum and “also . . . every place else.

“I have to do my dozens of forums too,” strosdegoz acknowledged.

Regulators have warned the public repeatedly that scams involving hundreds of millions of dollars are spreading virally on the Internet through forums and social-media sites. Pathway to Prosperity, which was pushed on the Ponzi forums, eventually made its way to 120 countries, according to court filings.

The scheme had a take of more than $70 million and created at least 40,000 victims, according to court filings.

ASD may have created a similar number of victims, according to court filings. Legisi and Imperia Invest IBC also created victims by the thousands, investigators said.

Included in the Imperia victims’ count were thousands of people with hearing impairments, investigators said.
Feb 5, 2012
DISTURBING: JSS Tripler-Related Domain Listed In CONSOB Action Is Based In United States — But Suddenly Starts Redirecting To ‘JustBeenPaid’ Site In The Netherlands; Claim That ‘We’re Not Located In Any Unfriendly Political Jurisdictions’ Exposed As Rank Deception

On Jan. 23, CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, made public an action against promoters of JSS Tripler, a “program” that advertises an annualized return of 730 percent. The claim alone would be enough to make Bernard Madoff or Charles Ponzi himself blush.

Or projectile-vomit.

But if the CONSOB action were not trouble enough, one of the JSS Tripler-related domains listed in the agency’s action is hosted in Utah, according to domain records. The domain, which forms its root with a hyphen splitting the proper name of JSS Tripler — i.e., JSS-Tripler.com — continued to serve pages from Utah for several days after CONSOB’s Jan. 23 announcement. The domain, for instance, published daily updates on the number of days JSS Tripler itself purportedly had been in action.

Among the graphics on the Utah-hosted landing page was an image of a JSS Tripler pitchwoman who appeared to be Asian in descent. Assuming the woman actually exists, her nationality remains a mystery. At a time uncertain between Feb. 2 and Feb. 3, however, the site stopped serving content and instead began to redirect to a JustBeenPaid subdomain styled “marketing” that is hosted in the Netherlands.

Whether a U.S. resident or citizen of another country who reached across international borders applied the redirection is unclear. What is clear is that the United States could join Italy in exercising jurisdiction over JSS Tripler and its promoters if it chose to do so. The site also is accessible through individual U.S. states, meaning regulators at the state level also could exercise jurisdiction.

A state’s choice to exercise jurisdiction over the sale of unregistered securities is hardly unusual in the HYIP sphere. Florida, for example, exercised jurisdiction over AdSurfDaily and operator Andy Bowdoin. North Dakota exercised jurisdiction over Pathway to Prosperity and operator Nicholas Smirnow. Oregon exercised jurisdiction over an abomination known as “I Need Cash,” a cycler operated by Kristopher K. Keeney.

JustBeenPaid and Frederick Mann, a murky figure who once claimed to be an ASD promoter, are the purported operators of JSS Tripler. The Netherlands subdomain shows an image of a man at the top of the page. That man is described on the site as “Louis Paquette, JBP Affiliate Sales & Marketing Director.”

The redirection, which occurs in Utah, according to server data, is virtually immediate — meaning that the previous content and photo of the woman of Asian descent no longer load and that the traffic is switched to the Netherlands page that shows the purported image of Paquette.

Among other things, this development raises questions about who caused the Utah server to redirect to the Netherlands domain and precisely why the change was made on the heels of the CONSOB action. Whether JustBeenPaid or JSS Tripler themselves had control over the Utah domain is unknown.

At a minimum, though, the presence of the Utah domain may be evidence that JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler not only sold unregistered securities to U.S. citizens, but did so from inside the United States with a U.S. promoter or a promoter from another country with access to the Utah server at the helm. And because the redirect to the JustBeenPaid subdomain in the Netherlands occurs from inside the United States, it exposes a JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler lie that the “opportunity” protects itself and promoters from investigation and/or prosecution.

Even if the redirection were not occurring in the United States, the CONSOB action destroys the myth that the “opportunity” is outside the reach of law enforcement. So does the simple fact that any regulator in the world could take action against the “opportunity” and its promoters. Indeed, the cross-border nature of the scheme puts investors in virtually all jurisdictions at risk. Individual promoters could be targeted for investigation/prosecution in multiple jurisdictions — and if actions such as those begin to occur, the access of Just BeenPaid/JSS Tripler to cash sources could dry up.

A claim by a MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi-forum promoter that Just BeenPaid/JSS Tripler has paid out more than $10 million to investors may demonstrate the vast reach of the “opportunity” and its ability to tap funding sources while siphoning undisclosed sums for itself. Just BeenPaid/JSS Tripler may be no Madoff, but $10 million still is a massive sum, one that should raise eyebrows in the worldwide law-enforcement community.

Content accessible from the Netherlands-based JustBeenPaid subdomain — marketing.justbeenpaid.com — raises other troubling concerns. This statement (next paragraph) appears at the bottom of a “login” page in the JustBeenPaid root domain. The statement is accessible through the “marketing” subdomain. (Indent/italics added):

Secure Offshore Servers
— Our servers are in a strategic location.
We pay special attention to security.
Our servers are organized so upgrading and expansion are very easy.

Offshore Business
— Our business operations are geographically decentralized.
We don’t have any central office.
We’re not located in any “unfriendly political jurisdictions.”

As a practical matter, the mere fact the page is accessible through a redirect that occurs in the United States may destroy any claims that JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler protects members against “unfriendly political jurisdictions.” Any transaction that occurred or occurs through the Utah domain necessarily involves wires in the United States.

Regardless of the domain or email address through which business is conducted, any U.S.-based promoter of JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler is using wires inside the United States, a situation that brings wire fraud into play — in addition to the securities issues.

A more troubling question, perhaps, is why JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler even would have the need to make such a claim if its international business is above-board. The same enterprise also claims to have a U.S. patent, a specious claim in the context of securities because the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office does not regulate the securities markets of the United States or any other country.

Is JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler The BCCI Of The HYIP World?

In the early 1990s, a corrupt international banking enterprise known as Bank of Credit and Commerce International created a worldwide financial scandal. The bank perhaps was best known by its acronym — BCCI — and purportedly was designed to be “offshore everywhere.”

JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler is making the same sorts of claims associated with BCCI, a spectacularly bright red flag if ever there was one.

But if that bright red flag were not enough, other content accessible through the “marketing” subdomain of JustBeenPaid sends signals that positively glow of danger. Indeed, a “Member Agreement” link accessible through the site includes this language. (Indent/italics added):

6. I affirm that I am not an employee or official of any government agency, nor am I acting on behalf of or collecting information for or on behalf of any government agency.

7. I affirm that I am not an employee, by contract or otherwise, of any media or research company, and I am not reading any of the JBP pages in order to collect information for someone else.

Any political jurisdiction in any part of the world easily could construe those words as an invitation extended by JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler to investors to join an international conspiracy engaging in organized crime and mass-marketing fraud.

The same type of claim became an element of the Legisi HYIP prosecution in the United States. The Legisi prosecution, which ultimately involved the SEC, began as an undercover operation between the U.S. government and the state government of Michigan.

Even more land mines emerge when one considers that JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler is being promoted on Ponzi boards such as MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold, both of which are referenced in U.S. federal court files as places from which Ponzi schemes are promoted.

Veteran forum and social-network hucksters are promoting JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler, including promoters linked to the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme case in the United States and CONSOB’s earlier action involving Club Asteria, another Ponzi forum darling.

Depending upon how the universe lines up, JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler could find itself starving for cash in very short order. It is a program that is thumbing its nose at law enforcement across the globe — and its willfully blind promoters could find themselves named in individual actions just about anywhere.

It is the very definition of an international financial conspiracy of the most dangerous sort, a sort of emerging BCCI of the HYIP world.

BEFORE

This is the top of the page at the JSS-Tripler.com domain as it existed on Jan. 30, 2012.

AFTER

This is the top of the "marketing" subdomain of JustBeenPaid.com as it exists today. Prospects who visit the Utah-based JSS-Tripler domain referenced in the "BEFORE" screen shot above now are redirected to the Netherlands-based "marketing" subdomain of JustBeenPaid. The switch occurs in Utah, according to server data.

Feb 4, 2012
UPDATE: Joe Reid, Pitchman Who Led DNA and OWOW Recruits To Disaster, Described As ‘Absolute Legend’ In Text Cash Network’s 90-Day Anniversary Call; Like DNA, TCN Claims Florida ‘Processing Center’ And ‘Tax Benefits’
The pitchman hosting a 90-day anniversary call yesterday for Text Cash Network introduced fellow TCN pitchman Joe Reid as an “absolute legend.”

“In this industry, folks, facts tell, and stories sell,” a pitchman identified as “Eddie” said in remarks introducing Reid.

“This gentleman is a legend — an absolute legend in the industry,” Eddie said. “This gentleman makes money. This gentleman makes BIG money. He’s made millions and millions of dollars over the years in the network-marketing industry . . .”

But “Eddie” said nothing about Reid’s involvement in Data Network Affiliates (DNA) and One World One Website (OWOW), bizarre and crashed opportunities linked to Reid business associate and fellow MLM huckster Phil Piccolo amid claims that affiliates were not getting paid. Piccolo also has been linked to TCN.

Among other things, DNA claimed it could help the AMBER Alert program rescue abducted children, later claiming it offered a “free” cell phone with “unlimited” talk and text for $10 a month.

DNA appears to have assisted in the rescue of no children, but it did complain that the AMBER Alert program had a bloated budget. It later removed its cell-phone offer, claiming it had been duped into making the offer by a huckster. OWOW, for its part, claimed it had products that cured or treated cancer — while also claiming a “magnetic” product helped prevent leg amputations and helped produce tomatoes that would grow to twice their ordinary size — all while assisting dairy herds in producing more milk. (Use the search button in the upper-right corner of the PP Blog for more info on DNA and OWOW and their series of ambiguous and confounding offers.)

As he is doing now for TCN, Reid led cheers in videos or conference calls for DNA and OWOW. (TCN is using the same conference-call software as DNA.) While researching an offer by OWOW, the PP Blog was advised by the Des Moines Police Department (Iowa) that certain addresses that appeared in online promos for OWOW were nonexistent. Lower in this story, you’ll find a reference to something the Boca Raton Police Department reported after the PP Blog asked it to visit a local building.)

An Emerging Bromide

Despite “Eddie’s” assertion that “facts tell,” he provided no substantiation of his claims about Reid and offered no information on Reid’s DNA/OWOW ties, apparently preferring instead to focus on the “stories sell” part of his emerging bromide.

Reid’s story yesterday offered platitudes that “exciting things are happening” at TCN, with Reid adding that the purported text-advertising firm had “tremendous leaders” who’d created “great excitement.”

Reid, whose TCN cheerleading appeared to be somewhat subdued during the call, then passed the call back to Eddie.

Without providing any factual foundation and again apparently defaulting to the “stories sell” part of his bromide, Eddie again assured listeners that Reid was a “legend.” He added that TCN had set all of the following records:
- Fastest to 10,000 members.
- Fastest to 20,000 members.
- Fastest to 50,000 members..
- Fastest to 100,000 members.
- Fastest to 200,000 members.
“And most recently, folks, we were the fastest company to 300,000 members — in under 90 days.”

Participants who weren’t excited about those numbers need to check their “pulse,” Eddie ventured, predicting later that there would be “seven-” and “six”-figure earners.

Like DNA and OWOW, strange events and incongruities have marked TCN’s existence.

The TCN Photo Mystery

Despite oddities such as the existence of a promotional photo that shows TCN’s name affixed to a glistening office building in Boca Raton and a public statement by the Boca Raton Police Department that the name is not affixed to the building, Eddie asserted that TCN is a company that “makes sense.”

TCN Tax Claims — After Similar DNA Claims

TCN also may be playing with fire by wooing recruits with claims about the purported tax advantages of joining.

Eddie asserted in the 90-day anniversary call that joining TCN for the “tax benefits” was a good idea. (DNA made similar claims, and Piccolo was a member of a company in California that paid $1 million, in part to settle pyramid claims and claims that recruits were being lured by advertised “tax write-offs.”)

“What about the tax benefits that you receive from owing a home-based business?” Eddie asked yesterday’s conference-call listeners. “You can literally bring home 3, 4, maybe $5,000 — up to $7,000 a year in tax benefits. So many people are completely unaware that, just by being a part of a home-based business, they can save thousands of dollars every year by being a part of a home-based business.

“Guess what? Join us with Text Cash Network and start saving today . . .” Eddie instructed while focusing on the purported tax advantages.

Screen shot: Like DNA, TCN puports to operate a "processing center" in Boca Raton.

Another oddity associated with TCN and DNA is that both firms

Screen shot: Like TCN, DNA purports to operate a "processing center" in Boca Raton.

claimed to operate “processing centers” in South Florida, but the addresses appear to be rental services.

Meanwhile, both TCN and DNA have OWOW — another Piccolo-associated entity — in common somewhere in the food chain.

The earliest promos (early November 2011) for TCN appeared on OWOW’s website.

Like DNA, OWOW appears to be a defunct corporation that continues to produce a website that sometimes goes missing and sometimes is rerouted to other sites.

The management structure of TCN, DNA and OWOW also has been murky, with all three firms claiming to be operated by top professionals while simultaneously publishing ambiguous information. Some TCN promoters, for instance, have claimed TCN is owned by “The Johnson Group.”

Promos that originated through OWOW, however, added an ampersand and extra proper noun, declaring that TCN was owned by the “Johnson & Johnson Group.”

Affiliates of TCN, DNA and OWOW have complained publicly about not getting paid. All three firms have explained away those concerns in largely the same fashion: that payments have come or will come once a series of launches and prelaunches and website adjustments are completed.

Each of the schemes spread in part through social-media sites such as YouTube and Facebook.

One poster on a Facebook TCN site dubbed the “Text Cash Network- Official Group Page” complained today that “power line stats” are not working.

“It stopped on the 12/28/2011,” the poster claimed.

On another Facebook site — one dubbed simply “Text Cash Network” — a poster spammed an offer for JSS Tripler. Promoters of JSS Tripler are under investigation by CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator.

See our TCN archive.
Feb 2, 2012
DIALING UP THE BIZARRE: Prisoner Who Reportedly Once Stole Tractor-Trailer Full Of ‘Canned Beans’ And Later Followed ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Bleatings Convicted Of Running Tax Scam From Jail

This one is almost indescribably bizarre . . .

Ronald Williams, 48, was an inmate in various prisons in New York state between 2006 and 2010, federal prosecutors said.

His mother told the Syracuse Post-Standard that her son was jailed in 2006 on charges of stealing a tractor-trailer full of “canned beans” off a street in Buffalo.

While incarcerated, Williams got the not-so-bright idea of filing false tax returns from prison, apparently after being influenced by a purported “sovereign citizen” website article attributed in part to “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” the newspaper reported.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, of course, is a fictional character from the Star Wars franchise.

Federal prosecutors now say Williams filed 11 false returns from prison, and assisted another prisoner in filing a bogus return.

In one instance, prosecutors said, Williams managed to dupe the IRS into sending him a refund of $327,456.04 to his prison address. The check was intercepted by the prison and returned to the IRS.

Williams, who “never actually received any monies,” also engaged in redemption scams in which he fabricated “withholdings on numerous Forms 1099-OID by claiming false withholding credits,” prosecutors said. “The eleven returns were for payment of refunds of taxes totaling $890,000,000.”

(See a PP Blog story about a different redemption scam, this one operating from Washington state and allegedly involving purported “sovereign citizen” John Lloyd Kirk, who once was imprisoned for possessing a pipe bomb.)

A jury convicted Williams last week on all 12 counts filed against him, the office of U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian of the Northern District of New York said.

“The object of these schemes is to defraud the government and the taxpaying public,” said Victor W. Lessoff, acting special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigations Unit. “Although a check was computer generated in this case, immediate action was taken as soon as it was identified by IRS Criminal Investigation and those involved in this scheme were vigorously prosecuted.”

Jan 31, 2012
In Wake Of CONSOB Action, Affiliate ‘Press Release’ Calls JSS Tripler Members ‘Investors’ EIGHT Times And Suggests U.S. Government Approves Purported ‘Program’ That Advertises Return Rate That Dwarfs Madoff

You can’t make this stuff up . . .

A week after CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, announced it was opening a probe into the activities of JSS Tripler promoters amid claims the absurd “program” advertised returns that would make Bernard Madoff blush, a new “press release” ignores the CONSOB development, calls participants “investors” (eight times) and suggests the U.S. government has approved the JSS Tripler “program.”

The issues in the Italian probe are whether JSS Tripler and promoters are selling unregistered securities as investment contracts unlawfully as part of a multilevel online scheme that offers preposterous returns that compute to an annualized rate of 730 percent — with compounding “bonuses” and two-tier downline commissions totaling 15 percent on top of the advertised returns.

Madoff, jailed for 150 years in the aftermath of the collapse of his massive Ponzi scheme, generally offered annualized returns between 48 and 73 times lower than the advertised JSS Tripler returns.

Dated today, the “press release” appears to have been issued by a JSS Tripler affiliate and is available through Google News. The release does not mention the week-old CONSOB probe. Nor does it identify either the affiliate or the purported company as individuals or entities authorized in any jurisdiction to sell securities.

Moreover, the release does not seek to qualify customers in any way. The only apparent customer qualification is access to a bank or payment account to send money to JSS Tripler and wait for ludicrous profits in return.

A Patent Absurdity

“Thousands of high return programs on the internet have been created for people who want to work from home,” the release begins. “However, the majority of these fast money work home (sic) programs are not sustainable. Frederick Mann solved this problem with his recently US patented system JustBeenPaid! and its subprogram JSS Tripler.”

“JustBeenPaid” (JBP), an exceptionally murky entity, is the purported operator of JSS Tripler. Frederick Mann, JBP’s purported operator, once advertised that he was a promoter for AdSurfDaily, which the U.S. Secret Service has described as an online Ponzi scheme involving at least $110 million.

JBP itself is advertising a U.S. patent, a specious and hollow claim. Regardless of whether a patent exists as part of JBP’s purported software platform, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office does not regulate securities markets or approve the issuance of securities.

Those responsibilities rest with the world’s securities-regulatory bodies, including — for just two examples — CONSOB in Italy and the SEC in the United States. Virtually all developed countries have such regulatory bodies. In the United States and Canada, individual states and provinces also have regulatory responsibility over securities.

Scams routinely make specious claims and divine a connection to government as a means of disarming doubting prospects. The relatively new “patent” claim in the context of JSS Tripler, however, could be a sign that the “program” is becoming increasingly desperate to raise cash and has dialed up its deception to achieve that end.

The nationality of the press-release author was not immediately clear. But he is using a Google Gmail address and appears also to be presenting the release in U.S. English, based on the spelling of the word “program” (as opposed to the chiefly British “programme”) and certain elements of punctuation associated with U.S. English.

The release, which is accessible from the United States, has five embedded JustBeenPaid affiliate links, each of which rotates to a pitch page with a signup prompt page that asks investors to register using a Gmail address.

Among the incongruities about JBP/JSS Tripler is that the purported opportunity continued to solicit customers to register with Gmail addresses — even after Google-owned YouTube deleted promos for the “opportunity” last year.

One promoter on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum asserted that he could overcome the deletions because he exercised control over hundreds of YouTube accounts.

“No sweat, I own over 500 Youtube accounts, so I’ll just keep making videos like normal, plus I can always use Viddler and Windows movie maker and facebook video as well,” MoneyMakerGroup poster “gtprosperity” claimed.

Apparently oblivious to the CONSOB probe, the serious concerns about the unlawful sale of securities and the bizarre JBP/JSS Tripler developments over many months, the author of the news release asserts that the “program currently has over 125,000 members, and over 2,000 new investors join each day.

“Investors can earn a 2 percent daily, with over 60 percent earned in a month,” the release claims. “Investors earn 2 percent daily on each position they purchase. New positions can be bought with money or earnings. Daily earnings can also be cashed out by sending them to one’s JSS account for withdrawal. Withdrawals take 24 hours to process.”

“Work Home Fast Money Making System To Earn Extra Income Recently US Patented,” the release headline reads.

A JPB/JSS Tripler claimed on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum yesterday that he planned to buy a “motor home” with his profits and travel the United States.

Among the potential problems with the claim is that it likely demonstrates that JBP/JSS Tripler is selling unregistered securities as investment contacts to U.S. citizens — even as it is doing the same thing in Italy and other countries.

Jan 30, 2012