PatrickPretty.com

Category: Writing And Branding

  • OWOW Defender And Phil Piccolo Apologist Demands To Know If PP Blog Is ‘Israeli’; Says Blog Spreads ‘Islamophobia’ And That Terror Scares Are ‘FAKE’; Suggests Cover-Up Followed 9/11 Attacks

    Hours after the PP Blog published a story about the FBI foiling a bid to detonate a bomb targeted at American children and families at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Ore., a poster defending OWOW — the apparent successor company to Data Network Affiliates (DNA) — demanded to know if the Blog was “Israeli,” planted the seed that the Blog was racist and accused it of spreading “Islamophobia.”

    “On a sep[a]rate note, [I] was shocked to discover that you are also spreading Islamophobia, so not only are you a two-bit hack, some might say that you are a racist,” a poster identified as “John” wrote in a comments thread below a Nov. 21 story that referenced OWOW. “For your information, most educated people know that the terror scares are FAKE, and that the Sept 11th attacks were carried out by another group, Israel being prime suspects.”

    “John” also railed against the SEC, in response to a comment by the Blog that raised the question of whether OWOW, which is associated with Internet Marketer Phil Piccolo, was offering unregistered securities as investment contracts by advertising that it paid 24 percent annual interest to members who sent in money.

    Piccolo has gained a reputation online as a “one-man Internet crime wave.” During a radio program in August, Piccolo threatened to sue critics and planted the seed that he could cause them to experience physical pain.

    Rather than answering the question, John wrote, “The SEC? In between watching porn all day? The same SEC covering up the biggest financial crime i[n] history, IE the long term manipulation of the Gold and precious metals markets? That SEC?”

    Earlier this year, the inspector general for the SEC said he was investigating reports that some SEC officials had used government computers to view pornography.  Such an announcement, though embarrassing to the agency,  did not legalize securities fraud or create a new defense for securities violations or potential securities violations.

    DNA is a Nevada-registered company whose website is registered behind a proxy in the Cayman Islands. The company explained months ago that it registered the domain privately in the Caymans to prevent management from having to “put up with 100 stupid calls a day.”

    Dean Blechman, DNA’s former CEO, resigned suddenly in February after just weeks with the firm, saying later that the company was engaging in “bizarre” conduct and a campaign of “misinformation and lies.”

    Despite its Caymans’-registered domain, DNA asserted it was paying members of its multilevel-marketing (MLM) program to write down license-plate numbers at churches, “doctors’ offices” and retail outets such as Walmart. The plate numbers, according to DNA, would be entered into a database that was being developed to help law enforcement and the AMBER Alert program rescue abducted children.

    The license-plate program raised privacy concerns, and no guidance was given members in the areas of propriety, legality and safety. DNA later morphed into a purported cell-phone company, proclaiming it had destroyed all competition on earth overnight by offering a free cell phone with unlimited talk and text for $10 a month.

    Members flooded the Internet with ads. DNA later said that it had been hoodwinked by a vendor that had led it to believe it could deliver the $10 unlimited plan. In a bizarre email, the company acknowledged that it had not studied cell-phone pricing before declaring itself the world’s low-price leader. Just weeks before, the company sent an email to announce its cell-phone venture in which it made the all-caps claim of “GAME OVER — WE WIN.”

    By July 4 — and with no new cell-phone plan announced to replace the failed venture — DNA said it was entering the mortgage-reduction and resorts businesses. The purported mortgage-reduction program was positioned as the “MORAL OBLIGATION’ of churches to promote.

    Later in July the company announced it was selling a “protective spray” that would help buyers obscure the license-plate numbers of their cars to guard against getting traffic tickets. The spray purportedly would block cameras from snapping usable photos of the plates, and DNA said the spray protected against “wrongful ticketing by city cameras worldwide.”

    DNA did not explain the incongruity of saying it supported law enforcement in its efforts to locate abducted children while at once working against law enforcement in its efforts to enforce traffic laws. Nor did DNA say whether it believed criminals who abducted children and sped off in cars would find the “protective spray” useful when making a getaway.

    Even as DNA was announcing the availability of its purported “protective spray,” the company announced it soon would adopt a browser-based “DNA World Wide Alert Button” to let members know when a “child is reported missing in your immediate area.”

    It is unclear of DNA ever developed such a button.

    What is clear is that multiple domain names associated with the company now redirect to a website known as “One World, One Website” or OWOW.

    Members have been prompted to send prospects an email that advertises a cure for cancer.

    (Italics added):

    Invest 90 Seconds to earn $4,600 to $46,000 Monthly
    Send A Simple E-mail “The Secret Cure For Cancer”

    JUST FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW…
    YOUR PERSONAL WEBSITE IS EMBEDDED IN THIS E-MAIL…

    Invest 90 Seconds + Send out a Simple Cure for Cancer e-mail… Earn $4,600 to $46,000 a Month within 100 days or less…

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++
    The Simple & Short E-mail
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Most likely someone you love will die of Cancer or
    some type of Flu type Disease and when it happens
    you will say I wish I could have done something…

    The SECRET CURE FOR CANCER…
    Are you ready for the Simple & Secret CURE…
    Here it is “DON’T GET IT”…

    THE BOTTOM LINE IS
    Take TurboMune & DON’T GET IT & If you GOT IT
    Take TurboMune To Help You Get Rid You Of IT…

    This product use to sell for $150 a capsule…
    It currently sells in ASIA for $300 a bottle…
    OWOW sells the product as low as $19.95 a bottle…

    ++++++++++++++++++
    Invest 90 Seconds

    The PP Blog first reported the existence of the email Saturday. The Blog also reported that Phil Piccolo had been a member of a company in California that had been expressly warned by the state not to make false and misleading claims in promotional materials and not to advertise that tax “write-offs” were available for joining an MLM company.

    DNA advertised that members who recorded license-plate numbers on its behalf could qualify for hefty mileage deductions despite the fact that no evidence has surfaced that the firm’s license-plate program is a legitimate business.

    “Did you know about your DNA Tax Benefits . . .” the DNA pitch began. “Imagine driving 10,000 miles for your DNA Business = up to a $5,000 Tax Deduction… “IRS Announces 2010 Standard Mileage Rates” IR-2009-111, Dec. 3, 2009… and this is just one of many…”

    Less than enthused about the PP Blog’s reporting, “John” apparently embarked on a strategy of trying to discredit the Blog by advancing a conspiracy theory about the 9/11 attacks, the “the long term manipulation of the Gold and precious metals markets” and tying the Blog to Israel.

    “John” even demanded that another poster answer a question about whether the Blog is “AN ISRAELI?” He also observed that “Millions consider the [Food and Drug Administration] to be a filthy cabal of criminals” and suggested there was nothing misleading about Piccolo’s cancer-cure email to OWOW members.

    The Blog specifically asked “John” why someone would plant the seed that the OWOW TurboMune product cures cancer.

    “THERE YOU GO AGAIN, wrong AGAIN, spreading lies AGAIN,” John claimed. “The email says ‘The Secret Cure For Cancer” IS ‘Dont get it.’”

    “John” offered no comment on the part of the email that read, “THE BOTTOM LINE IS
    Take TurboMune & DON’T GET IT & If you GOT IT Take TurboMune To Help You Get Rid You Of IT…”

  • THE BIG CHILL: PP Blog Gets ‘Dear Rat Bastard’ Email With Repeated ‘Doomsday’ References; Blog Considers Note A Threat And Will Share It With Law-Enforcement Agencies

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This post quotes content from an email received early this evening by the PP Blog. Some readers may find the language objectionable.

    UPDATED 11:16A.M. ET (U.S.A., Nov. 22) In what it views as part of a continuing pattern of harassment and a bid to chill its reporting on online fraud schemes and Internet crime, the PP Blog apparently was fraudulently registered as a new member of an online “opportunity” and has received an email that apparently “confirms” the registration. The email, which was received at 6:01 p.m. (ET) today, was sent to the Blog’s support address — specifically to the attention of “RatBastard Fucktard.”

    “Dear Rat Bastard,” the “registration” email began.

    It is possible that the email originated off a server in Michigan that is associated with a cash-gifting program.

    The person who used the Blog’s address fraudulently appears to have caused a fraudulent “affiliate” site for the “opportunity” to be created with the Blog’s address, while causing the word “Doomsday” to appear in the body of the “registration” email to further hector the Blog.

    In late October and early November, the PP Blog was subjected to sustained DDoS attacks. The Blog shared specific details of the attacks with law enforcement.  At 8:29 p.m. today, the Blog forwarded the “header” information from the “registration” email to law enforcement.

    After the “Dear Rat Bastard” greeting, the “registration” email continued:

    “Everyone in our community welcomes you as a valuable and productive member. You will now be able to share the message and mission of ‘Winners 2011’ which is spreading like a wildfire across the globe. We are grateful of your decision and assure you that the entire community will support you at all times as well as those you help by inviting them to also become members of ‘Winners 2011’.”

    The PP Blog made no decision to register for a program known as Winners 2011 and has no knowledge about a program by that name, except for cursory knowledge it gained this evening after being registered fraudulently for the program. Moreover, the Blog never agreed to receive email from Winners 2011 or subscribe to a list controlled by the program. The “registration” email received by the Blog this evening did not include an unsubscribe link.

    The Blog’s address appears to have been entered into a form by a criminal who made a calculation that the “Rat Bastard” and “Doomsday” references would chill the Blog’s reporting while at once creating maintenance chores for the Blog.

    “WE urge you to login to your back office and become very familiar with all the information it offers so you will be able to speak to potential new members intelligently and knowledgably,” the  “registration” email continued. “Stay in close contact with your inviter and their inviter as well as teach your people to do the same, this is a team effort.

    “Remember: Winners have simply formed the habit of doing things losers don’t like to do,” the email concluded.

    The Winners 2011 program may be associated with a gifting program known as 14Eagles, which is being pitched from websites, social-media sites and forums.

    Today’s false registration of the PP Blog as a member of Winners 2011 follows a pattern of strange events that have occurred on Sundays. Read earlier story based on events that occurred on Sunday, Oct. 3.

  • Egg-Themed Domains Used To Promote HYIPs That Flushed Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars Go Missing — Plus, An Update On Data Network Affiliates Amid Suggestion Thyroid Cancer Sufferers Can Benefit From Product Called ‘O-WOW TurboMune’

    Four egg-themed domain names used to drive business to HYIPs that ended in spectacular flameouts and foreshadowed a warning from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) have gone missing.

    The domains — including one that redirected to an HYIP site known bizarrely as Cash Tanker, which used an image of Jesus Christ to promote a purported payout of 2 percent a day — first were promoted on the pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum  by a poster who used the handle “joe” in December 2009.

    The egg-themed promo featured a pitch that HYIP participants were wise to spread risk by not keeping all of their eggs in “ONE BASKET.” It also hawked Gold Nugget Invest (7.5 percent a week); Saza Investments (9 percent a week); and Genius Funds (6.5 percent a week).

    Despite an active criminal investigation into the business practices of ASD President Andy Bowdoin and alleged co-conspirators — and despite a RICO lawsuit filed by members against Bowdoin and repeated warnings from various regulators about the dangers of HYIPs and autosurfs — the egg-themed promo claimed in all-caps that “I MAKE 2000.00 A WEEK” and directly solicited ASD members to part with their money.

    One Surf’s Up member dissed critics of the promo, calling them “dead wrong.”

    “I also make a lot of money from those four and your remarks tell me you don’t know anything about them,” the member claimed. “[T]hey are very reputable [companies] who have been around for years….and the money is NOT made from ‘new’ people’s money….google them and look at various forums and see what others have to say about them….I don’t even know Joe, but I can vouch for the programs!”

    A  series of spectacular collapses that consumed each of the HYIPs then followed over a period of just weeks, demonstrating that spreading risk across multiple HYIPs by putting eggs in multiple HYIP baskets was spectacularly poor advice that had produced a recipe for financial disaster.

    In July, FINRA said that Genius Funds cost investors about $400 million. The regulator launched a public-awareness campaign, one component of which was an ad campaign on Google designed to educate and inform the public about HYIP fraud.

    “Open the cyber door to HYIPs, and you will find hundreds of HYIP websites vying for investor attention,” FINRA said. “It is a bizarre substratum of the Internet.”

    Records show that the government of Belize had issued a warning about Gold Nugget Invest nearly a month before the egg-themed promo had appeared on Surf’s Up and at least two members had vouched for the program.

    FINRA also pointed to criminal charges filed by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in May against Nicholas Smirnow, the alleged operator of an HYIP Ponzi scheme known as Pathway To Prosperity that fleeced more than 40,000 people across the globe out of an estimated $70 million.

    Gold Nugget Invest (GNI) collapsed in early January 2010, about a month after the egg-themed promo had appeared on Surf’s Up. Surf’s Up went offline just days prior to the collapse of GNI, which was explained in bizarre fashion.

    Using baffling prose, a purported GNI manager claimed the program ended after it had attempted to gain “a crystal clear vision of our financial vortex” during the fourth quarter of 2009.

    After the collapse of the programs in the original egg-themed pitch on Surf’s Up, the domains then were set to redirect to other HYIPs.

    Some ASD members later turned their attention to promoting MLM programs such as Narc That Car/Crowd Sourcing International (CSI), Data Network Affiliates (DNA) and MPB Today.  CSI and DNA purport to be in the business of paying people to write down the license-plate numbers of cars for entry in a database. MPB Today purports to be in the grocery business.

    DNA, which once instructed people of faith that it was their “MORAL OBLIGATION” to hawk a purported mortgage-reduction program offered alongside the purported license-plate program, now appears to have morphed into a program known as One World One Website or “O-WOW.”

    An email received by members of the O-WOW program this weekend purported that a man suffering from terminal thyroid cancer had derived benefit from an O-WOW product known as “TurboMune” and that members somehow can earn “24% Annual Interest on their money” by giving it to O-WOW.

    If members don’t pay O-WOW before Nov. 30, they’ll earn a lower rate of interest (18 percent), according to an email received by members.

    Like DNA, O-WOW is associated with Phil Piccolo. During a radio program in August, Piccolo threatened critics with lawsuits and planted the seed that he could cause critics to experience physical pain. DNA has an “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau. So does CSI. So does United Pro Media, a company formerly operated by MPB Today’s Gary Calhoun.

    See the PP Blog’s Dec. 4, 2009, story on the egg-themed pitches on the Surf’s Up forum.

  • Settlement With FTC Bans Scientist From Making Snakeoil Claims About POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice And POMx Supplements

    Now cooperating with an FTC probe into POM Wonderful, Mark Dreher has been barred from making misleading claims about the product. Two evidence exhibits in the case showed a newsletter in which Dreher allegedly made unsubstantiated claims about the juice and related products.

    UPDATED 2:31 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) The chief science officer of POMWonderful LLC knew as early as May 2007 that a company-funded, placebo-controlled study showed that there was  “no significant difference” between consumption of pomegranate juice and a control beverage after 18 months in reducing arterial plaque and the risk of heart disease but continued to tout “POM Wonderful’s cardiovascular research and benefits despite the negative testing results,” the FTC said.

    In addition to being touted as a treatment for heart disease, POM Wonderful also allegedly was pitched as a treatment for prostate cancer despite a lack of scientific proof that the juice prevented or reduced disease risk.

    Now Mark Dreher, a Ph.D. who was vice president of Science & Regulatory Affairs for POM Wonderful and allegedly help spread unproven claims about its products, has been barred from making “any disease treatment or prevention claim” that is misleading, the FTC said.

    In a settlement with the agency in a false-advertising case brought in September, Dreher acknowledged no wrongdoing.

    An order that accompanies the case “further prohibits Dreher from making other health claims for a food, drug, or dietary supplement for human use, including as an expert endorser, without competent and reliable scientific evidence to support the claim,” the FTC said.

    Dreher also agreed to a “cooperation clause” in the FTC’s ongoing case against POM Wonderful.

    Brought as an administrative action, the case alleged that POM Wonderful also was touted as a treatment for erectile dysfunction.

    “Any consumer who sees POM Wonderful products as a silver bullet against disease has been misled,” David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in September.

    “When a company touts scientific research in its advertising, the research must squarely support the claims made,” Vladeck said. “Contrary to POM Wonderful’s advertising, the available scientific information does not prove that POM Juice or POMx effectively treats or prevents these illnesses.”

    As has been the case with Internet-related frauds, the FTC gathered evidence that included photographs and written claims about the products as part of its probe, according to administrative filings.

    Visit the FTC site for case information.

  • UPDATE: Cornell University Seeks To Determine If Man Referenced In Email Circulated By ASD Members’ Group Is Licensed Attorney; Website Listing For Kenneth Wayne Leaming Under Review

    UPDATED 11:04 A.M. ET (U.S.A.) Cornell University said Sunday that it will remove a listing on its Law School website for Kenneth Wayne Leaming of Spanaway, Wash., if Leaming proves not to be a licensed attorney. A review of the listing and the circumstances under which Leaming’s name was added to a database of attorneys’ names is under way.

    A person named Kenneth Wayne Leaming of Spanaway, Wash., was accused in 2005 of engaging in the unauthorized practice of law, according to a document that appears on the website of the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA.) Meanwhile, a person by the same name is referenced by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as a “self-described ‘recognized international lawyer’ and a member of an “extremist group” known as “Little Shell Pembina Band of North America.”

    The group is known to have ties to Washington state, according to ADL.

    Leaming, according to ADL, once served as a deputy sheriff and member of the Civil Rights Task Force, a “sovereign citizen group that has used badges and raid jackets to resemble law enforcement officers.”

    Cornell noted that Leaming should “have provided us with documentary proof of his law license” before his name was published on a website the Law School runs in partnership with Justia.com.

    “[O]bviously that needs to be double-checked at this point for validity or alterations,” said Thomas R. Bruce, director of Cornell’s Legal Information Institute. “Of course we’ll remove him if he’s not what he claims to be.”

    As part of its partnership with Justia, Cornell publishes free listings for licensed attorneys across the United States. Leaming’s name appears in listings on both the Cornell Law School site and the Justia site.

    Leaming’s name also appears in a listing at Oyez.org, another Justia-affiliated site that publishes information on cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.  Whether Leaming, whose listings advertise a practice in Spanaway, is a licensed attorney is unclear.

    The listings, which advertise a fee structure and areas of practice such as Admiralty/Maritime, Business Law, Estate Planning and Native American Law, do not reference any law school attended by Leaming or law degree obtained. Bruce said the university would work with Justia to review “verification procedures used to make sure that those who claim to be attorneys actually are.”

    Whether Leaming has a law degree and is licensed to practice law in any state remains unclear. Bruce said the document published on the WSBA website “certainly paints an unfavorable picture.”

    Leaming goes by the nickname “Keny” and is associated with an entity known as “AMERICAN-INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS LAW INC.,” according to the listings on the Justia-connected sites.

    Last week members of Florida-based AdSurfDaily received an email that referenced “Keny” and the same business entity referenced in the attorney listings published by Cornell and others.

    The email, which appears to be a compendium that cobbles together communications from members of a group within ASD and asks ASD members to pass along the information, implies that ASD members who file for restitution through a government-approved process may face legal action from the group, which has or will file claims against the “illicit UNITED STATED (sic) OF AMERICA INC. et al” for its prosecution of the ASD Ponzi scheme case brought by the U.S. Secret Service in August 2008.

    “The Secret Service does not comment on or discuss ongoing investigations,” an agency spokesman said this morning.

    A purported “legal opinion” by “Keny” was contained within the email received by ASD members, which was circulated by an ASD member referred to as “Sara.”

    ASD is known to have ties to the so-called “Patriot” and “sovereign” movements. The movements are known to engage in what has been described as “paper terrorism” designed to rattle the government and litigation opponents.

    The U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars from the personal bank accounts of ASD President Andy Bowdoin in August 2008, alleging he was at the helm of a massive Ponzi scheme.

    An attorneys’ database at Martindale.com appears to have no listing for a lawyer named “Kenneth Leaming,” “Ken Leaming” or “Keny Leaming.”

    See earlier story.

  • PRIVACY A CASUALTY OF MPB TODAY? Promo Shows Snapshot Of Customer In Walmart’s Pharmacy Section; Slide Show Shows 32 Snapshots Of MPB Affiliates Waving Checks And Walmart Cards, 15 Snapshots Taken Inside A Walmart Store

    An online side show for MPB Today includes images of Walmart customers shopping inside a Walmart store. One of the departments featured in the slide show was the Pharmacy Department. (The image in this post has been cropped by the PP Blog to exclude a woman standing near the pharmacy counter.)

    UPDATED 3:38 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) A 52-frame slide show accessible online may lead to questions about whether the privacy of Walmart customers and Walmart itself has been invaded in a sales promo for the purported MPB Today “grocery” program.

    At least nine of the slides show customers, including people who appear to be senior citizens, shopping inside a Walmart store. The promo also appears to capture the images of Walmart employees. Fifteen photos of various Walmart departments are displayed in the presentation.

    One of the snapshots taken inside the store includes the image of a woman standing inside the pharmacy section. The woman appears to be holding a cell phone to her left ear. The snapshot is dated Aug. 28, 2010 and time-stamped at 13:47.  It is unclear if the date and time reflect the actual date and time the photo was taken. Several of the photos in the promo are date – and time-stamped. It is possible that all of the photos displaying Walmart shoppers, employees and departments were taken on the same day.

    The promo opens with 32 consecutive photos of MPB Today members displaying checks and Walmart cards. The photos appear to have been taken in or around the members’ homes. An image of business titan Warren Buffet is visible on a laptop-computer screen in one of the slides.

    Buffet is not believed to have any affiliation with MPB Today. Walmart also is believed to have no affiliation with the MLM company. Regardless, images of Buffet and Walmart’s intellectual property have been widely featured in MPB Today promos.

    The promo is at least the third in which MPB Today affiliates appear to have produced or contributed to sales promos shot in whole or in part on Walmart property. Whether any of the affiliates obtained permission from the company or its employees and customers is unclear.

    Concerns about privacy also have been raised about Data Network Affiliates (DNA) and Narc That Car/Crowd Sourcing International, two other MLM programs whose affiliates shot promos on properties owned by major U.S. retailers, including Walmart.

    Both DNA and Narc That Car/Crowd Sourcing International purport to be in the business of paying MLM affiliates to record the license numbers of automobiles. Affiliates of both firms advised incoming members to take photos of license plates or write down license-plate numbers in the parking lots of retail outlets. One promo for DNA recommended that members also record license-plate numbers at doctors’ offices and churches.

    DNA appears to be morphing into another business known as One World One Website or “O-WOW.”

  • Want To Plant The Seed That Famous Brands Back Your MLM Product If They Do Not? Get Ready To Pony Up For Legal Bills: Evolv Banned From Using Trademarks Of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, University Of Texas

    UPDATED 1:18 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) An MLM company that allegedly planted the seed that its bottled-water product had passed muster with a prestigious university and medical-research facility has agreed to stop making the claims and pay its own costs of litigation after agreeing to a settlement.

    The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center alleged last year that EvolvHealth LLC and HealtH2O Products LLC had infringed their trademarks and made confusing claims about limited research performed on behalf of the firms.

    M.D. Anderson is one of the most recognizable names in the world in the field of cancer research. The MLM firms used the center’s name to hoodwink the marketplace into believing it had conducted “extensive testing” of Evolv, a product whose base was Houston tap water infused with a formula known as Archaea Active, according to the lawsuit.

    Cancer patients were being misled and potentially harmed by the claims, and the value of the university and center’s trade names and their standing in the scientific community were being harmed through bids by the defendants to plant the seed that the prestigious facilities endorsed the product after examining it thoroughly.

    Nearly 800,000 cancer patients have sought treatment at M.D. Anderson since 1944, and neither the facility nor the university ever endorsed Evolv, despite published suggestions that they had, according to the lawsuit.

    M.D. Anderson claimed in the lawsuit that it had conducted only “preliminary” and “limited” testing under contract with HealtH2O to look at the anti-inflammatory properties of the Archaea Active formula and had conducted no conclusive, comprehensive research.

    Regardless, the product was positioned in the MLM sphere as having undergone “rigorous” testing. M.D. Anderson’s trademark even was placed on the “label of the Evolv product” and on websites operated by the defendants, according to the lawsuit.

    The defendants’ claims planted the seed that “M.D. Anderson performed more extensive testing than actually occurred, and that M.D. Anderson has made scientific findings regarding the Evolv product’s efficacy, safety or beneficial value in treating or preventing cancer,” the lawsuit alleged.

    Even the preliminary testing trumpeted as rigorous and extensive by MLM pitchmen was not scientifically confirmed, according to the lawsuit.

    After the university complained to the defendants, it then was asked to enter into an agreement that would give Evolv and HealtH2O a “worldwide, royalty-free license” to use M.D. Anderson’s name in a marketing material for a product largely consisting of common tap water, according to the lawsuit.

    Neither the university nor the center agreed to the licensing proposal that occurred after the fact, but the defendants kept using the prestigious names in their pitches, according to the lawsuit.

    Eventually HealtH2O tried to turn the tables by asserting counterclaims against the university and M.D. Anderson, but that effort collapsed with the settlement.

    To settle the case, the defendants now have agreed to a permanent injunction that bars them from using the famous trademarks and “any iteration or variation thereof.”

    Under the terms of the settlement, the defendants acknowledged no wrongdoing, but agreed neither to state nor imply that the university or M.D. Anderson endorsed the product.

    Had the case gone to trial and the university and M.D. Anderson prevailed, the defendants could have faced treble damages.

    Read a discussion thread on RealScam.com.

  • Book By Lynn Edgington, Chairman Of Eagle Research Associates Inc. And Regular Contributor To PP Blog, Now Available On Amazon.com; ‘Robbing You With A Keyboard Instead Of A Gun: Cyber Crime — How They Do It’

    DISCLOSURE: The PP Blog is referenced in Lynn Edgington’s new book and provided a comment about the good works undertaken by Eagle Research Associates Inc., a Public Benefit Nonprofit Corporation registered in California. Eagle, which researches Internet investment scams, was formed Aug. 3, 2007. It is an approved 501(c)3 Corporation.

    The PP Blog was not compensated for the comment it provided Eagle and, at various times, has given Eagle permission to reproduce articles that have appeared on the PP Blog. The Blog did not charge Eagle a fee. Lynn Edgington is a regular contributor to the PP Blog and is not compensated for his contributions. The PP Blog is not being compensated for providing the link to Lynn’s book (below photograph). The book is titled, “Robbing You With A Keyboard Instead Of A Gun: Cyber Crime – How They Do It.”

    Get more info on Lynn’s book at Amazon.com.

  • NOTE TO READERS: PP Blog Back Again; Criminals Try To Make Mincemeat Out Of 1st Amendment; CEO Of Small Company In North Carolina Stands Up For Press Freedom

    UPDATED 1:42 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) The PP Blog has returned. A major series of assaults on the Blog — and press freedom under the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — have been turned back. Five federal agencies are aware of the attacks. Evidence has been preserved.

    The Blog has established a satellite presence and certain redundancies, enabling its content to be published across multiple platforms. All content has been preserved, including more than 9,000 comments from readers, some of whom are victims of Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, MLM-style frauds and other forms of fraud.

    It is said that the last couple of months leading up to an election in the United States is the “Silly Season” in which political operatives get downright dirty.

    Unlike the Silly Season for political operatives, however, the Silly Season for online criminals has no generally restrained window of opportunity and no generally accepted beginning or end. It never really ends. Criminals want to continue to steal from senior citizens and people of faith, for instance. They want to shackle and hamstring the law-enforcement community. They want to position poison as candy and coopt people through appeals to greed — and they want to disable megaphones large and small.

    One week ago today, a new assault against the PP Blog began, the second in eight days. The Blog’s online “signature” was removed for security reasons. The signature popped back online briefly Friday, and a massive assault that ultimately consumed hundreds of MB of data (just to record the first couple of hours of the attack in text form) began instantly. Again the Blog’s signature was removed for security reasons.

    The Blog’s signature returned Saturday; yet-another assault began.

    Over the past several days, the data and security challenge were analyzed. A specialist painstakingly deployed an approach designed to thwart the attack. The Blog’s signature returned yesterday afternoon, as did the attackers. The attack was professionally managed and suppressed.

    Owing to the intervention of an entity and certain individuals who do not trivialize the Blog’s editorial mission and the 1st Amendment, the PP Blog has survived to publish this post.

    We confess that we were overcome with emotion when the Blog and its editorial well of 965 stories and thousands of links appeared back online yesterday afternoon.

    One of the great ironies of the situation is that some criminals and fraudsters on the Internet insist that they are the victims of Big Brother and what has become known as the “evilGUBment.” They rationalize egregious criminal behavior, in some cases portraying themselves as patriots and modern-day freedom-fighters.

    Some of them, apparently, trash the very same Constitution they claim to support by summoning hidden armies and weaponizing data packets to attack the very Constitutional principles they purport to embrace.

    The PP Blog was attacked to make the world safer for criminals — this while wealth in Florida and many other places on the map is bleeding out into the Caribbean and elsewhere and terrorists are creating toner bombs and underwear bombs and hoping to rivet the world’s attention on a detonation.

    Our heartfelt thanks to Kevin Kwasnik, CEO and Founder of USA Domains, a hosting company in Hickory. N.C., that stood up for the principle that a free press will not be denied in a Democracy.

    In a world in which criminals and hucksters paint investigators who probe domestic and international fraud and journalists who write about it as Nazis, Kevin Kwasnik stood up for a small Blog in a sea of Blogs.

    His family understands attempts to silence voices, and the lessons have been passed down through succeeding generations from a place known as Auschwitz, the largest of the concentration camps operated by the real Nazis.

  • FTC Shows Federal Judge Screen Shots Of Online Promos; Agency Sues Purported ‘Wellness’ Firm For Deceptive Trade Practices, False Advertising

    An evidence exhibit filed by the FTC in federal court in San Francisco shows screen shots of claims made online by Wellness Support Network Inc. The agency now has sued the California company, alleging deceptive trade practices and false advertising in the marketing of  products purported to treat and prevent diabetes.

    Included in the 25-page evidence exhibit are 22 screen shots that capture text, images and claims made about the Wellness products. Within the exhibits are images of purported customers who provided testimonials, along with a text claim that “Nobel Prize winning technology validates WSN Diabetic Pack ingredients!”

    The FTC’s action against Wellness is the most recent false-advertising case in which the agency visited websites and took screen shots of claims made on the sites. Court filings also show that the FTC is copying videos produced by Internet marketers, and using the videos to bolster fraud cases.

    Court filings in the Wellness case suggest the firm was under investigation for months before the FTC brought the action.

    This is a screen shot from an evidence exhibit in the FTC case against Wellness. The FTC exhibit included 22 screen shots of claims made online.

    Named defendants in the case were Wellness and its principals, Robert Held and Robyn Held.

  • EDITORIAL: Script For MPB Today Promo Used The Word ‘Monkeys’ In Context Of Obama Presidency; Research Suggests At Least Two Versions Of Script Existed; One Painted Obamas As Welfare Recipients Aspiring To Eat Dog Food And Table Scraps Left By Family Pet

    EDITOR’S NOTE: The PP Blog previously wrote about a promo by an MPB Today affiliate that sought to recruit prospects by depicting President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as Nazis. The PP Blog is reporting today that at least two versions of the affiliate’s anti-Obama script appear to have existed, including one that used the word “monkeys” in the context of the Obama presidency. It is possible that the second script was actually a work-in-progress that was edited over time and later resulted in the publication of a single video, and was not a script unto itself.

    PHOTO CREDIT: United Nations, U.S. Department of State, Oct. 26, 2010: Secretary Clinton addresses a meeting of the UN Security Council marking the 10th anniversary of landmark Council resolution 1325 on women in peace and security.

    Before the PP Blog was knocked offline Saturday by a DDoS attack that delivered more than 6.1 million hits in a compressed time frame, the Blog was continuing its research into several stories. One of them involved a bizarre political attack on President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The attack came in the form of an animated sales promo for the purported MPB Today “grocery” program. We earlier published frames from the video, which was taken offline last month after the Blog wrote about it.

    Research now suggests there were at least two scripts for the promo or a single script that was  a work-in-progress that resulted in a finished video.

    At least one finished video was published on GoAnimate.com, a video service. The video depicted Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as Nazis, with Obama as a left-handed-saluting Nazi who cowered to Clinton, and Clinton as a drunken, whining Nazi who knocked out Michelle Obama after barging into the Oval Office. The phrase “Brown-noser” was used in this video which, incredibly, was a sales pitch designed to recruit MPB Today members.

    “Brown-noser,” of course, is a loaded phrase — not that depicting the President as a cowering Nazi, the First Lady as an embarrassment to the nation and the Secretary of State as the Nazi-In-Chief is any less objectionable.

    MPB Today affiliates routinely mention Walmart in their promos. Perhaps it was lost on the author of the anti-Obama screed that Clinton, a former First Lady and formerly a duly elected member of the U.S. Senate — the same body from which Obama emerged — was the first woman ever appointed to Walmart’s board of directors. Her appointment occurred in 1986, nearly a quarter of a century ago. Clinton no longer serves on Walmart’s board.

    Hillary Clinton also was a serious contender for the Presidency of the United States. She is held in high regard by tens of millions of Americans, including Americans who disagree with her political philosophy. Clinton is only the second woman ever to serve as U.S. Secretary of State. Only two Republicans cast votes against Clinton’s nomination as Secretary; the overall vote in January 2009 was 94-2.

    Although it is unclear if the second script resulted in a finished video that later was removed, the script is published online and is available in Google search results. If anything, it is even more objectionable than the script that resulted in the published video.

    Here is the script, as published on Google. (Italics and carriage returns added):

    SCENE0:

    SCENE1: michelle_obama O’ Barry Baby, since we’ve joined MPB TODAY your popularity has increased in the polls! Who runs these polls, monkeys??

    SCENE2: michelle_obama obama It’s true, Shell Bell.. and I’ve even been asked to be a greeter at Walmart since I’m there so much using my $200 giftcards.

    SCENE3: michelle_obama obama And I just love those $300 commission checks, too! Me too, Babe, me too…

    SCENE4: michelle_obama obama I’m so relieved we’ve totally eliminated our grocery bill! You’re relieved? Now I’ll finally get some real dog food instead of just Sasha’s scraps

    SCENE5: obama michelle_obama Pardon me, Honey… it must be all those beans I ate at Sam’s Club today. Wheww, somebody open a window, I can’t breathe.

    SCENE6: michelle_obama obama Hmm, I should prolly call my Food Stamp worker now that I’ve joined MPB

    SCENE7: michelle_obama obama I only had to spend $200 to join, but I borrowed the money so don’t worry, honey.

    SCENE8: obama michelle_obama You what?? You borrowed the money to join MPB Today? From whom?? Oh no, here it comes…

    SCENE9: obama michelle_obama Uhh, from Hilary, Here she comes now…

    SCENE10: obama michelle_obama hillary Hail Hil, what’s wrong with you??

    SCENE11: obama hillary michelle_obama I couldn’t find 2 people to join me in MPB Today, now I’m going to lose my money! I feel so woozy, like I got clunked in the head, what just happened??

    SCENE12: hillary obama michelle_obama Maybe it’s time to lose the pantsuit from Big Lots and start shopping at Walmart, like I do. Then maybe people will join you in MPB. What a freakin’ drama queen That’s it, I’m outta here

    SCENE14: hillary obama Listen, I pledge to help you get your 2 people but even if I can’t you’ll still get your groceries?

    SCENE15: obama hillary All you’ll have to do is pay shipping on the groceries, Hil, no big deal… right? I suppose not but I feel like such a loser. cough cough… let’s not even go there.

    SCENE16: obama hillary You’re no loser, Hil, and besides… no one loses with MPB Today, not even you… OMG, What a Brown-noser

    SCENE17: obama hillary O’ I’m so relieved, now I can go home and tell Bill. Just go home, PLEASE just go home…

    SCENE19: [URL Deleted By PP Blog] Brought To You by: [Deleted By PP Blog]

    SCENE18: Join MPB Today With a Real Mentor, Not Merely a Marketer… Big Difference!

    SCENE20: Join MPB Today With a Real Mentor, Not Merely a Marketer… Big Difference!

    The script.

    Apparently the self-described “Real Mentor” believed it prudent for business purposes to offend as many Americans and citizens of the world as possible in the bizarre bid to glean affiliate checks and Walmart gift cards from MPB Today, an MLM program.

    The second script makes no reference to Nazis, but does include a reference to “monkeys.” Hillary Clinton was called “Hitlary” in the script that resulted in the published video. The Secretary is merely “Hillary” in the second script. The “Brown-noser” line is common to both scripts.

    And what do the Obamas eat? Well, “dog food,” according to the script. Apparently this is a step up from the table “scraps” the family dog left unconsumed.

    The script also references the federal Food Stamp program, apparently painting at least one of the Obamas as in need of the services provided by the USDA-operated program and a caseworker.

    President Obama apparently was positioned as a Walmart “greeter” in the script.

    The word “bizarre” does not even begin to cover the scripts or the finished video that emerged. We are left wondering if someone made the calculation that the use of the word “monkeys” would be just too caustic for the finished product, but that the Nazi depiction would strike just the right chord to stimulate money to change hands. Regardless, the phrase “Brown-noser” appears to have been included in both scripts — and we’d fully expect the producer to argue that the phrase was just a throw-away line, that it was in no way designed as code to remind MPB Today prospects that Obama does not have the same bloodlines as, say, the 43 Presidents who preceded him.

    That any version of the promo emerged in a bid to attract prospects to MPB Today is a matter for great introspection. At the moment, we can’t think of a single thing that tops it in terms of unrestrained gall, xenophobia and pure idiocy.

    In the often bizarre world of MLM, we’ve apparently reached the point that a “real mentor” puts the President of the United States in a Walmart greeter’s attire, places him on Food Stamps, depicts him (or his family) as aspiring to eat dog food, uses animated images of a dog to reinforce the poisonous stereotypes, lashes out against the First Lady and the Secretary of State — and then urges others to sign up for a “grocery” program and do the same.

    That MPB Today has not spoken out against this is only one of many reasons people should choose not to do business with the firm.