PatrickPretty.com

Category: Writing And Branding

Florida Man Who Created 260 eBay Accounts Convicted In Elaborate Scam That Bilked $717,000 From Customers

The spread of online commerce has been accompanied by a spread of elaborate frauds — some of which have gathered tens of millions of dollars. Accompanying the fraud have been stares of disbelief. Not all of the stares have been directed at the fraudsters themselves. Indeed, thousands and thousands of people globally at any point…

Oct 16, 2009
EDITORIAL: An Odd Week For America

Last week was an odd one for millions of Americans. President Obama was announced the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and no one really knew what to do. The Peace Prize is the big one, the Nobel people remember for generations. But Obama has been in office only months, and the Nobel committee more…

Oct 11, 2009
BREAKING NEWS: Two Dead, Two Listed In Critical Condition, 21 Taken To Hospitals; Troubling Medical Situation Develops At New-Age Retreat In Arizona

UPDATED 7:15 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Homicide detectives are investigating a disturbing situation in Arizona in which two people have died and others developed severe medical symptoms after engaging in a group sauna at the Angel Valley Retreat in Sedona. Angel Valley promotes “a unique energetic environment to support your journey of self-discovery, healing and realization…

Oct 9, 2009
A STUDY IN CONTRAST: Arnold Palmer’s Congressional Gold Medal Vs. Andy Bowdoin’s Congressional Medal Of Distinction

Tomorrow President Obama will present the Congressional Gold Medal to American icon Arnold Palmer. The AP wire carried the story today. By coincidence, the Orlando Sentinel simultaneously was reporting that a two-year-old girl was rushed to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, after she was found submerged and unresponsive in a swimming pool. Simultaneously Florida Today…

Sep 29, 2009
EDITORIAL: Google, The White House And Miss America

Andy Bowdoin, whom federal prosecutors saidÂ appropriated the brand of the institution of the Presidency of the United States to make more Ponzi sales, now has turned to the wholesome brand of the Miss AmericaÂ Organization to sanitize the Ponzi business. Members of Bowdoin’s autosurf company, AdSurfDaily, also appropriated the brand of Google,Â claiming the surf firm had…

Sep 26, 2009
Noobing-Connected Firm Discussed In Senate Hearing

The head of the Federal Trade Commission told a Senate panel yesterday that a firm associated with the Noobing autosurf embarked on a scheme to sell a $59 book and then used a telemarketing company to upsell customers to an expensive program that fraudulently sold “guaranteed” government grants from economic-stimulus funds. “Just last week, some…

Sep 11, 2009
BREAKING NEWS: AdVentures4U, New Darling Of Surf World, Says It Was Threatened; Note Says Cashouts Will Be Suspended Soon And Members Will Have To Make Do With Their ‘Advertising’ Purchases; Ponzi Forums In Uproar

UPDATED 11:57 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) There are widespread reports this morning that AdVentures4U (ADV4U), the new darling of the autosurf world, is suspending “revenue sharing” and that its owner was threatened. The reports come on the heels of various reports that the surf slashed payout rates and poured money into a gold-buying business known as…

Aug 28, 2009
BREAKING NEWS: Did AdViewGlobal Cancel Florida Registration By Fax From Hotel In Uruguay?

UPDATED 7:53 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) AdViewGlobal (AVG), which also is known as the AV Global Association (AVGA), registered the association name as a fictitious entity in Florida in April, canceled and re-registered it in May — and canceled the registration again July 21 in a transaction that involved a hotel fax machine in Montevideo, Uruguay,…

Aug 26, 2009
SOURCE: Andy Bowdoin Was Head Of AdViewGlobal; Secret Service Seized Computer Used By Insider; Money Missing From Firm; Arizona Authorities Involved; Surf Immersed In Sea Of Uncertainty As Patriarch Deflects Blame

EDITOR’S NOTE: Information in this story was gleaned Tuesday and Wednesday from a source who spoke to the PatrickPretty.com Blog on the condition of anonymity. We interviewed the source Wednesday. The source said a large group of individuals once loyal to Andy Bowdoin no longer could stand in his corner. “We got mixed up in…

Aug 20, 2009
Readers Digest To Declare Bankruptcy

UPDATED 9:24 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) “Life in These United States” now means that staid Reader’s Digest, hamstrung by debt during a recession and competing in an era unfriendly to print publications, will declare bankruptcy. The news comes on the heels of an announcement Friday by the FDIC that five more U.S. banks had failed, bringing…

Aug 18, 2009
BERNIE’S ‘STING’: Frank DiPascali Jr. Pleads Guilty In Madoff Case; Officials Say He Developed Phony Computer Platform That Appeared To Reflect Real Trading

In the movie “The Sting,” accomplice J.J. Singleton read from a surplus tickertape wire into a microphone to create theÂ impression that horse races that already were over were being run live on the radio. J.J.’s bogus radio calls from the back room helped Henry Gondorff and Johnny Hooker fleece Doyle Lonnegan of $500,000 in…

Aug 12, 2009