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Tag: ASA Monitor

  • UPDATE: Antihistorical ‘MoneyMakingBrain’ Claim: ‘Law Enforcement Agencies Don’t Pay Attention To What’s Being Said On Forums And Blogs’

    “There is a line between First Amendment Rights vs. Libel here. So, when does your right to form an opinion begins (sic) and when does it constitute a defamation of character? The answer is, law enforcement agencies don’t pay attention to what’s being said on forums and blogs, so get your head straight and feet firm on the ground.” — “MoneyMakingBrain,” in March 4, 2012, post on RealScam.com

    As previously reported on the PP Blog, a JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid “defender” known as “MoneyMakingBrain” (MMB) has emailed threats to the PP Blog, hatched bizarre conspiracy theories here and at RealScam.com and planted the seed that he was someone to fear.

    The email threats were received after MMB claimed Feb. 18 on RealScam he had performed “due diligence” on JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid. On a website known as “ReviewOPedia,” a poster with the same handle offered this on Feb. 14, in the context of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid:

    “They are for real! ”

    Within the same Feb. 14 ReviewOPedia post, MoneyMakingBrain ventured this (italics added):

    “BTW, everybody should check out the JBP live support chatroom which has over 160 people at any given time and is live 24/7. You can ask all the questions you can come up with and there is always moderator. Who does that? I’m sold already. So, if someone here claims that they ‘didn’t get paid’, either they still don’t understand how the matrix works or they’re just internet trolls.”

    Whether the “MoneyMakingBrain” on the PP Blog and the “MoneyMakingBrain” on ReviewOPedia are one and the same is unknown to the PP Blog.

    Precisely why the MMB known to the PP Blog and RealScam.com has been trying to chill specific individuals and antiscam forums is unclear. What is known is that what he’s doing is hardly unique.

    Lessons Of HYIP History Ignored

    While asserting that he knows the PP Blog’s IP address and posting location, MMB now is making a claim on RealScam, a forum that concerns itself with international mass-marketing fraud, that “law enforcement agencies don’t pay attention to what’s being said on forums and blogs.”

    That claim is contrary to the public record, which shows that any number of agencies, self-regulatory bodies and private attorneys have been noting for years that HYIP schemes are proliferating on the Internet and being spread by posters on forums and social-networking sites. It also ignores the reality — also a matter of public record — that law-enforcement has a history of filing court documents that reproduce HYIP forum posts and of infiltrating HYIP schemes.

    Prominent FINRA Warning On HYIPs

    In July 2010,  the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued this highly public alert. FINRA noted that “HYIPs use an array of websites and social media — including YouTube, Twitter and Facebook — to lure investors.”

    HYIPs fabricate a “buzz” and create “the illusion of social consensus,” FINRA said, describing the sinister approach as a “common persuasion tactic fraudsters use to suggest that “everyone is investing in HYIPs, so they must be legitimate.”

    Forum Posts Become Evidence In HYIP Cases

    In the SEC’s May 2008 prosecution of the Legisi HYIP scheme, the agency included page after page of forum posts as part of a 267-page evidence exhibit in support of an asset freeze.  A federal judge approved the freeze. (The screenshot below is from one of the forum pages.)

    Legisi operator Gregory McKnight pleaded guilty to criminal charges of wire fraud last month. He also faces millions of dollars in civil judgments. The SEC Legisi filings also include a reference to the MoneyMakerGroup forum, which is listed in other federal court filings as a place from which HYIP Ponzi schemes are promoted.

    This section of the Legisi Terms of Service purports that members must avow they are not an "informant, nor associated with any informant" of the IRS, FBI, CIA and the SEC, among others. The others included "Her Majesty's Police," the Intelligence Services of Great Britain, the Serious Fraud Office, Interpol and others.

    Included within the SEC filings is a reproduction of Legisi’s bizarre Terms. (See graphic at right. It is taken from court filings.) Among other things, the Terms made members avow they were not an “informant” for various government entities.

    JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid has similar Terms. The Terms read like an invitation to join an international financial conspiracy. (The next two paragraphs are verbatim from the JSS Tripler/Just BeenPaid member agreement. 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.”

    When the U.S. Postal Inspection Service filed criminal charges against Nicholas Smirnow in May 2010 for his alleged operation of the Pathway To Prosperity HYIP Ponzi scheme, MoneyMakerGroup, TalkGold and ASAMonitor were specifically referenced in the service’s case filings. Smirnow now has his face on an INTERPOL “Wanted” poster.

    MMB took great exception to the PP Blog’s Smirnow post, apparently believing it had no relevance in the context of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid. MMB also apparently believes the PP Blog and RealScam are treating Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, unfairly.

    Among other things, MMB asserted on the PP Blog that “no one is invisible to the MoneyMakingBrain and you need to stop doing what you’re doing against this man immediately. Because if you don’t, I am going to make a formal complain (sic) to the very authorities you purport are coming after scam sites and send all the evidence I’ve gathered so far from posting on your site and the realscam site. I don’t like witch hunts and I am sure Fred Mann can whip your ass in court for your highly suggestive, provocative, highly contentious and flat-out defamatory commentaries against his character on your sites.”

    MMB further suggested that JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid critics may be “needing to look for another ISP because you won’t have internet access at home or your office, wherever.”

    About three months after the SEC brought the $72 million Legisi/McKnight HYIP Ponzi case, the U.S. Secret Service — in August 2008 — filed evidence exhibits in support of an order to freeze tens of millions of dollars in AdSurfDaily-related bank accounts. The complaint in support of the seizure specifically references an ASD-related “Breaking News” Blog, and an evidence exhibit labeled “Government Exhibit 5” consists entirely of an ASD-related post on a different Blog that took up 15 printed pages.

    The 15-page post featured alleged comments from ASD President Andy Bowdoin in which he threatened to sue critics.

    “These people that are making these slanderous remarks, they are going to continue these slanderous remarks in a court of law defending about a 30 to 40 million dollar slander lawsuit,” the post quoted Bowdoin as saying. (The screen shot below is from Government Exhibit 5. It has been a matter of public record approaching four years.)

    Both the ASD and Legisi investigations used government agents in undercover capacities, according to court filings.

    Meanwhile, in June 2009, attorneys suing Bowdoin on behalf of ASD members in a civil RICO (racketeering) case referred to the PP Blog’s reporting on the ASD Ponzi case, specifically its reporting on a spinoff surf known as AdViewGlobal (AVG). (See court document. See June 30, 2009, related story. See PP Blog story the attorneys referenced in their filings.)

    Threat Of  HYIP ‘Fire Power’

    Also in June 2009, a poster who purported to be an attorney issued a veiled threat to the PP Blog, stating that that “[i]f you keep pushing it now the toes you are stepping on might start stepping back. Looks like they have some fire power behind them now.”

    AVG ceased payouts about 24 days after the threat. Even as it suspended cashouts, AVG threatened the media with copyright-infringement lawsuits for reporting on the payout suspension. Within days, it planted the seed that it would arrange to have the Internet Service Provider (ISP) connections of critics suspended.

    During its short run, AVG bizarrely asserted that it operated as a “private association” that enjoyed U.S. Constitutional protections in Uruguay. AVG used U.S.-based Gmail addresses to conduct business, something JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid is doing. The defunct surf further claimed that it had appointed a person who held the title of “Protector.”

    Such claims have been linked to the so-called “sovereign citizen” movement. On Feb. 27, 2012, the PP Blog reported that a site linked to Mann published videos of Francis Schaeffer Cox, a purported “sovereign citizen” indicted in Alaska in an alleged murder plot against public officials. The site features a drop-in ad for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid that encourages prospects to register with  a Gmail address.

    Whether MMB is aware of all of these these historical incidents while issuing threats and planting the seed he has the power to divorce JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid critics from their Internet connections is not known. MMB’s posting privileges were revoked by the PP Blog last week after he emailed threats and menacing communications. RealScam has continued to permit MMB to post on its forum.

    The PP Blog believes it is unwise to click on any link MMB has posted on RealScam. He appears to be attempting to bait members of the antiscam community into clicking on links as part of a bid to gather IP addresses and other data from posters — all while asserting he has the power to use the information to harm individuals and entities such as Eagle Research Associates, a California based nonprofit that seeks to educate the public about scams.

    Piling On The HYIP Absurdity

    In what would become one of the most visited threads in the history of the PP Blog, a poster known as “CORRECTION” repeatedly demanded that the Blog retract this June 3, 2009, headline about the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf and a strategy advanced by a promoter by which AVG upline sponsors could gather money from individual prospects and funnel it through the sponsors’ local banks before passing it to offshore payment processors — instead of letting AVG gather the money.

    “Get it right before you lead with this inaccurate, bias (sic) and unfair reporting!!!!!!!!!!!” CORRECTION demanded.

    The PP Blog did not submit to the demand to retract the headline.

    It was revealed later in court filings that the grand jury that indicted Bowdoin on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and selling unregistered securities began to meet in May 2009, about a month prior to ASD- and AVG-related threats and demands made against the PP Blog.

    More Gov’t HYIP Documentation

    Read this SEC warning about social-media fraud.

    Read a December 2010 statement from a top FBI official on “Operation Broken Trust” and why Americans need to be vigilant in the era of HYIP schemes and mass-marketing fraud.

    “The focus of this sweep was fraud committed against individual investors, including Ponzi schemes, high-yield investment fraud, and market manipulation cases,” said Shawn Henry, the FBI’s executive assistant director. “Operation Broken Trust highlights the pervasiveness of the threat we face, and its impact on individuals from all walks of life.

    “The perpetrators of these crimes are those who YOU might trust . . . friends and colleagues — people from your workplace, your child’s soccer team, even your church,” Henry said.

    Read this March 1, 2012, story that reports a top U.S. Justice Department official speaking in Mexico referenced bogus libel lawsuits filed to protect criminal enterprises. Read this Justice Department news release last week on a meeting in Ottawa between top U.S. officials and top Canadian officials to discuss cross-border fraud.

    More HYIP Nonsense: No ‘Unfriendly Political Jurisdictions’

    JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid purports to pay a daily return of twice that offered by Bowdoin and ASD — and eight times that of Legisi. The JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid returns are somewhat on par with the returns offered by Pathway To Prosperity.

    At the same time, JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid says this on its website (italics added):

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

    It is difficult to conceive how JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid could send any brighter signals of a scam in progress, given its absurd advertised rate of return and a public proclamation that it is not located in any “unfriendly political jurisdictions.”

    In 2008, Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, identified himself as an ASD pitchman. On Jan. 23, 2012 — six weeks ago today — the Italian securities regulator CONSOB announced it had opened a JSS Tripler-related probe and issued a 90-day suspension order.

    During a March 1 conference call for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, a caller informed Mann that a member of his second-level downline had informed him that the member’s bid to advertise the “opportunity” had been blocked in Holland amid concerns of legality.

    “Tell him not to advertise in any particular country,” Mann replied.

    In a Feb. 23 conference call, Mann declined to identify JSS Tripler with a nation-state, asserting that the opportunity was “not located in any specific part of the world. We’re all over the planet.”

     

     

  • ‘FRAUD CREEP’: The Two-Word Term That Explains How Crime Expands On The Internet To Affect Tens Of Thousands Of Victims At A Time

    EDITOR’S NOTE: Our definition of “fraud creep” — and suggestions on the context in which the term should be applied — appears lower in this story.

    First, some background . . .

    Investigators now are counting victims of massive, web-based fraud schemes tens of thousands at a time. Such scams pose both budgetary and logistical challenges to law enforcement, bankruptcy trustees and court-appointed receivers — and a single scam may take years to unravel. In recent court filings, federal prosecutors said they had amassed 500,000 pages of emails, 100,000 pages of banking records and 5,000 pages of other records as part of the AdSurfDaily Ponzi probe, which began in July 2008. The U.S. Secret Service raided ASD’s headquarters in August 2008.

    The ASD Ponzi scheme, which operated from Florida, may have defrauded 40,000 or more victims while gathering at least $110 million, prosecutors said.

    Meanwhile, in a civil case brought in Utah in October 2010, the SEC said Imperia Invest IBC defrauded more than 14,000 investors worldwide while gathering small sums that ultimately led to a haul of more than $7 million. Among the victims were thousands of deaf investors in the United States.

    Imperia claimed until late 2009 to be located in the Bahamas, but the Bahamian address was “fictitious,” the SEC said, adding that Imperia later claimed to be located in Vanuatu.

    But Imperia was “not registered to do business in Vanuatu and the address listed on its website appears also to be fictitious,” the SEC said.

    Despite the fact Imperia gathered money from thousands of Americans, “[n]either Imperia nor its securities are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission,” the SEC said. “Imperia is not licensed or registered with the Commission, with any state, or with any Self Regulatory Organization.”

    In a separate civil case brought in Nevada last month, the FTC accused Utah resident Jeremy Johnson, I Works Inc. and other companies of orchestrating a massive, continuity-billing scheme that used 51 shell companies, maildrops and “straw-figures” as company officers “to keep the scam going.”

    The complaint names as defendants 10 individuals, 10 corporations and the 51 shell companies. Citing court documents, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that Johnson’s companies allegedly took in more than $350 million and ensnared 15,000 consumers a day at the height of the scheme.

    Customers were lured into purchasing “trial” memberships for “bogus government-grant and money-making schemes,” and then were “repeatedly” charged monthly fees “for these and other memberships that they never signed up for,” the FTC said.

    “[T]his scheme has caused hundreds of thousands of consumers to seek chargebacks — reversals of charges to their credit cards or debits to their banks accounts,” the FTC said.

    “The high number of chargebacks has landed the defendants in VISA’s and MasterCard’s chargeback monitoring programs, resulted in millions of dollars in fines for excessive chargebacks, and prevented the defendants from getting access to the credit card and debit card billing systems using their own names,” the FTC said.

    “To keep the scam going, the defendants tricked banks into giving them continued access to these billing systems by creating 51 shell companies with figurehead officers, and by providing the banks with phony ‘clean’ versions of their websites.”

    Like ASD’s Andy Bowdoin, Johnson denies wrongdoing.

    Making Sense Of It All

    Today the PP Blog offers a two-word term, contexts in which we believe the term applies and proposed definitions as a means of educating the public by describing a complex process of organized, international theft and reducing it to its essence. Understanding how online schemes proliferate — and the emotions they trade on and “scam signals” they send — may help consumers protect themselves from the fraudsters.

    fraud creep [frawd kreep]

    1. Principal definition: The tendency of a web-based financial crime undetected by law enforcement to expand across the Internet until it achieves critical mass, reaches the limits of a criminal organization’s ability to manage and forces investigators to respond. Such a crime may creep (advance slowly) to ultimately create thousands or even tens of thousands of victims globally.

    2. Associated definition: A criminal business model (fraud-creep enterprise) that includes a suggestion of exceptional earnings and generous recruiting commissions and the use of tailored messages that appeal to greed, envy, despair or anger. A fraud-creep enterprise also may be characterized by images of wholesome or enticing amenities designed to attract prospects to an illicit scheme whose purpose is hidden or undisclosed.

    3. Associated definition: A form of deceit (fraud-creep plan) employed by hucksters, particularly on the Internet, characterized by efforts to popularize an illicit pursuit by withholding critical information and demonizing market regulators. Profits are reaped by tapping into disillusionment and despair and creating a bogeyman or figure of blame to rationalize participation in a dubious or illegal enterprise. The bogeyman or figure of blame often may be the government, a branch of government, a law-enforcement or regulatory agency or government employee.

    4. Associated definition: A particular instance of such deceit in which an appeal is made to recruit holders of a particular political philosophy into a scam. Politicians and other public figures may be demonized in this form of fraud creep, which may include vicious name-calling or passive-aggressive slime. Images of success may be juxtaposed against images of people or entities cast as barriers to success. This form of fraud creep also may be accompanied by an effort to create marketplace sympathy and to sanitize and expand a fraud scheme by suggesting evil forces are seeking to prevent investors and eager entrepreneurs from creating wealth by erecting barriers or denying them access to the marketplace.

    5. Associated definition: One who practices fraud creep — i.e., a fraud creep.

    Usage example: As the economy struggles and mortgage foreclosures pile up, law-enforcement agencies nationwide are seeing more and more examples of fraud creep in which criminals succeeded in  making Internet scams go “viral” by luring thousands of prospects with images of amenities they’ll purportedly enjoy by registering for a program and sending money.

    Usage example: The ASD fraud-creep and Ponzi scheme gradually expanded to fleece more than 40,000 investors out of at least $110 million, investigators said, noting that participants were lured by the promise that they would be paid $5,000 if a family member or friend they recruited spent $50,000 on “advertising.”

    Usage example: Although Smith routinely bemoaned “Washington” while showing a video of himself behind the wheel of a Maserati parked outside a mansion in a driveway lined by exotic flowers as a groundskeeper toiled nearby, authorities say the investigation uncovered a classic case of fraud creep: Smith simply decided that registering with the SEC was for the “fools who don’t understand the Constitution.” The Maserati, authorities said, was a day rental — and Smith paid the groundskeeper $100 to let him film the driveway and mansion scenes on a Saturday morning when the owners were on the golf course.

    Usage example: The stage was set for fraud creep, authorities said, when the accused huckster — a recidivist who did not disclose his previous conviction for securities fraud in a $20 million scheme  — persuaded  unsophisticated investors that the FBI was forcing the best companies to move offshore and that the SEC and IRS were trying to destroy the middle class.

    Usage example: Authorities began to suspect fraud creep when Jones incongruously explained to investors that the United States was turning into both a “Nazi” and a “Socialist” state and making it impossible for honest “Main Street Capitalists to deliver the American Dream and do what the market does best: get poor people and illegals off Food Stamps and turn them into productive citizens.”  Although Jones, a U.S. resident, frequently talked about his “attorney” and the efforts he had undertaken to ensure his offshore company complied with all laws and regulations,  he refused to provide prospects the name of the attorney, claiming that a previous attorney had been hounded by callers who had sought to verify claims about the program.

    Usage example: Federal agents announced the arrest of yet-another alleged fraud creep today, saying the Florida man was either running or participating in multiple fraud-creep schemes, including autosurfs, HYIPs and penny-stock scams.

    Usage example: Fraud creeps on the fraud-creep forums were urging their marks not to file complaints with regulators or law enforcement — and not to contact the offshore payment processors that had processed all the Ponzi payments for the suddenly defunct HYIP. One forum fraud creep opined that the government would steal any remaining money. Another issued a dire warning that a receiver was sure to be appointed by the court and that the “greedy” receiver and “brain-dead” judge would conspire against the participants. Yet-another fraud creep ventured that the government would use the remaining fraud proceeds to help it finance its own Ponzi scheme: Social Security.

    Usage example: In court documents, federal authorities said fraud-creep forums such as TalkGold, MoneyMakerGroup and ASAMonitor were helping fraud creeps and fraud-creep schemes steal millions of dollars globally.

  • UPDATES/NEWS: ASA Ponzi Forum Now Redirects To CashX.com; Arthur Nadel Gets 14 Years In Florida Ponzi Case Brought By Obama Task Force; Former Indiana Pastor Who Bilked Christians Convicted Of Securities Fraud

    President Obama formed the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force in November 2009. He later became the subject of an attack ad by an affiliate of the purported MPB Today "grocery" MLM.

    UPDATED 10:56 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The ASA Monitor Ponzi and criminals’ forum now is redirecting to a website operated by CashX.com, a Canadian payment processor that hawks MasterCard debit cards and says it permits customers to withdrawn money to Liberty Reserve.

    Liberty Reserve is a Ponzi-friendly payment processor purportedly headquartered in Costa Rica after earlier operating from Panama.

    Meanwhile, confessed Ponzi schemer Arthur Nadel — who briefly went on the lam from Florida in early 2009 as his $390 million scheme was disintegrating and became known as one of the original “mini-Madoffs” — has been sentenced by a federal judge in New York to 14 years in prison.

    It is effectively a life sentence for Nadel, who is 77 and one of several senior citizens implicated in U.S. Ponzi schemes.

    At the same time, a former clergyman from Indiana who told congregants it was their “Christian responsibility” to become pitchmen for his then-undiscovered bond scheme has been convicted of nine counts of securities fraud.

    Vaughn Reeves, 66, is scheduled to be sentenced next month. The jury deliberated only four hours before returning the verdict against Reeves, himself a senior citizen. Congregants believed they were helping raise money for church-building projects, but it was a scam that led to foreclosure proceedings against eight places of worship. (See link to AP report below.)

    Claims made by Reeves are similar to claims made by the Data Network Affiliates (DNA) MLM program, which told members that churches had the “MORAL OBLIGATION” to help bring business to the Florida-based firm and qualify for commissions ten levels deep. DNA purports to be in the license-plate data collection business, claiming it can help law enforcement and the AMBER Alert program recover abducted children.

    Incongruously, DNA also purports to sell a “protective spray” that shields cameras from taking photographs of license plates. Equally incongruously, the company said that it could offer a free cell phone with unlimited talk and text for $10 a month. The company later backtracked on the claim, bizarrely saying it studied pricing structures only after announcing it had become the world’s low-price leader while acknowledging it hadn’t vetted its purported vendor for the service.

    DNA figure Phil Piccolo later threatened to sue critics. Earlier, Dean Blechman, who said he was the company’s CEO before resigning in February, threatened to sue critics. DNA withheld the announcement of Blechman’s departure for nearly a week and then misspelled his name. DNA also described Blechman as the “future” CEO, even though Blechman had described himself as the current CEO.

    Blechman complained to the PP Blog about “bizarre” events at DNA.

    ASA Monitor, which is referenced in court filings as a place from which the alleged Pathway To Prosperity (P2P) Ponzi scheme was pitched and was a site from which the purported “grocery” MLM operated by Florida-based MPB Today was pitched, suddenly announced on Oct. 12 that it was closing.

    Like MPB Today, DNA also was pitched from Ponzi and criminals’ forums.

    The ASA Monitor closure announcement coincided with a flap in which an ASA forum moderator sought to muzzle critics of the MPB Today program, which is being targeted at Christians, foreclosure subjects, Food Stamp recipients, senior citizens, people of color and members of the alleged AdSurfDaily (ASD) Ponzi scheme.

    ASD also operated from Florida before the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars in August 2008, amid allegations of wire fraud and money-laundering. Robert Hodgins, an international fugitive wanted by Interpol in a narcotics-trafficking and money-laundering case filed after an undercover probe by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Connecticut, provided debit cards to ASD, members said.

    Nadel’s scheme, meanwhile, operated in the Sarasota area.

    “Through his massive Ponzi scheme, Arthur Nadel greased his own pockets and financed his lavish lifestyle, using money his clients relied on him to invest,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York.

    “He cheated his elderly and unwitting victims out of their retirement savings and consigned others to poverty,” Bharara said. “The message of [yesterday’s] sentence should be loud and clear — we will continue to work with our partners at the FBI to find the perpetrators of financial fraud and use every resource we have to bring them to justice.”

    U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl ordered Nadel to forfeit $162 million, five airplanes, a helicopter and real estate in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia.

    The prosecution of Nadel was brought in coordination with President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder traveled to Florida earlier this year to warn fraudsters that the United States was serious about putting scammers in prison.

    By September, an affiliate of MPB Today had created a video in which Obama was depicted as a left-handed saluting Nazi who cowered to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was depicted as a drunk. First Lady Michelle Obama, the mother of two daughters, was depicted as having experienced an embarrassing gas attack in the Oval Office after sampling beans at a Sam’s Club store.

    Clinton, depicted in the sales promo as “Hitlary,” knocked out Michelle Obama after barging into the Oval Office bawling and carrying a bottle of wine. Clinton, the mother of one, was the first woman ever appointed to the Walmart board of directors.

    Some MPB Today affiliates have claimed Walmart is affiliated with MPB Today and that the government backs the MLM program, which appears to have accounts at at least two banks in the Pensacola area. One of the banks is operating under a consent agreement with the FDIC.

    Read the AP story on the Vaughn Reeves scheme in Indiana.

  • DEVELOPING STORY: A Second Reference To MPB Today ‘Rebates’; Domain Implies Company Offers Cash To Join; Email Address On Affiliate Site Associated With Defunct Company In Miami; No Immediate Comment From USDA

    A domain that redirects to an MPB Today affiliate site provided by the MLM company implies that the firm offers "rebates" to prospects who join. This screen shot shows the page that loads if prospects visit the "rebates" domain. The "rebates" domain that causes this page to load does not explain how MPB Today prospects can secure a rebate after joining.

    UPDATED 11:47 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) An affiliate domain linked to the MPB Today “grocery” program implies the company offers “rebates” to prospects who join the MLM company. The domain redirects to an MPB Today-provided affiliate site, which includes an email address for the promoter. The promoter’s email address is associated with yet another domain — one whose registration data lists the name of a company in Miami that purports to provide services for “cardholders.”

    Florida records show that the “cardholders’” firm — an LLC — was administratively dissolved by the state last month for failure to file an annual report.  Other records show that the defunct company uses the address of a UPS store as its address.

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said last month that it was investigating claims made about the MPB Today program, which has been targeted at Food Stamp recipients. USDA had no immediate comment this morning on the domain that implies MPB Today offers rebates.

    Two words appear in this domain name prior to the word "rebates." If prospects click on the URL in Google search results, they are redirected to an MPB Today affiliate site.

    Both domains — the one that implies MPB Today offers rebates and redirects to the MPB Today-provided  affiliate’s page and the one associated with the “cardholders’” firm — are associated with the name of the MPB Today promoter. The domain that implies MPB Today offers rebates was registered on July 7, 2007, meaning it was in operation even before MPB Today and its purported parent company, Southeastern Delivery of Pensacola, were in operation.

    The domain that implies rebates are available and redirects to the MPB Today affiliate’s website does so immediately, and there appears to be no content that explains how one can get a rebate when joining the MPB Today MLM program, which operates a 2×2 matrix cycler. MPB Today does not promote a rebate program on its website.

    Why an affiliate would imply that it does is unclear.

    Second Reference To MPB Today ‘Rebates’

    An MPB Today “rebates” program also was advertised last week by a separate promoter — “Ken Russo” — on the ASA Monitor Ponzi and criminals’ forum. ASA announced it was closing only days after “Ken Russo” solicited prospects to send him a private message using the forum’s software to arrange to receive a rebate of $50 from a member of his MPB Today “team.”

    If any rebate transactions for MPB Today occurred as a result of the “Ken Russo” promo on ASA Monitor, they would have done so out of public view because private messages are not displayed to the forum’s readership at large. The ASA promo leads to a question about whether the forum was facilitating private MPB Today rebate transactions for “Ken Russo” during a period in which USDA was investigating claims about the firm.

    Meanwhile, the domain that implies MPB Today offers rebates and redirects to theMPB Today-provided affiliate’s site leads to a question about why affiliates apparently are seeking to lure prospects with cash payouts or the hint of cash payouts for joining the program.

    At the same time, the domain has been associated with yet another domain that purports to offer entrepreneurial “success.” The “success” website promotes six numbered “Projects.”

    A link for “Project 6” redirects to yet-another website that promotes MPB Today. This website features a check- and Walmart card-waving video, but does not reference rebates. A woman who appears in the video identifies herself as a member of the “MPB Power Team.”

    “Come on board and get your own checks and your own gift cards,” the woman said.

  • Yet-Another Website With MPB Today Promo Uses Walmart’s Name In Domain Name; Site Targets Spanish-Speakers; Waves Check, Gift Card; Displays Images Of Buffet, Trump, Walmart

    A website that promotes the MPB Today “grocery” program is targeted at Spanish-speaking prospects and uses Walmart’s name in its domain name.

    Like at least three other websites linked to Florida-based MPB Today’s 2×2 matrix cycler, it is unclear if the site’s operator has Walmart’s permission to use its name in a domain name. The site, which implies Walmart distributes cash, is not registered in the retail giant’s name.

    An English headline on the site urges viewers to “Eliminate Your Grocery Bills . . . Forever” by joining the MLM. The site then presents Spanish content, while linking to a video that uses images of business titans Warren Buffet and Donald Trump. A check drawn on the account of Southeastern Delivery is reproduced on the site, as are images of a Walmart gift card, a Walmart store and a Sam’s Club store.

    MPB Today removed images of Buffet, Trump and Walmart from the homepage of its website last month. Regardless, multiple MPB Today affiliates continue to use the images. Southeastern Delivery is MPB Today’s purported parent company.

    It is common for MLM participants to imply a “program” is endorsed by celebrities and famous companies.

    ____________________________________________________________________

    The check reproduced on the website is drawn on a bank that has been operating under a consent agreement with the FDIC since January. Walmart and the FDIC have not responded to a request for comment from the PP Blog on the MPB Today program. Neither has the bank upon which the check is shown to be drawn.

    Multiple MPB Today affiliates have produced check- and card-waving videos and websites to recruit prospects. Some of them have been online for months.

    MPB Today has been advertised on forums that promote Ponzi schemes, including the now-defunct ASA Monitor forum. Some MPB Today affiliates have claimed publicly that there are liars, thieves and scammers in the organization.

  • BULLETIN: ASA Monitor Ponzi And Criminals’ Forum Says It Is Closing; Threads Go Missing En Masse; Closure Coincides With Undercover Operations By Law Enforcement And USDA Probe Of MPB Today

    BULLETIN: UPDATED 7:37 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.): The ASAMonitor Ponzi and criminals’ forum — the forum from which the purported MPB Today “grocery” program was being promoted and countless other fraud schemes were being promoted — suddenly has announced that the forum is closing.

    The announcement, which appeared today in red type, was made by “Wanrou,” whose ID says he is “ASA Administrator.” Content from the forum appears to have been deleted or hidden en masse.

    “ASA forum has been a place where members can get information, discuss, share, debate, to educate and be educate about possibilities and risks of online money making programs for the last few years,” the Wanrou post said.

    “Sadly we can no longer keep it online as a free discussion forum because of time consuming and financial reasons,” the post continued.

    “Thanks you all for your long time support and best wishes to your present and future online endeavors.”

    The forum’s sudden closure coincided with reports in recent months that U.S.-based law-enforcement agencies were conducting undercover stings both online and offline and using informants to bring both criminal and civil charges against financial fraudsters.

    It was not immediately clear if ASAMonitor would seek to reopen as a so-called “private” forum. Court records show that undercover operations also have infiltrated “private” forums and that members of the forums who had been scammed have provided helpful information to investigators.

    The sudden closure of ASAMonitor also coincided with yet-another flap in the MPB Today thread. An antiscam poster was specifically warned by a moderator yesterday to refrain from his efforts to inform ASA members about developments in the MPB Today story and his reading of events at MPB Today.

    Specific claims about MPB Today are being investigated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program has been pitched to Food Stamp recipients, people of faith, Ponzi scheme victims, people of color, senior citizens, college students and opponents of President Obama, among others.

    Obama created an entity known as the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force in November 2009 to do battle with fraudsters. In January, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder warned in Florida that the U.S. government was serious about putting scammers in prison.

    ASAMonitor previously closed the MPB Today thread after warning an antiscam poster to back off from challenging “Ken Russo,” a poster promoting the MPB Today program. The thread later was opened after what a Mod described as a “cooling off period” had passed. In an earlier closure of the thread, links to the PP Blog’s coverage of the MPB Today story were deleted from the forum and later restored.

  • Another MPB Today Site Uses Walmart’s Name In Domain Name; Positions ‘Grocery’ Biz As ‘Freedom Club’ In Domain Hidden Behind Proxy; Uses Images Of Buffet, Trump And Late Sam Walton

    This pitch for MPB Today positions it as the Walmart Freedom Club. The pitch misspells the word "prosper" as "prospour." The website registration is hidden behind a proxy, and uses Walmart's name in the domain name. It is unclear if Walmart authorized the domain name or the use of its intellectual property in the MPB Today promo.

    Yet-another domain linked to the purported MPB Today “grocery” program is using Walmart’s name in its domain name. The domain name is registered behind a proxy and uses images of Warren Buffet, Donald Trump and Sam Walton to position the opportunity as a “Freedom Club.”

    Sam Walton is the late founder of Walmart. It is unclear if the owners of the website have Walmart’s permission to use its name and the likeness of Sam Walton in a pitch for the MPB Today program. Also unclear is whether the website owners have the permission of Trump and Buffet to use their images in promos for MPB Today.

    Separately, yet another pitch for MPB Today features a narrator who notes that food is necessary to stay “alive” and laments, “I wish we could sell air too.” The “air” video is on a restricted YouTube site maked as “unlisted.” An unlisted video “means that only people who know the link to the video can view it (such as friends or family to whom you send the link,” according to YouTube.

    MPB Today is a multilevel-marketing (MLM) program based in Pensacola, Fla. The “opportunity” is tied to a grocery business in Pensacola known as Southeastern Delivery. Both companies are linked to Gary Calhoun, who has a poor track record with the Better Business Bureau and was the recipient of a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration for his marketing of a product that purported to be a treatment for Lou Gehrig’s disease, Herpes and Alzheimer’s, among others.

    The new domain that uses Walmart’s name is at least the third linked to the MPB Today program — and the second to position MPB Today as a “club” tied to Walmart.  The domain was registered Sept. 9, after MPB Today itself removed images of Walmart, Buffet and Trump from the homepage of its website.

    Other MPB Today-linked websites branded with Walmart’s name imply the retail giant offers free groceries or that Walmart is partnered with MPB Today.

    Meanwhile, still-other websites linked to the MPB Today program position it as a “Grocery Assistance” program and a program linked to the Food Stamp program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. MPB Today also is being pitched from known Ponzi and criminals’ forums such as ASA Monitor, TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

    On Wednesday, the SEC filed an emergency action in federal court in Utah to stop a program known as Imperia Invest IBC dead in its tracks, amid allegations it had fleeced millions of dollars from thousands of Americans with hearing impairments. Like MPB Today, Imperia was promoted on the Ponzi forums.

    Among the allegations in the Imperia case were that the operators were using trademarks and the intellectual property of a major company — Visa Inc. — without the company’s authorization. All in all, more than 14,000 Imperia investors were fleeced, the SEC said.

    In this separate promo for MPB Today, a narrator notes that food is necessary to stay "alive" and laments that he wishes members also could sell "air" through the MPB Today MLM program.

  • EDITORIAL: Sundays Aren’t What They Used To Be: Is The MPB Today Matrix Stalling? Was A ‘Rebate’ Plan Advanced On Ponzi Forum A Bid To Reinvigorate It? (And Why Is The Matrix Being Plugged As A ‘Grocery Assistance’ Program On A .Org Site?)

    Sundays aren’t what they used to be.

    “Ken Russo” announced Sunday on the ASA Monitor Ponzi and criminals’ forum — a forum from which other promoters are targeting people of faith to join the MPB Today “grocery” program — that a member of his “team” is offering $50 “rebates” to entice prospects to sign up. (Read more about the “rebates” program below.)

    On the same day, known in the Christian faith as the Lord’s Day, MPB Today members who apparently were wooed by the company and its affiliates’ sales pitches came to the PP Blog to describe MPB Today critics as “roaches,” “IDIOTS,” “clowns,” “terrible” people, “misleading” people, people who have led a “sheltered life,” people who have been “chained up in a basement,” people who have “chips” on their shoulders, spewers of “hot air,” “naysayers,” “complainers,” “trouble maker[s]” and “crybabies.”

    And these remarks came from just three people in the MPB Today organization, which promoters say has 30,000 members. One of them denied on Sunday that MPB Today pays participants to recruit, something that MPB Today itself does not deny. MPB says commissions are “banked” until promoters sign up at least two other participants, and that no one cycles until a downline group becomes populated by seven members, only one of whom “cycles” and earns a matrix payout.

    For good measure, the same affiliate claimed on Sunday that she is paid for “grocery” sales, but chose not to answer a question about how many people within her organization actually bought groceries by overpaying for them through MPB Today. At the same time, she claimed MPB Today is sustainable because “[inherently] there is hard data that a certain % of people just will not get 2 people and cycle.”

    It was easy to read that as a Sunday concession that MPB Today relies on matrix “losers” to create matrix “winners.” In any event, it wasn’t much of an endorsement for the company, a company the member also described as a “blessing.” Blessings, like Sundays, aren’t what they used to be, it seems.

    Another MPB Today member claimed on Sunday that there are “[rogues]” in the organization. He did not explain whether he was being paid from rogue money or money sent in by honest affiliates.

    MPB Today members should be worried. A “rebate” program may signal that the MLM firm’s 2×2 matrix cycler is stalling and that the only effective way for average members to recruit two members who can recruit two other members in order to “earn” cycler commissions is to bribe them to join the program.

    It also may signal that promoters are trying to plant the seed that it’s time for their downlines to start spreading the word that MPB Today’s shipping costs are such a deal-killer that the only effective way for members to recruit is to tell prospects they’ll help them defray the shipping charges in the unlikely event they’re actually keen on buying overpriced groceries from a company that offers no money-saving generic products, ships dry goods “ONLY” and may charge customers who just overpaid for name-brand groceries up to $300 for $200 worth of food.

    “Ken Russo” said the “rebate” program was limited to four participants and that his “team” member would go $50 out-of-pocket for each of the four new recruits swayed by the offer. “Ken Russo” advertised that MPB Today’s shipping charges could be up to $50, a claim at odds with what MPB Today itself claims.

    Indeed, MPB Today says shipping charges may amount to up to 50 percent of the cost of a grocery order and perhaps may be even higher. MPB Today supplies only an “average” and plants the seed that perhaps customers should choose “lighter” items, as opposed to “heavy” items that are more expensive to ship. It’s even unclear how MPB Today arrived at its published “average”  of up to 50 percent, considering the company does not say how many of its purported 30,000 MLM customers actually get their groceries from the firm.

    MPB Today is operated by Gary Calhoun. Calhoun once was the subject of a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration for hawking a product that purported to treat Lou Gehrig’s disease and, for good measure, Herpes and Alzheimer’s.

    “Ken Russo” doesn’t seem keen on telling prospects about Calhoun’s FDA experience. What he seems keen on, apparently, is talking about the “rebate” program started by someone on his “team” — and posting the news on the ASA Monitor Ponzi and criminals’ forum on a Sunday.

    If other MPB Today affiliates borrow the idea announced on a Sunday and the “rebate” program takes off and expands, it means that MPB Today sponsors who offer the “rebates” are absorbing additional costs in an enterprise that already is impossible mathematically.

    Any money MPB Today’s affiliates pay in the form of rebates inures to the benefit of the company — a company that already operates a matrix heavily weighted in its favor. Do you really want to go out-of-pocket even more for a 2×2 matrix cycler that uses a business model that came under fire by the U.S. Secret Service in the alleged Regenesis 2×2 Ponzi scheme last year?

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating specific claims about the MPB Today program, which has been targeted at Food Stamp recipients. What’s next? Recruiting America’s poor by enticing them with rebates and asking them also to offer rebates?

    Whether the “rebates” idea advanced from a Ponzi and criminals’ forum on a Sunday will go viral is unknown. Some affiliates easily could latch onto it, persuading themselves it’s better to ply prospects with rebates than take the chance MPB Today’s matrix will perform the magic itself.  Our reading of the Sunday “rebates” idea is that it is an inducement to separate people from their money on all seven days of the week on the theory that it’s better to pay $50 on top of the $200 (plus website costs) you’ve already paid to plumb a commission.

    If the MPB Today “grocery” program already is stalling, prospects may be few and far between if you’re aren’t willing to bribe them to overpay for groceries on the theory that doing it one time eliminates their grocery costs forever.

    Here is another reason for MPB Today members to worry: Because the “rebate” program purportedly exists to defray the shipping costs MPB Today charges for the home delivery of groceries, it can be construed as an acknowledgment that MPB is not actually serious about selling groceries, that it is more interested in selling the “opportunity.”

    If you’re an MPB Today member — and if you have not applied any sort of “reasonable person” standard to the program and instead have relied on hype from the company and your upline — you have made a mistake.

    Any claim that a $200, “one-time” purchase of groceries from MPB Today can result in free groceries for life is absurd. Spin it as you will. Argue that it is theoretically possible. Argue that you’re already in “profit” and can vouch that the program “works.” Argue that members of your downline can make the same claim.

    It is still absurd. No reasonable person would invest in such an argument and assign it any credibility at all. Jurors would laugh at such an argument. They shop at grocery stores. They know that a $200, one-time purchase and an accompanying claim that this relatively modest expense can result in free groceries for life is the precise sort of claim that exists only in the realm of the huckster.

    Wait until they’re told about the “catch” — i.e., that an MPB Today member must get two who can get two (or produce $1,200 in sales volume in some other combo) to set the stage for “free” groceries for life. And wait until they’re told that an MPB Today shopper perhaps has to pay up to $300 for $200 worth of groceries and that lots of the purported “grocery” money seems to have been converted to Walmart gift cards that can be used to buy big-screen TVs and laptop computers.

    And wait until they’re told that the conditions above have to be repeated, well, repeatedly, in order for members to continue to get paid.

    Speaking of Sundays: We noticed on Sunday that an MPB Today affiliate was promoting the opportunity through a .org domain. The promo shows a cart full of groceries and a bag of groceries of the sort not available through MPB Today, along with a bag of money.

    The promo on the .org site positions MPB Today as a “Grocery Assistance” program.

    “Our Grocery Assistance Program is helping thousands of families earn CASH and FREE groceries!” the page screams.

    It is not unusual for MLM participants to register a .org domain in a bid to plant the seed that prospects will be aiding a charity by enrolling in a program and paying a sign-up fee. Members of Narc That Car and Data Network Affiliates, for instance, registered .org sites and sought to link the MLMs to the national AMBER Alert program administered by the U.S. Department of Justice.

    The .org domain in the MPB Today program we noticed on Sunday — and please note that we have observed several other .org domains linked to MPB Today — hints that it is a government program by using the word “assistance” in its title.

    On a closing note, the .org domain we noticed on a Sunday also was registered on a Sunday — Sunday Aug. 22, 2010, according to records.

    So, no, Sundays aren’t what they used to be.

  • ASA Monitor Ponzi And Criminals’ Forum Locks MPB Today Thread — Again; Naysayers Scolded By Mod For Challenging ‘Ken Russo’

    EDITOR’S NOTE: The ASA Monitor Ponzi forum now has reopened its thread on the MPB Today MLM program — with a warning in red to “Play nice . . .”

    UPDATED 9:54 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A forum infamous for promoting Ponzi schemes and other criminal pursuits has locked the thread from which the MPB Today 2×2 matrix cycler is being pitched.

    The official explanation for locking the thread was that naysayers challenging ASA Monitor member “Ken Russo” needed a “temporary cooling off period.” (See Editor’s Note above: The thread now has been unlocked.)

    “Ken Russo” is a reliable cheerleader for Ponzi schemes and highly questionable business pursuits on ASA Monitor and other forums. ASA Monitor’s name is referenced in a May criminal case filed against the alleged Pathway To Prosperity Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors said the scheme mushroomed globally, gathering about $70 million and defrauding more than 40,000 participants.

    A similar program known as Legisi gathered more than $70 million and also fleeced thousands of participants, according to the SEC. It, too, was promoted on the Ponzi forums. A court filing in the Legisi case specifically references the MoneyMakerGroup forum, another venue from which MPB Today is being promoted.

    This marks the second time the MPB Today thread has been locked at ASA Monitor. It was locked earlier this month and then reopened amid similar circumstances. ASA Monitor initially deleted several references to the PP Blog in the initial closure of the thread, but later restored them.

    One of the principal incongruities of the MPB Today program is that it is being targeted at people of faith from a known Ponzi forum. Because ASA Monitor members routinely promote Ponzi schemes, some of the funds being passed to MPB Today could be criminal proceeds from Ponzi and other fraud schemes.

    “Ken Russo,” for example, promoted the alleged Regenesis 2×2 Ponzi scheme. Like MPB Today, Regenesis used a 2×2 matrix cycler. The U.S. Secret Service executed search warrants in the Regenesis case in July 2009. The agency said in court filings that it had linked the scheme to a convicted felon.

    Spectacular international frauds have been promoted at ASA Monitor. Meanwhile, some of MPB Today’s own members have said there are liars and thieves in the organization, including liars and thieves who are using false information to recruit prospects. The claims have been made in public on YouTube. Incongruously, they have been positioned as reasons to join the program under specific uplines that purport to be honest.

    How MPB Today’s payments to members could be clean if it has come into possession of money tainted by the lies of its own pitchmen and money tainted by Ponzi schemes promoted on forums such as ASA Monitor is left to the imagination.

    Last week the PP Blog reported that a “news release’ that appeared online encouraged MPB Today prospects to sell $200 worth of Food Stamps to raise money to join the program. One of the URLs referenced in the release also was being promoted on ASA Monitor by “Ken Russo.” Other information suggests that promoters of the judicially declared CEP Ponzi scheme are promoting MPB Today.

    Some ASA Monitor members use a strategy of playing dumb to promote Ponzi schemes. One form of the strategy is to repeatedly accept at face value whatever a company says in sales literature — and then blame the company and dishonest affiliates if a scheme collapses or is taken down by law enforcement.

    Another form of the strategy is to include links to the sites of other promoters, apparently on the theory that favorable commentary about an “opportunity” demonstrates that no scam could be occurring. If the opportunity later proves to be a Ponzi or a fraud scheme, promoters who employ the play-dumb method point out that others got taken, perhaps through the actions of a fraudster who was particularly clever.

    Yet another form of the play-dumb method is to position an opportunity as a matter of free choice. Such wink-nod efforts are part of numerous Ponzi schemes.

    In February 2010, the Secret Service said in a search-warrant application in Minnesota that it believed a company known as INetGlobal was operating a Ponzi scheme. In court filings, the agency said an undercover agent was introduced to INetGlobal by a member of the alleged AdSurfDaily (ASD) Ponzi scheme, describing the introduction as a wink-nod deal.

    ASD, which was accused of operating a $100 million Ponzi scheme, also was promoted from websites and forums. Federal agents seized about $26 million in the INetGlobal case, which is still under investigation. Steve Renner, the operator of INetGlobal, is in federal prison for income tax-evasion in a case linked to his money-services business.

    Court records show Renner-related ties to at least four Ponzi schemes.

    Among the targets of promotions for MPB Today were victims of the alleged ASD Ponzi scheme, foreclosure subjects, the unemployed, Food Stamp recipients, senior citizens, college students and other vulnerable populations.

  • GO FINRA! Regulator Tackles Online HYIPs; Issues Warning On ‘Social Media-Linked Ponzi Schemes’; References P2P, Genius Funds, ‘Con Artists’ And ‘Bizarre Substratum’ Of Internet

    EDITOR’S NOTE: It has become increasingly clear that regulators and the law-enforcement community are rallying around a common theme that web-based promoters are using discussion forums and social-networking sites in bids to sanitize HYIP Ponzi schemes by positioning them as attractive investment opportunities and even a thrilling form of gambling that pays commissions.

    Today the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) launched an awareness campaign aimed at taking the lipstick off financial pigs and exposing them for the economy-killing, filthy hogs they are. FINRA did not mince words, calling the HYIP universe a “bizarre substratum of the Internet.”

    Here, now, the story . . .

    The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has launched a public-awareness campaign and issued an investor alert on HYIP schemes that use social-media sites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and online forums and “rating” sites to spread Ponzi misery globally.

    “HYIPs are old-fashioned Ponzi schemes dressed up for a Web 2.0 world,” said John Gannon, FINRA’s senior vice president. “Some of these schemes encourage people to bring in new victims, while others entice investors to ‘ride the Ponzi’ by attempting to get in and get out before the scheme collapses.”

    FINRA is supplementing its educational campaign with an advertising campaign.

    “By using Google AdWords, we are hoping to reach anyone searching the Internet for HYIPs before they fall into the hands of con artists,” Gannon said.

    FINRA’s campaign occurs against the backdrop of remarkable law-enforcement actions against the alleged Legisi Ponzi scheme pushed by Matt Gagnon of Mazu.com, the alleged Pathway To Prosperity (P2P) Ponzi scheme pushed on forums such as ASA Monitor, MoneyMakerGroup, Talk Gold and MyCashForums, and the collapse of an HYIP known as Genius Funds.

    It also occurs against the backdrop of “prelaunch” buzz surrounding a mysterious program known as WebsiteTester.biz, which is spreading virally on the Internet through electronic news releases, references on promoters’ websites and daily updates on Twitter.

    Promoters’ advertising is heavy for WebsiteTesterBiz, despite the fact the company’s domain name is registered behind a proxy, its purported parent company’s domain name is registered behind a proxy and there is a paucity of any verifiable information about either firm.

    FINRA specifically referenced the alleged P2P Ponzi in its educational materials. It also provided a link to information published about the collapsed Genius Funds HYIP by the British Columbia Securities Commission. Alarmingly, FINRA said the Genius Funds’ fraud costs investors a staggering $400 million.

    Federal prosecutors who filed criminal charges against P2P operator Nicholas Smirnow declared in May that “[a] large percentage, if not all, HYIPs, are Ponzi schemes.”

    In its resource material, FINRA is building on that theme.

    “[V]irtually every HYIP we have seen bears hallmarks of fraud,” FINRA said. “We are issuing this alert to warn investors worldwide to stay away from HYIPs.”

    P2P gathered more than $70 million. Legisi also gathered more than $70 million, according to court records.

    Separately, the alleged AdSurfDaily autosurf Ponzi scheme gathered at least $80 million and perhaps $100 million or more, according to records. Autosurfing is a form of HYIP fraud. The U.S. Secret Service acted against ASD in August 2008.

    In February 2010, an autosurf known as INetGlobal also came under investigation by the Secret Service. The SEC has acted against autosurfs known as 12DailyPro, PhoenixSurf and CEP, which gathered tens of millions of dollars combined — fueled by online promotions.

    Citing FBI statistics, FINRA said “the number of new HYIP investigations during fiscal year 2009 increased more than 100 percent over fiscal year 2008.”

    The regulator specifically warned about websites that “Rank the latest programs and provide details of ‘payout options.’” At the same time, it warned about sites that “Allow web designers to buy ready-made HYIP templates and set up an ‘instant’ HYIP.” Meanwhile, it warned about sites that “Blog, chat and ‘teach’ about HYIPs.”

    “Some HYIP ‘investors’ proffer strategies for maximizing profits and avoiding losses — everything from videos showing how to ‘make massive profits’ in HYIPs and ‘build a winning HYIP portfolio’ to an eBook on how to ‘ride the Ponzi’ and get in and out before a scheme collapses,” FINRA said.

    “Other HYIP forums discuss how to enter ‘test spends,’ how to identify new HYIPs to maximize one’s chances of being an early stage payee and even how to check when a HYIP’s domain name expires so you can guess how long it might pay returns before shutting down,” FINRA noted.

    One of the tips offered by FINRA was to be on the look out for “typos and poor grammar” in sales pitches.

    “This is often a tip-off that scammers are at work,” FINRA said.

    FINRA said HYIP scammers often don’t share critical information with investors.

    “HYIP operators cloak themselves in secrecy regarding who manages investor money, where the company is located or where to go to get additional information,” FINRA said.

    Claims about being “offshore” also are made, FINRA said.

    “Be aware that generally persons or firms offering securities to U.S. residents must be licensed by FINRA and registered with the SEC,” FINRA said.

    The sky often is positioned as the limit in the HYIP universe, which often relies on “online payment systems” — some of which “have been tied in recent years to criminal activity, including money laundering, identity theft and other scams,” FINRA warned.

    “High-yield investment programs (HYIPs) are unregistered investments created and touted by unlicensed individuals,” FINRA said. “Typically offered through slick (and sometimes not-so-slick) websites, HYIPs dangle the contradictory promises of safety coupled with high, unsustainable rates of return — 20, 30, 100 or more percent per day—through vague or murky trading strategies.”

    Read FINRA’s warning on HYIPs. (Make sure you click on the links in the body of the warning.)

    Read a PP Blog story about an alleged penny-stock scheme that was operated on Facebook and Twitter. Read a PP Blog story on P2P, and also one on Genius Funds and others.

    Read more about P2P. Read more about Legisi.

  • WebsiteTester.Biz Pitched On Reborn GoldenPandaAdZone Forum, Plus MoneyMakerGroup, TalkGold And Other Ponzi Havens

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This story originally was published June 30. The PP Blog later encountered a database problem, which caused the site to go down and resulted in the temporary loss of some data. The data now has been retrieved.

    This story is about a new site known as “WebsiteTester.biz,” but some background is in order.

    It turns out that the April reports of the demise of the Golden Panda Ad Zone Forum, which changed its name to the Online Success Zone (OSZ), were premature.

    OSZ now is back online — and a poster is pitching  “WebsiteTester.biz,”  which appears to be promoting itself as an upstart advertising “testing” platform.

    Positioning surfing sites as testing platforms dates back at least to the CEP Ponzi scheme. Last summer, the failed AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf, which had close ties to the AdSurfDaily autosurf, was trying to reposition itself as an ad-testing site.

    Just prior to going offline in April, OSZ was pushing Narc That Car and Data Network Affiliates, two highly questionable companies  whose membership roster includes people linked to alleged Ponzi or pyramid schemes. OSZ got its start as the Golden Panda Ad Zone forum after the U.S. Secret Service seized more than $80 million from ASD and its purported “Chinese” autosurf companion, Golden Panda Ad Builder.

    During the summer of 2008, with ASD at its zenith and about to be accused of operating a Ponzi scheme, a predecessor to the INetGlobal autosurf also was coming online. INetGlobal eventually morphed into a surf site that largely targeted Chinese members, according to the Secret Service, which is investigating INetGlobal as its operator, Steve Renner, is in federal prison serving time for income-tax evasion.

    The ASD and Golden Panda money was seized amid allegations of wire fraud, money-laundering, selling unregistered securities and operating a Ponzi scheme. A forfeiture complaint in the case alleged a conspiracy with unnamed participants, and ASD was sued separately under the federal racketeering statute by members who also alleged a conspiracy was under way.

    Participants’ marketing of WebsiteTester.biz. occurs against the backdrop of a forceful statement by federal prosecutors in Illinois that virtually all HYIPs are Ponzi schemes. Autosurfs are a form of an HYIP program.  The business model of WebsiteTester.biz is unclear, and the company has not been accused of wrongdoing.

    In the Illinois case, Pathway To Prosperity (P2P) was alleged to have operated a global Ponzi scheme that gathered more than $70 million and fleeced more than 40,000 people. Nick Smirnow, P2P’s operator,  has a criminal past dating back to at least 1979, including convictions for breaking and entering, driving the getaway car in a robbery and cultivating and selling drugs. He also told a colleague he was involved in a double homicide in Canada and claimed to have ties to organized crime in Ontario, according to court filings.

    Posts on forums such as ASA Monitor, TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup sought to sanitize the P2P scheme, authorities said. This important piece of information seems to have escaped the OSZ forum, which apparently continues to operate on the theory that HYIPs, autosurfs and cash-gifting programs somehow are a legitimate form of commerce.

    Incongruities abound in the autosurf and HYIP universes. “WebsiteTester.biz,” the apparent new darling of Ponzi boards such as OSZ, has a domain that is registered behind a proxy. It is unclear if any of its early boosters even know who owns the company or could name a single executive or a board member. Because the site’s business model is unclear, promoters are pitching a program they know virtually nothing about.

    The mere fact the “opportunity” is being pitched on the Ponzi boards shows, at a minimum, that promoters instinctively turned to the cesspools to drive business to the company.

    On its website, Website Tester, which purportedly is in prelaunch,  says this (italics added):

    “FINALLY . . . This is the business you have waited for so long:

    “It is completely free, you earn through EVERYBODY who registers after you, even if you do not sponsor people; you must not sell or buy anything. Guaranteed!

    “The faster you register, the more can be your potential income, even if you do nothing else than register for free . . .

    “How does it work? – It’s simple!

    “A market research company from the USA is searching for internet users all over the world, who get paid for testing websites and giving a short opinion. You also can earn up to 1,000 US$ per month working 1 to 10 hours weekly.

    “Even if the job as a website tester is not for you, you can earn two passive incomes month after month.”

    Excuse us while we vomit.

    Based on information on the landing page of WebsiteTester, the upstart company appears to have a tie to an upstart, Las Vegas-registered company known as Alpha Market Research Inc.  Alpha Market appears to have a Twitter site from which it relentlessly links to self-produced news releases that are posted on PRLog.org, a free press-release distribution service.

    Hey, did you see how the SEC described a scam yesterday that allegedly relied on Twitter and Facebook to help line up people to be fleeced in a securities swindle?

    Here is a paragraph from one of Alpha Market’s PR gems:

    “Global marketing is nothing but marketing done on national and international level and which involves understanding the similarities, dissimilarities and taking advantage of the opportunities to attain the goal.”

    Here is another gem:

    “When you buy something from eBay, Amazon.com or any online store, you’ve participated in e-commerce.”

    Meanwhile, here is yet another:

    “If you do not have a ghostwriter writing your blog content, then it means you will need to spend some time writing some blog posts.”

    Separate from its news releases, Alpha Market says this (italics added):

    “Potential clients who are disturbed by trifles during the ordering process are often unaware of exactly why. For you, the entrepreneur, the big questions remain: why did the potential client visit your website and why did they accept or not accept your offer?

    Alpha Market Research, Inc. starts exactly at this point: we make your website available for thousands of AMR website-testers, assigned in groups of age and interest – this way we get detailed feedback with an honest evaluation of your website.

    Like WebsiteTester.biz, AlphaMarketResearch.com is registered behind a proxy. The Alpha Market site was registered May 28, according to records. The Web Tester site was registered five days later, on June 2. Alpha Market’s Twitter site appears to date back to June 4.

    The buzz about Website Tester also is occurring against the backdrop of the launch of yet-another surfing company: AdPayDaily (APD).

    APD, which appears to have promotional ties to ASD and AVG, is running an AVG-like series of promotions that offer bonuses.

    Interestingly, APD, which appears to have only about 550 members despite virtually nonstop flogging for weeks, now says members can send in as much as $10,000.

    Website Tester, at the moment, appears just to be gathering names — and generating excitement by publishing the names of the latest registrants on the left side of its landing page. The names suggest the enterprise is attracting many people from outside the United States, but it is far from clear if anything about the company is real.