“Guaranteed50KIn30Days” and associated programs were “pyramid promotion schemes” that depended on recruitment rather than product sales to “ultimate-user consumers,” investigators from the office of Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson said today.
The PP Blog wrote about the schemes in July 2013 — in part because they were being pushed by affiliates who also pushed the Profitable Sunrise scam. Profitable Sunrise was aimed at Christians and caused massive, cross-border losses.
Today, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson announced a settlement with Gage County based B & B Communications, Inc. and its principals, resolving an investigation which focused on the alleged operation of multiple pyramid schemes, through websites such as 2x2successteam.com, financialfitnessclub.com (formerly guaranteed50kin30days.com), ffcbridge.com, privatemillionairesclub.com, bandbonlineads.com (formerly onlineweathteam.com), and bandbsuccessclub.com.
The settlement has three main components requiring B & B Communications, et al. to comply with multiple assurances regarding future conduct, make a payment of approximately $11,000 for consumer restitution to Nebraska consumers, and make a $15,000 payment to the State. Consumers who qualify for restitution will be notified by the Attorney General’s Office in the near future.
Respondents included B & B Communications, Brian Barnhouse of Beatrice, Neb., and Steve Borgman of Whymore, Neb. Barnhouse and Borgman were B & B principals.
Websites included 2X2SuccessTeam.com, FinancialFitnessClub.com (formerly Guaranteed50KIn30Days.com), FFCBridge.com, PrivateMillionairesClub.com, BAndBOnlineAds.com and BAndBSuccessClub.com.
From a Jon Simmons’ pitch for Guaranteed50kIn30Days.
After the Profitable Sunrise intercontinental affinity-fraud and pyramid-scheme aimed at Christians, Rev. Jon Simmons has cast his net with a 5X5 matrix “program” known as “Guaranteed50kIn30days” and is fishing for a “team,” a source tells the PP Blog.
“Turn your $50 [into] a MILLION Dollars!” Simmons trawled.
Simmons was a Profitable Sunrise colleague of Nanci Jo Frazer and NJF Global Group. Frazer and two of her purported ministries were charged with fraud earlier this month in Ohio. Simmons was not charged. Profitable Sunrise may have scammed tens of millions of dollars in a cross-border fraud, the SEC said in April. Frazer and team may have driven $30 million to the scam, Ohio authorities said.
“What would you do with $50,800?” Simmons queried his audience about Guaranteed50kIn30days in an email, according to the source. “Or better yet, what would you do with a MILLION $$!”
Precisely what was “guaranteed” about getting $50,000 in a month wasn’t made clear in the pitch, which references a web entity known as PrivateMillionairesClub.com.
“Membership by Invitation Only,” the site says.
Schemes pushed by self-identified Christians that trade on claims of being private and exclusive have generated headlines in recent months. Profitable Sunrise was such a scheme. Zeek Rewards, which the SEC described in August 2012 as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme, advertised itself as “private, invitation-only,” the agency said in court filings.
Guaranteed50kIn30days says it’s located in Nebraska as part of B & B Communications Inc. and is associated with entities known as B & B Communications Philippines Inc. and B & B Communications Hong Kong Limited. Web properties, according to the company, also include BandBOnlineAds.com and 2x2SuccessTeam.com, with BandBeBookStore.com, ShowMeTheFreebies.com, BandBSuccessClub.com, FilipinoSavingsClub.com and FilipinoSavingsClub.net also in the fold.
Frazer’s Profitable Sunrise team also targeted prospects in faraway lands. One of those lands — New Zealand — referenced Frazer’s group in a March 2013 warning about Profitable Sunrise. Ohio authorities have said they’d linked Frazer to “ProfitClicking,” a “program” that became the subject of actions in Italy and the Philippines.
According to the information provided by the source, a July 16 Guaranteed50kIn30days email from Simmons began, “Jon Simmons here. This is WAY BETTER THAN SGR!”
SGR appears to be a reference to a “program” known as “ShareGiveReceive.” Online promos for SGR position it as “A Ministry/Business . . . not operating like a regular business” and “A World Wide Community Of People Working For The Benefit Of All MAN Kind.”
Guaranteed50kIn30days, however, apparently blows SGR away — in Simmons’ view.
“This is Best program to come along in decades,” he told his email audience about Guaranteed50kIn30days. “We are talking real daily step by step training. A 30-day video training course that anyone can follow to be successful. True duplicating process.”
Another part of the pitch reads, “Get paid weekly every Wednesday by check, or have it loaded onto your Payoneer card. Go Quick! We just officially launched last Monday, July 1, 2013! Amazing earnings in 1 week!!!”
In the email, prospects were provided a link to a heart-tugging video featuring B&B co-founders Steve Borgman and Brian Barnhouse riding in an automobile and reflecting on their days spent living in rural poverty in Nebraska. Those painful days now are over, according to the video: Both men now are well-equipped on the vehicle front. Borgman owns “the biggest house in Gage County,” and Barnhouse resides in a home with a scenic river view.
The video was filmed in the region of Wymore, Neb., which has a population of 1,656, according to a road sign shown in the video. (Despite the newfound financial success of the duo, the mournful background music in the video seems more appropriate for a funeral dirge).
Simmons, according to his email pitch, also can provide help with getting “leads” for Guaranteed50kIn30days.
“Do you need help recruiting?” he asks. “I found a solution! Ask me about a great lead system I found for only $25 (one-time, NOT monthly)! Get your 5 for $50K easily! You can also use this Lead Scraper for ANY business. Imagine… No more having to talk to friends and family!!”
“Guaranteed50KIn30Days” and associated programs were “pyramid promotion schemes” that depended on recruitment rather than product sales to “ultimate-user consumers,” investigators from the office of Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson said today.