PatrickPretty.com

Tag: Crowd Sourcing International

  • MORE ABSURDITIES: Zeek Promo Appears On Website That Also Pushes JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid; ‘Indefinitely Sustainable Second Income Seniors . . . Secure Your Pension,’ Site Claims; Zeek Post Includes Detailed Instructions On How To Wire Funds To North Carolina Bank

    A Blog targeted at senior citizens is recruiting affiliates for Zeek Rewards, JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid and other online "programs" that suggest they can create riches. (Redaction by PP Blog.)

    EDITOR’S NOTE: As the PP Blog was researching matters pertaining to the Zeek Rewards MLM “program” and preparing the post below for publication, it encountered a subdomain of the ZeekRewards.com website styled “zeeksupport.” A page on the subdomain purports to identify 16 Zeek “employees,” although is was unclear whether the workers received a wage or salary or were independent contractors.

    Here is the full URL: http://zeeksupport.zeekrewards.com/zeeksupport/people

    Included among the “employees” listed were Terralynn Hoy and Catherine Parker, both of whom were affiliated with AdSurfDaily, which the U.S. Secret Service alleged was a Ponzi scheme that had gathered at least $110 million. Hoy, at least, also was affiliated with an ASD knockoff known as AdViewGlobal.

    In April, federal prosecutors in the District of Columbia said they’d tied ASD President Andy Bowdoin to AdViewGlobal. Bowdoin, 77, pleaded guilty to wire fraud last month after being charged criminally in 2010 for his role in the ASD Ponzi scheme. As part of a plea agreement, Bowdoin has been banned from MLM, Internet programs and mass marketing.

    Although the story below does not report on the Zeek claims that Hoy and Parker are Zeek employees, a link on the Zeek subdomain leads to a page in which “Catherine Parker” is responding to Zeek customer-service issues, including one titled, “TO BE PAID FOR OUTSTANDING AUCTION WINNINGS, POST HERE.” Within the customer-service thread is a post from an individual who claimed to have won an April 12, 2012, Zeekler auction for $100 in U.S. cash with a winning bid of $16.28 — but never received his money. Other posters also claimed not to have been paid . . .

    UPDATED 5:27 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A detailed post from December 2011 on an affiliate Blog that publishes information in German and English instructs affiliates of the Zeek Rewards MLM “program” how to wire funds to Zeek and have them deposited in its account at NewBridge Bank in North Carolina. The Blog, which targets senior citizens, is hosted on Google’s free Blogspot platform at a subdomain styled “getlucky2011.”

    Zeek announced suddenly last week that it was ending its relationship with NewBridge. It also announced it was ending its relationship with BB&T, a second bank based in North Carolina. Zeek plants the seed that affiliates can earn a return of between 1 percent and 2 percent a day, but the “program” insists it is not offering an investment opportunity.

    Included on the same affiliate Blog are multiple pitches for JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, a “program” purportedly operated by Frederick Mann that does not disclose its base of operations, may have ties to the “sovereign citizens” movement and advertises a return of 60 percent a month. The deck of the Blog, which includes a Zeek affiliate link in the right sidebar, features these words (bolding added):

    “Indefinitely sustainable second income seniors earn independent living, plan their retirement, meet seniors assisted living, meet seniors online, secure your pension, look for retirement services and retirement benefits”

    The post provides a glimpse into how U.S. banks could come into possession of funds tainted by fraud as the funds circulate between and among various HYIP programs advertised online. Research by the PP Blog shows that NewBridge also was one of the banks that handled the business of a bizarre MLM “program” known as “Narc That Car” that effectively collapsed in 2010 after the Better Business Bureau raised pyramid-scheme concerns and American television stations and investigative reporters turned their sights on Narc.

    How Narc, a Texas-based company that used at least two names and at least two banks when issuing checks to members, ended up using NewBridge in North Carolina as one of its banks is unclear. Narc issued checks under the names of Narc Technologies Inc. and National Automotive Record Centre Inc. The entity later became known by a third name: Crowd Sourcing International.

    National Automotive Record Centre Inc., Narc’s purported parent company, is listed in Nevada records as a corporation in “default.” Zeek’s purported parent company, Rex Venture Group LLC, also is registered in Nevada. Like Narc, Rex has scored an “F” from the BBB. (See Rex listing. See Narc listing.)

    Like Zeek, Narc relied on a company known as USHBB Inc. to produce video sales pitches for its opportunity. USHBB is based in Indianapolis. Among its listed officers is OH Brown of Mount Pleasant, S.C. Brown hosted this May 2012 call for the Zeek “program” and also is listed on Zeek’s website as a Zeek “employee” who simultaneously holds the title “Official Rep.” Whether Brown receives compensation from Zeek while also serving as the vice president of USHBB is unclear.

    On March 15, 2010, the PP Blog published a story that reported that a video USHBB produced for the Narc “program” asserted that some affiliates were earning more money than the President of the United States.

    As part of its reporting on Narc, the PP Blog visited a USHBB website in 2010 that claimed the company had done promotional work for MLM teams and companies such as Ad Surf Daily, AdGateWorld, BizAdSplash, Ad-ventures4U, TVI Express and Global Verge/Buzzirk Mobile. Virtually all of the enterprises listed were associated with get-rich-quick schemes or HYIP autosurfs. Some of the “programs” later went missing from the web or were accused of fraud.

    Frederick Mann of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid was a promoter of both AdSurfDaily and Ad-ventures4U, according to records. Clarence Busby, a onetime business partner of ASD’s Andy Bowdoin, was the purported chief consultant and operator of BizAdSplash, an autosurf that vanished mysteriously in 2010. Erma Seabaugh, ASD’s purported “Web Room Lady,” also was affiliated with Ad-ventures4U.

    Seabaugh is named in a complaint as the owner of a bank account targeted for forfeiture in the ASD Ponzi case by the U.S. Secret Service.

    On March 2, 2010, the PP Blog reported that a Narc affiliate known as “Jah” was seeking to drive business to Narc by producing his own videos and posting them on YouTube. “Jah’s” videos featured check-waving as a form of social proof that Narc “paid.” One of the videos, which later was removed, showed a Narc check drawn on NewBridge. Another “Jah” video that still appears online shows that Narc also had an account at a second bank.

    “Jah” compared repping for Narc to working for the U.S. Census Bureau.

    Some of “Jah’s” check-waving videos later were hidden from public view. Jah, however, was not the sole Narc affiliate to produce check-waving videos in which checks from NewBridge were displayed. Though Narc appears to be long gone, the PP Blog observed a video today on YouTube in which the name of NewBridge flashed on the screen.

    Zeek has not provided specifics about why it ended its relationship with NewBridge.

    Among the assertions on the German/English Blog that was targeting senior citizens and promoting both Zeek and JSS/Tripler/JustBeenPaid was that “SolidTrustPay is one of the worlds most trusted e-wallet providers.”

    SolidTrustPay is a Canada-based payment processor that is handling business for both Zeek and JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid.

    The PP Blog reported on June 2 that JSS/JBP also was being promoted on a race-baiting and Catholic-bashing site known as VaticanAssassins. The VaticanAssassins site, among other things, asserts that ““Majority Savage Blacks were never taught to behave in civil White Protestant culture and thus have been released upon us Reformation Bible-believing Whites to further destroy our once White Protestant and Baptist American culture founded upon the Reformation’s AV1611 English Bible and a White Protestant Presbyterian Constitution with its attached White Baptist-Calvinist Bill of Rights.”

     

  • Walmart Joins ‘If You See Something, Say Something’ Terrorism-Awareness Campaign Operated By Department Of Homeland Security; Agency Takes Message To The Heartland As Critics Post Rants On YouTube

    DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano.

    It has become kneejerk sport to deride Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano as “Big Sis.”

    Today the attacks on Napolitano turned even more caustic, with the announcement by both DHS and Walmart that Walmart had joined the DHS-operated “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign.

    Walmart issued a news release today saying it was proud to become part of the campaign, linking its announcement to a 44-second DHS video that will begin playing in 588 Walmart stores across the United States in the coming weeks .

    “Homeland security starts with hometown security, and each of us plays a critical role in keeping our country and communities safe,” said Napolitano. “I applaud Walmart for joining the ‘If You See Something, Say Something’ campaign. This partnership will help millions of shoppers across the nation identify and report indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats to law enforcement authorities.”

    Snarky, vile comments were posted on the DHS YouTube site in response to the video — some of the sort that made the “Big Sis” slam seem almost like a compliment.

    Walmart, though, is not alone in backing the campaign.

    Other DHS partners in the campaign include Mall of America, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, Amtrak, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, sports and general aviation industries and state and local fusion centers across the country.

    Walmart’s announcement that it had joined the campaign occurs against the backdrop of a recent terrorist plot targeted at a community Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Ore. The plot, which was detected by the FBI, was scheduled to be carried out on “Black Friday.”

    “Black Friday” is the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, and has become a day filled with heavy retail shopping and community events. The suspect in the foiled Portland attack allegedly told the FBI that the plot would be less apt to be detected because the city was not front-and-center on law enforcement’s antiterrorism radar screens.

    “. . . it’s in Oregon; and Oregon, like, you know, nobody ever thinks about it,” the FBI quoted the Portland suspect as saying.

    There also have been bizarre events this year in which Walmart’s name was appropriated by members of murky multilevel-marketing businesses. Members of MLM programs known as Narc That Car/Crowd Sourcing International and Data Network Affiliates/OWOW instructed prospects to take photos of the license plates of cars parked at Walmart and other large retail stores.

    The plate numbers purportedly were to be entered into databases controlled by the MLM firms as a means of helping law enforcement and the AMBER Alert program rescue abducted children. No evidence has surfaced that either of the MLM firms has any tie to the AMBER Alert program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

    Meanwhile, bizarre promos for an MLM program known as MPB Today routinely used Walmart or its branding materials as backdrops for a purported program that suggested a one-time, $200 purchase from MPB Today could lead to free groceries for life.

    One of the promos painted President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as Nazis. Another urged MPB Today affiliates who were not fans of Walmart to lay down their pipe bombs.

    In its news release announcing it had joined the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign, Walmart urged customers to support the program, but did not say precisely why it had made the decison to become to first national retailer to partner with DHS.

  • 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.

  • 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.”

  • Golden Panda Forum DOA — Again; WebsiteTester.biz Continues To Baffle And May Have MPBToday Link

    The testimonial signed "Mike DeBias" on a website pitching MPB Today purports that "Mike DeBias" sought "Divine Guidance" when using Google to find a sponsor for the purported grocery program, which operates as an MLM. Nevada records lists "Michael A. DeBias" as the operator of Alpha Market Research, the purported parent company of Websitetester.biz, which purports to have gathered 400,000 names and email addresses online in recent months. Websitetester purports to offer "jobs" and an opportunity to become a website "tester." What, precisely, WebsiteTester does is far from clear.

    The Golden Panda Ad Zone forum, also known as the Online Success Zone (OSZ), appears to have died — again. Visitors are greeted with a note that says the forum is “currently unavailable.”

    Like ASAMonitor, MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold, OSZ was a site that pitched Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, cash-gifting programs and other highly questionable business “opportunities” such as a “program” known as WebsiteTester.biz.

    OSZ first died quietly in the spring. It resurrected itself during the summer, and a poster sang the praises of WebsiteTester, a mysterious company that claims to have gathered 400,000 names and email addresses in recent months for a purported “jobs” and website “testing” opportunity.

    WebsiteTester’s business model is far from clear. Although affiliates have said there is no downside for registering because the opportunity is “free,” the company says its legitimacy can be established by watching a video that shows no faces and reading a news release published by an anonymous author.

    The purported opportunity has encountered a failed launch, a failed relaunch, server problems, substantial downtime and other problems — and yet somehow has amassed more than 19,600 Twitter followers, even though registrants don’t know exactly what they’re registering for.

    Records in Nevada show that Michael A. DeBias is the president of Alpha Market Research, WebsiteTester’s purported parent company. A series of websites linked to the firm, however, are registered behind a proxy.

    Separately, a person purported to be “Mike DeBias” of “Las Vegas” is listed as a provider of a testimonial on a website that hawks the purported MPBToday “grocery” program. The testimonial implies that “Mike BeBias” sought guidance from God when searching Google for an appropriate MPB Today sponsor.

    “. . . I thought I would google-search for a sponsor that was more to my liking . . . I asked for Divine Guidance and the Force led me to you,” the testimonial reads in part. “Thank God, and Thank you.” It was signed, “Mike DeBias – Las Vegas, Nevada.”

    It was not immediately clear if the “Mike DeBias” of “Las Vegas” referenced in the testimonial was the same “Michael A. DeBias” listed at the operator of Alpha Market Research, which purports to be based in Las Vagas.

    What is clear is that WebsiteTester — like MPB Today — is being promoted on forums infamous for pitching Ponzi schemes. Promos for MPB Today have been targeted at Food Stamp recipients, senior citizens, the unemployed, people of faith, churches and victims of the alleged AdSurfDaily (ASD) Ponzi scheme.

    The OSZ forum got its start in the aftermath of the August 2008 federal seizure of tens of millions of dollars from bank accounts linked to ASD and Golden Panda Ad Builder, ASD’s purported “Chinese” autosurf. Promos for other surfs — and “opportunities” such as cash-gifting schemes — were launched from the forum, even after one surf after another crashed and burned and ASD president Andy Bowdoin was sued for racketeering.

    Clarence Busby, the alleged operator of Golden Panda, was implicated in three prime-bank schemes by the SEC in the 1990s. ASD’s Bowdoin was arrested in the 1990s for bilking investors in a securities swindle in Alabama, according to court records.

    The ASD scheme has been linked to tax-deniers, “patriots,” people who engage in the credit-repair business, and at least one person who sought to imprison federal judges by having a bogus “Indian” tribe issue bogus arrest warrants. At least one ASD member declared himself “sovereign” in a bizarre court case, suggesting he enjoyed diplomatic immunity and answered only to Jesus Christ.

    Another person linked to ASD filed court papers in Missouri that claimed a mortgage-foreclosure case could be halted in its tracks by posting a bond of $21 in “silver coinage.”

    Appeals to religion frequently were displayed on the now-defunct “Surf’s Up” forum — a forum that had ASD’s official endorsement — and one HYIP program pitched from the forum used an image of Jesus Christ in a sales pitch. The HYIP later collapsed, after collecting an untold sum of money.

    Court records suggest that a person believed to have been involved in ASD and other HYIPs also was engaged in cell-phone trafficking.

    Prior to its series of deaths, the OSZ forum also promoted “programs” such as Narc That Car and Data Network Affiliates, both of which purported to be able to help law enforcement and the AMBER Alert program rescue abducted children. No evidence has surfaced that either Narc that Car or DNA has any capacity to help in the rescue of children. During the spring, DNA also purported to be in the cell-phone business.

    Narc That Car since has changed its name to Crowd Sourcing International (CSI). Like DNA, CSI has an “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau.

    Meanwhile, a separate website that is promoting MPB Today also is promoting DNA and at least 100 “surfing” programs. The programs are promoted MLM-style.

  • ‘Jah’ Dumps Narc That Car (Crowd Sourcing International) After Spending Months Defending It, Slamming The BBB And Producing Check-Waving Videos And Promos

    "Jah," who once produced check-waving videos to promote Narc That Car, the predecessor company to Crowd Sourcing International, now says he has dropped the firm. He noted, however, that he had a new opportunity waiting in the wings, and a video he shared with his Blog audience published an image of a check only 1 second into the promo. It was not immediately clear if displaying a check at the 1-second mark of an MLM promo established a new world record.

    Crowd Sourcing International (CSI) promoter “Jah” has dumped the company after defending it for months, clashing with critics, bashing the Better Business Bureau and publishing check-waving videos on YouTube to promote the Dallas-based firm.

    “I’m no longer with CSI after the new changes 8/16,” Jah noted on his Blog. He added that he now would promote a new opportunity.

    CSI appears to have changed its program in mid-August. Even so, a message dated Aug. 24 on its website notes it has undone the changes — at least temporarily.

    “Effective Immediately – For the next 60 days, CSI is pleased to suspend the ‘retail’ product volume requirement for ‘promotion and qualification,’” the company notes. “CSI understands the learning curve involved in launching new products and training the field sales force. Change requires time… We will also use this time to design and launch exciting new products.”

    For his part, Jah told readers he’s moving to greener pastures.

    “Crowd Sourcing Int’l Reps Pursuing My Video Talk For Good Reason,” a headline on Jah’s Blog proclaims.

    A video Jah published on his website for the new opportunity flashed the first check at the 1-second mark. It was not immediately clear if the swiftness with which the check was displayed established a new world record for a multilevel-marketing (MLM) opportunity.

    Crowd Sourcing International, formerly known as Narc That Car, has an “F” rating from the BBB.

  • Michael Goldberg Pleads Guilty In $100 Million Ponzi Scheme Featuring Bogus ‘Diamond’ Sales And Bogus Ties To JP Morgan Chase Bank; Gov’t Describes Scammer As Financial Predator And Pitchmen As ‘Feeders’

    EDITOR’S NOTE: The story of Michael Goldberg’s long-running Ponzi scheme is one that also includes a form of domain-name fraud. Goldberg, for example, created a website that used the name of JP Morgan Chase. Scammers routinely seek to piggyback off well-known brands to separate people from their money, sometimes using the names of famous firms to cover their tracks or create “legitimacy” out of thin air. Such domain schemes may feature the unauthorized use of a company’s name in a domain registration or violate trademarks in other ways. Fraudsters also may register  a .org domain to plant the seed that a purported business “opportunity” is connected with a charity or register a name that is very close to the name of a well-established company, perhaps by adding words to the company’s name or varying the spelling of a company’s name. If you’ve been following our coverage of Data Network Affiliates, Narc That Car/Crowd Sourcing International and MPB Today, for instance, perhaps you’ve noted that .org websites were used by affiliates to promote the companies — even though none of the multilevel-marketing (MLM) firms is a charity.

    Here, below, the story of a Ponzi scheme that used domain fraud to fleece investors.

    The wantonness of Michael S. Goldberg’s 12-year Ponzi scheme was stunning. He told clients he invested in “diamond contracts” when he did not.

    And Goldberg, 39, of Wethersfield, Conn., also told clients he invested in “distressed assets from JP Morgan Chase Bank,” federal prosecutors said. Goldberg, though, did not invest in distressed Chase assets.

    What he did, prosecutors said, was create a web domain that used the Chase name, supplementing his web of lies by creating documents that used Chase’s name and the URL of the bogus Chase website so investors could not discover the fraud, prosecutors said.

    Not to be outdone, Goldberg also paid “finder’s” fees to attract new business and created bogus domains in the names of other companies, prosecutors said, referring to the compensated pitchmen as “feeders.”

    “When an investor questioned Goldberg about his business relationships, either with Chase or with any other company, he often created false documents and other items to induce investors to believe that his business relationships were legitimate, including inventories and/or manifests, contracts, business checks, bank statements, business cards and company identification cards,” prosecutors said.

    “Goldberg also created domain names in the names of actual companies, including Chase, that would be listed on false documents in case an investor attempted to verify the authenticity of the documents,” prosecutors continued. “In addition, Goldberg opened actual bank accounts in the names of the companies to whom he purported to be selling foreclosed business assets, without the permission of those companies, that could also be used to create the false impression that he had a business relationship with the companies.”

    A top federal prosecutor described the fraud, which duped 350 people into plowing $100 million into nonexistent diamond contracts and nonexistent Chase deals that paid “returns” in Ponzi proceeds, as overwhelming.

    “For 12 years, this defendant lured hundreds of investors with one false promise after another, the end result being financial misery for many of them,” said U.S. Attorney David B. Fein of the District of Connecticut.

    Losses may total more than $30 million, prosecutors said.

    Meanwhile, a veteran FBI agent described Goldberg as a financial predator.

    “Michael Goldberg’s actions have devastated the financial security of hundreds of innocent investors,” said Kimberly K. Mertz,  special agent in charge of the New Haven division. “The FBI, along with our law enforcement and regulatory partners, will continue to police the actions of those preying upon the investing public.”

    Aside from a brief period in 1997, Goldberg hadn’t dabbled in diamonds — and “he did not have any relationship with Chase,” prosecutors said.

    Goldberg, who confessed to the scheme last year, faces up to 60 years in federal prison after his guilty plea to three counts of wire fraud. Sentencing is scheduled for December. The investigation was conducted by elements of President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.

  • BULLETIN: Data Network Affiliates Gets ‘F’ From BBB After Purported Data Firm Did Not Respond To Complaints

    BULLETIN: The Better Business Bureau of Southeast Florida and the Caribbean has given Data Network Affiliates (DNA) an “F” rating after the company failed to respond to complaints.

    DNA, a purported multilevel-marketing (MLM) firm, publishes a street address in Boca Raton, Fla., on its website. The BBB’s file on DNA lists the Boca Raton address.

    DNA now joins Dallas-based Narc That Car, also known as Crowd Sourcing International, in the lineup of purported license plate data gathering firms to have received an “F” from the BBB. The “F” rating is the BBB’s lowest on a 14-step rating scale.

    Separately, bizarre events at DNA continue to occur. Earlier this year, DNA purported to be in the business of gathering license-plate numbers to assist law enforcement in locating abducted children. In a conference call, a DNA pitchman criticized the AMBER Alert program, claiming it had a bloated budget. The same pitchman recommended that members gather license-plate data at “churches” and “doctors’ offices,” triggering concerns that DNA’s business model could lead to untenable invasions of privacy.

    It is far from clear that DNA has any capacity to help law enforcement locate missing kids. The company’s domain name is registered in the Cayman Islands. Earlier this year, DNA claimed the offshore address was arranged through a domain registrar so company executives would not have to put up with “stupid” calls.

    DNA later declared itself the world’s low-price leader in the cell-phone business, before acknowledging that it had not studied pricing before announcing it could offer an “unlimited” plan for $10 a month, including a free phone.

    DNA later said it also had ventured into the businesses of selling a purported spray to be applied to license plates that would prevent motorists from getting tickets if they ran a red light at an intersection equipped with a camera — all while purporting to support law enforcement.

    The company also announced it had ventured into the mortgage-reduction business, claiming churches had the “MORAL OBLIGATION” to support the program.

    In July, DNA asked existing members to pretend the company had not launched in March, asking them to “Make believe that July 26th, 2010 is the LAUNCH DATE for DNA…”

    DNA than rescheduled the make-believe launch to Aug. 9. It is unclear if the imaginary launch occurred as advertised.  A countdown timer set for Aug. 23 now appears on the website.

    Meanwhile, the company appears to have renamed its Business Benefit Package, which once used the acronym BBP, to the BBB. BBB is the acronym used by the Better Business Bureau.

    DNA regularly employs capital letters to stress sales points in pitches to members.

    “Please attend our next WEBINAR it will CHANGE YOUR LIFE,” DNA said in a recent email, which also included a pitch for products described as the “DNA Photo Blocker & The DNA $5.95 TELE-FAX BOX.”

    It was not immediately clear if the product advertised as “DNA Photo Blocker” was the same product previously advertised as “DNA Protective Spray.”

    Visit the BBB site.

  • UPDATE: June Ends With No Cell-Phone Plan From Data Network Affiliates; Company’s ‘Nature Of Business’ Under Review By BBB

    June closed with no cell-phone package from Data Network Affiliates (DNA), despite claims on YouTube that the firm offers “unlimited” talk and text with a free phone for $10 a month.

    Separately, the Better Business Bureau of Southeast Florida and the Caribbean now says it is looking into the “nature” of DNA’s business and assigned the firm an opening grade of “C-” on its 14-step ratings scale. In recent weeks, DNA, whose website is registered behind a proxy in the Cayman Islands, has listed a street address in Boca Raton, Fla.

    It is not unusual for the BBB to give a company an acceptable rating while it is gathering information and then adjust the rating based on the information it collects. Narc That Car (Crowd Sourcing International) once had a “B-” rating from the BBB. Narc/CSI’s rating eventually was lowered to “F,” but could have remained stable at “B-” or even improved had the organization been satisfied by the explanations it received from the Dallas-based company.

    The information the BBB now has on DNA can aptly be described as threadbare. No complaints have been filed against the firm, according to the BBB. The BBB’s listing for DNA first appeared in late June.

    Like Narc/CSI, DNA purports to be in the business of paying members to record the license-plate numbers of automobiles for entry in a database. The BBB has raised pyramid concerns about the business model Narc/CSI employs.

    DNA originally positioned itself as the “free” alternative to Narc/CSI, which charges “consultants” an up-front fee of $100 to qualify to become data-gatherers and earn the right to recruit other “consultants” and receive commissions based on their recruiting prowess. Like Narc/CSI, DNA said its database product would be helpful to law enforcement and also could be used as a tool to locate abducted children.

    Although positioning itself as “free” and signing up members by the tens of thousands, DNA later pitched a $127 upgrade that purportedly would make it easier for members to enter plate data. The company described its “free” data-entry module as a clunker in an email to members. The company later pitched members on a purported “magnetic” healthcare product and also said it offered “juice.”

    DNA has been associated with a series of communications that even its former chief executive officer described as bizarre. The former CEO, Dean Blechman, resigned Feb. 24 while the company was in prelaunch. Blechman said the firm delayed his resignation announcement for nearly a week, and then butchered the announcement when it finally was issued in early March.

    By April, DNA said it had entered the cell-phone business, declaring “GAME OVER — WE WIN” despite the fact it appears to have had no experience in the cell-phone industry. The company announced it would offer unlimited talk and text with a free phone for $10 a month, but then withdrew the announcement three weeks later, saying it had not studied cell-phone pricing prior to advertising its purported $10 plan.

    The $10 plan was advertised by DNA pitchmen on both Craigslist and YouTube. Some videos on YouTube implied that DNA was offering a branded I-Phone from Apple for $10 a month. Apple did not respond to requests for comment on DNA’s purported branding program.

    DNA, which has used a free Gmail address to conduct customer service, has published an image of an I-Phone for weeks. DNA’s website advertised “Full Operations” for cell phones beginning in “June 2010.” A link on that page leads to a page that incongruously says, “DNA Cellular Begins Full Service May 2010.”

    Visit the BBB’s early listing on DNA.

  • Two-Thirds Of Poll Respondents Rate Data Network Affiliates’ Pitch A ‘Complete Failure’; Nearly 90 Percent Rate It ‘Poor’ Or Worse

    UPDATED 11:53 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The sales pitch of a multilevel-marketing (MLM) company that plucks the heartstrings of members by suggesting it can help law-enforcement and the AMBER Alert program locate abducted children has been rated  a “Complete Failure” by 66 percent of respondents in a PP Blog Poll.

    Meanwhile, 88 percent of respondents rated Data Network Affiliates’ message “Poor” or worse.  Only 12 percent rated the sales pitch either “Good,” “Very good” or “Exceptionally professional.”

    Separately, some DNA members said the firm, which had been barraging them with sales pitches, has been less communicative in recent days. The company has been mysterious from the start, registering its domain name behind a proxy in the Cayman Islands while incongruously suggesting its services could be beneficial to the U.S. government.

    DNA initially explained that its domain was registered privately in the Caymans to prevent management from having to “put up with 100 stupid calls a day.”

    Customer service has been conducted via a free Gmail address for months, although the firm in recent weeks has published a street address in Boca Raton, Fla.

    Fifty votes were cast in the PP Blog Poll, which was unscientific. Despite the low turnout, the poll results suggest that respondents were deeply turned off by the DNA sales pitch — to the point of revulsion. Regardless, 8 percent of respondents rated the pitch an “A,” meaning they viewed at as “Exceptionally professional.”

    Some PP Blog posters have speculated that voters might have rated the pitch “Exceptionally professional” because it deliberately was crafted by MLM hucksters to recruit members into an insidious lead-capture system through which they’d be pitched relentlessly on products other than DNA’s purported database product.

    Under this theory, the pitch was deemed “Exceptionally professional”  because it achieved the dubious purpose of lining up people by the tens of thousands to be fleeced.

    DNA, whose members have claimed Donald Trump and Oprah Winfrey endorse the company even though there is not a shed of evidence that the claim is true, purportedly has attracted more than 130,000 members. It is possible that some or all of the 8 percent of respondents who rated the sales pitch “Exceptionally professional” believe the pitch has merit beyond its ability to suck people into an insidious system.

    The database product purportedly is being built by members who appear in the parking lots of doctors’ offices, churches and giant retailers such as Walmart and Target to write down license-plate numbers or take photos with cell phones or video cameras of license plates for entry in the database.

    One of DNA’s leading pitchmen on conference calls has described the parking lots of medical facilities, places of worship and retail stores as wonderful places to gather data. He further suggested that members should behave in an inconspicuous fashion when gathering the data.

    DNA delayed its launch date twice in February. After its “free” data-collection program purportedly got under way in March, the company quickly began pitching other products to members, including a $127 upgrade that purportedly would improve the ability of “free” members to enter license-plate data into the system.

    The company said its “Pro” data-entry module was better than its “free” module. Prior to the introduction of the “Pro” module, “free” members did not know they would be receiving a data-entry tool the company itself described as a clunker.

    News about the “Pro” module began to spread March 10, only days after DNA told members who listened to an “Oscar” night conference call that the company’s “free” affiliates would “receive the same kind of commitment and respect from our DNA management team” as paid members received.

    DNA said its “Pro” module was part of a Business Benefits Package (BBP).

    “Upon close inspection of the B.B.P. you will find a minimum of 10 times the cost of such package to the end user in value savings and benefits,” DNA said in an email to members. “The two that stand out the most is (sic) the FREE 1000 REWARD DOLLARS with FREE REFILLS and the $402 Travel Agent Value Package for only $49.”

    In recent weeks, DNA mysteriously referred to its BBP package as the “BBB” package. Precisely why DNA would change the acronym of its package to the acronym associated with the Better Business Bureau was unclear.

    “6 OF THE 10 WILL BUY THE B.B.B. AND GET 1 OTHER TO BUY THE B.B.B. WITHIN 24 HOURS,” DNA declared earlier his month.

    Earlier, in April, the company announced that it was in the cell-phone business. The announcement came out of nowhere, and DNA boldly declared, “GAME OVER — WE WIN.”

    Without doing any checking, members raced to YouTube and Craigslist to announce that DNA was offering an unlimited cell-phone talk and text plan for $10 a month and, for $19.95 a month, was offering unlimited talk, unlimited text and 20 MB of data.

    DNA, which had no experience in the cell-phone business and yet declared it had slayed all competitors, later announced it had not researched pricing prior to announcing the plan.

    “[W]e found that there are no such service plans to be found by any carrier, anywhere on the planet, by any company in the industry,” DNA said in an email to members that un-announced the announcement weeks earlier of the $10 unlimited plan.

    DNA insisted it would have a new plan by May, but May passed without such a plan. The company then said it would have a plan in June. No such plan has emerged.

    A video on YouTube implied that DNA had a branding deal with Apple’s iPhone and that the phone would be called the “DNA iPhone.” The video asserted that DNA is the “ONLY Network Marketing Company With Branded iPhones.”

    Meanwhile, a separate YouTube video implied that DNA not only had an iPhone, but that the iPhone came with a “No Term Contract” for $10 a month.

    “You are Not in Kansas Anymore!” the second video screamed. “This is Global Baby!”

    Apple, which is known to defend its brand and intellectual property vigorously, did not respond to the PP Blog’s request for comment on the claims.

    DNA also has bragged about something called “RETIRE BY CHRISTMAS 2010 with DNA
    in “3″ to “6″ steps . . .” and various guarantees, including a purported “$100,000 DNA Minimum Income Guarantee” and a purported “$1,000,000 DNA Minimum Income Guarantee.”

    It is possible that the purported “income guarantee” exceeds the revenue DNA has posted to date. Like Narc That Car (Crowd Sourcing International), DNA’s purported Dallas-based competitor, the company publishes neither revenue figures nor the names of purported clients of the database product.

    The BBB has raised pyramid concerns about Narc/CSI.

    DNA also has urged members to imagine themselves driving 10,000 miles a year in pursuit of their DNA businesses to qualify for an IRS tax write-off of $5,000.

    In 2009, an MLM company known as YourTravelBiz (YTB) was enjoined in California from making tax claims under the terms of settlement of a pyramid-scheme lawsuit by Attorney General Jerry Brown that ordered the firm to pay $1 million.

    DNA has acknowledged that Phil Piccolo is part of its organization, and web records suggest Piccolo was actively involved in YTB. Separately, Narc That Car President Jacques Johnson was a director in YTB, according to court filings.

  • FOX 5 ATLANTA: Narc That Car President, Director Involved In Previous Pyramid Schemes; Separately, Math Expert Says License-Plate Location System ‘Like Finding A Needle In A Haystack’

    A Georgia State University mathematics professor consulted by Fox News 5 in Atlanta said Narc's purported data-driven location system was like finding a needle in a haystack.

    The Fox 5 News “I-Team” in Atlanta has returned to the subjects of pyramid schemes and Narc That Car, also known as Crowd Sourcing International. (See video and link below.)

    During tonight’s principal newscast, veteran investigative reporter Dana Fowle reported that Narc President Jacques Johnson was a manager in YourTravelBiz (YTB), which was sued in 2008 by California Attorney General Jerry Brown for operating a pyramid scheme.

    Meanwhile, Fox 5  reported that Narc Director Norman Pearah, who owns the building in which the firm’s offices are located, was charged in Louisiana in the 1980s with running an “endless chain” pyramid scheme.

    Records reviewed by the PP Blog show that the California case against YTB was settled with a stipulated judgment that ordered the company to pay $1 million. Records also show that YTB sought an injunction in federal court against Johnson amid allegations he violated a “director’s agreement,” solicited members to move from YTB while still a director and violated a “non-compete” agreement after leaving YTB.

    Johnson “hung up” on Fowle when she contacted him for comment, the station reported.

    Separately, the station reported that it consulted with Yichuan Zhao, a mathematics professor at Georgia State University, about Narc’s license-plate data claims.

    The professor, who appeared on camera with a chart and graphs, observed that the math of Narc was “like finding a needle in a haystack.”

    Narc has said its system could help recover abducted children. Although promoters claimed the firm was affiliated with the AMBER Alert program, the U.S. Department of Justice denied in February that the program had any affiliation with Narc. So did the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which administers the secondary AMBER Alert program for the Justice Department.

    Fox 5 also aired a Narc report during last night’s newscast. Last night’s report revisited the station’s previous reports on Narc, which featured the use of a hidden camera.

    See tonight’s Fox 5 report below:

    Visit the Fox 5 website.