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MLM WATCHDOG: Phil Piccolo Is Scamming Again

(2ND UPDATE 3:26 P.M. EDT U.S.A.) Rod Cook, who publishes the “MLM Watchdog” and was threatened with a $40 million lawsuit by the AdSurfDaily Ponzi racketeers in 2008, is reporting that veteran swindler Phil Piccolo is back on the prowl.

This time, Cook reports, it’s with a cobra-venom product sold at MyNyloxin.com. The product is positioned as a pain reliever, and Piccolo is calling himself “Felice Angelo.”

Piccolo is known as “the one-man Internet crime wave.” If there’s a Piccolo signature, it’s his ability largely (though not exclusively) to remain in the shadows while engineering scams within scams or within dubious “opportunities” in which an affiliate’s success chances are exceptionally low going in. Piccolo appears to be particularly keen on “programs” ostensibly in the health-maintenance and electronic-technology fields. The “programs” may remain in “prelaunch” phase virtually indefinitely while gathering cash and gaining a head of steam.

“[P]hil is selling his stock to individuals and giving it away as incentives under the table illegally and running $500 co-ops scamming people out of their money,” Cook reports about Piccolo’s MyNyloxin activities.

Based on the PP Blog’s research, Piccolo also is known to engage in anonymous shilling and to leave thousands of orphaned affiliate links of his onetime recruits all over the web as a means of corralling the earnings of people duped into placing the links before they fled the programs because they weren’t getting paid.

PP Blog reader Tony H. noted on March 4 that a “Piccolo Felix Angelo” was listed as a “winner” in the $850 million Zeek Rewards Ponzi-scheme and was being sued by the court-appointed receiver.

As the PP Blog previously has reported, Piccolo has a history of threatening websites that report on his scams. Part of his MO features appeals to religious faith. These incongruously have been mixed with suggestions he can summon leg-breakers if the need arises.

Piccolo claims to hail from New York. He is known to operate in the region of Boca Raton, Fla., and to participate in scams that try to create the illusion of scale — perhaps by using Photoshop to make the scamming firm’s name appear on a large building, for example.

Another part of Piccolo’s MO includes suggestions that “opportunities” he pitches soon will “go public” or already are part of public companies. In the TextCashNetwork scheme, for instance, the Piccolo group suggested that TCN was part of Johnson & Johnson, the famous pharmaceutical company.

Meanwhile, Piccolo scams may feature claims that people who send in large sums of money will receive a preposterous return, a marker that the “programs” are vulnerable to charges they are selling unregistered securities as investment contracts. If a Piccolo-associated scheme loses its payment conduits, recruits have been encouraged to wire money via Western Union.

Piccolo scams also have featured claims that celebrities such as billionaire Donald Trump and entertainment icon Oprah Winfrey were on the ships he helped steer. Such was the case with a scam known as Data Network Affiliates — DNA, for short.

DNA claimed to be in the business of assisting the Amber Alert system of rescuing abducted children. It later claimed to be in the cellphone, offshore “resorts” and mortgage-assistance businesses. DNA was targeted at churches, with prospects told they had the moral obligation to enroll the faithful.

Piccolo also was associated with a business known as “One World One Website” (OWOW) that suggested a bottled-water product could cure cancer and had been vetted by the National Institutes of Health.

Over the years, Piccolo has pushed products such as a purported license-plate “spray” positioned as a means of helping motorists escape traffic tickets at camera-monitored intersections. Perhaps most notoriously, Piccolo has pitched a purported “magnetic” product that purportedly could help medical patients escape limb-amputation procedures while at once helping gardeners/farmers produce tomatoes at twice their normal size. The scam also included a claim that the “magnetic” product could help dairy herds increase milk production.

Perhaps most infamously, the Piccolo group in the DNA scam traded on the name of Adam Walsh, a child who’d been abducted and murdered. Piccolo employs anything that “works,” even the memory of a slain 6-year-old.

Piccolo scams typically also feature the presence of MLM huckster Joe Reid. The scams also may include suggestions that affiliates should enroll as a means of qualifying for tax write-offs. In a typical Piccolo scam, an increase in Alexa rankings is positioned as asserted proof of an MLM “program’s” legitimacy. The Piccolo scams also typically feature a link to Google’s translation tool, potentially as a means of picking off nonspeakers of English.

Some Piccolo scams have featured the registrations of shell companies in Wyoming.

In 2010, the PP Blog was accused by an apparent Piccolo apologist of being a shill for Israel and spreading “Islamophobia.” This claim was made after the Blog reported that the FBI had stopped a plot to detonate a bomb at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Ore.

Also see: Nov. 13, 2011, PP Blog story: ‘TEXT CASH NETWORK’: RED FLAGS GALORE: New ‘Opportunity’ Linked To Ponzi Boards And To Phil Piccolo-Associated ‘Firms’: Hype, Vapid Claims, Alexa Charts, Launch Countdown Timer, Brand Leeching — And Possible Ties To Long-Running SEC Case

Also see this Jan. 16, 2014, comment by PP Blog reader and RealScam.com moderator Glim Dropper. The comment appears below an Aug. 30, 2013, PP Blog story titled, “Zeekers Targeted In New Scheme With Ties To Piccolo Organization.”

Apr 27, 2014
ZEEK SLAYER? Now, A Penny-Auction Site Married To MLM-Like Scheme Purportedly Tied To Effort To Save Children From Hunger Or Becoming ‘Sex Slave[s]’; Build Up To ‘Founding Member’ Sales Pitch Drops Names Of White House, Chelsea Clinton, Historian And Presidential Adviser Doug Wead, Unidentified Presidential Candidate And NBC News Anchor Lester Holt

From YouTube sales pitch for BidsThatGive by Randy Jeffers. (Children's faces masked by PP Blog.)

EDITOR’S NOTE: It is true that far too many of the world’s children live in poverty. It also is true that children may become the objects of criminals who engage in human trafficking and that children are exploited in the sex trades. It is equally true that legitimate charities exist to combat these horrific situations and that one MLM “program” after another has tried in recent times to tug at the human heart and “marry” their “programs” to a purported cause. If you desire to improve the human condition for the masses of children, it likely is best to donate directly to a legitimate charitable organization, rather than joining a get-rich-quick scheme that says it is doing good work behind the scenes.

** __________________________________________ **

UPDATED 6:57 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) WARNING: The following development in MLM La-La Land may be harmful to your gag reflex.

Zeek Rewards, the U.S.-based MLM “program” that wraps itself in the American flag, collects sums of up to $10,000 from participants, plants the seed affiliates can earn a return of between 1 percent and 2 percent a day while insisting it is offering neither securities nor an investment program, has a payout scheme similar to the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme and securities swindle, is married to a penny-auction site known as Zeekler that has told successful bidders for sums of U.S. cash that they can receive their money via offshore payment processors and preemptively denies it is a pyramid scheme, has some emerging, U.S.-based competition.

The name of the “program” is “BidsThatGive” — and it unabashedly tugs at heartstrings while at once asking prospects to imagine themselves behind the wheel of a grand automobile and feeling good because they also could become a “Contributor” for $10 a month, a “Guardian” for $50 a month, a “Benefactor” for $100 a month” or a Global Ambassador” for $250 a month and pile up mountains of cash while they’re displaying a social conscience.

Two of the core aims of the “program,” according to a nine-minute video promo running on YouTube, are to help impoverished children and children who’d been exploited and became “sex slave[s].” The prelaunch of BidsThatGive appears to have been timed to coincide with the Independence Day holiday period in the United States.

One of the assertions in a the YouTube video is that the “rewards” the company provides include “an orphanage and a school, church or hospital built in your name.” All of this apparently is possible because BidsThatGive has a “global business model” and employes a “concept” known as “PPSC,” which stands for Private Profit Sharing Company.

But before we get to the uber bizarre, let’s address the run-of-the-mill bizarre in this latest entry in MLM La-La Land.

BidsThatGive is a little bit Andy Bowdoin. Indeed, the emerging penny-auction company with an MLM-style compensation plan, claims it’s not an MLM program and tells prospects they’re “probably not going to sleep at night” once they understand the profit potential. Bowdoin, the infamous AdSurfDaily Ponzi schemer, told prospects that ASD was not a “network marketing company” and used largely the same line about all the sleepless nights excited prospects would experience.

Meanwhile, BidsThatGive is a little bit like AdViewGlobal (AVG), a collapsed 1-percent-a-day Ponzi autosurf federal prosecutors said in April 2012 had ASD ties. AVG once claimed that one of its desires was to save the rainforest through charitable contributions. BidsThatGive also resembles ClubAsteria, which offered outsize weekly returns ranging from 3 percent to 8 percent and told prospects that its charitable arm would provide relief to victims of the devastating earthquake in Japan last year. ClubAsteria also purported to provide aid to children and claimed its mission was to elevate the word’s poor out of poverty.

Last year, the American Red Cross sent Club Asteria a letter demanding it stop using the Red Cross name in promos.

And BidsThatGive also resembles DataNetworkAffiliates (DNA), which tied itself to the U.S. AMBER Alert system for rescuing abducted children and said its “token system” could help prevent child poverty.

“Help DNA Feed A Million. OVER 1000 AN HOUR DIE. The DNA Token System Can Prevent This!” the company exclaimed.

Among other things, DNA used a YouTube video to trade on the name of Adam Walsh, the 6-year-old who was abducted and murdered in Florida in 1981. Adam’s father, John Walsh, became a prolific advocate for children and later became the host of the “America’s Most Wanted” television series.

DNA, which was associated with longtime MLM huckster Phil Piccolo, appears not to have helped a single abducted child or a single child living in poverty. Affiliates, though, tried to plant the seed that the DNA “program” was backed by Oprah Winfrey and Donald Trump. When DNA’s CEO resigned suddenly in 2010, the company waited nearly a week to announce the departure — and then misspelled the former CEO’s name.

BidsThatGive Operator

Randy Jeffers, an MLM aficionado, is the purported operator of BidsThatGive, according to promo videos on YouTube. Jeffers also presides over a nonprofit entity known as “Liberty Kidz,” which says its “[v]ision is to empower a child to be all that he or she is created to be, by providing homes, help and hope for discouraged, displaced and distressed children of the world.”

A similarly named Jeffers’ entity known as Liberty International LLC filed for bankruptcy in August 2010, listing about $1.94 million in debt and $641 in assets, according to federal records. The assets consisted of the balance of a business checking account.

What follows are comments from Jeffers in the nine-minute sales pitch for BidsThatGive on YouTube (italics added):

You know, there are so many terrible things that happen to children all over the world. Right now a little boy is dying of hunger, a little girl just got sold by her mother and is being forced into life as a sex slave.

Right now, children are being physically abused, and then there’s so many children that are just left by themselves and there’s no one there to love or care for them. I don’t know why bad things happen to innocent little children, but they do. But here’s what I do know: All of us can do something about it.

You see, that’s our No. 1 purpose. This company was founded to be a true partnership between those children, the children’s charities that it supports and its affiliates who make it all happen.

A ‘Founding Member’

One of the founding members of BidsThatGive is Glen Woodfin, according to 6:56 promo video dated July 2 and running on YouTube.

Woodfin describes himself in the video as an American who once moved to Brazil to be with his “multimillionaire” fiance who had 90 employees. Enjoying the “good life” on the beach while sitting around drinking “coconut milk” was fun for a while, but ultimately led to a desire to become more productive and to develop an online skill set. Woodfin ultimately discovered he had a talent for search engine optimization and that clients were interested in those services.

Glen Woodfin, who says he's done SEO for a Presidential candidate, does a little dance in his Bids That Give sales pitch on YouTube.

His SEO skills ultimately became so good that “I was hired by somebody running for President . . .,” according to Woodfin, who narrates the video. He did not identify the candidate.

Woodfin, however, goes to to explain that he was fortunate to know author and White House adviser Doug Wead, who wrote “All The President’s Children,” a New York Times Bestseller. (Wead’s Wikipedia entry says he advised GOP Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.)

Apparently in the market for SEO advice, Wead turned to Woodfin, according to the video.

“He said, ‘Glen, we’ve got one of the Presidential children about to get married in three weeks, and we don’t have a website up. Can we get in there and get to the top of the search engines with it?’” Woodfin recalled.

That Presidential child, according to Woodfin, was Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Over the weekend Chelsea Clinton got married, Woodfin said, his SEO techniques on Wead’s behalf put a site known as ChelseaClintonWeddingWatch.com at the top of the rankings. (Chelsea Clinton was married on July 31, 2010.)

When NBC News anchor Lester Holt was interviewing Wead, Woodfin said, Holt mentioned the website Woodfin had put at the top of the rankings, apparently attributing the feat to Wead.

Neither BidsThatGive nor Jeffers is mentioned in the first three minutes of the Woodfin video. But at roughly the 3:03 mark, Woodfin announces, “I’m going in business with a gentleman named Randy Jeffers. Randy Jeffers started the No. 1, fastest-growing MLM of all time, called Destiny. They put in 1 million distributors in 18 months.”

Woodfin goes on to say that Jeffers recently called him and offered him a “founder’s membership” in BidsThatGive.

“While he’s talking, the hair start[s] standing up on my arm, and I got thrilled,” Woodfin recalled. “As a matter of fact, every time I get off the phone with him now, I’m just, ‘Thank you for putting this together.’ It’s based on penny auctions . . .”

It’s not known whether Woodfin contacted the White House, Wead, Clinton and Holt as a courtesy to let them know he’d be using their names in a YouTube pitch for Jeffers’ BidsThatGive. What is known is that namedropping is common in the MLM sphere — often without the knowledge of those whose names are dropped.

Although the Woodfin pitch did not imply that any of the celebrities or institutions mentioned in the pitch endorsed BidsThatGive, the implication was clear that BidsThatGive prospects who joined under Woodfin would gain access to an SEO expert who’d worked for a Presidential candidate and knew a Presidential adviser.

Neither the Jeffers’ video nor the Woodfin video referenced the Liberty International LLC 23-month-old bankruptcy filing. Nor did either video address any of the potential problems BidsThatGive could encounter from regulators.

Like the Zeek Rewards’ business model, the BidsThatGive model resembles that of ASD. In 2008, the U.S. Secret Service seized more than $80 million from ASD-related bank accounts, including $65.8 million in the personal accounts of Andy Bowdoin.

Court records showed that ASD was trading on the name of then-President George W. Bush. Analysts saw it as a transparent bid to sanitize the “opportunity” by trying to link it to the White House.

Major politicians from both sides of the aisle have seen their names used in promos for “opportunities” that proved to be Ponzi schemes.

Former President Clinton’s name and image were used by the Mantria Corp. Ponzi scheme. Clinton is a Democrat.

Jul 5, 2012
FRIDAY HYIP ODDITIES: (1) Spammer Swipes PP Blog Graphic, Uses It In Bid To Promote LibertyReserve; (2) Other Spammers Target JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid Threads; (3) ‘MoneyMakingBrain’ Calls Blog ‘BIG Idiot’ And ‘Deceptive Unethical Lowlife’

Here is an imponderable: Is there any ceiling to the absurdities in the HYIP sphere and the destructive force it exercises around the web?

On Wednesday, the PP Blog received repeated spams from U.S.-based IPs. The spammer used the handle “invest liberty reserve” and targeted two threads, including this one about JSS Tripler 2, a purported “program” that purportedly based its name on JSS Tripler. JSS Tripler is a purported element of JustBeenPaid, an “opportunity” purportedly operated by Frederick Mann that claims it pays a return of 60 percent a month.

Liberty Reserve is an “offshore” payment processor favored by HYIP schemes, including JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid. Wednesday’s spam bids used purported email addresses at AOL and Hotmail.

One of the Wednesday spams featured a graphic swiped from PonziNews, once a sister site to the PP Blog. The spammer attempted to use the stolen graphic in his posting bid on the PP Blog.

It was not the first time the Blog’s graphics had been used in a nefarious way online. On Dec. 12, 2010 — in commemoration of its 1,000th post — the PP Blog recounted a July 2010 story that its Breaking News graphic had been swiped and placed inside a promotion for Data Network Affiliates.

DNA was a scam associated with huckster Phil Piccolo. The “opportunity” traded on the names of Oprah Winfrey and Donald Trump and advertised a nonexistent cell-phone plan of unlimited talk and text for $10 a month, an offshore “resorts” scheme and a “mortgage-reduction” scheme — all while tying itself to Christianity, the U.S. AMBER Alert system of locating abducted children and a purported bid to end world poverty.

It’s worth noting that some JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid promoters also traded on Winfrey’s name.

In the same December 2010 commemoration post, the Blog reported that Janet Napolitano, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, had been called names that would peel paint when DHS announced that Walmart had joined the “If you see something, say something” terrorism-awareness campaign. Meanwhile, the Blog reported that some online-fraud schemes had evolved to victimize participants by the tens of thousands — numbers America’s largest sports stadiums could not accommodate.

The PP Blog no longer owns the PonziNews domain. The Blog suspended publication of the site in 2010, after thieves who used international IPs stole the domain’s content verbatim and posted it on other sites they controlled that had a higher Page Rank than Ponzi News.

In short, the net effect of the theft was that the PP Blog was being used to create “free” content for thieves who intercepted the traffic of PonziNews. Such piracy schemes are hurting the publishing industry.

In a separate spam bid on Wednesday, a would-be poster suggesting he represented an HYIP ranking site targeted this PP Blog thread on strange claims associated with “MoneyMakingBrain” in the context of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid.

The would-be poster purporting to represent the HYIP ranking site complained that the Blog had used the term “HYIP” in the linked story above “21 times” without explaining the meaning of the term.

“Nice writing job!” the would-be poster jabbed. He provided no comment on the substance of the story.

On RealScam.com yesterday, “MoneyMakingBrain” — who’d emailed threats repeatedly to the PP Blog on Feb. 29 — described the Blog as a “BIG idiot,” a “chicken,” a “deceptive unethical lowlife,” the user of “NONFACTUAL” sources and other names.

Because of the emailed threats and “MoneyMakingBrain’s” subsequent ban from the PP Blog, the Blog will not engage with MoneyMakingBrain on RealScam.com, an antiscam forum that concerns itself with mass-marketing fraud and occasionally has been subjected itself to threats and menacing communications.

“MoneyMakingBrain” has advanced various conspiracy theories about RealScam.com, the PP Blog and and some of their common posters.

What he has not done is explain what his purported “due diligence” into the JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid “program” entailed or how purported operator Frederick Mann could pay an annualized return between 48 and 73 times higher than the purported “returns” of Bernard Madoff.

Yesterday on RealScam, “MoneyMakingBrain” asserted that he has “recently read [about the PP Blog] on some scams forum, that he is a very deceptive reporter, well, that doesn’t surprise the MMB at all.”

It is possible that “MoneyMakingBrain” is referring to this September 2009 thread on Scam.com. The thread was started by a PP Blog poster known as “little joe” who’d been banned for harassment. The poster, who later was banned from Scam.com, claimed the PP Blog would be “scrambling to put out fires” from multiple IPs.

The threats and intimidation campaign from “little joe” began after the summer 2009 collapses of AdViewGlobal (AVG) and Ad-Ventures4U (ADV4U), both of which claimed an ability to provide preposterous returns in the wake of the government seizure of tens of millions of dollars in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case.

Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, has described himself as a promoter for both ASD and ADV4U.

On Aug. 18, 2009, antiscam commentators on the PP Blog were called “idiots” and the PP Blog itself was asked by an ADV4U promoter whether the author was a “fag.” After launching his ad hominem attacks against the PP Blog and its posters, the ADv4U pitchman asserted he was a longtime businessman and that criticism about ADV4U on the PP Blog was about “as unprofessional as it gets people.”

“I’m out of here.You bunch of idiots make me sick!!!” the poster railed.

ADV4U ceased member payouts about 10 days later.

Less than a year later — in May 2010 — Professor James Byrne, an expert hired by the U.S. government to assess the alleged HYIP Ponzi scheme of Nicholas Smirnow of Pathway To Prosperity — observed that HYIPs were not “noted for their internal consistency.”

One of the inconsistencies that became part of the ADV4U story was the assertion by the “defender” that he was a longtime, professional businessman — while the same “defender” asked the PP Blog if he was a “fag” and declared ADV4U critics who questioned a purported payout rate of 1 percent a day “idiots.”

Both assertions occurred a year after the U.S. Secret Service brought Ponzi allegations against ASD, whose payout scheme was similar to ADV4U’s.

Mar 9, 2012
UPDATE: Text Cash Network, Firm With Phil Piccolo Tie, Now Fishing For ‘International Satellite Partners’ And $25,000 Deposits — After Earlier Piccolo-Associated Firm Asked For $14,995 At A Time For Offshore ‘Resorts’ Program

“WE NEED INTERNATIONAL SATELLITE PARTNERS: #1 must have minimum $25,000 deposit. #2 must have a good name in the country. #3 must be very honest and trustworthy. If you know of such a person in your country have them send a request to [deleted]@textcashnetwork.com.” — Feb. 13, 2012, Blog promo for Text Cash Network

From a TCN Blog promo on Feb. 13, 2012.

UPDATED 12:07 A.M. ET (FEB. 16, USA.)

Following a previous pattern of scams linked to MLM huckster Phil Piccolo, the purported Text Cash Network (TCN) text-advertising “opportunity” now is fishing for great sums of cash, according to affiliate Blog posts that appear not to even to question the offer.

The posts appear to be based on an email affiliates received from TCN , with affiliates simply copying and pasting the content on Blogs.

TCN, according to the posts, is seeking “INTERNATIONAL SATELLITE PARTNERS” willing to plunk down a “minimum $25,000 deposit.” The posts are tied to a purported TCN celebration for being in business for 100 days.

The promos also are hyping something called the “VIP Plus Advertising Package,” which purportedly will debut March 16 at a cost of “$499 + $60 Monthly x 11 Months with 100% of the additional funds going to the VIP Plus Agents.”

Some TCN affiliates are simultaneously encouraging recruits and prospects to send money to TCN via Western Union to buy in as TCN distributors at levels between $129 and $399. Such tactics have been associated with advance-fee scams and other forms of fraud.

“Western Union will allow you to put it on your credit card!” one TCN affiliate promo roars. “Call Western Union for details.”

In November 2010, a Piccolo-associated entity known as One World One Website (OWOW) solicited members to send in cash amid promises the contributions would earn “24% Annual Interest.” The offer led to questions about whether OWOW, which is listed as a defunct Wyoming corporation while it maintains websites that are unable to process payments, was selling unregistered securities as investment contracts.

“The 24% Annual Interest On Your Money … Did you know that many PROS are receiving 24% Annual Interest on their money. The deadline for 24% annual interest paid in monthly increments of 2% will end on 11/30/2010 . . . Any funds deposited thereafter will pay 18% annual interest in monthly increments of 1.5%,” the Nov. 18, 2010, OWOW email read in part.

In July 2010, Data Network Affiliates — another venture associated with Piccolo — said it was offering an offshore “resorts” program through a vendor. Members could buy into the purported program through a “No Interest Easy 24 Month” payment plan of of $625 a month. DNA solicited members to spend $14,995 on the resorts program, suggesting that some prospects would put the entire amount on a credit card.

Like the current TCN invitation soliciting deposits of $25,000, the OWOW email from November 2010 included an email address. Prospects with access to cash were encouraged to use the address to contact the company to discuss the offer.

Recent scams with which Piccolo has been involved — including OWOW and DNA — have featured Piccolo as a background player. Other individuals emerged as the faces of the company.

TCN has ducked questions about Piccolo. The firm lists Brett Hudson as its president. Both TCN and DNA operate in the region of Boca Raton, Fla.

DNA’s former CEO resigned within a matter of weeks in early 2010, saying that various email missives from the company were “bull” from a “backdoor guy.” Both TCN and DNA purport to operate “processing centers” in Boca Raton.

DNA’s corporate registration is listed in Nevada as dissolved. Like OWOW, Text Cash Network filed corporate paperwork in Wyoming. OWOW’s registration is listed as “delinquent” and “Inactive – Administratively Dissolved (Tax).”

OWOW effectively died in November 2011, the same month TCN was born in Wyoming, according to records. OWOW got a 10-day head start on other TCN affiliates in early November, according to web promos that explained OWOW was helping TCN test its system.

Why TCN would choose OWOW as a key, early business partner is unclear.

Another common thread among TCN, DNA and OWOW is the presence of Piccolo business associate and MLM huckster Joe Reid. TCN has accented the purported “tax” benefits of joining, something DNA also did.

Feb 14, 2012
UPDATE: Alleged JSS Tripler Promoter Referenced In Probe By Italian Securities Regulator CONSOB Also Is Pitchman For U.S.-Based Text Cash Network; Promoter’s Individual Domain Name Suspended; Ponzi-Forum Cheerleading Continues As JSS Tripler Website Encounters Problems

Certain images will not load today on the website of JustBeenPaid, a "program" tied to JSS Tripler.

EDITOR’S NOTE: HYIP critics long have pointed out that many Internet-based schemes have members in common and that the interconnectivity of certain schemes creates a condition in which fraud proceeds circulate from scheme to scheme to scheme. Such fraud schemes can mushroom to involve tens of thousands — or even hundreds of thousands — of participants.

The logistical challenges of reverse-engineering such schemes are enormous — and it’s often the case the combined international hauls of the schemes also are enormous.

A man referenced in a JSS Tripler-related action by CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, appears to have lost access to his U.S.-based website — and appears also to have been a pitchman for Text Cash Network, a U.S.-based “opportunity” linked to serial hucksters Joe Reid and Phil Piccolo.

TextCashNetwork purports to be an international text-advertising business involving cell phones. The “opportunity,” though, is decidedly murky. Affiliates have described Text Cash Network vaguely as “a new division of a five year old communications company owned 100% by The Johnson Group.” Other promoters have claimed it was owned by the “Johnson & Johnson Group,” a possible bid to leech off the brand of the famous pharmaceutical and consumer-products company.

TCN Promotional Tie To JSS Tripler

On Jan. 23, CONSOB announced the JSS Tripler-related action. Included in CONSOB’s statement were references to an individual named Mauro Messina and a website styled gruppounitoworld.com.

That website, which appears to have been hosted in the United States, now beams this message: “I’m sorry, but this account has been suspended.” No reason for the suspension was provided.

The message appears even though the domain registration is good through June 30, 2012, according to registration data.

The name Mauro Messina also appears on an affiliate site for Text Cash Network. The affiliate ID on the Text Cash Network site is “gruppounito” — the first 11 letters of the now-suspended site referenced in the CONSOB probe. (See comment from PP Blog reader Tony here. Kudos, Tony.)

Driven by a relentless hypefest, Text Cash Network or TCN launched late last year — with Reid leading the cheerleading as he had done previously for Data Network Affiliates (DNA), a Piccolo-associated entity that mixed and matched itself with One World One Website (OWOW), another Piccolo-associated entity.

Both DNA and OWOW appear to be defunct corporations, but appear also to maintain a web presence that in part has been used to drive traffic to TCN. Strangely, the DNA website now is publishing a “STOP SOPA” graphic, referring to antipiracy legislation in the United States that became part of well-publicized opposition campaigns by Google and Wikipedia (among others).

DNA, which claimed it was a data company with a cell-phone arm and appears never to have delivered on either count, has a history of brand leeching and divining ties to causes, including the U.S. AMBER Alert program and child poverty. Among other things, DNA — despite the fact its Nevada corporate registration is listed as “Dissolved,” asks prospects to “Help DNA Feed A Million[:] OVER 1000 AN HOUR DIE.”

It also purports that children are “The Heart Of D.N.A.,” even though the corporation is defunct and DNA received an “F” grade in 2010 from the BBB and is the subject of a BBB alert. After apparently abandoning its purported data and cell-phone arms by July 2010, DNA claimed it was morphing into the land-mine business of offshore “resorts” and “mortgage reduction.”

Like DNA, TCN purports that it has or will engage in philanthropic pursuits.

And like TCN, DNA also purported to do business from Boca Raton, Fla. — and to operate a “processing center” there while providing “tax” benefits.

‘Ricochet Riches’ Also Referenced By CONSOB

CONSOB’s Jan. 23 announcement also referenced an entity known as “Ricochet Riches” and a dotcom by the same name. On the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum yesterday, a cheerleader for JSS Tripler 2 or T2 — an enterprise that appears to have appropriated the name of JSS Tripler — published an “I got paid” post for T2.

Below the post was a link to Ricochet Riches.

Incongruities that challenge description and involve both JSS Tripler and JSS Tripler 2 are occurring all over the Ponzi boards. Both JSS Tripler and JSS Tripler 2 have promoters in common. Regardless, Ponzi-board posters are pooh-poohing the CONSOB action or ignoring it — even as they champion other opportunities referenced in the CONSOB action, including Ricochet Riches.

A JSS Tripler/Club Asteria Tie

CONSOB last year took action against promoters of Club Asteria, another Ponzi-forum darling. “Andrea Viz,” another JSS Tripler promoter referenced in the CONSOB action, also has been linked to Club Asteria.

The Club Asteria promo appears on a domain styled vizconsigli.com, which is referenced in the CONSOB announcement about JSS Tripler. That domain, too, appears to be based in the United States.

Hank Neeedham, one of Club Asteria’s purported principals, formerly was a pitchman for AdSurfDaily, which the U.S. Secret Service described as an online Ponzi scheme involving at least $110 million.

Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSS Tripler, also was an ASD pitchman, according to a 2008 promo that appeared online during the same period in which Needham — who simultaneously was promoting cash-gifting schemes — also was promoting ASD.

Over the weekend, JustBeenPaid, the entity that purportedly operates JSS Tripler through Mann, appears to have encountered website problems that are affecting its ability to publish certain graphics.

There is at least one Ponzi-forum report today about JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler problems:

“. . . sites all messed up chat room no mods no admins little odd,” a MoneyMakerGroup poster claimed.

The JustBeenPaid site includes information attributed to Mann on AdVentures4You (ADV4U), a “program” that collapsed in 2009 amid reports its operator had been threatened.

In the remarks, Mann asserted that he made a pile of money through ADV4U prior to its collapse.

“The biggest difference between JSS-Tripler and AV4U is that JSS-Tripler is indefinitely sustainable, while AV4U had a design flaw that ensured its eventual failure,” according to the remarks attributed to Mann.

Feb 12, 2012
UPDATE: Joe Reid, Pitchman Who Led DNA and OWOW Recruits To Disaster, Described As ‘Absolute Legend’ In Text Cash Network’s 90-Day Anniversary Call; Like DNA, TCN Claims Florida ‘Processing Center’ And ‘Tax Benefits’
The pitchman hosting a 90-day anniversary call yesterday for Text Cash Network introduced fellow TCN pitchman Joe Reid as an “absolute legend.”

“In this industry, folks, facts tell, and stories sell,” a pitchman identified as “Eddie” said in remarks introducing Reid.

“This gentleman is a legend — an absolute legend in the industry,” Eddie said. “This gentleman makes money. This gentleman makes BIG money. He’s made millions and millions of dollars over the years in the network-marketing industry . . .”

But “Eddie” said nothing about Reid’s involvement in Data Network Affiliates (DNA) and One World One Website (OWOW), bizarre and crashed opportunities linked to Reid business associate and fellow MLM huckster Phil Piccolo amid claims that affiliates were not getting paid. Piccolo also has been linked to TCN.

Among other things, DNA claimed it could help the AMBER Alert program rescue abducted children, later claiming it offered a “free” cell phone with “unlimited” talk and text for $10 a month.

DNA appears to have assisted in the rescue of no children, but it did complain that the AMBER Alert program had a bloated budget. It later removed its cell-phone offer, claiming it had been duped into making the offer by a huckster. OWOW, for its part, claimed it had products that cured or treated cancer — while also claiming a “magnetic” product helped prevent leg amputations and helped produce tomatoes that would grow to twice their ordinary size — all while assisting dairy herds in producing more milk. (Use the search button in the upper-right corner of the PP Blog for more info on DNA and OWOW and their series of ambiguous and confounding offers.)

As he is doing now for TCN, Reid led cheers in videos or conference calls for DNA and OWOW. (TCN is using the same conference-call software as DNA.) While researching an offer by OWOW, the PP Blog was advised by the Des Moines Police Department (Iowa) that certain addresses that appeared in online promos for OWOW were nonexistent. Lower in this story, you’ll find a reference to something the Boca Raton Police Department reported after the PP Blog asked it to visit a local building.)

An Emerging Bromide

Despite “Eddie’s” assertion that “facts tell,” he provided no substantiation of his claims about Reid and offered no information on Reid’s DNA/OWOW ties, apparently preferring instead to focus on the “stories sell” part of his emerging bromide.

Reid’s story yesterday offered platitudes that “exciting things are happening” at TCN, with Reid adding that the purported text-advertising firm had “tremendous leaders” who’d created “great excitement.”

Reid, whose TCN cheerleading appeared to be somewhat subdued during the call, then passed the call back to Eddie.

Without providing any factual foundation and again apparently defaulting to the “stories sell” part of his bromide, Eddie again assured listeners that Reid was a “legend.” He added that TCN had set all of the following records:
- Fastest to 10,000 members.
- Fastest to 20,000 members.
- Fastest to 50,000 members..
- Fastest to 100,000 members.
- Fastest to 200,000 members.
“And most recently, folks, we were the fastest company to 300,000 members — in under 90 days.”

Participants who weren’t excited about those numbers need to check their “pulse,” Eddie ventured, predicting later that there would be “seven-” and “six”-figure earners.

Like DNA and OWOW, strange events and incongruities have marked TCN’s existence.

The TCN Photo Mystery

Despite oddities such as the existence of a promotional photo that shows TCN’s name affixed to a glistening office building in Boca Raton and a public statement by the Boca Raton Police Department that the name is not affixed to the building, Eddie asserted that TCN is a company that “makes sense.”

TCN Tax Claims — After Similar DNA Claims

TCN also may be playing with fire by wooing recruits with claims about the purported tax advantages of joining.

Eddie asserted in the 90-day anniversary call that joining TCN for the “tax benefits” was a good idea. (DNA made similar claims, and Piccolo was a member of a company in California that paid $1 million, in part to settle pyramid claims and claims that recruits were being lured by advertised “tax write-offs.”)

“What about the tax benefits that you receive from owing a home-based business?” Eddie asked yesterday’s conference-call listeners. “You can literally bring home 3, 4, maybe $5,000 — up to $7,000 a year in tax benefits. So many people are completely unaware that, just by being a part of a home-based business, they can save thousands of dollars every year by being a part of a home-based business.

“Guess what? Join us with Text Cash Network and start saving today . . .” Eddie instructed while focusing on the purported tax advantages.

Screen shot: Like DNA, TCN puports to operate a "processing center" in Boca Raton.

Another oddity associated with TCN and DNA is that both firms

Screen shot: Like TCN, DNA purports to operate a "processing center" in Boca Raton.

claimed to operate “processing centers” in South Florida, but the addresses appear to be rental services.

Meanwhile, both TCN and DNA have OWOW — another Piccolo-associated entity — in common somewhere in the food chain.

The earliest promos (early November 2011) for TCN appeared on OWOW’s website.

Like DNA, OWOW appears to be a defunct corporation that continues to produce a website that sometimes goes missing and sometimes is rerouted to other sites.

The management structure of TCN, DNA and OWOW also has been murky, with all three firms claiming to be operated by top professionals while simultaneously publishing ambiguous information. Some TCN promoters, for instance, have claimed TCN is owned by “The Johnson Group.”

Promos that originated through OWOW, however, added an ampersand and extra proper noun, declaring that TCN was owned by the “Johnson & Johnson Group.”

Affiliates of TCN, DNA and OWOW have complained publicly about not getting paid. All three firms have explained away those concerns in largely the same fashion: that payments have come or will come once a series of launches and prelaunches and website adjustments are completed.

Each of the schemes spread in part through social-media sites such as YouTube and Facebook.

One poster on a Facebook TCN site dubbed the “Text Cash Network- Official Group Page” complained today that “power line stats” are not working.

“It stopped on the 12/28/2011,” the poster claimed.

On another Facebook site — one dubbed simply “Text Cash Network” — a poster spammed an offer for JSS Tripler. Promoters of JSS Tripler are under investigation by CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator.

See our TCN archive.
Feb 2, 2012
SPECIAL REPORT: OWOW, Phil Piccolo-Associated Firm That Pumped Text Cash Network, Purportedly Cited ‘Financial Trouble’ Last Summer And Sought ‘Brand New People’ To ‘Pay Off All Of The Past Commissions And Money Owed To Suppliers’

From YouTube: Mr. P. prowls the stage for OWOW in 2010.

UPDATED 5:05 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Did One World One Website Inc. (OWOW) — the Phil Piccolo-associated company that appears to have been given some of the top positions in Text Cash Network (TCN) and recruited a huge downline with the knowledge of TCN management — try to fix its own problems last year by hatching a Ponzi plan in which money sent in by new members would be used to pay commissions owed to original members?

A bizarre OWOW promo dated July 30, 2011, on Dealslinker.com suggests so. The promo, which claimed that “O.W.O.W. Management left town a long time ago” and “gave up for many reasons,” further claimed OWOW was implementing a restoration plan and suggested that the company was being run by “leaders.” The “leaders” were not identified.

Incongruously, the promo claimed that “[i]t is actually not the current O.W.O.W. that is in Financial Trouble. It is the baggage from 10/10/2010 to 3/10/2011 that has brought us down. And is a Ball and Chain around the current O.W.O.W. Team.”

“WE NEED YOUR HELP ‘OR’ THE HELP OF BRAND NEW PEOPLE…” the promo urged. “THE SOLUTION IS ‘FOUNDER OWNERSHIP’ YES… FOUNDERS…”

With those words in July, OWOW introduced a scheme by which “FOUNDER PACKAGES” would be created in four tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum) and sold online to right the OWOW ship. The purported packages were priced between $500 and $5,000, and purchasers who bought in at the $5,000 level were promised they would get “20 shares in a (sic) 5% of The Sales Profit Pool from 8/8/11 to 12/12/12 of The O.W.O.W. Program…”

The claim leads to questions about whether OWOW was offering unregistered securities as investment contracts and effectively creating an investment pool while using unregistered broker-dealers to sell the offer.

Purchasers who bought in at the lower-priced tiers were promised a smaller number of shares, according to the promo. Members at the $500 level would get one share; members at $1,000 and $2,500 levels would get three shares and 10 shares, respectively.

Despite the claim that OWOW’s profits would be shared among certain members through Dec. 12, 2012, the business registration in Wyoming of One World One Website Inc. is listed as “Inactive – Administratively Dissolved (Tax).”

OWOW and at least one releated entity also appear to have lost the ability to gather money via PayPal.

Whether OWOW sold any of the purported packages referenced in the July 2011 promo is unclear. But about three months later — during the opening days of November 2011 and while OWOW apparently was still reeling — OWOW appears to have been given a 10-day head start to sell TCN.

Some TCN members now say that TCN has delayed commission payments to members for a fourth time and that members have been encouraged to send money via Western Union and money orders to both the company and individuals associated with the firm.

A pulldown menu on TCN’s website says money can be sent via Western Union to three individuals: Tyler Johnson, Brett Hudson or Jane Johnson. TCN purports to have hundreds of thousands of members globally.

Brett Hudson is listed on TCN’s website as the firm’s president. TCN purports to operate from Boca Raton, Fla. OWOW and another Piccolo-associated entity know as Data Network Affiliates (DNA) also purported to operate from Boca Raton and environs. The Better Business Bureau issued an alert about DNA in 2010.

Why TCN is asking members to send funds to individuals via Western Union is unclear.

TCN purportedly is owned by “The Johnson Group,” although descriptions about that company have been vague and ambiguous.

Here is what TCN says about itself:

“Text Cash Network Inc is a USA Corporation and is own (sic) 100% by a five year old communication company which is another USA Corporation owned by The Johnson Group. We have not disclosed the communication’s company name or contact information in fear that THOUSANDS OF AGENTS may or should we say would call them for information prior to our official launch of 12/12/2011.”

The date TCN advertised as its launch date — Dec. 12, 2011 — was precisely one year ahead of the date through which OWOW promised to pay tiered members who purchased shares in a pooling arrangement: Dec. 12, 2012.

Curiously, TCN promoters associated with OWOW added an ampersand and extra proper noun to the name of TCN’s purported ownership group, describing TCN’s owners as the “Johnson & Johnson Group.”

Whether the addition of the ampersand and extra proper noun was a bid to trade on the name of Johnson & Johnson, the New Jersey-based Dow and S&P 500 component, is unclear. TCN came out of the gate trading on the name of Groupon, but a Groupon logo that once appeared on the site has been removed.

Returning to the subject of OWOW, money from the purported OWOW “FOUNDER PACKAGES” would be used in part to “pay off all of the past commissions and money owed to suppliers,” according to the bizarre OWOW promo, which was attributed to “Mister P.”

“Mister P” is an alias used by Phil Piccolo. Strangely, though, the OWOW promo was positioned as a “personal letter from J.P. aka Mister P.” Why the initials “J.P.” were used is unclear.

Other Oddities

The July 2011 OWOW promo referenced in this post appears to be a bid to sell both OWOW and a program known as ThatFreeThing. Indeed, the headline on the promo reads, “OWOW Wholesale Direct and MyFreething – ThatFreeThing.”

Despite the headline reference to That Free Thing, the promo does not contain a link to the That Free Thing program.

That Free Thing uses an address in Westminster, Colo., and publishes a picture of an office building with the name of the company affixed in large letters to the side of the building.

TCN promos have featured images of a building in Boca Raton with the company’s name affixed in large letters near the crown of the building. The Boca Raton Police Department said on Dec. 14 that TCN’s name was not affixed to the building — despite what promoters led recruits to believe.

“Mister P,” meanwhile, also is referenced in a promo for something called “MY FREE EVERYTHING,” which appears to be operating through a domain styled “TheDebtFreeCard.com.”

Visitors to that site are told about a “100% PASSIVE!” program through which they can earn through the sale of “$50,000 to $250,000 JVP FOUNDER LOAN PACKAGES.” Like the OWOW promo, the My Free Everything promo raises questions about whether the purported firm is selling unregistered securities as investment contracts and whether promoters are serving as unregistered broker-dealers.

Amid confusing claims on the site, visitors are told this: “If you are within 10 Levels of This Sale you will EARN IMMEDIATE MONEY… $500 to $2500… or If you personally sell one $5000 to $25,000… However THE BIG PICTURE will be THE RESIDUAL INCOME because THE SALE was made in YOUR DOWNLINE… There are many DOCTORS and OTHER PROFESSIONALS looking for PASSIVE INCOMES… All you do is FIND THEM and The Leadership SELL THEM… ”

Separately, promos for OWOW on LinkedIn are asking viewers to visit a YouTube site to “see [an] Oprah” video on OWOW.

When a link in the LinkedIn promo for OWOW is clicked, however, visitors are taken to a video that has nothing to do with Oprah Winfrey, the entertainment icon and business titan whose name often is appropriated by MLM hucksters and affiliates unwise to their ways.

Instead, the video is about a product known as PhoneGuard, an app that purportedly keeps teens and children safe by shutting off a cell phone’s texting capacity while they’re in automobiles.

See this story about DNA, another Piccolo-associated program that used Winfrey’s name. DNA purported to have ties to Anthony Sasso, who was described as DNA’s data expert and a “special board consultant.”

Sasso, who reportedly once had a role in PhoneGuard, is a convicted felon who was charged in a South Florida racketeering case. DNA, the Piccolo-associated entity, hyped him as “The King Of Data For Dollars” and Sasso was said to be the “owner of the largest database of text numbers in the world.”

TCN purports to be a text-advertising company.

Jan 17, 2012
UPDATE: Text Cash Network Creates Even More Name Confusion With ‘ASSIGNMENT’ Clause That Appeared On ‘Purchase Agreement’ Page

Some affiliates have claimed Text Cash Network (TCN) is part of a company known as “The Johnson Group.” Others have added an ampersand and mimicked the name of an internationally famous company, saying TCN is part of the “Johnson & Johnson Group.”

Although photos appear online that show the name “TEXT CASH NETWORK” in large letters near the crown of an office building in Boca Raton, Fla., the Boca Raton Police Department said on Dec. 14 that the firm’s name is not on the building.

Now, yet another TCN flap involving a company name is emerging. The name appeared on TCN’s purchase-agreement page in recent days.

“I understand that this agreement may not be transferred or assigned without prior written consent of REX Venture Group, LLC a/k/a/ T.C.N..com (sic), which consent shall not be unreasonably denied,” the TCN purchase-agreement page read in part on Dec. 22, according to Google cache. The language appeared below a clause labeled “ASSIGNMENT.”

Largely the same language appears on a page for a program known as Zeek Rewards, which leads to questions about whether TCN had copied the language and swapped in the name of its own company without consent.

But the name of REX Venture Group no longer appears on the purchase-agreement page of TCN’s website, and the “ASSIGNMENT” clause has been reworded to read, “I understand that this agreement may not be transferred or assigned without prior written consent of Text Cash Network, inc. a/k/a T.C.N., which consent shall not be unreasonably denied.”

It is unclear when the changes were made.

TCN has claimed to employ an “attorney,” but does not name the attorney. It also has claimed to use a “host of traditional domestic and international legal representatives.”

Whether TCN consulted the purported attorney and the purported “host of traditional domestic and international legal representatives” before posting the assignment clause — and later editing it — is unclear. Also unclear is whether TCN ever consulted with the Rex Venture Group, the firm whose name now has been deleted from TCN’s purported assignment clause.

Why TCN claimed it also was known as the Rex Venture Group also is unclear.

TCN has promotional links to Ponzi scheme boards and to MLM huckster Phil Piccolo and Piccolo-associated firms such as Data Network Affiliates (DNA) and OWOW, which stands for “One World One Website.”

Significant incongruities and vagueness over TCN’s ownership structure have marked promotions for TCN. Similar incongruities marked promos for DNA and OWOW.

1.

Google took a cache shot of TCN's purchase-agreement page on Dec. 22. Here is a screen shot of part of the page, which shows the name of REX Venture Group LLC. The name no longer appears on the page, leading to questions about whether TCN had simply copied-and-pasted terms from another MLM opportunity.

2.

Section from TCN's purchase-agreement page as it appeared on Dec. 27. The section has been reworded, and the name of REX Venture Group LLC has been removed.

Dec 27, 2011
‘AutoXTen,’ Ponzi Forum Darling And Scheme Linked To Former DNA And Narc That Car Pitchman Jeff Long, Goes Missing After Long Traded On Patriotism And Claimed ‘Opportunity’ Was Appropriate For ‘Churches’

AutoXten came out of the gate during the summer, amid claims $10 could turn into nearly $200,000. Promos claimed the "opportunity" was using Canada-based AlertPay to avoid PayPal restrictions and that AutoXten was suited for "churches."

AutoXTen, the absurd matrix cycler that came to life this summer even as the state of Oregon was issuing a public warning against pyramid schemes and ordering a $345,000 penalty against a cycler pitchman, has gone missing.

The AutoXTen website is registered in the name of Jeff Long, an MLM huckster who sang the praises in 2010 of both the Narc That Car (NTC) and Data Network Affiliates (DNA) license-plate schemes before abandoning both programs and warning his followers to “Stay away from ‘EZ MONEY’ pitches and claims.”

Long, though, appeared not to have followed his own advice. After the failures of Narc That Car and DNA, AutoXTen came out of the gate with a claim that members could “Turn $10 into $199,240.”

Prior to the apparent collapse of AutoXTen, remarks attributed to Long on the AutoXTen help desk claimed the program was appropriate for “churches.” DNA made similar claims about one of its “programs” last year.

In 2010, Jeff Long's YouTube video for Narc That Car was referenced by Fox News 11 in Los Angeles as part of the station's Narc coverage. The original Narc video was repurposed by Long into a YouTube text pitch for DNA, but later edited to insert an announcement Long had left both Narc and DNA.

DNA’s website also has gone missing. The DNA program was associated with MLM huckster Phil Piccolo, as was a program known as One World One Website (OWOW). OWOW emerged last month as a launch ground for the emerging Text Cash Network (TCN) scheme.

Despite the appearance online of a photo of a glistening building in Boca Raton, Fla., with the words “TEXT CASH NETWORK” affixed in large letters near the crown of the building, the Boca Raton Police Department said Wednesday that the company’s name does not appear on the building.

Questions have been raised about whether Long performs any due diligence on the “opportunities” he embraces or blindly defaults to the company line or manufactures a convenient truth while recruiting participants by the hundreds into scheme after scheme.

Long was among the conference-call cheerleaders for DNA, along with Joe Reid, who went on to become a cheerleader for TCN.

Reid also was a cheerleader for OWOW, a company Piccolo positioned as the provider of a “magnetic” product that could prevent leg amputations and help tomatoes grow to twice their normal size.

This video in which Jeff Long was driving an automobile and pitching the MLM license-plate schemes of DNA and Narc That Car was edited to insert the red balloon and annoucement from Long that he had dumped both DNA and Narc — and to warn prospects to stay away from "EZ MONEY'" MLM schemes. Long then turned to AutoXTen amid claims the firm's matrix cycler could turn $10 into nearly $200,000 and was appropriate for "churches."

Whether Long participated in OWOW and TCN was not immediately clear. What is clear is that the AutoXTen website is not resolving to a server only months after the purported miracle program’s launch.

When pinged, both the AutoXten and DNA websites are returning this message: “Unknown error: 1214.”

Both NTC and DNA carded scores of “F” from the Better Business Bureau. Some NTC members then attacked the BBB, and DNA changed the name of one of its purported offerings to “BBB” in an apparent bid to trick search engines.

AutoXTen was hawked in part through posts on Ponzi forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

AutoXTen gained a head of steam in part through promos by well-known Ponzi forum pitchmen “Ken Russo” (as “DRdave”), and “manolo,” both of whom also promoted Club Asteria.

Club Asteria, which purports to have a philanthropic arm, suspended member payouts months ago and acknowledged its PayPal account had been suspended.

An AutoXTen email attributed to Long, Scott Chandler and Brent Robinson as the opportunity’s “Founders/Owners” also shows the firm traded on U.S. patriotism.

“This weekend here in the United States of America, we celebrate our freedom and independence as a nation and a Country,” the email read in part. The email was posted on the TalkGold Ponzi forum by “manolo” on July 1, 2011, during the run-up to the Independence Day holiday in the United States.

“We want to wish EVERYONE a HAPPY Independence weekend, please be safe, have fun and as you are celebrating, know that you are also celebrating your new life should you choose to step into it here with AutoXTen!” another part of the email exclaimed.

Dec 16, 2011
Police Confirm That Name Of Text Cash Network Does Not Appear On Building In Boca Raton, Fla.

One of the mysteries surrounding an upstart MLM business known as Text Cash Network (TCN) only is getting deeper. Despite photos published online that show the name of “TEXT CASH NETWORK” in large letters near the crown of its purported headquarters building in Boca Raton, Fla., the Boca Raton Police Department said this morning that the firm’s name “does not appear on the building.”

What actually appears in the area in which the firm’s name is depicted in photographs is the number “2255” — the address of an office facility at 2255 Glades Rd. in Boca Raton. The large building is a multitenant, multiuse property that counts the U.S. government among its users, according to public records and information contained in Google web searches. (The U.S. Probation Office lists an office at the facility, for example.)

Precisely when the photograph showing Text Cash Network’s name exclusively affixed to the building began to circulate online is unclear. Someone, though, appears to have doctored the photo in an apparent bid to plant the seed that TCN owned the building or was its most prestigious tenant. Several companies use the street address of the building, in disciplines ranging from the practice of law to real estate, financial services, debt counseling and more.

A street photo Google says was taken in May 2011 shows only the number “2255” affixed near the crown of the building and not the words “TEXT CASH NETWORK,” a circumstance police said remained the reality today. (If you click on the link in the previous sentence, it will load a Google page. Look for the letter “A” roughly in the center of the Google page. If you click on the “A,” a window showing the street view will load. Clicking on the photo in the street view will take you to ground level, where you’ll see the building with “2255” near the crown.)

Adding to the mystery is that TCN is publishing a photo of the same building on its website — and that photo contains neither the company’s name nor the numerals “2255” near the crown. All three of the photos — the one displayed on TCN’s website, the one displayed on certain Blogs and the one from Google’s street view — show an American flag that appears to be in the same wind-buffeted, unfurled position, which may mean the same original was used to alter the photo to show the name of “TEXT CASH NETWORK” as though the company enjoyed ownership or exclusive occupancy of the premises.

It is common in MLM schemes for affiliates or upstart companies themselves to create the impression of size, scale and success where little or none exists. TCN’s website was registered less than two months ago, and the firm spent weeks in “prelaunch” phase while conducting conference-call cheerleading sessions.

Tens of thousands of MLMers are said to have signed up for the TCN program. Affiliates say the firm is owned by “The Johnson Group,” but much about that company remains a mystery, too.

Research suggests that individuals can rent a “virtual office” that uses the address at 2255 Glades Rd. and that fully furnished offices can be rented in eight-hour increments, with longer-term leases and a graduated level of virtual services also available.

TCN says on its website that “TCN Processing” is located in Suite 324 at the Glades Rd. address.

Separately, a virtual-office company that promotes its offerings in online promos displays a photo of the same multitenant facility TCN references as the address of “TCN Processing.” The virtual-office company notes that fully furnished offices can be rented in eight-hour increments — with longer-term leases and graduated service levels also available.

The name of MLM huckster Phil Piccolo has surfaced in web stories and discussions about TCN. The website of Data Network Affiliates (DNA), a firm associated with Piccolo that purported last year to be in the business of helping the AMBER Alert program rescue abducted children, has not resolved to a server for at least the past two days.

Like TCN, DNA promoted a payment plan 10 levels deep. TCN appears to be listed in Wyoming records as a corporation registered last month, but Florida records do not appear to include a corresponding listing that TCN is operating in the state as a foreign corporation.

Dec 14, 2011
PONZI/FRAUD BRIEFS: Georgia HYIP Pair Sentenced To Combined 27 Years; Florida Fraudster Whose Wife Awaits Sentencing Gets 10 Years; Australian Court Rules TVI Express A Pyramid Scheme

EDITOR’S NOTE: This information is presented in the form of briefs.

Georgia HYIP/Ponzi pair sentenced: Geoffrey A. Gish, 57, of Lawrenceville, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for his role in a $29 million “high-yield” scam that fleeced investors of more than $17 million.

Myra J. Ettenborough, implicated in the same scam initially unmasked by the SEC, was sentenced to seven years. Like Gish, Ettenborough, 56, of Roswell, was ordered by U.S. District Judge Charles A. Pannell Jr. to pay more than $17.245 million in restitution.

The scam involved pooled funds that “supposedly involved ‘high yield trading programs,’” prosecutors said.

An FBI agent said the scammers were greedsters.

“Mr. Gish and Ms. Ettenborough exhibited total disregard for their victim investors while displaying an almost limitless level of personal greed,” said Brian D. Lamkin, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office.

Florida HYIP/Ponzi globetrotter sentenced: John S. Morgan, the Sarasota man whose high-yield Ponzi venture took him to Europe and later landed him in jail in Sri Lanka, has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew to 10 years and a month in federal prison in the United States.

Morgan, 52, who ultimately cooperated with the government, may end up serving less time than his wife, who took her chances with a jury and was convicted in September on all 22 counts filed against her.

Marian Morgan, 57, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 20.

Her jet-setting days at an end, Marian Morgan complained from Sri Lanka to a U.S. judge about “filthy” conditions in the overseas jail, noting she was being housed alongside “murderers and heroin dealers,” according to court records.

The Morgans were returned to the United States in 2009.

TVI Express ruled a pyramid scheme in Australia: TVI Express, an MLM company whose pitchmen used images of Donald Trump and Warren Buffett in promos, has been ruled a pyramid scheme by the Federal Court of Australia.

The case was brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

“It is beyond question that new participants in the TVI Express System are [led] to believe that they will receive payments for the introduction of further new participants,” Justice Nicholas said, according to ACCC.

“Indeed, the only way a participant can earn any income in the TVI Express System is through the introduction of new members to the scheme,” Justice Nicholas said, according to ACCC.

Some MLM scammers routinely use images of Trump and Buffett in promos. Affiliates of Data Network Affiliates (DNA), a firm associated with huckster Phil Piccolo, published images Trump and Oprah Winfrey in their promos last year.

When flogging DNA during a conference call last year that featured Piccolo associate Joe Reid, a fellow DNA huckster claimed the company had “certain people on speed dial that’s incredible.”

Reid emerged last month as a pitchman for Text Cash Network (TCN), which came out of the gate trading on the names of Groupon and Google Offers, among others. A firm known as One World One Website (OWOW) was an early promoter of TCN.

Reid and Piccolo also flogged OWOW last year.

Dec 1, 2011