UPDATED 8:18 A.M. EDT (MAY 29, U.S.A.) In a curious Memorial Day announcement placed below a representation of the American flag, the Zeek Rewards MLM “program” told affiliates they must cash commission checks “immediately” because Zeek is switching banks.
“Zeek is currently in the process of moving to a bank that can handle our growing needs and while in transition will be closing our old accounts with both New Bridge Bank and BB & T,” Zeek said on its news Blog. “Please be sure to deposit or cash any commission checks immediately so they clear before June 1st, 2012 or they will be returned to you with ‘account closed’ and will need to be reissued.”
Zeek did not identify its new bank. Nor did the purported “opportunity” say why its old banks could not handle its needs and whether its new bank operated on U.S. soil.
Both New Bridge and BB&T are FDIC-member banks operating in North Carolina. Zeek is a purported arm of Rex Venture Group LLC, which conducts business in North Carolina.
Zeek says it conducts business with offshore payment processors such as AlertPay (now Payza) and SolidTrustPay. Both AlertPay and SolidTrustPay have been criticized for being friendly to dubious businesses if not outright scams such as investment programs operating in disguise, HYIPs, autosurfs and cycler matrices.
Zeek affiliates, meanwhile, have a presence on well-known Ponzi-scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup, which has led to questions about whether proceeds from any number of fraud schemes could be passing through Zeek. Today alone Italian authorities announced advertising bans against at least three “programs” that either have or had a presence on the Ponzi boards. The “programs” included JSS Tripler, which purports to pay a daily return of 2 percent; Ricochet Riches, which advertised a daily return of at least 2 percent; and Macro Trade, which advertised a daily payout rate of between 1.2 percent and 2.2 percent. A entity known as “System Explosion” also was referenced today in an investor warning by CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator.
Although Zeek insists it is not an investment program, its reported daily payout rate of between 1 percent and 2 percent is consistent with the returns advertised by numerous online scams.
Two days ago, British journalist Tony Hetherington of the Daily Mail wrote about a purported program known as Royalty 7 that was advertising a daily return of 7 percent. Royalty 7 also has a presence on the Ponzi boards, and a PP Blog reader — “Tony” — reported today that the U.K. Financial Services Authority warned on May 22 that Royalty 7 was an unauthorized firm.
“Finance Your Dream Ltd trading as Royalty7.com is not authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) to carry on a regulated activity in the UK,” FSA warned. “Regulated activities include, among other things, accepting deposits by way of business.”
Separately, the Isle of Man Financial Supervision Commission also issued a warning about Royalty7.
Royalty7 — like Zeek, JSS Tripler and scores of other programs that either plant the seed that outsize returns are possible or outright advertise returns that correspond to annualized returns in the hundreds of percent — advertises that it uses AlertPay and SolidTrustPay as payment processors.
The Zeek Rewards MLM program is married to a penny-auction site known as Zeekler.
“Win Cash!” Zeekler roars to bidders. “Funds will be sent to the winner by SolidTrust Pay or AlertPay.”
Zeek’s apparent reliance on processors that are the darlings of global fraudsters has resulted in a bizarre condition under which Zeekler effectively is using U.S. currency as an auction “product” no different than a TV set while advertising that successful bidders for sums of cash can receive their winnings through offshore processors linked to fraud scheme after fraud scheme.
Successful Zeekler bidders are told to “please send a note to [Zeekler] customer support requesting SolidTrust Pay or AlertPay” to receive their cash winnings.
Despite Zeek’s claim it is not an investment program, it has been presented as such online by its own affiliates. Affiliates claim they’ve earned gains that correspond to an annualized return of more than 500 percent and that Zeek has a feature that makes “compounding” possible.
