FINRA

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one to think about if you’re an “Achieve Community” fan who’s moved over to the “Rockfeller” Ponzi-board scam while asserting its professional-looking website puts you at ease — even though you don’t know who’s running the purported company and apparently have formed the irrational belief that engaging a “chat” attendant through […]

Don’t get fleeced by HYIP scammers and commission-based promoters who push such fraud schemes on the Internet, the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) says in a new warning. From the warning (italics added): Have you ever seen an ad on the Internet or a posting on a social media site promising too-good-to-be-true rates of […]

It’s one of those things almost too bizarre to contemplate: The stock price of Cynk Technology Corp. increased tens of thousands of percent over a period of days — except the Belize company supposedly in the social-networking business reportedly has no revenue and no assets. The SEC halted trading in Cynk stock this morning, citing […]

Still using social-media sites to promote massive fraud schemes — even after the AdSurfDaily, Zeek Rewards and Profitable Sunrise debacles? Thanks to his presence on social media, Harold Zapata, a WCM777 YouTube pitchman named a respondent in a Desist and Refrain order announced last month by California’s Department of Business Oversight, may be trapped between […]

BULLETIN: (UPDATED 6:38 P.M. ET U.S.A.) The state of California, which last month issued a Desist and Refrain order against the WCM777 MLM “program” and called it an “investment scam,” now is asking residents who invested in WCM777 to contact the Department of Business Oversight “immediately.” At least 5,500 Californians plowed money into the scheme, […]

BULLETIN: (Updated 10:36 a.m. ET U.S.A.) The state of California has called the WCM777 MLM “program” a “scam” and issued a Desist and Refrain Order that bans the enterprise in the state. The Department of Business Oversight (DBO) has issued a companion Consumer Alert and is “strongly” encouraging California investors to file a formal complaint. […]

“While reviewing the ASD website in the District of Columbia, [an undercover agent] found a posting within ASD’s News section, apparently posted by ASD on July 2, 2008. The title of the posting was, “Alert Pay & Direct Deposit are being phased out July 31, 2008.” According to ASD’s posting, “We have notified BOA not […]

UPDATED 10:22 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The purported TelexFree “opportunity” is under investigation by multiple agencies in Brazil, its purported base of operations despite competing claims the company is headquartered in the United States.  The notes below concern TelexFree’s U.S. presence and positioning. They are presented in no particular order of importance. TelexFree says it is […]

An emerging scheme that butchers the English language and contends it opposes spam also bizarrely says it intends to build its business by requiring members to post ads on Facebook and Twitter. Equally bizarrely, the scheme says it accepts Liberty Reserve, the now-shuttered payment processor implicated by the United States last month in an alleged […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Much remains murky about Profitable Sunrise, the alleged purveyor of five HYIP “plans,” including one bizarrely dubbed the “Long Haul” that purported to pay a preposterous 2.7 percent a day. The “Long Haul” payoff was dubbed the “Easter Gift.” Investors were told it would arrive April 1 — but it never materialized. One […]

A Facebook site set up to promote the Profitable Sunrise HYIP scheme has changed the lead graphic on the page to drive traffic to a site known as “DollarsBluePrint” — apparently through a web entity known as “Big Idea Mastermind.” The previous lead graphic was a leftover from the fraud reign of Profitable Sunrise. The […]