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Tag: Food and Nutrition Service

  • Sales Video For MPB Today Uses Class Envy To Target Food Stamp Recipients; ‘Refer Your Friends,’ Promo Urges

    EDITOR’S NOTE: A YouTube video that encourages Food Stamp recipients to become affiliates of the MPB Today MLM program has been online for more than a month. The video implies MPB Today’s purportedly high shipping costs are a good reason for people who receive government aid to become MPB Today affiliates. MPB Today says it charges up to 50 percent of the cost of an order for shipping. Members who order groceries only and do not join the MLM component potentially would lose $100 in purchasing power on an order of $200, the price of the program. Other MPB Today affiliates have advised prospects that it is best to avoid buying groceries from MPB Today and simply concentrate on recruiting prospects. Still others say MPB Today issues food “vouchers,” enabling registrants to purchase their groceries elsewhere and even convert the purported voucher into cash that can be used to purchase electronics. MPB Today purports to ship “ONLY” dry goods. The Food and Nutrition Service, an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is investigating claims about the MPB Today program. What specific claims the agency is examining is unclear. USDA administers the federal Food Stamp program for low-income Americans.

    The screen shots below are from frames of the YouTube video. The file is named “Food Stamps Online.avi.”

  • Another MPB Today Pitch Page That Uses Walmart’s Name In Registered Domain Surfaces; More Check-Waving Promos Using Name Of Distressed Bank Elsewhere On Web

    Another website that pitches the MPB Today MLM program and uses Walmart’s name in a registered domain name has surfaced. This one was registered Sept. 11, and uses an address in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Walmart is not the registered owner of the domain, and it is unclear if the registrant has the retail giant’s permission to use its name in a domain name.

    Separately, check-waving videos and Blog posts using the name of a distressed Florida bank continue to appear online in promos for MPB Today. The promos show checks and the name of Gulf Coast Community Bank of Pensacola.

    Promos for MPB Today that show Walmart gift cards and prepaid Visa cards also continue to appear online.

    Gulf Coast has been operating under an FDIC consent agreement since January. The bank did not respond to requests for comment from the PP Blog last week. Neither did the FDIC.

    The most recent website to use Walmart’s name in its domain name positions the opportunity as a free shopping club.

    “Almost Everyone within the USA is saying ‘YES!” the pitch page proclaims.

    “Please Help Me!” it urges. “I need FREE Food AND a way to Create some Serious Cash NOW!”

    MPB Today operates an “Amazing ‘Recycling Matrix,’” according to the pitch page.

    “Warning!” the page says. “Once you watch this Video, you won’t be able to sleep tonight!”

    A Blog post by a separate MPB Today promoter displays both a check drawn on Gulf Coast Community Bank and a Walmart gift card.

    Some MPB Today affiliates have urged Food Stamp recipients, the unemployed, senior citizens, victims of the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, people of faith and opponents of President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to join the MPB today program.

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said Friday that its Food and Nutrition Service unit was investigating specific claims about the MPB Today program, which is being promoted widely online.

    Among the places from which the program is being promoted are forums known for pitching criminal enterprises and Ponzi schemes.

    In yet-another pitch for MPB Today, a promoter is shown opening an envelope mailed through the U.S. Postal Service. Inside the envelope was another envelope, which appeared to include U.S. postage.

    The inner envelope contained a prepaid Walmart Visa card and a Walmart gift card.

    Walmart has not responded to a request for comment about the MPB Today program. MPB promoters have claimed the company is “affiliated” with Walmart — and also affiliated and endorsed by the USDA’s Food Stamp program for low-income Americans.

    Some MPB Today affiliates have claimed in public promotions for the program that liars and thieves exist in the organization.

    Eight U.S. banks have failed since Sept. 10, including two in Florida. Only three bank failures occurred in the entire United States in 2007.

  • BULLETIN: USDA Following Specific Leads In MPB Today Matter; Agency’s Food And Nutrition Arm Will ‘Take Appropriate Action As Needed’

    BULLETIN: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said this afternoon that the agency’s Food and Nutrition Service is following specific leads in the MPB Today matter and will “take appropriate action as needed.”

    For the first time, the agency used the word “investigate” in its remarks about MPB Today, an MLM tied to a purported “grocery” business known as Southeastern Delivery of Pensacola, Fla. USDA previously referred to the MPB Today matter as a “review.” The agency did not explain why the Food and Nutrition Service had entered the probe.

    The Food and Nutrition Service, known as FNS, says its “mission is to provide children and needy families better access to food and a more healthful diet through its food assistance programs and comprehensive nutrition education efforts.”

    The announcement followed on the heels of claims by MPB Today affiliates that there are liars and thieves within the organization, that the government and Walmart endorsed the MPB Today program and that the USDA’s Food Stamp program was “affiliated” with MPB Today.

    On Tuesday, the PP Blog reported that a purported “news release” promoting MPB Today suggested that Food Stamp recipients should sell $200 of their allotment to raise money to join the MLM program.

    Yesterday the Blog reported that at least two MPB Today members claimed there are liars and thieves inside the organization, using the claims to suggest prospects should join the program only under specific downlines. The Blog also reported that MPB Today affiliates may have ties to the judicially declared CEP Ponzi scheme, the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme and other Ponzi schemes promoted on forums such as ASAMonitor, TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

    All three forums were referenced in a criminal case filed in May by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service against the alleged Pathway To Prosperity Ponzi scheme.

    In July, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a warning about HYIP scams that use forums and social-media sites such as YouTube and Facebook to spread virally on the Internet.

    MPB Today’s website says it ships “ONLY” dry goods to customers, who can expect to pay a shipping charge of up to 50 percent of an order. MPB Today affiliates have used the high shipping charges as a reason for Food Stamp recipients and other customers to join to the MLM program, saying a one-time purchase of $200 in groceries could result in free groceries for life.

    Affiliates have claimed MPB Today issues grocery “vouchers” that can be converted to Walmart gift cards and cash to purchase gasoline, electronics and other nonfood products.

    Among other things, the purported “news release” claimed that the idea about selling Food Stamps for cash to join MPB Today occurred “[on] a beautiful Sunday afternoon” during a drive home from “Church.”

    One promo for MPB Today showed a 46-inch Samsung television and other electronics that purportedly had been acquired by an MPB Today member through the program. Other promos have show prepaid Visa cards that spend like cash.

    MPB Today operates a 2×2 matrix cycler — a business model that has come under fire by the U.S. Secret Service in a Ponzi scheme probe in the Seattle area. The Seattle program was known as Regenesis2x2, and was promoted on some of the same forums MPB Today is being promoted.