PatrickPretty.com

Tag: Imperia Invest

  • TELEXFREE BRIEFS: (1) False Claims That ‘Program’ Has Been Cleared Of U.S. Pyramid-Scheme Charges; (2) Name Of Model/Racecar Driver Used In Sanitization Campaign; (3) TelexFree Members Targeted In Ongoing ‘IFreeX’ Reload Scheme

    newtelexfreelogo1.) Reports began to surface late Thursday on Twitter and Facebook that TelexFree has been cleared by a judge of U.S. pyramid-scheme charges. These reports are false. Period.

    Perhaps to add credibility to the claim, a photo that appeared to depict a female TV reporter sitting in a studio was posted on Facebook. A computer to which a TelexFree logo was affixed sat to the reporter’s right. Below these images was a text message in Portuguese.

    The headline was “FORTE VITÓRIA TELEXFREE NOS ESTADOS UNIDOS.” Google’s translate tool (to English) translated it to this: “STRONG Telexfree VICTORY IN THE UNITED STATES.”

    Another Portuguese section read as such: “Corte americana declarou que a empresa não pratica “Pirâmide Financeira” e nomeou um interventor, Stephen B. Darr, que deve dar início ao processo de recuperação judicial, que tem autonomia de liquidar ou manter o funcionamento da empresa.”

    The Google translation tool translated this section to: “American Court stated that the company does not practice “financial pyramid” and appointed a receiver, Stephen B. Darr, who shall initiate the process of bankruptcy, it has autonomy to liquidate or keep running the business.”

    No American court has said that TelexFree was not a pyramid scheme or not a “financial pyramid.” Darr is the court-appointed trustee in the TelexFree bankruptcy case in Massachusetts. He has said he has no intention of reorganizing or reopening the company.

    It is unclear whether the person depicted as a reporter has any association with TelexFree or any of its media outlets. It is not unusual for MLMs and their affiliates to try to create the impression that specific media figures or media brands endorse an “opportunity.”  (See April 7 PP Blog story: “TelexFree, An Alleged Pyramid Scheme, Promotes Itself During Probes By Wrapping Logos Of Local Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC Affiliates Into Video.”) Also see Oct. 15, 2013, PP Blog story: “PROFITABLE SUNRISE CASE: Did Fake Reporter Use Photo Of Real Reporter In ‘Story’ Titled ‘Nanci Jo Frazer WINS in Court – A Case Of Innocent Ignorance?’)

    2.) Some of our readers may recall the flap over TelexFree’s sponsorship of a professional soccer club in Brazil. Could a new flap be in the offing, one that involves a Brazilian model and racecar driver?

    Twitter and Facebook were used today to drive TelexFree visitors to images of Helena Soares. She is wearing an old TelexFree logo on her racing outfit.

    Whether TelexFree had or has sponsored her was not immediately clear. What is clear is that there are a number of references to Soares in the context of TelexFree online. One of them is a YouTube video titled “Deaf Deaf TelexFree.” Promo text appears to be in Russian.

    This may spark questions about whether TelexFree was targeted at members of the international hearing-impaired community. HYIP scams such as Noobing and Imperia Invest have been targeted at investors who cannot hear.

    Today’s Twitter/Facebook references to Soares depict her as a “Campeã” (champion) of TelexFree.

    It is not unusual for Ponzi schemes to seek to associate themselves with celebrities, politicians, business stars and sports stars. This particular form of brand-leeching surfaces in scheme after scheme after scheme. A recent major example of this is the WCM777 scam, which tried to associate itself with the sport of golf, Jesus Christ, Harvard College, the Denny’s Restaurant chain, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore — and many others.

    The practice is so common that it has become a virtual signature of a scam. Like TelexFree and the Profitable Sunrise scams, WCM777 traded on the image of the Christ the Redeemer statue in in Rio de Janeiro.

    3.) As the PP Blog reported on Sept. 30, 2014, Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin issued a warning on a an emerging “program” known as IFreeX that is being targeted at TelexFree members. iFreeX may be a reload scheme designed to fleece TelexFree members for a second time. On Oct. 1, the Blog reported that IFreeX appears to have lifted branding material of T-Mobile, including images of Carly Foulkes, “the T-Mobile Girl” famous for wearing pink summer dresses in TV spots.

    T-Mobile said it was looking into the situation.

    A large image of Foulkes appeared today on Twitter in an iFreeX promo targeted at TelexFree members.

    The use of the letter “X” in HYIP scams has led to questions about whether purveyors are speaking in a sort of secret code. The OneX scheme used an “X” and an image of a bomb as part of its logo, and HYIP scams have been known to have ties to “sovereign citizens” and antigovernment extremists.

  • UPDATE: Club Asteria, Cherry Shares, ‘JustBeenPaid’ Promoter ’10BucksUp’ Falsely Claims PP Blog Posts As ‘ISPY’ On MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi Forum; HYIP Apologist Taunts U.S. Law Enforcement In Bizarre Post

    The bizarre descent into chaos of a failing “program” that claimed to be moving to “offshore” servers and once made its participants swear they were not government spies or media lackeys has gotten stranger yet.

    Poster “10BucksUp,” who’s now flogging the JustBeenPaid “program,” falsely claimed on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum today that the PP Blog posts on MoneyMakerGroup as “ISPY” and published a link to the Blog on the forum to discredit him.

    The PP Blog is not “ISPY” and does not post on MoneyMakerGroup under any identity. Nor does the Blog communicate with “ISPY” in any fashion, know his (or her) identity or encourage  “ISPY” directly or indirectly to post links to the Blog. The Blog has never encouraged any member of MoneyMakerGroup — or any other Ponzi scheme forum — to post links to the Blog.

    It is somewhat common for posters on Ponzi boards, including so-called “naysayers,” to post links to the Blog’s coverage of schemes-in-progress or schemes gone bust. It also is somewhat common for Ponzi board promoters to exhibit paranoia about the Blog’s reporting and even claim the Blog is part of a U.S. government operation.

    Prior to asserting that “ISPY” was the PP Blog, “10BucksUp” accused ISPY of threatening him. ISPY denied threatening “10BucksUp.”

    “10BucksUp” rose to Ponzi forum prominence as a pitchman and apologist for ClubAsteria, which became the subject of a probe by the Italian securities regulator CONSOB in May, had its PayPal account frozen, slashed weekly payouts to members and then eliminated the payouts.

    Meanwhile, “10BucksUp” also acknowledged today that he was a member of the collapsed Cherry Shares HYIP. In June, Cherry Shares was referenced in freeze and trade orders brought by The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the securities regulator for the province of Quebec in Canada.

    The acknowledgement by “10BucksUp” of his Cherry Shares involvement means that he was participating in a second “program” that had come under government scrutiny — but nevertheless plowed headlong into JustBeenPaid.

    Earlier this month, “10BucksUp” advised members of JustBeenPaid that late-entry members were engaging in hurtful and “drastic measures” if they filed disputes with AlertPay. Among other things, JustBeenPaid has asserted it is a “private association.”

    The AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf made the same claim prior to its collapse in June 2009. AVG was one of the so-called AdSurfDaily clones — each of which launched (and collapsed) after the August 2008 seizure by the U.S. Secret Service of tens of millions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme investigation.

    Today’s false MoneyMakerGroup claims about the PP Blog also occurred against the backdrop of a securities fraud case brought by the SEC against Jody Dunn, an alleged pitchman for Imperia Invest IBC. Imperia Invest also was promoted on MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold, and the SEC charged that Dunn had promoted it blindly and relied on claims made by the purported opportunity, rather than conducting any actual due diligence.

    Millions of dollars directed at Imperia Invest went missing, the SEC charged.

    “You want to arrest me? [G]o ahead,” 10BucksUp wrote on MoneyMakerGroup today. “Send a Secret Service/US Seal/intergalactic commando force in my little 3rd world village. Afterall, that is what some Americans think of us right? We all should live under your whims, at what you dictate as legal and not illegal. And then when somebody else invoke that ‘power’ against you, you cry ‘dont tread on me’ or ‘taxed enough already[.”]

    “Go ahead with your crusade, Mr ISPY/Patrick Pretty/Twerp,” 10BuckUp continued. “Clean up the world of garbages like us. There are millions of us. I hope you can finish up in your lifetime.”

    10BucksUp did not say whether he believed U.S. and other world citizens unwise to the ways of the Ponzi pitchman should simply remain silent after they recognize they’ve been scammed and permit fraudsters to steal their money. Nor did he say whether he believed the U.S. government was making a mistake in prosecuting fraudsters who have disappeared with tens of millions of dollars in recent cases such as Legisi and Pathway to Prosperity — in an era of terrorism and economic uncertainty.

    The combined haul of the Legisi, Pathway to Prosperity and ASD “opportunities” was about $250 million, according to court filings. Separately, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said last year that Genius Funds, a collapsed HYIP, had gathered $400 million.

    Like Club Asteria, JustBeenPaid and Cherry Shares, Legisi, Pathway To Prosperity, ASD, AVG and Genius Funds were promoted on the Ponzi boards.

    FINRA specifically warned last year that HYIP fraud schemes spread on the Internet through social media and forums.

    “10BucksUp” said today that he used a “a free, blogger blog” to promote Club Asteria. Blogger is part of Google’s Blogspot platform.

    “Now everybody knows ISPY = Patrick Pretty,” 10BucksUp falsely asserted today.

    MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold are referenced in U.S. federal court filings as places from which Ponzi and fraud schemes are promoted.

  • PONZI >> FORUM >> CESSPIT >> ALERT >> MOVING: SEC Charges Texas-Based Imperia Invest Promoter With Securities Fraud, Other Offenses; Agency Says Jody Dunn Targeted Deaf Investors, Lied To Them — And Cherry-Picked Their Funds To Pay For His House And Car

    An Imperia Invest IBC promoter continued to make excuses and cloud the issues even after the SEC released printed warnings and warnings in American Sign Language that the purported opportunity was an international scam that stole millions of dollars from deaf investors and others, the agency said today. (See link to videocast below.)

    ALERT >> MOVING: A deaf promoter of an online program that stole millions of dollars from deaf investors knew the purported Imperia Invest IBC opportunity did not come as advertised but nevertheless continued to promote it, siphoning money from fellow deaf investors and using it to make his mortgage, car, insurance and other payments, the SEC said.

    Even after Imperia Invest was exposed as an obvious fraud that advertised a preposterous daily return that projected to an annual rate in the hundreds of percent, promoter Jody Myung Dunn insisted he was owed $163 million from his personal investment of $1,100, the SEC charged.

    Dunn, 43, of Corinth, Texas, has no broker/dealer or securities credentials, and currently is unemployed and drawing  disability benefits, the SEC said. He has been charged with securities fraud, selling unregistered securities and acting unlawfully as a broker or dealer amid charges that he blindly promoted an international scam that consumed more than $7 million and made at least $3.45 million belonging to his personal customers vanish.

    In stunning allegations outlined today, the agency accused Dunn of acting as an Imperia rainmaker who recruited deaf investors into a quagmire. The purported opportunity was widely promoted on the Ponzi boards, including TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

    The SEC sued Imperia in October 2010, saying it was running a Traded Endowment Policies (TEP) scam. Dunn continued to make excuses for the scam even after the SEC released a printed Investor Alert and a videocast warning in American Sign Language, the SEC charged.

    “Dunn was aware that Imperia lost investor money and was not accurately crediting investor accounts, yet he continued to send investor money to Imperia without disclosing to investors what was happening,” said Kenneth D. Israel, director of the SEC’s Salt Lake Regional Office. “To further take advantage of others in the deaf community, Dunn was siphoning off about 10 percent of the money he collected from investors to pay his own bills before sending the rest of money into the Imperia quagmire.”

    Dunn, the SEC charged, formed a Nevada corporation known as Global Wealth Lifepath in May 2009 and established a bank account into which investors’ Imperia funds were deposited and then wired to Imperia. Meanwhile, Dunn started a second company — possibly outside the United States — and named it Dunn World Investments (DWI). A bank account established for DWI also was used as part of the Imperia fraud, the agency charged.

    Despite red flags aplenty such as a purported guaranteed return of 1.2 percent a day, Dunn “blindly” promoted the Imperia scheme — even wiring money to bank accounts in Cyprus and New Zealand that had “no apparent or obvious link to Imperia,” the SEC charged.

    About 7,133 deaf investors entrusted about $3.45 million to Dunn, who accepted their funds directly and scraped about $350,000 off the top, claiming to have sent the balance to Imperia’s offshore bank accounts, the SEC charged.

    Although Dunn claimed “he had met and knew the individuals behind Imperia,” it was a lie, the SEC charged.

    And in an allegation that may cause great discomfort to Ponzi board promoters, Dunn was accused of not conducting “even a minimum amount of due diligence” about Imperia, not confirming that the firm actually traded in TEPs and not confirming whether any required licensing or registration  documentation existed, the SEC charged.

    “Dunn testified that his only due diligence consisted of reading the Imperia website, attempting to verify Imperia’s URL address, and reviewing the information Imperia posted on its own website regarding its website host,” the SEC charged.

    In his testimony, Dunn described Imperia as a “secretive company” that owed him $163 million in back commissions and interest on his investment of $1,100, the SEC charged.

    Despite Imperia’s clandestine nature and Dunn’s inability even to find a verifiable street address for the company, Dunn still decided to plow headlong into the scheme and draft others into doing the same.

    Imperia made off with at least $7 million, the SEC said last year.

    Read the SEC complaint against Dunn.

    View the Investor Alert in American Sign Language.

  • UPDATE: HYIP Known As ‘Insectrio’ Has Collapsed; Website Of LibertyReserve- And PerfectMoney-Enabled Scheme Pushed On Ponzi Boards Goes Missing; Both Payment-Processing Firms Referenced In SEC’s Complaint Against Imperia Invest IBC

    The 'Insectrio' HYIP used the logos of the MoneyMakerGroup, TalkGold and DreamTeamMoney Ponzi forums in its sales pitch.

    UPDATE: (UPDATED 11:53 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) RealScam.com is reporting that the website of a bizarre HYIP known as “Insectrio” will not resolve.

    As the PP Blog reported on May 27, Insectrio was emerging as a darling on the Ponzi boards. The purported “opportunity” even used a graphic showing the logos of TalkGold, MoneyMakerGroup and DreamTeamMoney in its vomitous sales pitch.

    Insectrio advertised an “Egg” plan purported to pay 103 percent after one day, a “Larva” plan purported to pay 120 percent after five days and other plans advertised to pay even more. It was enabled by the offshore processors LibertyReserve and PerfectMoney, both of which are listed in the SEC’s October 2010 complaint against Imperia Invest IBC as processors that allegedly gathered money for Imperia.

    Imperia was accused to stealing millions of dollars from deaf people. Its “program” also was promoted on the Ponzi boards.

    Efforts to popularize Insectrio on the Ponzi boards were beginning at roughly the same time the popularity of Club Asteria was waning on the fraud cesspits. Club Asteria targeted its offer to the world’s poor. It reportedly suspended payouts weeks ago, although some members of the Ponzi boards say they continue to get paid through AlertPay, a Canadian processor.

    Visit RealScam.com.

  • BULLETIN: SEC Gains Asset Freeze, Seeks Shutdown Of Imperia Invest In Emergency Action; Program Pitched On Same Ponzi Forums Promoting MPB Today; Agency Says Imperia Defrauded Thousands Of Deaf Americans

    BULLETIN UPDATED 5:02 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.): The SEC has gone to federal court in Utah to halt the operations of Imperia Invest IBC, alleging a spectacular fraud that fleeced money from thousands of Americans with hearing impairments.

    Imperia was promoted from the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum — one of the Ponzi forums promoting the MPB Today “grocery” MLM. Imperia also was the topic of discussion and defenses on TalkGold and ASAMonitor, two other forums that are pitching MPB Today.

    The SEC’s allegations against Imperia are stunning. More than 14,000 investors were defrauded worldwide, the agency said.

    Among the victims were thousands of deaf investors in the United States, the SEC said.

    Imperia gathered relatively small sums from thousands of people, the SEC charged, noting that “no evidence has been found that any of the investors have received a single payment.”

    “Imperia Invest IBC is a web-based entity that claimed, until late 2009, to be located in the Bahamas,” the SEC charged. “The Bahamian address listed by Imperia is fictitious. Imperia now claims to be located in Vanuatu. However, Imperia is not registered to do business in Vanuatu and the address listed on its website appears also to be fictitious. Neither Imperia nor its securities are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Imperia is not licensed or registered with the Commission, with any state, or with any Self Regulatory Organization.”

    Categorically absurd representations of earnings and the program’s potential were made to investors, the SEC said.

    “Investors were promised eye-popping amounts of money in return for a simple $50 or $100 investment, and Imperia has made numerous excuses on its website about why these returns haven’t been paid,” said Ken Israel, director of the SEC’s Salt Lake Regional office.

    “The Imperia website shows an example of such earnings in which a $50 investment will return $134,000 to the investor in six months,” the SEC charged. At the same time, the agency said some investors were told that spectacular sums were due them for doing business with Imperia.

    “Imperia represented to one investor who invested $150.00 with Imperia that Imperia owed him $36,610,755.20 within a two year time frame,” the SEC charged. “Another individual’s account statement who invested $500 in July 2007 showed he is owed $43,907,652.20 as of May 2010.”

    It was not immediately clear how so many deaf investors became involved in Imperia. A federal judge has approved an asset freeze.

    Imperia called its product Traded Endowment Policies (TEP), which the SEC described as “the British term for viatical settlements.”

    “A TEP or viatical settlement involves the sale of an insurance policy by the policy owner before the policy matures, and policies are sold at a discount from face value in an amount greater than the current cash surrender value,” the SEC said.

    “There are at least 14,000 [Imperia] investors worldwide with a total investment exceeding $7 million,” the SEC said. “In the United States, there appear to be approximately 6,000 investors, most of whom belong the hearing impaired community, who have invested in excess of $4 million with Imperia.”

    Imperia used offshore payment processors such as “Liberty Reserve, located in Costa Rica; Perfect Money, located in Panama; and Procurrex, located in the British Virgin Islands,” the SEC charged. “Once Imperia received funds from Investors, it appears that Imperia then transferred amounts from these accounts to foreign bank accounts, including but not limited to accounts located in Cyprus and New Zealand.”

    Even as Imperia was ripping off investors, it also was infringing trademarks and the intellectual property of Visa, the credit-card service, the SEC charged..

    “Imperia also requires that investors purchase a Visa debit card to access their investment proceeds,” the SEC said. “Imperia charges customers a fee to purchase the Visa debit card ranging from $145 to $450.

    “Visa has not authorized Imperia to use its name or trademarks and has sent Imperia a cease-and-desist letter to halt its unauthorized use of the Visa name and logo,” the SEC said. “There is no evidence that any investor who has ordered a Visa debit card from Imperia has actually received such a card.”

    One poster on the MoneyMakerGroup forum advised prospects that he would keep an “open mind” about Imperia, according to web records.

    “Anyway, in the final analysis each person must make their own decision,” the poster said in 2007.

    While the MoneyMakerGroup poster was holding forth about keeping an “open mind,” Imperia was cloaking itself to siphon millions of dollars, according to web records and court records.

    “Imperia took proactive steps to conceal the identity of its control persons by using an anonymous browser to host its website, by communicating with all investors via email without disclosing the identity of any control persons and by establishing off-shore Paypal-style bank accounts to conceal the recipient of the investment proceeds,” the SEC charged.

    In July, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued a warning about HYIP schemes pitched online. In May, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service accused an HYIP known as Pathway To Prosperity of defrauding more than 40,000 people in a scheme that took in about $70 million.

    Pathway To Prosperity also was promoted on the Ponzi and criminals’ forums. ASAMonitor, TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup are specifically referenced in court filings in the Pathway to Prosperity case.

    MoneyMakerGroup is specifically referenced in court documents in the alleged Legisi HYIP and Ponzi scheme, a fraud that allegedly gathered more than $70 million.

    Read the SEC complaint against Imperia.