Hours after the PP Blog published a story about the FBI foiling a bid to detonate a bomb targeted at American children and families at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Ore., a poster defending OWOW — the apparent successor company to Data Network Affiliates (DNA) — demanded to know if the Blog was “Israeli,” planted the seed that the Blog was racist and accused it of spreading “Islamophobia.”
“On a sep[a]rate note, [I] was shocked to discover that you are also spreading Islamophobia, so not only are you a two-bit hack, some might say that you are a racist,” a poster identified as “John” wrote in a comments thread below a Nov. 21 story that referenced OWOW. “For your information, most educated people know that the terror scares are FAKE, and that the Sept 11th attacks were carried out by another group, Israel being prime suspects.”
“John” also railed against the SEC, in response to a comment by the Blog that raised the question of whether OWOW, which is associated with Internet Marketer Phil Piccolo, was offering unregistered securities as investment contracts by advertising that it paid 24 percent annual interest to members who sent in money.
Piccolo has gained a reputation online as a “one-man Internet crime wave.” During a radio program in August, Piccolo threatened to sue critics and planted the seed that he could cause them to experience physical pain.
Rather than answering the question, John wrote, “The SEC? In between watching porn all day? The same SEC covering up the biggest financial crime i[n] history, IE the long term manipulation of the Gold and precious metals markets? That SEC?”
Earlier this year, the inspector general for the SEC said he was investigating reports that some SEC officials had used government computers to view pornography. Such an announcement, though embarrassing to the agency, did not legalize securities fraud or create a new defense for securities violations or potential securities violations.
DNA is a Nevada-registered company whose website is registered behind a proxy in the Cayman Islands. The company explained months ago that it registered the domain privately in the Caymans to prevent management from having to “put up with 100 stupid calls a day.”
Dean Blechman, DNA’s former CEO, resigned suddenly in February after just weeks with the firm, saying later that the company was engaging in “bizarre” conduct and a campaign of “misinformation and lies.”
Despite its Caymans’-registered domain, DNA asserted it was paying members of its multilevel-marketing (MLM) program to write down license-plate numbers at churches, “doctors’ offices” and retail outets such as Walmart. The plate numbers, according to DNA, would be entered into a database that was being developed to help law enforcement and the AMBER Alert program rescue abducted children.
The license-plate program raised privacy concerns, and no guidance was given members in the areas of propriety, legality and safety. DNA later morphed into a purported cell-phone company, proclaiming it had destroyed all competition on earth overnight by offering a free cell phone with unlimited talk and text for $10 a month.
Members flooded the Internet with ads. DNA later said that it had been hoodwinked by a vendor that had led it to believe it could deliver the $10 unlimited plan. In a bizarre email, the company acknowledged that it had not studied cell-phone pricing before declaring itself the world’s low-price leader. Just weeks before, the company sent an email to announce its cell-phone venture in which it made the all-caps claim of “GAME OVER — WE WIN.”
By July 4 — and with no new cell-phone plan announced to replace the failed venture — DNA said it was entering the mortgage-reduction and resorts businesses. The purported mortgage-reduction program was positioned as the “MORAL OBLIGATION’ of churches to promote.
Later in July the company announced it was selling a “protective spray” that would help buyers obscure the license-plate numbers of their cars to guard against getting traffic tickets. The spray purportedly would block cameras from snapping usable photos of the plates, and DNA said the spray protected against “wrongful ticketing by city cameras worldwide.”
DNA did not explain the incongruity of saying it supported law enforcement in its efforts to locate abducted children while at once working against law enforcement in its efforts to enforce traffic laws. Nor did DNA say whether it believed criminals who abducted children and sped off in cars would find the “protective spray” useful when making a getaway.
Even as DNA was announcing the availability of its purported “protective spray,” the company announced it soon would adopt a browser-based “DNA World Wide Alert Button” to let members know when a “child is reported missing in your immediate area.”
It is unclear of DNA ever developed such a button.
What is clear is that multiple domain names associated with the company now redirect to a website known as “One World, One Website” or OWOW.
Members have been prompted to send prospects an email that advertises a cure for cancer.
(Italics added):
Invest 90 Seconds to earn $4,600 to $46,000 Monthly
Send A Simple E-mail “The Secret Cure For Cancer”
JUST FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW…
YOUR PERSONAL WEBSITE IS EMBEDDED IN THIS E-MAIL…
Invest 90 Seconds + Send out a Simple Cure for Cancer e-mail… Earn $4,600 to $46,000 a Month within 100 days or less…
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Simple & Short E-mail
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Most likely someone you love will die of Cancer or
some type of Flu type Disease and when it happens
you will say I wish I could have done something…
The SECRET CURE FOR CANCER…
Are you ready for the Simple & Secret CURE…
Here it is “DON’T GET IT”…
THE BOTTOM LINE IS
Take TurboMune & DON’T GET IT & If you GOT IT
Take TurboMune To Help You Get Rid You Of IT…
This product use to sell for $150 a capsule…
It currently sells in ASIA for $300 a bottle…
OWOW sells the product as low as $19.95 a bottle…
++++++++++++++++++
Invest 90 Seconds
The PP Blog first reported the existence of the email Saturday. The Blog also reported that Phil Piccolo had been a member of a company in California that had been expressly warned by the state not to make false and misleading claims in promotional materials and not to advertise that tax “write-offs” were available for joining an MLM company.
DNA advertised that members who recorded license-plate numbers on its behalf could qualify for hefty mileage deductions despite the fact that no evidence has surfaced that the firm’s license-plate program is a legitimate business.
“Did you know about your DNA Tax Benefits . . .” the DNA pitch began. “Imagine driving 10,000 miles for your DNA Business = up to a $5,000 Tax Deduction… “IRS Announces 2010 Standard Mileage Rates” IR-2009-111, Dec. 3, 2009… and this is just one of many…”
Less than enthused about the PP Blog’s reporting, “John” apparently embarked on a strategy of trying to discredit the Blog by advancing a conspiracy theory about the 9/11 attacks, the “the long term manipulation of the Gold and precious metals markets” and tying the Blog to Israel.
“John” even demanded that another poster answer a question about whether the Blog is “AN ISRAELI?” He also observed that “Millions consider the [Food and Drug Administration] to be a filthy cabal of criminals” and suggested there was nothing misleading about Piccolo’s cancer-cure email to OWOW members.
The Blog specifically asked “John” why someone would plant the seed that the OWOW TurboMune product cures cancer.
“THERE YOU GO AGAIN, wrong AGAIN, spreading lies AGAIN,” John claimed. “The email says ‘The Secret Cure For Cancer” IS ‘Dont get it.’”
“John” offered no comment on the part of the email that read, “THE BOTTOM LINE IS
Take TurboMune & DON’T GET IT & If you GOT IT Take TurboMune To Help You Get Rid You Of IT…”