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Tag: JSS Tripler

  • ULTIMATE INSULT? ‘ProfitClicking,’ A ‘JSSTripler’/’JustBeenPaid’ Reload Scam That Surfaced After Collapse Of Zeek Rewards, Now Called ‘ProfitCrapping’ On Ponzi Boards

    Frederick Mann
    Frederick Mann

    A “program” the PP Blog reported may have ties to the so-called “sovereign citizens” movement appears to have wiped out investors and perhaps zeroed out the purported earnings of many of them, according to posts at the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi-scheme forum.

    In fact, according to one post, the “ProfitClicking” program perhaps now can be best described as “Profitcrapping.”

    ProfitClicking listed Liberty Reserve as one of its payment processors. On Tuesday, federal prosecutors in New York described Liberty Reserve as a massive criminal enterprise involved in the laundering of more than $6 billion. The effect of the Liberty Reserve action on Profit Clicking was not immediately clear.

    What is clear is that ProfitClicking was a fraud from the start. The “program” traces its roots to JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid, which promised a daily payout of 2 percent and purportedly was operated by Frederick Mann, a one-time pitchman for the collapsed, 1-percent-a-day AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme. ProfitClicking surfaced after Mann purportedly retired suddenly in the days after the SEC took down Zeek Rewards in August 2012, amid allegations it had operated a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud that had duped investors into believing it provided a legitimate payout averaging about 1.5 percent a day.

    Prior to the emergence of ProfitClicking, Mann speculated that his JSS/JBP “program” could come under attack by American cruise missiles. He also has described U.S. government employees as “part of a criminal gang of robbers, thieves, murderers, liars, imposters.”

    Taking the time to ensure JSS/JBP was operating legally was a concession to slavery, Mann contended. Fellow AdSurfDaily figure Kenneth Wayne Leaming, a purported sovereign convicted in a plot to file false liens for billions of dollars against U.S. government employees, later contended that he was being held as a slave against his will.

    But even as Mann was sliming the U.S. government and calling its employees slavemasters, one of his JSS/JBP pitchmen was operating a site known as Vatican Assassins that contended “Majority Savage Blacks were never taught to behave in civil White Protestant culture and thus have been released upon us Reformation Bible-believing Whites to further destroy our once White Protestant and Baptist American culture founded upon the Reformation’s AV1611 English Bible and a White Protestant Presbyterian Constitution with its attached White Baptist-Calvinist Bill of Rights.”

    Some analysts have speculated that the name “Frederick Mann” (emphasis by PP Blog) is longhand code for “free man.” Purported “sovereign citizens” sometimes calls themselves “free men of the land.”

    Among other things, both JSS/JBP and ProfitClicking made members affirm they were not with the “government.” Mann declined to say where his “program” was operating from, a development that drew comparisons to the infamous BCCI banking scheme of the 1990s. BCCI, shorthand for Bank of Credit and Commerce International, purportedly was designed to be “offshore everywhere,”

    Liberty Reserve also has drawn such comparisons. (Link is to May 28 article in Vanity Fair.)

    Mann fell out of the Ponzi spotlight for a brief time after his purported retirement from JSS/JBP as ProfitClicking was gaining a head of steam.

    He soon was back, however — this time as a pitchmen for a “program” known as ClickPaid.

    The ClickPaid Terms — like the Terms of JSS/JBP and ProfitClicking — made members affirm they are not with the “government.”

    On May 29, the PP Blog reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Republic of the Philippines had issued a warning on the JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid and ProfitClicking scams. JSS/JBP also came under investigation in Italy.

    A Ponzi-board program known as “Profitable Sunrise” also experienced the same fate in Italy.

    The U.S. SEC has described Profitable Sunrise as a murky “program” that may have collected tens of millions of dollars through offshore bank accounts. Profitable Sunrise had five HYIP plans, including one bizarrely dubbed the “Long Haul,” which purported to pay 2.7 percent a day — more than Zeek, more than ASD, more than JSS/JBP, more than ProfitClicking, more than ClickPaid.

    A website linked to Mann once linked to videos featuring Francis Schaeffer Cox, a purported “sovereign” and “militia” man implicated in a murder plot against public officials in Alaska.

  • RECEIVER: AlertPay And SolidTrustPay May Hold Additional Zeek Assets; Forensic Team Is Working ‘To Investigate And Seize These Funds’

    EDITOR’S NOTE: One way to read a report filed yesterday by the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi-scheme case is as a warning manual that brings to life the kind of vexing problems HYIP schemes create for operators, vendors and participants — including “insiders.” Kenneth D. Bell’s report to Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen of North Carolina strongly hints that the receivership has identified “key insiders.” Their names have not been published in court filings . . .

    recommendedreading1UPDATED 4 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Although early filings last year in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme case suggested that offshore payment processors Alert Pay (Payza) and Solid Trust Pay held more than $40 million connected to Zeek, the court-appointed receiver has advised a federal judge that the two processors may hold even more than originally believed.

    Both AlertPay and SolidTrustPay operate from Canada. Their names appear constantly in Ponzi-board promos for fraud schemes. The companies’ names also have appeared in court filings related to various HYIP schemes, including the alleged $72 million Pathway To Prosperity fraud in 2010 and the $119 million AdSurfDaily fraud in 2008.

    In 2009, while the ASD case was still in the courts, some members of AdSurfDaily received mysterious “final refunds” from SolidTrustPay through an STP-connected email address of oceannamusic@xplornet.com. The purported pro rata refunds led to questions about whether some ASD members were benefiting at the expense of others while the case still was in the U.S. courts and whether ASD actually had money in SolidTrustPay under the name of a different company or a user other than President Andy Bowdoin. (See July 2009 post by PP Blog guest columnist Gregg Evans here.)

    Later, an emerging scam known as JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid purportedly operated by former ASD pitchman Frederick Mann began to use the offshore processors — amid claims from JSS/JPB pitchmen that they not only were recruiting for JSS/JBP, but also managing both the JSS/JBP accounts of their sign-ups and the payment-processor accounts of the sign-ups.

    Because HYIP schemes proliferate in part through the willful blindness of promoters and serial con artists, a situation has evolved over the years in which fraudulent proceeds circulate between and among scams and their individual promoters. “Alan Chapman,” a Zeek pitchman, also was promoting JSS/JPB and a follow-up scam known as “ProfitClicking,” for instance. Serial huckster “Ken Russo” also promoted Zeek and JSS/JBP — and many more schemes, including ASD and Profitable Sunrise, which the SEC described last month as a scam that may have gathered tens of millions of dollars.

    But a new filing by Kenneth D. Bell, the Zeek receiver, suggests that the receivership may seek to foreclose any after-the-fact opportunities for offshore processors to duck their responsibilities to the receivership estate and for holders of the offshore accounts to benefit from Zeek after the SEC brought spectacular allegations of Ponzi- and pyramid fraud against Zeek in August 2012.

    Zeek, the SEC said last year, was a $600 million fraud scheme that used at least 15 foreign and domestic financial institutions.

    A forensic accounting has led Bell to believe that “both Payza and SolidTrustPay may have additional Receivership assets.”

    In a report to Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen, Bell said he is working “to investigate and seize these funds.”

    And, Bell advised Mullen, “[t]o the extent these entities allowed affiliates to withdraw funds after receiving notice of the Receivership, the Receiver may seek reimbursement of indemnification for the funds from the payment service providers.”

    If Bell somehow is able to foreclose chicanery involving serial Ponzi pitchmen and the scamming insiders with offshore accounts, it could go a long way toward minimizing the spread of fraud schemes over the Internet.

    Bell’s April 30 filing also reveals that the receivership has recovered $291,000 from a “merchant services account reserve” that had been held by American Express for Rex Venture Group, Zeek’s parent company. At the same time, it reveals that Bell — to date — has recovered $36,000 from Zeek net winners in prelitigation settlements. That number may grow. The deadline to enter into negotiations for a prelitigation settlement is May 31.

    More than anything, though, Bell’s report to the court showcases the enormous problems created by HYIP schemes. Among the problems outlined in the filing:

    Potentially costly and time-consuming litigation disputes for all parties. Zeek operator Paul Burks is claiming privilege on certain matters. Some Zeek “winners” have filed motions that could slow down the refund process for Zeek victims at large.

    Taxes: Zeek appears to have misclassified certain employees as independent contractors, which has tax ramifications.

    Incomplete records. Because of poor records at Zeek, some members who received 1099 tax forms from the receivership received forms that showed earnings either higher or lower than actual earnings. The receivership has prepared amended 1099s for certain Zeek members.

    Possible disputes with vendors. Bell’s report noted that USHBB Inc. asserted it was owed $878,856 by Zeek. USHBB produced video promos for Zeek. In September 2012, the PP Blog reported that Zeek once listed USHBB executive OH Brown as an employee. Meanwhile, USHBB once produced videos for a collapsed MLM scheme known as Narc That Car.)

    Clawback litigation: In the absence of settlements, the receiver potentially could file actions that involve thousands of Zeek affiliates in possession of ill-gotten gains from the scheme.

    Read the receiver’s April 30 filing. (Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog for providing the filing.)

    Visit the receivership website.

     

     

     

  • WTOL To Air Profitable Sunrise Report Titled ‘Holy Rip Off’

    From The WTOL teaser.
    From The WTOL teaser.

    EDITOR’S NOTE: GlimDropper, an administrator at the RealScam.com antiscam forum, gave PP Blog readers a heads-up on the WTOL report yesterday . . .

    WTOL, the CBS affiliate in Toledo, Ohio, says it will air a report Thursday (April 25) at 11 p.m. EDT titled “Holy Rip Off.”

    A teaser for the report shows photos of Profitable Sunrise pitchwoman Nanci Jo Frazer. Frazer’s NJF Global Group is referenced in a New Zealand fraud warning on the Profitable Sunrise “program” and also within the body of a March 14 notice issued by the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Securities. Frazer and NJF Global Group also are referenced in the body of a March 14 cease-and-desist order issued by the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

    Numerous securities regulators have described Profitable Sunrise as a form of affinity fraud targeted at people of faith. At least 35 agencies in the United States and Canada have issued cease-and-desist orders or Investor Alerts against the HYIP “program,” which had a presence on infamous Ponzi forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

    The website of Profitable Sunrise has been missing since at least March 14. On April 1 — the day after Easter Sunday and April Fools Day — the “program” failed to make good on promised payouts from the bizarrely named “Long Haul” plan. The “Long Haul” was purported to pay interest of 2.7 percent a day. Its claims were similar to other collapsed schemes promoted on the Ponzi boards.

    On Dec. 30, the PP Blog reported that Profitable Sunrise appeared to be relying on appeals to faith in a bid to attract investors in the wake of the August 2012 collapse of the Zeek Rewards “program.” Zeek, which allegedly planted the seed it paid interest of 1.5 percent a day, also had a presence on the Ponzi boards. In August, the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud.

    Earlier this month, the SEC described Profitable Sunrise as a pyramid scheme that had collected an unspecified sum believed to be in the tens of millions of dollars.

    RealScam.com, an antifraud forum recently targeted in a DDoS attack, has been publishing information on Profitable Sunrise since at least Dec. 1.

    The PP Blog learned last month that at least one apologist for the NJF Global Group has relied on purported “research” by a notorious cyberstalker known as “MoneyMakingBrain” in an apparent bid to discredit critics of the “program.”

    MoneyMakingBrain emerged in 2012 as an apologist for the JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid “program” purportedly operated by Frederick Mann. JSS/JBP purported to pay 2 percent a day. MoneyMakingBrain claimed he’d defend Mann “so help me God.”

    JSS/JBP, which appears to have morphed into secondary and tertiary scams (ProfitClicking and ClickPaid) after the August collapse of Zeek, may have ties to the “sovereign citizens” movement. Mann has compared the U.S. government to the Mafia, claiming that government employees were part of “a criminal gang of robbers, thieves, murderers, liars, imposters.”

    Profitable Sunrise also may have ties to the “sovereign citizens” movement.

    Some “sovereign citizens” have an irrational belief that laws do not apply to them. It is known that the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme in 2008 also had ties to “sovereign citizens,” including Kenneth Wayne Leaming. Leaming, a resident of Washington state, was convicted earlier this year of filing false liens for billions of dollars against public officials who had a role in the prosecution of the ASD Ponzi scheme.

    ASD operated from Florida, planting the seed it paid a return of 1 percent a day. ASD President Andy Bowdoin — now serving a 78-month prison term — also was associated with a 1-percent-a-day scam known as AdViewGlobal. AVG bizarrely claimed in 2009 that it enjoyed the protections of the U.S. and Florida constitutions while purportedly operating from Uruguay. The scam collapsed during the summer of 2009 — but not before issuing threats to members and critics.

    In May 2009, AVG bizarrely announced it had secured the services of an offshore facilitator. The announcement was made on the same day President Obama announced a crackdown on offshore scams.

    Obama later was pilloried in an ad for a “program” known as MPB Today. MPB’s operator later was charged in Florida with racketeering.

    “Sovereigns” are infamous for drafting others into scams, including people who do not recognize they are being drafted into illegal pursuits.

    The teaser for the WTOL report is below . . .

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: CONSOB, Italian Securities Regulator, Takes Action Against Alleged Profitable Sunrise Promoter

    breakingnews72URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: The Italian securities regulator CONSOB has filed a suspension order that names an alleged promoter of Profitable Sunrise, amid allegations that Profitable Sunrise is an investment program.

    The agency said it observed pitches for ProfitableSunrise on a WordPress Blog under the control of “Daniele Verzari, who presents himself to users of the website as the ‘founder’ of the Vdproject Italy team.”

    Verzari, according to CONSOB, now is banned from promoting Profitable Sunrise and programs known as “Vityazi” and “Bestforinvest.” In a separate order, the agency said Bestforinvest operated at the domain bestforinvest.org.

    Promos for Bestforinvest were “carried out in the absence of the prescribed authorizations,” CONSOB said.

    In the past, CONSOB has acted against promoters of HYIP schemes such as Club Asteria and JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid.

    Profitable Sunrise had at least five investment programs, according to Investor Alerts or cease-and-desist orders filed by securities regulators in the United States. One of the purported “plans” was known as the “Long Haul,” which purported to pay interest of 2.7 percent a day. Payouts from the bizarrely named “Long Haul” plan were touted as an “Easter Gift” and were due yesterday.

    Profitable Sunrise members are complaining about not getting paid. The “opportunity’s” website has been offline for nearly three weeks.

    Both the United Kingdrom and Zew Zealand have issued alerts about Profitable Sunrise. So have at at least 34 state and provincial regulators in the United States and Canada.

    Here is the text of the April 2 CONSOB order, as presented in English on the agency’s website:

    Under the terms of Art. 101, section 4, lett. b), of the Consolidated Law on Finance, Consob has suspended, for a period of 90 days, the advertising activity relating to offering to the public the investment programmes entitled Vityazi, Profitable Sunrise and Bestforinvest carried out, through the website www.vdprojectitaly.wordpress.com by Daniele Verzari, who presents himself to users of the website as the “founder” of the Vdproject Italy team (Resolution No. 18510 of 27 March 2013).

    In relation to the three investment programmes, on the basis of the descriptions provided on the website www.vdprojectitaly.wordpress.com and, in relation to the programmes Profitable Sunrise and Bestforinvest, on the basis of the descriptions on the “official” websites, there seem to be the characteristics of an investment of a financial nature, the notion of which implies the presence together of the three elements: (i) an investment of capital; (ii) an expectation of a return of a financial nature; (iii) the assumption of a risk associated with the investment of capital. Indeed, all three investment programmes require investment of an initial capital of an indeterminate amount, with the exception of the programme entitled Bestforinvest which provides for a minimum and maximum investible capital of between 100 and 9,000 US dollars.

    The activity carried out through the website www.vdprojectitaly.wordpress.com leads to the well-grounded suspicion that the advertising activity performed in relation to the public offering of financial products breaches Art. 101, section 2, of the Consolidated Law on Finance which states that “before publication of the prospectus it is forbidden to make any advertising announcement regarding the public offering of financial products other than community financial instruments”, and that the said activity is still being performed. Hence the urgency of the measure, adopted in accordance with Art. 101, section 4, letter b, of the Consolidated Law on Finance.

    CONSOB’s issuance of the order is important because it demonstrates that individual promoters can be held accountable for schemes that push unregistered securities even if they are not the operator of a “program.”

    Whether Verzari will defend against the CONSOB action and receive any help with potential legal bills from “Roman Novak” and Profitable Sunrise is unclear. “Roman Novak” is the purported operator of Profitable Sunrise.

  • Some ‘ProfitClicking’ Members Who Scheduled Sea Cruise May Have Gotten Lucky Break — Sort Of

    ProfitClicking has had trouble since it evolved from the carcass of JSSTripler/JustBeeenPaid last year.
    ProfitClicking has had trouble since it evolved from the carcass of JSSTripler/JustBeeenPaid last year.

    Back in June 2012 — when the “program” later to become “ProfitClicking” still was known as JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid — a member told JSS/JBP operator Frederick Mann that she was arranging a sea cruise on Carnival Cruise Lines “out of Galveston, Texas” during the last week of January and the first week of February of this year.

    It would not have been the first time members of a Ponzi scheme got together on a ship at sea to talk up a “program.” Members of the AdViewGlobal autosurf, which federal prosecutors later linked to the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, reportedly advanced the AVG scam on the high seas in 2009.

    Whether the JSS/JBP sea cruise ever came off is unknown. What is known is that the Carnival Triumph, whose home port is Galveston, has caused an epic PR disaster for the famous cruise line. The ship experienced an engine-room fire on Sunday, after departing Galveston Feb. 7, the company said.

    A passenger on a recent cruise aboard the Triumph told CBS News that the ship had trouble on Jan. 28 as it was preparing to leave Galveston.

    If JSS/JBP-related trip announced last year went ahead as planned, some JSS/JBP (now ProfitClicking) members could have been on the ship during the trip immediately prior to the disastrous cruise. Or if the trip was delayed by a week, they could have been aboard when the engine room caught fire.

    Just how disastrous was the trip?

    Well, no one was killed. Even so, passengers described the excursion as a venture into hell on the high seas. The fire crippled the ship at sea. A CBS reporter described the vessel as “the makings of a floating biohazard” because the Triumph’s toilets and waste systems were not working.

    Fox News, meanwhile, cited reports of “vile conditions onboard” and used the phrase “shanty town.” Passengers were forced to live on the deck because of filthy conditions inside the ship.

    With the aid of tug boats, the crippled Triumph arrived in Mobile, Ala., late last night.

    The U.S. Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board have launched probes.

    Even if JSS/JBP/ProfitClicking members weren’t on board, there are reports of ongoing, major problems with their “opportunity,” which purported to pay 2 percent a day.

    If they were on board, they got the double-whammy.

     

  • On Date Of Obama Inauguration, ‘Program’ Promo Turns President Into Pitchman For ‘Ultimate Power Profits’

    ultimatepowerprofitspresUPDATED 11:08 A.M. ET (U.S.A.) On a day Americans cherish as a great symbol of the continuation of Democracy, images of their President are being used to create the impression he has endorsed a “program” HYIP hucksters sought to popularize in the aftermath of the August 2012 collapse of the Zeek Rewards “program” amid SEC allegations that Zeek was just another massive Internet scam.

    “Just join their team and you will receive all the help you need to grow your own business,” an animated Obama tells prospects in a video promoting Ultimate Power Profits. “By doing so, your earnings will increase. There is no hidden agenda. They showed me how their system worked and I was impressed. It is a fully legal and U.S.-patented system they use to make money.”

    Obama’s image previously was used in affiliate promos for MPBToday, a purported MLM “grocery” program whose operator was arrested on a racketeering charge in Florida last month. A building that housed MPB Today’s operations is the subject of a federal forfeiture action in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The forfeiture case was filed July 31, 2012.

    Less than three weeks later — on Aug. 17, 2012 — the SEC alleged Zeek was a $600 million Ponzi and pyramid scheme. Zeek and MPBToday are known to have promoters in common, including serial Ponzi scheme pitchman “Ken Russo,” also known as “DRdave.”

    On Aug. 18, only a day after the SEC’s Zeek action late on Friday afternoon, the PPBlog began to receive spam about the UltimatePowerProfits “program.” (See Comments thread below this story. The Blog established a Ponzi-forum tie between Zeek and Ultimate Power Profits.)

    On Aug. 20, the office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper — which also had been investigating Zeek — issued a warning on “reload scams” in the wake of the SEC’s Zeek action.

    Ultimate Power Profits is not the first “program” to make a claim about a “U.S. patent.” The JSS/JBP scam, which purported to pay an annualized return of 730 percent and purportedly was operated by former AdSurfDaily Ponzi-scheme pitchman Frederick Mann, also made a claim about a U.S. patent.

    It is not uncommon for HYIP scams and MLM frauds to plant the seed that a “program” is endorsed by an agency of the U.S. government or a U.S. politician. ASD’s Andy Bowdoin was accused in 2008 of trading on the name of George W. Bush, then the President of the United States and Obama’s predecessor.

    Images of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were used in the massive Mantria “green” Ponzi scheme in 2009.

    In 2012, JSS/JBP came under the lens of CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator. Some promoters, however, didn’t miss a beat. (Compare the images in the screen shots below. The first is from a promo for an emerging “program” known as RicanAdFunds; the second is from a promo for Zeek; the third is from a promo for JSS/JBP.)

    1.

    ricanfundschapmansmall

    2.

    chapmanzeek

    3.

    jss-triplersmall1

  • UPDATE: PP Blog Now Starting To Get Bizarre Spam Related To BannersBroker ‘Program’

    americaatrisk4UPDATED 7:06 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) The PP Blog today began to receive bizarre spam related to the purported BannersBroker “program,” a Ponzi-forum darling.

    Senders from separate IPs who deemed themselves “Banners Broker” transmitted spam at 5:27 p.m. (ET) and 5:29 p.m. today. (UPDATE: 7:06 P.M. Actually, the 5:27 spammer deemed himself/herself “Banners Broker” and the 5:29 spammer deemed himself/herself  “Banners Brokers.”)

    One of the spams appeared to make the assertion that the PP Blog was created specifically in response to the Banners Broker “program” and that the Blog is in cahoots with at least two other sites to make Banners Broker look bad. The same would-be spam, which appeared to originate in the United Kingdom, also appeared to advance an argument that individuals should not question the Banners Broker “program.”

    An earlier spam — one that appeared to originate in Poland with a different email address but largely the same user name and same URL to a website that appears to sell purported Banners Broker sales aids — took a potshot at a Blogger named Finch. (The later spam described in the paragraph above also took a potshot at Rod Cook, the “MLM Watchdog.“)

    The PP Blog’s first reference to Banners Broker was published on June 17, 2012, when the Blog reported that a site that claimed it sold “customers” to Zeek Rewards members also was pushing traffic to Banners Broker and JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, the bizarre, 730-percent-a-year “program” purportedly operated by Frederick Mann.

    Mann also was a pitchman for the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme. JSS/JBP, which later morphed into a “program” known as ProfitClicking, may have ties to the sovereign-citizens movement.

    In August 2012, the SEC called Zeek Rewards a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud. Zeek, JSS/JBP, ProfitClicking and Banners Broker all were promoted from the Ponzi boards and had members in common, which leads to questions about whether the schemes and their financial vendors came into possession of funds tainted by multiple fraud schemes.

    The commonality of the “programs” also leads to questions about whether satellite companies are developing “leads” programs and purported sales aids to benefit from securities-fraud schemes before they are detected.

    The spammer at 5:27 p.m. today asserted that he (or she) was sure companies such as Banners Broker “will fight back through the legal system and get [Blogs critical of such programs] shut down.”

    In July, less than a month before the collapse of Zeek, Zeek figure Robert Craddock sought to shut down the website of Zeek critic K. Chang. It became the “Most Important” story of the year on the PP Blog.

    Banners Broker uses at least two of the payment processors used by Zeek: Payza and SolidTrustPay.

     

     

     

  • UPDATES: (1) Cyberstalker Resurfaces To Claim The Zeek ‘Defense Fund Is Snowballing’ And To Accuse PP Blog And Supporters Of Communism; (2) Blog Receives Separate Email That Plants Seed It Is A ‘Mercenary/Assassin For The SEC & NCAG’; (3) A Series Of Death Threats

    A cyberstalker who has used more than a dozen usernames and bogus email addresses to send harassing communications to the PP Blog resurfaced today after an absence of days.

    The stalker appears to be sending unwanted communications from a series of IPs in the region of Columbus, Ohio.

    Today’s would-be posting bid was targeted at a Sept. 26 story thread titled “SEC Says Zeek Probe ‘Is Continuing’; Agency Updates Information Page.”

    Here is what the would-be poster claimed (italics added):

    Not even a road bump in the affiliates vs the SEC. The amount of support is snowballing. The defense fund is snowballing, and you guys will look so f’n stupid for your communist thought process. down with this stupid website and it’s little communist followers.

    The communication was received at 11:37 a.m. EDT.

    Earlier, at 10:19 a.m., the PP Blog received a strange Zeek-related email that appears to quote an individual dubbed “Steel.”

    Among the claims attributed to “Steel” was this one (italics added):

    In fact, your [sic] creating this un-substantiated linkage between ASD & Zeek, makes you look more like a mercenary/assassin for the SEC & [North Carolina Attorney General] than an impartial observer and reporter.

    These words appeared below the section of the email attributed to “Steel” (italics added):

    Individually We Are Weak – Together We Are Strong[.] We Can Win This Battle & We Will Win The Zeek War.

    The PP Blog is reporting tonight that, on Aug. 6, it received a disturbing communication that “mercenaries” needed to be “[sent] out” to “take out those corrupt bankers, USG politicians, agents, judges and attorney’s that cause us all harm and demages [sic].”

    That communication went on to identify three prominent U.S. politicians — all of whom no longer are in office — and questioned why “[Prominent Politician A’s Name Deleted by PP Blog] and both [Prominent Politician B and C’s Names deleted by PP Blog] [are] still alive and running around?”

    The PP Blog reported the disturbing email to a U.S. law-enforcement agency. The Blog is declining to identify the office once held by the prominent politicians.

    “JUST LOOK AT the insane NAZI driven USA,” the email read in part.

    On Aug. 29, the PP Blog received a death threat targeted at another individual. The Blog reported that communication, as well.

    On Aug. 30, the PP Blog itself received a death threat. Here is part of that message, which incongruously ended with a smilie (italics added):

    . . . we don’t need to worry because we will pay Mr Patrick Pretty a visit. He is already under the sniper’s cross-hair and he will go down. :)

    The Aug. 30 death threat appears to be related to the Blog’s coverage of “Profit Clicking,” the “program” that evolved from JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid.

    ProfitClicking/JSS/JBP, AdSurfDaily and Zeek are known to have had members in common.

  • Now, Another ‘Program’ Uses Name Of JustBeenPaid: ‘JustBeenPaidNew’ Says It Features ‘Attractive 2.5% Daily Plans’ With Payments Through Payza

    This YouTube video purports to provide instructions on how to send money through Payza to JustBeenPaidNew, apparently an emerging "program" trading off the name of the JustBeenPaid scam.

    Yet another “program” appears to be trading off the name of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid. The new “program” is known as “JustBeenPaidNew.” It uses a domain registered Sept. 9 behind a proxy and, in butchered English, makes claims such as this:

    “We have some Good Professional Fund Managers, and thay [sic] invests [sic] in the global currency trading market . . . Conferm  [sic] your sign up and get $5 as [a] sign up bonus.”

    JustBeenPaidNew says its uses Payza, Skrill and Liberty Reserve as payment processors. A JustBeenPaidNew video apparently uploaded to YouTube in recent hours shows what purports to be a Payza back office. The video is titled “Upload Fund to Justbeenpaid New.Com from Payza Account” — and viewers receive instructions on how to fund their accounts through Payza.

    A section of the video instructs viewers to “Invest $10 in a position and get 2.5% daily profit for 60 dayes [sic.]”

    Claims in the video appear to put JustBeenPaidNew at odds with a policy Payza announced on July 13 that banned “[a]ny indication or demonstration of a literal rate of return on a contribution, payment or investment, while not being licensed to sell or solicit.”

    When clicked, a link styled “Tarms [sic] & condition [sic]” on the JustBeenPaidNew site loads a page that makes this bizarre representation:

    “JustBeenPaidNew.Com [sic] registered as an international limited liability company and not a bank nor [sic] a security [sic] firm. An investment with us is not insured or guaranteed by the ‘Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’ and/or any other government agency existing out there.”

    In 2011, a “program” known as “JSS Tripler 2” launched, using the name of JustBeenPaid’s JSS Tripler entity. JSS Tripler 2 later collapsed.

    JustBeenPaid was the 2-percent-a-day “program” purportedly operated by Frederick Mann. JustBeenPaid now is morphing into a scam known as “ProfitClicking,” amid reports of Mann’s sudden retirement from JustBeenPaid.

    At 3:44 a.m. EDT today and again at 3:47 a.m., the PP Blog received affiliate spam from a JustBeenPaidNew promoter. Logs suggest the spam was sent from Bangladesh.

  • Wealth4AllTeam, ‘Program’ Pushed By Zeek ‘I Got Paid’ Cheerleader ‘Ken Russo,’ Appears To Have Suspended Operations

    There are Ponzi-forum reports today that “Wealth4AllTeam” has suspended operations. Wealth4AllTeam was a “program” pushed by legendary Ponzi-forum huckster “Ken Russo,” also known as “DRdave.”

    “Ken Russo” regularly made “I Got Paid” posts for Zeek Rewards on the TalkGold Ponzi forum. He also led cheers for Club Asteria, a “program” that encountered trouble from CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator. Meanwhile, Ken Russo led cheers for the bizarre JSS Tripler 2 “program,” which appears to have based its name on the JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid scam-in-progress purportedly operated by Frederick Mann.

    JSS/JBP appears now to be morphing into a scam known as “ProfitClicking.”

    Among other things, the JSS Tripler 2 scam touted by “Ken Russo” hatched a companion fraud scheme known as “Compound150.”

    A message today on the Wealth4All website accessible by clicking a link styled “Click Here for Other Forms of Payments” says “Temporally [sic] Down Please Check your e-mail.”

    Separately, a message on the Ponzi boards attributed to “Wealth4allteam Management” in part says this (italics added):

    As you are aware from previous communications, we have been working hard at getting our Project Genesis off the ground. The goal of Project Genesis is to create a business model that offers the right balance between a product and a rewarding financial opportunity. We’ve created an amazing model that will offer several income opportunities to a wide spectrum of people, from beginners to the more experienced network marketers.

    In the past, we also informed you that we were consulting with both our legal team and with a compensation consulting firm to help us integrate our existing pay structure with the new model. During these consultations, it has become clear to us that the required changes to the current compensation plan are too drastic and complicated to be done effectively. Based on that, our counsel has advised us to create a completely new business model that will better serve everyone for our new business.

    On Aug. 17, the SEC called Zeek a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme. Just weeks earlier, “Ken Russo” left a series of “I Got Paid” posts for Zeek on the TalkGold Ponzi forum.

    Included in his signature line was a link for the Wealth4AllTeam “program.”

    Precisely what Wealth4AllTeam’s “Project Genesis” entails is unclear. The name, however, is reminiscent of an earlier scam known as the “Alpha Project” that was linked to another scam known as FEDI.

    Read more on the FEDI scheme. FEDI operator Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, also known as “Michael Mixon,” pleaded guilty in September 2009 to fleecing investors out of millions of dollars and to financing terrorism.

  • UPDATE: Launch Of JSS/JBP Follow-Up Scam (ProfitClicking) Under Way — Sort Of

    The launch of “ProfitClicking,” the follow-up scam to the JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid HYIP scheme (2 percent a day) purportedly operated by Frederick Mann, is under way.

    Sort of.

    Carl Pearson in his JSS/JBP days.

    Just who’s running ProfitClicking is unclear, although the site has claimed that cash-gifting enthusiast J.J. Ulrich is the “PC Executive Director” and that Carl Pearson is on the “Management Team.” Pearson purportedly was the one-time COO of JSS/JBP, which experienced a promotional ban in Italy by the securities regulator CONSOB.

    Mann hinted last month that he feared arrest in the United States. He previously speculated that the JSS/JBP site could be taken out by “cruise missiles.” Some JSS/JBP members complained that their support tickets hadn’t been addressed in weeks.

    Rather than hold JSS/JBP responsibile, Mann suggested, it perhaps was best for members to read a self-improvement manual.

    ProfitClicking’s site had featured a countdown clock for days, with the launch set to go live at 6 a.m. (EDT) today. Despite claims by ProfitClicking that new servers and a new engineering approach would make for a seamless experience, the site experienced an immediate meltdown — with the landing page defaulting to a “Block DOS” gateway.

    The site did begin to load slowly within a few minutes, but members immediately complained on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum that they couldn’t log in. Members now are saying that they can log in but that the site is performing worse than dial-up.

    Whether members’ data was transferred properly from the JSS/JBP site to the ProfitClicking site remains an open question. Like JSS/JBP, ProfitClicking makes members affirm they are not with the “government.” The site also seeks to disclaim any responsibility on the part of the “opportunity” or its affiliates for offering the “program.”

    As JSS/JBP’s purported owner, Mann compared government workers to the Mafia. Regardless, he once permitted JSS/JBP’s conference-call host to hang up on a man who claimed to have been recruited by Mann and later to have suffered a stroke. Prior to being unceremoniously disconnected from the call, the man informed Mann that JSS/JBP support had ignored his pleas for help.

    A woman who complained about support after claiming her sister’s home was at risk because of the JSS/JBP “program” was treated rudely during an earlier call — this after she pointed out she had a heart condition.

    Among the apparent early aims of ProfitClicking is to permit members to fund accounts, but not withdraw. Such an approach is consistent with an effort to draft suckers into turning over money that may or may not be used at a later time to make Ponzi payments to people who bought into the JSS/JBP scam. AdSurfDaily, a ProfitClicking-like autosurf, scammed its members in this fashion in 2007, according to U.S. federal court files.

    Mann was a former ASD pitchman, according to a 2008 promo.

    ASD President Andy Bowdoin never told his new members that their money would be used to pay old members on board when the original iteration of ASD collapsed, federal prosecutors said. Bowdoin was sentenced last month to 78 months in federal prison.

    All sorts of vacuous claims are made on the ProfitClicking site, including a claim that the purported opportunity is “Legally Compliant” and has a “Patented system.” Like JSS/JBP, ASD and the recently collapsed Zeek Rewards “program,” ProfitClicking has no known securities registrations and purports to do business with payment processors linked to fraud scheme after fraud scheme.

    Because ProfitClicking has a virtually unquantifiable number of HYIP scammers within its ranks owing to the fact it was formed from the carcass of JSS/JBP and was promoted widely on the Ponzi-forum cesspits, new members may be at grave risk. ProfitClicking’s original group of scammers has a vested interest in continuing the deception because attracting “new money” may be the only means of getting paid in the future.

    For posterity, the screen shots below provide a snapshot of the countdown of a new scam in progress:

    1.

    The ProfitClicking countdown timer at the 1:00 mark today.

    2.

    The ProfitClicking countdown timer at the 0:01 mark today, one second before launch.

    3.

    Time to scam anew!