UPDATED 7:11 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) When U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum sentenced Ponzi schemer Trevor Cook to a quarter of a century in federal prison earlier this week, the judge used some powerful words to describe Cook’s colossal fraud.
Rosenbaum described the scheme that bilked investors out of at least $158 million as “wretched, tawdry and cheap.” Some of the victims were rendered destitute.
It’s easy to see why a federal judge would use such words. Not only did Cook steal by the tens of millions of dollars, he stole even after the SEC and the CFTC went to court last November to bring the scheme to a halt. Cook spent money that had been frozen by court order, thus thumbing his nose at both victims and the judicial system. He later failed to disclose the whereabouts of assets — this until he failed a lie-detector test.
All of those acts — and the $190 million scheme itself — easily qualify as “wretched, tawdry and cheap.” One could argue rationally that even stronger adjectives could be applied to Cook’s behavior and still fall within the bounds of decorum.
And this brings us to the subject of AdSurfDaily — specifically, what at least one member appears to be doing to recruit former ASD members and people interested in ASD into yet-another scheme.
That’s been done before, of course. AdViewGlobal, itself a scheme that could be described fairly as “wretched, tawdry and cheap,” rose from ASD’s ashes to bilk anew.
Along those lines, who could forget MegaLido? It was yet another autosurf that became popular in the aftermath of the domestic seizure of tens of millions of dollars in the ASD Ponzi case. One former ASD member described MegaLido as “fool proof.”
It’s “OFFSHORE!!!” he exclaimed.
Some ASD members also saddled up and starting promoting the Noobing autosurf, which targeted people with hearing impairments. There were plenty of HYIPs, too. These included Genius Funds, believed to have gathered up more than $400 million; Gold Nugget Invest, which promoted itself as a betting arbitrage and later implied in was in Forex; and CashTanker, which used an image of Jesus in its sales pitch.
Look here to see a list of some of the “programs” promoted by ASD members. (Most of the programs, by the way, were promoted after the ASD seizure.)
How To Irritate A Sleeping Dog
At 9:05 p.m. yesterday, Maddy the Wonder Puppy — always and forever a wonder puppy in my mind, even though she’s two now — was going through her endearing presleep maneuvers under my desk. This is one of those things that make me feel good about the world.
As Maddy was going through her positioning dance and stretching and yawning routine, an email popped into my box. It proved to be one of those things that make me feel bad about the world.
“input on opportunity” — all lowercase — was the subject line of the email. So, I knew right away that I was about to get a sales pitch — and I suspected before opening it that was going to a disingenuous pitch at that.
“I used to belong to ASD,” the email began. “Need your input on UniqueBuyingClub.”
OK. Here’s what’s important so far: The pitch was completely unsolicited and came through the Blog’s support address; it used ASD’s name (sixth word) to catch my attention; the subject line suggested I was being asked for “input,” as though the sender saw something fishy on the Internet and wanted to get my take on it; and the pitch proved to be for MPB Today, not an entity called “UniqueBuyingClub.”
Let’s proceed. It gets worse.
The first affiliate link appeared 12 words into the pitch, meaning I wasn’t really being solicited for input — unless it was input after the fact — because the sender already had registered for MPB Today. (Note: I checked the email address of the sender against the affiliate email addresses on the MPBToday page. They matched, meaning it is highly likely that the sender was an affiliate who was spamming me.)
There was no way to unsubscribe from the “list” I now found myself on. (BTW, I’m wondering if the sender knows if Warren Buffet and Donald Trump really have endorsed MPB Today, a business that bizarrely mixes the home delivery of groceries with a 2×2 cycler. Their pictures are right at the top of the sales page, which implies an endorsement. Perhaps MPB Today missed the news about the FTC action last week in a case that alleges an Internet Marketing company that hawks Acai berry products tried to make people believe Oprah and Rachel Ray were on board.)
But it got worse from there. Not only was the “UniqueBuyingClub” angle confusing, the link asked me to visit a site called WeCreateRiches. Then, a second link asked me to visit the MPB Today site. We are only 14 words into the pitch at this point.
Let’s take another brief pause. The import of what’s happening here is that a former ASD member who perhaps got bilked in a $100 million MLM and securities scheme that promised riches now is urging me to visit a website called WeCreateRiches to sign up for a company that uses a home-delivered groceries business to promote an MLM scheme that uses a 2×2 matrix cycler. The U.S. Secret Service, which is investigating ASD, also has experience investigating cyclers.
Prior to receiving the email, I knew about MPB Today, which Rod Cook had written about. I just haven’t gotten around to writing about it yet, mostly because there is only so much time in the day. In some ways, I almost hate to write about it because writing about it potentially means that the MLM Stepfords will come of the woodwork to “defend” the company. It also potentially means the Blog will start getting spam from people angry that I dared mention the MPB Today name on a blog about scams. (Spam, in this context, means people who “defend” the company not by leaving a comment that actually defends the company, but by submitting their affiliate link on the theory that they might be able to cherry-pick a new downline member from the Blog’s readership ranks.)
In any event, the email went on to inform me that “Walmart is loving the results!!” generated by MPB Today.
Oh, really? I do hope the sender leaves a comment in this thread to substantiate the Walmart claim. It will spare me some work.
The email also wished me “Blessings and hope through your connections,” while urging me to “Please get back to me and let us help many ASD members who lost money and hope.”
Well, email sender, consider this post “getting back” to you.
It is my view that your email — and I haven’t gotten into the most revolting part yet — is “wretched, tawdry and cheap.” Like Judge Rosenbaum, I feel that way about Trevor Cook’s actions — as I do the actions of ASD’s Andy Bowdoin, who also traded on religion.
Take your “blessings” and “hope” elsewhere. I think the idea of using religion and identifying yourself as an ASD member to pitch other ASD members on MPB Today is “wretched, tawdry and cheap.”
Meanwhile, I think that sending a reporter who covers fraud schemes an email titled “input on opportunity” also is “wretched, tawdry and cheap.”
It makes me believe you’d sell anything for a commission and say anything to gain a commission. My thoughts on this subject were further reinforced this morning when I learned you sent a largely identical email to another forum.
“Blessings,” the email to the other forum concluded.
It made me want to retch. Is this what you believe Internet Marketing to be?
OK. Here’s the part of the pitch that irked me most (emphasis added):
“Just go online and order. BUT if you introduce club to just TWO and help those two introduce to two that completes ONE cycle for you. YOU – plus those six, Only qualification to be part of this is to introduce to TWO , but you may choose to get crazy and promote to many to inc. cycling. When you finish cycle one – go to backoffice and order grocery.goods BUT now company pays all shipping OR replace that voucher for a $200 WalmartGiftCard to go into the store and PLUS company sends you a $300 check to spend whereever. You NEVER add another dime. You may cycle as often as you please. People here in Orlando are cycling two to seven times in a week. There is so much excitment because people are hurting and now they can go get FREE groceries/goods and FREE gas at SamClub.”
Yep. Florida. Again.
Florida was ASD’s home. Florida means retirees — and ASD members again are being targeted in pitches to send money to MPB Today, whose headquarters also happens to be in Florida.
Here is who runs MPB Today.
And here’s hoping that no ASD member will submit to the email pitch of the affiliate who contacted the PP Blog and another forum that covers ASD-related issues.
“Blessings,” the emailer wrote — in pitches to both places — while also claiming her “girlfriend did [a] background check” and that “all is good” in the land of 2×2 cyclers targeted at victims of previous fraud schemes and prospects from a state favored by retirees who saved to get there.
Florida has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the United States. Just three seconds — three seconds — into the video pitch for MPB Today, the word “Foreclosure” appears on the screen. It appears again at the 11-second mark.
In MPB Today’s world, the apparent remedy for the foreclosure problem is to get Florida seniors and other struggling residents to join a 2×2 cycler.
“Wretched, tawdry and cheap” — for sure.