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Tag: Louis Paquette

  • EDITORIAL: The Astonishing Virality Of JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, A ‘Program’ That Purports To Pay A Return Of 2 Percent A Day And Makes Members Affirm They Are Not With The ‘Government’ — Even As Purported Operator Spotlights ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Implicated In Alleged Murder Plot Against Public Officials

    EDITOR’S NOTE: For the purposes of this column, the PP Blog is reporting on only a small number of references to JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid in the past 24 hours, as compiled by Google’s “Past 24 hours” feature. Google also has a “Past hour” feature. At the time of this post, Google is reporting “About 3,970” indexed “results” for jss tripler during the 24-hour time period, yesterday to today. A good number of the returns are in languages other than English. (Editor’s note continues below screen shot.)


    JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid is an exceptionally murky “program” that purports to pay a return of 2 percent a day. That’s an absurd 60 percent a month — or, on an annualized basis, 730 percent, an ROI that would make Bernard Madoff gag. The “program,” which purports to be “indefinitely sustainable” and makes members affirm they are not government spies or media lackeys, has a strong presence on forums listed in U.S. federal court files as places from which Ponzi schemes are promoted.

    On Feb. 27, the PP Blog reported that a website linked to Frederick Mann, the purported operator of the “program,” is publishing two videos and links to nine more that highlight Francis Schaeffer Cox, a purported “sovereign citizen” implicated in an alleged murder plot against public officials in Alaska.

    “Sovereign citizens” have an irrational belief that laws do not apply to them. They have been implicated in numerous fraud schemes and may engage in what has become known as “paper terrorism” — i.e., the filing of false liens against members of law enforcement, false libel lawsuits against publishers and other bids to chill and nuisance the law-enforcement community or members of the media.

    Mann declined to tell conference-call listeners on Feb. 23 even where the enterprise was operating from.

    Despite these disturbing events, JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid has achieved Internet virality and may be recruiting thousands of new affiliates daily. The bullet-point brief below condenses some of the affiliate claims in just the past 24 hours.

    Despite repeated promotional references to the sum of $10, JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid members do not have to limit their “purchase” to only one $10 position. The scheme could be raking in tremendous sums during an era of securities hucksterism that sometimes involves massive — if not epic — sums of money. It is not unusual for large sums to go missing, leaving defrauded investors holding the bag for tremendous losses. At a minimum, those losses contribute to the undermining of economies on a local level, perhaps particularly if groups of individuals from the same area become investors.

    • Source: Blog titled “Easy Online Money” with a kicker of “Change a life today!” Among the claims: “You are guaranteed to earn a daily 2% on the positions you purchase, thereby making a decent amount of passive income online working from home.”
    • Source: Blog at URL that is a subdomain of blogspot.com, a free Blogger platform hosted by Google. Among the claims: “You can fund your account with as little as $10, and earn 2% per day with no work.”
    • Source: Blog at another blogspot subdomain. Among the claims: “JSS-Tripler now has 294,651 members — having grown by just over 6,000 new members during the past 24 hours. Thank you to our many promoters for doing such a great job!”
    • Source: Text accompanying video on Google-owned YouTube. Among the text claims: “Once you are in JSS tripler . . . Click on ‘Financial’ tab . . . Scroll down you will have $10 in your jss tripler account . . . Click on ‘Buy Jss Tripler Position’ . . . Purchase 1 free position with the $10 you receive in your account . . . You will be getting 2% earnings on $10 [sic] i.e. $0.20 every day without doing anything . . . After the 75 days you make $15 dollars [sic] without any more investments or referrals. Then you invest back in $10 or whatever you like and you make more and more each day. Simple system really [sic] More position [sic] you purchase or get from referrals the more you make. Very simple process.”
    • Source: Blog titled “Money Making Tips.” Among the claims: “The level of support is better than any other program i have seen, the Daily Web Conferences with Carl Pearson are terrific. You can usually get your questions acknowledged instantly, you are kept up to date with what’s going on with this company, they provide training including tutorials and videos. You can access the conference area 24/7 [sic] a moderator is there to answer all your questions. JBP had just hired a new marketing leader, Louis Paquette[,] to help educate members in any areas where they need help.” [Note by PP Blog: Louis Paquette is referenced in this Feb. 4 PP Blog story, which reported that a JSS Tripler-related domain hosted in Utah mysteriously began to redirect to the Netherlands after a JSS Tripler-related action by CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator.]
    • Source: Blog at empowernetwork.com URL. Among the claims: “JSS Tripler Gives You the first $10 for FREE: My Total ‘2%’ Earnings Thus Far $4757.00.”
    • Source: Blog with a kicker of “Social Media Marketing Consultant.” Blog has accompanying YouTube video: Among the Blog claims: “I would like to help JBP grow, in any way I can contribute . . . It is my goal to add 60 active referrals over the next 6 months or less.” Among the video claims: “Makes It So Easy to Make Money Online that a Baby can Almost do it!” The text accompanying the video engages in considerable keyword stuffing with the phrase of “Make Money At Home” and similar phrases.
    • Source: Entry on apsense.com. Among the claims: “I just want to pay it forward and help others . . . get ‘$10 free money’ in your accounts . . . Buy a JSS-Tripler position and start earning 2% per day! . . . Inbite [sic] new members. There is an endless supply of people online looking for money making opportunities.”
    • Source: Blog styled “Success Instantly.” Blog has accompanying YouTube video. Among the video claims: “Compound your Earnings To INCREASE Your Daily Payout.”

     

  • DISTURBING: JSS Tripler-Related Domain Listed In CONSOB Action Is Based In United States — But Suddenly Starts Redirecting To ‘JustBeenPaid’ Site In The Netherlands; Claim That ‘We’re Not Located In Any Unfriendly Political Jurisdictions’ Exposed As Rank Deception

    On Jan. 23, CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, made public an action against promoters of JSS Tripler, a “program” that advertises an annualized return of 730 percent. The claim alone would be enough to make Bernard Madoff or Charles Ponzi himself blush.

    Or projectile-vomit.

    But if the CONSOB action were not trouble enough, one of the JSS Tripler-related domains listed in the agency’s action is hosted in Utah, according to domain records. The domain, which forms its root with a hyphen splitting the proper name of JSS Tripler — i.e., JSS-Tripler.com — continued to serve pages from Utah for several days after CONSOB’s Jan. 23 announcement. The domain, for instance, published daily updates on the number of days JSS Tripler itself purportedly had been in action.

    Among the graphics on the Utah-hosted landing page was an image of a JSS Tripler pitchwoman who appeared to be Asian in descent. Assuming the woman actually exists, her nationality remains a mystery. At a time uncertain between Feb. 2 and Feb. 3, however, the site stopped serving content and instead began to redirect to a JustBeenPaid subdomain styled “marketing” that is hosted in the Netherlands.

    Whether a U.S. resident or citizen of another country who reached across international borders applied the redirection is unclear. What is clear is that the United States could join Italy in exercising  jurisdiction over JSS Tripler and its promoters if it chose to do so. The site also is accessible through individual U.S. states, meaning regulators at the state level also could exercise jurisdiction.

    A state’s choice to exercise jurisdiction over the sale of unregistered securities is hardly unusual in the HYIP sphere. Florida, for example, exercised jurisdiction over AdSurfDaily and operator Andy Bowdoin. North Dakota exercised jurisdiction over Pathway to Prosperity and operator Nicholas Smirnow. Oregon exercised jurisdiction over an abomination known as “I Need Cash,” a cycler operated by Kristopher K. Keeney.

    JustBeenPaid and Frederick Mann, a murky figure who once claimed to be an ASD promoter, are the purported operators of JSS Tripler. The Netherlands subdomain shows an image of a man at the top of the page. That man is described on the site as “Louis Paquette, JBP Affiliate Sales & Marketing Director.”

    The redirection, which occurs in Utah, according to server data, is virtually immediate — meaning that the previous content and photo of the woman of Asian descent no longer load and that the traffic is switched to the Netherlands page that shows the purported image of Paquette.

    Among other things, this development raises questions about who caused the Utah server to redirect to the Netherlands domain and precisely why the change was made on the heels of the CONSOB action. Whether JustBeenPaid or JSS Tripler themselves had control over the Utah domain is unknown.

    At a minimum, though, the presence of the Utah domain may be evidence that JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler not only sold unregistered securities to U.S. citizens, but did so from inside the United States with a U.S. promoter or a promoter from another country with access to the Utah server at the helm. And because the redirect to the JustBeenPaid subdomain in the Netherlands occurs from inside the United States, it exposes a JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler lie that the “opportunity” protects itself and promoters from investigation and/or prosecution.

    Even if the redirection were not occurring in the United States, the CONSOB action destroys the myth that the “opportunity” is outside the reach of law enforcement.  So does the simple fact that any regulator in the world could take action against the “opportunity” and its promoters. Indeed,  the cross-border nature of the scheme puts investors in virtually all jurisdictions at risk. Individual promoters could be targeted for investigation/prosecution in multiple jurisdictions — and if actions such as those begin to occur, the access of Just BeenPaid/JSS Tripler to cash sources could dry up.

    A claim by a MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi-forum promoter that Just BeenPaid/JSS Tripler has paid out more than $10 million to investors may demonstrate the vast reach of the “opportunity” and its ability to tap funding sources while siphoning undisclosed sums for itself. Just BeenPaid/JSS Tripler may be no Madoff, but $10 million still is a massive sum, one that should raise eyebrows in the worldwide law-enforcement community.

    Content accessible from the Netherlands-based JustBeenPaid subdomain — marketing.justbeenpaid.com — raises other troubling concerns. This statement (next paragraph) appears at the bottom of a “login” page in the JustBeenPaid root domain. The statement is accessible through the “marketing” subdomain. (Indent/italics added):

    Secure Offshore Servers
    — Our servers are in a strategic location.
    We pay special attention to security.
    Our servers are organized so upgrading and expansion are very easy.

    Offshore Business
    — Our business operations are geographically decentralized.
    We don’t have any central office.
    We’re not located in any “unfriendly political jurisdictions.”

    As a practical matter, the mere fact the page is accessible through a redirect that occurs in the United States may destroy any claims that JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler protects members against “unfriendly political jurisdictions.” Any transaction that occurred or occurs through the Utah domain necessarily involves wires in the United States.

    Regardless of the domain or email address through which business is conducted, any U.S.-based promoter of JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler is using wires inside the United States, a situation that brings wire fraud into play — in addition to the securities issues.

    A more troubling question, perhaps, is why JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler even would have the need to make such a claim if its international business is above-board. The same enterprise also claims to have a U.S. patent, a specious claim in the context of securities because the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office does not regulate the securities markets of the United States or any other country.

    Is JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler The BCCI Of The HYIP World?

    In the early 1990s, a corrupt international banking enterprise known as Bank of Credit and Commerce International created a worldwide financial scandal. The bank perhaps was best known by its acronym — BCCI — and purportedly was designed to be “offshore everywhere.”

    JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler is making the same sorts of claims associated with BCCI, a spectacularly bright red flag if ever there was one.

    But if that bright red flag were not enough, other content accessible through the “marketing” subdomain of JustBeenPaid sends signals that positively glow of danger. Indeed, a “Member Agreement” link accessible through the site includes this language. (Indent/italics added):

    6. I affirm that I am not an employee or official of any government agency, nor am I acting on behalf of or collecting information for or on behalf of any government agency.

    7. I affirm that I am not an employee, by contract or otherwise, of any media or research company, and I am not reading any of the JBP pages in order to collect information for someone else.

    Any political jurisdiction in any part of the world easily could construe those words as an invitation extended by JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler to investors to join an international conspiracy engaging in organized crime and mass-marketing fraud.

    The same type of claim became an element of the Legisi HYIP prosecution in the United States. The Legisi prosecution, which ultimately involved the SEC, began as an undercover operation between the U.S. government and the state government of Michigan.

    Even more land mines emerge when one considers that JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler  is being promoted on Ponzi boards such as MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold, both of which are referenced in U.S. federal court files as places from which Ponzi schemes are promoted.

    Veteran forum and social-network hucksters are promoting JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler, including promoters linked to the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme case in the United States and CONSOB’s earlier action involving Club Asteria, another Ponzi forum darling.

    Depending upon how the universe lines up, JustBeenPaid/JSS Tripler could find itself starving for cash in very short order. It is a program that is thumbing its nose at law enforcement across the globe — and its willfully blind promoters could find themselves named in individual actions just about anywhere.

    It is the very definition of an international financial conspiracy of the most dangerous sort, a sort of emerging BCCI of the HYIP world.

    BEFORE

    This is the top of the page at the JSS-Tripler.com domain as it existed on Jan. 30, 2012.

    AFTER

    This is the top of the "marketing" subdomain of JustBeenPaid.com as it exists today. Prospects who visit the Utah-based JSS-Tripler domain referenced in the "BEFORE" screen shot above now are redirected to the Netherlands-based "marketing" subdomain of JustBeenPaid. The switch occurs in Utah, according to server data.