MAPS

Roger Alberto Santamaria Del Cid, an apparent nominee director for offshore companies who is listed as a corporate “subscriber” for VX Gateway in Panamanian business records, is referenced at least three times in the “Panama Papers.” The PP Blog discovered the Del Cid listings today. On Monday, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists made its database of […]

Remember when Simon Stepsys — now with the cross-border MyAdvertisingPays scheme — was pushing the uber-bizarre Banners Broker cross-border scheme? New court filings in Canada by the receiver and liquidators in the Banners Broker case now estimate the total haul of the alleged double-your-money pyramid scam at more than $156 million. That’s up from an […]

8TH UPDATE 11:53 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Before we get to the news that a federal judge took only a day to dismiss an April 6 libel lawsuit filed by the MyAdvertisingPays (MAPS) scheme and operator Michael E. Deese against the TaraTalks Blog, we’ll note that the 16-page complaint confirms that MAPS is incorporated in Anguilla. Anguilla is […]

“These frauds are easily duplicated, and at times, we find ourselves playing ‘whack-a-mole,’ chasing the same set of fraudsters who, after feeling a bit of heat, simply close down one scheme and quickly set up a new one under a different name.” — Andrew Ceresney, SEC Enforcement Division director, March 2, 2016 EDITOR’S NOTE: Type […]

BULLETIN: (6th update 7:23 p.m. ET U.S.A.) Class-action lawyers pursuing claims against TelexFree promoters have called the My Advertising Pays (MAPS) “program” a Ponzi scheme and described MAPS promoter Simon Stepsys as a “Ponzi mogul.” The case itself is not against MAPs. Even so, the lawyers now have made repeated references to MAPs and are lambasting the serial […]

BULLETIN: (14th Update 3:39 p.m. ET U.S.A.) Toronto police have arrested “Banners Broker” figures Christopher George Smith of Toronto and Rajiv Dixit of Vancouver. Both suspects are 45 and are scheduled to make a court appearance today, police said. The scheme allegedly raised $93 million (U.S.). They have been charged with Defrauding the Public of Over […]

EDITORIAL: In April 2015, the PP Blog reported that a promo on YouTube put words in the mouth of President Obama and depicted him as a pitchman for MyAdvertisingPays, a cross-border scheme with  promoters in common with the alleged Zeek Rewards and TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid schemes. “My AdvertisingPays pays its members every 20 minutes,” a mimicked […]

In October 2014, federal prosecutors alleged that the Zeek Rewards MLM “program” shut down by the SEC two years earlier was in part a scam that caused “victim-investors to file inaccurate tax returns for phantom income they never actually received.” Now, a year later, a member of the TelexFree MLM scheme shut down by the […]

BULLETIN: Class-action attorney Robert J. Bonsignore has asked a federal judge for permission to file a third amended consolidated complaint that effectively would sue at least 20,000 “net winners” in the TelexFree scheme shut down by the SEC last year. The proposal would name alleged TelexFree promoter Daniil  Shoyfer the lead class-action defendant, effectively making […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Certain reports by the PP Blog that are available to any person with an Internet connection are referenced in a consolidated, amended prospective class-action complaint that makes claims against various defendants with an alleged association with TelexFree. Information from other publicly available sites, including BehindMLM.com, RealScam.com and others, also is referenced. The purpose […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: The interconnectivity of fraud schemes is one of the core dangers of the HYIP sphere. Stolen proceeds continually cycle between and among scams, making banks and payment vendors virtual warehouses for cross-border criminals and their serial enablers. The problem may be intensifying. More and more HYIP schemes appear to be using script kits […]