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Tag: MPBToday

  • Yet-Another Website With MPB Today Promo Uses Walmart’s Name In Domain Name; Site Targets Spanish-Speakers; Waves Check, Gift Card; Displays Images Of Buffet, Trump, Walmart

    A website that promotes the MPB Today “grocery” program is targeted at Spanish-speaking prospects and uses Walmart’s name in its domain name.

    Like at least three other websites linked to Florida-based MPB Today’s 2×2 matrix cycler, it is unclear if the site’s operator has Walmart’s permission to use its name in a domain name. The site, which implies Walmart distributes cash, is not registered in the retail giant’s name.

    An English headline on the site urges viewers to “Eliminate Your Grocery Bills . . . Forever” by joining the MLM. The site then presents Spanish content, while linking to a video that uses images of business titans Warren Buffet and Donald Trump. A check drawn on the account of Southeastern Delivery is reproduced on the site, as are images of a Walmart gift card, a Walmart store and a Sam’s Club store.

    MPB Today removed images of Buffet, Trump and Walmart from the homepage of its website last month. Regardless, multiple MPB Today affiliates continue to use the images. Southeastern Delivery is MPB Today’s purported parent company.

    It is common for MLM participants to imply a “program” is endorsed by celebrities and famous companies.

    ____________________________________________________________________

    The check reproduced on the website is drawn on a bank that has been operating under a consent agreement with the FDIC since January. Walmart and the FDIC have not responded to a request for comment from the PP Blog on the MPB Today program. Neither has the bank upon which the check is shown to be drawn.

    Multiple MPB Today affiliates have produced check- and card-waving videos and websites to recruit prospects. Some of them have been online for months.

    MPB Today has been advertised on forums that promote Ponzi schemes, including the now-defunct ASA Monitor forum. Some MPB Today affiliates have claimed publicly that there are liars, thieves and scammers in the organization.

  • BULLETIN: ASA Monitor Ponzi And Criminals’ Forum Says It Is Closing; Threads Go Missing En Masse; Closure Coincides With Undercover Operations By Law Enforcement And USDA Probe Of MPB Today

    BULLETIN: UPDATED 7:37 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.): The ASAMonitor Ponzi and criminals’ forum — the forum from which the purported MPB Today “grocery” program was being promoted and countless other fraud schemes were being promoted — suddenly has announced that the forum is closing.

    The announcement, which appeared today in red type, was made by “Wanrou,” whose ID says he is “ASA Administrator.” Content from the forum appears to have been deleted or hidden en masse.

    “ASA forum has been a place where members can get information, discuss, share, debate, to educate and be educate about possibilities and risks of online money making programs for the last few years,” the Wanrou post said.

    “Sadly we can no longer keep it online as a free discussion forum because of time consuming and financial reasons,” the post continued.

    “Thanks you all for your long time support and best wishes to your present and future online endeavors.”

    The forum’s sudden closure coincided with reports in recent months that U.S.-based law-enforcement agencies were conducting undercover stings both online and offline and using informants to bring both criminal and civil charges against financial fraudsters.

    It was not immediately clear if ASAMonitor would seek to reopen as a so-called “private” forum. Court records show that undercover operations also have infiltrated “private” forums and that members of the forums who had been scammed have provided helpful information to investigators.

    The sudden closure of ASAMonitor also coincided with yet-another flap in the MPB Today thread. An antiscam poster was specifically warned by a moderator yesterday to refrain from his efforts to inform ASA members about developments in the MPB Today story and his reading of events at MPB Today.

    Specific claims about MPB Today are being investigated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program has been pitched to Food Stamp recipients, people of faith, Ponzi scheme victims, people of color, senior citizens, college students and opponents of President Obama, among others.

    Obama created an entity known as the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force in November 2009 to do battle with fraudsters. In January, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder warned in Florida that the U.S. government was serious about putting scammers in prison.

    ASAMonitor previously closed the MPB Today thread after warning an antiscam poster to back off from challenging “Ken Russo,” a poster promoting the MPB Today program. The thread later was opened after what a Mod described as a “cooling off period” had passed. In an earlier closure of the thread, links to the PP Blog’s coverage of the MPB Today story were deleted from the forum and later restored.

  • Another MPB Today Site Uses Walmart’s Name In Domain Name; Positions ‘Grocery’ Biz As ‘Freedom Club’ In Domain Hidden Behind Proxy; Uses Images Of Buffet, Trump And Late Sam Walton

    This pitch for MPB Today positions it as the Walmart Freedom Club. The pitch misspells the word "prosper" as "prospour." The website registration is hidden behind a proxy, and uses Walmart's name in the domain name. It is unclear if Walmart authorized the domain name or the use of its intellectual property in the MPB Today promo.

    Yet-another domain linked to the purported MPB Today “grocery” program is using Walmart’s name in its domain name. The domain name is registered behind a proxy and uses images of Warren Buffet, Donald Trump and Sam Walton to position the opportunity as a “Freedom Club.”

    Sam Walton is the late founder of Walmart. It is unclear if the owners of the website have Walmart’s permission to use its name and the likeness of Sam Walton in a pitch for the MPB Today program. Also unclear is whether the website owners have the permission of Trump and Buffet to use their images in promos for MPB Today.

    Separately, yet another pitch for MPB Today features a narrator who notes that food is necessary to stay “alive” and laments, “I wish we could sell air too.” The “air” video is on a restricted YouTube site maked as “unlisted.” An unlisted video “means that only people who know the link to the video can view it (such as friends or family to whom you send the link,” according to YouTube.

    MPB Today is a multilevel-marketing (MLM) program based in Pensacola, Fla. The “opportunity” is tied to a grocery business in Pensacola known as Southeastern Delivery. Both companies are linked to Gary Calhoun, who has a poor track record with the Better Business Bureau and was the recipient of a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration for his marketing of a product that purported to be a treatment for Lou Gehrig’s disease, Herpes and Alzheimer’s, among others.

    The new domain that uses Walmart’s name is at least the third linked to the MPB Today program — and the second to position MPB Today as a “club” tied to Walmart.  The domain was registered Sept. 9, after MPB Today itself removed images of Walmart, Buffet and Trump from the homepage of its website.

    Other MPB Today-linked websites branded with Walmart’s name imply the retail giant offers free groceries or that Walmart is partnered with MPB Today.

    Meanwhile, still-other websites linked to the MPB Today program position it as a “Grocery Assistance” program and a program linked to the Food Stamp program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. MPB Today also is being pitched from known Ponzi and criminals’ forums such as ASA Monitor, TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

    On Wednesday, the SEC filed an emergency action in federal court in Utah to stop a program known as Imperia Invest IBC dead in its tracks, amid allegations it had fleeced millions of dollars from thousands of Americans with hearing impairments. Like MPB Today, Imperia was promoted on the Ponzi forums.

    Among the allegations in the Imperia case were that the operators were using trademarks and the intellectual property of a major company — Visa Inc. — without the company’s authorization. All in all, more than 14,000 Imperia investors were fleeced, the SEC said.

    In this separate promo for MPB Today, a narrator notes that food is necessary to stay "alive" and laments that he wishes members also could sell "air" through the MPB Today MLM program.

  • BULLETIN: SEC Gains Asset Freeze, Seeks Shutdown Of Imperia Invest In Emergency Action; Program Pitched On Same Ponzi Forums Promoting MPB Today; Agency Says Imperia Defrauded Thousands Of Deaf Americans

    BULLETIN UPDATED 5:02 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.): The SEC has gone to federal court in Utah to halt the operations of Imperia Invest IBC, alleging a spectacular fraud that fleeced money from thousands of Americans with hearing impairments.

    Imperia was promoted from the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum — one of the Ponzi forums promoting the MPB Today “grocery” MLM. Imperia also was the topic of discussion and defenses on TalkGold and ASAMonitor, two other forums that are pitching MPB Today.

    The SEC’s allegations against Imperia are stunning. More than 14,000 investors were defrauded worldwide, the agency said.

    Among the victims were thousands of deaf investors in the United States, the SEC said.

    Imperia gathered relatively small sums from thousands of people, the SEC charged, noting that “no evidence has been found that any of the investors have received a single payment.”

    “Imperia Invest IBC is a web-based entity that claimed, until late 2009, to be located in the Bahamas,” the SEC charged. “The Bahamian address listed by Imperia is fictitious. Imperia now claims to be located in Vanuatu. However, Imperia is not registered to do business in Vanuatu and the address listed on its website appears also to be fictitious. Neither Imperia nor its securities are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Imperia is not licensed or registered with the Commission, with any state, or with any Self Regulatory Organization.”

    Categorically absurd representations of earnings and the program’s potential were made to investors, the SEC said.

    “Investors were promised eye-popping amounts of money in return for a simple $50 or $100 investment, and Imperia has made numerous excuses on its website about why these returns haven’t been paid,” said Ken Israel, director of the SEC’s Salt Lake Regional office.

    “The Imperia website shows an example of such earnings in which a $50 investment will return $134,000 to the investor in six months,” the SEC charged. At the same time, the agency said some investors were told that spectacular sums were due them for doing business with Imperia.

    “Imperia represented to one investor who invested $150.00 with Imperia that Imperia owed him $36,610,755.20 within a two year time frame,” the SEC charged. “Another individual’s account statement who invested $500 in July 2007 showed he is owed $43,907,652.20 as of May 2010.”

    It was not immediately clear how so many deaf investors became involved in Imperia. A federal judge has approved an asset freeze.

    Imperia called its product Traded Endowment Policies (TEP), which the SEC described as “the British term for viatical settlements.”

    “A TEP or viatical settlement involves the sale of an insurance policy by the policy owner before the policy matures, and policies are sold at a discount from face value in an amount greater than the current cash surrender value,” the SEC said.

    “There are at least 14,000 [Imperia] investors worldwide with a total investment exceeding $7 million,” the SEC said. “In the United States, there appear to be approximately 6,000 investors, most of whom belong the hearing impaired community, who have invested in excess of $4 million with Imperia.”

    Imperia used offshore payment processors such as “Liberty Reserve, located in Costa Rica; Perfect Money, located in Panama; and Procurrex, located in the British Virgin Islands,” the SEC charged. “Once Imperia received funds from Investors, it appears that Imperia then transferred amounts from these accounts to foreign bank accounts, including but not limited to accounts located in Cyprus and New Zealand.”

    Even as Imperia was ripping off investors, it also was infringing trademarks and the intellectual property of Visa, the credit-card service, the SEC charged..

    “Imperia also requires that investors purchase a Visa debit card to access their investment proceeds,” the SEC said. “Imperia charges customers a fee to purchase the Visa debit card ranging from $145 to $450.

    “Visa has not authorized Imperia to use its name or trademarks and has sent Imperia a cease-and-desist letter to halt its unauthorized use of the Visa name and logo,” the SEC said. “There is no evidence that any investor who has ordered a Visa debit card from Imperia has actually received such a card.”

    One poster on the MoneyMakerGroup forum advised prospects that he would keep an “open mind” about Imperia, according to web records.

    “Anyway, in the final analysis each person must make their own decision,” the poster said in 2007.

    While the MoneyMakerGroup poster was holding forth about keeping an “open mind,” Imperia was cloaking itself to siphon millions of dollars, according to web records and court records.

    “Imperia took proactive steps to conceal the identity of its control persons by using an anonymous browser to host its website, by communicating with all investors via email without disclosing the identity of any control persons and by establishing off-shore Paypal-style bank accounts to conceal the recipient of the investment proceeds,” the SEC charged.

    In July, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued a warning about HYIP schemes pitched online. In May, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service accused an HYIP known as Pathway To Prosperity of defrauding more than 40,000 people in a scheme that took in about $70 million.

    Pathway To Prosperity also was promoted on the Ponzi and criminals’ forums. ASAMonitor, TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup are specifically referenced in court filings in the Pathway to Prosperity case.

    MoneyMakerGroup is specifically referenced in court documents in the alleged Legisi HYIP and Ponzi scheme, a fraud that allegedly gathered more than $70 million.

    Read the SEC complaint against Imperia.

  • EDITORIAL: Prized Magazine ‘Newsweek’ Acquired For $1; Publishing Continues To Bleed — Even As Autosurf Cheerleaders Say They Have The Answer To Lagging Ad Sales

    The Associated Press reported yesterday that the Washington Post sold Newsweek magazine — an American treasure — for $1. The Post also absorbed $10 million in debt for Newsweek, which lost nearly $30 million last year.

    How much is $30 million? Well, it’s about $1.6 million less than AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin had in a single bank account from his alleged “advertising” Ponzi scheme. It’s also less than one-half the total sum ($65.8 million) the U.S. Secret Service seized from 10 Bowdoin bank accounts.

    This is painful to watch on a couple of levels: First, American publishing companies continue to bleed profusely, leading to a situation in which American treasures are being sold for $1 and skilled administrative, management, editorial, production, sales and advertising professionals are losing their jobs or working for far less money.

    Second, problems in the U.S. economy in general are providing a launching ground for hucksters who would have you believe that Newsweek, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and many other cherished publications could have saved themselves a lot of heartache by turning to the “autosurf” business model.

    In the autosurf business model as practiced by ASD, a company such as Microsoft that perhaps had relied on Newsweek  to advertise in print could have paid ASD $1 million to advertise online. ASD would have placed Microsoft’s ad in its magical advertising rotator. From that $1 million, Microsoft would have “earned” $10,000 a day more or less for the next 125 days, thus not only “earning” back the full $1 million, but also fetching a “profit” in the neighborhood of $250,000 on top of it.

    And Microsoft also would have sold a bunch of software by advertising on ASD, which purported to have a “captive” audience consisting of advertisers it was paying to view the ads of their fellow ASD advertisers. With Microsoft as a theoretical ASD advertiser, it could have boosted its bottom line by watching ads from a theoretical Apple, for example. The “rebates” Microsoft earned — coupled with the profits from the sale of software products displayed in ASD’s rotator — would have made both Microsoft and America happy, according to ASD’s devoted flock of commission-based, MLM salespeople.

    ASD, its fans said, had the perfect solution: Microsoft would have been paid more money than it spent, meaning it would have emerged in a better cash position within 125 days of doing business with ASD.  The ASD salesperson who recruited Microsoft also would have been paid — $100,000 for the $1 million sale alone. ASD would have made money. The U.S. economy would have continued to gain steam.

    Except it was not perfect, of course. In fact, is was all a colossal lie, according to the U.S. Secret Service, which accused ASD in August 2008 of operating a massive Ponzi scheme. Any money that ASD advertisers received from ASD came from other advertisers.

    So, it is plain to see that ASD was not a good deal for “advertisers” — theoretical or otherwise. ASD could have killed off Microsoft had its management been uninformed enough or desperate enough to trust a single word ASD ever said. Horror of horrors: Why would Microsoft want to limit its ASD ad spend to $1 million? Why not $10 million or $100 million — or more? Why not plow its “profits” right back into ASD, which advertised dramatically higher profits than, say, Bernard Madoff?

    After ASD killed off Microsoft, it would have killed off that MLM salesperson, the one who was paid $100,000 for Microsoft’s $1 million in business while Microsoft itself was paid $1.25 million more or less.

    Indeed, like Microsoft, the ASD MLM salesperson pitching ASD’s cancer would have had to return the “profit” he was paid from the proceeds of a criminal enterprise, even if it meant selling his home to raise the cash.

    But how to sell a home in this economic environment — you know, with all the foreclosures and such, all the bank failures and such — and all of the falling prices of real estate and such because of all the foreclosures and such?

    Want to add an extra layer to the ASD madness? Some ASD promoters who declared themselves committed, free-market Capitalists insisted that companies such as Microsoft would not be interested in profits, that they’d be happy enough just to display their ads and not get paid.

    The corporate benevolence of companies such as Microsoft would have resulted in ASD profits that were redistributed to smaller companies and Mom-and-Pop advertisers, thus creating wealth across the social spectrum. Some of the very same Capitalists who made these claims later complained about what they described as the Socialist redistribution schemes of the U.S. government.

    It also seemed not to occur to the autosurfing Capitalists who were rooting for a Socialist redistribution scheme — a scheme whereby big companies such as Microsoft would finance the profits of smaller players — that companies such as Microsoft could have started an autosurf at any time they wanted and crushed ASD like a bug.

    It’s a pretty safe bet that Microsoft, unlike ASD, could have kept its autosurfing site from going offine and could have produced a site that didn’t look as though it had been assembled by amateurs using a script kit. Meanwhile, it’s also a pretty safe bet that Microsoft wouldn’t have been looking for ways, say, to peel off cash to put Bill Gates in a new Lincoln or a relative of Bill Gates in a sporty, new Honda.

    Along those lines, it’s also a pretty safe bet that Microsoft would not have been seeking ways, say, to route millions of dollars offshore so it could be retrieved later by “management” who suddenly found themselves cash poor and without a country.

    Ay, just another day in Ponzi America, a country that has more than a few people who believe the business cure for what ails America is an ASD-like scheme that runs 24/7/365. You can read all about such schemes on the Ponzi boards — and you can induce people into the schemes and get paid a commission, which you can deposit into your FDIC-insured bank.

    Newsweek, like the Post Intelligencer, didn’t go the autosurf route, despite the fact it could have done exactly what ASD did: Lied to its advertisers by telling them that NewsweekDailyProSurf.com was the cure for all their ills, a cure that would have returned 125 percent more or less in 125 days more or less.

    No, Newsweek sold itself for $1 in a bid to save itself. We wish this American treasure the best as it seeks to retool.

    Finally, did you hear that the affiliate braintrust pitching the purported MPB Today “grocery” program on the ASA Monitor Ponzi and criminals’ forum is promoting an MPB Today “rebate” program?

    Read the AP story on the sale of Newsweek for $1.

  • EDITORIAL: Sundays Aren’t What They Used To Be: Is The MPB Today Matrix Stalling? Was A ‘Rebate’ Plan Advanced On Ponzi Forum A Bid To Reinvigorate It? (And Why Is The Matrix Being Plugged As A ‘Grocery Assistance’ Program On A .Org Site?)

    Sundays aren’t what they used to be.

    “Ken Russo” announced Sunday on the ASA Monitor Ponzi and criminals’ forum — a forum from which other promoters are targeting people of faith to join the MPB Today “grocery” program — that a member of his “team” is offering $50 “rebates” to entice prospects to sign up. (Read more about the “rebates” program below.)

    On the same day, known in the Christian faith as the Lord’s Day, MPB Today members who apparently were wooed by the company and its affiliates’ sales pitches came to the PP Blog to describe MPB Today critics as “roaches,” “IDIOTS,” “clowns,” “terrible” people, “misleading” people, people who have led a “sheltered life,” people who have been “chained up in a basement,” people who have “chips” on their shoulders, spewers of “hot air,” “naysayers,” “complainers,” “trouble maker[s]” and “crybabies.”

    And these remarks came from just three people in the MPB Today organization, which promoters say has 30,000 members. One of them denied on Sunday that MPB Today pays participants to recruit, something that MPB Today itself does not deny. MPB says commissions are “banked” until promoters sign up at least two other participants, and that no one cycles until a downline group becomes populated by seven members, only one of whom “cycles” and earns a matrix payout.

    For good measure, the same affiliate claimed on Sunday that she is paid for “grocery” sales, but chose not to answer a question about how many people within her organization actually bought groceries by overpaying for them through MPB Today. At the same time, she claimed MPB Today is sustainable because “[inherently] there is hard data that a certain % of people just will not get 2 people and cycle.”

    It was easy to read that as a Sunday concession that MPB Today relies on matrix “losers” to create matrix “winners.” In any event, it wasn’t much of an endorsement for the company, a company the member also described as a “blessing.” Blessings, like Sundays, aren’t what they used to be, it seems.

    Another MPB Today member claimed on Sunday that there are “[rogues]” in the organization. He did not explain whether he was being paid from rogue money or money sent in by honest affiliates.

    MPB Today members should be worried. A “rebate” program may signal that the MLM firm’s 2×2 matrix cycler is stalling and that the only effective way for average members to recruit two members who can recruit two other members in order to “earn” cycler commissions is to bribe them to join the program.

    It also may signal that promoters are trying to plant the seed that it’s time for their downlines to start spreading the word that MPB Today’s shipping costs are such a deal-killer that the only effective way for members to recruit is to tell prospects they’ll help them defray the shipping charges in the unlikely event they’re actually keen on buying overpriced groceries from a company that offers no money-saving generic products, ships dry goods “ONLY” and may charge customers who just overpaid for name-brand groceries up to $300 for $200 worth of food.

    “Ken Russo” said the “rebate” program was limited to four participants and that his “team” member would go $50 out-of-pocket for each of the four new recruits swayed by the offer. “Ken Russo” advertised that MPB Today’s shipping charges could be up to $50, a claim at odds with what MPB Today itself claims.

    Indeed, MPB Today says shipping charges may amount to up to 50 percent of the cost of a grocery order and perhaps may be even higher. MPB Today supplies only an “average” and plants the seed that perhaps customers should choose “lighter” items, as opposed to “heavy” items that are more expensive to ship. It’s even unclear how MPB Today arrived at its published “average”  of up to 50 percent, considering the company does not say how many of its purported 30,000 MLM customers actually get their groceries from the firm.

    MPB Today is operated by Gary Calhoun. Calhoun once was the subject of a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration for hawking a product that purported to treat Lou Gehrig’s disease and, for good measure, Herpes and Alzheimer’s.

    “Ken Russo” doesn’t seem keen on telling prospects about Calhoun’s FDA experience. What he seems keen on, apparently, is talking about the “rebate” program started by someone on his “team” — and posting the news on the ASA Monitor Ponzi and criminals’ forum on a Sunday.

    If other MPB Today affiliates borrow the idea announced on a Sunday and the “rebate” program takes off and expands, it means that MPB Today sponsors who offer the “rebates” are absorbing additional costs in an enterprise that already is impossible mathematically.

    Any money MPB Today’s affiliates pay in the form of rebates inures to the benefit of the company — a company that already operates a matrix heavily weighted in its favor. Do you really want to go out-of-pocket even more for a 2×2 matrix cycler that uses a business model that came under fire by the U.S. Secret Service in the alleged Regenesis 2×2 Ponzi scheme last year?

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating specific claims about the MPB Today program, which has been targeted at Food Stamp recipients. What’s next? Recruiting America’s poor by enticing them with rebates and asking them also to offer rebates?

    Whether the “rebates” idea advanced from a Ponzi and criminals’ forum on a Sunday will go viral is unknown. Some affiliates easily could latch onto it, persuading themselves it’s better to ply prospects with rebates than take the chance MPB Today’s matrix will perform the magic itself.  Our reading of the Sunday “rebates” idea is that it is an inducement to separate people from their money on all seven days of the week on the theory that it’s better to pay $50 on top of the $200 (plus website costs) you’ve already paid to plumb a commission.

    If the MPB Today “grocery” program already is stalling, prospects may be few and far between if you’re aren’t willing to bribe them to overpay for groceries on the theory that doing it one time eliminates their grocery costs forever.

    Here is another reason for MPB Today members to worry: Because the “rebate” program purportedly exists to defray the shipping costs MPB Today charges for the home delivery of groceries, it can be construed as an acknowledgment that MPB is not actually serious about selling groceries, that it is more interested in selling the “opportunity.”

    If you’re an MPB Today member — and if you have not applied any sort of “reasonable person” standard to the program and instead have relied on hype from the company and your upline — you have made a mistake.

    Any claim that a $200, “one-time” purchase of groceries from MPB Today can result in free groceries for life is absurd. Spin it as you will. Argue that it is theoretically possible. Argue that you’re already in “profit” and can vouch that the program “works.” Argue that members of your downline can make the same claim.

    It is still absurd. No reasonable person would invest in such an argument and assign it any credibility at all. Jurors would laugh at such an argument. They shop at grocery stores. They know that a $200, one-time purchase and an accompanying claim that this relatively modest expense can result in free groceries for life is the precise sort of claim that exists only in the realm of the huckster.

    Wait until they’re told about the “catch” — i.e., that an MPB Today member must get two who can get two (or produce $1,200 in sales volume in some other combo) to set the stage for “free” groceries for life. And wait until they’re told that an MPB Today shopper perhaps has to pay up to $300 for $200 worth of groceries and that lots of the purported “grocery” money seems to have been converted to Walmart gift cards that can be used to buy big-screen TVs and laptop computers.

    And wait until they’re told that the conditions above have to be repeated, well, repeatedly, in order for members to continue to get paid.

    Speaking of Sundays: We noticed on Sunday that an MPB Today affiliate was promoting the opportunity through a .org domain. The promo shows a cart full of groceries and a bag of groceries of the sort not available through MPB Today, along with a bag of money.

    The promo on the .org site positions MPB Today as a “Grocery Assistance” program.

    “Our Grocery Assistance Program is helping thousands of families earn CASH and FREE groceries!” the page screams.

    It is not unusual for MLM participants to register a .org domain in a bid to plant the seed that prospects will be aiding a charity by enrolling in a program and paying a sign-up fee. Members of Narc That Car and Data Network Affiliates, for instance, registered .org sites and sought to link the MLMs to the national AMBER Alert program administered by the U.S. Department of Justice.

    The .org domain in the MPB Today program we noticed on Sunday — and please note that we have observed several other .org domains linked to MPB Today — hints that it is a government program by using the word “assistance” in its title.

    On a closing note, the .org domain we noticed on a Sunday also was registered on a Sunday — Sunday Aug. 22, 2010, according to records.

    So, no, Sundays aren’t what they used to be.

  • Sales Video For MPB Today Uses Class Envy To Target Food Stamp Recipients; ‘Refer Your Friends,’ Promo Urges

    EDITOR’S NOTE: A YouTube video that encourages Food Stamp recipients to become affiliates of the MPB Today MLM program has been online for more than a month. The video implies MPB Today’s purportedly high shipping costs are a good reason for people who receive government aid to become MPB Today affiliates. MPB Today says it charges up to 50 percent of the cost of an order for shipping. Members who order groceries only and do not join the MLM component potentially would lose $100 in purchasing power on an order of $200, the price of the program. Other MPB Today affiliates have advised prospects that it is best to avoid buying groceries from MPB Today and simply concentrate on recruiting prospects. Still others say MPB Today issues food “vouchers,” enabling registrants to purchase their groceries elsewhere and even convert the purported voucher into cash that can be used to purchase electronics. MPB Today purports to ship “ONLY” dry goods. The Food and Nutrition Service, an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is investigating claims about the MPB Today program. What specific claims the agency is examining is unclear. USDA administers the federal Food Stamp program for low-income Americans.

    The screen shots below are from frames of the YouTube video. The file is named “Food Stamps Online.avi.”

  • ASA Monitor Ponzi And Criminals’ Forum Locks MPB Today Thread — Again; Naysayers Scolded By Mod For Challenging ‘Ken Russo’

    EDITOR’S NOTE: The ASA Monitor Ponzi forum now has reopened its thread on the MPB Today MLM program — with a warning in red to “Play nice . . .”

    UPDATED 9:54 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) A forum infamous for promoting Ponzi schemes and other criminal pursuits has locked the thread from which the MPB Today 2×2 matrix cycler is being pitched.

    The official explanation for locking the thread was that naysayers challenging ASA Monitor member “Ken Russo” needed a “temporary cooling off period.” (See Editor’s Note above: The thread now has been unlocked.)

    “Ken Russo” is a reliable cheerleader for Ponzi schemes and highly questionable business pursuits on ASA Monitor and other forums. ASA Monitor’s name is referenced in a May criminal case filed against the alleged Pathway To Prosperity Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors said the scheme mushroomed globally, gathering about $70 million and defrauding more than 40,000 participants.

    A similar program known as Legisi gathered more than $70 million and also fleeced thousands of participants, according to the SEC. It, too, was promoted on the Ponzi forums. A court filing in the Legisi case specifically references the MoneyMakerGroup forum, another venue from which MPB Today is being promoted.

    This marks the second time the MPB Today thread has been locked at ASA Monitor. It was locked earlier this month and then reopened amid similar circumstances. ASA Monitor initially deleted several references to the PP Blog in the initial closure of the thread, but later restored them.

    One of the principal incongruities of the MPB Today program is that it is being targeted at people of faith from a known Ponzi forum. Because ASA Monitor members routinely promote Ponzi schemes, some of the funds being passed to MPB Today could be criminal proceeds from Ponzi and other fraud schemes.

    “Ken Russo,” for example, promoted the alleged Regenesis 2×2 Ponzi scheme. Like MPB Today, Regenesis used a 2×2 matrix cycler. The U.S. Secret Service executed search warrants in the Regenesis case in July 2009. The agency said in court filings that it had linked the scheme to a convicted felon.

    Spectacular international frauds have been promoted at ASA Monitor. Meanwhile, some of MPB Today’s own members have said there are liars and thieves in the organization, including liars and thieves who are using false information to recruit prospects. The claims have been made in public on YouTube. Incongruously, they have been positioned as reasons to join the program under specific uplines that purport to be honest.

    How MPB Today’s payments to members could be clean if it has come into possession of money tainted by the lies of its own pitchmen and money tainted by Ponzi schemes promoted on forums such as ASA Monitor is left to the imagination.

    Last week the PP Blog reported that a “news release’ that appeared online encouraged MPB Today prospects to sell $200 worth of Food Stamps to raise money to join the program. One of the URLs referenced in the release also was being promoted on ASA Monitor by “Ken Russo.” Other information suggests that promoters of the judicially declared CEP Ponzi scheme are promoting MPB Today.

    Some ASA Monitor members use a strategy of playing dumb to promote Ponzi schemes. One form of the strategy is to repeatedly accept at face value whatever a company says in sales literature — and then blame the company and dishonest affiliates if a scheme collapses or is taken down by law enforcement.

    Another form of the strategy is to include links to the sites of other promoters, apparently on the theory that favorable commentary about an “opportunity” demonstrates that no scam could be occurring. If the opportunity later proves to be a Ponzi or a fraud scheme, promoters who employ the play-dumb method point out that others got taken, perhaps through the actions of a fraudster who was particularly clever.

    Yet another form of the play-dumb method is to position an opportunity as a matter of free choice. Such wink-nod efforts are part of numerous Ponzi schemes.

    In February 2010, the Secret Service said in a search-warrant application in Minnesota that it believed a company known as INetGlobal was operating a Ponzi scheme. In court filings, the agency said an undercover agent was introduced to INetGlobal by a member of the alleged AdSurfDaily (ASD) Ponzi scheme, describing the introduction as a wink-nod deal.

    ASD, which was accused of operating a $100 million Ponzi scheme, also was promoted from websites and forums. Federal agents seized about $26 million in the INetGlobal case, which is still under investigation. Steve Renner, the operator of INetGlobal, is in federal prison for income tax-evasion in a case linked to his money-services business.

    Court records show Renner-related ties to at least four Ponzi schemes.

    Among the targets of promotions for MPB Today were victims of the alleged ASD Ponzi scheme, foreclosure subjects, the unemployed, Food Stamp recipients, senior citizens, college students and other vulnerable populations.

  • Another MPB Today Pitch Page That Uses Walmart’s Name In Registered Domain Surfaces; More Check-Waving Promos Using Name Of Distressed Bank Elsewhere On Web

    Another website that pitches the MPB Today MLM program and uses Walmart’s name in a registered domain name has surfaced. This one was registered Sept. 11, and uses an address in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Walmart is not the registered owner of the domain, and it is unclear if the registrant has the retail giant’s permission to use its name in a domain name.

    Separately, check-waving videos and Blog posts using the name of a distressed Florida bank continue to appear online in promos for MPB Today. The promos show checks and the name of Gulf Coast Community Bank of Pensacola.

    Promos for MPB Today that show Walmart gift cards and prepaid Visa cards also continue to appear online.

    Gulf Coast has been operating under an FDIC consent agreement since January. The bank did not respond to requests for comment from the PP Blog last week. Neither did the FDIC.

    The most recent website to use Walmart’s name in its domain name positions the opportunity as a free shopping club.

    “Almost Everyone within the USA is saying ‘YES!” the pitch page proclaims.

    “Please Help Me!” it urges. “I need FREE Food AND a way to Create some Serious Cash NOW!”

    MPB Today operates an “Amazing ‘Recycling Matrix,’” according to the pitch page.

    “Warning!” the page says. “Once you watch this Video, you won’t be able to sleep tonight!”

    A Blog post by a separate MPB Today promoter displays both a check drawn on Gulf Coast Community Bank and a Walmart gift card.

    Some MPB Today affiliates have urged Food Stamp recipients, the unemployed, senior citizens, victims of the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, people of faith and opponents of President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to join the MPB today program.

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said Friday that its Food and Nutrition Service unit was investigating specific claims about the MPB Today program, which is being promoted widely online.

    Among the places from which the program is being promoted are forums known for pitching criminal enterprises and Ponzi schemes.

    In yet-another pitch for MPB Today, a promoter is shown opening an envelope mailed through the U.S. Postal Service. Inside the envelope was another envelope, which appeared to include U.S. postage.

    The inner envelope contained a prepaid Walmart Visa card and a Walmart gift card.

    Walmart has not responded to a request for comment about the MPB Today program. MPB promoters have claimed the company is “affiliated” with Walmart — and also affiliated and endorsed by the USDA’s Food Stamp program for low-income Americans.

    Some MPB Today affiliates have claimed in public promotions for the program that liars and thieves exist in the organization.

    Eight U.S. banks have failed since Sept. 10, including two in Florida. Only three bank failures occurred in the entire United States in 2007.

  • BULLETIN: USDA Following Specific Leads In MPB Today Matter; Agency’s Food And Nutrition Arm Will ‘Take Appropriate Action As Needed’

    BULLETIN: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said this afternoon that the agency’s Food and Nutrition Service is following specific leads in the MPB Today matter and will “take appropriate action as needed.”

    For the first time, the agency used the word “investigate” in its remarks about MPB Today, an MLM tied to a purported “grocery” business known as Southeastern Delivery of Pensacola, Fla. USDA previously referred to the MPB Today matter as a “review.” The agency did not explain why the Food and Nutrition Service had entered the probe.

    The Food and Nutrition Service, known as FNS, says its “mission is to provide children and needy families better access to food and a more healthful diet through its food assistance programs and comprehensive nutrition education efforts.”

    The announcement followed on the heels of claims by MPB Today affiliates that there are liars and thieves within the organization, that the government and Walmart endorsed the MPB Today program and that the USDA’s Food Stamp program was “affiliated” with MPB Today.

    On Tuesday, the PP Blog reported that a purported “news release” promoting MPB Today suggested that Food Stamp recipients should sell $200 of their allotment to raise money to join the MLM program.

    Yesterday the Blog reported that at least two MPB Today members claimed there are liars and thieves inside the organization, using the claims to suggest prospects should join the program only under specific downlines. The Blog also reported that MPB Today affiliates may have ties to the judicially declared CEP Ponzi scheme, the alleged AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme and other Ponzi schemes promoted on forums such as ASAMonitor, TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

    All three forums were referenced in a criminal case filed in May by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service against the alleged Pathway To Prosperity Ponzi scheme.

    In July, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a warning about HYIP scams that use forums and social-media sites such as YouTube and Facebook to spread virally on the Internet.

    MPB Today’s website says it ships “ONLY” dry goods to customers, who can expect to pay a shipping charge of up to 50 percent of an order. MPB Today affiliates have used the high shipping charges as a reason for Food Stamp recipients and other customers to join to the MLM program, saying a one-time purchase of $200 in groceries could result in free groceries for life.

    Affiliates have claimed MPB Today issues grocery “vouchers” that can be converted to Walmart gift cards and cash to purchase gasoline, electronics and other nonfood products.

    Among other things, the purported “news release” claimed that the idea about selling Food Stamps for cash to join MPB Today occurred “[on] a beautiful Sunday afternoon” during a drive home from “Church.”

    One promo for MPB Today showed a 46-inch Samsung television and other electronics that purportedly had been acquired by an MPB Today member through the program. Other promos have show prepaid Visa cards that spend like cash.

    MPB Today operates a 2×2 matrix cycler — a business model that has come under fire by the U.S. Secret Service in a Ponzi scheme probe in the Seattle area. The Seattle program was known as Regenesis2x2, and was promoted on some of the same forums MPB Today is being promoted.

  • A CEP PONZI SCHEME TIE? MPB Today Member Says ‘Trevor Reed’ In His Organization; No Immediate Comment From USDA

    This promo lists the names of 20 purported MPB Today affiliates, including the name of "Trevor Reed." It is unclear if the "Trevor Reed" included on the list is the same Trevor Reed who operated the judicially declared CEP Ponzi scheme.

    UPDATED 1:03 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Two days ago the PP Blog reported that a Sept. 20 “news release” for MPB Today’s purported “grocery” program solicited financially strapped Americans to sell $200 worth of Food Stamps to raise cash to join the Florida-based MLM.

    The Blog further reported that a name referenced in the news release (as the author) appears on page 21 of a distribution plan by the court-appointed receiver in the judicially declared CEP Ponzi scheme. The person referenced in the document is scheduled to receive a distribution of $125, which is expected to be issued Sept. 30.

    Today the PP Blog is reporting that a separate MPB Today affiliate who referenced the federal Food Stamp program in a July sales pitch also informed prospects that a person by the name of “Trevor Reed” is in his MPB Today organization.

    It was not immediately clear if the “Trevor Reed” referenced in the MPB Today promo is the same Trevor Reed charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission in a complaint filed July 9, 2007. The complaint alleged that Reed was committing fraud and selling unregistered securities through a company known as CEP.

    A judge later declared CEP a Ponzi scheme. A judgment of more than $1.5 million was placed against Reed and others on Nov. 18, 2008, according to court records. The order was signed by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge James E. Massey.

    On Oct. 27, 2007, Trevor Reed invoked his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in the CEP case. In September 2008 — less than a year after Reed invoked the 5th Amendment — Andy Bowdoin, the alleged operator of the AdSurfDaily (ASD) Ponzi scheme, also took the 5th.

    Records show that ASD advertised that it accepted payments from a payment processor known as CEP Trust, which was linked to the CEP Ponzi scheme. ASD members are being targeted in sales promos for MPB Today.

    On Nov. 19, 2008, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled that ASD had not demonstrated it was a lawful business and not a Ponzi scheme, a ruling that dealt a crushing blow to ASD. Just one day earlier — on Nov. 18, 2008 — Massey entered the financial judgment against Reed and others in the CEP Ponzi case.

    Massey ruled CEP a Ponzi on May 22, 2008 — less than three months prior to the federal seizure of tens of millions of dollars in the ASD case. Court records show that CEP had invested money in at least 26 online opportunities, primarily autosurfs.

    “The [CEP] Websites were investment programs that promised cash returns exceeding the amounts paid into the programs,” Massey ruled. “Debtors did not, however, operate or own any underlying business or assets whose profits could fund the promised returns. Although Debtors did place a relatively small amount of money in similar ventures operated by others, the evidence shows they made no profit from those investments. Most importantly, Debtors paid investors with cash received from new investors.”

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which is conducting a “review” about claims made in the MPB Today program, had no immediate comment on potential links to the CEP Ponzi scheme.

    “Take a look at my stats just a few days in!” the MPB Today affiliate urged members in a July forum post. The post included names of 20 downline members, including the name “Trevor Reed.”

    “Trevor Reed’s” MPB Today ID was listed as 150532. It was unclear if “Trevor Reed” is actively promoting the MPB Today program.

    What is clear is that the affiliate pitch in which the name “Trevor Reed” was referenced as an MPB Today downline member also referenced the Food Stamp program.

    “Great opp,” the pitch reads in part. “Just opened affiliated with WAL MART and EBT FOOD STAMPS (GOVT. ACKNOWLEDGED!) TAKE THE TIME TO READ THIS EMAIL IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!”

    Walmart has not responded to a request from comment about the MPB Today program.