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Tag: Online Success Zone

  • WebsiteTester.Biz Pitched On Reborn GoldenPandaAdZone Forum, Plus MoneyMakerGroup, TalkGold And Other Ponzi Havens

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This story originally was published June 30. The PP Blog later encountered a database problem, which caused the site to go down and resulted in the temporary loss of some data. The data now has been retrieved.

    This story is about a new site known as “WebsiteTester.biz,” but some background is in order.

    It turns out that the April reports of the demise of the Golden Panda Ad Zone Forum, which changed its name to the Online Success Zone (OSZ), were premature.

    OSZ now is back online — and a poster is pitching  “WebsiteTester.biz,”  which appears to be promoting itself as an upstart advertising “testing” platform.

    Positioning surfing sites as testing platforms dates back at least to the CEP Ponzi scheme. Last summer, the failed AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf, which had close ties to the AdSurfDaily autosurf, was trying to reposition itself as an ad-testing site.

    Just prior to going offline in April, OSZ was pushing Narc That Car and Data Network Affiliates, two highly questionable companies  whose membership roster includes people linked to alleged Ponzi or pyramid schemes. OSZ got its start as the Golden Panda Ad Zone forum after the U.S. Secret Service seized more than $80 million from ASD and its purported “Chinese” autosurf companion, Golden Panda Ad Builder.

    During the summer of 2008, with ASD at its zenith and about to be accused of operating a Ponzi scheme, a predecessor to the INetGlobal autosurf also was coming online. INetGlobal eventually morphed into a surf site that largely targeted Chinese members, according to the Secret Service, which is investigating INetGlobal as its operator, Steve Renner, is in federal prison serving time for income-tax evasion.

    The ASD and Golden Panda money was seized amid allegations of wire fraud, money-laundering, selling unregistered securities and operating a Ponzi scheme. A forfeiture complaint in the case alleged a conspiracy with unnamed participants, and ASD was sued separately under the federal racketeering statute by members who also alleged a conspiracy was under way.

    Participants’ marketing of WebsiteTester.biz. occurs against the backdrop of a forceful statement by federal prosecutors in Illinois that virtually all HYIPs are Ponzi schemes. Autosurfs are a form of an HYIP program.  The business model of WebsiteTester.biz is unclear, and the company has not been accused of wrongdoing.

    In the Illinois case, Pathway To Prosperity (P2P) was alleged to have operated a global Ponzi scheme that gathered more than $70 million and fleeced more than 40,000 people. Nick Smirnow, P2P’s operator,  has a criminal past dating back to at least 1979, including convictions for breaking and entering, driving the getaway car in a robbery and cultivating and selling drugs. He also told a colleague he was involved in a double homicide in Canada and claimed to have ties to organized crime in Ontario, according to court filings.

    Posts on forums such as ASA Monitor, TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup sought to sanitize the P2P scheme, authorities said. This important piece of information seems to have escaped the OSZ forum, which apparently continues to operate on the theory that HYIPs, autosurfs and cash-gifting programs somehow are a legitimate form of commerce.

    Incongruities abound in the autosurf and HYIP universes. “WebsiteTester.biz,” the apparent new darling of Ponzi boards such as OSZ, has a domain that is registered behind a proxy. It is unclear if any of its early boosters even know who owns the company or could name a single executive or a board member. Because the site’s business model is unclear, promoters are pitching a program they know virtually nothing about.

    The mere fact the “opportunity” is being pitched on the Ponzi boards shows, at a minimum, that promoters instinctively turned to the cesspools to drive business to the company.

    On its website, Website Tester, which purportedly is in prelaunch,  says this (italics added):

    “FINALLY . . . This is the business you have waited for so long:

    “It is completely free, you earn through EVERYBODY who registers after you, even if you do not sponsor people; you must not sell or buy anything. Guaranteed!

    “The faster you register, the more can be your potential income, even if you do nothing else than register for free . . .

    “How does it work? – It’s simple!

    “A market research company from the USA is searching for internet users all over the world, who get paid for testing websites and giving a short opinion. You also can earn up to 1,000 US$ per month working 1 to 10 hours weekly.

    “Even if the job as a website tester is not for you, you can earn two passive incomes month after month.”

    Excuse us while we vomit.

    Based on information on the landing page of WebsiteTester, the upstart company appears to have a tie to an upstart, Las Vegas-registered company known as Alpha Market Research Inc.  Alpha Market appears to have a Twitter site from which it relentlessly links to self-produced news releases that are posted on PRLog.org, a free press-release distribution service.

    Hey, did you see how the SEC described a scam yesterday that allegedly relied on Twitter and Facebook to help line up people to be fleeced in a securities swindle?

    Here is a paragraph from one of Alpha Market’s PR gems:

    “Global marketing is nothing but marketing done on national and international level and which involves understanding the similarities, dissimilarities and taking advantage of the opportunities to attain the goal.”

    Here is another gem:

    “When you buy something from eBay, Amazon.com or any online store, you’ve participated in e-commerce.”

    Meanwhile, here is yet another:

    “If you do not have a ghostwriter writing your blog content, then it means you will need to spend some time writing some blog posts.”

    Separate from its news releases, Alpha Market says this (italics added):

    “Potential clients who are disturbed by trifles during the ordering process are often unaware of exactly why. For you, the entrepreneur, the big questions remain: why did the potential client visit your website and why did they accept or not accept your offer?

    Alpha Market Research, Inc. starts exactly at this point: we make your website available for thousands of AMR website-testers, assigned in groups of age and interest – this way we get detailed feedback with an honest evaluation of your website.

    Like WebsiteTester.biz, AlphaMarketResearch.com is registered behind a proxy. The Alpha Market site was registered May 28, according to records. The Web Tester site was registered five days later, on June 2. Alpha Market’s Twitter site appears to date back to June 4.

    The buzz about Website Tester also is occurring against the backdrop of the launch of yet-another surfing company: AdPayDaily (APD).

    APD, which appears to have promotional ties to ASD and AVG, is running an AVG-like series of promotions that offer bonuses.

    Interestingly, APD, which appears to have only about 550 members despite virtually nonstop flogging for weeks, now says members can send in as much as $10,000.

    Website Tester, at the moment, appears just to be gathering names — and generating excitement by publishing the names of the latest registrants on the left side of its landing page. The names suggest the enterprise is attracting many people from outside the United States, but it is far from clear if anything about the company is real.

  • Another HYIP Pushed By ASD Members Now DOA; Cypriot, Canadian Securities Regulators Issue Warnings About Genius Funds; Regulator Seeks Criminal Probe

    Regulators in Cyprus have referred Genius Funds for criminal investigation and released a warning that the company “[is] not permitted to provide investment and ancillary services in the Republic.”

    Genius Funds, a darling of the HYIP world,  was heavily promoted on the Ponzi boards. The program also is known as Genius Investments. The program was referred for criminal investigation by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, which also issued the warning. The announcement that the case was referred for criminal investigation was made Friday in Cyprus.

    One of the matters referred for criminal investigation pertained to a question about whether Genius Funds used a “falsified document that possibly stated that it possessed an operational license which was not authentic,” the Cypriot regulator said.

    Separately, Canadian securities regulators also have acted against Genius Funds, permanently banning the HYIP “for illegally selling securities,” the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) said.

    Genius Funds’ website is throwing a server error.

    The program was pitched on the pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum in December by a poster who dubbed himself “joe.” Genius Funds was one of four HYIP’s pitched by “joe” in an egg-themed promotion. The egg-themed domains redirected to HYIP programs.

    All of the programs appear to have failed or gone missing, but the egg-themed domain names now redirect to other HYIPs.

    “ALL MY EGGS ARE NOT IN ONE BASKET,” the Surf’s Up pitchman said in all-caps. “I MAKE 2000.00 A WEEK.”

    Some ASD members continued to promote autosurfs and HYIPs after the federal seizure of tens of millions of dollars from the personal bank accounts of ASD President Andy Bowdoin in August 2008. The Surf’s Up forum went missing earlier this year.

    In recent weeks, the Golden Panda Ad Zone forum (also known as the Online Success Zone forum), another website from which ASD members pitched autosurf and HYIP programs, also went missing.

    BCSC opened its probe into Genius Funds after receiving a tip from “a financial institution,” the agency said.

    Read the Genius Funds’ announcement from Cyprus. Read the announcement from Canada.

  • A SILENT DEATH? Did GoldenPandaAdZone Forum For Autosurf Shills Follow Surf’s Up Into The Electronic Graveyard?

    Has the Golden Panda Ad Zone forum, which was renamed the Online Success Zone after federal agents seized tens of millions of dollars from AdSurfDaily and Golden Panda Ad Builder in 2008, followed the Pro-AdSurfDaily Surf’s Up forum into the dust?

    The website URL — http://goldenpandaadzone.ning.com — now is returning the same error message Surf’s Up produced when it went missing early this year. Other failed autosurf forums on ning.com have generated the same error message.

    It was not immediately clear how long the Golden Panda Ad Zone forum has been offline. The forum was a meeting place at which promoters shilled for autosurf programs, cash-gifting schemes and other questionable “business opportunities” such as recyclers.

    It is believed that every single autosurf program pitched on the Golden Panda Ad Zone Forum collapsed or is in the process of failing, giving the forum an unblemished record for failure. In recent weeks, the forum was used to promote MLM programs such as Narc That Car and Data Network Affiliates.

    In one memorable video, the forum pitched multiple surf programs that reportedly collapsed this year or last after the spectacular seizures in the ASD case. These included — but are not limited to — Biz Ad Splash, AdGateWorld and Daily Profit Pond.

    Biz Ad Splash purportedly was operated by Clarence Busby, who presided over the collection of more than $14 million before it was seized in the ASD case and an untold sum with Biz Ad Splash. AdGateWorld, meanwhile, collapsed after collecting an untold sum and purportedly being sold to buyers in the “Middle East.”

    Daily Profit Pond, which suddenly went missing just prior to Christmas in 2008 after collecting an untold sum, also was said to have collapsed.

    In AdGateWorld’s earliest days, the acronym “ASD” appeared in its Terms of Service, which suggested the surf simply copied and pasted terms from one program to another.

    The Golden Panda Ad Zone forum also was notable for promoting MegaLido, another program that resulted in a spectacular flameout prior to the 2008 Holiday Season, and a host of cash-gifting schemes promoted as “Pay It Forward.”

    “Pay It Forward” is a promotional scheme by which members sign up under each others links as a means of assuring they can build downlines or establish relationships with like-minded participants.

    Autosurf programs that pay a lower daily rate “normally have sustainability,” a forum pitchman counseled prospects in a video. He cited no authority for the claim, but noted that 7 percent to 14 percent a week was a “really, really good” return that no bank could match.

    “I can assure you [of] that,” the pitchman said, noting that higher return-on-investment surf programs “just tend to go away quicker.”

    MegaLido, he explained, might have been a clunker because its advertised payout rate of about 13 percent a day perhaps made it unsustainable. How a program that paid a lower rate of say, 1 percent a day or 365 percent a year, could be any more sustainable without being a Ponzi scheme never was explained.

    Like their brick-and mortar cousins, autosurf Ponzi schemes are not sustainable. They sustain themselves temporarily only through the use of smoke-and-mirrors, paying old members with money from new members to create the mirage of sustainability and performing other sleight-of-hand such as “80/20” programs to minimize cash outflow. Ponzi scheme operators typically siphon funds paid by investors, which is a form of theft. Prosecutors view the money as proceeds of a crime.

    Like the Surf’s Up forum — but to a lesser degree — the Golden Panda Ad Zone forum became an outlet for members to complain about how the government views the autosurf “industry.” Some members complained openly, if not bitterly, about perceived “slow” refunds as a result of the seizure of assets connected to ASD and Golden Panda.

    Those assets were seized amid wire-fraud, money-laundering and Ponzi scheme allegations — but members continued to push surf programs even after the seizure, while still complaining about “slow” refunds.

    The complaints continued even after the government explained it had not perfected title to the seized assets because of court challenges by Andy Bowdoin. Although the government now holds title to the assets, an appeal filed by Bowdoin in one of the forfeiture cases — and the prospect of a Bowdoin appeal being filed in a second case — means that restitution could be delayed even longer, prosecutors said.

    Some Golden Panda Ad Zone members positioned new surf programs as a means by which ASD and Golden Panda members could recover losses. Like Surf’s Up, entire threads went missing at the Golden Panda Ad Zone forum.

    One thread that went missing pertained to a surf program purportedly operated by ASD Chief Executive Officer Juan Fernandez after the ASD seizure. Some Golden Panda Ad Zone members  used religion in their sales pitches.

    Religion also was an element in ASD pitches. ASD President Andy Bowdoin told a crowd assembled at a company “rally” in Las Vegas that he thanked God for making him a “money magnet.”

    Prosecutors said Bowdoin family members and at least one insider embarked on a spending spree less than two weeks after the Las Vegas rally concluded on May 31, 2008, purchasing cars, jet skis, a boat and haul equipment — and retiring the $157,000 mortgage on the Tallahassee home of George and Judy Harris.

    George Harris is Bowdoin’s stepson. Members later said he was the co-owner of the AdViewGlobal (AVG)  autosurf, which crashed and burned in June 2009, after launching in the aftermath of the ASD seizure and in the weeks after a key court ruling went against ASD.

    Some members of the Golden Panda Ad Zone also pitched AVG, despite everything that had happened to ASD, Golden Panda and a related surf known as LaFuenteDinero. There were reports later that at least $2.7 million was stolen from AVG, but the reports have not been confirmed.

    After AVG announced a suspension of cashouts last summer and exercised its version of a “rebates aren’t guaranteed” clause, the surf said that, if the program restarted, an “80/20” program would become mandatory.

    AVG pitchmen started out by saying the surf paid about 1 percent a day — or 365 percent a year — an amount the Golden Panda Ad Zone pitchman described as reasonable and sustainable for  autosurfs in general.

    The claims were made despite the fact that prosecutors had laid out a case against ASD that its 1 percent daily payout rate was unsustainable and that the surf was insolvent.