PhoenixSurf

“While reviewing the ASD website in the District of Columbia, [an undercover agent] found a posting within ASD’s News section, apparently posted by ASD on July 2, 2008. The title of the posting was, “Alert Pay & Direct Deposit are being phased out July 31, 2008.” According to ASD’s posting, “We have notified BOA not […]

A few weeks prior to the Aug. 1, 2008, seizure of tens of millions of dollars in the personal bank accounts of AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin, Bowdoin apparently believed it prudent to plant the seed that the ASD autosurf had amassed a giant pot of cash and would use it to “hammer” critics. His willfully […]

BULLETIN: UPDATED 9:29 P.M. ET (U.S.A.) Prosecutors have advised a federal judge that AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin and unnamed “others” traveled to Costa Rica in the spring of 2008 to get the lay of the land for an offshore autosurf that would be “another version” of ASD. The alleged trip occurred less than two years […]

SPECIAL REPORT: UPDATED 2:27 P.M. ET (U.S.A., FEB. 9) Federal court and web records show that at least three of the 14 purported Forex dealers named defendants in a major sweep of unregistered firms last month by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission advertised that they accepted funds from Perfect Money. Perfect Money is a murky […]

A Hawaii man and his company were hit with sanctions totaling $6.2 million in a case that alleged they targeted people with hearing impairments in a Forex Ponzi scheme. Both the SEC and the CFTC filed actions against Marvin Cooper and his Honolulu-based firm, Billion Coupons Inc. (BCI). The CFTC announced the judgment against Cooper […]

A Colombian national implicated in an international conspiracy to launder drug money has been sentenced to 45 months in prison, federal prosecutors announced. Meanwhile, another figure in the alleged scheme — Robert Hodgins, the operator of Dallas-based Virtual Money Inc. (VM) — remains at large, prosecutors said. Hodgins is wanted by Interpol on a warrant […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: It has become increasingly clear that regulators and the law-enforcement community are rallying around a common theme that web-based promoters are using discussion forums and social-networking sites in bids to sanitize HYIP Ponzi schemes by positioning them as attractive investment opportunities and even a thrilling form of gambling that pays commissions. Today the […]

Dear Readers, We have received a few inquiries about a new surfing program called AdPayDaily (APD). Our initial take is that the program is a dressed-up version of AdSurfDaily, AdViewGlobal, BizAdSplash and AdGateWorld and that the operators are persuaded they’ve found a word combination and legal structure that will neutralize critics and law enforcement should […]

Here is how Pathway To Prosperity (P2P), operated by Nicholas A. Smirnow, was described by members of the indefatigable, Ponzi-pushing ASA Monitor forum in 2007: “Just talked with Nick today on the phone,” one member said. “I always enjoy talking with him — honest and straightforward.” “This one is a WINNER,” another crowed. “People, you […]

The man who supplied debit cards to the AdSurfDaily autosurf is wanted by INTERPOL on an arrest warrant issued by U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, the international police agency says on its website. INTERPOL has published two photographs of Robert Hodgins, 65. People with information on Hodgins are urged to contact the […]

Federal prosecutors have announced five convictions in an international money-laundering case involving drug proceeds and the use of “stored-value” debit cards. (See subhead below.) The cases were brought by the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2008 as a result of an undercover operation. The debit cards used in the transactions were provided by Virtual Money Inc., […]