pyramid schemes

State-run media in China are reporting that 12 members of law enforcement were injured in a clash with pyramid schemers. The Xinhua news agency says that a pyramid-inspired uprising began in China’s Anhui Province and that 34 members of the scheme were detained for assault and five were arrested. From the news agency (italics added): […]

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (2ND UPDATE 6:44 P.M. ET U.S.A.) Both of the defendants on trial in federal court in Connecticut in a cash-gifting pyramid scheme known as Women’s Gifting Tables have been found guilty of wire fraud and filing false tax returns. The jury returned the verdicts against Jill Platt, 65, and Donna […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Simply put, the World Marketing Direct Selling (WMDS) and OneUniverseOnline (1UOL) pyramid scheme of James Bunchan and Seng Tan was one of the ugliest — if not the ugliest — in U.S. history. Bunchan eventually was implicated in a a murder-for-hire plot in which 12 witnesses and a federal prosecutor in Massachusetts were […]

BULLETIN: A federal judge in California has ordered the operators and top promoters of the BurnLounge MLM scam to pay nearly $17 million. The FTC brought the BurnLounge pyramid-scheme case in 2007, saying the program “primarily provided payments to participants for recruiting of new participants, not on the retail sale of products or services.” In […]

UPDATED 9:36 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The American Red Cross is a national treasure whose powerful and noble name never should be diluted or trifled with. But it is now apparent that various Club Asteria-related entities have done exactly that by not revealing certain critical information to the Red Cross while at once shamelessly seeking to […]

Jeff Long, one of the purported founders of the AutoXTen matrix-cycler scheme, warned his followers last year to “Stay away from ‘EZ MONEY’ pitches and claims.” A year later, Long appears to be ignoring his own advice. The 2010 warning appeared in a YouTube video Long edited after he had led his troops into registering […]

So, you want to involve your family, friends and business associates in a cash-gifting scheme and tell them it it perfectly legal? Seven women have been charged with felonies in Michigan and the Michigan State Police (MSP) are warning that schemes targeting women are sweeping across the state. MSP is asking members of the public […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: It is common for fraudsters to claim that “offshore” locations insulate HYIPs, autosurfs and other investment-fraud schemes from prosecution in the United States. It is equally common for purveyors to claim the schemes are harmless. The story of the alleged DMG pyramid scheme is one in which prosecutors allege a monstrous multilevel-marketing company […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: The story below outlines civil allegations filed in Idaho against Brock Bruegeman, Brian Birch, Brandon Johnson and Sonny Jensen in which the state alleges they operated a pyramid scheme tied to what federal prosecutors have alleged was an upstream, $100 million Ponzi scheme operated in Utah by Rick Koerber. Koerber, who has denied […]

The alleged Credit USA Inc. multilevel-marketing (MLM) pyramid scheme cost two Delaware residents more than $100,000, Attorney General Beau Biden said. Biden has asked other potential victims to contact his Investor Protection Unit at 302-577-8424. A state indictment announced two days ago charged Terrel Alexander, 41, Nicole Alexander, 41, and William Love III, 39, with […]