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Tag: Roxilia

  • UPDATE: Pushed To Profitable Sunrise Victims, Biwako Bank Limited Appears To Be DOA

    biwakoadUPDATE: The PP Blog wrote about Biwako Bank Limited on April 29 after it was touted on a Profitable Sunrise Facebook site as a good “program” for individuals ripped off in the alleged Profitable Sunrise pyramid scheme.

    But now Biwako Bank’s website has disappeared, with the “program” apparently following Profitable Sunrise into the darkness.

    “**THIS IS NOT AN HYIP , THIS IS A BANK**” a pitchman bizarrely claimed about Biwako on the Profitable Sunrise Facebook site last month. The program curiously said it hoped to attract “costumers.”

    The non-HYIP claim was made despite the fact Biwako Bank listed four color-coded “plans” that purported to provide daily payouts of between 1.95 percent and 3.05 percent.  The highest-paying plan — the “Red Plan” at 3.05 percent a day — advertised a percentage even higher than the purported “Long Haul” plan of Profitable Sunrise.

    The “Long Haul” plan claimed to pay 2.7 percent a day.

    In April, the SEC alleged that Profitable Sunrise was a pyramid scheme that may have gathered tens of millions of dollars at least in part by using offshore companies and wire transfers.

    Regulators have repeatedly warned about reload scams targeted at victims of fraud schemes. Like Profitable Sunrise, Biwako had a presence on the TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup forums. So did Zeek Rewards, which the SEC described in August 2012 as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

    Biwako’s haul is unknown.

    Other reload programs promoted on the Facebook site by boat-sharks include (at least) “SuperWithdraw,” “Whos12,” “Maxi-Cash,” “FairyFunds,” “Roxilia,” “OptiEarn,” “AVVGlobal,” “ProForexUnion,” “MajestiCrown” and “TelexFree.”

  • Profitable Sunrise Facebook Site Changes Graphic To Promote ‘DollarsBluePrint,’ Which Triggers Security Warning

    "DollarsBluePrint" now is being promoted in a big way at a Profitable Sunrise Facebook site.
    “DollarsBluePrint” now is being promoted in a big way at a Profitable Sunrise Facebook site.

    A Facebook site set up to promote the Profitable Sunrise HYIP scheme has changed the lead graphic on the page to drive traffic to a site known as “DollarsBluePrint” — apparently through a web entity known as “Big Idea Mastermind.” The previous lead graphic was a leftover from the fraud reign of Profitable Sunrise.

    The Profitable Sunrise Facebook site has 5,045 likes as of this morning. The SEC has described Profitable Sunrise as an exceptionally murky enterprise that gathered money through multiple other enterprises and may have collected tens of millions of dollars. The website of ProfitableSunrise went offline March 14 or thereabouts.

    In 2010, FINRA issued a warning on HYIP fraud schemes, saying they often trade through social-media sites.

    When the PP Blog sought to view the website at the DollarsBluePrint URL, the Blog’s security software issued a “Dangerous Site” warning that said the Big Idea Mastermind site was exhibiting “one or more risky behaviors.”

    A series of reload scams have been promoted at the Profitable Sunrise Facebook site. In addition to DollarsBluePrint, today’s entries include “Hourly Chic Pay” (again).

    “Up to 260% ROI,” the Hourly Chic Pay promo reads in part. “Get paid by the hour!”

    The promo for DollarsBluePrint reads in part that recruits can “earn 6 figure[s.]”

    “YOU are a WINNER,” it screams.

    Other reload programs promoted on the Facebook site by boat-sharks include (at least) “SuperWithdraw,” “Whos12,” Maxi-Cash,” “FairyFunds,” “Roxilia,” “OptiEarn,” “AVVGlobal,” “ProForexUnion,” “MajestiCrown,” “Biwako Bank Limited” and “TelexFree.”

    The website of Biwako Bank Limited also has triggered browser security warnings.

    Promos for TelexFree have claimed a person can pay the purported opportunity $15,125 and receive at least $1,100 a week for a year. Lesser incomes can be bought for lesser sums, according to the TelexFree promos.

  • On The High Seas Of Facebook, The Search For New HYIP Blood In The Water Intensifies After ‘Profitable Sunrise’ Goes Missing

    “HYIPs use an array of websites and social media — including YouTube, Twitter and Facebook — to lure investors, fabricating a ‘buzz’ and creating the illusion of social consensus, which is a common persuasion tactic fraudsters use to suggest that ‘everyone is investing in HYIPs, so they must be legitimate.’” — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), July 15, 2010

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    FINRA issued a warning back in 2010 against HYIP schemes, pointing out that they often trade through social-media sites such as forums, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. The warning came on the heels of the collapse of the Genius Funds “program” ($400 million) and the filing of criminal charges in the United States against Nicholas Smirnow, an alleged former bank robber in Canada who allegedly was running the Pathway To Prosperity (P2P) Ponzi scheme. P2P is alleged to have gathered more than $70 million.

    P2P even got a mention on the U.S. Department of Justice Blog. That mention came in the form of a warning about international mass-marketing fraud.

    Nearly three years later, Smirnow, 55, is still listed by INTERPOL as an international fugitive.

    So is Robert Hodgins, 68. Hodgins, a Canadian supplier of debit cards to HYIP schemes, is charged in a money-laundering case in the United States. It is alleged that cards Hodgins supplied were used by narcotics traffickers to offload millions of dollars in “profits” at ATMs in Medellin, Colombia.

    Speaking of Colombia . . . well, it was one of the staging grounds of the infamous D.M.G. Group (DMG) multilevel-marketing pyramid scheme of David Eduardo Helmut Murcia Guzman (David Murcia). Murcia, too, was tied to narcotics traffickers. His collapsed pyramid scheme gathered hundreds of millions of dollars. The anger spilled out onto the streets.

    Just about all of these schemes made absurd claims. Genius Funds, for example, promised a payout of 6.5 percent a week. Compare that absurd claim to the Profitable Sunrise claim of 2.7 percent a day through its bizarrely named “Long Haul” plan with a purported payout timed to coincide with Easter. A scheme bizarrely known as Cash Tanker was operating at the same time as Genius Funds. Like Profitable Sunrise, Cash Tanker purported to be a Christian enterprise. It’s gone now, too. So is Profitable Sunrise. Their members were cast into the sea like so much chum.

    Enter the Facebook boat-sharks and the contemptible “lifelines” they’re tossing toward the people struggling to stay afloat in rough seas . . .

    Despite all the warnings — despite all the publicity surrounding HYIP schemes — opportunists are descending on Facebook today to recruit Profitable Sunrise members (the people struggling in the water) into new scams. The same thing has happened repeatedly, perhaps most prominently in August 2012, after the SEC described the Zeek Rewards “program” as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.)

    Boat-sharks posting on a Profitable Sunrise Facebook site today are promoting schemes such as “SuperWithdraw,” “Whos12,” Maxi-Cash,” “FairyFunds,” “Roxilia,” “OptiEarn,” “AVVGlobal,” “ProForexUnion” and “MajestiCrown.” Some of the emerging schemes promise to pay even more than Profitable Sunrise.