UPDATED 11:31 A.M. EDT U.S.A. In 2010, the Federal Trade Commission took action against an online venture known as iWorks. This allegation appeared on Page 7 of the FTC’s Dec. 21, 2010 complaint:
“They have also attempted to drive down their chargeback rates by threatening to report consumers who seek chargebacks to an Internet consumer blacklist they operate called ‘BadCustomer.com’ that will ‘result in member merchants blocking [the consumer] from making future purchases online!’”
BehindMLM.com is reporting today that a “program” known as “IntellaShares” appears to be threatening participants with entry on a “BLACKLIST.”
IntellaShares appears to have launched earlier this year and then experienced a prompt collapse. Despite this, the “program” claims on its website that it has or will donate $478 to the “Save The Children Foundation.”
It is unclear if IntellaShares actually was referring to Save the Children Federation Inc., the internationally prominent Connecticut charity that operates at SaveTheChildren.org.
BehindMLM has described IntellaShares as a “$2.50 micro Ponzi investment scheme.”
The “program” has a presence on well-known Ponzi-scheme forums such as MoneyMakerGroup. There are assertions of an imminent “relaunch.”
So far this year, the SEC has taken actions against two Ponzi-board “programs”: Achieve Community and Wings Network. In Congressional testimony on March 19, the agency said it is targeting scams that operate “under the guise of ‘multi-level marketing’ and ‘network marketing’ opportunities.”
Such scams may use social media such as forums, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook to target marks. Some may imply they are linked to a charity or perform good deeds with money sent in by participants.
In 2009, for instance, a Ponzi scheme known as AdViewGlobal purported to be involved in an effort to preserve the rain forest. AdViewGlobal, which was a knockoff of the 2008 AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, later disappeared.
Like IntellaShares, AdViewGlobal purported to be in the “advertising” business. It also had a presence on the Ponzi boards.
In 2011, a Ponzi-board “program” known as “Club Asteria” promised weekly payouts of up to 8 percent while trading on the name of the American Red Cross. During the same year, a TalkGoldPonzi forum promoter pitching both Club Asteria and a separate scam known as JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid (730 percent a year) claimed that filing disputes with payment processors meant that “all members will suffer.”
IntellaShares may be operating out of New York.
The SEC this morning declined to comment on IntellaShares. The FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Update 11:31 a.m. The FTC said this morning that it “hasn’t brought any enforcement actions involving IntellaShares.”
Whether it would remains an open question. The agency has an aggressive enforcement history when consumers end up on the receiving end of threats or are duped into joining work-at-home “programs.”