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Tag: SEC

  • DISTURBING: ‘ProfitClicking’ Thread At MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi Forum Used In Zeek-Related Disinformation Campaign That Delivers Traffic To Troy Dooly’s Blog While Creating Brand Confusion And Opportunity To Harvest Leads For Poster Known As ‘freezeekler’

    EDITOR’S NOTE: The PP Blog sought comment from Troy Dooly of MLMHelpDesk this morning (Sunday) on the disturbing Zeek- and Ponzi forum-related developments reported in our story below. (Story appears below screen shots.) Dooly has not responded as of the time of this post, but the PP Blog will publish his comment if and when received. (UPDATE 10:24 p.m. Dooly has responded to the request for comment. His comment has been added to the story below.)

    Various efforts to mislead Zeek members and the public about the SEC’s Aug. 17 action against Zeek Rewards amid allegations that Zeek was a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud now are under way online. If you’ve received an email attributed to Zeek member Dave Kettner that claims “[t]he SEC acknowledged that there are a couple of problems with the case against Zeek Rewards and Rex Venture group,” it almost certainly is best to be extremely skeptical of the claims. Similar claims were made by apologists for the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme.

    These are among the claims attributed to Zeek-member Kettner, who is using the pronoun “we” when referring to the SEC:

    1. We (the SEC) are not able to find a victim in this case. We are not able to find anybody at this time that has been harmed by Zeek Rewards.
    2. We (the SEC) are having a hard time finding a security. In the complaint, it said that Zeek was selling securities and was an investment scheme.

    Beginning in August 2009, dozens of AdSurfDaily members flooded the docket of U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer with claims the government had produced no “VICTIMS” in the ASD Ponzi case. The pleadings appear to have been based on a template shared by one or more ASD downline groups. Included among the filers was Todd Disner, then an emerging figure in the ASD story and now an emerging figure in the Zeek story.

    Collyer rejected each and every one of the claims. In September 2011, the U.S. government announced it had identified at least 8,400 ASD victims. Two months later — in November 2011 — Disner filed a lawsuit against the government that alleged it had produced a “tissue of lies” and that ASD was a legitimate enterprise. About seven months later — in May 2012 — ASD operator Andy Bowdoin pleaded guilty to wire fraud and admitted ASD was a Ponzi scheme and that the company never had operated lawfully. The government now says it has identified at least 9,000 ASD victims.

    Justia.com has archived Collyer’s ASD docket and the related filings here. Disner’s unsuccessful filing is Docket No. 91. The ruling rejecting his claim (and others) is Docket No. 96. Despite the denials, other ASD members continued to use the same no “VICTIMS” argument, which incorporated a conspiracy theory that government evil was afoot. Collyer eventually issued en masse denials.

    Disner, Kettner and Zeek figure Robert Craddock are known to be involved in an effort to raise funds purportedly to defend Zeek affiliates while taking the SEC to task. The effort has been marked by shifting stories, contributing to an atmosphere of confusion. PP Blog guest columnist Gregg Evans wrote about some of that confusion here. The SNR Denton law firm, once presented by Craddock as the attorneys for Zeek affiliates, now appears to have withdrawn its representation. Meanwhile, a website known as ZTeamBiz that was gathering funds for the purported Zeek defense has been blocked by PayPal, a development ZTeamBiz blamed on purported fear of competition by eBay. eBay owns PayPal.

    RealScam.com (GlimDropper) now is reporting that ZTeamBiz is soliciting money via “electronic check drafts” and potentially putting contributors’ banking information at risk.

    Meanwhile, it’s worth pointing out that the U.S. Secret Service confirmed on Aug. 17 that it was investigating Zeek. Beyond that, the office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper has confirmed it is investigating Zeek. At least two proposed class-action lawsuits also have been filed against Zeek. The SEC is hardly Zeek’s only worry.

    Here, now, our story about how a Ponzi-board poster appears to be causing Dooly’s MLMHelpDesk.com to load beneath a different URL in an apparent bid to create confusion about the SEC’s Zeek action while also leeching off Dooly’s work product to gather “leads.”

    1.

    "freezeekler," a MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum poster in the "ProfitClicking" thread, is using his (or her) forum signature to help disinformation about Zeek spread online. ProfitClicking may have ties to the "sovereign citizens" movement.

    2.

    The redirect from the signature of "freezeekler" at the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum causes Troy Dooly's MLMHelpDesk.com Blog to load under a URL styled "draftsforcash.com."

    3.

    On the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum, "freezeekler" says his (or her) plan with the "ProfitClicking" program is to "withdraw at least until I have my investment back."

    UPDATED 10:24 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) TO ADD FIRST COMMENT FROM TROY DOOLY. UPDATED AT 11:25 P.M. TO REFLECT COMMENT FROM DOOLY THAT THE OFFENDING PAGE DESCRIBED BELOW HAS BEEN REMOVED. UPDATED 9:13 A.M. (SEPT. 10) TO FIX REDUNDANCY IN THIRD PARAGRAPH.

    Efforts to spread disinformation about the SEC’s action in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi case intensified on the web yesterday. One such bid occurred within the thread on the “ProfitClicking” scam-in-progress at the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum, where a poster known as “freezeekler” is using the following “signature” line (italics added):

    Hot! ZEEK REWARDS Coming Back, NOT GUILTY? NEW updated information!

    “freezeekler” apparently also is in “ProfitClicking,” given his (or her) MoneyMakerGroup comment about a plan to “withdraw at least until I have my [ProfitClicking] investment back.”

    MoneyMakerGroup is listed in U.S. federal court filings as a place from which Ponzi schemes are promoted. Records show that five major scams promoted on the forum in recent years — Zeek, AdSurfDaily, Legisi, Pathway To Prosperity and Imperia Invest IBC — allegedly gathered a combined sum of at least $868 million. By contrast, the 2013 budget for the city of Las Vegas is $468.8 million, according to a May report in the Las Vegas Sun. The population of Las Vegas is approximately 590,000.

    In terms of the number of victims — currently estimated at between 1 million and 2 million — Zeek may be the largest Ponzi scheme ever investigated by U.S. law enforcement. Its membership base may be at least 10 times larger than ASD, whose base was estimated by the U.S. Department of Justice at 97,000. Zeek’s estimated cash-drawing power of $600 million appears to have been approximately five times larger than ASD’s.

    When “freezeekler’s” signature link is clicked, a redirect kicks in and visitors are taken to a URL styled “draftsforcash.com” and a page styled “zeekrewards.” (draftsforcash.com/zeekrewards.) When visitors move their mouse, a lead-capture ad then loads for a 60-minute “webinar” for an unspecified program that asks viewers to submit  their name, email address and phone number.

    Although visitors may believe they are at the “draftsforcash” site’s Zeek Rewards page, they’re actually at the site of Troy Dooly’s MLMHelpDesk.  MoneyMakerGroup’s “freezeekler” appears to have caused the redirect to Dooly’s Blog to occur without causing the URL for MLMHelpDesk to appear in the location bar. Visitors unfamiliar with Dooly could come to believe he is the owner of “draftsforcash.”

    That domain, however, is registered on the name of Bargain Crusader Inc., according to a whois search. When the “zeekrewards” page is stripped from the “draftsforcash.com/zeekrewards” URL, visitors see Blog whose sole story appears under a headline of “Daily, and Weekly fantasy sports leagues.”

    The “skin” for the one-post Blog, according to a link at the site, is provided by “online casino uk site in cooperation with play roulette for fun weblog.”

    Dooly tonight expressed concern about the Ponzi-forum development.

    “This is nuts,” he said in an an initial email to the PP Blog. “Thank you for sharing this info with me. I will do a post tomorrow on this issue.”

    In a second email to the Blog, Dooly said his company took quick action to ensure the offending page was taken down.

    “My COO jumped on the issue as soon as I sent it to him,” Dooly said.

    ProfitClicking is an ASD-like autosurf formed from the carcass of the JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid “program” that suddenly went missing last month amid reports of the sudden “retirement” of Frederick Mann, the purported operator of JSS/JBP.

    Mann is a former pitchman for the ASD Ponzi scheme. JSS/JBP claimed to have more than 1 million members. Its cash-sucking power remains unclear.

     

  • BULLETIN: SEC: Asset Manager Hid Madoff Losses, Boasted ‘Benchmark-Beating Returns,’ Recruited New Investors, Missed Redemptions — And Blamed MF Global Collapse

    EDITOR’S NOTE: Scams undermine faith in legitimate markets. This is a case in which a purportedly legitimate asset manager allegedly is using the sort of explanations/excuses commonly used by Ponzi-forum hucksters.

    ** ________________________________________________ **

    BULLETIN:The SEC has gone to federal court in the Northern District of Illinois, alleging that asset manager Nikolai Battoo duped investors by hiding losses in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme, recruited new investors and boasted about “benchmark-beating returns.”

    But Battoo, who claimed to have $1.5 billion under management, has not met redemption requests — and now claims his inability is due to the collapse of MF Global, the SEC said.

    Also charged was Tracy Lee Sunderlage, “an unregistered broker-dealer who was banned from the industry in a previous SEC enforcement action,” the SEC said.

    From the SEC complaint:

    In 2008, Battoo and his company-defendants lost tens-of-millions  of dollars investing in Madoff “feeder funds.” That same year they lost more than $100 million when an international bank terminated Battoo’s access to its credit and platform of funds. Yet Battoo-has not been forthcoming with his investors about the extent of — or in some cases even the fact of — these losses. His statements to clients omit his staggering losses. In the wake of such deception, existing clients have invested fresh investment proceeds. Battoo’s falsified track record of benchmark-beating returns has also won him new investors.

    The jig appears to be up. Clients are now clamoring for redemptions, so Battoo has doubled-down on his deception. He’s blamed the MF Global calamity for his inability to repay investors. But when the SEC sought support for such claims, he declined to provide further information. At other times Battoo has blamed unnamed counterparties for freezing his assets because of unspecified government investigations. He told one investor that his attorneys were negotiating a “release” with the SEC. These statements are lies.

    A federal judge, the SEC said, has granted an emergency freeze of assets belonging to Battoo and two of his companies: BC Capital Group S.A. of Panama Panama and BC Capital Group Ltd. of Hong Kong.

    The SEC action is designed to protect U.S. investors, the agency said.

    Battoo claims to manage $100 million for U.S. investors, the agency said.

    “Battoo attracted quite a following of investors by proclaiming his investments withstood the test of the financial crisis, but reality seems to have finally caught up with him,” said Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “Now, Battoo is offering investors one excuse after another for holding their money hostage.”

    Read the remarkable complaint.

  • BULLETIN: ZTeamBiz, Site Purportedly Raising Funds To Defend Zeek Affiliates, No Longer Has Access To PayPal; Site Weaves Conspiracy Theory That eBay Didn’t Want Zeek To Survive

    BULLETIN: (UPDATED 3 P.M. EDT U.S.A.) This bizarre announcement appears today on ZTeamBiz, the site that was using PayPal purportedly to raise funds to “defend” affiliates of the collapsed Zeek Rewards’ MLM scheme:

    The payment solution has been removed and will be replaced on September 8, 2012. PayPal a company owned by eBay.com had decided it is not in their best interest to assist us in bringing back a Penny Auction that is directly competing with eBay.com.

    We apologize for this inconvenient [sic] and will have a new solution soon. Thank you for your understanding

    ZTeamBiz, which targeted Zeek affiliates in its fundraising pitch, has a tie to Todd Disner, a figure in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme that advertised a Zeek-like payout of 1 percent a day. Affiliates who provided money to ZTeamBiz potentially put themselves at cross-purposes, given that a federal judge has appointed a receiver in the Zeek case and that the interests of all Zeek affiliates are not equivalent.

    In 2011, ASD President Andy Bowdoin sought to use PayPal to raise funds to pay for his criminal defense. The site, known as Andy’s Fundraising Army, eventually was blocked by PayPal from using its services.

    Robert Craddock is part of the purported braintrust behind the ZTeamBiz fundraising effort. Disner once was a guest on a Zeek-related conference call featuring Craddock. That call occurred after the SEC moved against Zeek last month.

    In July, Craddock reportedly was behind an effort to silence the voice of Zeek critic “K. Chang” by bringing a purported copyright and trademark infringement complaint against K. Chang through HubPages, a site used by K. Chang to publish news and opinion about Zeek. The site was taken offline, but eventually returned.

    In 2011, Disner sued the United States for alleged misdeeds in bringing the ASD Ponzi case, claiming ASD was a legitimate enterprise and that the U.S. government had presented a “tissue of lies” when bringing the case in August 2008. About seven months after Disner brought the action, Bowdoin pleaded guilty to wire fraud, admitting ASD was a Ponzi scheme.

    A federal judge sentenced Bowdoin to 78 months in federal prison — and dismissed the lawsuit filed by Disner. Disner’s co-plaintiff in the case was Dwight Owen Schweitzer. At an unclear point in time after the August 2008 seizure of tens of millions of dollars in ASD-related bank accounts in the ASD Ponzi case by the U.S. Secret Service, both Disner and Schweitzer became Zeek promoters.

    Zeek’s business model was similar to ASD’s. On Aug. 17, the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that potentially affected more than 1 million people. The Secret Service also is investigating Zeek.

    ASD’s Bowdoin was sentenced Aug. 29. Federal prosecutors described his “program” as a $119 million Ponzi scheme that had created at least 9,000 victims and had resulted in millions of dollars of losses.

    ZTeamBiz did not explain on its website whether PayPal blocked the account through which it was soliciting funds from Zeek affiliates. Instead, it suggested that eBay, which owns PayPal, was an envious Zeek competitor.

    See “Whose Lawyer Is This Anyway,” an Aug. 29 PP Blog guest column by Gregg Evans. See July 9, 2009, guest column by Evans that raised questions about how the SolidTrustPay payment processor was enabling fraud schemes.

    See July 28 PP Blog column on the Craddock HubPages flap.

  • UPDATE: Zeek Case Gets Top Billing On SEC Website Today; Agency Establishes Information Page

    The SEC has established an information page for victims of the alleged Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid scheme. The Zeek case, which may affect up to 2 million individuals, is spotlighted today on the SEC's main webpage.

    Information for victims of the alleged Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme is getting top billing on the SEC’s website today, and the agency has established a webpage for Zeek victims.

    Here is that page, which includes a link to the website of the court-appointed receiver. Kenneth D. Bell is filling that role. Visit the receiver’s website.

    Zeek was operated by Paul R. Burks and Rex Venture Group LLC of Lexington, N.C. The SEC described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid that operated online.

     

  • UNBELIEVABLE: In Wake Of Zeek Collapse, Members Get Pitch For ‘Wealth Creation Alliance’; Promo Features Strange Use Of Capital Letters; Pitchmen Are Called ‘Prosperity Advocates’ — And Promo Claims Tie To Bank Of America

    UPDATED 11:55 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) On Aug. 17, the SEC accused the purported Zeek Rewards revenue-sharing program of being a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that had affected more than 1 million people. Zeek was touted on the MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold Ponzi forums.

    Now comes word that Zeek members are being pitched on a “program” known as “Wealth Creation Alliance” (WCA), which declares it is operated by an “Executive Dream Team,” makes strange use of capital letters in a sales promo, calls its pitchmen “prosperity advocates” and also has a presence on the Ponzi boards.

    Like Zeek, WCA says members can send in sums of up to $10,000.

    Zeek said participants were purchasing “bids”; WCA says its product is “ad units.”

    The WCA “program” according to one promoter, touts a relationship with offshore payment processors and even Bank of America.

    Bank of America also handled the banking for the 2008 AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, according to federal court files. A tie to the emerging WCA “program” could not immediately be confirmed.

    Like ASD and Zeek, WCA has a purported “advertising” component and tiered commissions, according to one promo for the “opportunity” viewed by the PP Blog. Zeek-like language also is present in WCA. Both companies, for example, purport to operate (or have operated) a “profit pool.”

    Some Ponzi-board apologists for Zeek have described it as a “freedom company.” WCA, meanwhile, says it “will apply the proven “Free Enterprise” formula” and emerge as a firm “Of the People, For the People and Built By the People.”

    These email remarks (below/italics added) were received by at least one Zeek member and were attributed to Paul Skulitz, the purported owner of WCA. Many of the words on the left margin curiously begin with capital letters, which leads to questions about whether WCA and/or its pitchmen are communicating in code to certain prospects and are sympathetic to the so-called “sovereign citizens” movement.

    Some “sovereign citizens” are preoccupied by the use of capital letters.

    The capital letters in the first words in the first three lines of the email form the acronym “WCA,” for instance. Whether WCA has any “sovereign” ties is unknown.

    Welcome to our rapidly growing family of prosperity advocates here at “Wealth 
    Creation”. It is our intention to develop a program that is innovative, profitable 
    And sustainable. Our priority is to build a successful  ‘long term home’. 

    You and your families deserve dynamic success and we at WCA are committed 
    To providing you with the vehicle and tools to take control of your life and reach 
    Your greatest goals and dreams. Many of you want to become wealthy and free 
    And we intend to help you do just that! These goals will be met by putting in 
    Place a business model that is not simply exchanging money for money. The 
    WCA model will apply the proven “Free Enterprise” formula of providing 
    Much-needed product and service solutions to the global marketplace. We 
    Are building a sustainable business model with powerful products and services 
    That are in much demand. 

    To unleash the viral power of “Word of Mouth”, we are using a 15%, two level 
    Bonus plan along with a powerful global revenue pool that will be shared with 
    All active affiliates. This plan has produced some of the largest earnings in direct 
    Selling history. 

    An “Executive Dream Team” is guiding our business. These business professionals 
    Bring well over 120 years of high-level business experience to WCA.  They have 
    Run companies and built marketing teams globally over the past 40 years and are 
    Committed to building a company that is, “Of the People, For the People and Built 
    By the People”. 

    Our core product/services are a virtual marketing and advertising tool and a global 
    Directory.  These tools have been developed over the past decade by our CTO (Chief 
    Technology Officer) and are time tested and proven effective. Many of these product/
    Services are available at no charge to our free affiliates. All of our advertising products 
    Can and are being used to promote not only WCA but also any other business or program. 
    There will be certain limitations. These products/services carry a huge profit margin, 
    Which fuel both our first (10%) level and second (5%) level commissions and our 
    Company wide profit pool.

    Our business plan is dynamic and will require flexibility on your part as we roll out 
    Our different divisions, which will include, but not be limited to: 

    Our online banner and text ads, our marketing and communication tools 

    Our robust global directory where both affiliates and customers can advertise 
    Showcase their products/services and causes our upcoming online mall featuring 
    Products/services at a tremendous value

    Our Life Literacy University, where individuals and families can tap into the wisdom 
    Of some of the world’s greatest mentors on topics as diverse as family finance, fitness/
    Nutrition, self-esteem, generational wealth creation, goal settings & achievement, travel 
    & leisure, personal & spiritual development, language skills, public speaking and family 
    And friendship dynamic. As the community develops there will be online empowerment 
    Opportunities as well as regional gathering to learn your favorite topics.

    As with any legitimate business, you will be able to buy these offerings at a discount 
    For personal use, make them available for resale on your website and generate profits 
    Or share the program with others and enjoy referrals bonuses on their purchases. What 
    Sets this apart form everything else is the company wide global profit pool. This is the 
    Best of it all… As our volume grows you will participate in the profit of the entire company 
    On a daily basis. WCA is truly committed to ‘ Sharing The Wealth ‘!’

    We are committed to building people, who will develop culture, which will change this
    World and make it a better place to raise our families.  We are committed to a revolution
    In the hearts and minds of each and every child of God who believe in their hearts, “There 
    has to be a better way!”

    We are fully operational right now and in our company pre-launch, this simply means 
    that you are able to sign up for free and receive your business website and purchase 
    advertising units as well. You can also refer and sign others in as well. We are also 
    currently receiving payments and more importantly we are paying referral bonuses 
    and daily profit sharing. Our pre-launch will continue through October 2012. We 
    will hold our first major event the first weekend of November. (Details will be 
    forthcoming) 

    As we continue to upgrade our system to provide the very best opportunity for you, 
    please be patient as there will be moments of brief interruption of service while we 
    attend to necessary online functions. We just recently finished one fantastic 
    improvement to provide additional protection internally and the systems are 
    systematically coming back online. Our 65% auto re-purchase feature, our 
    100% default system and several other features are being put fully into operation. 
    All of these will have a wonderful affect on your profits and the company’s sustainability. 

    As we continue to improve daily and roll systems out for you, stay excited and 
    positive what the future holds in store for you. 

    Thank you for you time and your trust, 

    Best Wishes, 
    Paul Skulitz Admin
    if you’ve questions
    [Deleted by PP Blog]

  • ** UNCONFIRMED ** Some Credit Cards Or Payment Accounts Tied To Zeek May Be Getting Charged For Subscriptions In Aftermath Of Collapse ** UNCONFIRMED **

    UPDATED 12:18 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) There is a report on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum today of at least one member of the Zeek Rewards’ “program” getting charged $99 for a monthly renewal:

    Here’s how the post read (italics added):

    “Your Diamond renewal has been processed
    Order Total: 99.00
    Order Date: 8/5/2012 6:06:51 PM
    Subscription Renewal Date: 7/29/2012
    Order Number: [deleted by PP Blog]
    This will appear on your statement as ZeekRewards.com.
    Thanks!
    ZeekSupport

    The poster went on to point out that the “[d]ates are off though.”

    And the poster also asked, “Anyone else get this? Probably old renewal only processed now, knowing how slow they’ve been.”

    Last week, the state of Maine cautioned Zeek members to contact their service-providers to cancel Zeek billings. Here is the statement from Maine’s Office of Securities and Bureau of Financial Institutions in its entirety (italics added):

    Maine’s Office of Securities and Bureau of Financial Institutions today alerted consumers that federal regulators recently took action to stop an alleged massive online “profit sharing” Ponzi scheme that appears to have attracted Maine investors. The site, ZeekRewards.com, was placed into receivership and had its assets frozen by a North Carolina District Court on August 17 following an action by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for securities fraud against the site, as well as a related entity, Rex Venture Group, LLC, and internet marketer Paul R. Burks of Lexington, N.C.

    According to the SEC’s complaint, ZeekRewards and defendants raised $600 million dollars from more than one million internet customers and investors nationwide and overseas through the website, ZeekRewards.com, which began operating in January, 2011. Customers were offered several ways to earn money through the ZeekRewards profit-sharing program, which the SEC alleges was marketed in violation of federal law. ZeekRewards operated a classic Ponzi scheme by paying the first wave of investors with new funds solicited from subsequent investors using false and misleading statements.

    “Some Maine financial institutions reported receiving requests for assistance from customers who invested in ZeekRewards.com, so, unfortunately, we have good reason to believe there may be a number of Maine victims of this scheme,” said Bureau Superintendent Lloyd LaFountain III. LaFountain encouraged anyone who purchased an interest or otherwise invested in ZeekRewards through a monthly subscription or other recurring payment plan administered by their financial institution to contact the institution immediately to make sure future payments are not deducted from the customer’s account.

    The receiver in this case has identified $225 million in investor funds in 15 foreign and domestic financial institutions, but is still currently identifying assets and victims of the scheme. Securities Administrator Judith M. Shaw urged investors to stay abreast of developments by monitoring the receiver’s website: www.zeekrewardsreceivership.com. Shaw pointed to another resource for investors, an SEC site to keep investors apprised of updates, www.sec.gov/divisions/enforce/claims/zekerewards.htm.

    “Scam artists rely on the internet as a reliable forum for perpetuating fraud,” noted Shaw. “The fact that this scheme reportedly pulled in over one million investors worldwide underscores the importance of thoroughly investigating any kind of profit-making venture before investing, regardless of how the venture is styled or presented The Office of Securities stands ready to assist all Maine citizens with objective information so that investors can make informed investment decisions.”

    Last Updated: August 31, 2012 12:33 AM

    Visit the webpage of the Maine Office of Securities and Bureau of Financial Institutions.

  • The Bizarre Wordplay Of ‘ProfitClicking’

    “25. Individual PC members are not responsible for the performace [sic] of PC or any other programs, products, and services provided by PC. Individual PC members, including those who introduce, sponsor, or refer other members, incur no liabilities or obligations in respect of PC’s financial decisions and directions and any other programs, products, and services launched.” — From the ProfitClicking Terms of Service, Sept. 3, 2012

    ProfitClicking, the nascent follow-up scam to JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid that surfaced last month amid claims of the sudden retirement of purported JSS/JBP operator Frederick Mann, appears to be trying to tell affiliates that they’ll incur no liability for promoting the “program.”

    And even as it does this, ProfitClicking is disclaiming any liability on the part of the “opportunity”:

    “Participants agree to hold the ProfitClicking! owners, managers, and operators harmless in respect of any losses incurred as a result of participation in any activity related to ProfitClicking!” the “opportunity” claims in its Terms.

    The development occurs on the heels of the collapse of Zeek Rewards, which the SEC described as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that recruited investors by making them believe they’d joined a sort of online nirvana that provided a return of 1.5 percent a day. Zeek’s Aug. 17 collapse already has triggered at least two class-action lawsuits, the appointment of a receiver who has signaled he’ll pursue winners for ill-gotten gains and the seizure of Zeek-related money by the U.S. Secret Service.

    Like JSS/JBP before it, highly secretive ProfitClicking plants the seed that it will pay even more than Zeek.

    One of the Zeek-related, class-action lawsuits is targeted at Zeek operator Paul R. Burks and 10 “John Does,” meaning the plaintiffs are targeting individuals believed to have profited from the alleged Zeek Ponzi scheme or perhaps helped Burks pull off the scam.

    Given that disclaimer language never has succeeded in warding off a fraud prosecution or private lawsuit in HYIP Ponzi land, ProfitClicking’s words aimed at insulating itself are virtually meaningless. Whether ProfitClicking actually believes it can provide legal cover for its pitchmen is unclear. What is clear is that the ProfitClicking Terms — like the JSS/JBP Terms before it — read like an invitation to join an international financial conspiracy.

    If you’re a ProfitClicking promoter, good luck at your deposition in the post-AdSurfDaily*, post-Legisi**, post-Pathway To Prosperity*** and post-Zeek era when a private attorney or lawyer for the government asks you why you were promoting a “program” that advertised a return in the hundreds of percent per year and made you affirm you were not with the “government.”

    Some highlights from the ProfitClicking Terms (italics added):

    6. I affirm that I am not an employee or official of any government agency, nor am I acting on behalf of or collecting information for or on behalf of any government agency.

    7. I affirm that I am not an employee, by contract or otherwise, of any media or research company, and I am not reading any of the PC pages in order to collect information for someone else.

    22. It is your responsibility to check your payment system accounts to be sure you actually received all payments that you should have received. Because certain payments are made member to member in PC, the PC system cannot confirm that any payments between members were actually made.

    24. In the event of a disagreement between two members regarding payments, it is the responsibility of the members involved to resolve the disagreement. The PC managers hold no responsibility at all in such scenarios.

    Here’s one way to read the Terms: Either ProfitClicking or its affiliates can rip you off — and there’s not a damned thing you can do about it.

    With Zeek’s Paul Burks confronting litigation on at least three fronts and with “John Does” being part of the mix, ProfitClicking’s words are just more HYIP drivel.

    * ASD operator Andy Bowdoin was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for his Ponzi scheme.

    ** Legisi operator Gregory McKnight faces sentencing Sept. 11 for his Ponzi scheme. Legisi pitchman Matt Gagnon, meanwhile, faces civil judgments in the millions of dollars, along with a criminal charge.

    *** Pathway To Prosperity’s alleged operator Nicholas Smirnow is listed by INTERPOL as an international fugitive.

  • BULLETIN: CFTC Says California Man At Helm Of Ponzi Scheme Targeted At Deaf Christians; Marc Perlman Charged With Fraud Amid Claim He Advised Investor To Sell House Quickly And Plow Proceeds Into Forex Scheme

    BULLETIN: The CFTC has gone to federal court in the Southern District of New York, alleging that Marc Perlman of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and his firm, iGlobal Strategic Management LLC, were running a commodity-pool and Forex Ponzi scheme targeted at deaf Christians.

    Perlman and the company have been charged with fraud. The CFTC said the scheme sucked in “at least $670,000 from at least 17 people.”

    In at least one instance, the CFTC charged, Perlman encouraged an investor “to sell a house at a price that would result in a quick sale, stating that the profits that the iGlobal Investor would earn with iGlobal would make up for the lost equity.”

    It is at least the third major fraud scheme targeted at the deaf community since 2009. In October 2010, the SEC charged an entity known as Imperia Invest IBC in a caper that sucked in millions of dollars and affected thousands of people with hearing impairments. In 2009, the FTC charged Affiliate Strategies Inc. (ASI) in a government-grants scam. The Noobing autosurf was in the ASI stable of companies, and promotions were targeted at the deaf.

    Both Imperia Invest and Noobing were promoted on the MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold Ponzi forums — the same venues from which Ponzi schemes such as AdSurfDaily and alleged Ponzi schemes such as Zeek Rewards were promoted.

    “Perlman furthered his and iGlobal’s fraudulent scheme by playing upon the Christian faith of certain iGlobal investors, using claims about his own faith and references to scripture to obtain the trust of certain iGlobal investors,” the CFTC charged.

    Victims hailed from Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Pennsylvania, the CFTC said, noting that Perlman is deaf.

    “Perlman offered to have calls with certain potential iGlobal Investors through a video phone system that enables communication through sign language,” the CFTC charged. “During these calls, Perlman told certain potential iGlobal Investors that he was offering them the opportunity to invest in a forex investment system that would yield profits of 10 percent each month. He later revised this projected number to 5 percent after certain iGlobal Investors invested funds.”

    The U.K. Financial Services Authority assisted in the CFTC probe, CFTC said.

    Read the complaint.

  • ALERT >> ALERT >> ALERT: Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Filed Against United States By AdSurfDaily Figures Todd Disner And Dwight Owen Schweitzer, Later To Become Zeek Promoters

    BULLETIN: A federal judge has dismissed the November 2011 lawsuit against the United States by AdSurfDaily figures Todd Disner and Dwight Owen Schweitzer.

    The dismissal of the lawsuit by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer came on the same day she sentenced confessed ASD Ponzi scheme operator Andy Bowdoin to 78 months in federal prison.

    After their ASD days, Disner and Schweitzer went on to become promoters of Zeek Rewards, which the SEC now describes as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme. ASD was a $119 million Ponzi scheme.

    Disner reportedly now is involved in an effort to raise funds to sue the SEC for its role in the Zeek case. Disner and Schweitzer also raised funds to sue the government for its role in the ASD Ponzi case, but Collyer today dismissed their complaint.

    From Collyer’s order of dismissal in the case brought by Disner and Schweitzer, who alleged the seizure of their records on ASD’s database was unconstitutional (italics added).

    They allege that federal agents seized money, uncashed checks, unendorsed checks, books, computers, and other assets and records created and maintained by Plaintiffs in the computers and servers that were in the custody and control of ASD. Plaintiffs maintain that their information was encrypted and password protected. Specifically, Mr. Disner claims that he is owed $53,000 . . . On September 17, 2008, the Government returned to ASD the computers that it had seized . . . Mr. Schweitzer avers that he cannot remember where his checks/money orders were drawn, that he put $3,500 into ASD, and that he was involved with ASD for “only a few weeks before it was shut down.”

    Read the full ruling.

  • As Zeek Apologists Solicit Funds And Plant Seed They’ll Sue SEC, Guest Columnist Asks, ‘Whose Lawyer Is This Anyway?’

    DISCLOSURE: Gregg Evans, a longtime member of the antiscam community, is a longtime PP Blog contributor. He was not compensated for this column, and his views are not necessarily the views of the PP Blog.

    Whose Lawyer Is This Anyway?

    By Gregg Evans

    A group of Zeek Rewards’ affiliates claim they have retained SNR Denton to do, well, something about the SEC taking over Rex Venture Group, Zeek’s corporate parent. What they intend to do is a mystery at this time. You see, Rex Venture Group, and with it Zeek, is dead. Nothing left but the shell that is in possession of a court-appointed receiver.

    There can be no resurrection here: Paul Burks, the previous owner has turned the company over voluntarily to the receiver and, under the terms of the consent judgment, he cannot change his mind, he cannot appeal, he cannot argue that he didn’t violate securities laws and he can’t reboot the company under a different entity.

    Zeek is no more: All that’s left is to gather up all the money and distribute what’s left back to those that it was stolen from.

    The first problem with this is that not all that was stolen can be recovered, a part of it is going to be spent in the effort to return it and not everyone lost, which means some people won. Fairness, and by the way the law, says that those winners should have to return not only their ill-gotten gains, but in fact they should also return part of their original investment so that they proportionately bear the same loss rate as everyone involved.

    In short, if the average “investor” is only going to recover $30 of the $100 they sent in, why should someone who sent $10,000, and profited in the end, only have to return their net winnings? It’s only fair that they should in fact have to return all their profits, but also 70% of their contributions, so that they bear the same loss as everyone else. If you sent in $10,000 and didn’t take out a dime, I think you’ll see the logic there. If, on the other hand, you were among the early investors who made a sizable profit, you may think differently.

    Zeek presented in online pitch as “Passive Income!” opportunity.

    It was once claimed that some affiliates were “earning” over $1 million a month from Zeek. If you’re a big winner, you might be quietly hoping that the receiver isn’t going to try to get anything back from you and you might be thinking that if he does, you might be wise to get an attorney to do everything legally possible to prevent any of your “profits” being taken from you to be added to the pool of funds eventually refunded to the people who weren’t as lucky as you. Well and good. I don’t agree with you, but then again, I wasn’t getting a million dollars a month in Zeek “profit sharing.” You’re certainly entitled to the best legal talent you can pay for.

    Ah, but you’re too greedy to even accept that. No, you’re not going to use your own money to get that very pricey legal team working to keep you from losing money in the Ponzi scheme like almost all the others, you want the losers to contribute to a fund to pay your lawyers.

    That’s chutzpa, Sparky.

    The names so far mentioned as being behind this legal effort are hardly innocents. Among them are some names very familiar to those of us who follow online investment frauds, Ponzi schemes and MLM hucksters. These are the big recruiters. They pimped this scam, flaunted the money they were raking in, money that was ultimately stolen from their own downlines. Now they’ve cranked up their downlines, incited the victims and are shouting from the Internet hills about the injustice of the evil government shutting down their favorite scam, because, after all, it was still paying.

    Never mind the $3 billion deferred liability that Zeek Rewards had only $225 million to pay. Never mind that only 2% of Zeek’s revenue came from an actual business and that 98% of the money paid out in the end was coming from new money paid into the affiliates programs. (The very definition of a Ponzi scheme.)

    I’d venture you’d be a little less admiring of Paul Burks if the SEC, Secret Service and North Carolina Attorney General had not investigated this scam and it had collapsed of its own weight a few weeks or days later than the SEC action. There were signs that Zeek was in fact about to implode in the very near future anyway. Had that happened I’d expect a few of you would be raising complaints as to why the authorities had let the scam continue when they knew about it and had been investigating it. (Search “CMKX Scam” for an example of that.)

    But with apologies to Arlo Guthrie, that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

    I’m here to talk about your lawyers, and how you’re trying to get the people whose stolen money you have, to pay lawyers so you don’t have to give any of that stolen money back. First, you’re asking people to send the money to you, not to the lawyers. Second, you’re telling them to please not call the lawyers.

    This raises a few issues. To begin with, if the people involved lost money they can of course take advantage of the tax code to at least save on their taxes. They could also, if they retained counsel in relation to their business deduct that money, too. They cannot deduct any contribution they make to someone else’s legal bills.

    In order for them to be able to say they paid a lawyer in relation to a business expense, the IRS is pretty insistent that they paid lawyers, not paid someone else who paid a lawyer, especially when the lawyer in question won’t even take your calls. I’m not an attorney myself but I’m pretty certain that some ethical rule somewhere says you have to take calls from your client. Which brings us to another thing:

    Who is the client, and what is the client’s interest?

    In a solicitation letter published on the Internet, the people soliciting donations say that the law firm will only communicate with 12 people. Forgive me if I take that to mean that only those 12 people are formally the clients represented, and that means that the attorney’s in question MUST represent those 12 people and ONLY those 12 people, and any interest any other people may have that is against the clients are by default adversarial.

    So if, for instance, those 12 people were all net winners wishing to avoid a clawback action, hundreds of thousands of investors who lost would be the enemy, and by the tenets of the legal profession, said lawyers would be opposed to their interests in any conflict. There were early reports of over a million investors in Zeek Rewards. At a later news conference, the receiver said that number may well be over 2 million.

    Mathematically speaking a Ponzi scheme results in at least 88% of participants who are net losers, a percentage that rises the longer a scheme continues, so of the 2 million, 1,760,000 people are likely net losers here. But these lawyers are only looking out for the 12, who I’ll bet are all net winners.

    I’ll go out on a limb and say that all of them are big-time winners; at least one had a video posted showing off a new luxury home he implied was paid for with Zeek Reward profits. And they want the losers to pay for their lawyers, because after all, Zeek was still paying. There was over $225 million left in the till and if the evil government had just minded their business they could have gotten a pretty good chunk of that, too.

    So, am I wrong? I’m talking now to the 12 people who are allowed to call the lawyer, and to the lawyer, too for that matter. I think this is rotten to the core, but prove me wrong. Make public the retainer agreement between whoever the clients are and SNR Denton.

    If you’re good enough and shameless enough to get your victims to pay for your lawyers, good on you, but I think you owe it to the people you’re asking to pay for it to show them just exactly what they’re paying for, and whose interest is being represented here.

    Oh, and since you’re telling people to pay you, and not the lawyers, and since that means they can’t deduct it on their taxes, I ‘d like to offer my own opinion that any money you get is regular income as far as the IRS is concerned, and you’d better report every penny of it as such.

  • BULLETIN: Already Jailed, Utah Ponzi Schemer Ordered To Pay More Than $18 Million; United States Extradited Jeffrey Lane Mowen From Panama And Charged His Pitchmen

    Jeffrey Lane Mowen

    BULLETIN: Utah Ponzi schemer Jeffrey Lane Mowen has been ordered by a federal judge to pay more than $18 million in a civil case that sparked a criminal probe and resulted in allegations that Mowen had hatched a murder-for-hire plot from a U.S. jail after he was extradited from Panama in 2009.

    The FBI worked with officials in Panama to return Mowen, 50, to the United States.

    The Mowen case destroyed Ponzi-forum myths that scammers are untouchable if they remain “offshore.” It also destroyed the myth that individuals who drive business to a Ponzi scheme cannot be charged. Indeed, the SEC sued at least six individuals who drove money to Mowen and also filed administrative actions against them.

    Mowen ultimately pleaded guilty to wire fraud and is serving 10 years in federal prison. The case is fabled in Ponzi lore because Mowen had accumulated more than 200 vehicles with investors’ funds — so many that it created a storage problem for the U.S. Marshals Service.

    Part of Jeffrey Lane Mowen's Ponzi haul.

    Here is the breakdown of the civil judgment against Mowen: disgorgement of $8,041,779 in ill-gotten gains, a matching civil penalty of  $8,041,779 and $1,964,203.67 in interest.

    Mowen is scheduled to be released from prison in January 2018.