PatrickPretty.com

Tag: SEC

  • After Seeing Photos Of Its Players On ‘GooBets,’ National Basketball Association To Turn Matter Over To ‘Legal Department’

    This is the logo at GooBets.com. It is not the same as the logo at GooBets.biz. (See below.)
    This is the logo at GooBets.com. It is not the same as the logo at GooBets.biz. (See below.)

    As the PP Blog reported yesterday, photos of National Basketball Association players and team jerseys are appearing on the .com (https://www) website of “GooBets,” a purported betting entity in which recruits are being told “Everybody Makes 25% to 31% Per Week. Period!!!”

    The NBA said today that the matter had been forwarded to “our Legal department, which will follow up with the company appropriately.”

    It is not unusual for fraud schemes to seek to create a veneer of legitimacy by trading on the names of famous brands.

    Images of National Football League players and jerseys also appear on the GooBets site. The NFL said yesterday that it had no comment on the matter. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission declined to comment.

    GooBets appears to be targeted at speakers of Portuguese and English. It may be operating from multiple websites, providing confusing information in the process. A site styled GooBets.biz (https:/www) claims the enterprise is part of something called “Nordic Market Services Limited.” The CEO is identified as Steven Martinez.

    A separate site at GooBets.com claims Miguel Carvalho, a “famous [P]ortuguese trader,” is “Main Trader Goobets.”

    A phone number that appears on the .biz version of GooBets — 44 203 514 6959 — also shows up on the site of an enterprise known as DirectBull.com. DirectBull’s site claims it operates as a “subsidiary of Nordic Market Services Limited which manages and serves large scale investors from Northern Europe and North America. With Direct Bull, Nordic Market Services Limited offers the opportunity to small scale investors to take part in the trading on the world financial markets and earn significant profits.”

    Among the claims on the DirectBull site is that investors can earn between 103 percent and 125 percent in one day, with a minimum investment of $5 and a maximum of $20,000. A 30-day plan at the same minimums and maximums promises earnings of between 370 percent and 1,600 percent.

    Portions of the DirectBull site resemble the sites of HYIP scams known as MooreFund and as “Rockfeller.biz.”

    These individual schemes may be parts of much larger frauds that are evolving as circumstances warrant. If one pipeline runs dry, the organizers simply open another one.

    This is the logo at GooBets.biz. It is not precisely the same as the logo at GooBets.com.
    This is the logo at GooBets.biz. It is not precisely the same as the logo at GooBets.com.
    The DirectBull site publishes the same phone number as GooBets.biz.
    The DirectBull site publishes the same phone number as GooBets.biz.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Investment Scam Targeted Military Personnel At Fort Hood In Texas, SEC Says

    breakingnews72URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (Updated 9:05 a.m. EDT April 15 U.S.A.) An investment scam known as LB Stocks and Trades Advice LLC was targeted at military personnel at Fort Hood in Texas and perhaps other installations, the SEC has alleged.

    Charged in the scheme were the company and alleged operator Leroy Brown Jr., 32, of Killeen, Texas. The SEC described Brown as a member of the U.S. Army between 2001 and 2013.

    “Trust is a bedrock principle to our military, and we allege that Brown exploited his own military experience and abused that trust for his own personal gain,” said David Woodcock, director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office. “Investment fraud is always wrong, but it’s especially pernicious when perpetrated against those who have sacrificed so much for our freedom.”

    A federal judge imposed an asset freeze and temporary restraining order, the SEC said.

    Brown, the SEC said, claimed a longstanding presence in the investment trade, offices in New York and San Francisco, “guaranteed” returns, an ability to double or triple money in 120 days and business associations with “Walmart, Apple, Sony, Microsoft, Best Buy, HP, USA Today, and McAfee.”

    From the SEC’s complaint (italics added):

    Based on these intentional misrepresentations, Brown solicits investors to purchase $1,000 membership certificates in LB Stocks to participate in the Company’s purported investments in undeveloped real estate that Brown guarantees will double or triple the investors’ investments. Brown also represents that he and LB Stocks trade stocks, mutual funds, exchange traded funds (“ETFs”), commodities, and foreign exchange currencies for their clients.

    In a statement, the SEC said Brown “specifically claimed to have all the necessary licenses and registrations to conduct securities business. In reality, Brown is not a licensed securities professional and his firm is not registered with the SEC, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or any state regulator. Brown and his firm have no evident experience with investments.”

    Some of Brown’s claims were bizarre. Among them, according to the SEC, was that Brown would offer an “IPO” under a ticker symbol already in use by another company.

    “Thank you God. BOOM POW BAM[,]” Brown allegedly wrote on Facebook.

    As part of his scheme, Brown copied information from the website of E*Trade to his own website — and then swapped in “LB” names, the SEC alleged.

    The precise dollar sum gathered by the scheme was not immediately clear.

    “Beginning in the first quarter of 2014, Brown began receiving substantial deposits of funds into his personal brokerage account,” the SEC charged. “These deposits show that Brown received funds from investors who intended to invest in, or with, LB Stocks. In fact, wire transfer details for several of these deposits specifically reference LB Stocks as the ‘Acct Party’ in the receiving account field — even though the funds were deposited or transferred directly into Brown’s personal brokerage account.”

    “Nearly all” of the funds went from the personal brokerage account into Brown’s personal bank accounts, the SEC alleged.

    Although Brown didn’t leave the Army until July 2013, he claimed to have 65,000 investment clients, the SEC charged.

    Americans are very sensitive to events involving Fort Hood. In 2009, the base was the site of a mass shooting carried out by Nidal Malik Hasan, a former Army major now on Death Row. Thirteen individuals were killed, including officers, enlisted personnel and one civilian employee.

    Thirty-two more individuals were wounded, many of them struck by bullets.

    Read the SEC’s Investor Bulletin for military personnel.

  • ‘GooBets,’ Cross-Border Fraud Scheme, Emerges

    GooBets, an emerging HYIP scheme with a presence on social media, is leehing off the brands of the NBA and NFL, among others.
    GooBets, an emerging HYIP scheme with a presence on social media, is leeching off the brands of the NBA and NFL, among others.

    2ND UPDATE 2:19 P.M. EDT U.S.A. A “program” known as “GooBets” that appears to be targeting speakers of Portuguese and English has emerged. BehindMLM.com broke the news this morning.

    After observing the GooBets site, the PP Blog sought comment from the National Football League and the National Basketball Association. That’s because GooBets is using the intellectual property of both sports leagues in a rolling promo on its website.

    Neither league responded immediately to the requests for comment. The Blog will publish the responses, if received.

    Update 12:25 p.m. Brian McCarthy, a spokesman for the NFL, said in an email that the league did not have a comment.

    Update at 2:19 p.m. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission declined to comment on GooBets. (Original story continues below . . .)

    Images of players from the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks appear on the GooBets website. So do images of players from the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic. An inspirational quote attributed to NBA legend Michael Jordan appears on the site, which also uses images from professional soccer and tennis.

    Many fraud schemes leech off the brands of famous business entities or people.

    GooBets is reminiscent of earlier collapsed “betting” schemes or “arbitrage” programs such as GoldNuggetInvest. GNI collapsed in 2010, amid a bizarre assertion it was seeking a “crystal clear vision of our financial vortex.” A probable reload scheme known as “New GNI” later emerged, pushed by Ponzi-board legend “Ken Russo,” a figure in the Zeek Rewards and Profitable Sunrise schemes — among many others.

    Zeek Rewards and Profitable Sunrise were massive fraud schemes, according to the SEC. NewGNI appears to have gone missing in 2013.

    Like the original GNI, NewGNI, Zeek and Profitable Sunrise, GooBets has a presence on well-known Ponzi-scheme forums such as MoneyMakerGroup.

    Twitter already is thick with GooBets promos. One of them, dated today, claims that “Sports Trading Has Never Been So Easy. In GooBets Everybody Makes 25% to 31% Per Week. Period!!!”

    Promos for GooBets also appear on Facebook and YouTube. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission updated its Investor Alert on fraud schemes trading on social media in November 2014.

    “Investment fraud criminals look for victims on social media sites, chat rooms, and bulletin boards,” the SEC said.

    The targeting of GooBets — at speakers of Portuguese or English — also is reminiscent of the collapsed TelexFree scheme in 2014. TelexFree, which reached across borders and appears to have gathered $1.8 billion while creating at least hundreds of thousands of fraud victims, triggered investigations by the SEC and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

    In 2015, a scheme known as Wings Network was operating in part from Massachusetts at Ground Zero for TelexFree. The SEC brought an action against management and promoters, alleging Wings was a Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that appeared to have set up shop in Portugal and the United Arab Emirates to reach across borders and scam the masses.

    Wings allegedly plucked at least $23.5 million.

    At least one TelexFree promoter who appears to have been involved in the WCM777 scam broken up by the SEC last year used the logo of the NFL in Facebook promos and sought to lure prospects with game tickets.

    A promo in English for GooBets observed by the PP Blog today read in part (italics added):

    Hey, it’s a VERY excited Darren here :-)

    This is like shooting fish in a barrel… a barrel with no water in it !!

    I have FINALLY found the Holy Grail – a 100% legit way to earn a steady and secure Passive Income stream online and I just had to tell you about it.

    The name of the Company is GooBets LLC. and is the collaboration between a VERY successful ‘Sports Trader’ – Miguel Carvalho and his Mega-Business partner – Augusto Queiroz.

  • ‘Bacon’ Crumbles — And Yet Props Up MAPS

    EDITOR’S NOTE: The interconnectivity of fraud schemes is one of the core dangers of the HYIP sphere. Stolen proceeds continually cycle between and among scams, making banks and payment vendors virtual warehouses for cross-border criminals and their serial enablers. The problem may be intensifying. More and more HYIP schemes appear to be using script kits — essentially prefabricated websites — in which emerging schemes simply plug in their information and graphics. These kits allow schemes to show ads for other schemes, including competitive schemes.

    Simply put, modern scams are driving business to other modern scams.

    As the story below illustrates, the cycle may not be broken even if a particular scheme suspends payouts.

    **____________________**

    baconmapssmall“Bring The Bacon Home,” a Ponzi-board “program” popularized in part by Achieve Community hucksters, reportedly has crumbled.

    The circumstance surrounding the collapse, however, demonstrates that BTBH is contributing to ongoing harm. Indeed, the “program” continues to publish ads for other HYIP schemes, including “MyAdvertisingPays.”

    MAPS, as it is known, is referenced in a prospective class-action complaint filed against multiple TelexFree figures and financial vendors in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in December 2014.

    TelexFree was alleged by the SEC last year to have been a combined pyramid and Ponzi scheme. The trustee in the TelexFree bankruptcy case says the cross-border “program” may have gathered as much as $1.8 billion.

    TelexFree and MAPS are known to have had promoters in common. It was learned last month that Shaun Smith, an alleged “winner” in the Zeek Rewards scheme broken up by the SEC in 2012, also is promoting MAPS.

    Zeek receiver Kenneth D. Bell is suing Smith and more than 9,000 other alleged “winners,” amid claims they are in possession of proceeds that flowed from a Ponzi scheme.

    Despite the reported collapse of BTBH, it continues not only to publish ads for MAPS, but other schemes.

    BTBH, which had claimed $40 turned into $1,800, encountered a failed launch in January. The “program” then embarked on a self-styled “relaunch,” but that, too, appears now to have failed — leaving investors holding the bag.

    Before Achieve Community collapsed under the weight of an SEC investigation announced in February in which the agency alleged Achieve was a combined Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that had gathered $3.8 million, any number of Achieve promoters also were promoting other cross-border scams.

    Another of the scams currently advertised on BTBH is “MooreFund,” as the screen shot below demonstrates. MooreFund also was promoted by Achieve members.

    baconmoorefundsmall

    As the PP Blog reported on Feb. 24 (italics added):

    Like Achieve, MooreFund has a presence on well-known Ponzi-scheme forums such as MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold. The “program” purports to offer four investment plans. These promise absurd daily interest rates of between 1.5 percent and 3 percent, with “compounding” available on three of the four plans and tiered recruitment commissions offered on all four.

    MooreFund, in turn, was promoted online alongside a “binary options” scheme known as SpotFN that recently became the subject of a cease-and-desist order in Missouri.

    See April 12 report on BTBH at BehindMLM.com.

  • Another Rodney Blackburn ‘Program’ DOA

    daily-earnings4th Update 1:15 p.m. EDT U.S.A. “Daily-Earnings,” yet another Ponzi-board scheme pushed by Achieve Community huckster Rodney Blackburn, appears to have met its demise. The “https” dotcom for Daily-Earnings is publishing a “Your web space is ready to go!” message, suggesting front-page content has been moved from the site.

    Not all pages of the site, however, are offline. An FAQ page, for instance, is publishing ads for “programs” called SecretSocietySystem and “ILuvBanners.” There’s also an ad at Daily-Earnings for Intellashares, a “program” that collapsed earlier this year but now is trying a relaunch.

    Ads for these “programs” also are being published at Daily-Earnings:

    MassiveWealthCycler. (“4daily position $17 only per sub prelaunch JOIN NOW.”)

    V Stream TV. (“FREE Cable TV Sign Up for FREE No Monthly Fees Join NOW.”)

    Demonstrating the interconnectivity of certain types of MLM schemes, the ILuvBanners’ site is publishing ads for:

    10In20Back. (NEW! 10in20back..ONLY $10 PER SHARE. PAYZA & STP.”)

    PassiveIncomeADay. (Claim of “Daily Passive I . . . PASSIVE INCOME A DAY! Turn $5 into $7.5 150%,” but dotcom currently is generating a server error.)

    MooreFund. (An unqualified disaster.)

    Blackburn pushed Achieve Community, which the SEC described in court filings on Feb. 12 as a combined Ponzi- and pyramid scheme. He also has been associated with “Trinity Lines,” a collapsed “program” trading on the name of God, and Automatic Mobile Cash, which appears to have collapsed in March.

    The huckster also created a combined ad for Achieve Community, TrinityLines and UnisonWealth. The SEC declined to comment on the promo.

    At one point, the MooreFund and RockfellerBiz “programs” came into the fold, with Blackburn blessing both of them.

    His promo for “Daily-Earnings” appears to have been published on Feb. 28, a little more than two weeks after the SEC’s Achieve Community action.

    At the time, the actual Daily Earnings site was displaying ads for other scams while hawking “AdPacks.” The “program” possibly operated from Istanbul, Turkey.

  • DEVELOPING STORY: Thai Police Bust ‘UFunClub,’ Yet Another Cross-Border Network-Marketing Program; Case May Involve $307 Million

    ufunclubUPDATED 9:10 A.M. EDT U.S.A. It’s whack-a-mole via MLM or network marketing — again.

    There are reports in Thai media about a major pyramid/Ponzi bust involving a cross-border “program” known as “UFunClub.” (See links below.)

    No American suspects appear to have been arrested or named so far, but Americans have promoted UFunClub. One of them, according to BehindMLM.com, is Jamison Palmer.

    On Feb. 19, 2015, the PP Blog contacted the Alabama Securities Commission for comment after it observed a promo online for “UFunClub” attributed to Melton McClanahan, an American implicated in the cross-border “Profitable Sunrise” scheme broken up by state regulators and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2013.

    Even as McClanahan was pitching UFunClub, he was pitching “Unison Wealth,” a Ponzi-board “program” pushed by Achieve Community huckster Rodney Blackburn. Achieve Community was taken down by the SEC in February 2015.

    ASC did not respond to the request for comment on UFunClub and Unison Wealth, and it is unclear whether they are under investigation in the United States. What is clear is that McClanahan was issued a cease-and-desist order by ASC for his alleged role in pushing Profitable Sunrise. He also was subpoenaed by the SEC in the Profitable Sunrise case.

    It’s also clear that some network marketers are moving from scheme to scheme to scheme in an ongoing and insidious environment of whack-a-mole. Schemes using a common network of promoters are feeding off each other.

    From a Bangkok Post story on UFunClub (italics added):

    Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon instructed police to investigate the case and quickly hunt down and arrest the suspects.

    Police have been working alongside the Consumer Protection Police Division, the Office of The Consumer Protection Board and the Anti-Money Laundering Office in the investigation. The company’s operating licence was revoked.

    Like other schemes, UFunClub spread in part on social media, according to a report at Nationmultimedia.com (italics added):

    OCPB secretary-general Amphon Wongsiri said the U-Fun group mobilised investments through the website www.u-fun-u-token.com, www.youtube.com and many other avenues including via direct contact by its agents.

    Recent whack-a-mole schemes include TelexFree, Wings Network, Zeek Rewards, eAdGear, iFreeX and EmGoldEx.

  • COURTING TROUBLE: In Bogus Promo, Obama Shown As Pitchman For ‘MyAdvertisingPays’

    On April 2, a video depicting President Obama as a fan of the MyAdvertisingPays "program" appeared on YouTube. An "Obama voice" was dubbed into the video. Text below the video reads, "Mr. President speaks about the new advertising revolution."
    On April 2, a video depicting President Obama as a fan of the MyAdvertisingPays “program” appeared on YouTube. An “Obama voice” was dubbed into the video, which also shows the Presidential Seal. Text below the video reads, “Mr. President speaks about the new advertising revolution.”

    Depicting then-President George W. Bush as a fan of the AdSurfDaily MLM HYIP “program” backfired in spectacular fashion in 2008, drawing the attention of the U.S. Secret Service. Federal agents eventually seized more than $80 million in an asset-forfeiture case. ASD President Andy Bowdoin, accused of operating a cross-border Ponzi scheme, was indicted. He later pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

    Bush left the White House in January 2009, after Barack Obama was elected President. By August 2010, according to the FTC, “medical discount” hucksters were trading on Obama’s image.

    By September 2010, contrived images of Obama appeared in sales promos for the MPB Today MLM “program.”

    MPB Today operator Gary Calhoun later was charged with racketeering. Assets were seized. A conviction followed.

    In 2013, with Obama now in his second term, he was depicted in a promo as a pitchman for a scheme known as Ultimate Power Profits. That “program” had promoters in common with Zeek Rewards, which the SEC described in 2012 as a combined Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that had gathered hundreds of millions of dollars.

    Against this backdrop, a YouTube video that appeared online today positioned Obama as a pitchman for MyAdvertisingPays, a Ponzi-board scheme like ASD, MPB Today, Ultimate Power Profits, Zeek and many others.

    News about the 0:33 MAPS’ video titled “My Advertising Pays, Obama” first appeared on the RealScam.com antiscam forum.

    MAPS already may be on borrowed time. That’s because MAPS has links to both the Zeek and TelexFree schemes. TelexFree, alleged to have gathered more than $1.8 billion, also traded on the illusion the U.S. government backed the “program.”

    The video for MAPS puts MAPS-friendly words into the President’s mouth.

    “My AdvertisingPays pays its members every 20 minutes,” a mimicked voice of Obama’s says. “I highly recommend you to join MyAdvertisingPays.”

    The video concludes with, “God bless MyAdvertisingPays.”

     

     

  • SEC Declines Comment On ‘IntellaShares’ And Its Purported ‘BLACKLIST’; Ponzi-Board ‘Program’ Trades On Name Of Save The Children

    IntellaShares reportedly is threatening members who file disputes -- all while trading on the name of Save The Children. Photo source: screen shot from website of IntellaShares.
    IntellaShares reportedly is threatening members who file disputes — all while trading on the name of Save The Children. Photo source: 4/1/2015 screen shot from website of IntellaShares.

    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.”

  • BULLETIN: Receiver Sues USHBB Inc., Maker Of Zeek Videos — And Ties Firm To AdSurfDaily Ponzi Scheme

    breakingnews729th UPDATE 9:01 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Indianapolis-based USHBB Inc. and three of its principals — James A. Moore, Robert Mecham and Oscar H. Brown — have been sued by the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid-scheme case.

    Receiver Kenneth D. Bell alleges USHBB, a producer of videos, also did work for the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme “and one or more other failed MLM operations.”

    Though not referenced specifically in the complaint, one of those operations was “NarcThatCar,” a bizarre pyramid scheme that collapsed in 2010.

    Bell raised concerns months ago that some MLMers or network marketers simply were proceeding from scheme to scheme to scheme. The receiver previously tied alleged Zeek winner Todd Disner to the ASD Ponzi scheme.

    Not only did USHBB and its principals mine $676,848 from Zeek for producing videos and marketing materials that duped vast numbers of Zeek participants,  Moore, Mecham and Brown piled up hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit profits as Zeek affiliates, Bell charged.

    Brown, better known as O.H. Brown, used “ushbb” as his Zeek affiliate name and amassed $168,642.70, Bell alleged.

    Moore scored $109,130.64 under multiple usernames, including “geniweb” and “ttm,” Bell alleged.

    Mecham piled up “at least $868,542.17 through his shell companies Five Star Marketing, LLC and The End Media, LLC, under multiple usernames, including ‘napier2’ and ‘theend,’” Bell alleged.

    Moore resides in Indianapolis, according to the complaint. Mecham is a resident of Bountiful, Utah, and Brown lives in Mount Pleasant, S.C.

    Mecham and Brown received transfers of $25,000 each from a Zeek “insider” in August 2012, the same month Zeek collapsed, according to the complaint.

    Brown, according to the complaint, potentially knew that the SEC was looking at Zeek in June 2012 and dashed off a panicked email to Zeek executive Dawn Wright-Olivares.

    What appears to have happened, according to the complaint, was that a technology company with which USHBB did business was contacted by the SEC, prompting Brown to tell Olivares:

    “Heads up!!!! Our IT partners, RMR development received a telephone call from the SEC today regarding yougetpaidtoadvertise and what organizations were associated. This was a very short call I am told. Not sure what will come of this but this is an alarm at least that the government is looking. We need to get squeaky clean and quick!”

    Olivares, charged civilly by the SEC and criminally by federal prosecutors in the Western District of North Carolina in 2013, allegedly shared inside information with USHBB and Brown.

    From the receiver’s complaint (italics added):

    Further, the Defendants were involved in the Zeek scheme’s operation and the Insiders’ decisionmaking. For example, in August 2011, ZeekRewards adjusted some of the terminology it used publicly in an attempt to disguise the “Compounder” as a legitimate retail profit sharing mechanism. The Compounder’s name was changed to the “Retail Profit Pool,” but the substance of this investment vehicle did not change. USHBB was or should have been fully aware of this deceitfulness in which it participated.

    In a June 24, 2011 email, Dawn Wright-Olivares wrote to O.H. Brown regarding a webinar that USHBB had created for Zeek: “I started to do minor edits . . . ([Y]ou’ll see them where I started to say Retail Profit Pool) lol instead of Compounder . . . . ” She further wrote to Brown: “the silent cap [for bid expiration] reality will be 125% but we can’t SAY it as you know.”

    Wright-Olivares pleaded guilty to investment-fraud conspiracy and tax-fraud conspiracy in February 2014.

    Consistent with USHBB’s “dubious track record” in ASD and other schemes, the company and its principals “assisted the ZeekRewards scheme by creating multiple videos that served as promotional tools for ZeekRewards,” Bell alleged.

    Titles included:

    • “One Penny Billionaire.”
    • “You Get Paid to Advertise.”
    • “Got 20 Seconds.”
    • “The Dog Gone Truth.”
    • “Spin the Wheel.”

    “The videos were carefully produced to mislead and deceive victims into participating in the scheme, convincing victims that with minimal effort they could earn significant financial returns from the Zeek scheme,” Bell alleged.

    And, he alleged, “These videos assisted the Insiders in promoting the alleged ease with which affiliates could earn passive profits by investing in the scheme and selling membership in the scheme to others. Affiliates were told to mention the ZeekRewards program to a prospective affiliate or advertise it on a web page, and then email or otherwise provide them a link to the USHBB videos, which upon information and belief convinced other unwary victims to sign on . . .

    “The videos were a key component in proliferating the RVG Ponzi scheme, causing significantly more victims and financial loss than otherwise would have occurred absent Defendants’ actions.”

    RVG stands for Rex Venture Group, the alleged operator of Zeek. It was controlled by Paul R. Burks of Lexington, N.C. Burks also has been charged criminally.

    ASD was a $119 million Ponzi scheme broken up by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008. NarcThatCar was a “program” that purported to pay MLM “program” members to recruit other members and to record the license-plate numbers of vehicles parked at restaurant chains, big-box retailers, universities, doctors’ offices and throughout neighborhoods from coast to coast.

    The information purportedly would be entered into a database that could assist the U.S. Department of Homeland Security locate terrorists and lenders repossess automobiles. The bizarre scheme disappeared after it caught the attention of the Better Business Bureau and investigative journalists.

    Bell is seeking treble damages and the return of ill-gotten gains from the USHBB defendants.

    NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

     

  • Registration Page At TelexMOB Triggers ‘Web Forgery’ Warning In Firefox Browser

    TelexMOBbrowserwarningLate last night the PP Blog visited the registration page of the emerging and bizarrely named “TelexMOB” scheme, which appears to be targeting victims of the alleged TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid scheme. Our earlier story is here.

    The page now is triggering a “Web Forgery” warning in the Firefox browser. Such warnings may be associated with phishing schemes.

    Here is the lion’s share of text from the warning (italics added):

    Reported Web Forgery!

    This web page at register.telexmob.com has been reported as a web forgery and has been blocked based on your security preferences.

    Web forgeries are designed to trick you into revealing personal or financial information by imitating sources you may trust.

    Entering any information on this web page may result in identity theft or other fraud.

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission declined this morning to comment on TelexMOB. Like TelexFree before it, the emerging scheme appears to be targeting speakers of Portuguese and English.

    Promos for TelexMOB already are appearing on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Precisely who is operating the “program” and from where are unknown.

    BehindMLM.com reported earlier today that TelexMOB “has no retailable products or services, with affiliates only able to market affiliate membership to the company itself ($60-$1250).”

     

  • Now, ‘TelexMOB’

    TelexMoblogoUPDATED 11:25 A.M. EDT U.S.A. Something calling itself “TelexMOB” has established a web presence this month. A logo resembling that of TelexFree — an alleged Ponzi- and pyramid scheme said to have gathered $1.8 billion across national borders — appears on the site.

    BehindMLM.com was first with the news today.

    The PP Blog has sent requests for comment to three government agencies and to Stephen B. Darr, the court-appointed trustee in the TelexFree bankruptcy case. The Blog will post the responses, if received.

    Update 10:10 a.m. EDT U.S.A. “I have no comment, since I have no knowledge of TelexMOB,” Darr said in an email this morning.

    Update 11:25 a.m. EDT U.S.A. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this morning declined to comment on TelexMOB. (Original story continues below . . .)

    It is not unusual for knockoff schemes to emerge in the HYIP sphere in the aftermath of a collapse, a disappearing act or a government action. Examples of this include the infamous JSSTripler 2 scheme, a scam riding on the name of the JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid scheme, which advertised an annual return of 730 percent in 2012.

    Content appears on the TelexMOB website in English and Portuguese. Some of the English is fractured. A 16-page pdf handout on the site is written in Portuguese. The last two words in the pdf, however, are in English.

    “Welcome Back,” it reads, potentially a direct appeal to TelexFree participants.

    The site appears to be using a New Zealand privacy service. The servers may be in the United States.

    JSSTripler 2 was memorable for reasons beyond its knockoff name. In January 2012, for example, it sparked legendary HYIP huckster Faith Sloan to call “Ken Russo,” another legendary huckster, a “crybaby.”

    A claim of Dengue Fever accompanied the JSSTripler2 scheme.

    Sloan published a JSSTripler 2 earnings calculator. She’d later become a defendant in the SEC’s civil case against TelexFree, filed in April 2014.