SolidtrustPay

“While reviewing the ASD website in the District of Columbia, [an undercover agent] found a posting within ASD’s News section, apparently posted by ASD on July 2, 2008. The title of the posting was, “Alert Pay & Direct Deposit are being phased out July 31, 2008.” According to ASD’s posting, “We have notified BOA not […]

UPDATED 3:33 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Thanks to PP Blog reader “Tony,” who first posted a link to the FCA warning in this story thread on how a Profitable Sunrise Facebook site was being used to promote TelexFree, an alleged pyramid scheme. In April 2013, the SEC described Profitable Sunrise as a murky offering fraud that […]

The court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi-scheme case is reporting “significant progress” in securing assets for return to victims and says the estate has gathered approximately $325.1 million since the receivership began in August 2012. As of 5 p.m. on July 29, Zeek victims had filed claims seeking about $287 million. The claims portal […]

BULLETIN: On the heels of the apparent shutdown of Costa Rica-based Liberty Reserve as part of an international money-laundering investigation, “PerfectMoney” says it is banning users from the United States. Perfect Money purportedly operates from Panama. (More below.) In an announcement dated today on its website, Perfect Money says that “due to changes in our […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: One way to read a report filed yesterday by the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi-scheme case is as a warning manual that brings to life the kind of vexing problems HYIP schemes create for operators, vendors and participants — including “insiders.” Kenneth D. Bell’s report to Senior U.S. District Judge Graham […]

David Merrick, the operator of Trader’s International Return Network (TIRN) fraud scheme, already is serving a TIRN-related, 97-month prison sentence for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and securities fraud, plus one count of money laundering. And now a federal judge has imposed addition sanctions, ordering Merrick and TIRN — a presence on Ponzi […]

Back in April, federal prosecutors described the purported OneX “program” as a “fraudulent scheme” and “pyramid” pushed by former AdSurfDaily President Andy Bowdoin, the author of the $110 million ASD Ponzi scheme. Bowdoin, 77, now is jailed in the District of Columbia — in part because of his OneX pitches. He’d initially been free of […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Payza seems to have taken an important step Friday in the battle against online fraud. The payment-processing company perhaps deserves an accolade for that. But it’s too soon to heap praise on Payza. We are particularly concerned about the phrasing of a specific line in Payza’s altered User Agreement. More on that below […]

UPDATED 8:18 A.M. EDT (MAY 29, U.S.A.) In a curious Memorial Day announcement placed below a representation of the American flag, the Zeek Rewards MLM “program” told affiliates they must cash commission checks “immediately” because Zeek is switching banks. “Zeek is currently in the process of moving to a bank that can handle our growing […]

Owing to time constraints, the PP Blog hasn’t written much about Zeek Rewards, an MLM “program” married to a penny-auction site known as “Zeekler.” For simplicity, we’ll refer to both arms as “Zeek.” The structure of Zeek and precisely what it does are just plain baffling. Even so, it appears to have a legion of […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Longtime readers of the PP Blog will recall that the purported AdSurfDaily (ASD) spinoff known as AdViewGlobal (AVG) and some of its members engaged in particularly bizarre behavior in May 2009. The absurdities included announcing (and then unannouncing) a puported deal with a new offshore wire facilitator, announcing (and then unannouncing) a new […]