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Tag: TalkGold

BULLETIN: Tata Group, Famous Business Concern In India, Says Fraudsters Trading On Its Name To Push HYIP Scheme; Purported Agriculture ‘Program’ Has Presence On The Ponzi Boards
The purported TataAgro entity had a presence on the Ponzi boards and appears to have used trading screens to dupe the worldwide investing public. Image source: Google cache.

BULLETIN: (3rd Update 8:32 a.m. ET, Feb. 20 U.S.A.) The Tata Group, a global conglomerate based in India, says its name has been stolen by an HYIP Ponzi scheme. The fraud scheme is associated with a domain styled TataAgro.com and has a presence on the MoneyMakerGroup, TalkGold and DreamTeamMoney Ponzi forums, according to search results.

Like the recently exposed WCM777 fraud scheme, the TataAgro scam claims a business presence in the British Virgin Islands. WCM777 also traded on the names of famous companies, including Siemens, the German conglomerate. Siemens issued statements warning the public about WCM777. Tata now has done the same thing with the purported TataAgro entity.

The TataAgro website “claims that ‘Tata Agro Holding is a subsidiary of the globally known Tata group, [and is] one of the top 10 agro investment players in Asia’s financial market,’” the real Tata says. “It goes on to offer a wide range of investment plans with a monthly profitability of up to 100%.

“Members of the public are hereby cautioned that the information provided on the website is absolutely false, misleading and intended to defraud innocent and unwary members of the public,” the real Tata says. “Neither Tata Sons nor any other Tata company has any connection whatsoever with the aforesaid Tata Agro Holding. Tata Sons is initiating appropriate action in the matter.”

PonziTracker.com was among the first outlets to report the news of the Tata warning.

The TataAgro site appears not to be loading.

It is somewhat common for fraud schemes to try to steal the identities of major figures on the world financial stage. CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator, regularly publishes information on purported “opportunities” that adopt the names of legitimate firms to create confusion and fleece the masses.

A post dated Dec. 3, 2013, at the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum claims the purported TataAgro entity pays “1.9-3.1% daily for 15-90 days” and accepts Perfect Money, BitCoin, EgoPay and Qiwi.

Meanwhile, a post dated Dec. 17 at the DreamTeamMoney Ponzi forum makes this claim (italics added):

Tata Agro is an agricultural investment company founded in 2012 in British Virgin Islands. We are a subsidiary of transcontinental conglomerate Tata Group that has been established in India back in 1868 and now boasts the combined market capitalization of $96 bln.

We have retained only the best things from a rich and long experience of our ancestor: the unique corporate culture, client-oriented and customized approach, and understanding of the market through retrospective analysis. Our fundamental aim is to help you grow your capital.

We work with assets like barley, soya, soya oil and meat, corn, wheat, and livestock and currently operate in CME Group, TOCOM, and MGEX exchange houses.

We are eager to offer you four investment plans with the daily ROI of 1.9% to 3.1% and investment term of 15 to 120 days. You can invest from 5 to 10,000 USD. Apart from that, we offer you a profitable referral program that lets you earn more and work side by side with your family and friends.

A post dated Dec. 17 at the TalkGold Ponzi forum makes these claims (italics added):
- Invest 5 to 100$ for 15 days and earn 1.9% ROI daily;
- Invest 100 to 1000$ for 30 days and earn 2.3% ROI daily;
- Invest 1000 to 5000$ for 60 days and earn 2.5% ROI daily;
- Invest 5000 to 10,000$ for 120 days and earn 3.1% ROI daily.
Collapsed fraud schemes such as Zeek Rewards, AdSurfDaily, Legisi, Pathway to Prosperity, Profitable Sunrise, Imperia Invest IBC and many more also had a presence on the Ponzi boards.

The TelexFree “program” currently has a presence on the Ponzi boards.
Feb 18, 2014
Accused Identity Thief May Have Had User ID At TalkGold Ponzi Forum, KrebsOnSecurity Reports; Hieu Minh Ngo, A Vietnamese National, Jailed In United States After Plot ‘To Steal And Sell’ Personally Identifiable Information From More Than 500,000 Individuals, Feds Say

Screen shot/highlights by PP Blog.

EDITOR’S NOTE: KrebsOnSecurity is written by Brian Krebs, who worked as a reporter for the Washington Post from 1995 to 2009. Our thanks to a PP Blog reader who brought our attention to information highlighted in the story below. Although the PP Blog is focusing on the TalkGold angle, the KrebsOnSecurity report covers much more, including how a U.S. credit-reporting agency potentially was doing business with a credit-card scammer and forum huckster hiding behind a proxy and wiring money from Singapore. It is highly recommended reading. Two links to the report appear in the story below.

An individual who used the handle “hieupc” on the “scammer-friendly” TalkGold forum may have peddled stolen Social Security numbers at the forum and appears also to have been in the business of defacing websites and “even attacking the Web site of his former university in New Zealand after the school kicked him out for alleged credit card fraud,” KrebsOnSecurity reports.

Hieu Minh Ngo, 24, a Vietnamese national, now is jailed in the United States. He was charged in a sealed, 15-count indictment in November 2012 with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, substantive wire fraud, conspiracy to commit identity fraud, substantive identity fraud, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit access device fraud, and substantive access device fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Oct. 18.

It may be a case of an offshore fraudster who erroneously believed that U.S. agents and prosecutors couldn’t touch him and grew increasingly confident that oceans and land masses that separated him from the United States would insulate him from arrest. In its remarkable story, however, KrebsOnSecurity is reporting that U.S. federal agents “set up a phony business deal to lure Ngo out of Vietnam and into Guam, an unincorporated territory of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean.”

Ngo was arrested when he arrived in Guam, KrebsOnSecurity reports.

Citing the indictment, the Justice Department said, “[F]om 2007 through 2012, Ngo and other members of the conspiracy acquired, offered for sale, sold, and/or transferred to others packages of [Personally Identifiable Information] for more than 500,000 individuals.” (Bolding added by PP Blog.)

The User ID of “hieupc” appears to have been formed at TalkGold in June 2007. (See screen shot above.) In October 2010, a TalkGold post attributed to “hieupc” offered for sale the Social Security numbers and dates of birth (at least) of Americans.

If “hieupc” is Ngo, it could mean he was trawling TalkGold as a teen-ager and seeking to recruit HYIP scammers as customers for his identity-theft ring. Such an approach conceivably could enable fellow criminals to join HYIP scams under assumed names while providing them a means of accessing U.S. bank accounts, potentially setting the stage for them to steal money from the accounts and even pass tax liabilities for HYIP program “earnings” to unknowing victims. TalkGold is populated by serial HYIP fraudsters and willfully blind promoters of online fraud schemes. Over the years, such schemes have led to DDoS attacks on the sites of fraud schemes (and sites that report on them) and repeated claims of account hackings.

Here is part of the “hieupc” TalkGold pitch (italics added):

OUR PLANS
Plan For Tester – 6 Credits – $4
Plan $10 = 15 credits
Plan $20 = 35 credits
Plan $30 = 60 credits
Plan $50 = 110 credits
Plan $100 = 230 credits
Reseller Plan $500 – 2000 Credits
Reseller Plan $1000 – 5000 Credits
No Hit = No Lost Your Credit.
SSN US: 3 credits, DOB US: 3 credits Please register an account to buy credits. Thanks

Such packages of Personally Identifiable Information, the Justice Department said, are known as “fullz” and “typically included a person’s name, date of birth, social security number, bank account number and bank routing number.”

And Ngo had at least one co-conspirator, according to the now-unsealed grand-jury indictment filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire. In the indictment, the co-conspirator is identified as “JOHN DOE ONE,” also known as “rr2518” and “Wan Bai.”

Here is the first paragraph from the indictment, which is available through a link at the KrebsOnSecurity website:

Defendant HIEU MINH NGO (“NGO”), also known by online monikers that include “hieupc” and “traztaz659,” resided in New Zealand and Vietnam. He is one of the control persons and administrators for the websites “findget.me” and “superget.info,” and its associated data.

During the 2007-2012 time period, “Ngo and other members of the conspiracy acquired, offered for sale, sold, and/or transferred to others stolen payment card data, which typically included the victim account holder’s payment card number, expiration date, card verification value number, account holder name, account holder address and phone number,” the Justice Department said in its Oct. 18 statement.

Meanwhile, the indictment notes that an “undercover agent located in New Hampshire” was involved in the probe that led to Ngo’s arrest and that the agent was instructed by scammers “to open an account with ‘Liberty Reserve’ in order to engage in any financial transactions with them.”

In May 2013, federal prosecutors in New York alleged that Liberty Reserve had engaged in a $6 billion money-laundering conspiracy. The U.S. Secret Service is known to be involved in both the Liberty Reserve and Ngo identity-theft probes. Liberty Reserve was popular among HYIP fraudsters and other scammers.

TalkGold is not referenced in the Ngo indictment. But the forum’s name appears in other court filings as a place from which online Ponzi and fraud schemes are promoted. Just five of the hundreds of recent (or relatively recent) scams promoted at the forum — Zeek Rewards, Profitable Sunrise, AdSurfDaily, PathwayToProsperity and Legisi — are believed to have generated receipts approaching or exceeding $1 billion. (Zeek Rewards = $600 million; ProfitableSunrise = unknown tens of millions; AdSurfDaily = $119 million; PathwayToProsperity = $70 million; Legisi = $72 million.)

Oct 22, 2013
Legisi HYIP Ponzi Pitchman Matthew John Gagnon Is In Federal Custody

Matthew John Gagnon

Will it be the shot heard ’round the HYIP world — or will serial Ponzi-board and social-media fraudsters continue to pretend it is meaningless?

Matthew John Gagnon, a 45-year-old pitchmen for the $72 million Legisi HYIP Ponzi scheme and other online fraud schemes, is listed as an inmate at Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Sheridan, Ore.

In July, Gagnon was sentenced to 60 months in prison, ordered to pay $4.4 million in restitution and further ordered to serve three years’ supervised probation after his prison release. He was permitted to self-report to prison. That appears to have occurred yesterday.

Gagnon colleague and Legisi operator Gregory N. McKnight was sentenced to a prison term of more than 15 years. McKnight’s age is listed as 53. He was sentenced last month and was ordered taken into custody immediately. He is listed as an inmate at the FCI in Milan, Mich. McKnight was ordered to pay more than $48.9 million in restitution and further ordered to serve three years’ supervised probation after his prison release.

Legisi was promoted on Ponzi-scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup. In 2007, Legisi became the subject of an undercover investigation by state regulators in Michigan and the U.S. Secret Service. Both criminal and civil charges followed.

In court filings on June 6, Legisi receiver Robert D. Gordon said more than 85 percent of the $72.6 million directed at Legisi had flowed through e-Bullion.

e-Bullion is a now-defunct processor. One-time e-Bullion operator James Fayed is on California’s death row after being convicted of ordering the brutal contract slaying of Pamela Fayed, his wife and a potential witness against him.

AdSurfDaily, a $119 million Ponzi scheme also promoted on the Ponzi forums, also accepted money from e-Bullion, according to court filings.

Legisi’s Terms of Service read like an invitation to join an international financial conspiracy. Members had to affirm they were not associated with the SEC, the IRS, the FBI and the CIA — along with “Her Majesty’s Police,” the Intelligence Services of Great Britain and the Serious Fraud Office.

Sep 17, 2013
SPECIAL REPORT: Like AdSurfDaily And OneX Before It, Alleged TelexFree Pyramid Scheme May Be Engaging In Game Of Payment-Processor Roulette

“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 to accept cash or personal checks for deposit account – English or Spanish.” ASD further stated, “Please remember that the preferred method of purchasing Ad Packages is by mailing a Check or by Solid Trust Pay . . . Solid Trust Pay is a Canada based money transmitting and payment company that, like the e-Gold system, operates over the Internet. It appears that beginning August 1, 2008, Solid Trust Pay will be ASD’s preferred method for receiving funds from members, and for paying rebates and commissions to members . . . Within the past two weeks, ASD has wired several million dollars to Solid Trust Pay from its BOA Accounts. A TFA also learned that earlier in July 2008, a bank other than BOA closed the last account that was controlled by Bowdoin or family members after that bank determined, and explained to them, that an investigation by the bank determined that Bowdoin appeared to be operating a Ponzi scheme.” — AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme forfeiture complaint, August 2008

TelexFree affiliate promos encouraging participants to register for International Payout Systems (I-Payout) began to appear online in recent hours. Just last month, TelexFree affiliates were encouraged to register for Global Payroll Gateway, another e-Wallet vendor that supposedly would solve TelexFree’s payment problems as a pyramid-scheme probe moved forward in Brazil. There now are reports online that GPG has dumped TelexFree, leading to questions about whether TelexFree is trying to port its alleged fraud scheme to yet another vendor — I-Payout. Source: Google search results.

In 2008, the U.S. Secret Service effectively accused the AdSurfDaily MLM “program” of playing a game of payment-processor roulette as U.S. law enforcement put the squeeze on certain money-movers, the willfully blind enablers of online fraud schemes.

ASD, a $119 million HYIP Ponzi scheme that led to a 78-month prison sentence for operator Andy Bowdoin, started out by accepting “e-Gold and Virtual Money,” according to a Ponzi-scheme forfeiture complaint filed in federal court in August 2008.

But ASD, according to the complaint, realized e-Gold had come under investigation for enabling the laundering of money, something that could put the heat on ASD.

“Shortly after publicity surrounding the government’s investigation into e-Gold appeared, ASD discontinued using the e-Gold system as a means for receiving member funds,” the complaint alleged.

And even as these events were occurring, according to court filings in the ASD case and in other cases, Robert Hodgins, a supplier of debit cards and the operator of Virtual Money Inc. — now listed by INTERPOL as an international fugitive — came under investigation in Connecticut amid allegations he was assisting in the laundering of narcotics proceeds in Medellin, Colombia, and prepping himself to assist in the laundering of funds in the Dominican Republic.

Virtual Money, whom some ASD members said was supplying debit cards to ASD, also was linked to the PhoenixSurf Ponzi scheme, according to court filings.

In December 2010, federal prosecutors alleged that ASD also had accepted money from e-Bullion, a California firm that processed payments for Ponzi schemes, including the $72 million Legisi HYIP scheme in Michigan that led to prison sentences for operator Gregory McKnight and pitchman Matthew John Gagnon. E-Bullion operator James Fayed has been sentenced to death for ordering the brutal contract slaying of his wife, a potential witness against him. Pamela Fayed’s throat was slashed repeatedly in the shadows of a Greater Los Angeles parking garage, her husband seated on a nearby park bench “like he doesn’t have a care in the world.”

ASD, according to court filings, also used AlertPay and SolidTrustPay, money-movers based in Canada that have been linked to multiple Ponzi schemes, including the alleged $600 million Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme broken up by the SEC last year.

Not even Bowdoin’s arrest in 2010 stopped him from pitching fraud schemes, according to court filings. Facing serious criminal charges for his actions in ASD, Bowdoin (in 2011) became a pitchmen for the OneX “program,” which federal prosecutors later alleged to be a pyramid scheme recycling money in ASD-like fashion. Among Bowdoin’s fellow OneX pitchmen was T. LeMont Silver, later of Zeek and later of JubiMax and GoFunPlaces, two MLM “programs” that are suing each other amid allegations of financial fraud.

At one time, OneX claimed to have a relationship with SolidTrustPay. It then claimed to have ended that relationship and to have started a relationship with I-Payout. Earlier, I-Payout had listed the uber-bizarre TextCashNetwork MLM “program” with ties to the Phil Piccolo organization as a “selected client.” TextCashNetwork now appears to have disappeared, but still is operating with the acronym “TCN” — this time as TrueCashNetwork. How the “new” TCN is processing payments is unknown. What is known is that someone associated with the “new” TCN has sent emails to “winners” in the Zeek scheme in an apparent bid to get them to flog for the new iteration, an apparent investment arm of which is being promoted as an opportunity to earn an interest rate of 50 percent.

Now — as incredible as it seems — promoters of the alleged TelexFree pyramid scheme operating in Brazil and the United States now are claiming that TelexFree is using I-Payout, known formally as International Payout Systems Inc. Equally incredibly, this is happening less than a month after TelexFree promoters advised TelexFree participants to register with Global Payroll Gateway (GPG), another eWallet company and supplier of debit cards, as a means of getting paid after payouts to Brazilian members of TelexFree were blocked in Brazil.

Just last month, TelexFree affiliates were encouraging prospects to register with Global Payroll Gateway (GPG). In recent hours — and amid reports GPG has given TelexFree the boot — TelexFree affiliates have been urged to register with I-Payout. Source: Google search results.

There are reports online, including on Facebook from self-identified members of TelexFree, that GPG gave TelexFree the boot in recent days. No sooner did those reports surface than videos went up on YouTube encouraging TelexFree members to register for I-Payout.

One of the reports that TelexFree suddenly had shifted from GPG to I-Payout is published on the MoneyMakerGroup forum. MoneyMakerGroup’s name appears in U.S. court files as a place from which Ponzi and fraud schemes are promoted. Both FINRA and the SEC have warned that HYIP schemes spread in part through social-media sites such as forums, YouTube and Facebook.

Because international MLM HYIP fraud schemes often have promoters in common — and because the schemes are promoted on Ponzi cesspits such as MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold — proceeds from the schemes can flow into banks at the local level, putting them in the position of becoming warehouses for the ill-gotten gains of participants, including winners and insiders. The use of stored-value debit cards such as those in play in HYIP schemes can lead to the quick dissipation of assets, meaning that victims of an HYIP scheme may have limited hope (or even no hope) that a recovery can be made for their benefit.

The most recent incongruous events involving TelexFree are occurring even as at least one judge and one prosecutor involved in the TelexFree pyramid probe in Brazil reportedly have been threatened with death. And, as was the case with ASD, some promoters of TelexFree have claimed an ability to expedite the flow of money to the scheme — perhaps through back-office transactions within the TelexFree system.

Also see report on BehindMLM.com.

Sep 14, 2013
REPORTS: Ice Cream Flavor Named After TelexFree, An Alleged Pyramid Scheme; Separately, TelexFree Affiliates May Be Crossing National Borders To Keep The Money Flowing — Even As Purported Opportunity Turns To New Payment Method

The HYIP world is known for promoters’ bids to change the storyline, but this one may take the cake — or at least be a sweet complement.

There are reports in Brazilian media that a promoter of the TelexFree MLM scheme — alleged to be a massive pyramid — has named an ice cream after TelexFree to show support for the embattled firm.

“The ice cream is not a pyramid,” a person was quoted as saying in DiarioDigital, according to a translation — and neither is its namesake.

Here is a link to the story in Portuguese; here is a link to the English translation by Google Translate.

Recruitment by TelexFree is banned in Brazil while investigations by at least seven Brazilian states proceed. Payments to Brazilian participants by TelexFree likewise are blocked. The purported “opportunity,” however, still is operating in other countries and apparently gathering money and issuing payments.

Separately, Veja.com is reporting that undercover investigators in Brazil have noticed that some Brazilian promoters of TelexFree have crossed national borders into Bolivia and Paraguay to keep TelexFree investment money flowing. Here is a link to the story in Portuguese; here is the link to the English translation by Google Translate.

The United States long has warned about cross-border fraud such as was present in PathwayToProsperity, an alleged $70 million Ponzi scheme whose operator is listed by INTERPOL as an international fugitive. P2P, as the “program” was known, made its way across multiple continents and 120 countries, according to court filings.

Meanwhile, U.S. promoters of TelexFree have been busy watching a promoter’s Aug. 16 YouTube video titled, “How to register your GPG account with TelexFree.”

GPG, according to the video, stands for Global Payroll Gateway.

The company, according to its website, provides services such as loading payrolls onto debit cards. TelexFree, according to the affiliate’s video, is now a GPG client and TelexFree affiliates must “connect” their account to GPG to get paid.

A screen shown in the TelexFree affiliate’s video shows an apparent executive of TelexFree announcing that the changeover to GPG’s services “is causing a delay in our payment process for the first run.”

The FBI long has warned that certain types of debit cards can be abused and that a “shadow banking system” is playing a role in fraud schemes that affect national security.

If TelexFree is adjudicated a scam, it may be difficult for the governments of the world or the receivers/trustees they may appoint to gather proceeds for victims. HYIP money may dissipate quickly, perhaps particularly quickly if it is offloaded with debit cards. In a money-laundering case brought in 2008, federal prosecutors in Connecticut said that millions of dollars in narcotics proceeds were offloaded at ATMs in Colombia.

Robert Hodgins, a Canadian currently listed by INTERPOL as an international fugitive in the Connecticut money-laundering case, reportedly supplied the debit cards through a firm known as Virtual Money Inc. and had ties to the HYIP world and schemes such as PhoenixSurf and AdSurfDaily.

Another screen in the TelexFree affiliate’s video shows folders with titles such as “telexfree,” “Banner[s] Broker, “hyip monitors,” “forex”and “Passive peeps.”

The context of the folders shown in the video is unclear. Banners Broker, however, is a bizarre HYIP scheme. HYIP monitors are websites that monitor whether a particular HYIP site is “paying.” Meanwhile, the word “passive” often is used in HYIP scams that promote tremendous returns for investors inclined to sit back and wait for the payments to flow in, instead of recruiting other investors to earn downline commissions from a “program.”

TelexFree has been promoted on well-known Ponzi scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup. The names of both forums appear in U.S. court filings as places from which fraud schemes are advanced.

From a promo for the alleged $600 million Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

Zeek Rewards, an alleged $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that had a Ponzi-forum presence and became the target of an SEC action last year, was promoted as a “passive” program. Like Zeek, TelexFree purportedly has a requirement that participants post ads for the “program” online.

There have been reports in Brazil that a judge and prosecutor involved in the TelexFree case have been threatened with death.

But not even those disturbing reports were enough to cause TelexFree to cancel a rah-rah event in California last month. The company says it also plans an “at sea” event in December. Earlier, some TelexFree pitchmen provided AdSurfDaily-like coaching tips to enrollees, especially on matters of how to speed the flow of money to the company.

ASD was a $119 million MLM Ponzi scheme broken up by the U.S. Secret Service in 2008. Like Zeek and TelexFree, the ASD “program” also had a Ponzi-forum presence and was promoted as an opportunity for “passive” participants.

Some TelexFree promoters in Brazil appear to believe that TelexFree has been deemed legal in the United States by the U.S. government. This errant belief may in part have been instilled by promoters of TelexFree who worded MLM HYIP pitches to suggest that the U.S. government had authorized the “program.”

Some TelexFree promoters have claimed a payment of $15,125 to the firm will fetch a return of more than $42,000 in a year. Even the cautious “Aunt Ethels” of the world will grow to become keen on TelexFree, according to a promo.

Aug 21, 2013
**[UNCONFIRMED]** Report In Brazil Says Prosecutors Have Asked U.S. Court To Block TelexFree Accounts, New Signups **[UNCONFIRMED]**

**[UNCONFIRMED]** A report in Brazilian media translated by Google Translate from Portuguese to English says that prosecutors in Brazil have asked a U.S. court to prevent new members from joining TelexFree and to block the accounts of TelexFree figures Carlos Wanzeler, James Merrill, Carlos Costa and Lyvia Wanzeler.

The PP Blog could not immediately confirm the report. If it is true, it could mean that law-enforcement agencies in Brazil have contacted their U.S. counterparts and asked them to begin the process of investigating a potential seizure of TelexFree-related funds that may be in the United States and perhaps to disable or otherwise block the functionality of the TelexFree web domains. The United States has said on various occasions that it is interested in fostering partnerships with law-enforcement agencies across the globe to combat commercial fraud online.

As of 1:03 p.m. EDT today in the United States, the TelexFree websites remained online and appeared still to be capable of enrolling recruits.

TelexFree has said it has U.S. arms in the states of Massachusetts and Nevada. Some U.S. afffiliates of TelexFree also appear to have formed business entities in California and Florida. Some TelexFree affiliates have claimed the “opportunity” did business through Bank of America, TD Bank and ProPay. (See July 8, 2013, PP Blog report on some of the claims.)

Despite allegations in Brazil that TelexFree was conducting a massive pyramid scheme and that a Brazilian judge and prosecutor had been threatened with death, TelexFree nevertheless held a rah-rah session in California late last month in which an MLM pitchman appears to have tried to sustain the scheme by telling a joke about “Carlos Danger,” an online identity purportedly used by U.S. Democratic politician Anthony Weiner. A companion TelexFree promo playing in the United States on YouTube claims that people who send $15,125 to TelexFree can expect to profit to the tune of more than $42,000 in a year.

TelexFree has a presence on well-known Ponzi-scheme forums such as TalkGold, MoneyMakerGroup and DreamTeamMoney. The forums previously were used as staging grounds for the Legisi Ponzi scheme, the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, the PathwayToProsperity scheme, the Zeek Rewards scheme and the Profitable Sunrise scheme, among others. The SEC has described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud. The agency has described Profitable Sunrise as a fraud that may have gathered tens of millions of dollars through a series of accounts. Federal prosecutors in Illinois have described PathwayToProsperity as a fraud that made its way into at least 120 countries.

In May, the United States indicted the Liberty Reserve payment processor and forced it offline, amid allegations that Liberty Reserve and some of its operators had engaged in a $6 billion money-laundering conspiracy. In June 2011, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder described the amount of money being stolen online as “staggering.”

“In recent years, we’ve seen clear, and alarming, advances in the sophistication and commercialization of crimes involving electronic networks,” Holder said. “And the staggering volume of money being stolen online today has the potential to threaten not only the security of our nation — but the integrity of our government, the stability of our economy, and the safety of our people.”

Nearly a year later — in May 2012 — INTERPOL said that “[Eighty] per cent of crime committed online is now connected to organized gangs operating across borders.”

In October 2012, Lisa Monaco, then-Assistant Attorney General for National Security, said that cyber intrusions may have resulted in “the greatest transfer of wealth in history.”

Monaco is now President Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser.

Some TelexFree members have claimed that the purported “opportunity” has gathered in excess of $300 million. Among other things, TelexFree has purported to be in the hotel-development business in the run-up to the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. TelexFree, an MLM business, also purports to be in the VOIP telephone business.

Many HYIP “opportunities” that use an MLM sales model have members and promoters in common and promise absurd rates of return. The practice has led to questions about whether groups of MLMers — however loosely associated — may be engaging in willful blindness and causing banks and payment processors to become warehouses for fraud proceeds.

The ASD, Zeek, Legisi, PathwayToProsperity and Profitable Sunrise HYIP schemes may have gathered on the order of $1 billion, court filings suggest. Alleged PathwayToProsperity operator Nicholas Smirnow is listed as wanted by INTERPOL. So is Robert Hodgins, who reportedly once provided payment services to ASD and is listed as an INTERPOL fugitive in a money-laundering case allegedly involving the offloading of narcotics profits in Colombia.

See Aug. 12 TelexFree report on BehindMLM.com.

Aug 12, 2013
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Legisi HYIP Operator Gregory McKnight Sentenced To More Than 15 Years In Federal Prison

McKnight. From U.S. court files.

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Gregory N. McKnight, the operator of the $72 million Legisi HYIP Ponzi scheme popularized in part on the TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup forums, has been sentenced to 188 months in federal prison for wire fraud and ordered to pay more than $48.9 million in restitution.

McKnight also was ordered to serve three years’ probation following his prison release. Legisi collapsed in 2008.

Legisi pitchman Matthew John Gagnon was sentenced last month to serve five years in federal prison and to pay $4.4 million in restitution.

The criminal cases against Gagnon and McKnight were prosecuted by the office of U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan. The civil cases were prosecuted by the SEC.

Legisi bizarrely made members affirm they were not associated with the SEC, the IRS, the FBI and the CIA — along with “Her Majesty’s Police,” the Intelligence Services of Great Britain and the Serious Fraud Office.

Prosecutors said McKnight engaged in “semantic obfuscation” in which investors were told they were joining a “loan program,” not making an “investment.”

Among Legisi’s payment processors was e-Bullion. The Legisi receiver is pursuing claims tied up after the 2008 arrest of James Fayed, the operator of e-Bullion.

Fayed was convicted in 2011 of ordering the murder of his wife, a potential witness against him. Pamela Fayed was slashed to death in a Greater Los Angeles parking garage in July 2008. The SEC brought the Legisi fraud prosecution in May 2008, just two months before Pamela was killed.

E-bullion has been linked to several Ponzi schemes. In court filings on June 6, receiver Robert D. Gordon said more than 85 percent of the $72.6 million directed at Legisi had flowed through the defunct processor.

The Legisi investigations were led by the SEC, the U.S. Secret Service and state regulators in Michigan.

Aug 6, 2013
HourlyRevShare, Another ‘Ken Russo’ Ponzi-Board ‘Program,’ Reportedly DOA

HourlyRevShare, another in a long list of incongruous HYIP Ponzi-board “programs” pushed by serial huckster “Ken Russo” (also known as “DRdave”), reportedly has collapsed after taking a second bite of the Ponzi apple (purportedly as HRS II) after the original iteration collapsed. Other recent “programs” pushed by “Ken Russo” include Zeek Rewards and Profitable Sunrise, both of which cratered after regulatory actions in the United States.

“Ken Russo” also pushed Felmina Alliance, which became the subject of an Investor Alert in Canada; AdSurfDaily, a $119 million Ponzi scheme that put operator Andy Bowdoin in federal prison in Florida; MPB Today, a scheme that led to racketeering charges being filed in Florida against operator Gary Calhoun; Club Asteria, a scheme that falsely planted the seeds it was endorsed by actor Will Smith and the American Red Cross while also trading on the name of slain human-rights champion Mahatma Gandhi; a scheme known as Gold Nugget Invest that cratered in at least two forms; JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, a multiple-name scheme purportedly operated by Frederick Mann that promised a return of 730 percent a year and has encountered regulatory actions in Italy and the Philippines; knockoff scams known variously as JSSTripler 2 and Compound 150 purportedly operated by “Dave” between purported bouts with Dengue Fever; and Wealth4AllTeam, a “program” that experienced business halts and relaunches with new names, at one time claiming it was impervious to U.S. regulators at the state and federal level while incongruously claiming disputes would be settled under California law.

Among other things, the lead pitchman for HourlyRevShare on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum claimed that the “program” offered “Daily guaranteed Payouts.” The promoter also claimed (italics added):

“Earn 4.5% to 6.5% daily for 20 days.”

“Earn 135% to 195% on your shares.”

“Earn 0.18 to 0.29 every hour.”

On April 9, 2013, less than a month after the Profitable Sunrise HYIP scheme collapsed amid SEC allegations a ghost might have been at the wheel, Ken Russo (as “DRdave”) claimed on TalkGold that he’d just received a payment of $4,850 from HourlyRevShare, which was using a Gmail email address. Critics of HourlyRevShare claim the “program” is linked to individuals known as Analie or Anelie Steinway and Dr. Leiven Van Neste.

Whether these individuals actually exist remains an open question.

“Ken Russo” also has been leading cheers for a “program” known as NEOMutual, yet-another Ponzi-board darling. NEOMutual is being pushed alongside a “program” bizarrely known as “CashCropCycler.”

Also see Comments thread below this PP Blog story on the JSS/JBP-linked ProfitClicking scam.

Jul 22, 2013
BIZARRE: ‘Program’ Dubbed ‘CashCropCycler’ Has Ponzi-Board Presence And Zeek Pitchman While Touting Payouts Through PerfectMoney, SolidTrustPay And EgoPay — And Saying It Provides JSSTripler-Like Signup Bonus Of $10

A “program” with the bizarre name of “CashCropCycler” (Triple C) is being pushed on the Ponzi forums, amid claims it issues cashouts through offshore payment processors linked to fraud scheme after fraud scheme and gives enrollees $10 just for signing up. An earlier HYIP scam known as JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid that appears to have morphed into at least two other scams also advertised recruits would be paid $10 for enrolling in its “program,” which purported to pay 730 percent a year (precompounding).

Like a series of recent scams, CashCropCycler purports to be a “revenue sharing and advertising” program. It also claims it is using Skype and Gtalk for customer service. The lead pitchman for CashCropCycler on the MoneyMakeerGroup Ponzi forum appears to be “mmgcjm,” the lead pitchman for the alleged $600 million Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme at the same forum.

Whether CashCropCycler borrowed part of the JSS/JBP fraud pitch wasn’t immediately clear. Also unclear is whether CashCropCycler’s unusual name was designed to be provocatively ambiguous or as a taunt of some sort. Could the unidentified Triple C operators be suggesting they are using the HYIP world to crowd-source the cultivation of marijuana, for instance? Other HYIP schemes — CashTanker, BotFly and Insectrio, for instance — may have been named to taunt regulators and demonstrate just how gullible investors can be.

CashCropCycler curiously discusses the Triple C alliteration in another context, saying “The name ‘Triple C’ came about in year 2012 when we gave all our personal earnings to support the Clarion Children’s Choir, that was the best experience for us as a team.”

The “program” purports to be operated by “three friends, Americans by naturalization and Swedish by birth; Benson, Dave and Anderson.”

CashCropCycler’s website defines the trio as “ordinary people who find delight in been [sic] able to help our same human species. It doesn’t matter what country you’re from, what race you belong or how educated you are; we only care to help people by building a network that ticks, and this is what we enjoy doing.”

Records suggest that one of the domain nameservers (ian.ns.cloudflare.com) linked to CashCropCycler has been used in spam campaigns for everything from malware to potentially fraudulent National Football League jerseys and potentially fraudulent designer purses purportedly from Louis Vuitton.

Meanwhile, the CashCropCycler Terms of Service includes the strange phrase “Agreements shall be interpreted under the laws” — without identifying a jurisdiction or set of laws used if disputes occur. The Terms also confoundingly assert that “A member is neither an employee nor an independent contractor of CASHCROPCYCLER,” even as CashCropCycler asserts elsewhere on its site that promoters can earn MLM-style commissions totaling 15 percent over three tiers.

By plowing $10 into the scheme, according to the CashCropCycler website, members will earn “186% in 60Days” [sic]. A sum of $50 purportedly fetches “129.60% in 25days” [sic]. Recruits should feel good about the “program” (apparently) because the “script was tested for 68days [sic] before this official launch.”

And members also are permitted to engage in “Member to Member Transfer[s]” from inside the CashCropCycler system “for a 2.50% fee,” according to the website. Beyond that, according to the site, members can pay an exchange “fee of 8.70%” should they wish to have their earnings paid through a processor other than the one through which they joined the “program.”

Some purported exchange services were among the casualties of the Liberty Reserve money-laundering action in the United States in May. Federal prosecutors in New York said that the now-shuttered Liberty Reserve payment processor was facilitating any number of fraud schemes while helping criminals launder billions of dollars.

Even though CashCropCycler members purportedly are neither employees nor independent contractors of the “program,” they nevertheless are encouraged to (italics added/no edits made):

“Promote via banner/text advertisements on other advertising websites that you are a member of.

“Be active on the forums, including MoneyMakerGroup, TalkGold, DreamTeamMoney and Investment-Tracker .

“Including a link to CashCropCycler in your signature in forums.

“Traffic exchanges/Safe lists.

“Social media.

“Word of mouth.”

At least four ads that appear to highlight other HYIP schemes appear near the bottom of the CashCropCycler landing page. One of the ads is for “NeoMutual,” which uses a tagline of “we are crowdfunding.”

Some critics of crowd funding have voiced concerns that easing regulations on certain types of startup companies before appropriate safeguards are in place could lead to egregious marketplace abuses.

Ads for what appear to be HYIP schemes are displayed on the website of CashCropCycler. A purported opportunity known as NEO Mutual purports to be a “crowd funding” company through which members can use payment processors such as Perfect Money, SolidTrustPay and EgoPay that have been linked to multiple fraud schemes. NEOMutual also purportedly does business with bitcoins and PexPay — all while employing a “bank transfer” option. NEOMutual purports to have “Junior,” “Senior” and “Executive” plans that pay daily interest rates of 1.4 percent, 1.6 percent and 1.9 on sums between $20 and $250,000. NEO Mutual says it is located at Revolution Tower in Panama City, Panama. Like the “Profitable Sunrise” scheme, NEO Mutual purports to be in the bridge-loan business. In April 2013, the SEC called Profitable Sunrise a scam that may have gathered millions of dollars while using a “mail drop” and offshore bank accounts.

Also see CashCropCycler review on BehindMLM.com.

Jul 16, 2013
URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Legisi HYIP Ponzi Pitchman Sentenced To 60 Months In Federal Prison, Ordered To Pay $4.4 Million In Restitution

Matthew John Gagnon

URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Legisi HYIP Ponzi-scheme pitchman Matthew John Gagnon has been sentenced to 60 months in federal prison, ordered to pay $4.4 million in restitution and further ordered to serve three years’ supervised probation after his prison release, the office of U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan said.

Legisi, a $72 million Ponzi scheme pushed on fraud forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup, was operated by Gregory N. McKnight, who faces sentencing in August. Gagnon’s five-year sentence was the maximum under a plea agreement with prosecutors, who’ve recommended McKnight serve 15 years.

Gagnon pushed Legisi and other fraud schemes through Mazu.com, the SEC said in 2010. The name of MoneyMakerGroup appears in evidence exhibits in the Legisi Ponzi case.

Gagnon will be permitted to self-report to prison, prosecutors said.

The Legisi case — perhaps particularly events involving Gagnon — has been closely watched because it shows that MLM-style HYIP pitchmen can be held accountable criminally for pushing scams. The SEC called Gagnon a threat to the investing public, describing him as a serial fraud pitchman who lacked licenses to sell securities and pushed the unregistered securities of multiple fraud schemes.

In civil charges announced yesterday in Ohio, prosecutors effectively made the same claims against promoters of the alleged Profitable Sunrise pyramid scheme. Included among them was Nanci Jo Frazer, who allegedly also promoted the $119 million AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme and the $600 million Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

The Legisi case began as an undercover probe by state securities regulators in Michigan and the U.S. Secret Service.

Legisi’s Terms of Service sought to make members affirm they were not an “informant, nor associated with any informant” of the IRS, FBI, CIA and the SEC, among other agencies, according to documents filed in federal court.

Current scams such as Profit Clicking have published similar terms, which read like an invitation to join an international financial conspiracy. Ohio prosecutors said they believed Frazer also pushed ProfitClicking, in addition to Zeek, ASD and Profitable Sunrise.

McKnight, prosecutors have said, tried to sanitize Legisi by calling it a “loan” program and engaging in semantic obfuscation. Any number of HYIP scams have employed similar linguistic sleight-of-hand, with ProfitClicking bizarrely arguing that neither itself nor affiliates can be held accountable.

Gagnon argued in court that he’d been duped by McKnight, but a federal judge didn’t buy it.

Jul 10, 2013
REPORT: TelexFree Diverted $88 Million After Brazilian Judge Blocked Payments

UPDATED 1:04 P.M. (JULY 5, U.S.A.) Quoting a prosecutor, the website of iG — a Brazilian communications provider — is reporting that the TelexFree MLM “program” allegedly diverted $88 million after a judge in the state of Acre blocked payments as a pyramid-scheme probe got under way last month.

TelexFree also operates in the United States. The “program” has been pitched to victims of the murky Profitable Sunrise “opportunity,” which the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission described in April as a pyramid scheme that may have collected tens of millions of dollars through offshore bank accounts.

At least one U.S. video pitch for TelexFree described the purported opportunity as a “program” that provided a guaranteed payout of at least $1,100 per week for a year to individuals who sent in $15,125 for the purchase of a “contract.” TelexFree has been under investigation in Brazil for weeks. Behind MLM.com is reporting that seven Brazilian states have opened probes.

Here is a link to a Google translation in English of today’s iG story.

Whether U.S. investigators have opened probes into TelexFree is unknown. The opportunity, however, may have U.S. exposure to charges it is selling unregistered securities as investment contracts. MLM “programs” such as Zeek Rewards and Profitable Sunrise have been shut down under U.S. securities laws.

Like Zeek Rewards and Profitable Sunrise, TelexFree has a presence on well-known Ponzi-scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

Such MLM “programs” typically have promoters in common, a circumstance that raise questions about whether promoters are engaging in willful blindness and polluting banks both domestic and across national borders with unlawful proceeds from scams that may have ties to organized crime — or worse. TelexFree purports to be in the communications business.

In August 2012, the SEC described Zeek Rewards as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme operating from Lexington, N.C. The precise base of operations of Profitable Sunrise remains unclear. The SEC said it used a “mail drop” in England.

HYIP schemes typically generate protests when governments move against them. Such appears to be the case with TelexFree, which appears to have affiliates willing to march in the streets in apparent “defense” of the “program.”

As was the case among certain Zeek Rewards affiliates in the United States, certain affiliates of TelexFree in Brazil appear to be engaged in efforts to demonize law enforcement and to chill courts or enforcement agencies. After the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme was exposed in the United States in 2008, bogus liens seeking billions of dollars were filed against public officials.

Because money directed at HYIP schemes typically involves transfers among any number of conduits to keep schemes afloat, law-enforcement agencies often seek asset freezes to prevent the movement of money. In the absence of such freezes or if freeze orders are ignored, less money may be available to compensate victims if an investigation ultimately reveals fraud has occurred.

Large promoters typically gain the lion’s share of HYIP proceeds at the expense of their recruits. The operators of the schemes may siphon millions of dollars along the way even as they make classic Ponzi payouts to promoters to create an air of legitimacy.

Jul 3, 2013