PatrickPretty.com

Tag: ThatFreeThing

  • UPDATE: ‘JustBeenPaid’ Promos Trading On Name, Likeness Of Oprah Winfrey; ‘Click On The Oprah Banner Below,’ Ad Instructs

    Screen shot: Pitchmen now are trading on the name of Oprah Winfrey to hawk JustBeenPaid. The name and likeness of Warren Buffett also have been used in JustBeenPaid pitches, and Ponzi forum chatter also includes the name of Charlie Sheen.

    UPDATE: In addition to trading on the name of Warren Buffett, the JustBeenPaid “program” is trading on the name of entertainment icon and business titan Oprah Winfrey.

    Actor Charlie Sheen’s name also has been referenced in Ponzi forum chatter about JustBeenPaid, an “opportunity” whose braintrust once recruited members for Florida-based AdSurfDaily. ASD, according to the U.S. Secret Service, was operating a $110 million Ponzi scheme.

    YouTube recently has been deleting JustBeenPaid promos.

    JustBeenPaid became a darling of the Ponzi scheme boards earlier this year. The Winfrey development occurs against the backdrop on a September incident in which Club Asteria — another Ponzi board darling — published a likeness of actor Will Smith in a promo.

    Club Asteria later removed the image, which featured Smith’s likeness over a “JOIN NOW” button. It is common for schemes to plant the seed that a famous person or entity endorses a “program” — even when no such endorsement exists.

    Winfrey’s name and likeness repeatedly have been used by scammers to sanitize their fraud schemes, leading to litigation filed by Winfrey herself, the Federal Trade Commission and the attorney general of Illinois.

    “Click on the Oprah banner below,” a prompt for a current JustBeenPaid promo urges. A likeness of Winfrey appears below the prompt, which creates the appearance that she has endorsed the “program.”

    “The Profit Program for the Most Special Moneymakers!” the promo exclaims.

    When the image is clicked, a page for a JustBeenPaid affiliate loads.

    An appeal for visitors to join “OneX” appears on the same page that abuses Winfrey’s name and likeness. OneX and Club Asteria, which trades on the name of the World Bank, were among the “programs” pitched on the Ponzi boards by “manolo” earlier this year.

    In April, “manolo” used the name of JPMorgan Chase when pitching a “program” known as ThatFreeThing.

    In 2010, the DataNetworkAffiliates “program” linked to Phil Piccolo traded on the name of and likeness of Winfrey. Piccolo has been called the “one-man Internet crime wave.”

  • Club Asteria Pitchman Uses Name Of Another Famous Bank In Ponzi-Forum Promo For ‘ThatFreeThing’; No Immediate Comment From JP Morgan Chase

    UPDATED 10:51 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The name of JPMorgan Chase — one of the most prominent financial institutions in the world — is being used by “manolo” in a pitch for the ThatFreeThing (TFT) MLM program on the TalkGold Ponzi scheme and criminals’ forum.

    “manolo” also is promoting Club Asteria (CA), a highly questionable “program” that trades on the name of the World Bank. The World Bank’s name also appears in promos on TalkGold and other Ponzi forums such as MoneyMakerGroup.

    JPMorgan Chase did not respond immediately to a request for comment about the use of its name in TFT promos and whether TFT and its affiliates were authorized to use the bank’s name in sales pitches.

    TFT affiliates in multiple forums and social-networking sites have been using the Chase name to drive “sign-ups” to the MLM by planting the seed that Chase will pay them $150.

    “Members are signing in (sic) their droves, and corporate businesses see this…now the back office is loaded with Tons of freebee’s (sic) …like Free $150 fro (sic) Chase bank !!!” a three-exclamation-point promo from a poster on Scam.com screamed yesterday.

    On TalkGold, meanwhile, “manolo” was circulating the Chase name in a post that asked, “Did you see the $150 you get for FREE when you open up a Chase Bank account?”

    “These types of freebies are HUGE when we post them because you can literally get someone to join for $25 and instantly show them how to put $150 in their pocket in the very first day,” the post declared.

    “manolo” appeared to be quoting an email sent to him earlier this month by “TFT Support.”

    Chase’s name also is referenced in a 12-page TFT thread on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum. There, within the TFT thread, promoter “strosdegoz” also is pitching something called Exotic FX, which purports to be a “PRIVATE ASSET HAVEN.” At the same time, “strosdegoz” is promoting a “program” known as “Cycle2Riches,” which appears to be a matrix cycler that uses a notorious business model that has been attacked by the U.S. Secret Service.

    “strosdegoz” and “manolo” are believed to be one-in-the-same. How either TFT or Club Asteria could assure members its income stream was not polluted by proceeds from fraudulent enterprises promoted on MoneyMakerGroup, TalkGold and other Ponzi forums is unclear.

    Both MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold are referenced in federal court filings as places from which Ponzi schemes are promoted. Any new Chase customer who opened an account with the bank in response to the TFT promos on the Ponzi forums conceivably could cause fraud proceeds to flow into the bank. The Ponzi forums are populated by serial hucksters.

    TFT promos that reference Chase also are appearing on Facebook. Chase appears recently to have offered a promo by which certain customers who established a banking relationship with it and met other conditions could qualify for a $150 reward. Details about the Chase offer, which appears to have expired, were not immediately clear.

    Records suggest, however, that Chase never promised to put $150 in the pockets of new customers “on the very first day,” as the TFT promo implied. Moreover, Chase is Chase, and TFT is TFT. If the Chase offer was available to the public, there was no reason to pay TFT any money to gain access to the Chase offer.

    Chase currently is offering a $125 bonus to certain new customers through May 16, according to its website. But the offer varies by state and comes with conditions such as making a minimum opening deposit of $100 and establishing direct deposit from “payroll, pension or government benefits, such as Social Security.”

    New accounts come with banking fees if customers don’t meet the minimum qualifications, and no one gets the reward money instantly, according to the Chase website.