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Tag: TrafficMonsoon

  • In Atmosphere Of Murkiness, Are Violations Of The Traffic Monsoon Asset Freeze Taking Place?

    EDITOR’S NOTE: Traffic Monsoon is a Utah company. The firm also has purported business operations in the United Kingdom and Dubai. Details about the offshore operations are murky.

    A claim from an apparent Traffic Monsoon affiliate appeared Monday (April 3) on Facebook that “Allied Wallet is making refunds of [Traffic Monsoon]  purchases made by credit cards or debit cards. Many people are getting this [sic] refunds.”

    In the same thread on the TrafficMonsoonupdates Facebook site, a poster claimed, “I received this in my bank today . . . 10.04% of my initial deposit to TM.” The apparent partial refund was marked “AW*TRAFFICM.”

    In July, U.S. District Judge Jill N. Parrish ordered all assets of Traffic Monsoon and operator Charles Scoville frozen. An October report by court-appointed receiver Peggy Hunt said that Allied Wallet had claimed it had approximately $7 million in Traffic Monsoon funds on deposit when the SEC filed its Ponzi action against the “program.”

    The asset freeze imposed by Parrish was further reinforced last week when she issued a preliminary injunction at the request of the SEC.

    From the preliminary injunction, which names Allied Wallet and other Traffic Monsoon vendors, including PayPal, Payza, Solid Trust Pay and JPMorgan Chase Bank (italics added):

    Each of the financial or brokerage institutions, debtors, and bailees, or any other person or entity holding Defendants’ Assets shall hold or retain within their control and prohibit the withdrawal, removal, transfer, or other disposal of any such assets, funds, or other properties.

    Why, then, are Traffic Monsoon members claiming Allied Wallet is issuing at least partial refunds? And if the refunds are taking place, are they in violation of the asset freeze?

    Allied Wallet did not respond to a request for comment Monday. Neither did the SEC or Hunt.

    But the docket of the SEC’s case against Traffic Monsoon now shows that Hunt filed a notice of a subpoena naming Allied Wallet on Tuesday. How things would proceed was not immediately clear.

    Hunt previously informed the court about a statement Scoville allegedly made about how Traffic Monsoon hooked up with Allied Wallet prior to the SEC action via a company that purportedly was given to him.

    From the statement, as contained in a transcript filed by Hunt last year (italics added):

    Well, the thing is is Traffic Monsoon in the UK was kind of formed in a way because, when we were in Dubai, that’s when we got set up with someone who knew people inside of Allied Wallet to help us get an Allied Wallet account set up. And when we were setting up Allied Wallet, Allied Wallet required us to have a registration in the UK.

    Scoville went on to say, “We had somebody who was there with us who said, I’ve got a UK company. We can change it to the Traffic Monsoon, and then we could use that registration so you can use Allied Wallet. So that’s Taheer and Amir, both of them are on that business registration, but technically they don’t own any of the company.”

    And, according to the transcript, Scoville said, “they were just giving me a company that they had already registered as a speedy process of just making sure that we have a business registration in the UK. But they put me on as the owner.”

    Scoville, according to the transcript, grew to have doubts about the U.K. operation because he could not confirm that staff or security personnel for which he was paying 6,000 pounds per month actually were working at the U.K. office of his own company.

    From the transcript (italics added):

    I went over there, and apparently, the person at the front desk didn’t know who I was, who asked to see the people that were working for Traffic Monsoon, and they said that there’s nobody there. So I don’t know all of the ins and outs of what’s going on there. I may have been scammed. I don’t know.

    Parrish has found that Traffic Monsoon operated as a Ponzi scheme, according to court documents. Scoville has said he will file an appeal.




  • SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: No Decision Reached At Traffic Monsoon Hearing Today

    BRIEF: Lots of people are awaiting word on what happened today at the big Traffic Monsoon hearing in Salt Lake City.

    In a story titled “Age of the Internet creates questions in alleged international Ponzi scheme case,” The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting this evening that U.S. District Judge Jill Parrish has taken the issues under advisement and will rule later.

    More . . .

  • Bogus Magazine Cover Depicts Alleged Ponzi Schemer Charles Scoville Of Traffic Monsoon As 2016’s Best CEO

    This bogus Forbes' cover says Charles Scoville was 2016's BEST CEO. (Red markings by PP Blog.)
    This bogus Forbes’ cover says Charles Scoville was 2016’s BEST CEO. (Red markings by PP Blog.)

    DISCLOSURE: The PP Blog is a Google publisher.

    A bogus cover of Forbes magazine circulating on Facebook depicts SEC Ponzi defendant Charles Scoville of Traffic Monsoon as the “BEST” CEO of 2016 — all while misspelling his last name.

    The image, which falsely showcases the Forbes’ issue as a “LIMITED EDITION,” appears today on the “TrafficMonsoonupdates” page on Facebook, a cheerleading site for the alleged Ponzi scheme. The post comes at a time that both Facebook and Google have been criticized for not screening out fake news during the recent U.S. presidential election.

    Scoville, of Utah, was not named the best CEO by Forbes either before or after the SEC alleged in July that he was at the helm of a Ponzi scheme that had gathered more than $207 million and had affected at least 162,000 investors across the globe.

    And despite the implication that Forbes had named Traffic Monsoon the “BEST TRAFFIC EXCHANGE IN THE WORLD,” no such thing happened. The SEC’s case against Scoville and his company is still being actively litigated, according to the website of the court-appointed receiver for Traffic Monsoon.

    It is not unusual for promoters of HYIP schemes to claim major publications have lauded them or even that U.S. Presidents supported them. Prior to its 2014 collapse, the TelexFree Ponzi- and pyramid scheme wrapped logos of local TV stations into its promos to imply endorsement. TelexFree may have generated more than $3 billion in illicit transactions.

    In 2008, the $119 million AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme falsely claimed then-President George W. Bush had given ASD operator Andy Bowdoin a special award for business achievement. An ASD knockoff scam known as AdViewGlobal fraudulently traded on the logos of Forbes and other publishers in 2009.

    A current fraudulent scheme known as OneCoin also has traded on the name of Forbes, according to BehindMLM.com. Earlier, promoters of the WCM777 scam implied the endorsement of the Wall Street Journal.




  • EDITORIAL: Traffic Monsoon Apologist Goes All-Trump, Calls Receiver ‘Piggy’ And ‘Lying Cow’

    trafficmonsoonlogoUPDATED 3:51 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Peggy Hunt, a partner at Dorsey & Whitney in Salt Lake City, is the court-appointed receiver in the SEC’s Ponzi- and securities-fraud case against Traffic Monsoon and Charles David Scoville. Her impressive Dorsey bio says she has worked in the areas of bankruptcy and receivership law for more than 25 years and has served as “lead counsel to trustees and equity receivers appointed in some of the largest Ponzi and securities fraud cases in Utah.”

    In a section on some of her professional and civil involvement, the firm notes “Peggy is passionate about advancing the status of women and girls in Utah. She co-founded and currently chairs the Utah Women’s Giving Circle of the Community Foundation of Utah, is President of the Utah Women’s Forum, and is a former President of Women Lawyers of Utah.”

    But to Traffic Monsoon apologist Jose Nunes, Hunt, an officer of the court for close to three decades, is “Piggy,” a “[b . . . h” and a “Lying cow.”

    These descriptors naturally reminded us of some of the things Donald Trump has said about women. Remarkably, Nunes took to Facebook to disparage Hunt just this past weekend, the same weekend Trump again was battling assertions that he is a misogynist.

    Like Trump, Nunes may have a defective filter of some sort. The Traffic Monsoon huckster earlier came up with a “Revenue Shares Matter” campaign with a slogan of “RIOT.”

    Such cluelessness is hardly unprecedented in the so-called revshare sphere. AdSurfDaily was a purported “advertising” program similar to Traffic Monsoon.

    When the U.S. Secret Service raided ASD in 2008, operator Andy Bowdoin responded by comparing the agency to “Satan” and the 9/11 terrorists.

    Some ASDers circulated a “prayer” calling for prosecutors to be struck dead.

    When a receiver was appointed in the Zeek Ponzi case, Zeek apologists immediately launched verbal attacks against the receiver. One Zeeker suggested almost immediately that the receiver was guilty of a felony.

    It is all a steaming pile.




  • Traffic Monsoon Apologist Declares ‘Revenue Shares Matter’ Campaign With ‘RIOT’ As Slogan

    revsharesmattersmallA former pitchman for the Traffic Monsoon “program” declared a Ponzi scheme by the SEC is using Facebook to promote a “Revenue Shares Matter Campaign.”

    This is occurring against the backdrop of three nights of civil unrest in Charlotte, N.C., after a police shooting of an African American man.

    The purported Revenue Shares Matter campaign, which appears to be trading on a theme popularized by the Black Lives Matter movement after a series of police shootings of African Americans, apparently began today. The purported campaign was announced through a Facebook account in the name of Jose Nunes.

    Black Lives Matter did not respond immediately to a request for comment on whether it was concerned its message could be diluted by the Revenue Shares Matter campaign.

    As part of the Revenue Shares Matter campaign, a flame-filled graphic appears to urge members of similar revshare schemes to “RIOT.”

    It is not unusual for HYIP defenders to come up with harebrained PR campaigns or sales pitches. A particularly memorable one occurred in 2013, when recruiters associated with the alleged TelexFree Ponzi scheme spammed a funeral notice.

    At least one poster on Facebook already has raised concerns about the Revenue Shares Matter campaign.

    “Jose, I think you may well that some people will find this post and caption is in bad taste and may be deemed highly offensive to many people who support and believe in the BLM movement,” the poster wrote.




  • 2 New Lawsuits Filed Against Traffic Monsoon

    Charles Scoville
    Charles Scoville

    3RD UPDATE 4:21 P.M. EDT U.S.A. Two new lawsuits were filed yesterday in Utah federal court against Traffic Monsoon and Charles Scoville. The separate complaints allege breach of contract, with Rizwan Naseer Puri and Pokhunduth Vickash Thoree listed as the plaintiffs.

    The development appears to mark the first instances of private individuals suing Scoville and his company in a U.S. court.

    A listing for a U.K. solicitor named Pokhunduth Vickash Thoree exists at the Law Society, and the London address on the complaint against Traffic Monsoon and Scoville is the same as the address of the lawyer.

    Thoree contends in the complaint that he paid the defendants $138,350 for 2,777 “Ad Packs” between May 10 and July 25, 2016, expecting to be paid $1 a day per ad pack. The SEC sued Traffic Monsoon and Scoville on July 26, alleging securities fraud and a Ponzi scheme.

    In addition to seeking the return of his $138,350 outlay, Thoree wants $149,958 for lost ad-pack earnings and an additional $120,000 for “emotional distress, anxiety, depression, insomnia, Guilt and frustration caused to him by the Defendants,” according to the complaint.

    Meanwhile, the complaint seeks prejudgment interest of 8 percent a day on $408,808 allegedly owed to Thoree by Traffic Monsoon and Scoville. Contrary to Scoville’s view that Traffic Monsoon was not offering an investment, Thoree identifies himself as an individual who “invested into their business.”

    He further contends that Traffic Monsoon was openly promoted as an investment opportunity.

    Scoville may be facing court action on a third front. At least two class-action firms in the United States are investigating Traffic Monsoon. No complaints have been docketed to date.




  • Zeek Receiver Has $104K Judgment Against TrafficMonsoon Pitchman Now Pushing TrafficPowerline

    Screen shot from federal court files. Masking by PP Blog.
    Screen shot from federal court files. Masking by PP Blog.

    On Oct. 14, 2015, the federal court clerk for the Western District of North Carolina signed a judgment of $104,743.55 against Adrian John Hibbert of Sully, United Kingdom. The judgment was in favor of Zeek Rewards’ receiver Kenneth D. Bell, records show.

    Bell had sued Hibbert and other U.K. residents in March 2015 for return of their alleged Ponzi scheme winnings, plus interest. The SEC shut down Zeek in August 2012, alleging a massive cross-border fraud that had gathered hundreds of millions of dollars.

    Hibbert appears not to have entered a defense to Bell’s claims that he had received more than $82,000 from Zeek and that those winnings constituted Ponzi proceeds that must be returned to victims.

    Instead, he pushed other cross-border, online schemes such as Traffic Monsoon, shut down by the SEC in July after allegedly gathering more than $207 million. With Traffic Monsoon facing a Sept. 23 hearing in Utah, Hibbert has turned his attention to Traffic Powerline, according to promos on YouTube.

    The development shows that money tainted by fraud may be flowing between and among schemes.

    Bell has raised the issue of MLMers moving from one fraud scheme to another.

    BehindMLM.com has reported TrafficPowerline is related to a recently collapsed Ponzi scheme known as MoBrabus.

    Pearse Donnelly of both TrafficPowerline and MoBrabus has been threatening BehindMLM.

    NOTE: Thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.




  • SINISTER: TrafficPowerline, A Ponzi-Board ‘Program,’ Threatens BehindMLM

    “The threat did not explain now a negative review on BehindMLM could be any worse than a fawning sales pitch on MoneyMakerGroup. ‘Programs’ that have appeared on that forum have caused billions of dollars in losses globally.” — PP Blog, Sept. 5, 2016

    trafficpowerlinelogoTrafficPowerline, a “program” whose thread-starter at the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum has more than 4,700 posts, reportedly is threatening BehindMLM.com because of a negative review. (More on the bizarre and sinister threat to artificially link BehindMLM to malware and porn below.)

    The mere presence of TrafficPowerline on MoneyMakerGroup suggests tainted proceeds from any number of scams could be flowing to the emerging program. “proReflex” is the starter in a thread dated July 23. The post begins with the classic line of “I am not the Admin.”

    MoneyMakerGroup is listed in U.S. federal court files as a place from which Ponzi schemes are promoted. Infamous schemes such as Zeek Rewards, AdSurfDaily, TelexFree and many others were listed there, contributing to a condition under which polluted money flows from scheme to scheme to scheme.

    A “program” similar to TrafficPowerline — Traffic Monsoon — was shut down by the SEC on July 26, just three days after TrafficPowerline made its MoneyMakerGroup debut. Like TrafficPowerline, TrafficMonsoon was a Ponzi-board scheme.

    In a post dated Sept. 5, BehindMLM reported that Pearse Donnelly of TrafficPowerline and an earlier scheme known as “MoBrabus” was the source of the threat. MoBrabus also was listed on the Ponzi boards. One of its payment processors was Payza, which the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek case has accused of facilitating that mammoth, cross-border scheme.

    Donnelly, according to BehindMLM, demanded the review be taken down within 72 hours or else a “negative SEO” campaign against BehindMLM would begin.

    Tools used against the well-known review site would include “SGA, Xrummer, Scrape BoX, SeNuke and other SEO tools at our disposal or from service providers to create thousands of low PR, PBN, PN, Porn, Link Farms and Malware site backlinks to your site along with teen-girl 10% free sex online 9% harmful for your computer 8% do not open this link 8% porn 8% adult content harmful 8% computer virus 8% dangerous 8%.”

    The apparent TrafficPowerline aim is to artificially damage BehindMLM’s worth with Google and other search engines through fraudulently placed links.

    Despite bizarrely claiming he was “nicely” requesting BehindMLM to kill the review and not issuing a threat. Donnelly reportedly went on to write that “I am fucking serious OZ do not fuck with me take down the fucking pages or I will make it my little project to fuck your site up.”

    The threat did not explain now a negative review on BehindMLM could be any worse than a fawning sales pitch on MoneyMakerGroup. “Programs” that have appeared on that forum have caused billions of dollars in losses globally.

    Sites sometimes have been known to overplay their hands when trying to bludgeon critics. KlearGear.com allegedly once threatened negative reviewers with a fine of $3,500. The site ended up getting sued by a public advocacy group.

    Because the PP Blog today was able to access the TrafficPowerline website, it means the site is accessible in the United States — after the TrafficMonsoon case and the allegations of securities fraud and after California passed a law that backs consumers if companies try to strongarm consumers by limiting speech through nondisparagement clauses.




  • DEVELOPING STORY: Possible Traffic Monsoon Data Breach

    trafficmonsoonlogoDEVELOPING STORY: During its routine reporting today, the PP Blog observed information that strongly suggests a data breach occurred at Traffic Monsoon or within a sponsor’s organization — possibly in the summer of 2015.

    The SEC, which charged Traffic Monsoon and alleged operator Charles David Scoville of Utah last month with running a massive, cross-border Ponzi scheme, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Traffic Monsoon allegedly gathered at least $207 million.

    If a breach can be substantiated, it would mean that certain personally sensitive information of at least hundreds of Traffic Monsoon participants has been compromised. The information appears initially to have been published on a website with an Arabic audience. The site also includes certain information in English, including what we’d describe as purported PayPal payment “proofs” for various amounts.

    What’s clear at the moment is that the website uses the term Traffic Monsoon as two of the words that form its name. Information on the site suggests certain Traffic Monsoon participants in the United States, the Netherlands, Latvia, South Africa, India, Sweden, Malaysia, Germany, Canada, Serbia, Romania, Israel, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Philippines, Belgium, Argentina and other nations may have been affected.

    This would not be the first time a “program’s” database has leaked onto the web. It previously has happened with cash-gifting schemes, perhaps particularly if sponsors were maintaining their own databases of recruits and did not secure them properly.




  • SEC Declines Comment On Whether It Contacted Traffic Monsoon Pitchman Sunil Patel About Saturday Rally In England

    Sunil Patel: From Facebook video.
    Sunil Patel: From Facebook video.

    Traffic Monsoon pitchman Sunil Patel has promised “security” at a “Revolution Day” rally Saturday in the area of Brighton Beach/Brighton Pier in England to advocate for the alleged Ponzi scheme.

    In a video post today on Facebook, Patel claimed the SEC has contacted him about the event.

    The SEC this afternoon declined to comment on Patel’s claims and his public efforts to get Traffic Monsoon participants to sign a sworn “affidavit” that declares the agency a “third-party interloper.” The Sussex Police did not immediately respond to a PP Blog inquiry about the event. There may be scores of Traffic Monsoon victims in England, potentially setting the stage for trouble between supporters of the SEC’s action and supporters of the “program.”

    Last month the SEC alleged that “more than 99% of Traffic Monsoon’s revenue is derived from new investor funds, making claims that it is a successful advertising business merely an illusion.” A federal judge imposed an asset freeze.

    The SEC’s action against Traffic Monsoon and alleged operator Charles Scoville of Utah is the most recent of several major cases the agency has brought against “programs” that operate across borders. Others include TelexFree, Zeek Rewards and WCM777.

    Combined, the schemes are alleged to have resulted in billions of dollars of illicit business. Some of the funds were fraudulently moved to the far corners of the world.

    On Tuesday from Washington, the Justice Department announced that a money-mover in the Zeek case had been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for obstruction of justice for fraudulently moving a pile of cash offshore. Jaymes Meyer, the operator of Preferred Merchant Solutions, was convicted on charges of trying to hide millions of Zeek dollars from the SEC, the court-appointed receiver and government investigators.

    The SEC charged Zeek in August 2012.

    Patel says that Traffic Monsoon participants from all over the world will attend Saturday’s Brighton event. How many of them will consult legal counsel before signing affidavits is unknown.

    Some Traffic Monsoon participants say they’ve already moved to a “program” known as Traffic Hurricane. The SEC previously has voiced concerns about “whack-a-mole.”

    NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.




  • ‘TRAFFIC HURRICANE’: Reload Scheme Targets Traffic Monsoon Participants And Tries To Gag Reporters

    traffichurricanelogoIn the aftermath of the SEC’s Ponzi action against Traffic Monsoon last month, a website styled TrafficHurricane.plus has gone live and has a sign-up page. Ponzi-friendly Payza and SolidTrustPay are the listed money-movers.

    There are many items of interest on the Terms page, including exceptionally awkward English syntax and a preemptive bid to gag reporters.

    On the syntax front: “You are under the money laundering prevention law . . .”

    On the effort-to-gag front: “If you are not a member you are prohibited from modifying, copying, distributing, transmitting, publishing, selling, creating derivative works and / or using any information available on and / or through TrafficHurricane.”

    The PP Blog accessed the Traffic Hurricane page from the United States today. Given the Traffic Monsoon example and other examples in recent years, U.S. law enforcement may deem the offer as an offering of securities targeted at unaccredited investors in the United States and elsewhere.

    Traffic Hurricane has the hallmarks of a securities reload scheme and reportedly is hosted on the same server as TrafficMonsoon.plus, which appears to have been an earlier effort to launch a reload scheme. TrafficMonsoon originally operated at TrafficMonsoon.com, but that page now resolves to the website of the court-appointed receiver in the TrafficMonsoon case.

    In the HYIP sphere, reload schemes are somewhat common and provide a means by which victims get scammed a second time. Such schemes typically surface when a initial scheme displayed an incredible ability to gather money and line up suckers. Promos for Traffic Hurricane already are running on Twitter.

    The SEC said Traffic Monsoon rounded up more than $207 million. The agency’s complaint says the “program” had more than 162,000 investors.

    Apparently only in operation for a couple of days, Traffic Hurricane this morning said on its landing page that it already had 5,111 members. Like Traffic Monsoon, Traffic Hurricane says it is an “advertising” program.

    The situation is reminiscent of the 2008 AdSurfDaily “advertising” Ponzi scheme shut down by the U.S. Secret Service. ASD sparked at least three reload schemes, including one called AdViewGlobal. Investigators later linked ASD President Andy Bowdoin to AdViewGlobal. Because of AdViewGlobal, a federal judge revoked Bowdoin’s bond in the ASD Ponzi case.

    Charles Scoville, the alleged operator of Traffic Monsoon, has not been charged criminally. It is unclear whether a criminal investigation is proceeding on a parallel track with the SEC’s civil action against Scoville and Traffic Monsoon, but similar schemes have triggered criminal probes.

    BehindMLM.com, quoting TrafficMonsoon cheerleader Sharon James, is reporting Ernie Ganz is behind Traffic Hurricane.

    Other than the core business model and the reload schemes, TrafficMonsoon is like AdSurfDaily in other key ways.

    Traffic Monsoon supporters on social-media sites, for example, virtually are confessing their desire to engage in securities fraud on a global scale. Any number of them are using ASD-like arguments such as “we aren’t selling securities because we announced we weren’t selling securities” and payouts were never guaranteed.

    There also are ASD-like petition drives and various efforts to raise funds to fight the U.S. government. (See June 16, 2011, PP Blog editorial,  “The AdSurfDaily Solution.”)

    Like Traffic Hurricane, the AdViewGlobal knockoff scheme also tried to gag critics.