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Tag: Wings Network

  • DISTURBING: Report Of TelexFree-Related Kidnapping And Extortion Bid

    telexfreelogoLa Republica, a newspaper in Peru, is citing information from police and reporting that a TelexFree promoter in the country was kidnapped Thursday afternoon and held in a van. The PP Blog cannot independently verify the report, which suggests the kidnapping was carried out by TelexFree members who ordered the man to withdraw money from a bank to make them whole.

    In Peru and across the world, individual TelexFree members recruited others into MLM downlines. La Republica’s report suggests the kidnappers’ extortion plot failed, but one person reportedly was captured while others fled.

    Court records in the United States allege that some TelexFree sponsors collected money from individual recruits, rather than directing the recruits pay TelexFree directly. Such a practice may establish a dangerous black-market economy while setting the stage for scams to occur inside of scams.

    How the asserted Peruvian kidnapping victim handled TelexFree transactions is unclear. Even if recruits paid TelexFree directly, however, it’s no guarantee against an angry mob. In a 2009 Ponzi case in the United States, the FBI warned against Ponzi victims taking matters into their own hands. Four persons were charged criminally in an alleged shakedown bid associated with the 2009 case in California.

    “In their guilty pleas the defendants admitted to creating an environment that was intimidating and causing the individuals to believe that they were not free to leave,” the FBI said in 2010.

    On April 1, 12 days before TelexFree declared bankruptcy in the United States, unhappy affiliates jammed the “program’s” office in Massachusetts. Police were called to defuse the situation.

    Here is La Republica’s May 24 report in Spanish. Access the Google Translate tool here.

    It’s often the case in the HYIP sphere that individual promoters push multiple scams simultaneously, potentially setting the stage for recruits to take multiple baths. It is known, for example, that some TelexFree promoters also were pushing WCM777 and Wings Network.

    The SEC has called WCM777 an $80 million fraud scheme. Wings Network has been accused in Massachusetts of selling unregistered securities as investment contracts. Vulnerable populations often are targeted in HYIP scams.

    There have been reports of at least two TelexFree-related suicide deaths. Some TelexFree affiliates spammed reports of the deaths with offers to join the “program,” which the Massachusetts Securities Division has described as a combined pyramid- and Ponzi scheme that gathered more than $1.2 billion.

    In April, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued TelexFree and eight managers/executive or promoters, alleging a massive fraud scheme.

    Some promoters continued to promote TelexFree after a Brazilian court froze TelexFree-related assets last year and suspended new registrations in that country. Promoters’ solicitations to prospects to join the “program” continued even after a judge and prosecutor in Brazil were threatened with death.

    As the PP Blog reported on May 22, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have established a website for TelexFree victims. So has the Massachusetts Securities Division, as the PP Blog reported on April 25. As the PP Blog reported on May 15, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has published TelexFree information in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

    NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: ‘Wings Network’ And Alleged Promoters Charged

    wingsnetworkmasscomplaintURGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: (16th Update 12:27 p.m. EDT U.S.A.) “Wings Network,” an MLM “program” in part targeted at TelexFree participants, has been charged in Massachusetts with operating a pyramid scheme and selling unregistered securities as investment contracts as part of a securities-fraud scheme.

    Several individual promoters or alleged recipients of fraud-scheme proceeds were named in the civil complaint.

    The allegations were brought by the office of Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin, who oversees the Massachusetts Securities Division. Galvin’s office earlier brought fraud charges against TelexFree and banned a similar “program” known as WCM777 from the state. The SEC later sued both TelexFree and WCM777.

    “This case is another example of unscrupulous operators preying on vulnerable immigrant communities with promises of great riches, in this instance a bogus means of downloading electronic content,” Galvin said. “In reality, these operators only sought to rope more participants into their scheme.”

    In a statement moments ago, Galvin’s office said three individuals in Central Massachusetts had been charged as promoters.

    “Within five months, Wings Network collected $12,546,226 from 8,914 Massachusetts investors,” Galvin’s office said, citing the complaint.

    Named respondents include Priscila and Geovani Bento of Auburn, and Vinicius Aguiar of Marlborough.

    Some of the money was “wire transferred” to Sergio Tanaka of Florida and Tropikgadget, Tanaka’s company based in the United Arab Emirates and Portugal,” Galvin’s office said.

    “Tanaka and his company are respondents in the complaint,” Galvin’s office said.

    Aguiar, Galvin’s office said, conducted transactions as BRAZUSA Communication Company, Eagle Team, Grupo Aguiar, and Grupo Internacional.

    Carlos Barbosa of Madeira, Portugal, is a party referenced in the complaint. Barbosa purportedly is the CEO of Wings Network.

    “Respondent Barbosa was videotaped in April, 2014 giving a Wings Network presentation to over 960 Massachusetts investors,” Galvin’s office said.

    From a statement by Galvin’s office (italics/carriage returns added):

    Wings Network purported to sell mobile marketing platforms that allow consumers to download electronic content for a fee, the complaint stated, but added, “The marketing materials, online selling presentations and assertions by the individual respondents make it clear that the primary purpose of Wings Network is to recruit additional members.”

    Of the sales pitches for this “thinly veiled pyramid scheme,” the complaint says, “The use of trendy internet terms combined with meaningless high technology buzzwords and slick websites are all devices to dazzle prospective investors and induce them to purchase their way into the Wings Network scheme.”

    “The product itself is redundant because it is not necessary to use any product including Respondents’ product, to download electronic content,” the complaint charges, “The true purpose of the program was to recruit additional participants into the Wings Network and investors were told that recruitment was how the investor was going to make any significant money.”

    The complaint seeks a cease and desist order, and a requirement that the respondents offer to compensate investors who suffered losses through the alleged wrongdoing.

    A message on the Wings Network website today claims “no wrong doing has been alleged.”

    Based on today’s complaint by Galvin’s office, the message on the website appears not to reflect the current reality.

    Read the complaint.

  • BOSTON GLOBE: Massachusetts Issues Subpoena To Wings Network ‘Program’

    cautionflag3rd Update 12:58 P.M. EDT U.S.A. The office of Massachusetts Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin has issued a subpoena to Wings Network, the Boston Globe is reporting.

    From the Globe (italics added):

    “We attended one of their events,’’ Galvin said. “We had heard from some investors who, in light of TelexFree, had become concerned — and we’re concerned.’’

    Galvin heads the Massachusetts Securities Division, which brought civil fraud charges against TelexFree last month after an investigation that lasted for weeks. Galvin’s investigators also brought fraud allegations against the WCM777 “program” in November.

    Galvin’s office alleged that TelexFree was a combined Ponzi- and pyramid scheme that had gathered more than $1.2 billion.

    Both TelexFree and WCM777 were targeted at the Brazilian community in Massachusetts, according to filings. In addition, the “programs” targeted speakers of Spanish and Chinese. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed charges against the “programs.”

    No charges have been brought against Wings Network. The Massachusetts probe is ongoing, the Globe reports.

    Like WCM777, Wings Network says it is in the cloud-computing business. Like TelexFree, Wings Network says it’s involved in “apps.” TelexFree also pushed a VOIP product.

    Galvin’s office issued a warning on pyramid schemes last month, saying that investigators have encountered “recent schemes” involving “products related to internet services, mobile marketing platforms, app sales, cloud computing services, and voice-over-internet applications.”

    The HYIP world is infamous for reload schemes in which victims of previous scams are targeted again by purveyors of purported emerging “opportunities.”

    There is a Wings Network outlet in Framingham, Mass., according to a photo in the Globe.

    The Framingham area appears to have been a TelexFree stronghold.

    Like TelexFree, AdSurfDaily, Zeek Rewards, Profitable Sunrise and other schemes that have come under regulatory scrutinty, Wings Network has a presence on well-known Ponzi-scheme boards such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

    Also see March 22, 2014, PP Blog story on the interconnectivity of schemes .