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Tag: Zeek

  • BIZARRE: Zeek Leaders Scold Affiliates: COO Plants Seed That, If Company Tells Members To Change Their Preference In Dispensing Toilet Paper, They Should Do It

    EDITOR’S NOTE: One of multilevel marketing’s longtime problems is the observation by critics that some MLM purveyors routinely display cult-like behavior that protects the reputation of the “opportunity” at all costs while ostracizing participants who stray from the company line or ask too many questions. Zeek Rewards, which is married to a penny-auction site known as Zeekler and employs a business model that suggests an investment return of between 1 percent a 2 percent a day is possible, already has a considerable PR problem. The “opportunity” did itself no favors in a conference-call yesterday in which company leaders did nothing but reinforce the notion that MLM often is its own worst enemy . . .

    UPDATED 3:27 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) On a conference call in which the Zeek Rewards MLM scolded affiliates for everything from not pressing “*6” to eliminate background noises (such as flushing toilets) to bypassing Zeek and calling its attorneys and vendors to get answers to their questions, Zeek COO Dawn Wright-Olivares shared a story that planted the seed Zeek reps should carry out the company’s marching orders without question — or risk public humiliation or banishment.

    A recording of the call posted on Zeek’s website early this morning began with a woman delivering condescending remarks to Zeek affiliates that they had to be “coachable” or likely would remain “just over broke” despite Zeek’s efforts to help them make money through the MLM program. The post is titled “Hit *61 and Other Zeek 101 Suggested Behaviors.”

    “Did you know that broke people usually don’t listen and follow their leader?” the woman ventured.

    She went on to deliver a series of bromides (“If you want things in your life to change, you have to change things in your life”), and then Wright-Olivares came on the line.

    That’s when an already-curious call devolved into the bizarre.

    As part of an apparent bid to teach Zeek affiliates how they should behave as responsible affiliates, Wright-Olivares shared a story about a pitch she once attended from a top-ranked personal-fitness trainer seeking new clients.

    The trainer, Wright-Olivares recalled, began by asking attendees if they were serious about getting in shape — and then advised prospects to go home and to carry out a task that (apparently) would demonstrate their willingness to be coached.

    “If your toilet paper flips over and rolls over the top,” Wright-Olivares recalled the trainer saying, “I want you to flip it over so it comes out the bottom.”

    Attendees whose toilet-paper dispensing habits were the reverse of the top-rollers were given the opposite instruction — and then everybody was sent home, Wright-Olivares said.

    When the pitch resumed, the trainer asked the audience of about 50 people for a show of hands on who carried out the instructions. About 10 people raised their hands, Wright-Olivares recalled.

    “Everyone with your hands raised may stay — everyone else I want you to leave,” Wright-Olivares recalled the trainer saying.

    “You’re not ready, and I’m not willing to risk my career and my reputation to train you,” Wright-Olivares recalled the trainer saying, noting that the nonflippers were “disgusted” that they’d been dismissed in this fashion.

    But the trainer held his ground, Wright-Olivares remembered.

    “Look,” he explained, Wright-Olivares recalled. “I just want everybody to be clear: If you’re not willing to listen to me, to go home and flip over your roll of toilet paper, then you’re not going to do a damn thing I tell you to do and you are risking my company’s reputation and you are risking my reputation . . .”

    Wright-Olivares then asserted Zeek affiliates were harming Zeek’s reputation by inappropriately calling Zeek’s financial vendors, a country club and attorneys.

    “Guys, they’re legally not allowed to talk to you,” Wright-Olivares said of the attorneys. “They’re our attorneys. They’re not your attorneys.”

    She went on to fret about the harm Zeek affiliates apparently were heaping on the company.

    Is it your intention “to harass the bank so much that they don’t want to do business with our company?” she asked.

    Here is the post on the Zeek News Blog, which includes a link to the recording.

     

  • ZEEK: Now, A Problem With ‘Mislabeled’ Purchases, MLM ‘Opportunity’ Married To Penny-Auction Site Says

    After wrapping itself in the American flag on Memorial Day and authoring a vague announcement that it “will be closing our old accounts” at two named U.S. banks and transitioning to an unnamed bank “that can handle our growing needs,” the Zeek Rewards MLM “program” now says it experienced a problem with “mislabeled” credit-card purchases.

    Zeek blamed a vendor for the problem, which resulted in Zeek purchases being mislabeled as purchases from a company named “Zonalibre1,” Zeek said.

    “We have just been informed that our credit card processing mis labeled [sic] zeek purchases with the company name Zonalibre1 for the past 15 hours,” Zeek said on its news Blog last night. “This is currently being corrected on all billing statements. If you have purchased anything from zeek in the past 15 to 20 hours and have a ‘Zonalibre1’ charge for the same dollar amount as your zeek purchase, please do not dispute the charge.”

    “Zona Libre” is a Spanish phrase that means “free zone.” Zeek did not say who informed it about the problem. Nor did it identify the vendor or say whether it was using a U.S. domestic or offshore processor to handle credit card transactions.

    Zeek announced Monday that it was dumping two U.S. banks, adding a layer of mystery by saying it “is currently in the process of moving to a bank” — but not saying whether its new bank was U.S. domestic or offshore.

    A Zeek-related business known as Zeekler is a penny-auction site. Among other things, Zeekler puts up for bid sums of U.S. currency, saying successful bidders can receive their winnings via the payment processors AlertPay (now Payza) and SolidTrustPay. Both firms are offshore from a U.S. perspective and have gained reputations as enablers of fraud schemes.

    Among the many other Ponzi-forum promoted “programs” that use AlertPay and SolidTrustPay is JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, which purportedly is operated by Frederick Mann and may have ties to the so-called “sovereign citizens” movement. JSS/JBP purports to pay 2 percent a day. “Sovereign citizens” have an irrational belief that laws do not apply to them.

    Promos in 2008 identified Mann as a pitchman for AdSurfDaily, which the U.S. Secret Service described as a “criminal enterprise” and Ponzi scheme that had gathered at least $110 million online. ASD is known to have had “sovereign citizens” in its ranks. ASD President Andy Bowdoin pleaded guilty to wire fraud last month, acknowledging that ASD was a Ponzi scheme that had defrauded participants from Day One of its operation, beginning in late 2006.

    Some former ASD affiliates also are known to be promoting Zeek. Included among them are Todd Disner and Dwight Owen Schweitzer, who sued the United States last year for alleged misdeeds in bringing the ASD Ponzi case. One text ad for Zeek that includes a photo of Schweitzer includes this phrase (italics added):

    “I earn 1%+ a day compounded & you can too!”

    Schweitzer is a former attorney whose license was suspended in Connecticut. Disner is a co-founder of the Quiznos sandwich franchise.

    Both Zeek Rewards and Zeekler say they are part of an entity known as Rex Venture Group. Rex operates in North Carolina, the same state in which the banks it announced it was dumping operate. On Monday, Zeek instructed customers to “Please be sure to deposit or cash any commission checks immediately so they clear before June 1st, 2012 or they will be returned to you with ‘account closed’ and will need to be reissued.”

    Two days later — on Wednesday, during evening hours in the United States — Zeek issued a strange announcement that used the term “claw-back.” “Clawback” is a word often associated with Ponzi schemes. For instance, if investors in Ponzi schemes emerge as winners among a pool of losers, the government or court-appointed receivers may file clawback lawsuits that demand the return of funds from winners as a means of ensuring that all victims of a fraud scheme are treated equally.

    Here, in one instance, is how Zeek used the term (italics added):

    “As you know, we are currently in the process of transferring accounts to our new banks. While we will be able to resume check runs when the transfers are finalized, we do not want to cause any additional delay to our affiliates who are waiting for their May 21st or 28th commission checks. Therefore we are going to be issuing a claw-back of all requested checks into a special Zeek portal where any affiliate who is awaiting a physical check can instead choose their preferred eWallet for their commission payment. All three fully integrated eWallets (below) will be made available for this and future paydays.

    • SolidTrust Pay
    • AlertPay

    Although Zeek initially said on Wednesday it had three eWallet providers, it now appears to be referencing only two — apparently editing its original news-Blog post. (In the original announcement Wednesday, Zeek also listed NXPay.)

    Adding another layer of mystery to Wednesday’s announcement was Zeek’s use of the plural “banks” in the context of its transition to new service-providers. On Monday, Zeek used the singular “bank,” implying that it was selecting a single new bank to handle its needs.

    Zeek affiliates have a presence on well-known Ponzi scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup, forums whose members promote “programs” that purportedly offer returns that are both unusually consistent and outsize — typically at preposterous ROIs that exceed 1 percent a day.

    Affiliates of Zeek say the Zeek “program” pays out between 1 percent and 2 percent a day, although Zeek claims it is not an investment program and has preemptively denied it is a pyramid scheme.

    Among Zeek’s claimed consultants are the MLM law firm of Gerald Nehra, and purported MLM expert Keith Laggos. Both Nehra and Laggos ventured opinions that ASD was not a Ponzi scheme. Disner and Schweitzer pointed to those opinions when suing the United States in November 2011.

    The government has moved for dismissal of the lawsuit, pointing to Bowdoin’s guilty plea and acknowledgement that ASD was a Ponzi scheme. Among other things, Disner and Schweitzer argued that undercover agents who joined ASD prior to the seizure of $65.8 million in the personal bank accounts of Bowdoin violated ASDs Terms of Service and had a duty to report their alleged violations to ASD.

    Disner and Schweitzer also sued Rust Consulting Inc., the government-approved claims administrator in the ASD case. A federal judge dismissed Rust as a defendant weeks ago.

  • Zeek Rewards MLM Says Affiliates Must Cash Checks ‘Immediately’ Because It Is Closing Accounts At 2 U.S. Banks

    On Memorial Day, U.S.-based Zeek Rewards announced it was closing its "old" bank accounts in the United States and opening a new account at a bank it did not name.

    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 needs and while in transition will be closing our old accounts with both New Bridge Bank and BB & T,” Zeek said on its news Blog. “Please be sure to deposit or cash any commission checks immediately so they clear before June 1st, 2012 or they will be returned to you with ‘account closed’ and will need to be reissued.”

    Zeek did not identify its new bank. Nor did the purported “opportunity” say why its old banks could not handle its needs and whether its new bank operated on U.S. soil.

    Both New Bridge and BB&T are FDIC-member banks operating in North Carolina. Zeek is a purported arm of Rex Venture Group LLC, which conducts business in North Carolina.

    Zeek says it conducts business with offshore payment processors such as AlertPay (now Payza) and SolidTrustPay. Both AlertPay and SolidTrustPay have been criticized for being friendly to dubious businesses if not outright scams such as investment programs operating in disguise, HYIPs, autosurfs and cycler matrices.

    Zeek affiliates, meanwhile, have a presence on well-known Ponzi-scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup, which has led to questions about whether proceeds from any number of fraud schemes could be passing through Zeek. Today alone Italian authorities announced advertising bans against at least three “programs” that either have or had a presence on the Ponzi boards. The “programs” included JSS Tripler, which purports to pay a daily return of 2 percent; Ricochet Riches, which advertised a daily return of at least 2 percent; and Macro Trade,  which advertised a daily payout rate of between 1.2 percent and 2.2 percent. A entity known as “System Explosion” also was referenced today in an investor warning by CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator.

    Although Zeek insists it is not an investment program, its reported daily payout rate of between 1 percent and 2 percent is consistent with the returns advertised by numerous online scams.

    Two days ago, British journalist Tony Hetherington of the Daily Mail wrote about a purported program known as Royalty 7 that was advertising a daily return of 7 percent. Royalty 7 also has a presence on the Ponzi boards, and a PP Blog reader — “Tony” — reported today that the U.K. Financial Services Authority warned on May 22 that Royalty 7 was an unauthorized firm.

    “Finance Your Dream Ltd trading as Royalty7.com is not authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) to carry on a regulated activity in the UK,” FSA warned. “Regulated activities include, among other things, accepting deposits by way of business.”

    Separately, the Isle of Man Financial Supervision Commission also issued a warning about Royalty7.

    Royalty7 — like Zeek, JSS Tripler and scores of other programs that either plant the seed that outsize returns are possible or outright advertise returns that correspond to annualized returns in the hundreds of percent — advertises that it uses AlertPay and SolidTrustPay as  payment processors.

    The Zeek Rewards MLM program is married to a penny-auction site known as Zeekler.

    “Win Cash!” Zeekler roars to bidders. “Funds will be sent to the winner by SolidTrust Pay or AlertPay.”

    Zeek’s apparent reliance on processors that are the darlings of global fraudsters has resulted in a bizarre condition under which Zeekler effectively is using U.S. currency as an auction “product” no different than a TV set while advertising that successful bidders for sums of cash can receive their winnings through offshore processors linked to fraud scheme after fraud scheme.

    Successful Zeekler bidders are told to “please send a note to [Zeekler] customer support requesting SolidTrust Pay or AlertPay” to receive their cash winnings.

    Despite Zeek’s claim it is not an investment program, it has been presented as such online by its own affiliates. Affiliates claim they’ve earned gains that correspond to an annualized return of more than  500 percent and that Zeek has a feature that makes “compounding” possible.

  • EDITORIAL: Stepfords At The Gate: Zeek Trots Out ‘Social Security’ Argument In Preemptive Pyramid Scheme Denial; MLM ‘Program’ Married To Penny-Auction Site Makes Its Bizarre Case With Exclamation Points

    Zeekler, an arm of a U.S. company, frequently promotes auctions for sums of U.S. cash. Winning bidders can collect the sums via offshore payment processors linked to fraud scheme after fraud scheme. Zeek is adding to the incongruity by preemptively denying it is a "pyramid scheme" while planting the seed that the U.S. government is operating a pyramid scheme through the Social Security program.

    UPDATED 11:12 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) After the U.S. Secret Service seized tens of millions of dollars in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case in 2008, some of ASD’s Stepfordian members advanced the bizarre theory that ASD should have been left untouched because Social Security — a U.S. government program — is a Ponzi scheme. The argument, which assumes Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is disingenuous to its core. Even if it could be proven that Social Security is a Ponzi, it does not change the simple fact that private businesses are not permitted to operate Ponzi schemes.

    With the Social Security argument providing disingenuous cover for ASD and scams across the web, some of ASD’s most reliable “defenders” instantly turned their attentions to other autosurfs, HYIPs, cyclers and cash-gifting schemes. They might as well have said, “If the government gets to run a Ponzi scheme, so do we.”

    The Social Security argument is a deflection that gets trotted out in scam after scam. It is used so often in scams that feature an MLM or MLM-like component that it has become a cliché, a veritable signature of a scam. Some of the most robotic MLM Stepfordians can’t resist the urge to go heavy on the exclamation points when they’re “defending” the most recent “program” in their stable of scams. Many of the “defenses” are nothing more than antigovernment screeds.

    Even ASD President Andy Bowdoin — who after preemptive denials now admits he was operating a massive Ponzi scheme and knew all along that ASD was “an illegal money making business” — could not summon the discipline required to put an end to his scamming ways and days after his arrest. The government now says it has tied Bowdoin to AdViewGlobal (AVG), an autosurf that launched after the Secret Service raid, and to “OneX,” an alleged “fraudulent scheme” and pyramid.”

    After the ASD raid, Bowdoin embarked on a PR strategy that positioned the government as evil. The government, according to Bowdoin, was guilty of “wrong doing,” creating a “nightmare of injustices,” bringing “un-true charges” and the “suppression of all ASD members.”

    Like the Social Security argument, it was just a way to change the subject.

    It has become somewhat fashionable within the HYIP sphere for “program” operators to preemptively deny they are running Ponzi schemes. The up-front denials were an element in the ASD case. They are incongruous by their very nature because they typically occur even as the “program” plants the seed that it not only pays commissions on two or more levels, but also provides outsize returns of 1 percent or more per day — percentages that would make Bernard Madoff blush.

    “Zeek Rewards” is an MLM “program” that is planting an ASD-like seed that money directed to the enterprise will produce a large return.

    Given the lessons provided by the ASD case on both the legal and PR fronts, it is just plain bizarre that Zeek is preemptively denying it is a “pyramid scheme” — all while going heavy on the exclamation points and raising the issue of Social Security.

    On its Zeekler.com penny-auction site, the “opportunity” is saying this (italics/bolding added):

    Our parent company Rex Venture Group has been in business 13 years and has historically paid its representatives in the field every commission check earned since its’ [sic] inception. “Is this a Pyramid Scheme?” Of course not!! “Pyramids” or “Money Games” are illegal and ask its’ [sic] participants to wrap money in tin foil and FedEx it to “someone else” with no exchange for product or service!

    For good measure, the site is saying this (italics/bolding added):

    The pyramidal structure is actually the “model” structure of every corporation and even the U.S. Social Security system. Why then are pyramids illegal? Because there is no “exchange” of product or service for the money spent and the only ones who “collect” money are the people at the top of the pyramid. When there are no longer enough people coming and sending money “up” to move people thru the pyramid – the pyramid collapses. An example of a legal – yet collapsing pyramidal structure/system is what is happening to social security. The baby boomers are all coming of age to collect (at the top of the pyramid)- with not enough people paying in from the bottom!! The structure will then collapse. Every CEO is at the top of his/her company’s pyramidal structure. That’s why he/she makes so much more than a mailroom worker. At penny auction site Zeekler every person has the same opportunity to achieve the same income or out-earn the person who referred them into the program.

    Whether Rex Venture Group historically has paid commissions is immaterial to the issue of whether the company is conducting a pyramid scheme through its Zeek arms. Like successful Ponzis, successful pyramid schemes pay. The payments are what keep new money flowing to the schemes. Web-based Ponzis/pyramids can be exceptionally dangerous because affiliates use the payments they receive as a disingenuous form of social proof that no scam is under way.

    Zeek’s “tin foil” reference is an apparent allusion to obvious cash-gifting scams. But lawyered-up Zeek has to know that the pyramid issue is much more complicated that that, which is why the gifting allusion impresses us as a red herring.  Ponzi/pyramid schemes come in many forms and often involve the issuance and sale of securities. Fraud purveyors may avoid the use of the language of investments, but a security described as something else is still a security.

    And that’s one of the potential issues with Zeek: Is the company selling unregistered securities as investment contracts and trying to disclaim its way out of an encounter with regulators?

    Zeek does not address this issue in its preemptive denial that it is operating a pyramid scheme and simultaneous argument that Social Security is a pyramid scheme. But it does touch on the securities issue at the bottom of the home page of ZeekRewards, the MLM arm of the Zeek “program” (italics added):

    IMPORTANT: The following paragraph MUST BE READ ALOUD whenever the ZeekRewards compensation plan is presented verbally or by telephone, or included in it’s entirety when communicating in writing:

    “If you make a purchase from ZeekRewards you are purchasing a Premium eCommerce subscription or you are purchasing bids to give away as samples. You are NOT purchasing stock or any other form of “investment” or equity. You MUST actually use the bids that you purchase or give them away as samples to help grow your business. Affiliates who present our products to others in a misleading manner or in a way that leads the buyer to believe he or she is making an investment or purchasing equities will be terminated and all commissions and awards will be forfeited. Buyers MUST read the entire How It Works and Get Paid pages on the ZeekRewards website and the Legal Disclaimers.”

    At a minimum, this much can be said about Zeek: It has a tin ear for PR.

    Zeek is preemptively denying it is a pyramid scheme even as its affiliates maintain a presence on well-known fraud forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup, a circumstance that strongly suggests scammers are directing money to Zeek that they “earned” in other scams. The Social Security argument also is a loser because it is embraced by a sea of online scammers as a rationale for licensing themselves to commit crimes on a global scale.

    ASD preemptively denied it was a Ponzi scheme. Its Stepfordian affiliates advanced the Social Security deflection even as they were racing to their next scams and positioning them as a way ASD members could make up their losses.

    Almost all of the scams used the same offshore processors Zeek is using.

  • On Zeek Rewards, Cheerleaders, Currency And Exclamation Points

    Source: screen shot from Zeekler site.

    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 loyal followers, including followers on well-known Ponzi forums such as MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold. The Ponzi-board presence of Zeek affiliates is potentially problematic in the sense that some of them also are pushing obvious fraud schemes such as JSS Tripler/JustBeenPaid, which advertises a return of 60 percent a month and does not disclose its base of operations.

    Yesterday, for instance, a MoneyMakerGroup poster “defending” JSS/JBP while dissing naysayer “Lynndel” was showcasing his Zeek affiliate link below his JSS/JBP “defense.”

    “I am sorry to bring it up to you, but every business is a ponzi online or not,” poster “masikk08” wrote in response to “Lynndel’s” pointed criticism of JSS/JBP.

    Let’s stop for a moment to assess what we just read: A JSS/JBP “defender” who’s also a Zeek affiliate just told you that “every business” is a Ponzi scheme.

    Those words from your potential Zeek sponsor are just plain absurd. They also are devoid of any real-world understanding of the Ponzi menace. Ponzis have put people out of their homes, ruined lives, caused divorces, caused bankruptcies, destroyed college plans and dreams of passing on money to children and caused or contributed to suicides. A number of Ponzi/pyramid-related, murder-for-hire plots have been investigated. A California man believed to have used his ecommerce platform to facilitate Ponzi schemes has been sentenced to death for arranging the contract slaying of his wife, a potential witness against him.

    “Every business makes money off of new customers and nothing lasts forever either,” the MoneyMakerGroup poster and Zeek affiliate continued, mixing an irrelevant point with a bromide.

    “But we have to make the best out of what opportunities we have,” he droned. “I get paid and everyone I know gets paid with JBP. So I can not agree with your statement. But if you do not like to make money with JBP, there are other opportunities you may be interested in. JBP is not for everyone you know.”

    Let’s assess those words: That people are getting paid is not evidence that no underlying crime exists. Successful Ponzis always pay. Bernard Madoff “paid” — right up until the day he didn’t.

    Below the post, “masikk08” used an all-caps headline to attract attention to Zeek: “I HAVE A GIFT FOR YOU,” the headline reads. When the link is clicked, it resolves to a Zeek page.

    “Zeek Affiliates are giving away up to 500 FREE BIDS to each of their registered and new customers!” the promo begins. It goes on to explain that the the bid giveaway is “AMAZING” and that the giveaway began in August 2011 and will “continue throughout the year!”

    Given that we’re approaching May 2012, it appears as though the giveaway has been extended well into 2012.

    Some JSS/JBP affiliates came under fire in January by CONSOB, the Italian securities regulator. From a U.S. perspective, both JSS/JBP and Zeek are using offshore payment processors. This, coupled with the Ponzi-board presence and the processors’ histories of enabling investment scams, could mean that money “earned” in one or more scam “programs” is passing through Zeek.

    Zeek Cash Auctions

    From the tempting-fate department, Zeek and its affiliates, using photos of U.S. currency,  also advertise what effectively are auctions for sums of U.S. cash  — all while affiliates laud the “program” for providing a return. These things easily could catch the attention of the Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, not to mention the SEC and potentially even the CFTC and the FTC.

    Bidders potentially could receive substantial sums of cash at a significant discount. There is a certain incongruity about this, perhaps particularly in the sense that the cash auctions create the appearance that U.S. currency is being used as bait and potentially as a loss leader. But the strangest thing of all is that successful bidders apparently have the option of receiving the full value of the U.S. currency via AlertPay or SolidTrustPay, both of which are based in Canada and both of which are friendly to fraud schemes.

    This opens the door to questions such as these: What registrations, if any, with which regulators in which countries does Zeek require — and does it have them? Which agency is its principal regulator? If a successful bidder pays less than the face value of the U.S. currency, is Zeek eating the loss? Is Zeek buying currency in bulk — or is it simply divining a sum available for bid and debiting its own bank or processing account for that sum when it sends the electronic equivalent of that sum to the successful bidder via the offshore processors?

    Is Zeek selling U.S. currency at a loss or at a profit? If at a loss, why? If at a profit, how? Is there a risk to the U.S. and the currency markets if other “opportunities” model Zeek?

    Blogger “Oz” at BehindMLM.com has written a number of articles that raise legitimate questions about Zeek. (It’s worth taking the time to use the search form at BehindMLM to check out the articles/editorials about Zeek.)

    As time allows, we’ll add to our coverage of Zeek. We’re reading a lot about it from a variety of sources. The source volume and competing claims about the “program” create an atmosphere of confusion, and the overall Zeek “story” is far from clear.

    For the purposes of this column, we’ll raise one final point: AdSurfDaily, which prosecutors have described as an international Ponzi scheme that operated over the Internet and plucked at least $110 million, once spouted that it would try to incorporate an auction arm of some sort. That arm never materialized.

    Zeek appears to have ASD-like elements, leading to questions about whether regulators could become concerned that Zeek was selling unregistered securities as investment contracts and using wordplay to mask an investment program as something else.

    ASD’s auction dream was speculative at best. Our initial take on Zeek is that it shared ASD’s now-ancient dream — indeed, other MLM’s have had the same dream — but Zeek actually put the dream into action. The question is whether that dream is compliant with any number of regulations that could come into play — or whether Zeek jumped the gun and now is trying to become compliant after the fact and after gathering an unknown sum of money while operating unlawfully.

    Lots of people — perhaps millions — support MLM in one form or another. It is virtually impossible to quantify all of the disingenuous presentations, which often are hyperbolic — if not completely over-the-top. A certain sphere within the MLM universe is dominated by hucksters. These hucksters often display a remarkable lack of awareness. Some of them are tone-deaf politically and have a tin ear for real-world PR.

    So, for the purpose of this first column on Zeek, we leave you with two questions: If you place a successful bid for a sum of U.S. currency on Zeekler, do you have any legal or political concerns if your cash equivalent is delivered via an offshore processor that has processed payments for one scam or collapsed scheme after another?

    And why can’t you get your money through PayPal?