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Tag: Zeek

  • Zeekers Targeted As Early Ponzi-Board Rift Develops Over Promo For ‘My Fun Life’; Lawsuits Involving Other MLMs Make Headlines

    This attractive blonde woman is featured on the landing page of My Fun Places.
    This attractive blonde woman is featured on the landing page of My Fun Life.

    UPDATED 4:04 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) It has been another miserable PR week for MLM.

    Some members of the alleged Zeek Rewards Ponzi- and pyramid scheme now are receiving over-the-top emails for an emerging travel-membership “program” known as “MyFunLife,” a source tells the PP Blog.

    Meanwhile, executives from a longstanding MLM company are suing each other in Utah while other baffling cases involving upstart MLMs remain in the courts.

    The nascent My Fun Life “program” appears already to have sparked a thread deletion at the DreamTeamMoney Ponzi forum — after two posters complained that a huckster had purloined sales content and used it to recruit downline members. (More on the DreamTeamMoney pitch below. First, the email pitch . . .)

    According to a PP Blog source, Zeekers were emailed a MyFunLife affiliate offer that blared, “There is a CHANGE taking place in our industry . . .  Something SO BIG, SO NEW, and SO COMPELLING I just have to SHARE IT with you . . .”

    The email hype-fest went on to declare My Fun Life “a revolutionary company in the emerging MOBILE APP Industry that’s about to take the world by STORM. They are in the process of building the largest GLOBAL NETWORK of their kind by introducing the HOTTEST APPS in the HOTTEST MARKETS!”

    The pitch appeared below a subject line of “This will be BIGGER and SAFER then Zeek, and it’s LEGAL! You’ll thank me later! ONLY $21 THAT’S IT!!!” The 19-word subject line was backed by five exclamation points.

    Here’s how another part of the email pitch read (italics added):

    The company is using a 3X10 Forced Matrix Compensation structure with up to 50% check matching (on all your personals) with upfront coding bonuses that pay out weekly! And you can earn up to 7 Levels in the Matrix without having to sponsor or talk with anyone! Hello??? (Sponsoring is only required to get paid on levels 8,9 &10) Its INCREDIBLE and its gonna BLOW UP and it’s only $21 to get in.

    As of today, the only content visible on the MyFunLife.com landing page are the words “Coming Soon.” Those words are backed by a series of rotating photographs, including a photo of an attractive blonde woman taking in some sun from a hammock under palm trees.

    “They are positioning several big global leaders now and anticipate 200,000 members in the first 6 months!” the email pitch contended. “Please get back with me asap so I can secure YOU a Top position in my matrix prior to launch!”

    The now-missing pitch on DreamTeamMoney urged prospects to GET IN “EARLYYYY!!” — in part because the “COMP PLAN” for My Fun Life called for “‘matching’ bonuses up to 50%, and ‘coded bonuses’ to die for -> they are UNREAL!! Launching in 45 countries. Major money and talent behind this.”

    As part of the Ponzi-board pitch, the poster shared a plan to “build it fast and hard with . . .  solo ads, FB, Craigslist, my list, and more.”

    In its early days, MyFunLife appears not to have a presence on other well-known Ponzi boards. Like TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup, DreamTeamMoney is infamous as a launch pad for scores and scores of fraud schemes, including a bizarre “program” known as “Insectrio.”

    Zeek also was promoted widely on the Ponzi boards.

    News of the impending debut of MyFunLife came during the same week that MLM was generating more bad headlines in the mainstream press. XanGo co-founder and board member Bryan B. Davis accused the Utah-based firm of looting. Meanwhile, XanGo accused Davis of extortion and incompetent lawyering.

    Those lawsuits followed a lawsuit and counter-lawsuit earlier this year by the purported Go Fun Places and JubiMax opportunities, both of which have a presence on the Ponzi boards.

  • UPDATE: Pushed To Profitable Sunrise Victims, Biwako Bank Limited Appears To Be DOA

    biwakoadUPDATE: The PP Blog wrote about Biwako Bank Limited on April 29 after it was touted on a Profitable Sunrise Facebook site as a good “program” for individuals ripped off in the alleged Profitable Sunrise pyramid scheme.

    But now Biwako Bank’s website has disappeared, with the “program” apparently following Profitable Sunrise into the darkness.

    “**THIS IS NOT AN HYIP , THIS IS A BANK**” a pitchman bizarrely claimed about Biwako on the Profitable Sunrise Facebook site last month. The program curiously said it hoped to attract “costumers.”

    The non-HYIP claim was made despite the fact Biwako Bank listed four color-coded “plans” that purported to provide daily payouts of between 1.95 percent and 3.05 percent.  The highest-paying plan — the “Red Plan” at 3.05 percent a day — advertised a percentage even higher than the purported “Long Haul” plan of Profitable Sunrise.

    The “Long Haul” plan claimed to pay 2.7 percent a day.

    In April, the SEC alleged that Profitable Sunrise was a pyramid scheme that may have gathered tens of millions of dollars at least in part by using offshore companies and wire transfers.

    Regulators have repeatedly warned about reload scams targeted at victims of fraud schemes. Like Profitable Sunrise, Biwako had a presence on the TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup forums. So did Zeek Rewards, which the SEC described in August 2012 as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.

    Biwako’s haul is unknown.

    Other reload programs promoted on the Facebook site by boat-sharks include (at least) “SuperWithdraw,” “Whos12,” “Maxi-Cash,” “FairyFunds,” “Roxilia,” “OptiEarn,” “AVVGlobal,” “ProForexUnion,” “MajestiCrown” and “TelexFree.”

  • Zeek Rewards Claims Portal Is Open

    breakingnews72The claims portal for Zeek Rewards has opened on schedule. It is accessible through a “File a Claim” button on the website of the court-appointed receiver and also has a separate URL. Claims must be filed by 11:59 p.m. (prevailing Eastern time) on Sept. 5, 2013.

    A claims FAQ is accessible here.

    Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen of the Western District of North Carolina approved the Zeek claims process on May 8.

    In a letter to Zeek participants last week, receiver Kenneth D. Bell said there potentially is more than 1 million claimants.

    In August 2012, the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud operated by Paul R. Burks and Rex Venture Group LLC of Lexington, N.C. Zeek, the SEC said, was selling unregistered securities and duping investors into believing they were receiving a legitimate return of about 1.5 percent a day.

    Since that time, the SEC has filed an action against a murky HYIP known as Profitable Sunrise that promoted returns that exceeded even Zeek’s purported numbers and appears to have been using a series of offshore bank accounts. The Profitable Sunrise action was filed in April 2013, amid allegations pitchmen may not have known for whom they were working in a bid to glean commissions.

    Reload scams surfaced in the immediate aftermath of the SEC’s Zeek action. The same thing is happening in the aftermath of the Profitable Sunrise action. Various “opportunities” are being pitched as cure-alls for losses in the “programs.” Some of the reload scams appear to be bids to intercept information from Zeek and Profitable Sunrise victims.

    At least 36 U.S. states or provinces in Canada have issued cease-and-desist orders or Investor Alerts against Profitable Sunrise. Notices also have been published by the governments of the United Kingdom, Italy and New Zealand. The state of North Carolina has published at least two warnings about reload scams. Some of the actions by state regulators in the United States have identified alleged Profitable Sunrise pitchmen.

    Despite the warnings, pitchmen for other HYIP schemes have been spamming websites with offers for other “programs” that promise absurd rates of return.

    Bogus “refund” sites have surfaced after the fall of other major Ponzi schemes. Scammers also have been known to discourage participants in “programs” from filing claims, apparently as part of bids to minimize the victims’ count. Some participants in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme, for example, planted the extortive seed that they might sue anybody who filed a claim.

  • BULLETIN: SEC Moves To Block Virginia Man From Intervening In Profitable Sunrise Case; Appointment Of Receiver Will Depend On Success Of Efforts To Repatriate Assets To United States

    breakingnews72BULLETIN: The SEC has asked a federal judge not to permit a Virginia man to intervene in the Profitable Sunrise HYIP fraud case, saying that the man’s self-filed pleading “would open the floodgates for other investors to file similar motions.”

    In late April, James Paul Schilling of Mechanicsville effectively asked U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. of the Northern District of Georgia to unfreeze $57,300 sent to Profitable Sunrise via wire in a series of transfers in January and February. In early April, the SEC described Profitable Sunrise as a pyramid scheme that may have collected tens of millions of dollars while operating through a “mail drop” in England and using other companies to gather the funds.

    Money from the scheme was directed at entities in several countries, the SEC said.

    Profitable Sunrise was targeted at U.S. residents, the SEC said in April. One of the claimed “plans” of Profitable Sunrise was bizarrely dubbed the “Long Haul” and purported to pay 2.7 percent a day.

    “In this case, permitting S[c]hilling to intervene and retrieve money commingled with funds deposited by thousands of other investors would open the floodgates for other investors to file similar motions, which would create an unnecessary strain on this Court’s resources thereby delaying the proceedings and, ultimately, any distribution of funds to investors,” the SEC argued.

    The agency said in its opposition to Schilling’s motion that it was contemplating asking the court to appoint a receiver, but any decision to ask for the appointment would depend on whether the SEC’s “efforts to repatriate funds are successful.

    “A Receiver could best administer a process to return funds to defrauded investors pursuant to a plan of distribution approved by the Court,” the SEC said.

    In April, the SEC said that “Hungarian law enforcement authorities” had frozen an account holding $11.3 million connected to the scheme as part of an “investigation of suspected money laundering.”

    Whether that money will be returned to the United States is unclear. Also unclear is whether Profitable Sunrise funds that may be held in other countries ever will be returned. Among other things, the Profitable Sunrise case demonstrates the dangers of doing business with murky enterprises, regardless of where an investor lives. Investors by the thousands could be left holding the bag.

    Profitable Sunrise was promoted on well-known Ponzi scheme forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup. Although promoters claimed “Roman Novak” was running Profitable Sunrise, it remains unclear whether he actually exists. The scheme spread through an MLM-style network of promoters hoping to glean commissions.

    The SEC is asking Thrash to summarily deny Schilling’s motion or “in the alternative, order that Shilling support the motion with admissible evidence and provide citation to the legal authorities that he claims support his motion.”

    Despite the murkiness of Profitable Sunrise, former pitchman John Schepcoff is telling YouTube viewers that he’s identified another venture that is “1,000 percent better” than Profitable Sunrise and Zeek Rewards. In August, the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi and pyramid scheme, saying it duped people into believing a return of about 1.5 percent a day was legitimate.

    The Profitable Sunrise “Long Haul” plan offered about double the purported returns of Zeek.

    NOTE: Our thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.

  • Pitchman Says Hong Kong-Based ‘Program’ Is ‘1,000 Percent Better’ Than Profitable Sunrise And Zeek Rewards

    John Schepcoff says he potentially lost more than $193,000 in Profitable Sunrise but that a new "program" is "1,000 percent" better.
    John Schepcoff says he potentially lost more than $193,000 in Profitable Sunrise but that a new “program” is “1,000 percent” better.

    In a bizarre and disturbing video playing on YouTube, a former Profitable Sunrise pitchman claims a new “program” he joined is operating from Hong Kong and is purveyed by an unidentified  “doctor.”

    The purported opportunity is “1,000 percent better” than Profitable Sunrise or Zeek Rewards, according to the video.

    News of the video first was reported on the RealScam.com antiscam forum.

    Pitchman John Schepcoff did not identify the new “program” in the 14:32 video. But he described it as invitation-only. Zeek made similar claims, according to the SEC’s August 2012 Ponzi- and pyramid action against the North Carolina-based firm and accused operator Paul. R. Burks. The SEC described Zeek as a $600 million fraud scheme.

    In April 2013, the agency described Profitable Sunrise as a pyramid scheme that may have gathered tens of millions of dollars, in part through using financial conduits in the Czech Republic, Australia, Panama and China.

    “There’s a litttle bit of a [learning] curve, like also Zeek Rewards in a way, but he made it 1,000 percent better,” Schepcoff said of the new Hong Kong “program.”

    Earlier in the video, Schepcoff claimed the new program was “1,000 percent better” than Profitable Sunrise.

    Schepcoff put $8,225 into the new program, he claimed in the video. He further claimed he’d potentially lost more than $193,500 in Profitable Sunrise but is holding out hope that “Roman Novak” somehow will resurrect the “program.”

    It is unclear whether “Roman Novak” actually exists, according to court filings.

    Among other things, Schepcoff claims in the video that Profitable Sunrise participants need to accept personal responsibility for their losses in the “program” and should not blame individuals such as himself or Profitable Sunrise pitchwoman Nanci Jo Frazer.

    “Stop blaming people, and say, ‘I am responsible,’” Schepcoff coached. Other people who should not be blamed include “Roman Novak,” he noted.

    And Schepcoff claimed he is “so happy” and “really, really happy” he got into the new program. Smiles, however, are absent from his face throughout the video.

    With respect to Profitable Sunrise, Schepcoff described the “program’s” scheme that purportedly permitted “compound[ing]” at a daily interest rate of between 2.15 percent and 2.7 percent as a “no-brainer” for a coach and mentor in finance such as himself.

    “And I teach people about the . . . way how things are done,” he said.

    When he heard about Profitable Sunrise in December 2012, Schepcoff said, “I basically ran to my bank, and I couldn’t get the money in fast enough.”

    Just four months earlier — in August 2012 — the SEC said Zeek duped people into believing they were receiving a legitimate return of about 1.5 percent a day. The Profitable Sunrise “Long Haul” plan purported almost to double Zeek’s purported daily payout.

    “I kept putting wire transfers after wire [transfer]” into Profitable Sunrise,” Schepcoff said, suggesting he took money out of retirement accounts to do so.

    “Greed” that became like a “cancer” controlled his behavior in Profitable Sunrise, he said. Schepcoff did not explain what was driving his behavior in sending funds to the purported Hong Kong “program” purportedly purveyed by the “doctor.”

    The new program apparently relies on a secret strategy designed to prevent links from being shared publicly and is “amazing” in “what it does,” he said. “There’s people — I can tell you this — that are bringing out only in five months over [$]40,000.”

    One person, according Schepcoff, told him that he’d taken out “over [$]200,000” from the new program in a single day.

    Some HYIP “programs” are pitched by “sovereign citizens” and political extremists who divine a construction by which participants are “free” to spend their money as they see fit and that specific word combinations insulate purveyors from any liability if a “program” collapses or becomes the subject of an action by law enforcement.

    HYIP scams typically are promoted on social-media sites such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, FINRA said in a 2010 warning.

  • BULLETIN: Zeek Rewards Claims Portal Scheduled To Open ‘On Or Before’ May 15, Receiver Says

    breakingnews72BULLETIN: The claims portal for the alleged Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme is scheduled to open on or before May 15, the court-appointed receiver has announced.

    “It is with pleasure that I report on May 8, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina granted our motion seeking Court approval of our Claims Process for ZeekRewards,” receiver Kenneth D. Bell wrote in a May 9 letter to Zeek investors published on the receivership website.

    Bell cautioned claimants not to submit claims before the portal opens. And, he noted, most claims will be handled electronically. Special permission must be received from the receiver in writing to submit a claim in any other form.

    The PP Blog reported yesterday that Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen had approved the claims process.

    “Our proposed Claims Process was designed to provide the greatest possible return to the investors and other potential creditors of the Receivership Defendant by minimizing the percentage of Receivership Assets we have to spend to reconcile and determine claims,” Bell wrote.

     

  • URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: Zeek Rewards Claims Process Approved By Federal Judge

    breakingnews72URGENT >> BULLETIN >> MOVING: A federal judge has approved the claims process in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme case.

    The order approving the process was signed today by Senior U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen, meaning that claims must be submitted within 120 calendar days from today. Zeek Rewards receiver Kenneth D. Bell submitted his plan to the court on March 29.

    Mullen, consistent with Bell’s recommendation, ordered the receivership to publish notice of the claims process on certain MLM sites and also in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Charlotte Observer, the Lexington Dispatch and through certain financial-industry trade groups.

    The information also will be made available on the receivership website. Based on the order, it is expected that the receiver’s web portal for the submission of claims will become available within 14 days and that claims submitted prior to the opening of the portal will be disallowed.

    The process calls for affiliates to provide documentation of their claims. There will be a reconciliation process by which the cash outlay to Zeek will be balanced against the money affiliates may have received from Zeek.

    Claimants will not be compensated for Zeek’s so-called “Retail Profit Points” (RPP). Bell advised Mullen in March that the points “aspect of the multilevel marketing program did nothing more than redistribute funds among Affiliates in Ponzi-scheme fashion.”

    Read Mullen’s order. (Thanks to the ASD Updates Blog.)

  • NO REST FOR THE WEARY: Apparent Zeek Rewards Reload Scam Exposed, WFMY Reports

    WFMY interviewed Zeek rewards receiver Ken Bell as part of its report on a reload scam."
    WFMY interviewed Zeek Rewards receiver Ken Bell as part of its report on an apparent reload scam.

    WFMY (CBS/Greensboro, N.C.) is reporting that it exposed an apparent Zeek Rewards reload scam operating on Google’s Blogspot platform — and that Google has removed the offending Blog.

    The scam was operating at a URL of ZeekRewardsIsComingBack.blogspot.com, the station reported. WFMY contacted Zeek Rewards’ receiver Kenneth D. Bell as part of its report. Bell told the station that the Blogspot site looked like “another attempt to revictimize” Zeek investors.

    Whoever controlled the Blogspot site was telling Zeekers there was a “simple process” to “get your money back,” WFMY reported.

    Separately, the PP Blog located content online that suggests the Blogspot site was soliciting Zeek victims to send funds to at least three offshore payment processors: Payza, Liberty Reserve and Perfect Money. All three processors are known to do business with international scoundrels.

    On April 1, the PP Blog observed an online pitch for an entity that appeared to be using the name and address of a U.S. government agency while promising “to recover” funds lost through Profitable Sunrise. The fake agency claimed it could recover losses for a sum of less than $50 and encouraged Profitable Sunrise members to send money to purported accounts at the Liberty Reserve and Solid Trust Pay payment processors.

    The Blog reported information about the fake site to a U.S. government agency.

    North Carolina regulators have repeatedly warned about so-called “reload scams,” including scams that surfaced after the SEC alleged in August 2012 that Zeek was a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme and scams that surfaced after North Carolina brought a cease-and-desist order against the Profitable Sunrise HYIP in February. The SEC has alleged that Profitable Sunrise was a massive online pyramid scheme.

    In 2010, the state of Delaware charged a Detroit man with racketeering for his alleged role in swindling a woman who’d earlier been ripped off in a securities swindle.  The state deemed the follow-up swindle an “investment recovery scam.” Delaware is among many U.S. states investigating Profitable Sunrise.

    Zeek itself is known to have used offshore payment processors. Prior to the SEC bringing spectacular allegations of fraud against Zeek last year, Zeek was auctioning sums of U.S. currency and telling members they’d be sent their winnings through offshore processors.

    Here’s the WFMY report on the apparent Zeek Rewards reload scam . . .

  • WTOL Introduces Middle America To The Profitable Sunrise HYIP Scheme; Graphic Shows 3-Tiered Affiliate Program On Top Of Absurd Payout

    From the WTOL report.
    From the WTOL report.

    During its 11 p.m. newscast yesterday, WTOL (CBS/Toledo) aired a report titled “Holy Rip-Off” about the alleged Profitable Sunrise HYIP scam. The report, which began with images of Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff playing in the background, focused on alleged Profitable Sunrise pitchwoman Nanci Jo Frazer of Bryan, Ohio. Frazer and her NJF Global Group are referenced in Profitable Sunrise-related regulatory actions that brought the alleged scam to a halt, but have not been charged.

    It’s easy to imagine that many people in WTOL’s audience will be surprised to learn that groups of individuals were pushing Profitable Sunrise and its absurd purported daily rates of return with a straight face. Among the Profitable Sunrise offerings was the bizarrely named “Long Haul” plan that promised interest of 2.7 percent a day that could be compounded. That Profitable Sunrise also traded on faith may bring a special blend of horror to the station’s Middle America viewers.

    Still, it won’t be the maximum horror. Indeed, the SEC has alleged that Profitable Sunrise pitchmen may not even have known the identity of the person or persons running the “program” from a “mail drop” in England.

    Indeed, a situation has evolved in which self-identified Christians apparently were targeting other Christians with promises of daily payouts that would make Madoff gag — and from all indications were doing so without even knowing for whom they were working as the offer spread virally over the Internet.

    Whether purported Profitable Sunrise operator “Roman Novak” even exists still isn’t known.

    Then, of course, there is the question about the final destination of purported tens of millions of dollars directed at the “program,” which was pitched in part from well-known forums referenced in U.S. court filings as places from which massive Ponzi and fraud schemes are promoted.

    Within hours of an action brought by North Carolina against Profitable Sunrise weeks ago, a poster on the MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi forum said this:

    “lol @ NC officials.” (See Comments thread in this PP Blog March 1 story.)

    As the story has continued to unfold, an element or elements within NJF Global Group appears to be trying to blame critics for the demise of the “program,” as though the 2.7-percent-a-day “Long Haul” and four other absurd plans were entirely rational and didn’t warrant any scrutiny at all.  This is occurring against the backdrop of major actions brought against other HYIP “programs” by the U.S. government in recent years, including Zeek Rewards last year. Zeek allegedly planted the seed it paid an average of 1.5 percent a day, about half of the purported return of the Profitable Sunrise “Long Haul” plan.

    One of the issues posed by Profitable Sunrise is the issue of willful blindness among promoters. If Zeek was a scam at 1.5 percent a day, for instance, how could Profitable Sunrise not be one with “plans” that dwarfed the returns of Zeek?

    It is known that Profitable Sunrise had promoters in common with Zeek. Some of the promotional ties among various HYIP programs date back at least to the AdSurfDaily 1-percent-a-day scheme in 2008. Like Profitable Sunrise, ASD also traded on religion.

    As the screen shot (above) from the WTOL report shows, Profitable Sunrise offered a three-tiered, MLM-style referral “program” on top of the absurd interest rates. ASD President Andy Bowdoin is in federal prison for his 2008 scam, which offered a two-tiered referral program on top of an absurd 1-percent-a-day interest rate.

    When the U.S. Secret Service exposed the ASD scam, Bowdoin compared the agency to “Satan” and the raid on ASD’s Florida headquarters to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Earlier — prior to the August 2008 raid — he described himself as a Christian “money magnet” and encouraged prospects to send him tens of thousands of dollars at a time.

    Watch WTOL introduce Profitable Sunrise and the early fallout to its audience . . .

    ToledoNewsNow.com: News, Weather

  • WTOL To Air Profitable Sunrise Report Titled ‘Holy Rip Off’

    From The WTOL teaser.
    From The WTOL teaser.

    EDITOR’S NOTE: GlimDropper, an administrator at the RealScam.com antiscam forum, gave PP Blog readers a heads-up on the WTOL report yesterday . . .

    WTOL, the CBS affiliate in Toledo, Ohio, says it will air a report Thursday (April 25) at 11 p.m. EDT titled “Holy Rip Off.”

    A teaser for the report shows photos of Profitable Sunrise pitchwoman Nanci Jo Frazer. Frazer’s NJF Global Group is referenced in a New Zealand fraud warning on the Profitable Sunrise “program” and also within the body of a March 14 notice issued by the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Securities. Frazer and NJF Global Group also are referenced in the body of a March 14 cease-and-desist order issued by the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

    Numerous securities regulators have described Profitable Sunrise as a form of affinity fraud targeted at people of faith. At least 35 agencies in the United States and Canada have issued cease-and-desist orders or Investor Alerts against the HYIP “program,” which had a presence on infamous Ponzi forums such as TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup.

    The website of Profitable Sunrise has been missing since at least March 14. On April 1 — the day after Easter Sunday and April Fools Day — the “program” failed to make good on promised payouts from the bizarrely named “Long Haul” plan. The “Long Haul” was purported to pay interest of 2.7 percent a day. Its claims were similar to other collapsed schemes promoted on the Ponzi boards.

    On Dec. 30, the PP Blog reported that Profitable Sunrise appeared to be relying on appeals to faith in a bid to attract investors in the wake of the August 2012 collapse of the Zeek Rewards “program.” Zeek, which allegedly planted the seed it paid interest of 1.5 percent a day, also had a presence on the Ponzi boards. In August, the SEC described Zeek as a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid fraud.

    Earlier this month, the SEC described Profitable Sunrise as a pyramid scheme that had collected an unspecified sum believed to be in the tens of millions of dollars.

    RealScam.com, an antifraud forum recently targeted in a DDoS attack, has been publishing information on Profitable Sunrise since at least Dec. 1.

    The PP Blog learned last month that at least one apologist for the NJF Global Group has relied on purported “research” by a notorious cyberstalker known as “MoneyMakingBrain” in an apparent bid to discredit critics of the “program.”

    MoneyMakingBrain emerged in 2012 as an apologist for the JSSTripler/JustBeenPaid “program” purportedly operated by Frederick Mann. JSS/JBP purported to pay 2 percent a day. MoneyMakingBrain claimed he’d defend Mann “so help me God.”

    JSS/JBP, which appears to have morphed into secondary and tertiary scams (ProfitClicking and ClickPaid) after the August collapse of Zeek, may have ties to the “sovereign citizens” movement. Mann has compared the U.S. government to the Mafia, claiming that government employees were part of “a criminal gang of robbers, thieves, murderers, liars, imposters.”

    Profitable Sunrise also may have ties to the “sovereign citizens” movement.

    Some “sovereign citizens” have an irrational belief that laws do not apply to them. It is known that the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme in 2008 also had ties to “sovereign citizens,” including Kenneth Wayne Leaming. Leaming, a resident of Washington state, was convicted earlier this year of filing false liens for billions of dollars against public officials who had a role in the prosecution of the ASD Ponzi scheme.

    ASD operated from Florida, planting the seed it paid a return of 1 percent a day. ASD President Andy Bowdoin — now serving a 78-month prison term — also was associated with a 1-percent-a-day scam known as AdViewGlobal. AVG bizarrely claimed in 2009 that it enjoyed the protections of the U.S. and Florida constitutions while purportedly operating from Uruguay. The scam collapsed during the summer of 2009 — but not before issuing threats to members and critics.

    In May 2009, AVG bizarrely announced it had secured the services of an offshore facilitator. The announcement was made on the same day President Obama announced a crackdown on offshore scams.

    Obama later was pilloried in an ad for a “program” known as MPB Today. MPB’s operator later was charged in Florida with racketeering.

    “Sovereigns” are infamous for drafting others into scams, including people who do not recognize they are being drafted into illegal pursuits.

    The teaser for the WTOL report is below . . .

  • UPDATE: North Carolina Says Profitable Sunrise Investors Have Been Targeted In ‘Reload Scams’ Like Zeek Rewards Investors Before Them

    From a warning by North Carolina that Profitable Sunrise investors are being targeted in reload scams.
    From a warning by North Carolina that Profitable Sunrise investors are being targeted in reload scams.

    UPDATED 11:28 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The Securities Division of North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall has issued a warning that Profitable Sunrise investors are being targeted in “reload scams.”

    North Carolina issued a similar warning in August 2012, saying then that members of the Zeek Rewards “program” — an alleged $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme operating online — also were being targeted in reload scams.

    From a statement by Marshall’s office (italics added):

    The NC Securities Division has learned that Profitable Sunrise investors are being contacted with promises of help in getting their money back for them. The Securities Division is issuing this alert to warn investors that such promises may be yet another attempt to scam them again through a “reload scam”.

    Reload scams hit consumers when they’re down, offering to help them make back money they lost to a previous scam or bad business decision. These scams have been popular for years with telemarketing fraud rings but can also follow other types of fraud, including investment fraud.

    Such reload scams were aimed at victims of the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme last year. Reload scammers used social media sites and online news releases to tout opportunities to help investors replace the income they were receiving from Zeek Rewards. Similar opportunities are being touted in the case involving Profitable Sunrise. Investors are warned to stay away from such “opportunities”.

    On Feb. 27, North Carolina issued a cease-and-desist order against the Profitable Sunrise “program” and purported operators Roman Novak and Radoslav Novak. Profitable Sunrise operated through a British entity known as Inter Reef LTD.

    At least 35 U.S. states or provinces in Canada went on to issue Investor Alerts or cease-and-desist orders against Profitable Sunrise. The SEC filed an action on April 4, alleging that Profitable Sunrise was an online pyramid scheme that may have gathered tens of millions of dollars.

    Promoters of Profitable Sunrise may have pushed the program without even knowing for whom they were working, the SEC said.

    On April 1, the PP Blog observed an online pitch for an entity that appeared to be using the name and address of a U.S. government agency while promising “to recover” funds lost through Profitable Sunrise. The fake agency claimed it could recover losses for a sum of less than $50 and encouraged Profitable Sunrise members to send money to purported accounts at the Liberty Reserve and Solid Trust Pay payment processors.

    Profitable Sunrise members also have been targeted by boat-sharks hoping to glean commissions for other HYIP “programs” and purported MLM “opportunities.”

    On March 31 — Easter Sunday — the PP Blog reported that a Facebook pitch aimed at Profitable Sunrise members sought to recruit them into a “program” known as TelexFree.

    A video for TelexFree claimed members could purchase an income by sending the “program” specific sums of money.

    The TelexFree pitch was similar to pitches for the infamous World Marketing Direct Selling (WMDS) and OneUniverseOnline (1UOL) pyramid schemes, which were exposed in 2005 and operated by James Bunchan and Seng Tan. Those scams resulted in federal prison sentences for both Bunchan and Tan and also sparked follow-up probes by the government because a federal prosecutor and witnesses were subjected to death threats by Bunchan.

    Like Profitable Sunrise, the WMDS and 1UOL scams traded on references to religion. And like TelexFree and Profitable Sunrise, WMDS and 1UOL prospects were told they could purchase an income.

    WMDS and 1UOL members — like Profitable Sunrise members — also may not have been sure of who they were working for. Here is a snippet from an appeals-court ruling upholding the 20-year-prison sentence of Tan (italics added):

    “A high-school graduate, [Christian] Rochon became president (in name only, though) for one reason, and one reason only: Bunchan wanted an ‘American face’ for his companies, and his neighbor Rochon (a Caucasian of Canadian decent) apparently fit the bill,” the footnote reads. “And after renting Rochon a suit jacket and taking him to a professional photographer, Bunchan had Rochon’s photo plastered all over the companies’ promotional pamphlets.”

    Tan told WMDS and 1UOL members that she’d been sent by the “Gods” to make them millionaires.

    Also see April 16 PP Blog story: Idaho Says Profitable Sunrise Pitchmen May Have Exposure ‘For Soliciting Other Investors’