An Amway distributor in California is suing the company for unpaid wages.

Plaintiff William Orage alleges

although Amway has classified Plaintiff and other Amway IBOs as “independent contractors” … IBOs are Amway employees for the purposes of the Industrial Welfare Commission’s Minimum Wage Order and IWC Wage Order No. 4, and related Labor Code sections.

In the opening paragraph of his complaint, Orage claims his lawsuit is filed “on behalf of the California Labor Workforce Development Agency, pursuant to the Private Attorney General Act.

At first I thought this meant the government was involved, but upon closer examination that’s not the case. [Continue reading…]

SoftTrade AI provides no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.

SofTrade AI’s marketing videos feature someone they’re calling “Ryan Baines”.

No verifiable information on Baines exists anywhere on the internet.

A Facebook profile for Baines, on which it is claimed he’s SofTrade AI’s CEO, was created about a week ago on January 13th.

The likely actor playing Baines has a distinctly European accent.

SoftTrade AI’s website domain (“softradeai.com”) was registered on December 14th, 2018.

Ali Jawad Rana of Server4Sale is listed as the owner, through a suite address in Ontario Canada.

Of note is this address differs to the UK one provided on SofTrade AI’s website.

In the company’s website FAQ, SofTrade AI claims it’s “incorporated in the UK”.

UK incorporation is dirt cheap and for the most part unregulated.

It is a favored jurisdiction for scammers looking to incorporate dodgy companies.

Server4Sale are a web hosting provider based out of Pakistan.

Whether this means Server4Sale is behind SofTrade AI or they’re working for a client in Pakistan is unclear.

At the time of publication Alexa cites Bangladesh (21%), Russia (12%) and Vietnam (5%) as top sources of traffic to SofTrade AI’s website.

As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money. [Continue reading…]

Despite Sergey Mavrodi passing away just under two years ago, scammers continue to use his image to promote MMM branded Ponzi schemes.

The latest is MMM BSC, a reboot using the Paxos Standard (PAX).

PAX is an ERC-20 stable token that has nothing to do with MMM BSC.

Who’s behind MMM BSC is unclear but the company’s official YouTube channel began uploading recycled MMM content ten months ago.

A lot of the videos have Russian titles, so presumably whoever is behind MMM BSC is of Russian or Ukrainian origin. Another possibility is India.

MMM BSC’s website domain (“mmmbsc.global”) was privately registered on August 17th, 2019.

Alexa traffic statistics for the domain suggest it launched in late October.

At the time of publication Alexa estimates that 92% of traffic to MMM BSC’s website originates out of India. The Ukraine makes up 2%.

As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money. [Continue reading…]

Cloud Token collapsed last October when it stopped paying returns out.

Since then you have the familiar post Ponzi mess of “leaders” stringing along those they convinced to invest, lest they turn on them.

Ronald Ai, Cloud Token’s only admin, nuked his public social media profiles on December 1st, 2019. He is currently believed to be in hiding.

The latest chapter in Cloud Token’s post collapse mess is a new contract affiliate investors are being urged to sign. [Continue reading…]

The future of the BitConnect class-action is in question, following a reduction of defendants to just three. [Continue reading…]

A third Samoan church has been implicated in promotion of the OneCoin Ponzi scheme.

Previously the Samoan Seventh Day Adventist Church and Worship Center Christian Church came under fire for funneling their congregations into OneCoin.

Both churches were also implicated in money laundering, following Samoa’s ban on OneCoin investment.

Now the Samoa Worship Center in New Zealand is also under investigation. [Continue reading…]

Jewel Sanitary Napkins provides no information about who owns or runs the company on their website.

In researching Jewel Sanitary Napkins’ website, I came across this line in the non-linked compensation plan section of their website:

Upon joining as an Independent Distributor you will pay an enrollment fee of $50. This fee includes your replicated website (.jewelpads.com) and your (.6star.us) back-office which tracks all your sales and volume.

For some reason the only way to access that page is through a Google search. It isn’t linked anywhere on Jewel Sanitary Napkins’ public-facing website.

Anyway, naturally I visited 6 Star’s website. It’s pretty much a 1:1 clone of Jewel Sanitary Napkins’ website, although it does provide some extra information.

Despite having an “about” section headlined with “get to know us here” though, all that’s there is a Bill Gates quote and generic company description.

Further research lead me to a series of marketing videos featuring Demond Crump:

In these videos, Crump is cited as Jewel Sanitary Napkins’ CEO.

Crump’s name in turn lead me to a March 2018 blog post on Nspire Network, which claimed Crump, along with several partners, co-founded the company.

Founded by Demond Crump, along with partners Spencer Iverson, Joel Medina and Demond Coleman, Nspire offers a wide range of high-quality health products for men and women.

BehindMLM reviewed Nspire Network in January 2017. The only executive we were able to confirm was Spencer Iverson.

By late 2018 Nspire Network was on the rocks. It was sold off to Wakaya Perfection in November 2018.

I was unable to determine whether any of Demond Crump’s Nspire Network partners are involved in Jewel Sanitary Napkins.

Read on for a full review of Jewel Sanitary Napkins’ MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]

FOW Business provides no detailed executive information on its website.

The company provides only the name of a purported CEO, Densley Craig.

I say purported because FOW Business provides a UK incorporation certificate.

The address used to incorporate FOW Business in the UK belongs to Companies Made Simple.

Companies Made Simple offer UK shell company incorporation services starting at £15.99 GBP.

UK incorporation is dirt cheap and for the most part unregulated. It is a favored jurisdiction for scammers looking to incorporate dodgy companies.

Given this, it is highly likely that Densley Craig doesn’t exist.

On its website FOW Business claims it was “founded in 2015”. This appears to be a blatant lie.

FOW Business’ UK incorporation was only purchased on 6th December, 2019. The company’s website domain was registered a day earlier on December 5th.

FOW Business’ website domain registration is private.

As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money. [Continue reading…]

Cryptify Trading exists on the Telegram messaging platform and various social media channels.

The company has no website, and is run by persons unknown.

Cryptify Trading’s use of euros to solicit investment suggests whoever is running the company is likely based out of Europe.

One possibility is Austria, which hosted Cryptify Trading’s “global launch” last October:

This is further supported by Austria’s Financial Market Authority issuing a Cryptify Trading securities fraud warning last month.

The FMA’s warning cites CTFY Trading LLC, which is purportedly operating through a Panama City address.

This is likely a shell incorporation for whoever is/was actually running Cryptify Trading from within Austria itself.

As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money. [Continue reading…]

My Ad Magnet provides no information on its website about who owns or runs the business.

My Ad Magnet’s website domain (“myadmagnet.com”) was privately registered on October 6th, 2019.

Of note is the domain registrar used by My Ad Magnet’s owner being based out of Malaysia.

As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money. [Continue reading…]