Achieve Community in denial over regulatory investigation?
Typically when we’ve seen regulatory investigations announced in the MLM world, the company in question is quick to acknowledge the situation.
They usually do this by announcing their full cooperation with the authorities, and in the worst instances, suspend business operations while they try to figure out how much trouble they’re in.
Not so when it comes to the Achieve Community.
The Colorado Securities Division confirmed earlier this week that they are investigating Achieve Community.
As part of Colorado’s Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA),
DORA’s Division of Securities protects investors and maintains public confidence in the securities markets while avoiding unreasonable burdens on participants in the capital markets.
As per their business model, Achieve Community solicit $50 investments from affiliates on the promise of an eventual $400 ROI.
What with there being no external revenue to speak of, Achieve Community simply takes newly invested affiliate funds and uses to pay off existing investors.
The very definition of a Ponzi scheme, and one that will likely see Achieve Community fall foul of offering unregistered securities.
Since news of the Colorado investigation broke, Achieve Community co-owner Kristi Johnson has been rather quiet. It’s been three days since her last official communication with Achieve Community investors.
Her fellow co-owner Troy Barnes issued a statement shortly after the news broke. Unfortunately Barnes didn’t address the investigation directly, but rather sought to sweep the matter under the carpet.
January 23 2015
Hello Achieve Community
I hope you are all having an amazing Friday.
As Kristi gets the processor ready to enable you all to sign up, I would like you all to please focus on our future and leave all the negative behind.
We don’t need to send private messages to see if anybody knows the latest gossip about the Achieve Community.
Let’s keep Achieve to ourselves. If you have been put in an Unofficial group or page please take yourself OUT of them and if they are bad report them.
The Achieve Community is going to pay out Millions and we will all be enjoying our families and friends In style soon.
Please stay off of Facebook and the social media when it comes to our Community. Karma will take care of all those bad people and you will have Opportunity to watch them eat their words.
Have a great friday I am still calling members – but as you know my list is huge, so give me a chance to catch up please.
To Your Success Troy
Slightly more amateurish than we’re used to seeing, Barnes message is still in line with owners of previous scams facing the heat.
“Stay off social media and remain in denial about the investigation” pretty much sums it up. Oh and focus on the millions Achieve Community is purportedly going to steal from its later investors and pay to those who got in early.
Remain positive, even if you’re one of those later investors who are going to lose money unless new investors jump on board because… well, you know how Ponzi schemes work.
The icing on the cake is Barnes’ referring to a confirmed regulatory investigation as mere gossip. Yerrp, can’t see that one coming back to bite him in the ass anytime soon…
Uh, it’s a little too late in the game to go underground and undercover after publicly scamming people for so long.
Apparently, hope of gain and fear of loss are both powerful enough emotions to keep Troy and Kristi in denial until the Feds ring their doorbells with arrest warrants in hand.
Looks as its not a matter of if, but when that the 2 scammers Troy and kristi will have to them themselves in and be handed the bar of jail soap.
They are nice on Facebook with the Good Mornings. Probably just planning an escape from the government.
I agree ponzi detective, its all a ploy by Troy And Kristi to steal more money from the beloved sheep that love them so much. Let this be a wake up call to action by everyone.
1 Report the Official Facebook group to Facebook as a scam.
2 Report this theft and scam to ripoffreport.com and other websites that cover scams.
3. Report this criminal act to your LOCAL police department.
4 Look up your attorney general’s office in your state and report there as well.
5. Report this to your local newspaper and TV.
Give them this website and realscam and Patrick pretty along with any other sites that show evidence that Troy Barnes, Kristi Johnson and Rodney and Mike are committing major internet investment crimes.
(Ozedit: I was going to let the one comment stand, but then you went and spammed the other article too. Please don’t repost.)
New Kristi update.
Saw that in Troy’s FB profile that somebody was looking to buy more spots
Is the Kool Aid that strong?
Troys kool aid is spiked with 90 proof whiskey
Just incase anyone didn’t cotton on that comment #6 is satire, here’s the actual latest update:
Still no acknowledgement of the Colorado investigation, with Johnson continuing to string Achieve investors along.
And lol at the postponing of the event. Didn’t see that one coming…
Hey, the Facebook Sheepdog page has a standing offer that the first person who posts an Achieve 1099 Federal tax reporting form to that Facebook page will win $50.
Just today, someone posted there that a 1099 has gone out. Anyone know if that’s true?
How about a document called an arrest warrant for Troy and Christy let’s get them in jail contact your attorney general today report this Ponzi scheme.
How would someone who didn’t send it out know that their Achieve Community 1099 had gone out?
and now barnes went from allegedly ‘engaged’ to just ‘in a relationship’ which she still has yet to acknowledge. Has he told her yet? lmao
and I guess he’s back as a big cheese again since he’s giving updates in the super duper top secret forum that they think is hidden from authorities.
Even if it were hidden, it would be a classic case of “shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted”
Anyway, there’s enough unpaid and p***** off Achievers around now that any attempt at hiding anything is a pointless waste of time.
A vengeful unpaid HYIP ponzi victim is a sight to behold.
Speaking of hidden here is more lies from Mrs acheive community scammer Kristi:
P.S Troy is upset that his fake girlfriend does not want to marry him…
i can understand that some shady processor is willing to work with ‘achieve’, but which are the banks that are supporting it?
and well , kristi has now openly admitted they have ‘chargeback’ issues [very few ?!! ]. it’s also a delicate warning to the ‘community’ not to request chargeback , or accounts will be suspended.
and well , kristi has now openly admitted they have ‘chargeback’ issues [very few ?!! ]. it’s also a delicate warning to the ‘community’ not to request chargeback , or accounts will be suspended.
I did not see anything “delicate” about this warning. Pretty straightforward threat.
well all companies have chargeback issues that stem from people joining and getting cold feet.
They are moving full speed ahead and despite the normal criticism on this Board as usual, it appears that all is good in achieve.
When the payments start, we will know if this is true.
I will say they have managed a very loyal following and definitely gotten through this unscathed. Because they have funds to finish sept. and October payments…there will be 1000’s of Members who never knew about the problems and get paid and will surely re enter with at least 100 of the 400.
I expect this to go full force and it sounds like unless Colorado shuts them down….they wont be stopped.
End of day…its not me going to jail…….or is it???
They are moving full speed ahead straight to jail for Troy and Kristi and you all will lose your money.
@Andrew Morris
Be prepared to go to jail.
What you need to know is that people have gone and will continue to go to prison for running and participating in illegal Ponzi/Pyramid schemes.
Andrew: Guess you never heard of the saying: “A fool and his money are soon parted.” Kiss your money bye. But keep on believing in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and the Great Pumpkin.
For you to believe that Achieve is real you have to suspend all common sense, logic and mathematics, especially if you bought the line that Kristi is the one who developed this 3-tier algorithm.
Troy and Kristi are lucky that their combined IQ’s hit 90.
But a scam won’t let you know it’s a scam until they run off or the authorities move in and shut them down.
So judging by “it appears” is quite dangerous for you.
Holy smokes. Word is, they’re paying people! Well, OK, not quite paying anyone, but they do have a payment processor, according to this Kristi Update.
Anyone have more facts here? Hard to see how it could be true. And on their Forum, lots of people have had difficulty signing up, but the enthusiasm is raging.
Thanks.
Todays No Acheive Sherp Community update
More Bull from Troy Barnes and yes we will keep posting everything everywhere
Jail is forever too Troy Barnes.
these guys are getting paranoid about losing whichever sucker payment processor they’ve managed to hoodwink.
but really, kristi, can you control information on the net by fervent appeals and requests?
can you really hide your business from your payment processor? how stupid is stupid?
i think the regulators are waiting for achieve to start the business, to stop them red handed. otherwise these guys can just pretend, they are currently not doing anything illegal.
Checked with aeropay they said they have nothing to do with Achieve!
Over at the Sheepdog Facebook site, one fellow said he lived in Colorado and was going to contact the Colorado SEC investigator. This investigator has been requesting Colorado investors to get in touch with him.
The fellow said he sent his Email with particulars, and has already heard back from the investigator. On a Saturday.
facebook.com/NonOfficialAchieveCommunity/posts/777869188965158?comment_id=778828092202601
Uh, well, except that the aforementioned individual is not a “fellow.” This person cited above that communicated with the Colorado SEC is a lady.
I guess the new payment processor is aerapay out of China not aeropay!!
Has Kristi Johnson done a runner? It was always her name that was shown on the updates, but since 02/02/2015 it has been Troy Barnes.
Johnson’s Facebook page has disappeared along with her!
twitter disappeared too.
Tonight’s update from Troy Barnes:-
So it seems that the crook Barnes is blaming his crooked partner Johnson for everything. lol
I am a paid member of the Achieve community and I know three others who participated. None of us put in a lot of money but we still feel pretty bad about what happened.
Kristi and Troy really gave out a sense of warmth and decency in their communications with us. The whole “community” was in belief that we had something that was incredible, and we all chatted positively with each other on FB.
We had a real, vibrant caring, world-wide community. If you believed, you would achieved. Some of the the “love” comments I smiled at, some people were in deeper love than me.
It was painted as a chance to reach and achieve your dreams. And Achieve was rolling, paying out around 3 mil in 19 weeks to members! But processers started quitting, and payments stopped.
We were told to have patience, we waited about four months before the end. Was it really such a bad thing? Was it real? Was it legal?
Maybe haters made enough complaints to get it shut down. Maybe we all could have got paid and continued on. Maybe Kristi and Troy only wanted all of us to succeed.
Does everything have to be viewed as a negative, when they all have a dream?
Was it a Ponzi scheme if allowed to continue, everyone would win?
Those of you celebrating aren’t aware of how many thousands believed it was a legitimate opportunity to change our lives and families lives forever.
Those at the top of the income spectrum are continually scheming and scamming, I’m sure. The little people will never get a chance.
Many of us have brains, have college degrees, and so on, but we’ll have little more than a house, a couple cars, and little or no legacy to leave.
Celebrate if you want. People lost money. But worse yet, we had dreams that are shattered forever. Because we believed.
Seeing as this is mathematical impossible, yup.
You believed in a Ponzi scheme that did was it was supposed to do: Transfer your wealth to those who invested earlier.
Had the scheme of gone on, people might have joined after you and over time the losses would only escalate.
The more people Ponzi schemes drag in the bigger the devastation when they either run out of funds to pay out (inevitable) or are shut down by regulators (for good reason).
Chalk it up as a lesson learnt but don’t expect to solicit sympathy through arrogance.
1] kristi and troy gave out a sense of warmth and decency, because they wanted you to trustingly handover your money to them. i can bet, when they sat down, and counted their spoils, they had nothing but greed and dollar signs in their eyes.
2] your vibrant, caring, worldwide community was a FAKE. you all loved each other, only till you could make money off each other. look how troy’s FB page fell apart, as soon as he left. everybody was off, joining new ponzi groups.
3] actually, most people on top of the income spectrum, put in a life’s work into it, except for the lucky few who win inheritances.
4] who is celebrating? it’s good the scam stopped. it’s sad people lost money.
how does ‘a sense of warmth and decency’ create money? where did you think that money came from? have none of you ever asked yourself that question? they didn’t even pretend to sell a product.
This is call the “echo chamber effect”.
nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/04/21/barack-obama-and-the-psychology-of-the-birther-myth/the-echo-chamber-effect
A large percentage of whom were simultaneously on the HYIP ponzi forums discussing tactics, advising each other of any signs of an imminent collapse and when to get out and boasting about how many newbies they had sucked into the scam.
Caring community ya right, thats why the 2 partners in crime are heading to jail once tried in court.
i also heard that someone killed himself over this scam, expect racketeering, money laundering, selling of illegal securites, id theft, and possibly murder charges against Troy and Kristi and others who administrated Acheive Community.
By the way Acheive Back office is gone along with RTA com, net and org.
by the way the achievecommunity.com and readytoachieve.com are both fully gone. the webpage says:
‘This Account Has Been Suspended’.
I read on Facebook where an Achieve member has committed suicide.
Also another member had to be “talked down” by other members. He was going to commit suicide, and other members alerted law enforcement who went to his house and stopped him from committing suicide.
Some members quit their jobs. Others took out loans, or borrowed on credit cards. I see where it is beginning to be blamed on the “haters” by some people.
It seems that these people who are blaming the “haters” are setting themselves up to lead people into other schemes. This is terrible, I hope they can get their money back.
“Haters” = people who tried to warn you that this was a scam because they hate to see people get taken advantage of by the likes of Troy and Kristi.
this is too Terrible to be True.
please achievers, don’t resort to instant emotional reactions.
the authorities are going to do the very best, to return as much money to you as possible.
this is a time for calm, introspection and Real Hope, not the fake hope you nurtured as participants of a ponzi scheme.
money is not life. know ‘your’ value. be wise.
Here is a video from Troy.
According to a woman named Rene Miller who posted in the comments, Troy was running another program called “Get Paid To Do Nothing”.
She is saying that Troy and 3 others scammed her and one of them cursed her out. She is demanding her money from “Get Paid To Do Nothing” not Achieve.
Is “Get Paid To Do Nothing” a separate program, or just a feeder for Achieve?
Okay, I just googled “Get Paid To Do Nothing Troy Barnes” and it is an Achieve website. I guess Troy and Kristi were using it to recruit more victims.
I don’t see that “shattered dream” as something negative?
It was probably shattered because it deserved to be so. That’s how life really works, it doesn’t reward people if they follow false dreams. The reality will eventually catch up and tell them how it really is.
“False dreams” can of course work for SOME people, e.g. if they can get others to believe in them and they don’t believe too strongly in them themselves. There will always be someone who will be able to make a profit even from false dreams. But that’s a different story.
Achieve Community promised to eight-double people’s money in 55 to 60 days. You should have known right from the start that you were following the wrong types of motives, the wrong types of dreams. And you probably knew it from the beginning.
Life doesn’t reward people if they try to “force” their own dreams onto the reality. It doesn’t see people’s dreams as something valuable, only a few will really qualify for that. You didn’t have that type of “qualified dream”.
Next time, make sure you have a better dream. 🙂
Sad but not surprised. When TelexFree went under there were many reports of suicides and attempted suicides, esp. on Dominican Republic, one of the poorest countries on Earth.
Heck, there’s a murder related to the WCM777 ponzi in California committed last year. A woman lost money and hired a couple thugs to kidnap her upline. Her upline ended up with a broken skull in the middle of a state forest.