Ministry of Finance concludes BBOM is a Ponzi
In papers filed in support of ongoing legal action by the Federal Public Ministry in Goiás (GO-MPF), Brazil’s Ministry of Finance have declared BBOM to be an “unsustainable” Ponzi scheme.
In the papers, ‘presented to the Judge of the 4th District Court of the Judicial Section of the State of Goiás on Thursday (21/11)’, the Secretariat for Economic Monitoring of the Ministry of Finance (EEAS / MF) wrote that, after reviewing the case and BBOM’s business model, they could not
identify a fair and reasonable (legal) economic reason that could explain the explosion of profitability observed by BBOM.
The business is not viable over time, which is “emphasised by the absurd promise of stratospheric gains well above the gains earned in the competition.”
The department also stressed that “the business structure promoted by Embrasystem (BBOM) has no parallel in any other companies in their line of business.”
That last line isn’t that surprising, as I imagine there aren’t too many GPS fronted Ponzi schemes around. BBOM was certainly the first I’d heard of one (not only in Brazil but globally).
To date, BBOM President João Francisco de Paulo’s only official response to the charges has been
(They are) absurd and groundless.
The charges were planted by different people and the prosecution are wrong in their decision, since the sources can not be trusted.
Right, good luck pushing that in court chief since well, y’know – the source of BBOM’s business model would be none other than BBOM itself.
What I really don’t get is why in the freaking hell would people believe in and “work” for a company whose main line of communication with “customers” and “employees” are YouTube videos and Facebook pages.
Some of the videos were recorded from inside of a car (what?) and some from home (you can tell by the tacky curtains and furniture). Almost forgot that most of these videos have poor quality.
Though I do know the answer I can’t seem to erase the question “HOW CAN PEOPLE BE SO BLATANTLY CONNED” from my head.
Nobody’s being conned, you know its a Ponzi before you go in. Its the fact that you DO make money if you are some of the first ones in. Its all about the gambling and the timing.
Some of these people jump from one Ponzi to the next, its addicting, specially if you made money!
Correction, YOU may know it’s a ponzi, but I can guarantee you not everyone knows.
Maybe for the early birds (i.e. judas goats), but that’s obviously not true for the sheeple that they lead on.
Or is that what the judas goats tell themselves so they can sleep at night, i.e. “they’re stupid to follow me so it can’t be my fault that they lost money”?
I just found this new MLM “opportunity” geteasygroup.com that is the same scheme of BBOM, their product is a GPS system too.
Hello Oz, when you have the time, and if you have the interest, can you please review the BBOM remake GetEasy operating now in Portugal (and spreading to Spain and other places) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HJqUWfhgVBE (presentation video from today), http://www.trabajomultinivel.com/geteasy/ (a review). Unfortunately I have a friend who already joined the scheme (1800 euros wasted).
GetEasy is working with TachoEasy http://www.tachoeasy.pt/sites/start.php and apparently TÜV Rheinland as well http://www.tuv.pt/tuv_principios.html among others, which seem legitimate companies.
The cooperation with TachoEasy, especially, is very evident. At first sight may look like legitimate MLM, but the proposed gains are very high, and famous crook Pedro Godinho (BBOM) is involved, therefore I suspect it’s a Ponzi. But the connection with TachoEasy is intriguing…
And they seem to have a real office in Lisbon, in a privileged zone, which certainly is very expensive.
TachoEasy is sells datalogger services for long-haul trucks to comply with hours of service requirements.
GetEasy just sells GPS trackers of various sizes and capabilities… but they sell subscriptions. 3 of 4 they sell are served by TachoEasy, but the cheapest one is approved by Brazil’s ANATEL, not TachoEasy, thus proving it’s really BBOM, same wine, new bottle.
GetEasy also completely mixed up customer and affiliate. Packages are usually get 6, 1 for yourself and 5 for whoever. This is dangerous as they do not know how many real customers they have. Or maybe they just “assume”?
The problem is, given the price of smartphones nowadays, and the need to buy a SIM card for these, who really BUY trackers when phones are cheaper?
Furthermore, their Macau address appears to be a virtual office. I’m finding a law firm and many other businesses at that exact location. Note that there is no unit number, merely a floor number.
The Lisbon address is also suspect. Google Street view says there’s an auto repair shop there, nothing more. “CETRA” I think it’s called.
All in all, be very suspicious.
If you type Rua Cidade de Bissau 49 in Google Street map you’ll see it, the building was still being finished at that time (2009). Not exactly a privileged zone as they said, however. Most probably they are renting the space.
I’m curious about what this thing is.
BBom is still being hit by the justice.
Source (in Portuguese): http://www.prsp.mpf.mp.br/sala-de-imprensa/noticias_prsp/17-09-14-2013-bbom-mpf-denuncia-cinco-por-criacao-de-201cpiramide-financeira201d-e-venda-de-contratos-de-investimento-coletivo-sem-autorizacao
Hi Oz,
According to this post it seems that BBOM has been released by brasilian justice and can continue it’s activity. I’m a bit surprised about this… what is your opinion ? Could it be false statements?
administradores.com.br/noticias/negocios/acusada-de-piramide-financeira-bbom-e-liberada-pela-justica/81655/
and
administradores.com.br/_assets/files/2013/11/liminar.pdf
Thanks
From memory the above decision(s) permit BBOM to continue on with their retail tracker business. The Ponzi side of the business is still shuttered and under investigation.
Given that there never was a retail tracker business in BBOM, it’s a moot decision.
(but that doesn’t mean Brazilian BBOM investors won’t herald it as the greatest Ponzi victory of all time… you know how they are.)
It’s akin to letting TelexFree continue with their retail VOIP operations. Neither here nor there really.
Thanks Oz for your quick reply. Keep on that good work!