The WishM “click a button” app Ponzi has collapsed.

Withdrawals were disabled yesterday and investors are being threatened with fictitious action from the US Department of Commerce.

WishM is a typical “fake orders” click a button app Ponzi run by Chinese scammers.

Of WishM’s known website domains, “wishm.tv” is the last active domain remaining.

In July 2023, SimilarWeb tracked ~181,000 visits to WishM’s website. Area being targeted include Suriname (33%), Belgium (29%), Macedonia (28%) and the Netherlands (10%).

I’m also seeing a lot of chatter from Libera online, suggesting recruitment there might have picked up towards late July.

Around the time WishM disabled withdrawals investors were shown the following pop-up when they accessed WishM’s website:

Notice: Recently some illegal personnel have been found to maliciously slander the company, seriously affecting the company’s corporate image.

WishM is a legitimate business recognized by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

WishM solemnly informs these lawbreakers that the WishM Legal Department has begun to collect evidence of wrongdoing by relevant personnel and submit the relevant evidence to the judicial department.

WishM will take action against individuals and businesses for defamation of the Company.

First off WishM isn’t “recognized” by the US Dept. of Commerce. WishM has no ties to the US beyond registering a shell company with bogus details there, which anyone can do for a few dollars.

Secondly defamation in the US is a civil matter. It’s not something the US Dept of Commerce would get involved in.

And lastly WishM is a Ponzi scheme. Calling it out as such is neither against US law or defamatory.

What silly statements like this are designed to do is stop investors from complaining online. This will make it harder for authorities to investigate WishM.

Following its hollow threat notice, WishM informed investors it would be re-enabling withdrawals between Wednesday and Sunday.

There are a few scenarios that can play out from here:

  1. WishM makes selective withdrawals, which will be parroted on social media as proof it hasn’t collapsed.
  2. WishM does nothing publicly, uses the time to Sunday to create as much distance between itself and investors and then disables its website at some point.
  3. WishM does nothing publicly (i.e. they’ve already fled the countries they’ve scammed), lets investors drown in public panic and move on to the next app Ponzi.

Whichever route they choose, click a button app Ponzis collapsing without notice is nothing new. BehindMLM has thus far documented sixty-nine of them.

As long as people keep falling for the scam, we’re likely to see this type of app fraud continue.

 

Update 17th August 2023 – WishM has disabled its “wishm.tv” website domain. The exit-scam appears to be complete.