Massachusetts SEC “halts” WCM777, BLGM closed?
In what has not the best week for our two favourite Hong Kong based Ponzi schemes currently ravaging the MLM industry.
Indeed, with one facing regulatory action in the US and the other allegedly closed and not paying out investors, things don’t look good at all.
As first reported by Patrick Pretty, WCM777, run by self-appointed Jesus replacement Phil Ming Xu, was hit with the conclusion of an investigation by Massachusetts’ Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth Securities Division.
The Massachusetts Securities Division is a division of the Secretary of the Commonwealth with jurisdiction over matters relating to Securities.
The Massachusetts Securities Division launched their investigation in September, tracking WCM777’s business operations since March.
In conducting their investigation, the Massachusetts Securities Division pretty much arrived at the same conclusion I did when I reviewed WCM777 back in June.
Since at least March 1 2013, WCM777 has been soliciting Massachusetts residents… to purchase packages that allow the purchaser to… participate in profit sharing.
The packages cost $399, $799, $1199, $1599 and $1999, with the more expensive packages giving the purchaser… higher monetary payouts… on a 100 day cycle.
WCM777’s marketing campaign has advertised returns of over 90% to participating individuals during these 100 day cycles.
Upon information and belief, the packages sold by WCM777 are securities under Massachusetts law. WCM777 has not registered any of its packages as securities with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Nearly all of the money derived from bonuses and compensation owed by WCM777 to Massachusetts unit holders is still outstanding.
When the Massachusetts Securities Division presented the findings of their investigation to WCM777 via a court filing, rather than deny the claims and prove they weren’t just shuffling newly invested affiliate money to existing investors, WCM777 pulled a Paul Burks and settled.
On November the 13th WCM777 filed an Offer of Settlement agreeing to refund WCM777’s Massachusetts investors (the vast majority of whom are Brazilian) to the tune of “over $300,000”.
Furthermore WCM777 is legally barred from making any ‘future offerings of WCM777 packages, products and/or services to Massachusetts residents‘.
What’s interesting to note is that a list of WCM777 affiliate investors from Massachusetts was provided to the Massachusetts Securities Division on October 14th. This was requested so that the Securities Division could ascertain the number of affiliate investors WCM777 had solicited in Massachusetts and how much money had been invested.
Whether or not this is the date WCM777 became aware of the Massachusetts Securities Division’s investigation is unclear, however on the same date Phil Ming Xu also announced that WCM777 was “closing its US operations“.
At the time no mention of the Massachusetts Securities Division investigation was made by WCM777. Given what we know now though, it’s pretty obvious that it was the primary contributing factor to WCM777’s retreat.
No doubt WCM777 feared further regulatory action from other state Securities Divisions, if not from the SEC themselves.
Mind you, WCM777’s “closing” and relocation back to Hong Kong has been all but superficial. The company still accepts US-based affiliate investors and US sourced funds for investment.
In September 2013, California based payment processor Global Payout issued a press release announcing that they had
signed (an) agreement with WCM777 to provide an international payment gateway for its members to access and manage their earnings.
Global Payout will provide each of WCM777 affiliates with an electronic wallet to receive commission payouts and to redeem loyalty points on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
WCM777 has been growing at more than 4,000 new members each month. The Consolidated Payment Gateway will enable WCM777 affiliates to access cash without the expense and time of receiving and depositing checks.
WCM777 members will now be able to access their payouts through their bank account, or at any ATM on the same day of commission payments.
In addition, the Gateway offers an option for each member to request an International or Domestic Prepaid Card which is linked to their electronic wallet account. The account can also be used to purchase WCM777 products directly.
“We are fortunate to provide all of WCM777 payout requirements, and anticipate adding additional international regions based upon their growth for 2014 and 2015,” says James L. Hancock, CEO, Global Payout, Inc.
Whether or not Global Payout was contacted by the Massachusetts Securities Division during the course of their investigation however is unclear.
Meanwhile WCM777’s Phil Ming Xu is running around the US soliciting affiliate investors under the guise of religious prosperity.
Xu appears in a marketing video shot in early November. In the video he provides insight into the pretense new WCM777 “kingdom” investors are solicited under.
Meanwhile WCM777’s fellow Hong Kong based Ponzi scheme Better Living Global Marketing appears to also be having troubles of its own.
Unconfirmed reports surfaced yesterday from BehindMLM readers indicating that the scheme is having payment problems.
First BehindMLM reader “msp” wrote yesterday:
BLGM is collapsing soon. Today there is a notice saying due to technical difficulty their monthly pensioner dividend cannot be paid this month. But there was no explanation.
“Monthly pensioner dividend” of course refers to the daily ROI payments Better Living Global promise their affiliates on their investments. Having trouble paying out is typically the first sign a Ponzi scheme is on the verge of collapse (ROI payouts exceed new investment funds).
Msp’s comment was then followed by “Jerk” (comment #291 on the same article), who wrote
Today somebody visited the (BLGM) office, there were nobody, all the doors was locked.
Note that at the time of publication both of these claims are unverified and I haven’t been able to independently verify either. This is largely due to the secretive nature of Better Living’s promotional methods, which threatens affiliates with account termination for publicly promoting the investment opportunity.
Regardless, it appears that at least as far as WCM777 is concerned things are starting to heat up on the regulatory side of things. Legally WCM777 haven’t been charged with anything but the question remains:
If they were able to prove they weren’t shuffling new affiliate investor money to existing investors, why didn’t they?
WCM777’s decision to refund investors and flee back to Hong Kong instead speaks for itself.
As for Better Living Global Marketing is concerned, if I hear anything further I’ll be sure to update. Naturally affiliates involved in the scheme are welcome to share any additional information in the comments below.
The consent Order (an agreement between WCM777 and the State):
The State of Massachusetts contends that WCM777 was selling unregistered securities. WCM777 does not admit that they were, but agrees to pay back all the money they collected from their investors.
WCM777 is banned from ever again selling any “investment packages” in the State and there are directions on what WCM777 must do to return funds it has collected from Massachusetts investors.
If WCM777 fails to comply, the State can take further action against the company and its officers.
Within an hour of this article going live Phil Ming Xu issued the following statements via Twitter (@cnpeg):
How Xu plans to “rebuild” his WCM777 Ponzi scheme to be in “compliance” with US law is at this time a mystery.
As you have pointed out….WCM777 has never left so this “in compliance before coming back to the USA” is nonsense.
He’s just going to incorporate some new WCM888 and have that offer the same crap. 🙂
Actually what is going on with BLGM it was seems smooth up to last month. Whether it is just a Technical issue for their monthly pension payment and daily sharing is paying as usual.
Really office doors are locked?….any ones has more details please.
Unfortunately that’s how it is with the great majority of HYIP ponzi / pyramid frauds.
They work smoothly – right up until the moment they don’t.
I’m sick of all this. I was trying to talk to the leaders in California but this is unbearable. I want to let everybody know that we are collapsing. Yes. we are collapsing.
We can not repurchase our unit. sometimes we can not enroll new members. We can not do transfers. They open the transfer system just for one or two hours.
https://www.facebook.com/renatorodriguezteam/posts/177854055754449
The system is down, you can check here:
https://www.freeconferencecallhd.com/playback/?n=DakbW%2FjendF
They say that supposedly have a virus. LOL who can believe that. They are supposedly repairing the system. but have failed to resolve anything. everything is going wrong with wcm777. these are some of the leaders who are scamming everyone in california
renatofi rodrigues
https://www.facebook.com/renatorodriguezteam
saul mondragon
https://www.facebook.com/globalvisionusa
Francisco figueroa
https://www.facebook.com/francisco.figueroa.3192
daniel cruz
https://www.facebook.com/daniel.cruz.12935
gonsales light
carlos ramires
https://www.facebook.com/organoglatino
arming Garcia
https://www.facebook.com/armandogarcia.garcia.3975
mauve Sagrav
mauve https://www.facebook.com/malvasagrav30
The man and the boy francisco and daniel are the leaders in northern california.
I am Peruvian and I hate being scam by wcm777.
https://soundcloud.com/samcorp/mensaje-de-renato-rodriguez
It would not be advisable to do so in Massachusetts. The Order is binding on World Capital Markets Inc.,(BVI) WCM777 Inc. (Nevada,) WCM777 Ltd (Hong Kong,) CEO Liu, Ming and any alter ego companies.
guys do you practically can not make money in these things because they are all scams, anything, and then because wmc777 convention is doing around the world and no one stops in hong kong or in Europe.
and why telexfree in america is still open for months and is not stopped immediately as wmc777, it seems to me that while we talk about ponzi schemes, pyramid scams and people are making a lot of money in an undisturbed.
Hopefully this will be a lesson for you that there is no easy path to prosperity when dealing with these people
Because the people in charge of looking into these things are not getting the right information in a timely manner.
People only start to put up the red flags after they get burned. You need to have a victim in order to make a report of a crime, and the majority of the people that actually look into these schemes and discover the facts are not victims because they were smart enough not to get involved in the first place.
A majority of the people involved know they are not involved in an honest business model, but these scams are more appealing than say, robbing your local liquor store.
He’s gonna find some other dupe. Corps are generally incor in Delaware and Nevada any way. They have the most corp friendly laws in the US.
The difference is location of victims. I hate to say this, but all nations and muncipalities are selfish… they care about their own citizens first (and often, only).
The WCM777 case in Massachusetts started because someone complained to the authorities there, and it went all the way up the securities enforcement to the lieutenant governor (read: vice governor) in charge, and there are 160 or so victims IN MASSACHUSETTS.
The TelexFree cases so far have VERY FEW VICTIMS IN THE US. Vast majority of victims are in Brazil. And Brazilian courts are already prosecuting.
Frankly any one who CONTINUES to pay TelexFree AFTER it was shut down in Brazil just because someone claimed that the US clone will still pay, is not only an idiot, but a MASOCHIST, and my sympathy to victims does NOT extend to masochists.
The Consent Order extends to all alter egos of the Respondent Parties. It does not matter what stupid dupe or what State of incorporation is used if it is an alter ego company it is covered by the Consent Order.
Where’s that vaunted “Siemens” technology when you need them? 😉
And it ONLY covers Massachusetts.
That’s correct. The Respondents and any alter ego company of the Respondents agree not to sell “investment packages in the State of Massachusetts.
An alter ego company could be incorporated on the moon and it would still be covered by the Order. A dupe could be the wife of Mayor of the City of Boston but if she was affiliated with WCM777 etc. she would also be covered by the Consent Order.
In other words MingXu, you and your cronies may not conduct this type of business in the State of Massachusetts. Get out and do not come back (even in disguise)
And you know what “they” will say? “I don’t want to business there any way.” It’s the same excuse Arlan Galbraith used when Iowa announced he’s illegally offering a business opportunity: his “Pigeon King” ponzi.
http://amlmskeptic.blogspot.com/2012/06/scam-study-pigeon-king.html
But we’re getting the news out. Ted Nuyten and Twitter is reposting this and PPBlog release like crazy.
That’s great. I think people should know. They can make their decision based on facts not fantasy.
I am curious why Massachusetts became aware of this and took action first rather than close to home in California. I suppose it does not really make any difference, so long as the word gets out.
The only thing that I will say to every review that you do…
If you truly do good reporting – you would not report unsubstantiated rumors – which you do often.
I think that you have an ulterior motive with any review that you do – Negativity always, always draws more attraction than Positivism, which in turn drives that massive traffic you need to your website.
Everyone loves to read the dirt even if it is lacking facts and full of innuendos and misinformation.
Hong Kong office for BL are NOT shut down. I just returned from there.
They did not “not” pay the residual income because they could not – they asked for a few extra days because the data was taking longer to process due to the increase of business, not to mention some other very legitimate reasons, of which I really do not believe you are privy too.
I actually enjoy watching you post so much misguided information. You entertain me.
Also for someone who claims to be “knowledgeable” on the BL business model – I’m proud to be the one to tell you – “Your NOT”
For professing to be such an astute reporter I’d think you’d find it pretty easy to research the business model – why have you not done this???
If you had – you might see there is a lot more to BL than you realize.
Honestly – I’d rather continue getting a chuckle out of your ridiculous reviews.
March on OZ – you are doing a splendid job.
@Brenda
Anything not confirmed is marked as such. If it’s proven untrue it’s addressed pretty quickly. The truly unbelievable stuff never gets published.
Making that call does fall on me, but I think I do an ok job of it.
Please. Five years of coverage and you’re going to pull out chapter one of Scam derails 101?
Good to know.
There’s only one reason Ponzi schemes stop paying out. They run out of money.
In addition to not paying out there’s also the reported increasingly strict withdrawal rules BLGM keep implementing. All the signs of an imminent Ponzi collapse are there.
BLGM take new investments and shuffle them out to existing affiliate investors. It’s a 1:1 Zeek Rewards Ponzi clone.
There is no mystery about it. All the components of BLGM’s MLM business model are known.
Since when do they open on Saturdays?
international dateline?
It starts with one state then it spreads like cancer throughout the U.S. Remember Profitable Sunrise ???
Affiliates who lose money with companies like this get mad and often take it out on the exposures of these frauds I.E.( Behind MLM, and other blogs the like ) I know…… I “used” to be one ( in denial ) till I’ve seen the light hanging out here. 😉
Speaking of Profitable Sunrise, I saw a photo tonight of a WCM777 event at which a photo of the Christ the Redeemer statue was shown from the stage. Ming Xu was behind the photo, giving the “thumbs-up” sign.
A photo of the statue also was used by the Profitable Sunrise scammers. There’s also a TelexFree promo that uses the statue.
Recent events with these schemes remind me of the uber-bizarre Tradex scheme of Arthur A. Ferdig. Ferdig, in part, traded on claims that he knew angels (from heaven) personally.
You’ll find some compelling reading here:
http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2009/10/features/follow-the-money-the-worlds-sharpest-fraudbusters
PPBlog
Good info.
I never saw pics from the hong kong office. People there just went to have fun. People that defend wcm777 are in the top of the pyramid.
I saw the 1and300 store ebay type or amazon it looks sooner or later wcm777 will another pay cash but obliged the members to buy from their store. Siemens tech? Xu ming is the real millionare not philip
Google will tell you what time it is now in Hong Kong. Or X hours ago. When she posted it’s Sunday morning, before dawn.
Are you serious ? !? Rather be a Pastor or Professional Con-man, anyone making those claims is surley a wack job! ugh!..LOL Thanks Patrick for the link. I shall read on it.
Is the owner of WCM777 a millionaire or billionaire?
I am positive that he is a billionaire. I have goole it with my upline who is making himself over $300000 a month since May. My sponsor has shown me a lot pictures of the Hong Kong event where over 1300000 in gift was given awa.
if the company was so poor it money or using other people money. Why will they do all the extravagancia while they never stop paying people who are making huge money.
It’s a marketing expense to lure new investors in. Those unsustainable ROIs have to come from somewhere (read: new suckers).
Take a step back and look past the dollars. You sound like you’ve got a classic case of “Ponzi money blindness”.
Ponzi schemes will need to pay money OUT to attract new investors, i.e. they will need people showing “proofs” for how much money they have made to attract more money. That method clearly worked on you.
When you paid money IN yourself, some of it was used to reward your sponsor. You will get your money back and potentially earn a profit if they don’t run out of investors first. Being shut down is similar to running out of investors.
If you analyse WHY you joined WCM777, the payouts should clearly make some sense. You were probably attracted to the potential profit you could make. The best way to convince you to invest was probably to SHOW you some payouts, and let your own imagination do the rest of the work.
BTW, payouts to the back office isn’t about real money. If your sponsor showed you his back office payouts, he showed you his balance of “monopoly money”.
It’s about real money when you pay money IN from an external account, and when you withdraw money from the system. But inside the system it’s about “monopoly money”.
It doesn’t matter what the payouts are called, e.g. whether it’s about “recruitment commissions” or “profit sharing”. It will first become real money when it’s withdrawn from the system. I’m pretty sure your sponsor showed you his “monopoly money”.
Spending other people’s money doesn’t cost much. Phil Ming Xu is more than willing to spend other people’s money. He’s spending $10,000 per month renting a penthouse suite in a building belonging to a religious cult, just because it makes him feel safe and surrounded by like minded people.
THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND A MONTH ??
And you believe him ??
Are you sure ??
That is $3.6 MILLION a year.
Perhaps you should read some of the previous investigation done by K. Chang and see if you can find the same things? Why are the large companies they claim to work with distributing press releases stating they don’t work with them?
Where else could the money they are spending have come from? None of the “Cloud Services” work or exsist. You don’t go from selling dvd’s to billionaire in 4 years. Why would a billionaire have to lie about his credentials?
They are theives of the worst kind. They prey on the undereducated, and in the process collect the greedy.
Most people do not buy into these schemes because they actually believe the story (whether it’s true or not), but in hopes that enough people will believe the story long enough so that they can personally make money.
Its cannibalistic.
If he is, it is because he collects money from millions of people like you.
Because they are using OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY, as you said. It’s not his money, he can be as generous with it as you said he is.
It seems you already have all the answers, you just won’t put them together. You have 1 and 2, you just won’t answer “3”.
Dr. Phil Ming Xu is not millionaire, the milionary is Xu Ming, which is a totally distinct person.
OZ: Are you calling me sucker or it is just the title of what you have told me?. if you call me sucker that is fine, you are just justifying what I always meant.You call people in a way they never represent.
You call me sucker with no proof just like you may have called them scammers with your logic.
It’s simply the short version of the phrase “There’s a new sucker born every minute”, credited P.T. Barnum and various others. It explains why people will continue to come to the show / join a program even when they probably KNOW they’re being cheated. “There’s a new sucker born every minute”, i.e. the supply of new victims won’t become a problem in the short term.
The phrase is commonly used for Ponzi or pyramid schemes, and it should be interpreted in that way. You will even find the phrase mentioned in Wikipedia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There’s_a_sucker_born_every_minute
I can call you “man who can’t Google right” and I have proof: you can’t tell “(Dr.) Phillip Rockefeller Ming Xu” head the WCM crime syndicate, from “Xu Ming”, the Chinese billionaire that got nabbed and turned state witness against Bo Xilai.
Does that make you a sucker, I don’t know, but there are generally three types of “victims”: sheeple, Judas Goat, or Birddogs. How you tell them apart?
Sheeple: I am telling you it can’t possible be a scam!
Judas Goat: I know it’s a scam now, but I’ll ride it for all it’s worth
Birddog: I actually work for the head scammer from the start to round up sheeple for a kickback.
Only you’d really know which kind you are. I’d only put sheeple as “sucker”, but other people may have different definitions.
I don’t see any BLGM defenders here and it’s now TUESDAY over there. Maybe BLGM really is closed for good, eh?
@Olivenson
Use whatever term you want for people who invest in Ponzi schemes and run around trying to convince the world they are legit. Whether you fall under this category is up to you.
I’ve used the term “sucker” on this particular occasion.
Right. No proof except their business model.
Maybe, but my friend who is in DEEP with BLGM is still happy with it. It could very well be faith that it’s going to all work out, or it could simply be an inability to admit defeat, but I’ve yet to hear any concrete evidence that they are closed.
And given that we can’t go 10 minutes without talking about BLGM or the newest (local) scheme, I’m sure I’d hear if everything’s gone dark over there.
I doubt that very much. You may be thinking of this guy:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu_Ming He’s a different guy, and also corrupt.
By all accounts, they have stopped paying a lot of people.
Ponzis do a lot for show — it’s how they keep new affiliates and cash coming in. Also, pictures are pictures. A photo op does not a business plan make.
@Stop Ponzi
Where did you hear this? I’m very curious.
I have a friend who’s dumped a bunch of money into BLGM, and some of her friends bailed on BLGM to go to WCM777. Apparently, they have been unable to make withdrawals.
There’s a bit of a rivalry between Better Living and WCM affiliates as, at least in my area, WCM recruited heavily from a pool of people invested in Better Living, and Luke Teng thinks Ming Xu’s a bit of a moron (paraphrasing) for being so public.
The comments on review blogs that aren’t direct advertisements for WCM seem to be peppered with people wanting to know how to make withdrawals (including a few on Facebook). I see the same complaints online for Better Living, but I haven’t heard any in-person complaints about BLGM…yet.
BLGM is not closed 🙂
Did they took the Friday off or something? 🙂
Do con artists keep normal office hours? I’ve always thought their offices didn’t look much like working offices, but I guess all of the business is transacted online.
Still, I even thought from the pictures I’ve seen that the logos that people pose for pictures under (as if that makes any statement at all about the company’s legitimacy) look temporary.
Teng is much more insulated from the peons than Ming Xu, and, for awhile, you had to get a direct invitation to even get a second hand connection to him. It was only in mid-summer of this year when I started getting invitations to go to Hong Kong in October with an affiliate group (all expenses paid!) to meet the man himself. Prior to that, there was a lot of “I’ve met someone who knows Luke Teng”.
That may be true, but the jury’s still out on whether recent recruits are able (or will ever be able) to make actual withdrawals.
It seems very much like BLGM is scrambling for cash and are trying to keep people satiated until they have an infusion of recruitment.
Im am very greatful for all of the companies out there like Better Living and WCM and Telex. They have changed many lives and will continue to.
This site is crap!!! You really have nothing better to do than try and tear apart people dreams!! Looking over your shoulder is probably a natural occurance.
I’d apologise for this site ruining your scam recruitment efforts but… well, y’know.
Best of luck with the Ponzi scheme rainbow chasing.
No one company will stay for ever as far Better living is alive we keep hope That the plans of Mr Luke Teng for affiliates is on tracks and if no: We the MLM people will start again and again.
No company will stop our dreams, and until BLGM is dead we are proud to be with them and if is in our power we are going to keep it alive…!!!
Let’s not confuse genuine “MLM people” with the kind of defiant get-rich-quick mentality which drives the members of BLGM and WCM777.
There are a lot of Filipinos joining this “Better Living” ponzi scam. As long as the money flows in from them duping their close friends and relatives, they will continue to defend BLGM to the death.
Funny though, when (not if) BLGM is finally shut down, they will have a lot of explaining to do to those same people, questions such as, “where is my @!&$#* money! You told me I would get rich!”
I feel sorry for all the Filipinos that are joining this Better Living ponzi, as most of them do not ever investigate an MLM before investing large sums of money. They just simply join because of the hype, flashing lights, and loud music. It’s based on emotion, and not sound logic.
If you want to see something really funny, go to a “Better Living” meeting, and start asking the presenter some thought provoking deep questions regarding compensation….and watch the topic change quickly! Time to eat, let’s eat….presentation is over LOL.
I have not found anyone yet who can adequately explain the over-complicated compensation plan to me.