Is AdMatrix part of the Speak Asia Scam?
In connection to the current drama unfolding over Speak Asia’s legal battles in India, a few days ago a rather vague description of a possible connection with a Holland based company flew onto my radar.
Reported by the Indian Express, they claimed that
the money trail of the Rs 600 crore that was allegedly transferred by the founders of the Speak Asia multi-level marketing scheme to a Singapore bank in the past 12 months has at least one account in the name of an alleged Holland-based advertisement ponzi scheme operator; giving an indication that the operation may have been on a global scale.
Interesting.
Wondering why they hadn’t just named the ‘Holland-based advertisement ponzi scheme‘, my mind immediately flashed back to a review I did back in July on AdMatrix.
Based out of Holland, AdMatrix is a matrix based recruitment driven MLM company operating in India.
With 6 out of the 7 components of the compensation plan relying on recruitment (and a six month wait to turn a profit if you don’t recruit anyone), this ultimately led me to believe that AdMatrix’s business model is unsustainable over the long term.
Getting back to Speak Asia though, despite knowing about AdMatrix, without further clarification I was hesitant to suggest it was the company in question. As far as I knew AdMatrix President Anne Wessel had nothing to do with Speak Asia Global CEO Harendar Kaur and there was no reason to suspect otherwise.
Well, that is until today when AdMatrix was publicly named and shamed as being involed.
Today, the Deccan Chronicle is reporting that
The Crime Investigation Department has conducted searches at the offices and residences of Speak Asia distributors and regional managers and seized computers and records.
According to the CID, searches were conducted in the house of Mr Charan Kumar, the regional manager of Speak Asia in the city and at his house in Motinagar in Borabanda; at Sri Ramanajeya Enterprises at Motinagar in Borabanda; and in the house of Mr Prem Kumar, a representative of Speaks Asia, at Alwal.
CID sleuths said that they were investigating another company, Ad Matrix, the office of which is in the same building as that of Speak Asia.
Now what are the odds of AdMatrix having offices in the same building as Speak Asia?
Along with the CID announcing they are investigating AdMatrix, I think it’s a safe bet to say that the mystery Holland based company in question that Harendar Kaur transferred some of the money she siphoned out of India, is none other than AdMatrix.
This raises some interesting questions, namely what exactly is the relationship between AdMatrix and Haren Ventures. Furthermore, with Anne Wessel named only as ‘the President‘ of AdMatrix, does that mean Kaur is once again the global CEO?
Obviously there’s a huge level of trust involved if Kaur was willing to transfer some of the siphoned money into the venture. With Kaur owning several affiliate companies in India itself, which are used to shift money around the company it’s entirely plausible that she also owns AdMatrix too, or at the very least is in some kind of partnership with whoever is running the show.
I guess for now we’ll have to wait till the CID have finished their investigation.
In other Speak Asia news, Indian CEO Manoj Kumar has reportedly been outed as hiding over in Dubai. Despite only being only a few hours away by plane and Speak Asia dealing with the biggest regulatory crisis it’s ever seen, Kumar has stated that he’ll be due back ‘by the end of this week‘.
With Speak Asia’s COO Tarak Bajpai expected to front court on the 5th of August (Friday), I expect Kumar’s conveniently vague scheduled arrival in India will be postponed pending any disastrous legal results.
Deccan Chronicle says multiple SpeakAsia offices have been raided, and specifically named AdMatrix.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/hyderabad/offices-speak-asia-searched-931
MoneyLife reports that police have seized computers which indicates that 24 lakh (2.4 million) members may be involved, which is a different figure from previously mentioned 14 lakh and 19 lakh released at different times by SpeakAsia.
Clearly, they can’t even keep track of their own membership.
http://www.moneylife.in/article/speak-asia-coo-tarak-bajpai-four-others-to-remain-in-police-custody-till-12th-august/18663.html
Hmmm… Oz, you got cited in MoneyLife India!
http://moneylife.in/article/the-admatrix-watch-and-earn-scheme-real-or-just-another-fraud/18681.html
Though even they admit that the links is kinda weak. 😀
@Kasey
I think there’s a good indication that Harendar Kaur has something to do with AdMatrix. Somebody had to authorise and accept payment between the companies after the $100 million was pulled out of India.
Hi, Everyone,
Since AdMatrix is new and no review available as of yet, it will be very difficult to question his credit. I think one need to wait till few months. But one thing is sure, it will take at least 1 year to label it as scam.
@Dev
Why do you have to wait a year?
The process for review is simple, look at the business model, how it applies in the real world and assess.
The only reason you want people to wait a year is so that they get sucked into the scam.
speak is send money to admatrix actually in december admatrix go to marge in speak asia that reason they send token money to deal
SPEAK ASIA NOT SCAM DONT USE THIS WORD BECAUSE THEY PAY CONTINUE SLY MONEY TO PANELIST IN INDIAN E-COMM HISTROY NOT
PAY ANY CO HUGE BIG THAT AMOUNT THEY YEH 20 LAKH PEOPLE.
@Rohit
Comments in hindhi will be marked as spam. This is an English speaking blog so please keep that in mind when contributing to the discussion please.
Why do the companies need to merge, management would already indicate that they are owned by the same person/group of people. And what’s this nonsense about sending money as a token to instigate a merger, since when do companies do that?
I think you’re confusing the concept of a wedding dowhri with the business world, and in the process pulling whatever garbage you can out of your arse.
Speak Asia have not paid anyone since May, 2011. And before you harp on about how the government is to blame, the government froze their accounts on the basis of Speak Asia’s pyramid scheme business model.
Dear @Oz ,
In accordance with our pursuit of educating masses about the Multilevel Marketing / Direct Selling industry we are writing this article to provide a simple and clear cut understanding about the basic legality governing this industry at large. The one and only Act which govern this business is Mischief Of Prize Chit Fund and Money Circulation (Banning) Act, 1978.
ANALYSIS OF SPEAK ASIA BUSINESS MODEL BY BIZBASKET:
If we test this business model to determine the legality we may clearly understand that the points mentioned above makes this model completely legal which dose not violate any law of the land. Having said this whatever is going on these days in various courts, media and government departments, may delay the ultimate legal victory to Speak Asia Online but it cannot stop this Company from doing its business under any circumstance. Only condition is the Company and its 20 Lakh panelist dose not give the fight in between and take this battle to its final conclusion.
@Rohit — are you the same Rohit that wrote:
Why don’t you convince the rest of SpeakAsians before claiming what is MLM and what is not?
P.S. BizBasket is a SpeakAsia fan site by “Team BizBasket” of SpeakAsia. http://www.bizbasket.net/ It is surely NOT a neutral review site.
Also, your so-called facts left a lot of stuff out.
Only a token amount. vast majority of income is done through recruiting / signing up new members.
It is not only the fact there is may be some product or service offered, it is also the proportion of it vs. recruiting. When there’s a lot of recruiting a very little sales, sales is used as a disguise.
Again, members are paid FAR MORE for recruiting than for filling out surveys. The fact is, survey income is limited to X amount per week, recruiting income is NOT limited at all.
Except you are rewarded MUCH MUCH better for referals / sponsor / recruit / whatever.
Using HALF the story to claim to be legal is a half-lie.
Speakasia’s business model is similar to that of Admatrix with a slight variation in initial approach. If Admatrix can operate and get registered at MCA then it is surprising to find why Speakasia cannot get the same recognition.
It becomes evident and clear that Admatrix is being backed up in India by some influential Politician or any big corporate house or so. How does the financial operations of Admatrix take place in India and why not Speakasia is not being allowed by RBI in India? Suprprising…..???? Is’nt it so?
Plz comment on this and raise a voice in this regard to RBI as investors of Speakasia are the worst sufferers. Moreover it has been learnt that another similar company Clickadonline too, is operating in India and making payouts to its investors through Indian banks. Again how is this happening without the knowledge of RBI?
Why dont they allow Speakasia to set up offices in India and make payouts to the innocent investors/panelists legally when they can allow similar companies like Admatrix or Clickadonline?
@Rohit
AdMatrix have no product. They provide a subscription to some token nonsense journal that ‘educates’ you on how to watch advertisements.
The bulk of the AdMatrix compensation plan revolves around paying commissions for recruitment of new members. If you don’t recruit you’re capped at $10 a week.
Ding ding ding!
A service is not a product.
As far as the Speak Asia compensation plan goes, you are paid peanuts for filling out surverys ($7-$20 a week from memory) and thousands for recruiting others to Speak Asia. The business model is clear.
Nobody is empowering themselves on $7-$20 a week. The fact that Speak Asia has over 2 million members (or 1.8 depending on who you cite) is evidence alone that this is a recruitment racket. Also I remember reading countless accounts of Speak Asia members not having even heard about the subscription side of the business, it was marketed to them as a pure recruitment scheme as this is where the money is.
Only if you’re a naive gullible idiot who refuses to analyse the Speak Asia compensation plan and how it is used and works in reality.
Speak Asia is not above the law. You are not above the law.
Footnote: Rohit please cite where you are copy and pasting from or I’m going to have to nuke it. Stop plagarising without giving credit.
@Rohit
You can’t just market a service, you need to have a tangible product.
Can I, as an AdMatrix or Speak Asia member, sell the ‘service’ to others on a retail level? No.
In both instances you must join the company to utilise the service. Membership is compulsory.
@Dinesh
Source?
AdMatrix are not registered with the MCA according to their website (plugin ‘admatrix’ or ‘ad matrix’ and nothing comes up).
Given that they’re not registered, no it doesn’t. And I love how, even if they were, the only possible answer is some giant conspiracy theory.
Speak Asia operated for a year or so without getting into trouble with the regulators. If Clickadonline are as dodgy as Speak Asia are, it’s only a matter of time.
I also get the sense that Speak Asia is a test case, the ramifications of which will hopefully clean up the cesspool that is currently passing for MLM in India.
1. Speak Asia had over a year to set up offices. They only filed applications to open offices and cried about not being able to do so when regulators started investigating them.
2. It is illegal to participate and promote pyramid schemes. Speak Asia members are hardly innocent. Naive and gullible, perhaps – but innocent? No.
He pulled it from the bizbasket.net SpeakAsia “fan site”.
Bizbasket? I remember reading a ‘manoj kumar sends you an ‘important message’ article there a week or so ago.
They took a screenshot from Manoj Kumar’s video ‘press release’ regarding the Bajpai arrests and even doctored up a Manoj Kumar postcard.
Claimed it was official too, what do they think we are – idiots?
Oz,
Thanks a lot for giving detailed reply to my questions in regard to Speakasiaonline and Admatrix. I am really thankful to your response. Please keep on advising us.
@oz
A minor correction:
A service is a legal ‘product’ like any other products.
Sales of products or services doesn’t make an illegal business model more legal. It will still be an illegal business model with a product or service attached to it.
In that sense the product would be only marketed to companies wishing to utilise the Speak Asia memberbase then no?
I’d hardly call filling out surveys a marketable service. If anything you’re providing a service to Speak Asia for a fee.
@oz
I was speaking generally about business models. A service is just as legal as a product. I haven’t studied SpeakAsia, but it seems to be some sort of scheme with something attached to it.
A subscription for training matherials is neither a product nor a service. It is more like a ‘joining fee’ or ‘initial payment’ – a ‘pay-to-play’ disguised as some sort of service.
* The term ‘initial payment’ isn’t limited to the first payment only. It will usually cover any other payments related to the first payment (like paying for a better position in a scheme).
* The term ‘fee’ also includes overprized products or services (like training matherials). It will not make a scheme more legal if the fee is disguised as some sort of product or service.
* The term ‘overprized’ means ‘more than the cost of production and distribution’, when it’s a part of the initial payment. The term ‘the cost of’ doesn’t include any net income to the company or the distributors, but it should cover their costs.
* Delaying an initial payment with “It’s free to join!” doesn’t make a scheme more legal.
SpeakAsia and SpeakAsians seems to make most of their money from initial payments when people joins the scheme (or buy some additional matherial covered by the term ‘initial payment’).
SpeakAsians are claiming that Manoj Kumar’s family was caught at Delhi airport attempting to leave the country.
http://www.speakindiaonline.com/forum/topics/speakasia-ceo-s-family-detained-from-delhi-airport?page=1&commentId=5257613%3AComment%3A627108&x=1#5257613Comment627108
No confirmation from official news sources yet.
Oops, read the news wrong. Apparently the kid and wife came back to India, but Kumar himself was a no-show.
Kind of a joke now really. It’s obvious he’s not coming back until Mr. Scapegoat Bajpai is cleared.
If not, you can bet that’ll not only be the end of Speak Asia, but also the last time we’ll ever hear from Kumar and Kaur.
Gee, why does that sound so familiar to SpeakAsians? 😀