uPayCard distance themselves from uFun Club
Modeled on AdSurfDaily, StarAd24 sees affiliates invest in €50 “promotion packs” and pay up to €1000 when they join the company (20 positions).
The STARAD24 Affiliate Programme combines several well known and well proven compensation plan models, and has created a above (sic) average and very profitable system.
Each €50 position pays out an eventual €60 ROI, with ROI funds sourced from subsequent investment.
StarAd24 went into prelaunch almost a year ago (August 2014), likely retaining prelaunch status so as to sell the “getting in on the ground floor” illusion to new investors.
Being a HYIP Ponzi scheme (only single-level commissions are offered), StarAd24 naturally requires a constant influx of new investors to fend off collapse.
In a recent presentation the company announced a “new payment system”, which was none other than uPayCard.
Towards the end of the call things got interesting when the issue of uPayCard providing processor services to uFun Club was raised…
Hosting the StarAd24 presentation were Herbert Leitner and Sarah Smus. They appear to either be top investors in the scheme or management (StarAd24 do not provide any management or ownership information on their website).
Also present was Mark Wheeler, identified as uPayCard’s CEO.
[3:58] My name is Mark wheeler, I’m the CEO of uPayCard.
Our company has been in business for almost two years.
A little bit about myself; I was fortunate to live in London for six years and during that period Visa International was my largest client.
And when I went back to the United States I joined Visa and I was a Vice-President in the International Market Development Division.
And then I left Visa and got into the internet business and I have been in the internet business since 1999 and have been working with prepaid cards for thirteen years now.
Most of the presentation is dedicated to walking StarAd24 investors through the company’s backoffice and integration with uPayCard.
At the [37:00] mark Herbert Leitner opens the presentation up for Q&A, with the first question asked pertaining to uFun Club.
[37:44] We have a comment here:
“uPayCard is in collaboration with uFun something run by Alain Brazille, a French guy which has been proved corrupt.
Ten seconds of awkward silence pass, before Leitner asks “What’s this?”
[38:11] The question is regarding the validity and legal foundation of uPayCard … whether it has any collaboration with uFun.
Mark Wheeler eventually responds to the question, clarifying uPayCard’s involvement with uFun Club:
[38:30] uPayCard has no collaboration with uFun.
It is in a discussion point right now, that we would provide them only loading services and commission payout services for a fee.
So we are simply a transaction processor for them. We have absolutely nothing to do with their business.
For those unfamiliar with the opportunity, uFun Club is a global $1.17 billion dollar Ponzi scheme.
The company is currently under investigation in a number of company’s, with criminal charges pending in Thailand.
Of note is that Wheeler’s comments during the StarAd24 presentation differ to what uFun Club affiliates have been marketing.
A few weeks ago BehindMLM uncovered uFun Club documentation that showed affiliates signing into uPayCard and conducting uFun Club related transactions.
These transactions were conducted under the business name “uPocket LTD.”, with there being no mention of uFun Club on any of the invoices uPayCard provided uFun Club affiliates.
Whether or not uPayCard are being used to pay ROIs to uFun Club investors as of yet is unclear.
I myself tried to get to the bottom of the relationship between uFun Club and uPayCard on May 29th:
I am writing to you about one of your clients, uFun Club, dba uPocket LTD.
Would it be possible to get a statement pertaining to uPayCard’s level of due diligence conducted before taking uPocket LTD on as a client?
uFun Club is currently under investigation in Thailand, Malaysia, China and Vanuatu. Thai police estimate it to be a $1.17 billion dollar Ponzi scheme.
Missing that with even the slightest due diligence conducted would be a difficult task, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.
I look forward to your reply,
-Oz
My email was assigned a support ticket by uPayCard’s support department, but as of the time of publication I’ve yet to receive a reply.
Whether that’s indicative of uPayCard’s general level of support is unclear.
What is clear though is that between StarAd24 and uFun Club, uPayCard appear to be targeting very specific type of businesses as clients.
Whether or not that comes back to bite them in the ass remains to be seen.
aw the question was wrong in asking if upaycard has any ‘collaboration’ with ufun. wheeler escaped by saying they have no ‘collaboration’ with ufun but are just providing processor services.
the question should have been why upaycard is providing ‘processor services’ to a global ponzi like ufun.
but since the audience at starad 24, would be comprised of HYIP players, that would not concern anyone i think.
and i wish someone had asked upaycard if they were ‘licensed’ by the FCA as they claim on their website. wonder how wheeler would have responded to that!
Earlier in the video after Wheeler has finished introducing himself, he states that the bank uPayCard use (referred to as an “issuing bank” from memory) is FCA registered.
He doesn’t claim uPayCard themselves have an FCA license.
the upaycard website clearly says:
wheeler should remove this statement from his website in a hurry now, since the FCA may be on his tail.
in case wheeler and alain bazille missed this info, and chance to read this article about their staradz shenanigans, this is the response the FCA has, to their claim that they are licensed by the FCA:
It’s not illegal to provide services to a suspect Ponzi scheme. One just needs to be ready for the consequences.
There will be, just wait for it. You cannot be a laundry for the international crime for long time.
*believe it or not*
upaycard has removed information from its website which claimed its links to ‘optimal payments’ and licensing by the FCA.
this is what the bottom of the homepage of upaycard said yesterday:
All This ^^ Is Gone Today!!
wonder who’s been in touch with them!! it seems optimal payments which is a compliant mastercard vendor, has dumped upaycard too!!
i’m thinking upaycard will dump ufun dba upocket. there’s too much heat on ufun right now for them to risk trouble. they are already in the eye of the FCA.
i’m going to be a pukka complaintbox and tattletale and write to the FCA about upaycards starad24 tie up.
i mean, shady payment processors which transfer ponzi funds, usually have the decency to go off and register themselves in seychelles or elsewhere else in the middle of the ocean.
upaycard has boldly registered itself as a british company:
if they want to function under a british registration they must be held answerable to the british FCA. no?
Wonder if it was the FCA who contacted them or someone from uPayCard read BehindMLM and decided to cover their tracks.
upaycard has removed info about optimal payments too, from their website. that means optimal payments has asked them to remove reference to them, and pulled out of the partnership.
so, either upaycard and optimal payments have both followed the news here, or the FCA has sent queries to both of them, or it is a happy combination of both.
the FCA response did say that they have forwarded my concerns to the relevant departments ie optimal payments to the ‘supervisory team’ and upaycard to the ‘Unauthorised Business Division in Enforcement ‘.