Appi Travels Review 3.0: Three tiers of recruitment Ponzi fraud
BehindMLM first reviewed Appi Travels in November 2016.
Founded and owned by Danny Gauthier, a serial scammer we’ve been tracking since early 2012, Appi Travels’ initial business model was your typical MLM travel niche pyramid scheme.
Following a tip-off from a BehindMLM reader, we published an updated Appi Travels review in early 2018.
In our updated review, we noted intact pyramid recruitment with the introduction of a gifting cycler.
Recently we were once again tipped off that Appi Travels has been adding and updating its compensation plan.
Today we take a look at Gauthier’s current offering in our third published Appi Travels review.
Appi Travels Products
Appi Travels has no retailable products or services, with affiliates only able to market Appi Travels affiliate membership itself.
Appi Travels affiliate membership provides access to a discount travel booking engine, a website builder and “online training”.
The Appi Travels Compensation Plan
The Appi Travels compensation plan is made up of three components; Appi Fund, Appi Even Up Daily Pay and Appi VIP.
Appi Fund
The Appi Fund sees Appi Travels affiliates purchase positions in a five-tier 2×2 matrix cycler.
A 2×2 matrix places an Appi Travels affiliate at the top of a matrix, with two positions directly under them.
These two positions form the first level of the matrix. The second level of the matrix is generated by splitting the first two positions into another two positions each (4 positions).
This results in a total of six positions to be filled.
Matrix positions are filled when new and existing Appi Travels affiliates purchase subsequent positions.
When all six positions in a matrix are filled, a “cycle” is generated and a commission paid out.
Commission payments across Appi Travels’ five-tier matrix cycler are as follows:
- Explorer (positions cost $35) – $75 cycle commission and generates a new Explorer matrix position
- Traveler (positions cost $125) – $300 cycle commission and generates a new Traveler matrix position
- Navigator (positions cost $275) – $750 cycle commission and generates a new Navigator matrix position
- Adventure (positions cost $565) – $1500 cycle commission and generates a new Adventure matrix position
- Discover (positions cost $1065) – $3000 cycle commission and generates a new Discover matrix position
Appi Even Up Daily Pay
Participation in Appi Even Up Daily Pay costs $75.
Appi Even Up splits recruited affiliates into two groups.
Even numbered recruited affiliates (the second, fourth, sixth etc. recruited affiliate) are passed up to the affiliate who recruited you.
Odd numbered affiliates are kept and are what Appi Even Up Daily Pay commissions are paid on.
In turn personally recruited affiliates must pass up their even-numbered recruits, as do the affiliates they recruit and so on.
For each affiliate either directly coded or pass-up coded to you, Appi Travels pays a 100% match on earned Appi Fund and Appi VIP commissions.
Appi VIP
Appi VIP sees Appi Travels affiliates purchase monthly recurring positions in two 4×7 matrix tiers.
A 4×7 matrix places an affiliate at the top of a matrix, with four positions directly under them:
These four positions form the first level of the matrix.
The second level of the matrix is generated by splitting these first four positions into another four positions each (16 positions).
Levels three to seven of the matrix are generated in the same manner, with each new level housing four times as many positions as the previous level.
Positions in the matrix are filled when newly recruited and existing Appi Travels affiliates purchase positions.
Commissions paid across the three Appi VIP matrix tiers are as follows:
Appi VIP 1
- Appi Beginner VIP 1 (positions cost $79 a month) – $4 per position filled on level 2 and $7 per position filled on levels 3 and 4
- Appi Silver VIP 1 (must personally recruit and maintain at least four Appi VIP 1 fee-paying affiliates) – unlocks levels 5 and 6 and pays $4 per position filled on these two levels
- Appi Gold VIP 1 (must maintain at least four fee-paying affiliates and have a total Appi VIP 1 downline of at least five hundred affiliates) – unlocks level 7 and pays $4 per position filled on this level
For each personally recruited affiliate, Appi Travels pays:
- a $20 referral commission per Appi VIP 1 position purchased;
- 250 travel points; and
- a 100% match on their fourth level Appi VIP 1 matrix commissions
Travel points are an internal Appi Travel currency that can be put towards travel in their travel booking engine.
Two additional bonuses are available based on total Appi VIP 1 downline numbers:
- have a total Appi VIP 1 downline of at least 500 affiliates and receive a “monthly 3 day get-away for 2” or $1000
- have a total Appi VIP 1 downline of at least 1000 affiliates and receive a “monthly all-inclusive vacation for 2” or $3000
Appi VIP 2
- Appi Bronze VIP 2 (positions cost $500 a month) – $20 per position filled on levels 2 and 3 and $80 per position filled on level 4
- Appi Silver VIP 2 (personally recruit and maintain at least four Appi VIP 2 fee-paying affiliates) – unlocks levels 5 and 6 and pays $20 per position filled on these two levels
- Appi Gold VIP 2 (maintain at least four fee-paying affiliates and have a total Appi VIP 2 downline of at least five hundred affiliates) – unlocks level 7 and pays $20 per position filled on this level
For each personally recruited affiliate, Appi Travels pays:
- a $150 referral commission per Appi Bronze VIP 2 position purchased;
- 500 travel points; and
- a 100% match on their fourth level Appi VIP 2 matrix commissions
Two additional bonuses are available based on total Appi VIP 2 downline numbers:
- have a total Appi VIP 2 downline of at least 500 affiliates and receive a $2000 monthly car allowance
- have a total Appi VIP 2 downline of at least 1000 affiliates and receive a $5000 monthly mortgage allowance
Joining Appi Travels
Appi Travels affiliate membership is free, however participation in the attached MLM opportunity depends on which components an affiliate participates in.
- Appi Fund costs $35
- App Even Up Pay costs $75
- Appi VIP costs $79 a month
Payments within Appi Travels are made either in USD or bitcoin.
Conclusion
The overall theme of Appi Travels hasn’t changed much since our second review.
Why should I sign up immediately and not delay my signup after discovering APPI Travels?
The earlier you become a Paid Member of APPI Travels the Faster you Start Earning a Daily & Weekly USD Income!
Travel has taken an increasing backseat, granted it was never more than pseudo-compliance to begin with.
One can sign up to Appi Travels and ignore travel, which has nothing to do with the MLM side of the business.
The MLM side of Appi Travels is a combination of pyramid recruitment, cash gifting and Ponzi fraud.
Appi Funds is a matrix Ponzi cycler. Affiliates invest in a position and are paid advertised returns when a set number of subsequent position investments are made.
Sans admin fees, which are paid straight to Gauthier (right), Appi Funds returns work out to 300%.
Appi Even Up Daily Pay is a paywall gated bonus tied to recruitment.
Appi VIP is a monthly-fee pyramid scheme.
That’s literally all there is to the business model.
Gauthier values attached garbage to fees paid at up to $4997. What that’s based on who knows but it’s ultimately irrelevant.
You can’t legitimize a pyramid and Ponzi schemes by bundling products and/or services to fees paid or funds invested.
As with the previous two Appi Travels models, once affiliate recruitment dies down so too will new funds.
Each of Appi Travels’ compensation plans requires constant recruitment to continue, failing which they collapse.
The math behind Ponzi and pyramid schemes guarantees that when they collapse, the majority of participants lose money.
Cue Appi Travels affiliates who got in early trotting out “but we have products!” scam cliches…
Update 2nd July 2022 – Appi Travels has collapsed. As of June 30th, Danny Gauthier has pulled the company’s website offline.