BitClub Advantage Review: Brazilian crypto Ponzi scam targeting Africa
BitClub Advantage (not to be confused with BitClub Network), provide no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.
The BitClub Advantage website domain (“bitclubadvantage.academy”) was privately registered on July 28th, 2017.
The BitClub Advantage confidentiality and NDA form states:
The Central Forum of the District of São Paulo, São Paulo, is hereby elected to resolve any conflicts arising from this agreement, to the exclusion of any other, no matter how privileged it may be or become.
São Paulo is a city in Brazil.
Further research reveals BitClub Advantage affiliates naming Alex Pereira Salles as CEO of the company.
Salles (right) is a Brazilian national and assumed to be residing in São Paulo.
There’s a distinct lack of information on Salles with respect to BitClub Advantage and the MLM industry in general.
I’m flagging this as suspicious in that Alex Pereira Salles might be a pseudonym.
Note that the individual in the photo above does appear to be connected BitClub Advantage. I was able to tie him to the company across various social media platforms through third-party sources.
As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money.
BitClub Advantage Products
BitClub Advantage has no retailable products or services, with affiliates only able to market BitClub Advantage affiliate membership itself.
BitClub Advantage affiliate membership provides access to a “Crypto-Coin Trader” digital course.
The BitClub Advantage Compensation Plan
BitClub Advantage affiliates invest funds on the promise of an advertised 300% ROI:
- Partner – invest $25 and receive $6.16 a month
- Basic – invest $50 and receive $12.32 a month
- Bronze – invest $99 and receive $29.70 a month
- Silver – invest $249 and receive $74.50 a month
- Gold – invest $499 and receive $149 a month
- Premium – invest $999 and receive $298.90 a month
- Black – invest $1999 and receive $677.26 a month
Once a 300% ROI has been reached, a BitClub Advantage affiliate must reinvest within 48 hours to continue earning.
Note that BitClub Advantage charge a 10% fee on all withdrawal requests.
Recruitment Commissions
BitClub Advantage sets aside 15% of invested funds and uses it to pay recruitment commissions via a unilevel compensation structure.
A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):
If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.
If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.
BitClub Advantage cap payable unilevel levels at eight, with commissions paid out as a percentage of the 15% amount set aside on each new investment within the unilevel team.
- level 1 (personally recruited affiliates) – 50%
- levels 2 and 3 – 5%
- levels 4 – 6%
- level 5 – 7%
- level 6 – 8%
- level 7 – 9%
- level 8 – 10%
Again these are percentages of the 15% BitClub Advantage set aside, not the total amount invested by unilevel team affiliates.
Residual Recruitment Commissions
BitClub Advantage charge each affiliate a monthly fee.
This fee is used to pay residual recruitment commissions via the same unilevel compensation structure used to pay regular recruitment commissions (see above).
Residual recruitment commissions are capped at six unilevel team levels.
How much is paid out is determined by how much unilevel team affiliates have invested and what level of the unilevel team they fall on.
- recruited Partner affiliates generate 6 cents a month on all six unilevel team levels
- recruited Basic affiliates generate 12 cents a month on levels 1 to 5 and 15 cents on level 6
- recruited Bronze affiliates generate 24 cents a month on levels 1 to 5 and 30 cents on level 6
- recruited Silver affiliates generate 60 cents a month on levels 1 to 5 and $1.50 on level 6
- recruited Gold affiliates generate $1.20 a month on levels 1 to 5 and $1.50 on level 6
- recruited Premium affiliates generate $2 a month on level 1 to 5 and $2.50 on level 6
- recruited Black affiliates generate $4 a month on levels 1 to 5 and $5 on level 6
Residual Investment Commissions
BitClub Advantage pay residual investment commissions via a binary compensation structure.
A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a binary team, split into two sides (left and right):
The first level of the binary team houses two positions. The second level of the binary team is generated by splitting these first two positions into another two positions each (4 positions).
Subsequent levels of the binary team are generated as required, with each new level housing twice as many positions as the previous level.
Positions in the binary team are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of affiliates. Note there is no limit to how deep a binary team can grow.
Each BitClub Advantage affiliate investment package corresponds to a set number of points:
- Partner – 5 points
- Basic – 10 points
- Bronze – 20 points
- Silver – 50 points
- Gold – 100 points
- Premium – 200 points
- Black – 400 points
At the end of each day BitClub Advantage tally up new points generated on both sides of the binary team.
Affiliates are paid 50% of points generated on the weaker side.
Leftover points on the stronger binary team side are carried over the following day.
Rank Achievement Bonus
BitClub Advantage reward affiliates with the following bonuses for encouraging others to invest.
- Gold – generate an accumulated 10,000 points on your weaker binary side and receive a Month Blanc or Invicta watch
- Ruby – generate an accumulated 20,000 points on your weaker binary side and receive an Apple Watch and iPhone 7
- Emerald – generate an accumulated 40,000 points on your weaker binary side and receive a Moto Yamaha Factor 125i motorcycle
- Sapphire – generate an accumulated 100,000 points on your weaker binary side and receive a 4 day trip to Europe
- Diamond – generate an accumulated 250,000 points on your weaker binary side and receive a Hyundai HB20 car
- Ambassador – generate an accumulated 500,000 points on your weaker binary side and receive a Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic car and trip to Cancun
- President – generate an accumulated 750,000 points on your weaker binary side and receive a Mercedes-Benz C180 C car and trip to Hawaii
- Emperor – generate an accumulated 1,000,000 points on your weaker binary side and receive a Porsche Carerra car
Joining BitClub Advantage
BitClub Advantage affiliate membership is tied to a membership fee, package investment and monthly ongoing fees.
- Partner – $5 membership fee, $25 investment (total $30) and 75 cents monthly fee
- Basic – $5 membership fee, $50 investment (total $55) and $1.50 monthly fee
- Bronze – $10 membership fee, $99 investment (total $109) and $2.97 monthly fee
- Silver – $15 membership fee, $249 investment (total $264) and $7.47 monthly fee
- Gold – $15 membership fee, $499 investment (total $514) and $14.97 monthly fee
- Premium – $30 membership fee, $999 investment (total $1029) and $24.98 monthly fee
- Black – $30 membership fee, $1999 investment (total $2029) and $49.98 monthly fee
Conclusion
Whereas we typically see white guys in the US and Asia take advantage of third-world African countries, now it seems someone in Brazil wants their turn.
The BitClub Advantage website has a logo at the top for version 3.0. This suggests the company has already collapsed twice over.
Previously BitClub Advantage operated from the dot com domain bearing the company’s name.
If you visit that domain today however, a message informs you the company moved to their currency .academy domain on June 11th.
That same month BitClub Advantage “officially” launched in Africa.
If we look at Alexa’s traffic estimates for the .com and .academy domains, we can see the .com domain picked up at launch and the .academy in November.
Nigeria is currently the top source of traffic to the BitClub Advantage website (59%).
Tanzania is the second-largest coming in at 14%. Cameroon is an emerging source of new investment at 4%.
Various posts and videos on social media suggest Alex Pereira Salles has been travelling the globe with a group of Brazilians over the past six months.
This is important because they’re likely funding their trips with money stolen from BitClub Advantage investors.
BitClub Advantage claims to generate external ROI revenue through cryptocurrency trading and sports arbitrage.
The company however provides no evidence of engaging in either, which leaves new investment the sole verifiable source of revenue.
And from there BitClub Acadmey is the same old Ponzi/pyramid story swallowed by gullible victims in third-world countries.
If Alex Pereira Salles was able to legitimately generate a consistent 300% ROI, he’d still be travelling the world but would have no reason to solicit investment from victims who can’t afford it.
Salles needs this money though because on the back-end of BitClub Advantage, all he’s doing is recycling new money to pay existing affiliates.
This your classic Ponzi scheme and will collapse once the company runs out of third-world countries to spread to.
Traditionally scams that have targeted Nigeria have also spread to Ghana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Once these markets are exhausted, the scam collapses and the guy running the show does a runner with everyone’s money.
People in third-world countries are in no position to recover their losses from scammers in hiding.
Don’t expect much from African authorities, as they’re typically not interested unless the perpetrators are local. Ditto on the Brazilian side, because most of the victims aren’t in Brazil.
To summarize: BitClub Advantage will result in millions of dollars in losses for mostly African investors, and make Alex Pereira Salles and his early investor buddies a ton of money.
“System maintenance repairs” is the current excuse being used to not pay…
And yes there was 2.0 and 3.0…
Via email:
Another Ponzi bites the dust. #RIP
DO NOT invest in Bitcub African, it’s a scam.
Mastermind Alex Pereira Brazilian with African leaders who call themselves motivation Speaker, but all are con men. Creating multiple pyramids, once they make their money, they disappear & start new one.
With lax laws and corruption in Africa, they are stealing a lot of money from poor Africans.