Freebay Review: Karatbars’ V999 Ponzi token reboot
Freebay was founded in June 2020 and is a marketing reboot of Karatbars International.
Rather than just be honest about it however, Karatbars has opted to present Freebay as a “partnership”.
A lack of transparency leaves Karatbars’ owner Harald Seiz’s stake in Freebay unclear.
If I had to guess Seiz, with possibly one or more partners, ultimately owns Freebay. Throw in a dozen shell companies to create elaborate banking funnels and corporate secrecy.
Thomas Valet, Karatbars’ Communications Manager, admitted as much in a recent August 31st corporate update call:
[11:07] This heart now gets a refreshment. There will be a new sales company that will be launched, unencumbered, without negative comments, messages, campaigns or targeted misinformations [sic].
The name of this new sales company is … Freebay.
[12:14] Freebay is located in the center of Switzerland. Internationally untouchable, solid, surrounded by international companies, organizations and associations.
On the public-facing side of the company, Freebay is headed up by CEO Jurgen Pulvermuller.
Before fronting the marketing reboot, Pulvermuller worked as Karatbars’ Head of Global Sales.
Pulvermuller appears to have gotten involved with Karatbars on or around 2019. Prior to that he was promoting Neora, and before that Filabe and Visalus.
It is from Karatbars’ sales department that every Freebay executive I’ve seen thus far has originated from; namely Norbert Take and Marius Broening.
Read on for a full review of Freebay’s MLM opportunity.
Freebay’s Products
Freebay has no retailable products or services, with affiliates only able to market Freebay affiliate membership itself.
Freebay affiliate membership provides access to a video library they call “Freebay Academy”.
Topics covered within the library are education and cryptocurrency trading.
There is also a nine-lesson “Trader Academy” module.
Freebay’s Compensation Plan
Freebay affiliates sign up and invest in V999 tokens.
Affiliate membership is handled through Freebay.
- EVO Academy – €50 EUR monthly or €480 EUR annually
- EVO Expert – €190 EUR monthly or €1820 EUR annually
- EVO Life – €480 EUR monthly or €4600 EUR annually
V999 investment happens through their “Genesis Market” internal exchange.
Commissions are paid on recruitment of Freebay affiliates and V999 token investment.
V999 Token Investment Rewards
All Freebay V999 token investors receive a daily share in 0.02% of funds invested through the company.
A residual 0.02% bonus on V999 token investment is paid down ten levels of recruitment (unilevel).
Daily Investor Bonus
Freebay rewards its daily top ten biggest investors (by transaction volume), with 0.01% of company-wide investment volume.
The Daily Investor Bonus is calculated and paid daily.
Freebay Affiliate Ranks
There are twelve affiliate ranks within Freebay’s compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- One Star Sapphire – sign up as a Freebay affiliate
- Two Star Sapphire – generate €5000 EUR in downline monthly membership fee volume
- Three Star Sapphire – sign up with EVO Academy or generate €10,000 EUR in downline monthly membership fee volume
- One Star Emerald – sign up with EVO Expert or generate €15,000 EUR in downline monthly membership fee volume
- Two Star Emerald – sign up with EVO Life or develop a unilevel leg generating €25,000 EUR a month and €15,000 throughout the rest of your unilevel team
- Three Star Emerald – develop a unilevel leg generating €50,000 EUR a month and €30,000 EUR through the rest of your unilevel team
- One Star Ruby – develop a unilevel leg generating €100,000 EUR a month and €50,000 EUR through the rest of your unilevel team
- Two Star Ruby – develop a unilevel leg generating €250,000 EUR a month and €150,000 EUR through the rest of your unilevel team
- Three Star Ruby – develop two unilevel legs generating €500,000 and €250,000 EUR a month respectively, and €100,000 EUR through the rest of your unilevel team
- One Star Diamond – develop two unilevel legs generating €1,500,000 and €1,000,000 EUR a month respectively, and €1,000,000 EUR through the rest of your unilevel team
- Two Star Diamond – develop two unilevel legs generating €2,500,000 and €1,500,000 EUR a month respectively, and €1,000,000 EUR through the rest of your unilevel team
- Three Star Diamond – develop two unilevel legs generating €5,000,000 and €2,500,000 EUR a month respectively, and €2,000,000 EUR through the rest of your unilevel team
Recruitment Commissions
Freebay pays a commission on recruited affiliate membership fees.
Recruitment commission rates are based on how much a Freebay affiliate pays when they sign up:
- One Star Sapphires earn a 7% recruitment commission rate
- Two Star Sapphires earn a 15% recruitment commission rate
- Three Star Sapphires (or sign up with EVO Academy) earn a 21% recruitment commission rate
- One Star Emeralds (or sign up with EVO Expert) earn a 23% recruitment commission rate
- Two Star Emeralds (or sign up with EVO Life) earn a 25% recruitment commission rate
- Three Star Emeralds earn a 26% recruitment commission rate
- One Star Rubys earn a 27% recruitment commission rate
- Two Star Rubys earn a 28% recruitment commission rate
- Three Star Rubys earn a 29% recruitment commission rate
- One Star Diamonds earn a 30% recruitment commission rate
- Two Star Diamonds earn a 31% recruitment commission rate
- Three Star Diamonds earn a 32% recruitment commission rate
Note that these rates are coded, meaning 32% is paid on all Freebay affiliate membership fees paid.
The coded nature of the commissions allows higher ranked affiliates to receive the difference when lower ranked affiliates recruit new affiliates.
E.g. if a Two Star Ruby recruits a new affiliate, they are paid their 28% commission.
This leaves 4% remaining to be paid out. The system searches upline for a Three Star Ruby or higher to pay the remaining 4% out to.
If a Two Star Diamond was found first, they’d receive 3%, leaving 1% payable to the first upline Three Star Diamond.
Note that nothing is passed upline when a Three Star Diamond recruits someone. Three Star Diamonds receive the full payable 32% recruitment commission rate.
Residual Recruitment Commissions
Freebay pays residual recruitment 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.
Residual recruitment commissions are paid based on volume generated on recruitment of Freebay affiliates.
Volume (GV) across the binary team is generated as follows:
- EVO Academy monthly payment = 2 GV
- EVO Academy annual payment = 24 GV
- EVO Expert monthly payment = 5 GV
- EVO Expert annual payment = 60 GV
- EVO Life monthly payment = 10 GV
- EVO Life annual payment = 120 GV
For every 25 GV matched on one side of the binary team against 50 GV on the other (a pair), a residual recruitment commission is paid out.
The more pairs generated in a week, the lower the commission paid on each pair:
- the first ten pairs pay €25 EUR each
- pairs 11 to 25 pay €20 EUR each
- pairs 26 to 50 pay €18 EUR each
- pairs 51 to 100 pay €17 EUR each
- pairs 101 to 150 pay €16 EUR each
- pairs 151 to 200 pay €15 EUR each
- pairs 201 to 700 pay €14 EUR each
- pairs 701 to 2100 pay €13 EUR each
- pairs 2101 to 4500 pay €12 EUR each
- pairs 4501 to 10,000 pay €11 EUR each
- pairs 10,001 to 30,000 pay €10 EUR each
- pairs 30,001 to 80,000 pay €8 EUR each
- pairs 80,001 to 180,000 pay €5 EUR each
Residual recruitment commissions are calculated weekly and capped at 180,000 matched volume pairs.
Matching Bonus
Two Star Sapphire to Three Star Sapphire ranked affiliates receive a Matching Bonus on personally recruited affiliates of the same rank.
- Two Star Sapphires receive a 5% Matching Bonus
- Three Star Sapphires receive a 7% Matching Bonus
- One Star Emeralds receive a 10% Matching Bonus
Ranks higher than One Star Emerald receive the Generation Bonus (see below).
Generation Bonus
Freebay pays a Generation Bonus to Two Star Emerald and higher ranked affiliates.
The Generation Bonus is paid 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.
Freebay caps the Generation Bonus at seven unilevel team levels as follows:
- level 1 (personally recruited affiliates) – 1%
- levels 2 and 3 – 1%
- levels 4 to 6 – 2%
- level 7 – 3%
Automated Trading Returns
Freebay’s EVO Expert and EVO Life affiliate memberships provide access to passive returns.
- EVO Expert provides access to four passive return investment options
- EVO Life provides access to eight passive return investment options
Joining Freebay
Freebay affiliate membership is available in four tiers:
- Free – no cost but must rank qualify to earn MLM commissions
- EVO Academy – €50 EUR monthly or €480 EUR annually
- EVO Expert – €190 EUR monthly or €1820 EUR annually
- EVO Life – €480 EUR monthly or €4600 EUR annually
Membership fees can be paid monthly or annually.
The more a Freebay affiliate spends on membership fees the higher their income potential.
Conclusion
Karatbars International started off as a simple gold-themed pyramid scheme. When that ran its course, Harald Seiz jumped on the cryptocurrency bandwagon and rebooted Karatbars as an investment opportunity.
This was initially announced at KaratBank Coin in 2018, however things didn’t really go anywhere until Seiz rebooted again with KaratGold Coin.
Through KaratGold Coin, Karatbars managed to dupe a bunch of affiliates to invest in their worthless KBC shitcoin.
By mid 2019 the hype machine was in full-effect, with many expecting promised riches on Karatbars’ “Independence Day” event.
At the center of the marketing pitch was Harald Seiz’s promise that 100 KBC could be converted into 1 gram of gold.
Independence Day came and went, KBC dumped 62% and the 1 gram of gold promise was predictably exposed as a lie.
Wholly abandoned, KBC today has a public trading value of 0.2 cents.
It is against this backdrop that once again Karatbars is hyping up another shitcoin, V999.
V999 is at the center of Freebay, although currently is it the education package nonsense being pushed.
Through V999, once again Karatbars is committing securities fraud by offering a passive investment opportunity.
The MLM side of the business is a return to Karatbars’ pyramid scheme roots.
It’s worth noting that Jurgen Pulvermuller was part of Karatbars’ marketing team throughout most of the company’s crypto misadventures.
To what extent Pulvermuller orchestrated Karatbars’ crypto fraud is unclear. What is clear however is that he’s knowledgeable enough to front a reboot.
One need really only look to KBC to see where Freebay will wind up.
You have the same “backed by gold” rubbish, where in reality V999 is just a token Karatbars generates on demand – same as the previous two coins its launched.
Wary of KBC’s embarrassing (but inevitable) failure, V999 is locked behind an internal exchange.
Whether Karatbars goes for the abrupt shutdown or public exchange exit-scam remains to be seen.
Either way, the majority of Freebay affiliates will lose money. The pyramid side of Freebay isn’t’ sustainable. And neither is the V999 token Ponzi scheme.
Given the regulatory heat Karatbars took on its failed KBC venture (Namibia, Germany, South Africa, New Zealand), there’s also a chance regulators are in play.
Don’t count on it though, as a new company name and banking channels typically means regulators will take another few years to cotton on.
All of this is of course by design, and why Seiz isn’t directly fronting Freebay. It’s also why we have the “partnership” charade.
A gold pyramid scheme, failed KaratBank Coin, failed KaratGold Coin and now Freebay reboot with V999.
You know how this ends.
Karatbars was so obviously a pyramid selling, Ponzi scam; as is Freebay.
What amazes me are the Karatbars investors and affiliates who still defend the companies.
Karatbars / Freebay (essentially one and the same) is a cult. And the affiliates are its cult members. And like with any cult, it is difficult to convince its members that they are in a cult until it is too late for them and the damage is done.
Harald Seiz’s next book may be LIFE AFTER KARATBARS, THE EUROPEAN PRISON EXPERIENCE.
He has managed to pump a lot of sunshine and defraud a lot of people that bought the worthless CashGold ATM machines, profit sharing business packages and KBC cryptocurrancy.
If Karatbars stayed focused only on gold as was the original product, Karatbars may have survived and been a legitimate MLM/network marketing business.
So basically Karatbars is the new one coin now? Insanity.
When the company was strictly doing overpriced gold sales, it was somewhat legit. This whole crypto thing has destroyed it.
Karatbars’ gold phase was a pyramid scheme. That collapsed and lead them to crypto scams.
If people keep the pressure on, their new scam project will never be successful.
At this point the power is in knowing the truth! Great work on this article.
#CryptTalkNation
The fact that PIIC is advertised at the top of this article (Ozedit: derails removed)
Advertising on BehindMLM is handled by a third-party. It has nothing to do with Freebay being a Karatbars Ponzi reboot.
I definitely understand people’s angst when it comes to this company. I see a bunch of outsiders talking about things from a surface level.
Gold is not a security is is a commodity. Crypto is a collectable (per US gov, IRS and SEC) most of us feel that we have been made whole at every turn.
I do understand that some including you don’t see it that way and that’s fine. However, I have a pocket full of gold, real gold… that’s the core of the business.. you don’t get paid per person as you described, that is illegal in country country.
If you want your writing to be credible leave your feelings and emotions out of it and allow people to decide for themselves.
Nah. You don’t get to dismiss pointing out Karatabars’ fraud as “angst”.
You don’t need to be in a Ponzi scheme to identify one.
MLM + passive investment opportunity (invest in our shitcoin and cash out!) = security.
Karatbars has been paying on recruitment since day one. The gold pyramid collapsed so they rebooted as a crypto Ponzi. They retained the pyramid recruitment commissions.
People have always been free to decide. They have, and that’s why you’re here.
Again, dismissing the fact Freebay is a Ponzi reboot as “feelings and emotions” won’t fly. Ditto attempting to speak for “most of us”.
Math is math. The majority of Karatbars affiliates lost money in both the pyramid and KBC Ponzi reboot.
how can you get your money back?
You can’t. That’s not how a Ponzi scheme works.
This is a lie. Non of it is true.
I have done my due dilligence on this company called Freebay and found that this article is misleading and will report you to the revelent authorities for corporate saboabe, slanger and deformation of character be warned.
Everything regarding Karatbars in this review happened.
Seeing as you can barely string a sentence together, I’m calling BS on your due-diligence and threats.
What a crock.
I have my gold that has gone up in value tremendously. Not to mention the free gold I’ve earned.
I have my shit coins haha that is worth 2x the money I paid for them.
Not once did I get paid for recruiting someone. like any mlm I got paid when they spent money.
More BS from plp that have no clue n go on hearsay n gossip.
I was on the corporate call when freebay was announced. right now thinking back i wanna throw up. it was a whole lot of mumbojumbo and totally confusing. a genuine reboot.
i signed up under my former all i can say is this cult rightly put by the way fooled me and i admit i fell for the dream that was sold. today i am rebuilding a lot of my finances i even lost my busi9nes.
Its a scam its a scam if you are not in the cult yet stay out for your peace of mind and security of finances. and thank you very much to the author very well reasoned article Thank you Many blessings
@Darryle
Sounds like you have a lot of “backoffice money”. Seeing as that money doesn’t exist, best of luck withdrawing it (lolol shitcoins).
Getting paid to recruit people is getting paid to recruit people. Obviously they’ll spend money, that’s how chain-recruitment works.
I joined Karratbars as an investment…. (I believed) not as a recruiter (naive I know) . If they spent as much time improving the investment as they spend in pushing everyone to recruit, then there would be a lot of happy campers. I dont see a happy end to my stupidity.
The only ones making money are the ones who recruit others into the scheme
Recruiting IS the investment. It’s a Ponzi / pyramid scheme, that’s all there is.
Even if we entertain the facade that the investment is something to do with gold, crypto, whatever (it isn’t; the investment is the source of the returns, which is new investor money), gold is what it is. It’s a chemical element, you can’t improve on it.
There’s only one way you can improve an *investment* in gold and that’s to reduce the cost of paying to own it.
Which would mean, for starters, not paying Byzantine layers of commissions to the guy who sold it and the guy who recruited them and the guy who recruited them who all somehow have to get rich out of you buying shiny metal…
They came up with strategies to increase the value of KBC. May there is still hope that it will survive.
KBC has been abandoned for V999. Same pump and dump scam, different name.
Thank you for your well written, well researched and well presented report. You are spot on regarding the stolen, pumped-up, ponzi-scheme money.
Freebay education system looks great, though overpriced (I mean, you have to be so you can pay those 32% commissions!). Their trading bots seem as though they will perform, so long as there is no abrupt shutdown, reboot and re-brand partnership, or public exit strategy.
Those of us that joined early have lost so much, we have nothing else left to lose so might as well hang on for the one year promise we’ve been offered. Meanwhile investigating other trading bots, and learning how to do it all free on social media.
The other option of course is to find a Nigerian Prince.
SammyJ
Why do you think it is that “trading bots” exist only in the world of online money games and “real” investment professionals, with millions at their fingertips don’t utilize them?
So should I join Freebay or not? I really need a second source of income badly.
Ponzi math guarantees the majority of investors lose money.
Stay away from anyone promising you a second source of income where all you have to do is invest and you’ll earn X percent a week/month/whatever.
They are ALWAYS Ponzi schemes and they ALWAYS crash and burn, and the only winners are the insiders (that is, not you).
Also stay away from anyone launching a new crypto coin that they claim is going to be “the next Bitcoin.” They are nothing more than “pump and dump” schemes. They take your money in return for numbers on a screen.
Then they artificially push up the price to make it look like you can sell at a profit (that’s the “pump”), unload their holdings without letting you in on the action(that’s the “dump”), and then disappear to let the price crash back down, leaving you holding worthless cryptocurrency no one wants. There’s a reason they are called “shitcoins.”
I’m sorry you’re struggling financially, Chris, but the answer isn’t to throw what little money you have at scammers who promise the Moon.
It’s a sucker’s game, and they just want you to be one of the suckers. Do not be fooled. Best of luck.
BEWARE OF KARATBARS-FREEBAY!!!
I invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in their junk, non-working phones, non working CEM machines, and in their masternode passive residual income opportunity which was falsely promised to be backed by gold and also falsely promised that the kcb-kbc coins would never go below .14 cents each.
Then they devalued the coins to less than half a cent, so they would not have to pay the thousands of node investors.
I have lost everything due to this corrupt company and am warning everyone to RUN FAR AWAY from this slick, deceptive, smooth talking, fraudulent, lying company.
I wish I had done my research before I lost my credit and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Karatbars provides small increments of gold making it affordable to the masses.
You dont need to recruit if you have a family like myself. We all have karatbars accounts. We all save in Gold and the Beautiful system pays us all. So what other gold dealer allows this.
today we can get a gram for $76.73. So I can purchase this from my business account that I invited & we all get commissions from me saving…. look I have a option to enter the cryto space with Gold…. not that paper that Uncle Sam will be questioning if your in the US. Where should I be saving that will pay me for saving?…Ill wait….?
Freebay still sells Karatbars Gold baby. but why hate …its enough people on the planet that doesnt believe gold is money anyways… but your all about crypto….. we should wait for your coin i guess.
PS JM Bullion 1 gram price today is $81.44 today 10/15/20….Freebay $76.73….Whos paying for saving and sharing..? find someone and get you freebay account today.
Karatbars ran a pyramid scheme under the guise of distributing gold.
That collapsed and so now they’ve jumped on the crypto Ponzi bandwagon. Collapsed once already and so they’ve rebooted.
Spare us the marketing BS.
I am an affiliate of Karatbars…. having difficulty getting into my account…. being told i have a deadline of Nov 14th to do certain things.. failing which my son and I will lose everything…..
after reading everything above i agree that this is fraud and a cult… however since it appears that i am destined to lose what i have in it.. is there a contact at Freebay that I can reach or would that be a waste…
I am a veteran 89 years old…. is there something else i can earn income from online marketing?
Hi Gerald, due to your age I haven’t spam-binned your comment.
BehindMLM isn’t tech support for scams. As for online marketing we’re an information resource, due-diligence still falls on you.
lol at folks thinking gerald is actually his name or even actually a senior citizen, career victims the whole lot.
I’ve been waiting on a gold delivery from Karatbars for over 6 months….. stay away from these thieves… RUN.
I was recruited by a “friend” into karatbars 8 months ago and decided to buy and save some gold.
The MLM Ponzi shit did not interest me as I have too much respect for my family and friends to try and make some money off their trust in me by recruiting them.
I weighed up the price of gold and the storage costs/risks and went with karatbars now freebay.
There is an economic shitstorm coming over covid and im putting my money into gold long term. It was earning nothing in bank savings accounts and inflation is going to slaughter its real value so I thought gold is safe.
I follow all the “training” and other meetings as an observer and have concluded they are full of shit.
If I hear “I’m so excited” about this or that bullshit launch date one more time, from the “leaders”, Ill explode.
Save in gold in small denominations over 10 or 15 years definitely. The rest is absolute crap and those leading the charge are parasites.
Do not get sucked into the MLM/ponzi or you will lose money. Save to gold? do your homework and make a calm decision.
Remember there is no get rich quick method nor is there a passive income method for ordinary people. You will just get fucked.
Hi there guys! I lost a lot of money in this scam. I should admit it’s all my fault!
I fell for Harald Seiz’s promises which were just a bunch of lies! Is there any legal recourse we can take as a group to at least get some of our money back?
This company continues to dupe people around the world and it’s not stopping. I’m just amazed why these people still fall for this scam!
That’s a lawyer question.
The only advice to give is to stop recruiting people to the business.
I still have my phone in the box for more than a year. What was strange, the Paster of the church involved in recruiting members.
I’m not convinced, it’s true business. I’m still following up with the recruiter of the church. I will come back and write more.
The only way to stop the scammers is through social media. I also encourage people to file a lawsuit. No body above the law.
If things continue to go down, we will team up and file lawsuits.
Thanks
Harald is back on Facebook on Karatbars page. New video in which he is blaming everyone except himself.
Talking in riddles about coins. Another big plan coming out next week.
Am I missing something or did Karatbars nuke their official YouTube channel?
Just watching that video, looks like a meltdown to me.
Article in a few.
Some facts about Freebay AG (privat limited company)
Founded on June 20, 2020
Share capital: 100,000 CHF
President of the Board of Directors: Sandra Doris Vogelmann from Leonberg in Germany, German citizen.
Member of the Board of Directors and Managing Director: Jürgen Ludwig Pulvermüller, German citizen.
share-your-photo.com/9bf404c03b
Company headquarters: Bottighofen (a small town with around 2,000 inhabitants in Switzerland). Another 26 companies are registered at the same address.
Sandra Vogelmann is a colorful personality who is always present at events and wants to be admired. The following photo shows her with Harald Seiz:
share-your-photo.com/5deb91c3a5
Apparently Sandra Vogelmann and Harald Seiz live in a partnership. In addition to the following photo, she mentions “familytime”:
share-your-photo.com/d30cc73b59
Promotion for karatbars.com as “sandraafrica”:
share-your-photo.com/3209f5b5ae
The following photo of Sandra Vogelmann could be suitable for a public manhunt for her?
share-your-photo.com/26f3aea113
For a generous fee, Eric Worre promotes any fraud!
share-your-photo.com/e5ae0e8aba
youtube.com/watch?v=PwE8nlLeUWM
Eric and Marina Worre are planning an event in Berlin in April 2021 and are being paid princely for their lies. The tickets cost 597, 997 and 2,997 euros.
share-your-photo.com/602fc408ed
getitall.events/
The scam continues. Lost a lot of money on this nonsense.
Have never believed in Ponzi schemes but fell for this crypto nonsense. If not it already consider yourself lucky.
Do not add funds to the V999 exchange platform. It is a SCAM.
They encourage you to add funds so you can buy and sell various crypto. The only crypto you can buy is V999 or GNS.
If you try to buy any other crypto your funds go into pending. This is where your funds stay.
When you complain that you want to buy ETH or BNB or any other crypto that you can take off the platform they say that you have to wait until someone buys your V999 or GNS which never seems to happen.
I have been trying for 3 months to Exchange my V999 and GNS to a crypto that I can use away from this platform without any success.
So as I promised them I would write reviews warning people not to send their crypto to this platform. SCAM.
Yep, it’s colloquially known as “Bagholding” and when you know a scam has gone full corpse.
You got handed a bag of shit scamcoin, now you’re stuck with it till another sucker buys it – which honestly sucks for them then too.
Thank you Pat London for warning about V999. I signed up hoping to somehow get compensated for KBC & Karatbar losses.
Karatbars was legit in 2015 and was going strong. One of our leaders was the top guy in U.S. at the time and made a lot of money. We eventually tired of recruiting but kept buying gold, then KBC crypto supposedly backed in gold.
In 2021, we tried to cash out but were shocked to find out about the Karatbar/KBC total meltdown. All of our attempts to contact anyone have failed.
No one responds to emails or phone calls. We are out thousands when we needed it the most. I will not be putting any money into V999.
I really trusted Harold Seiz and am deeply disappointed. I do hope he will reach out some day to compensate his loyal affiliates.
No. No it wasn’t.
In 2015 Karatbars hadn’t gone crypto retard yet and was operating as a typical MLM gold pyramid scheme.
The majority of participants in pyramid schemes lose money. Case in point and there’s nothing legitimate about it.
On 20th April 2022 I received an email from AcuaWellington that looks like a scam.
The ReplyTo email address is a crytic-looking name @inbound.mailchimpapp.net which looks suspicious in not having a domain name acuawellington.
The following is the text of the email:
Dear Sir or Madam,
as you may have learned by now, we have taken over all receivables and liabilities of the Karatbars group of companies.
From our records, it appears that you may have receivables from various services.
Due to the special nature of the business and the legal requirements, we kindly ask you to enter your claim via our website.
Please fill in all the fields so that any claims can be settled according to the Know Your Client principle. Your information should be received by May 15, 2022. Late submissions may be rejected. All information is subject to data protection.
We will get back to you after May 15, 2022 without being asked. Your details will be checked in accordance with banking practice. By sending us your data, you expressly agree to this check.
Please understand that communication can only take place in English.
With kind regards
Acua Wellington Risk Management
© 2022 The AcuaWellington Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
The AcuaWellington Group · 745 5th Avenue · New York City, NY 10151 · (email removed)
I have sent an email to AcuaWellington requesting confirmation that the email is authentic.
Perhaps other readers have also received this email and submitted a copy of their ID. I stopped entering my claim on the AcuaWellington website when the first item requested was a copy of my Identity Document.
I never received the phone that was part of a package that I bought and my emails about this eventually went unanswered.
The Karatbit I have appears to be just about worthless.
Recovery scamming 101.
How did they get the Karatbars investor database? Someone sold it to them.
Addition to comment #41
Which scammer had my five screenshots deleted in my comment?
Harald Seiz?
Sandra Doris Vogelmann?
Jürgen Ludwig Pulvermüller?
What are these scammers hiding? These links cannot be removed:
moneyhouse.ch/de/list/person/vogelmann-sandra-doris
datocapital.mt/executives/Sandra-Doris-Vogelmann.html
Honest businessmen would be happy to read their names!
Our readers can find several photos by Sandra Doris Vogelmann and Harald Seiz here:
instagram.com/sandra_vogelmann/?hl=en
Ironic, considering how clumsy the English is in their reload-scam attempt. It’s clearly the work of a non-native speaker.
Addition to comments #41, 50 and 51
The fraud portal freebay.ch no longer exists:
share-your-photo.com/0d30cda110
Strange, because it was very euphorically announced in this article:
This November 2020 article mentions numerous names:
share-your-photo.com/4333e53107
netcoo.com/direct-selling/newcomer-2020-freebay-geht-an-den-start/
The old imprint of freebay.ch – of course without a telephone number, because Switzerland still lives in the Middle Ages:
share-your-photo.com/8425c943bd
And now? Has the scam ended? No! This is the new website:
fb-universe.com
The current imprint names Malta as the seat and the well-known Sandra Vogelmann as CEO and founder:
share-your-photo.com/a75a049cec
Of course, the completely overpriced mini gold bars by Harald Seiz are also offered and sold on this portal:
share-your-photo.com/afad5f3dea
fb-universe.com/en/shop/index.php?page=goldinfo
Freebay YouTube channel contains 11 videos in a playlist. One video has been removed, there are only 10:
share-your-photo.com/63ce827793
All videos are from September and October 2020. After that it was over.
youtube.com/c/FreebayAG/playlists
You’ll be excited to know then the V999 cultists are prepping for “big things”.
Harald’s “recorded a video contrary to lawyers advice” and they are moving to new telegram channels, sounds like they are prepping a reboot.
@AntiMLM
Video from June 2021:
share-your-photo.com/6bd96065d8
youtube.com/watch?v=edgTqmqU8yk
16 videos on this channel:
youtube.com/c/FBUniverse/videos
Discussions and questions are not desired. No video can be commented on.
I have gold with you I need sent to me.
Spoiler: There never was any gold.
Sorry for your loss.
Addition to comment #56
Why did Sandra Vogelmann delete 15 videos? One video on her channel is old, two are new:
share-your-photo.com/fa64d414a1
youtube.com/c/FBUniverse/videos
I have gold with you and I want to retrieve it for some reason I did not get earlier notice you sent out need the appropriate forms to submit. I’m a Karatbars investor.
There is no gold. Sorry for your loss.
I converted my gold to v999. I can still see it in my account; however, I can no longer get into my v999 account because it is asking for a authenticator, even though I disabled it, and the proof that I disabled it.
I need to retrieve my funds in the account.
There never was any gold. You converted nothing into a Ponzi token – which you’re not able to withdraw by design.
And now it s new iteration is GS partners.. beware.. that s a worse scam.. Run!
I d like to get some of my money back! Never received any gold from karatbars! Shameful! All of them belong in a pit!
In an October 1, 2020 video, Eric Worre announced his participation in the next Freebay Call.
share-your-photo.com/c661755aa2
youtu.be/EVpo87F1LEs?list=PLJ3DRYGYjFaV92qZCWRbC6hyaC-CxPVgr&t=3100
However, there is no video with Eric Worre on the Freebay AG channel. The playlist with 11 videos shows the following hint:
Addition to comment #56
Is “CEO and Founder” Sandra Vogelmann Harald Seiz’s wife? I recognize a certain resemblance.
Sandra Vogelmann alone:
share-your-photo.com/6bd96065d8
Harald Seiz with his wife and child:
share-your-photo.com/f36a772346
instagram.com/p/CPvADp1haj6/
I guess it is just me, but I don’t think they are the same. Sandra looks much older than the picture of his wife with him and the baby.
Also the eyes and chin are not the same, but then that is just me. Mabye Sandra is his wife’s mother?
I feel bad for his daughter. If he goes to prison he might be out by the time she graduaters high school, or whatever the equivalent is in Germany.
@Lynndel
I’m not quite sure yet. Sandra Vogelmann on Instagram in January 2020:
share-your-photo.com/bdf07b4888
instagram.com/p/B6zCWrNI5l2/
Sandra Vogelmann and Harald Seiz in February 2017:
share-your-photo.com/6e883a76be
instagram.com/p/BQq05CYh1QX/
instagram.com/sandra_vogelmann/
Is there any legal action we can take against them? I invested in gold and have submitted request to retrieve it but never received anything and they have stopped responding to my messages as well.
I see that several people have had the same issue. Would we be able to open a class action suit?
I know they are an international company but would need to be registered to conduct business in the US? By chance, has anyone looked i to this possibility??
Legal action requires a lawyer. Go ask a lawyer.
Jürgen Ludwig Pulvermüller, who was mentioned eight times in this review and in the comments, launched a new MLM project in 2023 with the websites electi.club and electi.me.
Quote from October 4, 2023:
ibb.co/L6rS96Q
instagram.com/p/Cx-7EepN8KD/
electi.club currently has 167 followers on Instagram.
instagram.com/electi.club/
In this video, which was uploaded two days ago by Laura Catrini, this well-known fraudster from Germany is referred to as the CEO.
ibb.co/gPzN8cR
youtube.com/watch?v=-zCjsTYV_Fc
The domain electi.club was registered on July 23, 2020 and updated on July 29, 2023.
ibb.co/wYFN9TW
The domain electi.me was registered on October 19, 2022 and updated on February 14, 2024.
ibb.co/KFX9Ddx
Electi AG is headquartered in Appenzell, Switzerland.
ibb.co/DzWTTFz
IMPORTANT! The first company name as of February 2021 was Swiss BioTech International AG and was renamed Electi AG in February 2023.
In addition to CEO Jürgen Pulvermüller, Electi AG is managed by Maximilian Cornelius Berthold Van de Sand, who is also a German citizen.
moneyhouse.ch/de/company/electi-ag-3251893031
The current visitor statistics of electi.club are led by Germany with 44.79% and Greece with 40.14%.
ibb.co/34tM0V0
The current visitor statistics for electi.me are also led by Germany with 59.18%, followed by Switzerland with 18.22%.
ibb.co/FsTMk8c
The Facebook account has existed since January 20, 2023 and was last updated on March 13, 2024. Anyone looking for specific information will also be disappointed here.
facebook.com/electiclub/
I think it would make sense for Oz to take a closer look at this shady “company”.