ZG Group Review: SpacePort Unit Ponzi investment scheme

Researching ZG Group presents somewhat of a challenge.

The company has a limited online presence (no website), is based out of Malaysia and appears to be mostly marketed offline.

There’s quite a bit of video promotion for the scheme, however they appear to capitalize on existing footage – which doesn’t have anything to do with Zero Gravity Asia itself.

Companies tied to the opportunity are ZG Space Limited, ZG Space City, ZG OneEarth Travel & Tours and Spaceland ZeroG – all Malaysian corporations.

ZG Space City Limited is purportedly incorporated offshore, however where is not disclosed. I’ve also seen ZG Group marketed as “Zero Gravity Asia”, however this isn’t widespread.

The ZG Group compensation plan claims to be a “Malaysian chapter” of the Space Tourism Society, which itself appears to be a legitimate outfit.

The Space Tourism Society (STS) was founded in 1996 as the world’s first society focused on the establishment and expansion of a vibrant, exciting and profitable space tourism industry.

Throughout 2016 we are celebrating the past two decades of continuous operation, expansion and accomplishments.

Imagine how much our society and industry will grow and diversify over the next twenty years.

We hope you will be part of this grand adventure. Welcome Aboard!

There is a Malaysian chapter of the society called SpacePort Malaysia, but from here on out things get murky.

For starters there’s no mention of ZG Group or any of their related companies on the Space Tourism Society Malaysian Chapter website.

The website does have an “invest in” page, on which brief descriptions of various space-themed projects appear.

Investments on the following major developments and operations at Spaceport Malaysia project are welcomed.

There’s nothing on this page remotely resembling an MLM opportunity, yet this is what is pitched through ZG Group.

The ZG Group compensation plan documentation cites Steven Goh Seok Boon as the Founder and Director of ZG Space City Malaysia:

Boon also the Associate Director of Space Tourism Society’s Malaysia Chapter, which makes him the primary link between both companies.

In the ZG Group compensation plan documentation, Boon is given a “word from the Director” slide:

Special thanks to STS-MC team for all their support behind the scenes, putting ZG Space City (M) Sdn. Bhd. together.

Without ZG Space City honest MARKETING LEADERS around the world, inclination and motivation of ZG Project would not have been possible,

Whether anyone else in Space Tourism Society’s Malaysia Chapter is involved in ZG Group is unclear.

A “certificate of collaboration” between the two companies however is provided in the ZG Group compensation documentation:

Mohd Jamil Bin Mohd Noor (signature on the right) is represented as a Senior Director of SpacePort Malaysia. He is also the Co-founder and Treasurer of the Space Tourism Society’s Malaysia Chapter.

Read on for a full review of the ZG Group MLM opportunity.

The ZG Group Product Line

ZG Group has no retail products or services, with affiliates only able to market ZG Group affiliate membership itself.

The ZG Group Compensation Plan

The ZG Group compensation plan sees affiliates invest in SpacePort Units.

• 1 Star Package – costs $500 and generates $350 worth of SPUs
• 2 Star Package – costs $100 and generates $700 worth of SPUs
• 3 Star Package – costs $2000 and generates $1400 worth of SPUs
• 4 Star Package – costs $5000 and generates $3500 worth of SPUs
• 5 Star Package – costs $10,000 and generates $7000 worth of SPUs
• VIP Package – costs $50,000 and generates $35,000 worth of SPUs
• VVIP Package – costs $150,000 and generates $105,000 worth of SPUs

Commissions are also paid when existing ZG Group affiliates recruit new affiliates.

Recruitment Commissions

ZG Group affiliates are paid to recruit new affiliates 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.

ZG Group cap payable unilevel levels at twelve, with how many levels an affiliate can earn on determined by how much they invested when they signed up:

• 1 and 2 Star Packages – 20% on level 1, 10% on level 2, 5% on level 3, 4% on level 4 and 3% on levels 5 and 6
• 3 Star Package – 20% on level 1, 10% on level 2, 5% on level 3, 4% on level 4 and 3% on levels 5 to 8
• 4 Star Package – 20% on level 1, 10% on level 2, 5% on level 3, 4% on level 4, 3% on levels 5 to 8 and 2 % on levels 9 and 10
• 5 Star Package or VIP Packages – 20% on level 1, 10% on level 2, 5% on level 3, 4% on level 4, 3% on levels 5 to 8 and 2 % on levels 9 to 12

Note that 10% of all recruitment commissions are paid out in SpacePort Units (see below).

SpacePort Unit Investment

Each affiliate package corresponds to a set amount of SpacePort Units (SPUs).

• 1 Star Package – $350 worth of SPUs
• 2 Star Package – $700 worth of SPUs
• 3 Star Package – $1400 worth of SPUs
• 4 Star Package – $3500 worth of SPUs
• 5 Star Package – $7000 worth of SPUs
• VIP Package – $35,000 worth of SPUs
• VVIP Package – $105,000 worth of SPUs

SPUs are assigned a value by ZG Group, starting at 10 cents a unit.

For each 100,000 SPUs invested in company wise, ZG Group raise the value of an individual SPU by 0.1 cents.

The current SPU price is not disclosed.

When a new ZG Group affiliate signs up with a package, the corresponding USD amount is divided by the current SPU price. This determines how many SPUs the affiliate receives.

At certain milestones, the value of SPUs are split in half. This temporarily increases how many SPUs affiliates can invest in with the same USD amount.

Every 90 days, ZG Group will “buy back” up to 50% of an affiliate’s SPUs. How much each SPU is exchanged for depends on the current SPU value.

5 Star, VIP and VVIP Package affiliates are awarded a 3%, 5% and 8% respective bonus on their SPU balance every 90 days.

Note that existing ZG Group affiliates are able to reinvest in SPUs. Commissions paid out on reinvestment are the same as recruitment commissions (see above).

Joining ZG Group

Affiliate membership with ZG Group is tied to investment in one of the following seven packages:

• 1 Star – $500
• 2 Star – $1000
• 3 Star – $2000
• 4 Star – $5000
• 5 Star – $10,000
• VIP – $50,000
• VVIP – $150,000

The primary difference between the offered packages is income potential through the ZG Group compensation plan.

Conclusion

While the space tourism concept purportedly tied to ZG Group is certainly interesting, unfortunately it has nothing to do with the MLM opportunity.

Space Tourism isn’t a thing yet and is very much still in development. Yet here’s how ZG Group pitch their SPU investment scheme:

Whoever signs up be our business partner, they will have SPU to get continuous passive profit income from the project.

“Continuous passive profit” from where?

The only verifiable revenue entering ZG Group is affiliate investment.

When existing ZG Group affiliates go to cash out their SpacePort Unit balances, where do you think that money comes from?

ZG Group are obviously operating a Ponzi scheme, with an added pyramid layer to incentivize new investor recruitment.

To the extent that credible third-parties are prevalent in ZG Group’s marketing of the scheme, preliminary research suggests any represented relationships are bogus.

In the ZG Group compensation plan documentation, the University of Zurich and Oliver Ullrich are represented as collaborating with ZG Group:

When a BehindMLM reached out to Ullrich for comment, Ullrich clarified that neither he nor the University of Zurich had anything to do with ZG Group:

Thank you for your kind request and verification of the information in their webpage.

My team and I are scientific and technical advisors to the SpacePort Malaysia team. Personally, I have more than 10 years experience in parabolic flight, suborbital and orbital missions and personally I ve flown more than 1000 parabola.

We are closely collaborating with Novespace, subsidiary of the French Space Agency, and owner and operator of the Airbius A310 ZERO-G.

Regarding the planned parabolic flights in Malaysia, Novespace and my team are potential partners of Spaceport Malaysia in conducting parabolic flights in and for Malaysia using the A310 ZERO-G.

But neither I nor the University of Zurich have any relation to any financial procedures, investment projects, and whatever in Malaysia.

We are solely their potential service provider and if requested by ZG Space City, we are able to support the project with our lang-standing experience in parabolic flights and the reliable Airbus A310 ZERO-G.

Please note that we are working completely on a non-profit basis, we are govermental controlled institutions.

We are neither involved nor we have any information about any investment plan. We are the team who can guarantee the operational and technical excellence of the flights.

I suspect if one were to contact any of the other companies, individuals and institutions cited in the ZG Group compensation plan, similar responses will be provided.

To what extent the ZG Group Ponzi scheme is channeling funds into Spaceport Malaysia is unclear. From what I can tell some of the people involved in Spaceport Malaysia are behind ZG Group, but whether they are operating it just to profit themselves is unclear.

Feigning collaborations where none exist isn’t ZG Group’s only red flag. In addition to not having a website and operating from a Gmail address and Malaysian phone number, ZeroG also claim that after 125 million SPUs have been invested in, the company ‘will be listed in (sic) Australia Security Exchange (ASX)‘.

It should be obvious that Ponzi/pyramid scheme hybrid schemes aren’t going to publicly list themselves in Australia, or anywhere else for that matter.

It’s smoke and mirrors, just like pretty much everything else in ZG Group’s marketing material.

For you as a potential ZG Group investor, you need to be aware that ZG Group’s business model fits the definition of a Ponzi scheme.

You’re investing funds in the hope that enough subsequent investment is made thereafter, permitting you to withdraw said invested funds. Those who join after you are similarly hoping new victims will be signed up for them to steal from.

Naturally this isn’t sustainable (and being financial fraud, is of course illegal), with the inevitable collapse seeing the majority of ZG Group investors losing money.