SEC claim Traffic Monsoon is a $207 million dollar Ponzi scheme
Traffic Monsoon was a HYIP that promised affiliates a $55 ROI on a $50 investment. Traffic Monsoon investors were also paid to recruit new investors.
Launched by Charles Scoville in 2014, Traffic Monsoon is estimated to have scammed around 145,000 investors out of $207 million dollars.
Yesterday the SEC moved to shut Traffic Monsoon down and freeze Scoville’s assets.
Traffic Monsoon stopped paying ROIs earlier this year, with Scoville (right) claiming that Paypal had frozen over $50 million dollars of invested funds.
The SEC had filed for a Temporary Restraining Order against Traffic Monsoon and Scoville, which was granted on Tuesday evening.
Traffic Monsoon and Scoville are believed to have about $60 million in cash spread out across the US, Canada and UK.
“Because all investor returns are funded through new investor contributions, the company operates as a classic Ponzi scheme,” the SEC alleges.
Paypal purportedly recently lifted the freeze on Traffic Monsoon’s accounts, which saw Scoville immediately begin transferring ‘large amounts into bank accounts, including $21 million into his own account at JPMorgan Chase‘.
In addition to a TRO (which presumably will be converted into a preliminary injunction at a later date), the SEC have also requested a Receivership be set up to manage seized Traffic Monsoon funds.
Scoville’s last Facebook post is dated July 24th;
Success isn’t for the faint of heart. Along with the many significant successes come significant challenges.
Those who will quit, complain, give up, and stir up more problems when the challenges come don’t have what it takes to be truly successful.
The bigger the goal, the bigger challenges will be to test the resolve within us to accomplish those goals.
I recognize the challenges, and I am working through them. Improvements are measurable, and there’s definite evidence of things getting better. Let’s defeat these challenges together.
Reporting a problem is good. It helps identify where improvement is needed. But complaining about a problem and accusing of “scam” because of the problem is simply out of line, and a mindset like that is truly counterproductive in achieving success for yourself.
Scoville’s current location is unknown. Last I heard he was travelling through Asia.
Scoville first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar as the admin of AdHitProfits in 2013. AdHitProfits promised investors a 125% ROI on $45 investments.
The Salt Lake Tribune reached out to Scoville for comment on Tuesday afternoon but he ‘could not be contacted‘.
Stay tuned…
Update 27th July 2016 – A preliminary injunction hearing has been scheduled for August 5th.
Thanks to all who made this possible by reporting them to the authorities so they could conduct an investigation into TM. Kudos for a job well done.
As far as I know the Paypal freeze isn’t lifted until August. If it has already started, it will be news to all TM members.
I don’t have a copy of the SEC complaint to go over yet. Hoping they publish it within the next 24 hours.
Here’s the link to the TRO:
SEC vs. Traffic Monsoon.TRO.pdf
No link, only text!
NOLINK: realscam.com/attachments/f8/14630d1469604148-traffic-monsoon-better-than-maps-trusted-admin-charles-scoville-sec-vs.-traffic-monsoon.tro.pdf
From the SEC TRO application:
Thanks, I got it… but Google Chrome’s throwing up this:
FYI.
Yep, it’s been happening for about a week now, and Google isn’t known for its’ instant response to correspondence
OK thanks Littleroundman and OZ. This will all be very sudden and unexpected to TM members. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds in the next few weeks..
“I.M. Bigg” was a heavy promoter in the US and quite the character.
Turns out that was an alias. Someone at Realscam discovered his real name was Llyod Dotson.
Here’s the kicker:
Llyod Dotson was a CFP (certified financial planner) in the Commonwealth Financial Network and had a company website in Connecticut called ‘Harvest Wealth Partners’. In his bio, he also touts that he was a ‘Chatered Retirement Planning Counselor’ – Oh my!
realscam.com/f11/lloyd-dotson-legitimate-broker-aka-i-m-bigg-serial-ponzi-pimp-4577/
I believe his license is now suspended and the business is kaput. I’d love to know if the SEC has interviewed him, and what they plan to do about it.
(Perhaps this warrants a separate review?)
So is the TM site still up? I still see ads pumping this right now.
I guess it will take a while before everyone gets the memo on what is going down.
I think we need to wait …………
Wait for what exactly?
A preliminary injunction will be granted and a Receiver established on the 5th.
It’s already game-over, the court has granted a TRO based on the SEC’s evidence. A lot of which is sworn testimony from Charles Scoville himself (as well as the databases he provided).
Why doesn’t the SEC investigate PAYPAL? Before all this happened, as far as I know, no one was having any issues with putting money in or taking money out of TM.
We placed our ads, and received customers on our sites for doing so. If anyone was having any kind of an issue, Charles resolved, he did so for myself as well as several of my team members.
No one had any issues with withdrawals… not till PayPal pulled their crap… and historically… this is not the first time PayPal has done this to a company.
How many of you know who is behind PayPal… he runs and operates Tesla… hmmmm, that makes me just wonder, does PayPal on purpose freeze a company that is making a great deal of money so that maybe that PayPal can earn interest on that held money for their on selfish reasons?
And in some cases that PayPal has done this, the person with said company did not have the funds to fight them with an attorney and PayPal just kept their money… does the SEC think that is fair? I don’t.
And then we have the good ole SEC… does anyone know how much a receivership makes an hour? LOL..they make over $800 an hour… I think that is almost more then the president of the United States.
I think I might have to apply for that job…lol, I am a bookkeeper! I can separate money and disperse it. A regular bookkeeper only makes about $15-$20 an hour and a Certified Bookkeeper with years of experience usually can make about $30-$50 an hour if on a good day…so why does a receivership makes $800 an hour?
And guess where that money comes from…the money in question… so, who is the SCAMMERS HERE… PAYPAL AND SEC, in my opinion.
Oz, I guess “I think we need to wait” is an answer to “When will be TM site closed as well?” 😉
@Tish
Because $60 million in the bank and $812.35 million in ROI liabilities = Ponzi collapse.
You sound mad you didn’t get to steal from your fellow investors.
The scammers are Charles Scoville and anyone who made money in Traffic Monsoon (stole from subsequent investors). But please, don’t let the facts get in the way of your “ebil gubmint” rant.
There are a lot of leaders keeping affiliates in the dark.
SEC has NEVER filed a restraining order & hired a receivership & called something a ponzi scheme & then, later on, say, “ooooooops, my bad!”
It’s a lawsuit. They will NEVER re-open under the current structure & if you lost money, they will return whatever they can through the receivership.
BUT…
Leaders – YOU cannot lie to your affiliates any longer.
Leaders – YOU cannot keep your affiliates in the dark.
Leaders – YOU owe it to them to set them up with an honest, reliable affiliate program that they can work & earn commmissions during this transitional time.
Everyone is frustrated, mad and angry because they either LOST a ton of money or they have their commissions LOCKED up and can’t get paid. That’s frustrating.
Keep in mind – you led them down this path to ponzi. YOU must make it right.
Keep in mind – if you made money with this ponzi – you might be asked to return it.
Keep in mind – if you made money with this ponzi – they may also FREEZE your accounts like they did with Zeek and the others.
Be honest.
If you recently paid (within the last six months), you can easily chargeback through your credit card & show them the SEC paperwork to get your money back. That’s fast & the easiest way.
I feel your pain. I feel your frustration. Let’s help each other to find reliable honest ways to make money instead of tearing each other down. It doesn’t lead to any profitable paths.
Agreed paypal is a dubious company. Just like skype they have know real know your customer detection.
Only when the account transactions reach the first limit the business verification kicks in. This means that pa paypal is a host to smaller scams that undetected hop from account to new account.
Companies like planb4you, rmm and traffic monsoon should have known these limits and paypal’s anti mlm regulations and willingly put peoples money in high risk.
@behindmlm This is totally wrong. Traffic Monsoon is not HYIP or Ponzi scheme…
Traffic Monsoon is Revenue Sharing Advertising Company… Where people can buy Adpack and promote their website..Revenue Sharing is optional which means no guarenty of income…
So before make blog about any companies do some reserch…
@Honest
No it doesn’t. 1 + 1 != 3
Paypal, like any processor or bank needs a scam to trigger its fraud detection filters.
The problem with the Ponzi scams you mentioned is not the fact that they used this or that payment processor, it’s that they were Ponzi scams to begin with.
@Vibhas
Which is pseudo-compliance for “Ponzi scheme”.
What is bundled with investment and whether or not you guarantee a ROI is irrelevant. Traffic Monsoon is a Ponzi scheme because it offered a $55 ROI on $50 investments, paid out of subsequently invested funds.
If you had looked beyond your greed, you would have seen numerous warnings that Paypal is required by law to file Suspicious Activity Reports with the banking regulator, FinCEN and that the freezing of the Traffic Monsoon funds guaranteed there would be SEC / FBI / Homeland Security / IRS involvement.
Throw in the fact Chase bank operates under the same regulations, as well as the fact Scoville was using shady payment processors and moving in and out of the US and everyone not blinded by money predicted this exact scenario months ago
You enjoy busywork like animals in a zoo “work” for their food. They give you some bogus work and you’re lulled into believing you “earned” the money, much like Great Depression men dig a ditch one day and fill it in the next day.
Look up “contrafreeloading”.
Elon Musk completly sold Paypal for 1.5billion$ to eBay about 13years ago so Elon Musk and Tesla have nothing to do with Paypal.
I lost more money at TM now what to do all the money has been frozen and its in pending when it ill be releasing ?
You can’t do anything at the moment and your invested funds wont be “released”.
At some point (months from now) the Receiver will accept claims for Traffic Monsoon victims. You’ll then receive a share of recovered funds, proportionate to your losses.
Does anyone know how to claim money from SEC please??
@Niko
Victim claims will be handled by the Receiver and are a while off yet.