Two largest Ponzi promotion websites pulled offline within minutes
Money Maker Group and Talk Gold are two of the oldest and largest MLM underbelly promotion platforms on the internet.
Both websites are updated regularly with new MLM Ponzi and pyramid scheme launches.
Without explanation, in the last twenty-four hours both websites were pulled offline within minutes of each other.
To the best of my knowledge Money Maker Group and Talk Gold aren’t run by the same admin(s).
WHOIS records show DNS changes to the Money Maker Group and Talk Gold a few hours ago.
Both domains are currently registered through DynaDot, with the last updates made on August 21st within less than two minutes of each other.
- Money Maker Group was changed at 21:27:10 UTC
- Talk Gold was changed at 21:26:01 UTC
As I write this it’s currently 3:20 UTC, August 22nd.
Both domain registration updates don’t appear to be a server migration, as the DNS records aren’t pointed at a host machine.
I’m not sure if this is just a massive coincidence or whether something more substantial has taken place. Anyone out there know anything?
As of yet I’m not aware of any enforcement action but I’m keeping my eyes and ears open.
Update 3rd October 2017 – The day before MoneyMakerGroup and TalkGold were pulled offline, the DOJ filed a forfeiture complaint against Edward and Brian Krassenstein.
The Krassenstein brothers own both forums and in the DOJ’s complaint are accused of multiple counts of wire fraud.
When I tried to access the threads from MMG that I frequent, I get this message:
“Sorry, the website moneymakergroup.com cannot be found.”
404 Not Found would mean DNS is pointed at something. I’m getting “ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED” and same with global tools.
Last time I looked, both Talkgold and MoneyMakerGroup were owned by the Krassenstein brothers, Brian and Edward.
Both domains are registered to their company, E & B Advertising with a P.O. box in San Mateo, California.
If it wasn’t a regulatory action then, wonder why they pulled the plug…
edit: If it’s just a stuff up on their end I’ll nuke this article. But it’s been borked for over 12 hrs now. And awfully strange both domains would be disconnected so close together.
I noticed that they closed the registration down for new members weeks ago. Also they cut down on the mods too.
I don’t know if its the same Edward and Brian Krassenstein, this is from last year:
nbc-2.com/story/33161672/business-brothers-own-lee-home-raided-by-homeland-security
I was banned at TG over 3-4 years ago. I decided a couple of months ago to go have a look around.
When I tried to enter their website, my security software prohibited me from entering the site. It reported the site contained malicious malware and viruses. At about that same time, MMG started tossing a popup warning of dangerous websites on the forum. They were all the HYIP Monitor sites.
So both sites were having security issues. TG was a ghost town the last six months while MMG was an active site.
What is interesting about the above article is that is was almost a year ago when the raid took place. It also coincided with press releases from the Feds mentioning their names in a Ponzi they had just shut down.
In fact, in the last 4 major Ponzi’s the Feds shut down, they were mentioned in the press release they were known for a site that promoted Ponzi’s.
MMG and TG were losing advertising revenue, and have been for a long time. I can only relate to MMG as I was allowed to post there, but when the Ponzi pimps and their admin complained to the mods at MMG to ban me, and they refused as I had not violated their TOS, they moved their promoting to FB where they could control what was posted and who they allowed to post.
While they were a major contributor to the spread and largess of Ponzi’s, they were a one-stop shop to keep up with all the latest and greatest Ponzi programs being started.
It sure made our job a lot easier to keep up with all the new ones and monitor how big a Ponzi was getting. So for us it was a great tool.
For the masses it was a great tool for them to lose their money, but at least we had a voice there to help prevent too many from joining, and warning not to invest.
So we had a love-hate relationship with them, and they with us. They loved the traffic we brought to their site, well except for TG, but we were also their biggest pain in their assets.
It is now possible the Feds have built their case against Edward and Brian, and why both sites went poof almost simultaneously; now over 24 hours. I keep getting websites not found when trying to access any forum thread I posted in at MMG.
That NBC report looks pretty damning.
“Owned a number of websites”, yeah, that’s them alright.
Though it can be interesting why now, vs. a year ago.
Maybe Feds were just following up some leads back then, but if the Feds seized records from both forums… Imagine how many Ponzi pimps and crooks they can ID from that alone.
Visitor numbers for both of them had been in a gradual decline for some time when both of them show a dramatic hit in visitors in January 2017, around the time it became apparent to even the most dedicated ponzi player that the two “next-big-thing” schemes, Traffic Monsoon and MAP had collapsed.
Visitor numbers recovered slightly before collapsing to today being around 20% of what they were in early 2016.
I noticed threads were getting shorter and a lot of programs had been deleted.
Simple, the only people still posting on MMG were the HYIP monitors and Lynndel!
The real members and promotors went to other sites and social media for their information. MMG and Talk Gold were old school. RIP
Blonde, the major ponzi pimp from MMG? So now you are using Facebook to pimp. Hopefully your account gets banned.
Hey, just throwing this out – a couple of you mentioned their company being at a P.O. box in San Mateo, California.
That P.O. box actually belongs to Dynadot – they use it for all private registrations.
Being shy I see. You, and your fellow Ponzi pimps were keeping the ACX Thread alive at MMG.
One of the reasons why MMG was losing ad revenue was because you and your fellow pimps weren’t good at keeping the programs alive long enough for the admins to get their moneys worth out of their advertising; and too many of your followers lost their shirts to your can’t miss Ponzi’s disguised as real programs.
You can bet every time a Ponzi was shut down and their forums were mentioned in law enforcement’s press releases as sites known to promote Ponzi’s, Brian and Ed were shaking in their boots they were going to be shut down.
Better to quit now instead of tempting fate.
So where do people go now for their ponzi HYIP discussions?
Good riddance. I hope they both get a long sentence. Those sites were the tape worms of the Interwebs.
I don’t think that they have done anything wrong neither do I think that they deserve a sentence.
They own a website where people come together to discuss, they sell ads because of their enormous traffic. that’s all nothing illegal.
@Robert
When the traffic can be attributed to the promotion of illegal scams, there’s a problem.
Also the DOJ allege the Krassensteins’ were active in HYIP monitoring. That’s active promotion of illegal scams on their part.
These two brothers are VERY dishonest people that will do ANYTHING to make fast money. They should be behind bars.
I don’t have a clue on this. Will someone tell me how MMG was a Ponzi?
I thought it was just a forum. I could see there was advertising, but isn’t that normal?
No one at MMG asked me for money, and there was no program being promoted that I could.
I thought it was just a forum!
Really, will someone clear this up for me?
It wasn’t. It was a platform exclusively used to promote Ponzi schemes and other scams.
MMG had a supporter badge from memory that cost money.
Life Time supporters badge cost US$299.00.
I was a lifetime supporter in MMG which costs $299.
That badge provides some limelight to get downline referral and many others.
now I dont know where we can get the revshare sites information..
“revshares” are scams, always failing. Why do you want to refer people where they will lose their money? Are you trying to help them or harm them? Don’t promote “revshare” scams.
The majority of the so called investors knew they were all Ponzis and over time honed their exits quite well before each HYIP fell. Like a game of musical chairs.
I think many are probably awake at night now wondering if the IRS will notice their mystery earnings. It may take years, but each IP will be connected to a withdrawal amount.
I’m just surprised the boards stayed up for as long as they did.
FINALLY… it took almost 20 years, but GOOD…
About time someone took them down and investigated them.
Those two are the BIGGEST scammers going.. and to the OP, no, they didn’t own both of them. The other one was owned by a couple.
I exposed these guys in the mid nighties for the shit they were getting up to… i hope they rot… they stole millions.