OneX Finance pyramid fraud warning from Russia
OneX Finance has received a pyramid fraud warning from Russia.
As per the Central Bank of Russia’s June 27th warning, OneX Finance exhibits “signs of a financial pyramid”. [Continue reading…]
Cryptex Review: Daily ROI “smart-contract” Ponzi scheme
Cryptex fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.
Cryptex’s website domain (“cryptex.to”), was privately registered in August 2020. Based on its website source-code, Cryptex appears to have been put together circa June 2021 or so.
SimilarWeb currently tracks top sources of traffic to Cryptex’s website as Germany (82%), El Salvador (8%) and Martinique (3%).
Although not definitive, the percentage of traffic coming from Germany suggests whoever is running Cryptex might have ties to Germany.
It’s worth noting that despite the domain age, Cryptex was relatively dead until early 2023.
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. [Continue reading…]
Gemly Review: Crypto Ponzi dressed up as gaming
Gemly fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.
Gemly’s website domain (“gemly.gg”), was privately registered on January 13th, 2023.
In an attempt to appear legitimate, Gemly provides incorporation details for Gemly Limited.
Gemly Limited was incorporated in the UK on February 28th, 2023.
An MLM company operating or claiming to operate out of the UK is a red flag.
UK incorporation is dirt cheap and effectively unregulated. On top of that the FCA, the UK’s top financial regulator, do not actively regulate MLM related securities fraud.
As a result the UK is a favored jurisdiction for scammers looking to incorporate, operate and promote fraudulent companies.
For the purpose of MLM due-diligence, incorporation in the UK or registration with the FCA is meaningless.
SimilarWeb currently tracks top sources of traffic to Gemly’s website as Ukraine (11%), Brazil (11%), Russia (7%), Spain (6%) and Mexico (5%).
Gemly’s inclusion of vKontakte and Odnoklassniki, both Russian social media networks, is also noted.
Although not definitive, together this suggests Gemly is being run out of Russia or at the very least by someone with ties to Russia.
Further supporting this is the Central Bank of Russia issuing a Gemly pyramid fraud warning in February 2023.
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. [Continue reading…]
SureX Exchange Review: Multi-tier crypto investment fraud
SureX Exchange fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.
SureX Exchange’s website domain (“surexchange.io”), was first registered in August 2022. The private registration was last updated on February 28th, 2023.
SureX Exchange’s social media profiles were created in October 2022, so this appears to be when the company launched.
If we look at SureX Exchange’s FaceBook profile, we can see it is being operated from Malaysia:
A May 22nd post on SureX Exchange’s Instagram profile also reveals a staged charity event held in Malaysia:
SureX Exchange’s use of Chinese in its marketing suggests it is being run by individuals with ties to China from Malaysia.
This knowledge led me to Jacky Zhou, who is cited as SureX Exchange’s CEO:
Another SureX Exchange executive we can name is CMO Willie Tan:
Possibly due to language-barriers, I was unable to put together an MLM history on either Zhou or Tan.
Both Zhou and Tan are represented as being based out of Malaysia, which fits with SureX Exchange’s marketing.
Zhou is purportedly a Taiwanese national. This likewise fits with SureX Exchange’s use of Traditional Chinese.
Why Zhou and Tan aren’t featured on SureX Exchange’s website is unclear.
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. [Continue reading…]
MuQuant Review: MUQT token “arbitrage” ruse Ponzi
MuQuant (stylized as µQuant), fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.
MuQuant’s website domain (“muquant.com”), was privately registered on March 30th, 2023.
Update 28th June 2023 – Following a reader tip off from Limbix in the comments below, it appears Kancha Chora is behind MuQuant.
Chora hosted a MuQuant marketing event in Vietnam earlier this month.
At the event Chora spoke on stage. He is cited as having ties to the UK and Nepal.
On LinkedIn Chora cites his location as Maidstone, England.
Prior to launching MuQuant, Chora was promoting the Gym Network Ponzi scheme.
Other collapsed Ponzi schemes Chora has promoted include DasCoin, Cloud Token and uFun Club. /end update
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. [Continue reading…]
Traders Domain top MLM recruiters named & shamed
Traders Domain was a Ponzi scheme run by Canadian national Ted Safranko.
An estimated $500 million is believed to have passed through Traders Domain in crypto alone.
ROI liabilities at the time of Traders Domain’s collapse in late 2022 have been pegged at around $3.3 billion.
While Traders Domain itself wasn’t an MLM Ponzi scheme, several well-known MLM industry figures invested into and stole through it.
Worse still they promoted Traders Domain to others, irrevocably tarnishing their reputations, careers and the trust given to them by their victims.
Today we name and shame the top MLM industry figures in Traders Domain. [Continue reading…]
Arbit Life Review: Boris CEO “trading bot” Dubai Ponzi
Arbit Life operates in the cryptocurrency MLM niche.
Arbit Life’s website domain (“arbit.life”), was privately registered on February 23rd, 2023.
Despite only existing for a few months, on its website Arbit Life falsely represents it was launched in October 2021.
Arbit Life is purportedly headed up by “yuval Kaplan”:
Kaplan naturally doesn’t exist outside of Arbit Life’s marketing.
Over on Arbit Life’s official YouTube channel, we find a marketing video featuring Kaplan. The actor playing his has a distinct eastern-European accent.
While I wasn’t able to suss out a name, I did pin down the actor playing Kaplan to Moldova.
Moldova sits between Ukraine and Romania. While Boris CEO schemes are typically the work of Russians, this one was a bit vague to definitively call.
What we can definitively call is, although he might be from Moldova, the actor playing Kaplan has been flown out to Dubai.
This isn’t a coincidence, Dubai is the MLM crime capital of the world.
BehindMLM’s guidelines for Dubai are:
- If someone lives in Dubai and approaches you about an MLM opportunity, they’re trying to scam you.
- If an MLM company is based out of or represents it has ties to Dubai, it’s a scam.
If you want to know specifically how this applies to Arbit Life, read on for a full review. [Continue reading…]
Sverker Caron heads up Crowd1’s latest Ponzi grift
Following its bankruptcy exit-scam from Sweden, Crowd1 announced it was releasing “Emperor Knights”.
Emperor Knights is a mobile “play to earn” cash grab, purportedly developed by Rebel Nation.
Rebel Nation is being presented as a third-party partnership, but is in fact owned by Sverker Ake Mattias Caron.
Caron is a former Crowd1 executive. He was also behind Crowd1’s failed PlanetIX partnership. [Continue reading…]
Lusate Ponzi collapses, website pulled offiline
The Lusate Ponzi scheme has collapsed.
On June 16th Lusate’s website was reverted to a diagnostic page, indicating the entire site and backend had been deleted: [Continue reading…]
Daxio’s fourth Ponzi reboot has already collapsed
Less than a month after telling Daxio victims to “get the fuck out”, new CEO Robert Malkvist is already feuding with founder Frode Jorgensen.
Communications between the pair have broken down to the extent Malkvist is now publicly shaming and threatening Jorgenson on social media. [Continue reading…]