Web3 Asset Trading Review: Daily returns MLM crypto Ponzi
Web3 Asset Trading fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.
Web3 Asset Trading’s website domain (“webat12.com”), was privately registered on October 19th, 2023.
Of note is Web3 Asset Trading’s domain being registered through a Chinese registrar. Web3 Asset Trading’s website is also set to Chinese:
This strongly suggests whoever is running Web3 Asset Trading has ties to China.
In an attempt to hide ties to China, Web3 Asset Trading provides a shell company certificate for Web3 Asset Trading Ltd.
Web3 Asset Trading Ltd. was purportedly registered in Colorado on October 18th, 2023.
Due to the ease with which scammers are able to incorporate shell companies with bogus details, for the purpose of MLM due-diligence these certificates are meaningless.
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…]
Centure AI Review: AI trading bot ruse Ponzi scheme
Centure AI fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.
Centure AI’s website domain (“centureai.com”), was privately registered on September 16th, 2023.
In an attempt to appear legitimate, Centure AI provides shell company details for Centure AI LLC in Kentucky.
We are excited to announce that we have officially registered as a Limited Liability Company (LLC) in the state of Kentucky, USA, under the name CENTURE AI LLC (Company registered no #1316221 United States).
Due to the ease with which scammers are able to incorporate shell companies with bogus details, for the purpose of MLM due-diligence a shell company in any jurisdiction is meaningless.
As of November 2023, SimilarWeb tracked top sources of traffic to Centure AI’s website as Lativa (23%), Russia (15%) Poland (12%) and Brazil (10%).
It’s likely whoever is running Centure AI has ties to at least one of these countries.
Russia is a prime candidate. On December 12th, 2023, the Central Bank of Russia issued a Centure AI pyramid fraud warning.
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…]
It’s Only 25 Cents Review: Adcredit Ponzi cycler
It’s Only 25 Cents fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.
It’s Only 25 Cents’ website domain (“itsonly25cents.com”), was privately registered on December 6th, 2023.
An official FaceBook group is linked from It’s Only 25 Cents’ website. The sole admin of the group is “Robert William”.
Robert William appears to be a dummy FaceBook account used to promote MLM Ponzi schemes.
Another name we can attach to It’s Only 25 Cents is Elton Potts.
Potts appeared on BehindMLM’s radar in 2022, as co-founder of It’s Only 5.
It’s Only 5 didn’t last long, but was enough to land Potts (right) a $10,000 securities fraud fine from Michigan.
ItsOnly5.com is a publicly available website that is not registered in any capacity and has not registered any securities offerings under the Securities Act in Michigan.
It is owned and operated by Elton Potts, an individual last known to be a resident of the State of Michigan
The naming could just be a giant coincidence, but otherwise Potts is likely involved in the running of It’s Only 25 Cents.
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…]
Trillant Ponzi collapses, withdrawals disabled
Erich Ely’s Trillant Ponzi scheme has collapsed.
In a December 27th “important notice” posted on its website, Trillant advised investors withdrawals have been disabled. [Continue reading…]
GSPro investor alert fraud warning from Arizona
GSPro has received a fraud warning from Arizona.
As per the Arizona Corporation Commission’s December 27th investor alert; [Continue reading…]
USI-Tech’s Horst Jicha indicted, arrested in Florida
USI-Tech co-founder Horst Jicha has been arrested in Florida.
Jicha was indicted under seal on August 23rd, 2023.
On December 21st, the DOJ filed a motion seeking limited unsealing of Jicha’s indictment.
The stated reason for the request was
for the limited purpose of disclosure to and by law enforcement personnel, including foreign authorities and the International Criminal Police Organization (“INTERPOL”), for use in locating or arresting the defendant.
On December 26th, the court ordered Jicha’s indictment be unsealed to the public. News of Jicha’s arrest in Florida broke a few hours ago. [Continue reading…]
DailyMines Review: Cloud mining ruse Ponzi scheme
Daily Mines, aka TheDM, MyDMFarms and TheDMFarms, fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.
DailyMines’ current website domain (“thedm.cloud”), was privately registered on October 31st, 2023.
Daily Mines originally operated from “dailymines.com”, privately registered in August 2021.
DailyMines launched on its original .COM domain in or around June 2023. It’s not clear why DailyMines abandoned it original website domain.
Other secondary website domains associated with DailyMines include:
- dailymines.net – active domain, privately registered October 27th, 2023
- dailymined.ltd – active domain, privately registered October 27th, 2023
- dailymines.live – active domain, privately registered October 29th, 2023
- dailymines.tech – abandoned domain, privately registered October 30th, 2023
- dailymines.world – abandoned domain, privately registered October 30th, 2023
- dailymines.me – abandoned domain, privately registered through a Russian address on October 30th, 2023
- dailyminesglobal.com – abandoned domain, privately registered on October 21st, 2023
- dailyminesofficial.com – abandoned domain, privately registered in December 2022 (last updated December 19th, 2023)
- dailymineslive.com – abandoned domain, privately registered in December 2022 (last updated December 19th, 2023)
- joindailymines.com – abandoned domain, privately registered January 4th, 2023
- mydailymines.com – abandoned domain, privately registered October 26th, 2023
- dailyminesnetwork.com – abandoned domain, privately registered October 21st, 2023
- thedm.biz – active domain, privately registered November 2nd, 2023
- thedmfarms.com – abandoned domain, privately registered November 11th, 2023
- mydmfarms.com – active domain, privately registered on November 6th, 2023
There are likely other unknown DailyMines website domains.
As of November 2023, SimilarWeb tracked top sources of traffic to DailyMines’ primary .CLOUD website as India (82%), Slovenia (4%) and Canada (2%).
There’s a high probability whoever is running DailyMines has ties to India.
Russia is also a possibility. Over on YouTube we have actors with various accents playing DailyMines executives.
This is “Dean Thomas”, Daily Mines’ purported “Cheif Marketing Officer”.
Thomas is played by Jordan Florit, a UK national living in Venezuela.
Over on Twitter Florit cites himself as “USLC Scouting Consultant. International Relations at Andrade Sports Group. Author: ‘Red Wine & Arepas: How Football is Becoming Venezuela’s Religion’.”
Not really sure what he’s doing playing fake executive for sketchy MLM companies.
With the exception of “Ekatrina”, the rest of the actors that appear in DailyMines’ marketing videos appear to be Venezuelan locals.
While India remains a strong candidate, actors playing fictional executives is typically the work of eastern European scammers (Russia/Ukraine).
In an attempt to appear legitimate, DailyMines provides two addresses on its website; one in the UK and one in Thailand.
It’s unlikely DailyMines has anything to do with either address.
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…]
BuddyX Review: BDYX token pump & dump Dubai Ponzi
BuddyX fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.
BuddyX’s website domain (“buddy.io”), was privately registered on July 21st, 2023.
It should be noted that prior to July 2023, BuddyX went by BuddyCorp.
That iteration of the company appears to have collapsed, making BuddyX a reboot.
Further research reveals BuddyX marketing videos citing Mahesh Sharma as founder of the company.
Instead of acknowledging he owns BuddyX, Sharma cites himself as “head of marketing” on LinkedIn.
Despite claiming to have gotten involved in MLM back in 2011, Sharma’s LinkedIn profile doesn’t go into specifics.
Circa 2017 Mahesh was promoting Billionex World, a collapsed MLM crypto Ponzi scheme.
After Billionex World came Digiex, a collapsed staking model Ponzi built around Digix token.
Digiex appears to have collapsed circa 2020. What Sharma has been up to since then is unclear.
On its website, BuddyX claims its “head quarter and operation” is in the UAE.
This tracks with BuddyX citing its location as Dubai on FaceBook:
Due to the proliferation of scams and failure to enforce securities fraud regulation, BehindMLM ranks Dubai as the MLM crime capital of the world.
On FaceBook Mahesh Sharma represents he is based out of Delhi, India. Whether he’s since fled to Dubai is unclear.
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 BuddyX, read on for a full review.
Frequense Review: Pitcocks go solo with LaCore Enterprises
Frequense fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.
Frequense’s website domain (“frequense.com”), was registered in June 2023. The private registration was last updated on December 21st, 2023.
In Frequense’s website Terms and Conditions we find the Texas corporate address for LaCore Enterprises.
The only reference to LaCore Enterprises on Frequense’s website is mention of LaCore Payment Technologies:
Further research reveals Barb Pitcock citing herself as CEO of Frequense on social media:
Back in 2021 the Barb Pitcock was CEO of Innov8tive Nutrition, another LaCore Enterprises MLM company.
Barb and husband Dave Pitcock ran Innov8tive Nutrition with Heidi and Ken Whitehair.
Today Innov8tive Nutrition’s website is still up but there’s no ownership or executive information provided.
While Barb cites herself as Frequence’s CEO, Dave Pitcock appears to be involved but for some reason keeps a lower profile.
LaCore Enterprises is owned by Terry LaCore (right).
LaCore Enterprises owns and operates multiple MLM companies, most of which are in the nutritional supplement niche.
Why LaCore Enterprises and Barb Pitcock aren’t cited as respective owner and CEO on Frequense’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…]
IDAA Games Review: Alpha GamesCoin Ponzi scheme
IDAA stands for Independent Digital Assets Alliance.
Within the context of being an MLM company, IDAA is a sprawling mess:
What we’re going to focus on in this review is IDAA Games and GrowthPool.
IDAA Games is an MLM opportunity centered around Alpha GamesCoin token investment. GrowthPool is a separate MLM income opportunity marketed within IDAA.
IDAA Games fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.
IDAA Games’ website domain (“idaa.games”), was registered on April 16th, 2020. The private registration was last updated on April 15th, 2023.
GrowthPool also fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.
GrowthPool’s website domain (“growthpool.org”), was registered in December 2021. The private registration was last updated on November 9th, 2023.
One name we can attach to IDAA Games is Anton “Toni” Federspiel, who I believe is from Austria.
Federspiel is a top promoter of IDAA Games. He is also a top earner in the collapsed OneCoin Ponzi scheme.
In an October 2023 marketing presentation hosted by Federspiel, a marketing slide cites Alex Suarez as founder and President of GamesCoin Group.
IDAA Games seems to fall under GamesCoin Group, so presumably Suarez owns that too (this is left ambiguous).
Suarez doesn’t appear to have any verifiable MLM history.
On its website, IDAA Games represents ties to the UAE through Independent Digital Assets Alliance LLC.
Independent Digital Assets Alliance LLC is purportedly registered as a shell company in Sharjah. Sharjah is just up the road from Dubai, the notorious MLM crime capital of the world.
As a general precaution, any MLM company representing it is based out of or having ties to the UAE should be avoided.
As opposed to the UAE though, IDAA Games appears to actually be operated from Germany:
As per the IDAA Games invoice above, the company operates as Youre Family GmbH, a German registered company.
Presumably the unassuming name “Youre Family” is being used to fool banks and avoid detection by regulators.
Reflecting being primarily marketed in German, for November 2023 SimilarWeb tracked top sources of traffic to IDAA Games’ website as Austria (33%), Germany (26%), Italy (20%) and Switzerland (7%).
GrowthPool’s public facing homepage is nothing more than an affiliate sign in form. No information is provided.
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…]
