Upon learning of an investigation into his Ponzi scheme Mining Capital Coin, Luiz Capuci Jr. abandoned his life in the US and fled to Brazil.

It was a calculated move, with Capuci believing Brazil’s policy of not extraditing its citizens would protect him from justice.

Unfortunately that hasn’t quite panned out.

While the DOJ’s criminal case against Capuci is in a stalemate (Capuci remains a wanted fugitive in hiding), the SEC is pushing forward its civil case through alternative service.

Something Capuci is definitely not happy about. [Continue reading…]

Following its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, DreamTrips emerged as the successor to WorldVentures about a year ago.

DreamTrips came about as a result of Verona International Holdings acquiring WorldVentures’, namely the MLM company and Rovia (WorldVentures’ in-house travel services provider).

BehindMLM reviewed DreamTrips in November 2021, following a November 16th launch announcement.

A reader recently wrote in to advise that DreamTrips had revised its compensation plan in July 2022.

Today we revisit DreamTrips for an updated review. Not only on the compensation side of things, but also as to who exactly owns the company. [Continue reading…]

Dmining fails to provide company ownership or executive information on its website.

Dmining’s website domain (“dmining.top”), was privately registered on March 1st, 2022.

SimilarWeb currently ranks top sources of traffic to Dmining’s website as Italy (79%), Rwanda (11%) and Croatia (10%).

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…]

Trust Your Universe operates in the trading MLM niche.

Trust Your Universe operates as Universe Trading LLC, a shell company incorporated in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines is not a jurisdiction active in MLM regulation, meaning consumers have no recourse against scammers.

Any MLM company incorporated in St. Vincent and Grenadines raises a red-flag.

Trust Your Universe’s website domain (“tyu-trade.com”), was privately registered on August 14th, 2022.

It should be noted that Trust Your Universe initially launched on the German domain (“trust-your-universe.de”), on or around early June 2022.

Curiously, on its website Trust Your Universe provides a corporate address in New York. This appears to be a virtual address (read on to learn why).

Heading up Trust Your Universe is founder and CEO Dada Pey.

On a recent Trust Your Universe webinar, Pey introduces himself as being “from Stuttgart in Germany”.

Dada Pey appears to have gotten started in MLM with the since collapsed pyramid scheme WorldVentures:

After that he began promoting iMarketsLive, through his downline group “Global Achievers”.

In an attempt to distance itself from a CFTC commodities fraud fine issued in 2018, iMarketsLive rebooted as IM Mastery Academy in September 2019.

Pey appears to have left iMarketsLive by late 2019 (he was promoting IM Mastery Academy in December 2019).

In an Instagram post dated January 7th, 2020, Pey stated;

Just 24 hours after ours Launch we are with GA in the TOP 15 of the new company we work with, in the entire German-speaking area.

“GA” refers to Global Achievers but Pey doesn’t name the MLM company. It appears to be an AI trading opportunity.

Whichever company it was, it seems to have fallen apart sometime in 2021. That brings us to Trust Your Universe in 2022.

I believe what’s left of Global Achievers makes up most of Trust Your Universe’s launch affiliate-base.

On Pey’s Instagram account we learn he has ties to Dubai:

Putting all of this together, we can confirm Trust Your Universe has no physical ties to either St. Vincent and the Grenadines or the US.

Trust Your Universe is run by Dada Pey from Dubai, the MLM crime capital of the world.

BehindMLM’s guidelines for Dubai are:

1. If someone lives in Dubai and approaches you about an MLM opportunity, they’re trying to scam you.
2. 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 Trust Your Universe, read on for a full review. [Continue reading…]

Emris International was co-founded in late 2019 by Matthew Harris, Ilean Harris and Aspen Emry.

BehindMLM published its initial Emris International review in June 2020.

Shortly after launch, Emry left the company and went on to launch Bravenly Global.

Husband and wife Matthew and Illean Harris continued to run Emris International. The company today however looks nothing like it did back in 2019.

On the corporate side of things, Emris International launched as a Florida corporation. Today Emris International’s website provides a corporate address in South Africa.

The Harris’ however still appear to be based out of Miami, Florida.

Today we’re revisiting Emris International to see what’s changed since BehindMLM’s initial 2020 review. [Continue reading…]

Validus has received a securities fraud warning from New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority (FMA).

In their September 15th warning, the FMA advises they [Continue reading…]

Vexam fails to provide company ownership or executive information on its website.

Vexam’s website domain (“vexam.com”), was first registered back in 2002. The private registration was last updated on July 8th, 2022.

This is on or around when Vexam’s owner(s) took possession of the domain.

SimilarWeb currently tracks top sources of traffic to Vexam’s website as Russia (18%), Indonesia (8%), Brazil  (8%) and Ukraine (7%).

In an attempt to appear legitimate, Vexam claims it’s “a UK incorporated commercial company”.

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.

Of note is Vexam’s use of JivoChat on its website for support. JivoChat is typically used by Russian and Ukrainian scammers.

Supporting this is Vexam’s official marketing video being a CGI job with a robovoice dub:

This is typically the work of non-native English speakers. Poor grammar in the video and on Vexam’s website further supports this.

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…]

The Income Rocket fails to provide company ownership or executive information on its website.

The Income Rocket’s website domain (“theincrocket.com”), was privately registered on August 8th, 2022.

If we look at The Income Rocket’s website source-code, we can see the template was copied from the domain “surielementor.com”.

This reveals The Income Rocket’s website design is a $30 off-the-shelf template.

We’ll explore why this is relevant in the conclusion of this review.

Administration of The Income Rocket takes place through a shady Telegram group:

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…]

Digimond Group operates in the forex and cryptocurrency trading MLM niches. The company doesn’t provide a corporate address on its website.

Digimond Group claims it’s a European based consulting firm in the arena of sales and marketing for the past 23 years”.

In reality Digimond Group’s website domain was only registered a few months ago.

The domain “digimondmnc.com” was registered on February 2nd, 2022.

Elisa Solon Torrevillas is listed as the owner, through an incomplete address in Cebu, Philippines.

Digimond Group’s website tech contact is “Rajesh R”, through an incomplete address in India.

Heading up Digimond Group is co-founder “Ronald Roque”.

Roque is represented by a head Photoshopped onto a suit.

DigiMond Group’s website also features Roque in a photoshopped office photo:

Needless to say Ronald Roque doesn’t exist. Digimond Group’s faceless CEO, Eric Jerome Miguel, also doesn’t appear to exist.

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…]

Back in May Class Plaintiff Suhanna Jens filed a class-action against Tori Belle in Washington.

The case hasn’t gone well for Tori Belle, with both default judgment and an injunction granted against them recently.

Plaintiff Jens’ proposed class-action was filed on May 5th in the Superior Court of Washington, King County. [Continue reading…]