Mohammed “Moe” Diab and Amy Rountree have pled guilty to Allied Wallet fraud charges. [Continue reading…]

Solar Group’s “slavyanka motor” Ponzi ruse appears to have run its course.

On August 7th, Solar Group revealed its new Ponzi ruse – Aerostatica zeppelins.

[Continue reading…]

BitHarvest’s latest ruse is its USB “BitBooster” devices are being used in Texas cryptocurrency mining farms.

Which mining farms in Texas BitHarvest’s devices are purportedly being used in can’t be disclosed for verification because… well y’know, reasons. [Continue reading…]

Avon Products, a holding company through which Avon’s non-US business operations are run, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US.

In an August 12th press-release, Avon framed its bankruptcy as “taking steps to address debt and legacy liabilities”.

Avon’s non-legal debts sit at around $1.29 billion. Avon’s “legacy liabilities” pertain to multiple lawsuits and settlements over talc-based products causing cancer. [Continue reading…]

WheatLand AI fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.

WheatLand AI’s website domain (“wheatlandai.com”), was registered with bogus details on August 4th, 2024.

Of note is WheatLand AI’s website domain being registered through the Chinese registrar Alibaba (Singapore).

Despite only existing for a few weeks, on its website WheatLand AI falsely claims it “established in 2021”.

This is tied to Wheatland Quantitative Trading LTD, a UK registered company that has nothing to do with WheatLand AI.

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…]

M-Power fails to provide verifiable ownership or executive information on its website.

M-Power’s website domain (“m-power.group”), was privately registered on June 26th, 2024.

Note that M-Power originally launched on “m-power.ai”, privately registered on an unknown date and abandoned for an unknown reason shortly after.

M-Power represents it was founded by “Samir M.A. Sahmound”.

Sahmoud doesn’t exist outside of M-Power’s own marketing, and even then then they can’t get the name right.

This lends itself to “Samir M.A. Sahmound/Sahmoud” being an alias.

Someone who appears to exist is M-Power’s Director of Development, Chris Gilbert.

Gilbert has ties to Russia:

M-Power’s Renat Mansurov is a “money mentor”, also with ties to Russia…

…and Dubai:

Dubai is the MLM crime capital of the world. Any MLM company with the slightest hint of ties to Dubai is an automatic show-stopper red flag.

It remains unconfirmed but “Samir M.A. Sahmound” is probably a third-world country pick-up from Dubai.

Putting all of this together M-Power is likely run by Russians hiding in Dubai.

This tracks with M-Power running a promo for an event in Thailand.

Thailand’s recent growing Russian population has attracted media attention.

Officially, M-Power represents it is based out of the UK. This is based on nothing more than the shell company registration of M-Power Business Group LTD on June 6th, 2024.

Of note is “Samir Sahmoud” listed as the sole Director of M-Power Business Group LTD, with Turkey listed as his country of residence.

Putting aside the ease of which scammers can register shell companies in the UK with bogus information, over the last few years Turkey emerged as a haven for “international criminal networks”.

This is potentially another indirect tie to Russians (Russians are typically behind “actors playing executives” Ponzi schemes hence us pointing out any direct or indirect ties).

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…]

Details of how the SEC intends to handle victim restitution have been revealed in Jean Martin Zizi’s NovaTech FX settlement. [Continue reading…]

AKK USDT fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.

AKK USDT’s website domain (“akkyusdtmall.vip”), was registered with bogus details on August 8th, 2024.

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…]

MAR Mining fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.

MAR Mining’s website domain (“marmining.com”), was first registered in 2018. The private registration was last updated on March 15th, 2024.

In an attempt to appear legitimate, MAR Mining provides an incorporation certificate for “Cryptocurrency International Limited” on its website.

Cryptocurrency International Limited was incorporated in the UK in 2018.

Predating it by six years, Cryptocurrency International Limited obviously has nothing to do with MAR Mining.

BehindMLM came across MAR Mining as part of our research into Cryptocurrency Enthusiasts.

It appears the same anonymous Chinese admins are behind both scams.

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…]

Crypto Enthusiasts fails to provide verifiable ownership or executive information on its website.

Crypto Enthusiasts’ website domain (“itenthusiasts.com”), was first registered in September 2018. The private registration was last updated on May 31st, 2024.

The Wayback Machine suggests Crypto Enthusiasts website went sometime around early June 2024.

Despite only existing for a few months, on its website Crypto Enthusiasts falsely claims it, as Cryptophiliac LLC, was “founded in 2018”.

Cryptophiliac LLC appears to be a Florida company registered in 2018. Predating Crypto Enthusiasts by six years, it obviously has nothing to do with the company.

Nevertheless, Crypto Enthusiasts again falsely cites Cryptophiliac LLC’s registered agent as its own CEO.

Driven by a shared vision to democratize blockchain technologies, Giletti, John have [sic] assembled a team of like-minded people committed to pushing the boundaries of innovation.

Grammatical errors on Crypto Enthusiasts’ website suggest the company is run by a non-native English speaker.

In Crypto Enthusiasts website source-code, we find a reference to “marmining.com”:

We also find Chinese:

Mar Mining is an MLM crypto Ponzi pitching up to $10,000 a day on $500,000 investments.

It seems Chinese scammers flogging a script backend across multiple Ponzi schemes are behind Crypto Enthusiasts.

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…]