Mirror Trading International CEO Johan Steynberg has been sued by the CFTC.

According to the regulator, Mirror Trading International was a $1.7 billion dollar Ponzi scheme. [Continue reading…]

The FBI has added OneCoin founder Ruja Ignatova to their top ten most wanted list.

US authorities have put up a $100,000 reward “for information leading to (her) arrest”. [Continue reading…]

LZTrade Fund operates in the trading bot MLM niche.

The company represents it is incorporated as

• Leizan Capital Limited in the BVI
• LZTD Investment Holdings in St Vincent and the Grenadines and
• LZTD Investment Holdings in South Africa

BVI and St Vincent and the Grenadines are scam-friendly jusridictions that automatically raise red flags. South Africa isn’t known for strong regulation of MLM related fraud.

More importantly though, these are all shell company incorporations. Basic incorporation of any type in any jurisdiction is meaningless with respect to MLM due-diligence.

LZTrade Fund is purportedly headed up by CEO Alejandro Morales and CTO Zhao Hua:

No information about either Morales or Hua is provided.

Further research reveals LZTrade Fund webinars featuring Alejandro Morales:

The combination of Alejandro Morales not existing outside of LZTrade Fund marketing and him having a British accent, makes him a prime Boris CEO candidate (i.e. played by an actor).

I wasn’t able to pin down a name but “Alejando Morales” might be a resident of Thailand. In 2017/2018 he made several visits to Invite Wine & Cocktail Bar in Bangkok.

Granted that was four years ago at best but be it Thailand or somewhere else, lends itself to Morales being an actor.

One final bit of supporting evidence I’ll throw in is the multi-socket adaptor in the webinar screenshot above. It matches a number of power sockets available in Thailand.

Zhao Hua is too vague of a name to turn up anything specific. That there’s nothing obviously verifiable suggests he’s likely an actor too.

LZTrade Fund’s website domain (“lztradefund.com”), was privately registered on March 29th, 2022.

SimilarWeb currently ranks top sources of traffic to LZTrade Fund’s website as Colombia (46%), Honduras (28%) and the US (27%).

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…]

NotchFX Trade provides no verifiable information on its website about who owns or runs the company.

NotchFX Trade’s website domain (“notchfxtrade.com”), was privately registered on September 12th, 2021.

Despite only existing since 2021, NotchFX Trade falsely claims it has been “running since” February 2017.

Janky English and the weird spelling of Dorothy…

…suggests NotchFX Trade is being run by a non-native English speaker.

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 Klay Group “click a button” app Ponzi scheme has collapsed.

Following three days of withdrawal delays, as of a few days ago Klay Group’s website has been pulled offline.

Klay Group is your typical “click a button” app Ponzi, this time targeting Hungary. [Continue reading…]

Sefiwo Farm provides no information on its website about who owns or runs the company.

Sefiwo Farm’s website domain (“sefiwo.com”), was privately registered on May 3rd, 2022.

SimilarWeb currently ranks top sources of traffic to Sefiwo Farm’s website as Russia (19%), Ukraine (11%) and Brazil (9%).

Those percentages aren’t definitive but do suggest Sefiwo Farm has ties to Russia.

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 SEC has secured a preliminary injunction against Mining Capital Coin.

The granted injunction also applies to individual defendants Luiz Carlos Capuci and Emerson Sousa Pires. [Continue reading…]

Alfa Investment provides no information on its website about who owns or runs the company.

In fact as I write this, Alfa Investment’s website domain is nothing more than an affiliate signup/login form:

What we do get is a link to a “paper”, in either Spanish or English (Alfa Investment’s website defaults to Spanish).

In the document we get a blurry UK incorporation certificate and CEO “Mauricio Mosquera”.

No information about Mosquera is provided. Outside of Alfa Investment Mosquera, as represented in company marketing, doesn’t exist.

Whoever is playing Mosquera has put in at least one video appearance, so that does rule out a stock photo.

Alfa Investment’s UK incorporation meanwhile is a red flag.

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.

Alfa Investment’s website domain (“alfainvestment.capital”), was first registered in December 2021. The private registration was last updated on May 9th, 2022.

As per SimilarWeb tracking, traffic to Alfa Investment spiked in May 2022. 100% of Alfa Investment’s website traffic is attributed to Ecuador.

It follows that whoever is running Alfa Investment is thus also likely based out of Ecuador, or at the very least has ties to the country.

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…]

Instant Recall provides no information about who owns or runs the company on its website.

Instant Recall’s website domain (“instantrecalls.com”), was privately registered on January 14th, 2021.

Further research reveals Instant Recall marketing videos citing Paul Schneider as “creator” of the company.

BehindMLM first came across Schneider in January 2014, as part of our coverage on Med Saver Direct.

As part of that research, which began with Bid For My Meds, a reader tipped us off to Schneider’s securities fraud proceedings in Missouri.

In 2013 the Missouri Securities Division took action against Schneider (right), pertaining to securities fraud related to MVP and SkyBuddy.

I wasn’t able to confirm any further involvement in MLM by Schneider over the past eight years.

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…]

As per a Joint Notice filed on June 2nd, the SEC and defendant Eric J. Dalius will return to mediation.

With the Saivian fraud trial scheduled for September 2022, this would appear to be the last change for Dalius to settle and avoid potentially harsher penalties in court. [Continue reading…]