Between me starting coverage of BehindMLM’s content today and wrapping up, Pacer has updated.

Here are the current status details for the EmpowerCoin, ECoinPlus and JetCoin scammers. [Continue reading…]

The CFTC has sued scammers behind the EmpowerCoin, ECoinPlus and JetCoin Ponzi schemes.

Defendants Dwayne Golden, Jatin Patel, Marquis Demarking Egerton (aka Mardy Eger) and Gregory Aggesen, stand accused of stealing millions through the scams. [Continue reading…]

Dwayne Golden, Gregory Aggesen, Marquis Demacking Egerton (aka Mardy Eger) and William White have been indicted.

Their indictment pertains to the running of multiple MLM crypto Ponzi schemes. [Continue reading…]

The SEC has sued John Barksdale and his sister JonAtina “Tina” Barksdale over Ormeus Global fraud.

The regulator alleges the Barkdales stole over $124 million through Ormeus Global’s ORME cryptocurrency. [Continue reading…]

John Barksdale has been indicted on securities and wire fraud charges.

Barksdale stands accused of running Ormeus Global, a $70 million dollar Ponzi scheme. [Continue reading…]

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

Wombia’s website domain (“wombia.com”), was privately registered on July 16th, 2021.

In an attempt to appear legitimate, Wombia provides a UK incorporation certificate for Wombia Multinational Company Limited.

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.

Wombia also provides a Nigeria incorporation certificate for Wombia Integrated Resources LTD.

For the purpose of due-diligence, basic incorporation anywhere is meaningless.

Wombia’s marketing videos feature a robo-voice. This is typical of schemes run by non-native English speakers.

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…]

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

Paymara’s website domain (“paymara.com”), was first registered in 2014.

The private registration was last updated on March 1st, 2022.

Through the Wayback Machine we can see Paymara’s website domain was for sale. The current owners took possession of it in late 2021.

On Paymara’s official YouTube channel, “Candace Ava Fiorina” is presented as its CEO.

Fiorina doesn’t exist outside of Paymara. It’s the usual Boris CEO affair; an actor, rented office, company flags etc.

Other actors used by Paymara include “Joseph McCareins“:

“Melinda Moret“:

And “Colin Robertson“:

Boris CEO schemes are typically the work of Ukrainian/Russian scammers. Although we have seen a few south-east Asian clones pop up recently.

Nonetheless I was able to tie Paymara to Russian scammers through the company’s “team” page:

As far as I can tell this page isn’t linked off Paymara’s other website pages. That’s probably because it’s full of stolen photos.

One other interesting thing to note is Paymara’s web server is running off Indian time:

It appears Russians hired Indian devs to put Paymara’s website together.

In an attempt to appear legitimate, Paymara provides shell company incorporation details for the US and Canada.

Paymara Global LLC is incorporated in New Jersey. Paymara Global Inc. is incorporated in Canada.

For the purpose of MLM due-diligence, basic incorporation anywhere is meaningless.

Supplementing Paymara’s shell incorporations is a random corporate address in the UK. This appears to be an attempt to lend credibility to the actor playing Candace Ava Fiorina, as she speaks with a British accent.

Alexa currently ranks tops sources of traffic to Paymara’s website as Canada (39%), Vietnam (35%) and Pakistan (8%).

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…]

A few days ago we covered the scammers behind Futures Trade funneling victims into LogicBitInvest.

Since then we’ve seen a number of identical emails sent out to victims of other collapsed schemes. [Continue reading…]

People around the world have donated towards the developing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

Most donate out of a genuine desire to help those in need.

Others, like GSPartners and owner Josip Heit, see it as a marketing opportunity. This led to clashes with donation organizers in Germany. [Continue reading…]

Full Velocity provides no information on their website about who owns or runs the company.

Full Velocity’s website domain (“fullvelocity.trade”), was privately registered on December 31st, 2021.

Further research reveals James Ward appearing in Full Velocity marketing videos as CEO:

James Ward (right) first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar in 2010, as the CEO of LGN Prosperity.

LGN Prosperity marketed travel vouchers, with each voucher generating a position in a matrix 2×2 cycler.

Following months of affiliates not getting paid, in mid 2011 LGN Prosperity morphed into LGN International.

This name-change brought on the addition of commissions paid on travel services booked through LGN.

LGN International eventually collapsed in mid to late 2013, with Ward heading up iBizWave as CEO and co-founder in early 2014.

In 2015 Ward launched 2SL Start Living, which saw him return to the travel MLM niche.

2SL Start Living was short-lived, prompting Ward to launch Pangea in 2016.

Pangea’s original business model was a matrix cycler hiding behind travel.

By early 2017 Pangea had collapsed. Ward rebooted Pangea with a new compensation plan.

The only material difference was the cycler expanded to three tiers, so it’s not surprising that Pangea 2.0 also didn’t last long.

In late 2019 Ward resurfaced with Sports Trading BTC, a crypto Ponzi scheme.

Sports Trading BTC collapsed by December 2019, prompting Ward to reboot the scheme as Global Credits Network.

As per website traffic charts provided by Alexa, Global Credits Network collapsed in or around April 2020.

In late June 2020 Ward launched his first smart-contract Ponzi scheme, Lion’s Share.

Lion’s Share collapsed by early 2021, prompting Ward to launch Apex Financial April 2021.

Apex Financial was a joint-venture with Hitesh Juneja and Jason Rose. The scheme saw affiliates invest in AFT tokens, on the promise of up to 0.85% paid daily for 360 weekdays.

Apex Financial’s website is still up. Alexa traffic estimates to its website however reveal a collapse throughout late 2021.

There appears to have been an attempt to reboot Lion’s Share as “Lion’s Share Velocity” mid 2021. Whatever that was it flopped so fast we missed it.

In any event, all of that brings us to Full Velocity’s launch last month.

Read on for a full review of Full Velocity’s MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]