As part of efforts to protect consumers, Montana requires MLM companies to register with the state.

On November 9th Montana state authorities announced they were offering unregistered MLM companies an amnesty period.

Companies that don’t register risk being prosecuted and fined. [Continue reading…]

Indian authorities have arrested three scammers behind the FomoEX Ponzi scheme.

What appears to be proactive regulation at first, might be tied to the collapse eOracle Ponzi scheme. [Continue reading…]

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

DigiCoin Markets’ website domain (“digicoinmarkets.com”), was privately registered on August 18th, 2021.

In an attempt to appear legitimate, DigiCoin Markets provides a UK incorporation certificate for “DigiCoinMarkets LTD”.

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.

In addition to UK incorporation details, DigiCoin Markets puzzlingly provides an incomplete corporate address in Norway on its website.

On October 21st the Philippine SEC issued a DigiCoin Markets securities fraud warning.

As part of the SEC’s investigation, the regulator uncovered DigiCoin Markets

investments shall be deposited/credited to the respective Gcash accounts and Union Bank accounts of Mr. JIM MARK DELOS SANTOS and Mr. RAMIR TULISANA.

These appear to be Philippine nationals, suggesting that, as opposed to the UK or Norway, DigiCoin Markets is being run from the Philippines.

Despite the SEC’s warning and threats of fines and prison time, as of November 2021 Ramir Tulisana is still promoting DigiCoin Markets:

Jim Mark Delos Santos appears to have gone underground.

Despite only existing as of a few months ago, DigiCoin Markets falsely represents it launched in February 2020.

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…]

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

ABA Marketing’s website domain (“aba.marketing”) was first registered in November 2014.

The private registration was last updated on June 23rd, 2021.

The country code provided on ABA Marketing’s domain registration is Saint Kitts and Nevis.

This corresponds with a corporate address provided in Saint Kitts and Nevis on ABA Marketing’s website.

ABA Marketing also provide a Saint Kitts and Nevis incorporation certificate for ABA Marketing Group Inc.

Saint Kitts and Nevis is a scam-friendly jurisdiction with no active MLM regulation.

Scammers typically set up shell companies in dodgy jurisdictions like Saint Kitts and Nevis, to launder money through and avoid regulation.

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

Oddly enough of the four social media platform links provided on ABA Marketing’s website, only vKontakte is active.

vKontakte is a Russian social media platform, which brings us to where ABA Marketing is actually being operated from.

ABA Marketing’s website source-code contains Bulgarian:

Marketing documents cited in researching this review were also written in Bulgarian.

The two offered languages on ABA Marketing’s website are English and Russian.

Finally, Alexa pegs Russia as providing 95% of traffic to ABA Marketing’s website.

This suggests whoever is running ABA Marketing has ties to Russia and/or Bulgaria.

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…]

Nominex operates in the cryptocurrency MLM niche.

Nominex’s website domain (“nominex.io”), was first registered in November 2017.

The private registration, revealing only Russia as the address of the owner, was last updated on July 4th, 2021.

In an attempt to appear legitimate, Nominex provides a Seychelles incorporation certificate on its website.

For the purpose of due-diligence, basic incorporation in any jurisdiction is meaningless.

Emphasizing this is the corporate address in Seychelles that Nominex provides.

This address is used by multiple companies, suggesting Nominex only exists in Seychelles as a shell company.

Heading up Nominex is CEO Pavel Shkitin (right).

According to his Facebook profile, Shkitin is based out of Saratov, Russia.

Thus it is confirmed Nominex is a Russian company pretending to be based out of Seychelles.

Prior to reinventing himself as a crypto bro and heading up Nominex, Shitikin had a programming and sales background.

At the time of publication Alexa ranks top sources of traffic to Nominex’s website as Argentina (16%), Russia (15%) and Costa Rica (11%).

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

Viral Compensation fails to provide any credible ownership information on its website.

Supposedly the company is run by “Ron Williams”, represented by a badly photoshopped profile avatar.

The same avatar appears on Fiverr account “videospurchaser”, who represents they are based out of Canada.

This corresponds with the North American accent narrated Viral Compensation’s marketing videos (the ones that aren’t obvious Fivver gigs).

Viral Compensation’s website domain (“viralcompensation.com”) was registered on July 31st, 2021.

The owner is listed as Mission Prosperity LLC, through an address in Quebec, Canada.

Mission Prosperity LLC is a long defunct Nevada corporation, owned by Ron Williams.

This rabbit-hole eventually led me to William’s Facebook profile, on which he confirms he’s based out of Montreal, Quebec.

William’s Facebook page is full of Ponzi and pyramid scheme promotion:

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

My Blockchain Life launched in early 2020.

The original business model saw My Blockchain Life commit securities fraud through crypto mining investment packages.

When that ran its course in a few months, My Blockchain Life pivoted to automated trading bot returns. [Continue reading…]

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

CVC Funding’s website domain (“cvc-funding.io”) was privately registered on July 7th, 2021.

A corporate address in New York is provided on CVC Funding’s website. This suite address corresponds with CVC Credit Partners, dba CVC Funding LLC.

CVC Credit Partners is a FINRA registered broker and has been since 2016.

CVC Funding, the company we are reviewing, didn’t exist until a few months ago.

CVC Credit Partners has nothing to do with CVC Funding the MLM company.

Based on this deception, it’s safe to assume the bulk of information provided on CVC Funding’s website is bogus.

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…]

BehindMLM reviewed Lifestyle Marketing Group in June 2020.

The company was headed up by CEO Shain Hymon. It’s business model was that of a $50 a month pyramid scheme.

Later that same month BehindMLM reviewed Jaa Lifestyle, also fronted by Hymon.

Jaa Lifestyle’s initial business model combined securities fraud with pyramid recruitment.

A few weeks prior to BehindMLM’s review, Jaa Lifestyle announced it was “remodelling”.

Jaa Lifestyle as reviewed in late June 2020 was a magazine subscription pyramid scheme.

BehindMLM revisited Jaa Lifestyle in August 2021, finding the company had rebooted as a crypto Ponzi scheme.

Noticeably absent from Jaa Lifestyle’s reboot was Shain Hymon (right).

Whether he’s still involved in Jaa Lifestyle remains unclear.

Hymon’s marketing and social media channels have mostly been abandoned. His last personal Facebook page update was on September 8th.

A few weeks back a reader wrote in requesting an updated Lifestyle Marketing Group review.

This was based on LMG marketing videos that surfaced throughout early to mid 2021.

While Hymon’s status within Jaa Lifestyle is unclear, it appears he’s rebooted Lifestyle Marketing Group with a new business model.

Today we revisit Lifestyle Marketing Group for an updated review. [Continue reading…]

Baccarat Staking operates in the gambling MLM niche.

The company is headed up by Michael Sander, who for some reason is going by “Michi Sander”.

Believed to be a German national, on social media Sander represents he is currently based out of Las Vegas, Nevada.

This corresponds with Baccarat Staking claiming to be “coordinated in Las Vegas, United States.”

Back in the day Michael Sander ran the pro-scam publication Obtainer Online.

BehindMLM first came across Sander after Obtainer Online ran a puff-piece on ViziNova scammer Renato Rodriguez.

Prior to Vizinova’s launch in 2014, BehindMLM had been closely following Rodriguez’s participation in WCM777.

Both Vizinova and WCM777 were MLM Ponzi schemes.

ViziNova saw Sander migrate from just supporting scams in Obtainer Online, to assisting Rodriguez launch Vizinova.

Sander (right) signed on as Vizinova’s “Chief Consultant”.

ViziNova has engaged OBTAINER’s founder Michael Sander, who as chief consultant has developed the company structure and the set-ups.

In April 2014 Sander described Vizinova as

 a business concept that is coherent, transparent and profitable.

ViziNova isn’t a Ponzi scheme or a pyramid system because from the very outset Renato Rodriguez and Gutemberg dos Santos are demonstrating transparency.

As Vizinova began to collapse in early 2015, Sander distanced himself from the Ponzi scheme.

In March 2017 the SEC revealed it had charged Renato Rodriguez and Gutemberg Dos Santos with fraud, alleging Vizinova to be a $5 million dollar Ponzi scheme.

Rodriguez and Gutemberg settled the SEC’s charges.

They would continue to defraud consumers through AirBit Club, leading to their respective arrests and indictments last year.

Another Ponzi scheme Sander supported through Obtainer Online was Bonofa.

Bonofa’s owners were arrested in Germany in May 2016. A month later what was left of the Ponzi scheme was fed into OneCoin.

Prior to launching Baccarat Staking in early 2021, Sander was promoting B-Epic.

One last interesting thread is Baccarat Staking’s “staking agreement”.

The document is presented to potential affiliates to agree to when they sign up.

As above, the staking agreement reveals two new identities; Fu Leung Antonio Yu and The Baccarat Stacking [sic] Group Inc. Both supposedly based out of Macau.

The agreement is put together by “Baccarat Service”, operating from the defunct website domain “baccarat-tools.de”.

A search for “Fu Leung Antonio Yu” reveals multiple baccarat themed websites, including “baccarat.schule” and “baccaratbusiness.com”. These appear to be linked to Sander’s Baccarat Staking scheme.

On the “baccarat.schule” website, Yu is cited as Baccarat Staking’s General Manager:

In 2011 US authorities tied Yu, then identified as a Hong Kong resident, to the Winsome Investment Trust Ponzi scheme.

Winsome Investment Trust was a $72 million dollar Ponzi scheme, run by Texas resident Robert J. Andres.

Yu appears on page 17 of a 2011 filed Status Report by a court-appointed Receiver;

On June 14, 2007, Andres was appointed to serve as the “personal financial and investment trustee” for Fu Leung Antonio Yu, supposedly a Hong Kong resident.

Yu signed a “Trust Declaration” giving Andres control over $10,000,000,000.00 of Yu’s funds.

A copy of that declaration is provided as exhibit 2 further down the filing (note Yu incorrectly identifies himself as “Antionio” in the document).

To the best of my knowledge Yu was never held accountable for assisting Andres.

Andres was sentenced to 56 months in prison in 2016.

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