Vivri is based out of Texas. The company operates in the nutritional supplement and personal care MLM niches.

Heading up Vivri is founder and CEO Daniel Chavez Saul.

According to Saul’s Vivri corporate bio, he

worked previously as an investment banker in New York for Goldman Sachs and as a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company in several cities around the U.S. and India.

He studied Economics at Harvard University, Economics and Managerial Studies at Rice University, and earned an MBA from Stanford University.

Vivri appears to have launched on or around late 2017. Possible due to language barriers, I was unable to find an MLM history on Saul prior to Vivri’s launch.

One would assume Saul didn’t just jump from finance and consulting to launching his own nutrition MLM company, so it seems there’s some missing information.

Of note is Vivri was recently targeted by the FTC for bogus COVID-19 product claims. Vivri appears to have addressed this by adding the following to their website footer:

This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease including Coronavirus (COVID-19).

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

Regulators are belatedly turning up the heat on Crowd1 in South Africa.

The latest regulatory body to announce it is investigating the Ponzi scheme is the National Consumer Commission (NCC). [Continue reading…]

Almost a year ago to the day, Mark and Tammy Smith’s lawsuit against Neora was ordered into arbitration.

The decision was appealed but I believe ultimately Neora prevailed in getting arbitration held in Texas.

On June 1st 2020, The Smiths filed a voluntary notice of dismissal. [Continue reading…]

On June 1st Eaconomy filed a motion to show cause, alleging Auvoria Prime should be held in contempt for violating an agreed upon restraining order.

The agreement was reached in April in lieu of a requested injunction, saving court time and legal fees for both parties. [Continue reading…]

The Traffic Monsoon Receiver has published her first claims report.

Detailing where the claims process is at, the Receiver reveals that one Traffic Monsoon “victim” tried to claim $99 trillion dollars. [Continue reading…]

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

EtherChain’s website domain (“etherchain.io”) was registered on June 1st, 2020. Ether Chain is listed as the owner, through an incomplete address in Skane, Sweden.

Further research reveals EtherChain affiliates citing Andreas Kartrud as CEO and founder of the company:

I was able to independently verify this via Kartrud’s social media profiles:

Andreas Kartrud is a serial scammer. Over the years BehindMLM readers have pegged him promoting Shopping Sherlock, SwissCoin, Dominant Finance, WoToken, Up2Give, KryptoGlobe, 1 Click Trading and XOXO Network.

Kartrud is believed to be operating EtherChain out of Sweden.

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…]

Following confirmation on Twitter that Crowd1 operates illegally in South Africa, the FSCA has now issued a formal statement. [Continue reading…]

Super 6 Group has a bit of a branding problem.

The company goes by Super 6 Group but names its current MLM opportunities Speedway 7 and Speedway 16 respectively:

Another company name, Speedway Group, fits in somewhere. To keep things simple this review refers to all of the above companies as Super 6 Group.

Super 6 Group marketing videos cite “Dr. Stefan Pienaar” as founder and CEO of the company. In the marketing videos Pienaar has a distinct South African accent.

Pienaar (right) appears to have a long history within the MLM underbelly.

A 2010 marketing spam piece pushing Dynamic Travel Network cites Pienaar as the developer behind the company.

DTN was developed by an experienced network marketer Stefan Pienaar. DTN was designed with the help of his 23 years experience in network marketing.

Dynamic Travel Network was a travel niche MLM pyramid scheme.

At the time, Pienaar was credited with already having “23 years experience in network marketing”.

Circa mid 2017 Pienaar headed up Crypto Wealth, a bitcoin gifting scheme.

As of March 2019, Pienaar was CEO of Global Rewards Program International.

Global Rewards Program International appears to be some sort of ecommerce scheme. As I write this the company’s website is still up.

Alexa traffic estimates however are unranked, suggesting Global Rewards Program International has collapsed.

During his Global Rewards Program International stint, Pienaar was purportedly based out of India.

Promotion of Super 6 Group began about two months ago.

Read on for a full review of Super 6 Group’s MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]

Active Coin Trade provides no reliable information on its website about who owns or runs the company.

Provided executive profiles consist of fake names and stolen photos:

Active Coin Trade’s website domain (“activecointrade.com”) was privately registered on November 14th, 2019.

Despite only recently launching, Active Coin Trade falsely claims it was “founded in 2013 in United Kingdom [sic]”.

In an attempt to appear legitimate, Active Coin Trade’s website links to the UK incorporation of “Ebico Investment & Trade Limited”.

Ebico Investment & Trade Limited was incorporated in December 2016. The incorporation was dissolved in March 2020.

Presumably the incorporation had nothing to do with Active Coin Trade.

And in any case, UK incorporation is dirt cheap and effectively unregulated. It is a favored jurisdiction for scammers looking to incorporate dodgy companies.

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…]

Pink Zebra launched in 2011. The company is based out of Texas and operates in the fragrances MLM niche.

Heading up Pink Zebra are co-founders Tom and Kelly Gaines.

As per a 2016 Direct Selling News interview;

Back in 1997, well before launching Pink Zebra, the Gaineses had tested the Sprinkles product through Bath & Body Works.

“If it was going to be successful anywhere, it would be successful there,” Tom says. The store’s approach is very hands-on and service-oriented, providing an opportunity for staff to engage with customers and to have the opportunity to tell them about the products.

The product was distributed in 30 stores and, says Tom, “it was a complete failure.”

Tom, Kelly and the buyers thought the product was great. The consumers, though, he says, “didn’t really understand it—it really needed demonstration.” It needed the direct sales approach that would allow for that personal touch.

Prior to going at it alone the Gainses worked in a candle factory, which is where they met.

There’s a large unexplained gap between the 1997 Bath & Body Works attempt and Pink Zebra’s 2011 launch. I wasn’t able to establish whether the Gaineses were involved in other MLM companies during that time.

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