Marco A. Ruiz Ochoa has settled civil iComTech fraud charges with the CFTC.

As per the terms of the settlement, Ochoa is [Continue reading…]

OakSmart has initiated an OAK USD Coin Ponzi exit-scam.

OakSmart’s exit-scam was announced two days after BehindMLM reviewed OakSmart, and California’s DFPI issued an OakSmart securities fraud desist and refrain order. [Continue reading…]

The Swag Ponzi scheme has collapsed.

Italian media are reporting Swag withdrawals have been disabled, affecting “almost 30,000” investors. [Continue reading…]

Glory Assurance fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.

Glory Assurance operates from two known website domains; gloryassurance.com (marketing) and hashkingdom.com (app).

Both of Glory Assurance’s website domains were privately registered on February 2nd, 2024.

If we look at the source-code of both of Glory Assurance’s websites we find Chinese:

This suggests whoever is running Glory Assurance has ties to China.

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…]

Visalus, owned by Texas-based LaCore Enterprises, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

As per the filing, signed by Niklas Sarnicola, Visalus owes “less than $3,024,725” to “more than 100,000 creditors”. [Continue reading…]

Blue Electric Technology Limited, aka BETL, has collapsed.

The “click a button” app Ponzi heavily targeted Bulgarians, reportedly resulting in thousands of investors losing millions of dollars.

BETL’s “click a button” ruse was portable phone chargers. [Continue reading…]

Disgraced MLM veteran Holton Buggs is shamelessly challenging the CFTC’s request for a Traders Domain preliminary injunction.

Buggs, who is alleged to have misappropriated millions of dollars through Traders Domain, is the only defendant challenging proceedings. [Continue reading…]

EVChargezus fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.

EVChargezus’ website domain (“evchargezus.com”), was privately registered on November 13th, 2024.

If we look at EVChargezus’ website source-code, we find Chinese:

This suggests whoever is running EVChargezus has ties to China.

EVChargezus has already attracted the attention of financial regulators. The Central Bank of Russia issued an EVChargezus pyramid fraud warning on December 4th, 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…]

OakSmart has received a securities fraud desist and refrain order from California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI).

As per DFPI’s December 2nd issued order; [Continue reading…]

OakSmart fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.

OakSmart operates from two known website domains:

1. oaksmart.com – first registered in 2017, private registration last updated on July 7th, 2024
2. oaksmart.pro – privately registered on September 13th, 2024

In an attempt to appear legitimate, OakSmart represents it has an MSB license through FinCen.

FinCen isn’t a financial regulator and anyone can register a shell company with it. Due to this, registration of a shell company with FinCen is meaningless.

Pursuant to its false representations, California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation issued OakSmart with a securities fraud desist and refrain order on December 2nd, 2024.

While OakSmart’s website does provide a “CEO’s speech”…

…no actual CEO is named.

Over on YouTube, OakSmart’s initial marketing videos feature stock footage dubbed over with an… interesting accent.

In June 2024 OakSmart uploaded dubbed over footage of a Zoom call;

The video itself isn’t of interest outside of several attendees having Russian names.

“TR”, the guy hosting the call, would make his solo debut appearance on OakSmart’s channel on October 8th.

TR cites himself as OakSmart’s Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).

TR is from Canada and, prior to 2019, worked at and/or attended Cestar College – Syn Studio in Montreal, Quebec (Canada).

In or around 2019 TR moved to Thailand and began attending a wellness retreat in Chiang Mai.

In a testimonial for the retreat TR, or Tristan, stated;

After years of living abroad, exploring my inner self and the World around, I finally feel I have a purpose. What is important to me is clear.

Yet, I am still stuck.

I am now living in Chiangmai, Thailand.

As I explore my life through the lens of movement, I sought to connect with the movement community.

It seems sometime after 2019, Tristan’s “journey” led him to fronting dodgy MLM investment schemes.

If we look at OakSmart’s website source-code, we find Chinese:

Putting all of this together, OakSmart appears to be run by Russian and Chinese scammers operating out of Thailand.

Thailand’s recent growing Russian population has attracted media attention. While it’s certainly within proximity of China, it’s more likely OakSmart’s Chinese scammers are operating from Vietnam.

As of October 2024, SimilarWeb tracked top sources of OakSmart’s website traffic as Vietnam (76%) and the US (24%).

OakSmart doesn’t appear to have any actual connections to the US but it is being promoted there.

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…]