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…]

Ahead of the scheduled July trial, it’s looking like a settlement between the FTC and 8 Figure Dream Lifestyle defendants is likely. [Continue reading…]

After doing nothing for almost a year while the Crowd1 Ponzi scheme spread like wildfire, South African authorities have clarified the company operates illegally.

Well, sort of. [Continue reading…]

When news of the BitClub Network arrests broke last December, we learned that the grand jury indictments behind the arrest were under seal.

And so they remained until all of the defendants were in custody.

That condition was finally satisfied last week, following Russ Medlin’s arrest in Indonesia.

With Medlin’s arrest came the unsealing of the indictments, which today we’re examining as originally filed. [Continue reading…]

Vietnam’s Competition and Consumer Protection Department has issued fraud warnings against Crowd1 and OneLink. [Continue reading…]