A few weeks back I came across news that the Pakistan SEC had shut down ‘at least nine companies dealing in cryptocurrencies and offering Ponzi/MLM, referral marketing, pyramid business/schemes‘.

Although this was MLM related news, I didn’t recognize any of the company names and so left it at that.

A reader has now informed me that one of the companies the SEC shut down was Dan Andersson’s LEO. [Continue reading…]

The Global Game Arena Ponzi scheme has collapsed.

Rather than admit they’ve run out of money though, GGA’s admins are blaming affiliate investors.

As if blaming investors (most of whom are victims) wasn’t bad enough, GGA is hiding its collapse behind imaginary compliance. [Continue reading…]

Utopian Global provides no information on its website about who owns or runs the business.

What Utopian Global does provide is the claim the company was “founded in 2008”.

This is pretty obviously not true, considering the company website was only registered in October, 2017.

Alexa registered measurable traffic to Utopian Global’s website from January 2019, which seems to be about the time the company launched.

Not withstanding these due-diligence red flags, Utopian Global claims to be “credible, transparent (and) accountable”.

Buried in Utopian Global’s Terms and Conditions is the revelation that Utopian Global is offered through “the companies New Golden Life DMCC & Royal Golden Enterprise GmbH”.

This lead me to Swiss Gold Global, which is headed up by Bill Rowell (right).

Bill Rowell is an Australian entrepreneur with a history of business success and a passion to expand the lives of others.

In 2008 he founded Joseph Wealth Systems a Swiss Company with the objective of putting Gold the money of Kings into the hands of Ordinary People.

Today the Company is called Royal Golden Enterprise GmbH and New Golden Life DMCC trading as Swiss Gold Global and continuing to provide global Wealth Solutions for all people.

Sure enough when I attempted to visit Swiss Gold Global’s website, I was presented with the following message:

SWISS GOLD GLOBAL HAS TRANSITIONED TO THE TRADE NAME UTOPIAN GLOBAL.

BehindMLM first reviewed Swiss Gold Global in July 2016. Based on its business model, we concluded a high probability the company was operating as a pyramid scheme.

In February 2017 we revisited Swiss Gold Global, only to find the company was now offering a fraudulent investment scheme.

In March 2018 Swiss Gold Global was issued a securities fraud cease and desist by the US state of South Carolina.

Swiss Gold Global didn’t challenge the notice, which was eventually made permanent.

The reboot into Utopian Global appears to be a belated response to a decline in interest throughout the rest of 2018 (Alexa).

Read on for a full review of the Utopian Global MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]

Envy TV operates in the streaming MLM niche. Instead of an actual corporate address, Envy TV provides a virtual office address in Nevada on its website.

Cited as co-founders of Envy TV are Clay Sampson and Eddie Freeman.

Beyond names however Envy TV fails to provide any information on either founder.

My own research lead me to Clay Sampson’s LinkedIn profile. At first I wasn’t sure this was Envy TV’s Sampson, but I was able to later confirm it with an Envy TV launch prelaunch marketing video.

Curiously, Envy TV is not listed on Sampson’s LinkedIn profile.

Instead he pitches his “TheClayCode” marketing company, which Sampson states

partner(s) with industry-leading direct selling organizations to empower sales professionals with smart, automated technology marketing solutions that drive recruiting, product sales, and client engagement.

Alexa traffic estimates for The Clay Code website suggest the business isn’t doing too well.

Between 2002 and 2007 Sampson was promoting World Leadership Group, a mortgage based MLM company.

World Leadership Group went under in 2008.

Last year Sampson was promoting Nui:

He appears to have bailed around the time Nui was sued by Texas for securities fraud in July.

Up until mid 2018 Eddie Freeman (right) was promoting KZ1, a supplement based MLM company.

Prior to October 2017 KZ1 was known as eXfuze. Freeman seems to have been with eXfuze for some time.

In the description of a 2012 eXfuze marketing video, Freeman claims to have already had 20 years experience in network marketing.

Read on for a full review of the Envy TV MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]

GTI-Net lost its appeal against an investment fraud warning issued by Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA).

The company responded by “shutting down”, only to reboot itself with a new name and website. [Continue reading…]

With the clocking ticking down towards her TelexFree trial, now news that Faith Sloan has reached a settlement with the SEC. [Continue reading…]

Cloud Horizon operates in the MLM cryptocurrency niche and claims it is incorporated in the Cayman Islands.

On the management side of things Cloud Horizon discloses it is ‘wholly owned (by) Mr. Frank Ricketts who is the actual CEO of the company‘.

Rickett’s MLM claim to fame is Unaico and SiteTalk, a combination of investment and pyramid fraud. When those scams collapsed, Ricketts rebooted the business as The Opportunity Network.

In early 2016 Ricketts sold off The Opportunity Network’s list of investors to OneCoin.

In addition to an undisclosed sum of money, Ricketts was also gifted a OneCoin Black Diamond investment position.

Behind the scenes Ricketts is believed to have been instrumental in setting up OneCoin’s shell company money laundering network.

When OneCoin collapsed in 2017 Ricketts disappeared. He resurfaced in mid 2018 as CEO of the AuLives Ponzi scheme.

AuLives flopped, prompting Ricketts to register the Cloud Horizon website domain on November 30th, 2018.

Despite only existing as an MLM opportunity as of a few months ago, on its website Cloud Horizon claims it ‘was incorporated in June 2013 in the Cayman Islands‘.

As previously stated, Ricketts was instrumental in setting up OneCoin’s money laundering network. This involved dozens upon dozens of shell companies.

While it feasible that Cloud Horizon is just one of the many companies Ricketts set up to launder money through, it was launched as a standalone MLM opportunity on or around late January, 2019.

Naturally beyond possible being incorporated in the Cayman Islands, Cloud Horizon has no actual physical operations there.

Since OneCoin collapsed Ricketts is believed to primarily hide out in south-east Asia and Dubai.

At the time of publication Ricketts is busy promoting Cloud Horizon in Vietnam.

As above, Ricketts is working with former OneCoin scammers Nattchaphan Sornsirenan and Staffan Liback.

Nattchaphan Sornsirenan launched her own OneCoin Ponzi clone late last year.

Orientum, like AuLives and pretty much every other OneCoin clone, went nowhere and flopped.

The Orientum website currently has an Alexa ranking of 2.7 million, up recently from 3.9 million (the higher the number the less visitors a site has)

Either figure is as good as dead for an MLM Ponzi scheme.

Staffan Liback’s MLM history is mostly unremarkable. But if you want you read about his recent exploits we did feature Liback in our OneCoin Ponzi Wall of Shame.

Alternatively, read on for our review of the Cloud Horizon MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]

4Wealth Resources provides no information about who owns or runs the business on their website.

In fact as I write this, the 4Wealth Resources is nothing more than a compensation pitch with a sign up form.

I did not a hosted 4Wealth Resources marketing video is narrated by “Dave”, but wasn’t able to ascertain who this person is or what their role within 4Wealth Resources is.

The 4Wealth Resources website domain (“4wealthresources.com”) was privately registered on July 17th, 2018.

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…]

Two OneCoin promoters have been arrested in Singapore, on the charges related to “pyramid selling”. [Continue reading…]

The Free BTC Club website provides no information about who owns or runs the business.

On its website Free BTC Club states it is

a legal BTC earning and wealth management company incorporated and headquartered in Asia.

No specific details are provided.

The Free BTC Club website FAQ goes on to state

Free BtcClub is a subsidiary derived from a collaboration of global companies owned by crypto expert CEO’s.

…whatever that means.

Further research reveals Free BTC Club marketing emails citing Michael Merino as Free BTC Club’s “program developer”.

In a Free BTC Club marketing video, Merino discloses he got into the MLM industry twenty-two years ago through Herbalife. He claims to have since been involved in eight MLM companies.

Three years ago Merino (right) was promoting BetterBid, which he presents as a recruitment-driven MLM opportunity.

I did try to research for independent information on BetterBid but came up blank. Whatever BetterBid was it appears to have long-since collapsed.

Over the past two years Merino states he has transitioned into the MLM crypto niche.

As far as I can tell Merino is based out of California in the US.

The link to Asia appears to be solely dependent on running Free BTC Club from “servers in Singapore”.

Read on for a full review of the Free BTC Club MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]