New Trend Network’s website provides no information about who owns or runs the business.

The New Trend Network website domain (“newtrendnetwork.com”) was privately registered on December 24th, 2018.

Alexa website statistics for the New Trend Network website peg South Africa as the primary source of traffic (85%).

It is highly likely that whoever is running New Trend Network is based out of South Africa itself.

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…]

It’s an open secret that MLM nutritional supplements are marketed throughout Asia using all sorts of spectacular (and completely unfounded) health claims.

For the most part regulators aren’t interested and so long as money flows in, MLM companies themselves turn a blind eye.

It is in this regulatory environment and company culture that a woman believed she could treat her fever with Nu Skin juice.

Five days later she died of organ failure. [Continue reading…]

After letting his mate Aidan Parr use his Telegram Ponzi bot in exchange for a 33% cut, Parr ran his own version of Laurie Suarez’s RecycleBot scam into the ground.

Parr’s Promine Technologies PowerBot collapse preceded Suarez publicly announcing he’d invest $250,000 of stolen Recycle Bot funds into the scheme.

That of course was when the pair were still on good terms.

Following Power Bot’s collapse, Parr has accused Suarez’s Ponzi bot developer of theft. Suarez in kind has admitted PowerBot was a Ponzi scheme all along. [Continue reading…]

HealX Nutrition’s website provides no information about who owns or runs the company.

Further research reveals a December 2018 press-release identifying HealX Nutrition as a partnership between Panacea Life Sciences and KulaBrands.

As I understand it, Panacea Life Sciences are manufacturing HealX Nutrition’s products. KulaBrands founder and CEO Peter Gantner (below right) is running the company.

Panacea Life Sciences is an independent non-MLM company run by President James Baumgartner.

Panacea was created with patients’ health and well being as our priority.

Our mission is to bring together the best minds in business, science, medicine, research, finance, and agriculture to create a global platform for the reintroduction of Hemp-based therapeutics into the mainstream of healthcare.

In our 2016 KulaBrand review we KulaBrands first appeared on BehindMLM’s radar in 2016.

Our initial KulaBrands review raised concerns over a lack of retail products and manipulated crowdfunding based business model.

After two years, products supposedly brought to market via KulaBrands’ crowdfunding include a toy figurine, a coffee mug, kids puzzle and games pack, usb cords, a laptop sleeve, an illustrated kids book, a waterless car wash and wax product and an infant pacifier “drop stopper”.

In mid 2017 KulaBrands registered itself with the SEC. Last we heard the company was hoping to raise $40,000 through an IPO.

The last SEC filing KulaBrands made was a Form C annual report filed in April 2018.

As per the report, KulaBrands recorded an annual net loss of $331.56, down from $33,981 the previous year.

The $40,000 IPO doesn’t appear to have taken place.

As per the provided corporate address, HealX Nutrition operates out of Colorado in the US.

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

Pedro Fort has been issued a $14.9 million judgment in the SEC’s Fort Ad Pays Ponzi case against him.

The March 19th judgment follows the SEC moving for $38.6 million in relief against the Fort Ad Pays defendants a few weeks back. [Continue reading…]

Atronocom operates in the MLM cryptocurrency niche. The company is headed up by CEO Thomas Koller.

Specific details of Koller’s MLM history, if any, are not provided.

In an Atronocom press-release however, Koller refers to himself as a “trader”.

Somewhat suspiciously, Koller (right) doesn’t appear to have a digital footprint outside of Atronocom.

As per the Atronocom website, the company claims to be based out of Dubai.

ATRONOCOM, as a limited liability company (Ltd.), is in Dubai “DMCC” Free Zone in formation and will be registered as Distributed Ledger respectively Blockchain, Software Development and technology provider Company until the end of January 2019.

The required permits will also be issued and published in the Central Register of the United Arab Emirates.

In cooperation with Abu Dhabi Global Market, the implementation and use of the components relevant for financial engineering will be discussed and put online in a structured manner.

Both Dubai and Abu Dhabi are known for having lax regulatory enforcement enforcement. There is no legitimate reason for an MLM company to be based there.

Whether Koller himself is based out of Dubai or elsewhere is unclear.

The use of euros by the company strongly suggests Atronocom is in actuality being operated out of Europe.

Update 20th March 2019 – As per Atronocom’s Twitter profile, the company is purportedly based out of Zug, Switzerland.

This all but confirms related Atronocom incorporations in the UAE are shell companies. /end update

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

The FTC’s ongoing lawsuit against Redwood Technologies and owners Jason and Eunjung Cardiff, is evidently making life very difficult for the defendants.

Facing eviction from the family home, a Judge has also now denied a request for the return of the Cardiff’s passports – without which Jason claims he’ll lose his new job. [Continue reading…]

Seemingly out of the blue, last month World Global Network announced it was rebranding as Vyvo.

No explanation for the name-change is provided on the World Global Network website.

Here’s one possible reason:

BehindMLM’s first exposure to World Global Network was Global Mobile Network in 2013.

Back then Fabio Galdi was selling a VOIP service, advertising mobile app and power units.

Most of Global Mobile Network’s compensation plan was geared towards affiliate recruitment.

Power units saw Global Mobile Network affiliates pay $600 or $1600, and then $240 annually to maintain their position.

Payment of power unit fees qualified Global Mobile Network affiliates for commissions when their downlines purchased power positions (no retail).

Power units were eventually renamed power clouds.

In 2016 Galdi rebooted Global Mobile Network as Wor(l)d International, later again renamed to World Global Network.

On or around 2017 VOIP and anything to do with power was quietly abandoned.

In their place the Helo wellness bands were launched. A device you wear on your wrist that provides monitor signals to a phone app.

Among other things, Helo bands were marketed as being able to measure the mood of the wearer.

Other features like ECG/EKG, blood pressure, blood alcohol and blood sugar were marketed were initially marketed. Some features were later added, some never delivered on.

To that end there are some interesting complaints published on World Global Network’s BBB listing (note the company is active there and has replied to each).

The comments on our Wor(l)d International review are also worth a read. A recurring theme is broken promises and the overpriced cost of Helo bands versus similar offerings from other companies.

Anyway, here we are in early 2019 and World Global Network is now Vyvo. Let’s get into it.

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

Veribella operates in the personal care MLM niche and is based out of Colorado in the US.

Heading up Veribella is CEO Dave Fiala. Note however that Veribella marketing material cites Kirk Elliott as founder and President of the company.

No information about either Fiala or Elliott is provided on Veribella’s website.

Veribella isn’t the only company Fiala and Elliott work together in. They are both credited as founders of Spark Capital.

Note that this is not the Spark Capital that is based out of Boston and was founded in 2005.

They are two separate companies and the following information pertains to Fiala’s and Elliott’s Spark Capital.

As per Spark Capital’s website, they

strategically partner with some of those most creative and gifted people on the planet so they can fulfill their calling, focus on their gifts, and together we create products and services that are changing the world.

Spark Capital brands featured on their website include More (e-commerce, skin care and cosmetics), IQ (e-commerce) and Timberline Forestry Service (logging and mining).

Curiously, Veribella is not listed as a Spark Capital brand.

As far as I can tell Veribella is the first MLM venture Dave Fiala and Kirk Elliott have launched.

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

On March 15th the Zeek Receiver filed his Status Report for the fourth quarter of 2018.

Among other things, the Receiver revealed 44.2% of net-winner payments have been successfully clawed back. [Continue reading…]