Mint Builder provide no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.

The Mint Builder website domain (“mintbuilder.com”) was registered on October 12th, 2017.

Matt Barkes is listed as the owner, with an incomplete address in West Sussex, UK also provided.

According to his Facebook profile, Barkes (right) lives in the US state of Indiana. This is presumably where Mint Builder is actually being operated from.

Barkes first appeared on BehindMLM’s radar back in 2012 as the founder and CEO of ISN Coins.

ISN Coins operated as a pyramid scheme, combining numismatic coins with affiliate autoship recruitment.

After the original incarnation of ISN Coins collapsed, in 2014 a reboot was launched with a new compensation plan.

Granted ISN have made a better effort in stocking their online store and changing up their compensation plan, but unfortunately the underlying business model appears to remain the same.

As with the original model, ISN Coins 2.0 had little to no retail appeal and was again focused on affiliate autoship recruitment.

Today Alexa don’t even bother to rank the ISN Coins website domain, suggesting the scheme has long-since collapsed.

Mint Builder appears to be an attempt to resuscitate ISN Coins under a new name.

A message on the ISN Coins website acknowledges that the company “is now Mint Builder”.

Why Matt Barkes’ name doesn’t appear anywhere on the Mint Builder website is unclear.

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

Kinetic Union provide no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.

The Kinetic Union website domain (“kineticunion.io”) was privately registered on December 11th, 2017.

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…]

Capital Expanse provide no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.

The Capital Expanse website domain (“capitalexpanse.net”) was privately registered on September 22nd, 2017.

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…]

CryptOnion provide no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.

The CryptOnion website domain (“cryptonion.io”) was privately registered on July 24th, 2017.

CryptOnion provide a UK incorporation number on their website for “CryptOnion Limited”.

CryptOnion Limited was incorporated on July 31st, 2017. The Bristol address used to incorporate the company is the same as that of the recently launched Ecovill Nature Ponzi scheme.

UK incorporation is dirt cheap and for the most part unregulated. They are a favorite 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…]

In a move that is unlikely to have surprised anybody, USI-Tech has severed ties with the US and Canada.

Rather than operate legally in the US and Canada and register with the appropriate regulatory bodies, USI-Tech has instead elected to abandon its legal obligations and focus on scamming investors elsewhere in the world. [Continue reading…]

Falcon Coin provide no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.

The Falcoin Coin website domain (“falconcoin.co”) was privately registered on October 7th, 2017.

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…]

The Merkle was founded in 2014 and covers ‘the latest crypto, finance, infosec and tech news‘.

The Merkle has a dedicated cryptocurrency news section and also includes a variety of educational articles relating to Bitcoin, you can find anything from how to make money with bitcoin to how to create your own cryptocurrency.

Learn about scams, malware, and ransomware in the education category and take a look at our comparisons and reviews of popular wallets, exchanges, and other services in the cryptocurrency land.

Despite having a history of accurately reporting on MLM cryptocurrency fraud, when it comes to BitConnect evidently The Merkle has blinders on. [Continue reading…]

Diamond Reward provide no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.

The Diamond Reward website domain (“diamondreward.io”) was privately registered on November 25th, 2017.

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…]

In addition to everyone in the MLM cryptocurrency niche being crypto experts these days, turns out they’re all legal experts too.

Trevon James operates a YouTube channel boasting 129,000 subscribers.

Within hours of news of the Texas Securities Board emergency cease and desist to BitConnect going live, James uploaded a video to his channel titled “Texas BitConnect Cease and Desist”. [Continue reading…]

While the SEC drags its feet, Texas continues to lead the charge against MLM cryptocurrency fraud in the US.

The latest from the Texas Securities Board is an emergency cease desist issued against BitConnect. [Continue reading…]