Before buying a $2 script and accepting gifting payments through bitcoin became the norm, the MLM underbelly came up with elaborate marketing funnels to justify gifting schemes.

One such scheme was David Wood’s Empower Network, which began as a blog SEO service.

Way back in the day Empower Network affiliates paid each other $25 a month for a replicated website on the Empower Network domain.

The pitch was that everyone blogging on the Empower Network domain would create unstoppable search ranking success.

That worked for a bit, until the domain was penalized and search traffic tanked.

This prompted Kalatu, an attempt to launch a paid alternative to WordPress. With WordPress the world’s number one blogging platform and, more importantly, free to use, Kalatu quickly flopped.

What followed was wave after wave of marketing modules, released at ever increasing price-points. Affiliate recruitment meanwhile continued to dwindle, and with it gifting payments between what was left of the Empower Network affiliate-base.

David Wood himself claims he wasted time releasing “half assed product(s)” he spent “more time selling than making”.

Ultimately Empower Network ran its course and collapsed. Rather spectacularly too, culminating in Wood’s very public breakdown.

Having declared Empower Network bankrupt and taking time off to reconnect with his estranged wife and kids, Wood has since returned to social media.

Now, a revealing post on November 14th provides some behind the scenes insight into Empower Network’s final years. [Continue reading…]

On November 15th the Zeek Rewards Receiver filed his Status Report for the third quarter of 2017.

In it the Receiver revealed that to date, $43.7 million has been recovered through clawbacks from Zeek Rewards affiliates, vendors and insiders.

Here’s a rundown of the rest of the updates featured in the report: [Continue reading…]

As what’s left of OneCoin management either quit or quietly disappear, top investors in the scheme have become a vital source of information for disillusioned affiliates.

Eager for any news regarding their investments in limbo, “leaders” like Muhammad Zafar are vital in creating the illusion of stablity.

Unfortunately for Zafar one of his primary outlets for Ponzi PR, his YouTube channel, was recently terminated. [Continue reading…]

Engage Global launched in 2014 and operate in the health and nutrition MLM niche.

The company is based out of Utah in the US and headed up by co-founders Jason Golly (CEO) and David Nemelka (Chairman).

On the Engage Global website Nemelka is credited as a “venture capitalist” and Golly a “direct sales expert”.

Prior to launching Engage Global, Golly was President of Global Sales at Trivani.

Trivani launched in late 2008 and was acquired by Ariix in 2011.

After launching in a few Asian countries under the Trivani brand, it appears to have been merged with Ariix’s business and eventually ceased operating under its own name.

I wasn’t able to pin down exactly when Golly left Trivani/Ariix. I wasn’t able to find anything linking Golly to Ariix, suggesting he left during or shortly after the merge.

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

Gain Bitcoin launched their MCAP MLM opportunity earlier this year.

As per BehindMLM’s Gain Bitcoin review, the company operates as your typical MLM pump and dump altcoin Ponzi scam.

Gain Bitcoin affiliates invest bitcoin and receive a monthly 10% ROI.

To avoid haemoraghing investor funds, Gain Bitcoin pay ROIs in MCAP.

MCAP is a worthless altcoin created solely to offload Gain Bitcoin’s ROI liabilities onto.

Not surprisingly as Gain Bitcoin affiliate recruitment dropped off, so too has MCAP’s public value.

This has seen desperate investors scramble to recover their losses, prompting Gain Bitcoin to collapse.

This is nothing new in the world of MLM altcoin Ponzi schemes. However what’s particularly devious about Gain Bitcoin is upon collapse, a reboot was immediately announced. [Continue reading…]

Not content with filing a frivolous lawsuit over lost Ponzi PR earnings, Chris Principe has now filed for a “Preliminary Injunction Order Against Harassment”.

Principe claims defendant Tim Curry is ‘threatening him and accusing him of criminal activity in the foulest, most vitriolic language possible‘, and has asked the court to silence him. [Continue reading…]

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

The BitCase website domain (“bitcase.biz”) was privately registered on November 8th, 2017.

The official BitCase Facebook group was created by an account bearing the name “Mark Rogers” on November 9th.

The Mark Rogers account itself is bogus, having only been created around the same time (no content other than BitCase promotion).

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…]

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

The Pay Today website (“paytoday.house”) was registered on November 2nd. Sergey Frolov is listed as the owner, with an address in Saxony, Germany also provided.

Frolov first appeared on BehindMLM last month as the owner of the Ensis Ponzi scheme.

Ensis launched in late October and advertised a 150% daily ROI. A visit to the Ensis website today reveals it has been suspended by its hosting provider.

Frolov also owns Stargate LTD, another recently launched Ponzi scheme.

Frolov provides a corporate address for PayToday in the UK. A bogus UK incorporation number is also provided.

Frolov is believed to be operating from either Germany or Russia.

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

Four and a half years after the SEC shut it down and with one of its founders in jail for wire fraud, you’d think TelexFree’s net-winners wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.

Not these shameless scammers.

With criminal proceedings against James Merrill concluded and Carlos Wanzeler a fugitive in Brazil, the SEC’s civil case against TelexFree’s top net-winners resumed.

Named as defendants in the SEC’s case are Faith Sloan and Santiago De La Rosa, who to this day deny responsibility for their role in the $3 billion dollar Ponzi scheme. [Continue reading…]

Invia World provide no specific information on their website about who owns or runs the business.

The company claims to be based out of Austria and made up of ‘a group of investors, technicians and people who have been dealing with digital currencies and cryptomining for years‘.

Unfortunately being based in Austria means most of the Invia World marketing material is in German.

One affiliate presentation in English however cites Daniel Zdesar (right), Stefan Huber and Stefan Scharfl as “Invia staff”.

Public records for Invia GmbH list Zdesar (51%), Huber (5%) and Scharfl (44%) as the sole three shareholders of the company.

Holding 51% of issued shares, Daniel Zdesar appears to be in control of Invia World.

Officially however Zdesar (right) is only credited as Invia World’s Chief Marketing Officer.

Prior to launching Invia World Daniel Zdesar ran Questra Austria, a local chapter of the Questra World Ponzi scheme:

In addition to Austria, Zdesar was also active in promoting Questra World throughout Germany (he owns the Questra Bavaria website domain).

Why none of this is disclosed on the Invia World website is unclear.

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