Realizing the gig was up, Carlos Wanzeler fled the US as regulators closed in on TelexFree.

As one of the owners of the TelexFree Ponzi scheme, in July 2014 Wanzeler was indicted for fraud and conspiracy.

A superseding indictment was filed back in September, focusing on money laundering and assets derived from unlawful activity.

While is partner James Merrill has since plead guilty to wire fraud, Wanzeler (right) remains a fugitive on the run in Brazil.

US authorities are working with their Brazilian counterparts, however whether Wanzeler returns to the US to face charges is unclear.

In the meantime the DOJ have filed for a post-indictment temporary restraining order. If granted, the TRO will freeze what appears to be the residence of Wanzeler’s brother in the US. [Continue reading…]

Back in March Latvia’s Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) issued a regulatory warning against OneCoin.

Claiming OneCoin was “modeled on pyramid scheme principles” and unlicensed, the FCMC warned soliciting investment into OneCoin was a criminal offense.

At the time it was uncertain whether the FCMC would take any further action against OneCoin or local affiliates.

Nine months later they haven’t yet, however a few days ago the regulator did issue another warning. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the MMM FSTP website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The MMM FSTP website domain (“mmmfstp.com”) was privately registered on June 9th, 2016.

Alexa currently estimate that 89% of all traffic to the MMM FSTP website originates out of China. It’s a good bet that whoever is running the company is likely also based out of China too.

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…]

There is no information on the FastBTC website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The FastBTC website domain (“fastbtc.info”) was registered on November 28th, 2016. Faisal Kamal is listed as the owner, with an address in Dubai also provided.

On his LinkedIn profile, Kamal (right) cites himself as a Supervisor at Forever Living Products.

Other MLM opportunities Kamal has recently are mostly of the cash gifting variety: ZarFund, The Dollar Sharing, 2×2 Funds, Coin Leaders (Ponzi points), RiseBits, VertigoBTC, 3×2 Core, 2×4 Club, Binary Global and Verdant BTC.

When he’s not scamming people through cash gifting schemes, Kamal is also an IT Systems Analyst at Dubai Petroleum.

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

Following a hearing on December 7th, the Temporary Restraining Order My Advertising Pays had sought against VX Gateway has been denied. [Continue reading…]

An Amazing Living press-release identifies Robert Aveyard as CEO of the company.

No information about Aveyard is provided on the Amazing Living website.

My own research didn’t turn up anything, which is a bit suspicious.

The Amazing Living website domain (“myamazingliving.com”) was registered on September 2nd, 2016. Thomas Nash is listed as the owner, with an address in Ontario, Canada also provided.

Again, I wasn’t able to find any information on Nash specific to Amazing Living.

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…]

There is no information on the My Crypto World website indicating who owns or runs the business.

Both My Crypto World website domains (“mycryptoworld.com” and “mycryptoworld.net”) were registered privately on September 15th, 2015.

Alexa currently estimate that traffic to the My Crypto World dotcom domain is primarily sourced from the US (37%) and Germany (32%).

This suggests that whoever is running My Crypto World is likely based out of one or both of these countries.

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…]

I checked the docket earlier and as of yet there’s no news regarding today’s TRO and preliminary injunction hearing.

In the last twenty-four hours however, VX Gateway has filed a response in opposition to My Advertising Pay’s motion. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the Passive Crypto website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Passive Crypto website domain (“passivecrypto.com”) was privately registered on November 28th, 2016.

If you visit the Passive Crypto website without a referral code, the site informs you that you’ve been “invited by Passive Crypto”.

If you then click “register”, the site informs you that your referring affiliate is Muhammad Shakeel.

This is a static name, with Muhammad Shakeel appearing to be the owner of the Passive Crypto admin account.

Muhammad Shakeel is a common name in Pakistan, however I wasn’t able to conclusively narrow down the owner of Passive Crypto.

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…]

AmeriPlan launched in 1992 and are based out of Texas in the US.

So the story goes;

In the early 90’s, identical twin brothers Dennis and Daniel Bloom saw the need for a value-oriented discount fee-for-service dental program, and founded AmeriPlan Corporation.

Soon Dennis and Daniel expanded their vision to include a broad array of high quality, affordable healthcare programs.

To provide greater value to the consumer, they added prescription medication, vision and chiropractic care to the program at no additional charge.

Through research, trial and error and perseverance, the brothers determined that by using the best features of the direct sales marketing model, they could provide financial opportunity to thousands of people and bring these needed healthcare programs to the public.

In addition to co-founding AmeriPlan, Dennis Bloom (left) serves as CEO and Chairman of the Board. Daniel Bloom (right) is President and COO.

According to a 2001 article published in Network Marketing Lifestyles Magazine, the Bloom’s corporate experience began with providing marketing services for independent accountants.

As their CPA customer base grew, the Blooms wanted to be able to provide them with one-stop shopping, offering hospitalization, life insurance, mutual funds – whatever they needed.

Soon they started getting requests for a good dental program that independents could afford.

This eventually lead to the formation of a discounted fee-for-service provider access organization.

Their CPA customers loved the program … and so did their customers – The CPA’s were bringing them referrals!

Dennis and Daniel soon realized they were making more money from their little $15-per-month dental program than from everything else they were doing.

Now they knew they had found their niche.

They sold their CPA services company and in November 1992 formally incorporated AmeriPlan to market their own dental program.

On the regulatory side of things, AmeriPlan ran into problems with the Montana State Auditor.

In July, 2006

Montana State Auditor John Morrison issued a cease and desist order after charging AmeriPlan USA, its founding officers, Dennis and Daniel Bloom, and Shirl Shelley, a Montana resident, with numerous violations of both the Montana Insurance Code and the Montana Securities Act.

AmeriPlan settled the allegations a few months later for $200,000.

Under the agreement, AmeriPlan must pay an administrative fine of $200,000 and create a restitution fund for Montana customers who were duped by the company.

Montana customers of AmeriPlan can expect to receive a letter informing them that they are eligible to submit a claim to the restitution fund.

In addition, AmeriPlan is banned from marketing and selling its products in Montana for two years.

The problem, as it were, was AmeriPlan had been signing up customers in Montana despite most customers being

unable to use the discount cards because there were few, if any, providers in Montana.

Additionally, AmeriPlan (was) charged with conducting an illegal pyramid promotional scheme because it sold “broker packages” for the purpose of recruiting memberships.

Because the memberships were for discounts that did not exist, Morrison alleged there was no actual product being sold.

That, as far as I can see, is the only run-in AmeriPlan has had with regulators in twenty-four years.

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