Essens Review: Former FM World affiliates go their own way
Essens was founded in 2011 by Viliam Lalinsky, Libor Prus and Michal Kovar (CEO).
The company is based out of Brno in the Czech Republic and operates in the personal care and nutrition MLM niches.
Prior to co-founding Essens, Viliam Lalinsky and Michal Kovar were involved in FM Group. Possibly due to language-barriers, I was unable to confirm whether Libor Prus was also an FM Group affiliate.
FM Group (now FM World) are a Polish based MLM company that market a range of personal care, household and nutrition products.
Read on for a full review of the Essens MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]
U-Mind Space Review: E-commerce, recruitment & securities fraud
U-Mind Space provide no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.
The U-Mind Space website domain (“u-mind.space”) was registered on August 9th, 2016. Kevin Lee (right) is listed as the owner, with an address in the US state of California also provided.
The address featured on the domain differs from the Californian address provided on the U-Mind Space website.
The domain address is a residential property in La Canada. The website address belongs to Regus and is virtual in nature.
Further research reveals the U-Mind Space domain address appears to belong to Lee (family home).
Owing to the generic nature of Lee’s name and language barriers (Lee is fluent in Korean), I was unable to put together an MLM history.
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…]
Paraguay’s Public Prosecutors investigating D9 Clube Ponzi
D9 Clube launched last year and, in addition to Ponzi ROIs and pyramid recruitment commissions, provided affiliates with 52 weeks access to the BetFair betting platform.
BetFair is an independent company that has nothing to do with the operation of D9 Clube.
Despite this however, BetFair is a key factor in D9 Clube marketing presentations. D9 Clube affiliates commonly insist a partnership exists between the two companies.
In response to a recent article exploring the relationship between BetFair and D9 Clube, BetFair have stated their position. [Continue reading…]
Austrian Public Prosecutor launches OneCoin criminal investigation
Early last year Austria’s Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection issued a warning against OneCoin.
Some point after it appears the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) opened their own investigation, the conclusion of which has now prompted a criminal investigation. [Continue reading…]
FirstCoin Club Review: Manipulating “public” trading for private profit
FirstCoin Club provide no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.
The FirstCoin Club website domain (“firstcoin.club”) was privately registered on July 15th, 2016.
The FirstCoin Club website cites “Dynamic Global Marketing Ltd” but provides no information about the relationship between the two companies.
An address in Dubai is provided, however further research reveals this address belongs to Freemont Group.
Freemont Group provide business formation services in Dubai, suggesting FirstCoin Club (and Dynamic Global Marketing LTD) exist in Dubai in name only.
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…]
OneCoin twists arm of blockchain whitepaper author?
Reeling from the realization among affiliates that OneCoin currently doesn’t have blockchain, newly appointed CEO Pierre Arens has rushed out a press-release.
The May 10th publication seeks to reassure affiliates that he is “wholly satisfied” with OneCoin’s current SQL database “blockchain”. [Continue reading…]
Indian OneCoin scammers siphon $11.6 million out of bank accounts
Efforts to recover funds stolen by Indian OneCoin affiliates have hit a roadblock, following the revelation that 75 crore ($11.6 million USD) has been withdrawn from bank accounts used to accept invested funds. [Continue reading…]
Police and Market Inspectorate investigating OneCoin in Slovenia
Following regulatory bans in Germany and India, the latest country to confirm an investigation into OneCoin is now Slovenia. [Continue reading…]
Worldwide Solutionz under criminal investigation in South Africa
Worldwide Solutionz was a Ponzi scheme that popped up BehindMLM’s radar back in 2014.
Under the guise of helping the poor, Worldwide Solutionz affiliates invested $25 on the promise of a $40 ROI. This ROI was funded by subsequent affiliate investment.
With a $15 liability generated per $25 investment made, in early 2015 the scheme began experiences cashflow problems. In April, 2015 Worldwide Solutionz collapsed, which founder Marelize Van Niekerk-Venter blamed on a “lack of support” from affiliates.
In early 2016 Van Niekerk-Venter suggested a Worldwide Solutionz reboot was on the cards, however to date this failed to materialize.
Now authorities in South Africa have revealed a criminal investigation is under way. [Continue reading…]
Bank of Ghana issues MMM Ghana investor warning
One of the more pervasive Ponzi schemes that refuses to die is MMM Global.
Founded by Sergey Mavrodi and with origins dating as far back as 1994, MMM Global collapsed last year.
Due to the scheme using bitcoin and Mavrodi walking away scott free, total investor losses were never quantified.
The aftermath of MMM Global’s collapse saw a host of “provide help, get help” scams launch. Most of these have since also collapsed, but a few latecomers are still afloat.
One such example is MMM Ghana, who yesterday attracted the attention of the Bank of Ghana. [Continue reading…]
