The conviction of Paul Burks appears to have left Zeek Rewards’ top scammers without a legal leg to stand on.

Back in July, the Zeek Receiver filed for summary judgement against the Zeek net-winner class.

In total, Zeek’s “net winners” (those who received more money from Zeek than they paid in to Zeek) received over $282 million in net winnings, with the largest winners each receiving well over a million dollars.

Yesterday the motion was granted, paving the way for clawback collection efforts to begin. [Continue reading…]

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

The footer of the Appi Travels provides a corporate address in Quebec, Canada.

The Appi Travels website domain (“appitravels.com”) was privately registered on the 17th of September, 2016.

Further research reveals Danny Gauthier identifying himself as owner and CEO of Appi Travels on his LinkedIn profile.

Why this information isn’t provided on the Appi Travels website is unclear.

Danny Gauthier first appeared on BehindMLM in early 2012 as the owner of Ultamex.

Ultamex was a chain-recruitment scheme that lasted for about a year before it was rebooted as Wealth Podium.

Wealth Podium was a similar matrix-based recruitment scheme.

Alexa traffic estimates for the Wealth Podium website suggest the opportunity has long-since collapsed, prompting Gauthier to now launch Appi Travels.

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

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

The Givers Crowdfunding website domain (“giverscrowdfunding.com”) was registered on October 20th, 2016. Kevin Icecreast is listed as the owner, with an address in the US state of Texas also provided.

A marketing video featured on the Givers Crowdfunding website was uploaded on October 25th. The YouTube account name hosting the video is also “Kevin Icecreast”.

As per BehindMLM’s My Earnings review, Kevin Icecreast doesn’t actually exist.

My Earnings was a Ponzi scheme launched earlier this year in August. My Earning’s business model defined the company as a seven-tier matrix cycler Ponzi scheme.

The same “Kevin Icecreast” YouTube channel was used to promote My Earnings.

After it launched, My Earnings promptly collapsed. Today the My Earnings website is non-responsive.

The same scammer(s) behind My Earnings were also behind Progmatic AdsPaid, a Ponzi scheme launched in January.

Givers Crowdfunding appears to be the third opportunity launch by this individual or group for 2016.

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…]

Andrew Leonard is a photographer of stem cells.

Leonard takes photographs of stem cells using electron microscopes.

Leonard obtains cell samples from doctors, scientists, and researchers and pays a scientific research institution to use an electron microscope to photograph the cells.

The images first appear in black and white, and Leonard uses his “artistic judgment” to enhance the photos in color.

Only a few photographers engage in this highly technical type of photography.

Leonard’s photos are typically licensed non-exclusively through his company APL Microscopic. Licensing fees are typically between a few hundred dollars and several thousand dollars.

Back in May 2006, Stemtech approached Leonard about using one of his images. [Continue reading…]

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

The Pebbles Fund website domain (“pebblesfund.com”) was privately registered on October 26th, 2016.

Pebbles Fund appears to be connected to a number of scams. The websites of AloBit, Donor’s Club and Fund My Cause are hosted on the same private server as Pebbles Fund:

All three opportunities are bitcoin-based cash gifting schemes.

Whether the admin of Pebbles Club is the same as AloBit, Donor’s Club and/or Fund My Cause is unclear.

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…]

MX World is the latest MLM opportunity from James Lee Valentine.

The MX World website domain (“mx.world”) was registered on the 1st of September, 2016. An MX World marketing video on the company website was uploaded to YouTube on September 13th, suggesting this was about the time MX World was launched.

Valentine (right) operates out of the Philippines and first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar as the owner of Supreme Wealth Alliance, a $55 chain-recruitment pyramid scheme.

In 2013 Valentine resurfaced with MX Fast Money, a feeder for Valentine’s primary MillionaireX Ponzi cycler.

Earlier this year Valentine launched MX Revshare, a 110% ROI Ponzi scheme.

Alexa traffic estimates for the MX Revshare website show a decline beginning in late October. MX Revshare not meeting Valentine’s expectations likely prompted the launch of MX World.

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

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

The Crypto Adz website domain (“cryptoadz.com”) was privately registered on October 5th, 2016.

If you visit the Crypto Adz website without an affiliate referral code, the site displays you’ve been ‘invited by Crypto Adz’.

This is the Crypto Adz admin account. And if you proceed to sign up, the referring affiliate is set to Bilal Hadi.

This account is static as the admin referrer and does not change, suggesting Hadi is running Crypto Adz.

Other income opportunities Hadi has recently promoted include Viral Crypto (cash gifting), 2×4 Club (cash gifting), BitDonix (cash gifting), Bitcoinfinite (cash gifting), Bitcoin4U (cash gifting) and The Ads Team (Ponzi scheme).

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

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

The Profit Race website domain (“profit-race.com”) was privately registered on November 1st, 2016.

Up until November 18th, the Profit Race website was presented in Russian. The Profit Race website references “Moscow Time”:

What happens to the queue at night?

At night, (at 1 am GMT+4:00 (Moscow time)), the purchasing a place in the queue is unavailable, it becomes available again at 10 am GMT+4:00 (Moscow time).

Alexa currently estimates Russia is the largest source of traffic to the Profit Race website domain (33.3%). Part of the Profit Race website is also coded in Russian.

Quite obviously whoever is running Profit Race is likely based out of Russia 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…]

Earlier today BehindMLM reported on a criminal complaint filed in Belgium, related to the promotion of OneCoin.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office has charged former politician Laurent Louis with pyramid selling, fraud, money laundering and violation of common and banking laws.

As of yet the criminal complaint is in the early stages. La Libre however report that the judge who heard the case yesterday, prohibited the complainant from participating in ‘any activity related to virtual currency and network marketing‘. [Continue reading…]

Despite having no actual physical presence there, OneCoin up until recently claimed to be a Gibraltar corporation.

This was set up as OneCoin Limited, who Ruja Ignatova’s mother, Veska Ignatov, laundered money through via Pegaron Invest Limited, a Bulgarian company.

OneCoin’s virtual office address was formerly provided by AMS Company Management Limited.

On February 2nd, 2016, AMS Company Management Limited issued a statement declaring OneCoin “does not have authority” to use their mailing address. [Continue reading…]