There is no information on the Red Cloud Mine website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Red Cloud Mine website domain (“redcloudmine.com”) was registered on June 3rd 2016.

Despite this, Red Cloud Mine claim to have been in business since 2011:

We have been in business since 2011 but officially we started in full pace since 2014.

The Red Cloud Mine website itself appears to be a cheap template clone design, with the same design featuring on other websites:

Of note is the “about us” section of the template design has been left as “John Doe”.

I am John Doe, a senior advisor and administrator for an independent owned cloud mining company called Red Cloud Mine, Inc.

First of all I am a mining expert and I was a mining analyst for 13 years.

The 13 year mining claim it totally bogus, with decentralized cryptocurrencies only surfacing in 2009 (7 years ago).

Photos used to represent businessmen on the Red Cloud Mine website are stock photos belonging to Minerva Studio.

A “corporate address” on the Red Cloud Mine website is actually that of Lundin Mining.

Lundin Mining appears to be a legitimate mining company, with precious metal mining operations around the world. As far as I can tell it doesn’t have anything to do with Red Cloud Mine.

As far as the company itself goes, everything on the Red Cloud Mine website appears to be made up.

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 OneCoin’s CEO appeared in a YouTube video to promote the scheme’s new €118,000 EUR investment packages.

Less than 24 hours after it was published, YouTube has removed the OneCoin video for violating their policy on ‘spam, deceptive practices and scams‘. [Continue reading…]

Following Tom Alkazin’s response to the preliminary injunction granted against him, the FTC have filed their reply.

In it regulator alleges ‘many of the arguments Alkazin‘ filed in his response are redundant, based on the courts ‘finding that Alkazin participated in both the deceptive income claims and pyramid marketing‘.

The FTC claim the granting of the injunction against Alkazin is evidence enough of this to begin with.

Nevertheless, the regulator’s reply does acknowledge “new legal discussion” raised by Alkazin in his response and seeks to address them. [Continue reading…]

If you thought a €25,000 EUR OneCoin investment package was excessive, I’ve got some bad news for you…

Following up on an email sent out yesterday, Ruja Ignatova has announced via a video a new €118,000 EUR package. [Continue reading…]

Direct Cellars was launched in 2014 and operates in the wine MLM niche.

On their website, Direct Cellars claims to have US ‘offices in Chicago, Fort Lauderdale and Seattle‘.

A corporate address in Florida is provided on the Direct Cellars website. Further research however reveals this address actually belongs to Carr Workplaces, who sell virtual mailing addresses.

Whether Direct Cellars exists in Florida other than in name only is unclear. Ditto Chicago and Seattle.

Direct Cellars is headed up by Founder and CEO, David DiStefano (right).

DiStefano’s MLM history is unclear. Posts on his Facebook page suggest he may have been involved an affiliate in Talk Fusion (2013), Solavei (2012) and Bidify (2012).

Direct Cellars does appear to be DiStefano’s first MLM venture as an executive.

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

There is no information on the 2×2 Destiny website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The 2×2 Destiny website domain (“2x2destiny.com”) was registered on April 12th, 2016. John Dierksmeier (right) is listed as the owner, with an address in the US state of Texas also provided.

Dierksmeier (full name John Dierksmeier Quesada) first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar last year as the owner of 2×2 Wealth, a matrix cycler.

Other MLM opportunities Quesada has launched include Only7Bucks, Cafe Nopal, Eco Plus Network and My Secret Fortune.

My Secret Fortune launched in November of 2015 and collapsed shortly after launch. Its collapse prompted the launch of EZAdsNet a few months ago in April.

EZAdsNet was a two-tier matrix Ponzi cycler. Last month it began to collapse, which now appears to have prompted the launch of 2×2 Destiny.

Read on for a full review of the 2×2 Destiny MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]

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

The Business Angels website domain (“business-angels-inc.com”) was registered on January 8th 2016. Walter Brown is listed as the owner of the domain, with an address in London, UK also provided.

Further research reveals the address, which also appears on the Business Angels website, actually belongs to Regus.

Regus sell virtual office space (including mailing addresses), suggesting Business Angels exists in the UK in name only.

Walter Brown also likely doesn’t exist, with the actual Business Angels owner instead residing in Russia.

Content on the Business Angels website is presented in both Russian and English. Service numbers provided on the Business Angels websites are also Russian and English.

Alexa currently estimate 37% of all traffic to the Business Angels website originates out of Russia. Neighboring Ukraine is second, providing 7.5%.

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…]

When an MLM Ponzi scheme runs out of money, affiliates stop getting paid.

It’s also when we start to see all manner of wild excuses trotted out. And boy, did BeOnPush’s recent collapse provide us with some whoppers. [Continue reading…]

Flow Industry operate in the health and wellness MLM niche. The company was launched in early 2016 and are based out of the US.

A “postal address” provided on the Flow Industry website belongs to a UPS store in Middletown, Delaware.

Heading up Flow Industry is CEO and Founder, Malikah Murphy (right).

Murphy began her MLM career in 2007, however the only information about her MLM history was Murphy signing up with Foru International in 2014.

At the time, Sharon Tahaney, President of Foru International claimed;

Malikah has generated tens of millions of dollars, rising to the highest ranks of a company that was more than 70,000 distributors strong.

We are thrilled to bring her success to the foru team.

Despite these claims of success, what Murphy was doing in the MLM industry between 2007 and 2014 is unclear.

In any event, Foru International, formerly known as Genewize Life Sciences, is an MLM opportunity that markets personalized health, beauty and wellness products.

In mid 2014 Foru International was sued by the FTC for making misleading disease claims.

Through a network of individual affiliates, GeneLink, Inc. and its former subsidiary, foruTM International Corp.,marketed nutritional supplements and a skincare product that were purportedly customized to each consumer’s unique genetic profile – based on an assessment of the DNA obtained from a cheek swab provided by the consumer.

The supplements and skin repair serum each cost more than $100 per month.

The administrative complaint alleges that GeneLink and foru violated the FTC Act by making false or unsupported health claims about their genetically customized products.

Company-approved marketing materials included claims that the customized nutritional supplements could compensate for an individual’s genetic disadvantages, and that the customized skin repair serum’s effectiveness was scientifically proven.

The companies also claimed through testimonials that the customized nutritional supplements could treat serious conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and insomnia.

According to the FTC, the companies also deceptively and unfairly claimed that they had taken reasonable and appropriate security measures to safeguard and maintain personal information collected from nearly 30,000 consumers.

According to the complaint, the companies failed to protect the security of personal information – including genetic information, Social Security numbers, bank account information, and credit card numbers; did not require service providers to have appropriate safeguards for consumers’ personal information; and failed to use readily available security measures to limit wireless access to their network.

The above is from a press-release issued by the FTC in January of 2014. Another issued in May reveals Foru International was banned from

misrepresenting scientific research regarding any drug, food, or cosmetic, or any genetic test or assessment and from providing their affiliates with the means to make the prohibited health claims.

Foru International also agreed to not make misleading claims about their security practices, and submitted to an annual security audit “every other year” for 20 years.

Malikah Murphy joined Foru International six months later, around December 2014.

When and why Murphy left Foru International is unclear. With Flow Industry launching around January 2016 however, it is presumed Murphy was with Foru International for less than 12 months.

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

BehindMLM reviewed 5 Star Signals back in October of 2015. The review concluded 5 Star Signals were paying pyramid scheme recruitment commissions, tacked onto an unregistered securities offering.

About a week after our review was published, we uncovered 5 Star Signals was built on years of lies and deception. Hardly surprising given the company’s business model, but the amount of detail we were able to put together made for one hell of an interesting backstory.

Following the orchestration of a funeral for an entirely fictional persona, Mariska van de Langenberg and Dean Black continued on with 5 Star Signals as if nothing had happened.

By all accounts things appeared to be going well. Over the last few months Black, posting as himself, published regular updates on the 5 Star Signals Facebook page boasting of profits.

What was actually going on behind the scenes however paints an entirely different story. [Continue reading…]