In 2013 BBOM found itself the subject of multiple Brazilian regulatory investigations.

In July 2013 a Judge froze BBOM’s assets after prosecutors convinced a Judge it was a Ponzi scheme.

In November the asset-freeze was lifted so that BBOM could pay commissions unrelated to its Ponzi activities. With no retail sales to speak of, this decision effectively didn’t change anything.

In December 2013, Brazil’s Ministry of Finance concluded BBOM was a Ponzi scheme.

Ten months later, Federal Prosecutors in São Paulo reported BBOM management, including owner João Francisco de Paulo, for criminal activity.

BehindMLM concluded BBOM was a Ponzi scheme in our own review, published in June of 2013

I’m not too sure on the specifics of jurisdiction, but it appears the Federal Public Ministry of Goias (MPF GO) has also been pursuing its own case against BBOM since 2013.

In their civil lawsuit, MPF GO asked a court to launch a judicial investigation into BBOM to conclude “irrefutably” that BBOM was engaged in ‘the practice of (a) financial pyramid’ scheme.

Based on this finding, MPF GO also asked that funds be secured for return to victims of the scheme. [Continue reading…]

Iguana Biz identify Doc Lett as CEO of the company on their website.

For those of you who have had the pleasure of knowing or actually meeting Doc Lett, know that he is an honest man with a servant’s heart. A man of integrity, who has the determination to help everyone succeed.

Doc Lett, also known as ‘Ken Lett’, ‘Kenneth Lett’, ‘Ken E Lett’ and ‘Kenneth Eugene Lett’, first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar as the CEO of Phase 4 Global.

Phase 4 Global launched in 2012 and was a four-tier matrix Ponzi cycler.

Two years before Phase4Global Lett launched Freeway to Success, a recruitment-driven pyramid scheme.

After Phase4Global collapsed, Lett resurfaced in 2015 as the admin of 2by2 For You.

2by2ForYou was yet another four-tier matrix cycler that used newly invested funds to pay off existing affiliates.

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

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

The company does however have a limited time pop-up advertising an upcoming July 23rd Power Hashing event.

The event is taking place in Bangalore, India with the advertisement naming Amit Jaiswal as co-founder of Power Hashing.

On his Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, Jaiswal (right) cites his location as Delhi, India and identifies himself as the “Founder, Chairman & CEO at Power Hashing”.

Prior to Power Hashing, in 2013 Jaiswal joined Empower Network as an affiliate. In 2014 he joined Brain Abundance.

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

In January 2015 Brazilian authorities filed a criminal case against TelexFree and owners Carlos Wanzeler and Carlos Costa.

The case was filed on the back of an investigation that began in 2013, seeking to establish whether TelexFree’s VOIP offering was illegal.

The case recently went to trial and has been playing out in the Federal Criminal Court of Victoria.

Last Thursday Wanzeler, a wanted fugitive in the US, took to the stand to testify. [Continue reading…]

Cheongwha “Heywood” Chang and Toni Tong Chen were top affiliates in the CKB168 pyramid scheme.

For those unfamiliar with the scam, CKB168

misrepresented (itself) as a legitimate and profitable MLM company that sells web-based children’s educational courses when, in fact, CKB ha(d) little or no retail consumer sales and no apparent source of revenue other than money received from new investors.

CKB168 primarily targeted the Asian-American community in California, with the company accused of stealing ‘tens of millions of dollars from investors in the United States, Canada, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other countries in Asia.‘

In October 2013 the SEC shut down CKB168 via a lawsuit against 16 CKB168 executives and top affiliates. [Continue reading…]

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

The AdBizCycler website domain (“adbizcycler.com”) was registered on the 15th of June 2016, however the domain registration is set to private.

The official AdBizCycler Facebook group is run by Pablo Rodrigues. Rodrigues’ Facebook account was created on June 22nd and contains no content.

Given this was one week after the AdBizCycler domain was registered and the AdBizCycler Facebook group was created on the same day, the Rodrigues account appears to be fake.

The AdBizCycler admin is likely based in either Russia or India. Alexa currently estimate these two countries are the top largest source of traffic to the AdBizCycler website (37.2% and 13.9% respectively).

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 Global MoneyLine website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Global MoneyLine website domain (“globalmoneyline.com”) was registered on the 4th of February 2016, however the domain registration is set to private.

The Global MoneyLine Terms and Conditions suggests the company might be run out of Minnesota in the US:

The Agreement will be governed by the laws of the State of Minnesota and the federal laws of the United States.

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…]

Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) is one of the country’s top financial regulators, the other being the Bank of Belgium.

As per the FSMA website, the regulator is responsible ‘for the integrity of the financial markets and fair treatment of financial consumers‘ in Belgium.

Earlier today the FSMA issued a warning against OneCoin. [Continue reading…]

Global Coin Community Help was founded by Kwaku Damete-kumi and claims to be a ‘community of like-minded people all over the world who will help each other’.

Damete-kumi first appeared on BehindMLM’s radar as the CEO and owner of KDK Trade Charity Club back in February.

KDK Trade Charity Club was launched by Damete-kumi (right) to offload worthless GCR Coins in exchange for real money.

Those who signed up gifted a participation fee to the KDK Trade Charity Club affiliate who recruited them. They were then required to recruit victims of their own in order to recuperate their losses.

In addition to running KDK Trade Charity Club, Damete-kumi was also an investor in RevShareNow ($2 to $40 HYIP Ponzi scheme),  Unascos (formerly uFun Club), Fort Ad Pays, iCharity Club (Ponzi-based cash gifting), Global Currency Reserve and MMM Global (collapsed Ponzi scheme).

Whereas Global Coin Community Help primarily targets affiliates in Africa, Damete-kumi himself is based in London, UK.

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

Through TelexFree Electric, Sunwind Energy Group received approximately $2.6 million dollars in stolen Ponzi funds.

TelexFree Electric, owned by Carlos Wanzeler, James Merrill and Carlos Costa, transferred the funds under the guise of an equity investment and/or loan.

The TelexFree Trustee sued Sunwind Energy for $2.6 million as part of his clawback rampage back in April.

On June 7th, Sunwind Energy reached a settlement agreement with the TelexFree Trustee. [Continue reading…]