Well, that didn’t take long.

Just shy of a month after MMM Global collapsed, the local South African chapter has gone under.

As at the time of publication invested funds, along with withdrawal requests, have been “frozen”.

Not surprisingly, the reason for the freeze is a lack of new investment into the scheme. [Continue reading…]

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

The Crowdfunding International website domain (“crowdfundinginternational.eu”) was registered on September 25th, 2015. “Crowdfunding International Exploitatie BV” is listed as the owner, with an address in Obbicht, Netherlands also provided.

The same residential address is provided on the Crowdfunding International website, suggesting the company is run from within the Netherlands itself.

Several Crowdfunding International website lists several Facebook groups belonging to the company, spanning the languages English, French, Croatian, Turkish, Portuguese, Hungarian and Dutch.

Each group has various admins, with Eliza Leclerc an admin in all seven Crowdfunding International Facebook groups.

On her Facebook profile, Eliza Leclerc (right) lists her location as Rotterdam, Netherlands. This ties into Crowdfunding International’s corporate address, with Leclerc likely involved in the running of the scheme.

Prior to promotion of Crowdfunding International beginning in February, 2016, Leclerc was promoting the Crypto 888 Club (2015) and GetEasy (2014) Ponzi schemes.

Update 3rd May 2016 – A “Team CFI” page on the Crowdfunding International website (not linked off the website homepage), lists several additional Netherlands-based admins (credited as “General Managers”):

• Ivo Coenen
• Twan van der Kort
• Pascal Nieling
• Mick Baggen and
• Koen Lienaerts (IT Department)

Generic bios are provided for each, however nothing specific to MLM. /end update

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

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

The OKBTC Biz website domain (“okbtc.biz”) was registered on the 21st of March 2016, however the domain registration is set to private.

A residential address in London, UK is provided on the OKBTC Biz website, along with the company claiming to be “a UK registered investment company”.

No registration details are provided.

Alexa currently estimates that 26.4% of all traffic to the OKBTC Biz website originates out of Russia. India is the second largest source of traffic, providing 14.7%.

The admin of OKBTC Biz is likely based out of one of these two countries. A UK company registration is typically the work of Indian scammers, so my money would be on India.

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…]

Following a Joint Report filed by the SEC, USFIA and Steve Chen, a trial date has been scheduled for January 10th, 2017

Note that this is the SEC civil action against USFIA and Chen, with details of criminal proceedings yet to surface. [Continue reading…]

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

The Funds Multiplier website domain (“fundsmultiplier.com”) was first registered on the 13th of January 2015. The registration was last updated on March 21st, 2016, suggesting this is when the current owners took possession of it.

The current Funds Multiplier domain registration is set to private and provides no information on the company’s owner(s).

On social media an individual named “Alamgir Hossaun” claims to be a Funds Multiplier admin:

Hello, I am the Alamgir Hossaun, one of the admins of Funds Multiplier. I will be answering all your questions here. I have been into online marketing since 2008. I specialize in PTC advertising, CPA and affiliate marketing.

You all know the plan/details already by now. We are a team of 2, Me and Kathryn. Kathryn handles mostly the technical aspects of our site.

I wasn’t able to put source any additional information on either Hossaun or “Kathryn”.

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…]

In 2013 a legal complaint was filed against Lyoness in the Polish  Court of Competition and Consumer Protection (abbreviated as CCCP in English or SOKiK in Polish).

The complaint raised the question of whether Lyoness’ affiliate Terms and Conditions were illegal under Polish Consumer Protection law.

The case has been playing out for almost three years, with a decision finally reached last month. [Continue reading…]

If you thought OneCoin’s bitcoin announcement was a conveniently timed distraction from a Chinese crackdown on the scheme… you’d be half right.

Turns out there might be a much more serious problem for OneCoin behind the decision. [Continue reading…]

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

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

AdCashDoubler’s official Facebook page has one admin, Mair Heather. Heather’s Facebook account was set up on or around April 28th, the same day the AdCashDoubler Facebook page was created.

I wasn’t able to track down an MLM history on Heather, with all of this suggesting Mair Heather is likely a dummy account.

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…]

On the 29th of April Kenneth Bell, the Zeek Rewards Receiver, filed his first quarter report for 2016.

In the report the Receiver covers:

• collections from settlements
• payments to Zeek Rewards victims
• ongoing recovery efforts against Zeek new-winners and insiders (Michael Van Leeuwen, Todd Disner, Trudy Gilmond and Darryle Douglas)
• a new settlement with Preferred Merchants and Jaymes Meyer
• Payza and Howard Kaplan litigation update
• a potential tax dispute between the Receivership and the IRS and
• a property formerly owned by Dawn Wright-Olivares going up for auction

[Continue reading…]

The webinar page of the KulaBrands website contains images of two individuals, Peter Gantner and Doug Kyle. The website does not disclose their roles within the company.

On his LinkedIn profileFurther research reveals Gantner citing himself as the CEO of KulaShare Inc. KulaShare Inc is assumed to be the parent company of KulaBrands.

Update October 5th 2016 – Peter Gantner has been in touch to clarify that ‘kulaBrands and kulaShare are two separate and distinct companies with no affiliation other than some common ownership.‘ /end update

Previous MLM opportunities Gantner has been an affiliate with include Visalus (2008-2012) and Lyoness (2012-2013).

As per a marketing video uploaded to YouTube on February 22nd 2016, up until recently Gantner was promoting Kannaway (right). Whether Gantner’s still involved in Kannaway is unclear.

Doug Kyle is the owner of the KulaBrands website domain (“kulabrands.com”), registered on the 4th of September, 2015. An address in the US state of Arizona is also provided.

In late 2015 Kyle attempted to fund development for “Fuel Matrix” on KickStarter.

Fuel Matrix is a breakthrough technology that will help you mitigate your personal impact on the environment from driving.

Fuel Matrix bonds oxygen to gas or diesel at the molecular level. This helps your car engine burn cleaner, resulting in an up to 50% reduction in harmful emissions.

Moreover, it saves you money by improving your gas mileage up to 20%.

The project goal was $50,000 but as of January 16th, 2016 only $10,312 had been pledged.

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