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

GiraCoin appears to be owned by Gira Financial Group AG, who claim to be based out of Switzerland.

Gira Financial Group AG do have a website, however at the time of publication it’s little more than a contact form.

The GiraCoin website domain (“giracoin.com”) was registered on the 5th of June, 2016. Ramon Simon is listed as the owner and an address in Hergiswil, Switzerland is also provided.

Further research reveals GiraCoin affiliates citing Ramon Simon as the owner of GiraCoin. Why this is information is not provided on the GiraCoin website itself is unclear.

Possibly due to language-barriers, I was unable to put together an MLM history for Simon.

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…]

Amazingly, over 44,000 approved Zeek Rewards victim claims have not yet had the required OFAC Certification and Required Release submitted.

The Receivership Team has tried on multiple occasions to contact the Subject Affiliates to request that each provide the Required Information on the Claim Portal.

First, the Receivership Team notified the Subject Affiliates when their respective claims had been reviewed.

Thereafter, the Receivership Team has periodically contacted the Subject Affiliates via email and through numerous postings on the Receivership website to remind the Subject Affiliates to submit the
Required Information.

The most recent communications were on October 1, 2016 and November 1, 2016.

Funds have been reserved to pay out these claims, but it appears the time has come to set a deadline. [Continue reading…]

Over the past few weeks affiliates have been complaining about funds frozen in OneCoin’s United Overseas Bank.

The status of OneCoin’s bank account with UOB in Singapore however is currently unclear. Rather than use their company name, OneCoin’s UOB account is held under the shell company Vernada Trading Pte Ltd.

In related news, on October 21st the Monetary Authority of Singapore added OneCoin to their Investor Alert list.

The Investor Alert List provides a listing of unregulated persons who, based on information received by MAS, may have been wrongly perceived as being licensed or authorised by MAS.

The list certifies that OneCoin is not authorized or licensed by MAS. Appearing on a regulatory alert list is not good for business and might have prompted the UOB freeze. [Continue reading…]

There is no specific information the PIF2Cash website identifying who or runs the company.

The footer of the PIF2Cash website does however state that it’s “powered by I-Affiliate Marketing Inc”.

The same footer appeared on the website of X100K two years ago.

X100K was a pyramid scheme launched by Michael Weber in June of 2014. Since then X100K has collapsed and been relaunched numerous times.

The last collapse appears to have begun early this year. Weber (right) seems to have completely abandoned X100K, seemingly prompting the launch of PIF2Cash.

Read on for a full review of the PIF2Cash MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the AmazeBTC website indicating who owns or runs the company.

AmazeBTC is a network based platform managed by the MegaBTCSolutions, an Elite, Successful and Experienced group of administrators.

So elite, successful and experienced, that no actual information is disclosed.

The AmazeBTC website domain was registered on October 6th 2016, however the domain registration is set to private.

The official AmazeBTC Facebook group lists one admin, Iresh Marsov. This appears to be a bogus profile, created only recently on November 1st.

At the time of publication Alexa estimate that Spain is the largest source of traffic to the AmazeBTC website (35%). This suggests that whoever is actually running AmazeBTC is probably also based out of Spain.

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…]

It’s increasingly looking like Troy Barnes will plead guilty, following a sealed plea agreement filed on October 25th.

Barnes was indicted for wire fraud last November. The charges stem from his involvement in the running of Achieve Community, a $3 million dollar Ponzi scheme.

Initially Barnes maintained his innocence and opted to go to trial. This appears to have been dropped, with news last week that he was looking to strike a plea deal. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on The Dollar Ventures website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Dollar Ventures website domain (“thedollarventures.com”) was registered on the 10th of June 2016, however the domain registration is set to private.

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…]

A video on the Questra World website identifies Jose Manuel Gilabert as CEO of the company. Other than that, no information about Questra World’s management is provided.

A corporate address in Madrid, Spain is also provided on the Questra World website.

The same address appears on AirBnB (as a one bedroom apartment) for $45 a night.

The Questra World website domain (“questraworld.es”) was registered on the 30th of June. Questra Holdings is listed as the domain owner.

Questra World appears to have been initially launched as Questra Holdings in mid 2015. Questra Holdings used the domain “questra.es”, which today is non-responsive.

In September 2016 Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority issued a regulatory warning against Questra Holdings.

Questra Holdings is not an authorized investment firm or credit institution in Belgium. It is therefore not allowed to provide banking and/or investment services in or from Belgium.

Moreover, the system proposed by Questra Holdings has every appearance of being of a pyramidal type or at least of a Ponzi fraud.

Whether this lead to the Questra World name-change is unclear.

Possibly due to language barriers, I was unable to find any further information on Jose Manuel Gilabert (MLM related or otherwise).

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…]

Nothing yet official from the Traffic Monsoon preliminary injunction hearing. We’re monitoring the hearing and will publish an article as soon as we hear something (the hearing is ongoing as I type this).

In the meantime, yesterday the Traffic Monsoon Receiver filed two revealing declarations in court. They pertain to Traffic Monsoon’s inner business operations and communications the Receivership has had.

Below I’ve sorted out the main points of the declarations into relevant categories. [Continue reading…]

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

At the time of publication Alexa estimate that most of the traffic (100% or close to) originates out of the Ukraine. The default language of the Business Bot Incubator website is also Russian.

This strongly suggests that whoever is running Business Bot Incubator is based out of the Ukraine.

An incorporation certificate for “Business Bot Incubator LTD” is provided on the Business Bot Incubator website.

Records from the UK Companies House shows Business Bot Incubator was incorporated on October 7th, 2016.

Ben Nolan is listed as the sole Director of the company, with an address in Manchester, UK also provided.

Further research reveals over thirty companies using the same address, suggesting Business Bot Incubator exists in the UK in name only.

A UK incorporation costs about £20 GBP and requires little more than a UK-based address.

Ben Nolan likely doesn’t exist with the real owner(s) of Business Bot Incubator running the company from the Ukraine.

The Business Bot Incubator website domain (“bbi.world”) was registered on the 5th of October. The domain registration uses the same details as found in Business Bot Incubator’s UK incorporation.

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…]