Somebody’s getting bank for their buck. Fast Cash Matrix is the third MLM opportunity launch to use the same design template in as many months.

The red on yellow design with cringy stock group photograph was first used by 1MillionFast in December, 2015. Last month saw 3to600 resurrect the template and now Fast Cash Matrix has done it again.

There is no information on the Fast Cash Matrix website disclosing who owns or runs the business.

The Fast Cash Matrix website domain (“fastcashmatrix.com”) was registered on the 22nd of February 2016, however the domain registration is set to private.

Of note is that Fast Cash Matrix sounds pretty similar to Fast Money Matrix, a matrix cycler scheme we reviewed last week. Despite the similarities in naming however, I was unable to find any definitive link between the two companies.

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…]

Despite a report in The Wall Street Journal claiming ‘government investigations cleared the company of allegations of having a fraudulent business model‘ earlier this month, Herbalife has revealed otherwise in its latest public filing. [Continue reading…]

Upon initial inspection, GetMyAds doesn’t pass the sniff test.

The GetMyAds website domain was anonymously registered on the 4th of December 2015, with the opportunity officially launching earlier this year.

According to the GetMyAds website, Frank Hanson is the CEO and Founder of the company.

Hanson lists his location as the US Virgin Islands on his Facebook profile, which is presumably where GetMyAds is being run out of.

Hanson’s GetMyAdsAs corporate bio is little more than a marketing spiel, but his Facebook profile does provide some actual information.

Frank Hanson is the CEO and founder of ‘GetMyAds’ Online Business, a multi-million business enterprise who was crafted from scratch by this very young visionary-entrepreneur.

This 33-year old budding entrepreneur transformed a meager borrowed capital into a corporate wonder with global reach.

This business prodigy, named Morgan Lewis, was just an unassuming business savvy individual who got what it takes to make a big splash in the ‘uncharted waters’ of the online ads business.

No one have had an inkling that this son of a Venezuelan vagabond and an ordinary factory worker would soon become one of the most sought-after business wizard in the ads business particularly in the online world.

A school drop-out at a tender young age of eight years old only, he worked his way to survival by joining the ranks of beggars in downtown Los Angeles.

Notwithstanding his mendicancy, he worked as a part-time assistant to a famed computer graphic artist in downtown LA.

He burned the midnight oil until he became an expert in such field under the guidance of such tech-wizard.

Soon it became evident that his talents have surpassed the expectations of his mentor. Their amazing tandem of talents and self-determination brought them to a computer talents exhibition show where it showcased the best talents in the business.

Their exhibit caught the eye of a visionary billionaire who soon funded their proposed enterprise with just a meager capital to jump-start their fledgling business and transformed it into what it is today, one of the giants in the highly-competitive online ads industry.

Really? Since the GetMyAds domain was registered two months ago, the company is now “a giant” in the online ad industry?

On their website, GetMyAds claim to have paid out 14 million dollars in commissions.

Again, really? This thing isn’t even two months old yet…

In case you missed it, Hanson’s Facebook bio appears to have been originally written for someone called “Morgan Lewis”.

As per Google cache’s records dating back to January 16th, here’s how the original “Frank Hanson” GetMyAds bio looked:

So who’s Morgan Lewis? No idea. His name doesn’t appear in conjunction with GetMyAds outside of Hanson’s suspicious bio.

Furthermore, Hanson’s Facebook profile itself looks pretty suss. Upon initial perusal it looks above-board. A few thousands friends, relatively regular postings containing motivational messages MLM marketers like to spam and multiple profile photos.

The thing that stuck out to me though was all but two friends on Hanson’s account were only added this year. That’s 2,269 friends in less than 60 days, whereas prior to 2016 Hanson’s account was dead.

I’m not saying Hanson’s Facebook account is outright fake, but that’s pretty indicative of someone trying to make an otherwise dormant account look active.

It could also just be related to the launch of GetMyAds, but that begs the question of what Hanson’s history in MLM was prior to 2016.

Between the fudged Morgan Lewis bio, claims of millions of dollars in commissions paid and being an advertising giant despite having only launched last month, nothing so far related to GetMyAds adds up.

One possibility is that all of this might just be a cover for a Euro scam, with Alexa currently estimating that 42% of all traffic to the GetMyAds domain originates out of Germany.

The European-looking stock photo models on the GetMyAds website would appear to somewhat support this.

Oh, and did I mention the corporate address provided on the GetMyAds website belongs to “Linaro Holdings Limited”, based out of Seychelles?

Yeah, and the GetMyAds Terms and Conditions cite Philippine law:

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of the Philippines.

Evidently I’m not the only one who figures all of this is pretty bogus. Burren Blog took a closer look at the GetMyAds website and discovered the company initially offered up a Norwegian corporate address.

They’re of the opinion that GetMyAds is a “fraudulent scam” being run by Martin Schranz & Thomas Wos.

While not conclusive, I have to say that makes far more sense than some guy from the US Virgin Islands nobody’s ever heard of.

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 Click Intensity website indicating who owns or runs the business.

As at the time of publication, the Click Intensity website only displays a ticker counting down to a March 16th launch.

Further research reveals a “contact us” page on the Click Intensity website providing a “company address” in Bedfordshire, UK.

This address is for the Maxet House Business Centre, in which office space and mailing addresses can be rented.

The Click Intensity website domain (“clickintensity”) lists “Click Intensity” as the owner and was first registered on June 26th, 2009.

The domain registration was recently updated on February 22nd, 2016, which is likely when the current owner(s) acquired it.

Of note is the Delaware, US address listed on the registration, which is obviously different from the UK address provided on the Click Intensity website.

The Deleware address is that of Hardvard Business Services, who on their website claim to have been “forming Delaware companies for more than 30 years”.

As with the UK, it appears Click Intensity exists in Delaware in name only.

A closed Facebook group exists for Click Intensity, with Tara Mish, Ankur Agarwal and Nick Johnson listed as admins.

On his Facebook profile, Nick Johnson credits himself as Click Intensity’s CEO.

Nick Johnson’s Facebook profile was only created a few weeks ago, and appears to exist for the sole purpose of promoting Click Intensity. The photo used to represent Johnson has been cropped and superimposed against a white background.

It is highly likely that Nick Johnson, the purported CEO of Click Intensity, doesn’t exist.

At the time of publication, Alexa currently estimate that 31.5% of traffic to the Click Intensity website originates out of India.

The use of a mailing address in the UK and generic Anglo-Saxon named admin is typically a calling card of Indian scammers. In all likelihood, Click Intensity is probably being run out of 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…]

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

A New Zealand “certificate of incorporation” for the entity “United Global Holdings Limited” is provided on the FX United website, however the relationship between the two companies is unclear.

The incorporation certificate shows that United Global Holdings Limited was incorporated on the 23rd of May, 2014.

The New Zealand address provided on the certificate is also used by numerous other businesses, suggesting it’s little more than a rented mailing address. As such, FX United would appear to exist in New Zealand in name only.

Two Directors are listed on the certificate, Rujina Begum and Priscila Lamoste Lustre.

A UK address is provided for Begum, which once again is used by a number of businesses. A residential address in Queensland, Australia is provided for Lustre.

Rujina Begum is also a listed Director for something called United Gateway Asia Limited, a former New Zealand corporation struck off in December last year.

Of the two listed Directors, Begum (right) is likely running FX United. Her name appears as the listed owner of the FX United website domain, which was first registered on October 15th, 2006.

The domain registration was last updated on August 12th, 2014, which is likely when Begum obtained it.

On her LinkedIn profile, Begum refers to herself as a “compliance officer” for Rational FX.

Rational FX is a foreign exchange business operating out of London.

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

In October of 2015, the blog LazyMan And Money published a Le-Vel review titled “Is Le-vel Thrive a Scam?”

At the time of publication, Lazy Man’s review is the top listing on Google for the search “le-vel review”.

The review delves into Le-Vel’s Thrive patch product, raising potential issues with the FTC and a lack of clinical trials.

Analysis of Le-Vel’s other offered products include cost analysis, value for money, the lack of disclosure Le-Vel’s “proprietary blends” have.

A number of sources are cited in Lazy Man’s review, including excerpts from the FTC and consumer-advocate publications.

Based on the pricing of Le-Vel’s products being “banana pants crazy”, Lazy Man asserts the requirement that Le-Vel affiliates ‘buy product yourself or sell enough of it each month‘ will mean affiliates ‘are typically going to be left paying for‘ products themselves, ‘which makes (Le-Vel) look like a Pay to Play scheme‘.

The compensation plan clearly focuses the rewards on people with the most volume in their downline, not sales to outside people.

According to these FTC guidelines, that focus would appear to make Thrive a pyramid scheme.

Social media marketing by Le-Vel affiliates also comes under fire, with Lazy Man exhibiting a coordinated Facebook marketing campaign directed to “Le-Vel leaders”.

The nature of the “planned post campaign” is naturally not disclosed to the general public, with it supposed to look like an organic marketing effort.

Rounding out the review, Lazy Man concludes:

Between the extremely expensive products, dubious marketing, and what appears to be a pyramid scheme (see aforementioned FTC guidelines), I think it is clear that Le-vel Thrive is a scam.

Le-Vel evidently aren’t too happy about the exposure Lazy Man’s review has been getting, with a cease and desist sent to the blog on January 18th. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the Global eCom Systems website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Global eCom Systems website domain (“fortunemaker333.com”) was registered on the 23rd of March 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

Despite only registering their domain last year, on their website Global eCom Systems claim they were “established in 2012”.

Other domains I found associated with Global eCom Systems include “myecomlife.com” (registered January, 2016) and “gecs188.com” (registered January, 2013). The company appears regularly to create new domains to market the opportunity.

Promotional material on the Global eCom Systems website reveals the company appears to mostly target Asia. Thus is follows that Global eCom Systems is likely being run out of Asia too.

A “company address” in the US state of California is provided on the Global eCom Systems website. This appears to be a unit in a run-down area of Garden Grove.

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 their website, Software University in Bulgaria describe themselves as an ‘educational center that creates real professionals in the world of programming.‘

Recently, Software University listed an upcoming lecture by Ivan Kashukeev (Иван Кашукеев), titled “ONE COIN – revolutionary cryptocurrency”.

The listed description of the lecture suspiciously reads like OneCoin marketing PR:

Project OneCoin is a new kind of cryptocurrency generated by the success of Bitcoin.

This is not previously obtained currency. Members of the project will create market will dig coins and get profit.

OneCoin will be traded on a public exchange and design could help you achieve high yield through a simple and fair  Compensation Plan. OneCoin will become the next successful cryptocurrency on the market!

The description goes on to list a number of points, in support of “Why ONECOIN is better than BITCOIN”.

What OneCoin, a Ponzi points MLM business opportunity, has to do with programming I have no idea. And I’m not the only one, with at least one student questioning the nature of the scheduled lecture.

Rather than engage their student body and address lectures promoting Ponzi schemes though, Software University instead silenced them. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the Fast Money Matrix website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Fast Money Matrix website domain (“fastmoneymatrix.com”) was registered on the 20th of January 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…]

The issue of mandatory auto-ship continues to be a hot-button topic in MLM.

On one hand you have those that believe affiliates buying products does not equal getting paid to recruit. People like me argue that it is, because it comes at the cost of retail. Affiliates being the only purchaser of products is indicative of a product-based pyramid scheme.

It stems from the outdated thinking that attaching products to affiliate recruitment somehow legitimizes it. In the US the concept is widely known as “pay to play”, with regulators slowly making inroads towards stamping the practice out.

Elsewhere in the world, particularly in Asia, the practice of pay to play remains rife within the MLM industry.

Today we take a look at once such scheme, recently collapsed in Vietnam. [Continue reading…]