Cash4AllTeam Review: $4 cycler Ponzi positions

cash4allteam-logoThere is no information on the Cash4AllTeam website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Cash4AllTeam website domain (“cash4allteam.com”) was registered on the 16th of December 2015, 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…]


Vemma lost half a million dollars over the last 2 months

vemma-logoAs part of the preliminary injunction granted against Vemma back in September, the company is required to submit quarterly reports.

Vemma recently filed a report for the months September through to November, in which revealing information about the company’s current business operations are disclosed.

Among other things, Vemma recorded operation losses of over a half a million dollars over October and November. [Continue reading…]


Morinda Review: Noni juice, autoship & pay to play

morinda-logoMorinda began as life as Tahitian Noni International and are based out of Utah in the US.

Operating in the health supplement MLM niche, Tahitian Noni was was founded by Kerry Asay (CEO), John Wadsworth (President), Kelly Olsen (Chief Marketing Officer), Kim Asay (co-Vice President) and Stephen Story (co-Vice President) back in 1996.

kerry-asay-ceo-morindaPrior to Tahitian Noni, Asay (right) was President and CEO of Nature’s Sunshine, a manufacturer and marketer of encapsulated natural health supplements.

Asay left Nature’s Sunshine in 1989, ‘to pursue other interests after being in the position for 10 years.

I wasn’t able to ascertain what Asay was up to between 1989 and the founding of Tahitian Noni in 1996.

On the litigation front Morinda has had a few run ins with regulators and other MLM companies.

On August 26, 1998, the Attorneys General of Arizona, California, New Jersey, and Texas announced a multi-state settlement with Morinda, Inc.

The charges stating that Morinda had made “unsubstantiated claims in consumer testimonials and other promotional material that its Tahitian Noni juice could treat, cure or prevent numerous diseases, including diabetes, clinical depression, hemorrhoids and arthritis.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Morinda agreed to:

-No longer make drug claims, or claims that the product can cure, treat, or prevent any disease until “Tahitian Noni” is approved and cleared for those uses by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

-Not make any other claims, whether health claims or others, regarding the benefits of Tahitian Noni unless such claims are true and the company can substantiate the claim by reliable scientific evidence.

-Not use testimonials which imply that the advertised claimed results are the typical or ordinary experience of consumers in actual conditions of use, unless Morinda possesses and relies upon adequate substantiation that the results are typical or ordinary.

In addition, Morinda agreed to refund to any consumer who requests a refund in writing, the full purchase price paid for the product. The agreement also called for Morinda to pay $100,000 for investigative costs.

In 2003 Xango was sued by Tahiti Noni International (now Morinda). Tahiti Noni International alleged ‘that Xango executives stole TNI’s concept for a mangosteen-based supplement while they were employed by TNI’s parent-company‘.

Xango counter-sued and both cases wound up being settled out of court. Details of the settlement were not made public.

Today Indonesia appears to be a particularly strong market for Morinda, with Alexa estimating nearly 40% of all traffic to the Morinda website originates out of the country.

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


Lyoness vouchers not “retail trade” in the Philippines

lyoness-logoDespite only money changing hands, there are those that argue that the selling of access to discounts, or even discounts themselves, constitute the retail sale of products or services.

Such is the case with Lyoness, wherein affiliates can invest funds in shopping units and get paid when newly recruited affiliates do the same.

Vouchers are bundled with each unit investment, which Lyoness and their affiliates claim are evidence of retail activity taking place.

This despite the fact that no tangible products are purchased through issuing of Lyoness’ vouchers themselves.

Evidently this has been an ongoing point of contention between the Philippine SEC and Lyoness, with the regulator recently publishing an official opinion on the matter. [Continue reading…]



SEC: Team Vinh a $3 million dollar Ponzi scheme

team-vinh-logoTeam Vinh launched in late 2012 as a HYIP scheme and downline builder for owner Vu H. Le (also known as Vinh H. Le).

TeamVinh.com International is going to revolutionize the MLM industry.

TeamVinh International is NOT IN ANY WAY A MLM COMPANY TeamVimh is going to take certain MLM companies and make them successful.

It cost $39 to join. There is no recruting (sic) for a down line, they do it all for you. No selling, no nothing. It’s (sic) is well worth looking at.

In addition to investing in Vpacks, Team Vinh investors were fed into seedy schemes that populated the MLM underbelly at the time. Most, if not all of these schemes were either HYIP scams or Ponzi and pyramid schemes themselves.

Here at BehindMLM I’d received numerous requests to review Team Vinh over the years, but without an actual MLM compensation plan there wasn’t much to review.

Within the context of Team Vinh being a downline feeder into other MLM opportunities however, news today that the SEC have filed a lawsuit against Team Vinh and Vu H. Le. [Continue reading…]


Volishon Review: Travel, recruitment & potential Ponzi

volishon-logoVolishon identify themselves as “a new company” on their website, with a corporate address in the US state of Georgia provided.

Cited as CEO and President of Volishon is Joel Santiago (below right), with Joseph Otis, Daniella Le Roux and Sankie Beukes credited as “partners”.

joel-santiago-ceo-president-volishonDating back to 2013, Santiago’s YouTube channel reveals marketing material for Pro Travel Plus, EPIQ Energy, Fantasy Draft, Tsu, RE247365, Xplocial, Dream Life Vacation Club and EPX Body.

Of those opportunities, with respect to Volishon, Pro Travel Plus and RE247365 are the most pertinent.

RE247365 was a $39.95 a month recruitment-driven travel opportunity launched in September of 2014.

By December, amid reports of over a half million dollars in fraud, the scheme had collapsed.

Pro Travel Plus, another travel themed recruitment scheme, was launched earlier this year in April.

The current status of Pro Travel Plus is murky, with the following information forwarded to BehindMLM via email:

It (Pro Travel Plus) crashed in the aftermath of them getting ripped off on their first big affiliate group trip in early October.

The stories don’t add up, either PTP used their in house booking engine and got ripped off, or they used another booking service but long story short a bunch of affiliates paid for lodging in Cabo San Lucas far enough ahead of time that they couldn’t do chargebacks and a few weeks before the trip PtP discovered that no one had reservations.

PTP went out of pocket to book stays though at a lesser hotel.

There was a good amount of dissatisfaction among affiliates, the week after this Charles Vest left PTP for HopRocket and Seth Fraser disappeared from the internet.

Ben Glinsky is the real owner of PTP and it looks like he didn’t pay the December access fee for the travel portal.

Pro Travel Plus covered one aspect of the purported Cabo San Lucas scam, through a video uploaded by a Pro Travel Plus affiliate.

As far as my own research goes, as at the time of publication the Pro Travel Plus website is little more than a sign-up form.

Alexa statistics support that the scheme has all but collapsed, showing the usual recruitment hype boom followed by a sharp decline:

pro-travel-plus-alexa-traffic-december-2015

This supports the information we received via email, in that Pro Travel Plus as it stands appears to have collapsed.

Further supporting the received information is a Volishon webinar aired a few hours ago, featuring Joel Santiago and Joseph Otis.

In the webinar Otis “illuminates the negative”, bringing up a recent email purportedly sent to the entire Pro Travel Plus affiliate-base.

The corporate email explains

The owner (of Pro Travel Plus) didn’t pay the bills, and they closed down the portal.

Santiago and Otis are credited with helping create a “new” opportunity, Pro Travel Plus Vacations, which Ortis claims is “absolutely false”. Otis goes on to identify “the guy behind the email” as Lee Freidman. Otis cites Freidman as “the previous travel provider” in Pro Travel Plus.

If any existing or former Pro Travel Plus affiliates can fill us in on exactly what happened and/or the current business status, that’d be greatly appreciated (leave a comment below).

In any event, Joel Santiago was a prominent Pro Travel Plus affiliate. Santiago’s Facebook profile reveals he was still promoting the scheme as late as October.

The recent launch of Volishon is unlikely to be coincidental, with Santiago assumedly looking to salvage what’s left of his Pro Travel Plus downline.

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


Ad Wealth System Review: $25 “unlimited” Ponzi ROIs

ad-wealth-system-logoThere is no information on the Ad Wealth System website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Ad Wealth System website domain (“adwealthsystem.com”) was registered on the 5th of September 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

A number of HYIP scheme websites are hosted on the Ad Wealth System webserver. Whether these are run by the same admin or hosted on common HYIP focused hosting is unclear.

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…]



Asantae Compensation Plan Review v2.0

asantae-logoBehindMLM first reviewed Asantae back in January of 2013.

Back then there was a major information dearth on the Asantae website, which led to a review that was less than complete compared to what we normally publish.

Since then Asantae have picked up their game, with the company now providing detailed compensation plan material on their website.

Today we go through this new compensation plan material, along with an updated conclusion of the Asantae MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]


1 Million Fast Review: $3 to $81 cash gifting payments

1-million-fast-logo1 Million Fast themselves don’t disclose who runs or owns the business on their website, with this basic information instead offered up by an affiliate via a testimonial;

I just want to say that CashMillionaire Family has done me good. I have nothing but love for the founders Angela Dumais and Tony Sanzo.

This is supported by the 1 Million Fast domain registration, which lists Dumais as the owner. An address in the US state of Hawaii is also provided.

angela-dumais-tony-sanzo-1-million-fast-adminsPosts on Dumais and Sanzo’s social media accounts suggest they are husband and wife.

Dumais (right, with Sanzo) runs the blog “teamcrushinc.blogspot.com”, on which advertisements for 3×9 Millionaire Machine (matrix-based recruitment scheme), My Paying Ads (HYIP Ponzi scheme) and 4 Corners Alliance Group (recruitment scheme) feature.

Evidently Dumais was also an investor in the My Advertising Pays Ponzi scheme, with the following posted in response to MAPS terminating US operations:

I was so disappointed the day Mr. Deese announced his program M.A.P.S would no longer be available to the US market. I had a good thing going.

 

Update 17th December 2015 – Turns out Dumais is an old hat at scamming, with California issuing a cease and desist against her scheme Truth In Gold back in 2003.

At all relevant times, Truth In Gold, purportedly an investment club, was conducting business at 139 Bear Gulch Rd., Aberdeen, WA 98520.

At all relevant times, truthingold.com was purportedly an investment club.

At all relevant times, Angela Dumais, also known as Angela Flodstrom, was the proprietor of Truth In Gold.

At all relevant times, Jason Flodstrom was the proprietor of Truth In Gold.

Beginning in or about August 2002 through at least November 2002, Truth In Gold, Angela Dumais, also known as Angela Flodstrom, and Jason Flodstrom offered or sold securities in the form of investment contracts or evidences of indebtedness or memberships in an incorporated or unincorporated association.

Through posting on the Internet, Truth In Gold, truthingold.com, Angela Dumais, also known as Angela Flodstrom, and Jason Flodstrom offered or sold securities in the form of investment contracts or evidences of indebtedness or memberships in an incorporated or unincorporated association.

In connection with these offers or sales, Truth In Gold, Angela Dumais, also known as Angela Flodstrom, and Jason Flodstrom, misrepresented to investors that:

a. the principal investment was guaranteed safe; and

b. the funds deposited by the investors would earn daily interest of 1% or 2% daily, depending on the amount invested.

Based upon the foregoing findings, the California Corporations Commissioner is of the opinion that the investment contracts or evidences of indebtedness or memberships in an incorporated or unincorporated association are securities subject to qualification under the California Corporate Securities Law of 1968 and are being or have been offered or sold without being qualified, as required by Corporations Code section 25110.

Pursuant to section 25532 of the Corporate Securities Law of 1968, Truth In Gold, Angela Dumais, also known as Angela Flodstrom, and Jason Flodstrom, are hereby ordered to desist and refrain from the further offer or sale in the State of California of securities.

According to a denied appeal filed in 2008, Dumais plead guilty to wire fraud, was convicted and sentenced to 57 months in prison.

The case docket for Dumais’ criminal proceedings reveals an arrest warrant was issued in February of 2004, with Dumais arrested five days later.

After posting $10,000 bail, another arrest warrant was issued in September 2005, with Dumais again arrested less than a week later.

Yet another $10,000 bond was paid the day after Dumais’ second arrest, seeing her released.

Dumais’ 57 month jail sentence was handed down in November of 2005, with her third and final arrest a month later in December.

In July 2015, someone claiming to be Dumais’ mother published the following on the TalkGold Ponzi forum:

Yes I remember Angela Dumais, she is my daughter. I never got involved with Truth In Gold because I did not think it was legal.

I have an FBI Clearance and an ATF clearance and will not jeopardize that for anyone not even my daughter!

She is currently under Federal Investigation again in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is doing another alleged Ponzi Scheme.

She started a new business 4CA, Team Global Impact which is legal, but then started another spin off group called Elite LCN aka Elite Lead Capture Network. Claims she is a six figure earner in the business, has an MBA from University of Arizona, a total lie. Look her up on ********.

The only truth is that she does work at IHS, Institute for Human Services. But she is quitting this summer. Then she will hide all her assets again and go about her “merry life” again at the expense of others.

Contact Myra Petersen the U.S. Attorney General in Honolulu Hawaii at (removed). She is under Federal Investigation again.

This breaks my heart. I thought she had learned her lesson and changed, but greed got the best of her again. Good Luck and God Bless! MadMom

The poster went on to claim Dumais “has been cleared”, however I was unable to find any evidence of this.

/end update

 

Nothing specific (other than his own Cash Millionaires 1 Millon Fast opportunity) has been promoted of Tony Sanzo’s on his Facebook page, but certain posts do indicate he is very much active in the MLM underbelly:

Daaammmmmnnnn…. Ouch…..it sucks i know…. Did you get signed to another scam or signed up to a selfish sponsor that signed you up only to leave you high and dry…. Spent money on useless bs that the “guru” told you…. You “had to have” only to be assed outa money and time….

Come work with us….24/7 support and i give you my cell once we start workin together AND you got a GUARANTEED rebate on your investment resulting in free money for LIFE!!!!

Nothing suss.

Sanzo’s LinkedIn profile cites him as working as a National Account Manager with Kelley Blue Book And Autotrader till September 2013, with him going on to join 4 Corners Alliance Group in January 2014.

1 Million Fast would appear to be Dumais and Sanzo’s first MLM opportunity launch.

Read on for a full review of the 1 Million Fast MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]


NxPay to return $3.5 million to Zeek Ponzi victims

zeekrewardsIn Zeek Rewards’ heyday, NxPay (NxSystems) was the ewallet of choice by the company.

Content to turn a blind eye to the hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud taking place through its processor systems, NxPay was instrumental in Zeek’s ongoing business operations.

In acknowledgement of this, the court-appointed Receiver filed a clawback lawsuit against NxPay for $9 million dollars.

NxPay wanted to keep the money, which prompted the Receiver to file contempt proceedings against the processor on December 3rd, 2014.

In June 2015, NxPay were subsequently ordered to surrender the requested $9 million to the Receiver.

The only problem?

NxPay turned around and claimed they didn’t have the money. One million was all NxPay could scrounge up at the time, with a question mark hovering over the remaining $8 million dollar judgement.

Today in a filing by the Receiver, it is revealed that a settlement agreement between the parties has been reached. [Continue reading…]