Zeek Rewards figure Robert Craddock plead guilty to unrelated wire fraud back in June.

In exchange for pleading guilty, Craddock and the US Attorney’s Office reached an agreement wherein prosecutors would

recommend to the Court that the defendant receive a two level downward adjustment for acceptance of responsibility.

As per a filing by Craddock dated October 20th, this translates to ‘an advisory sentence between 12 and 18 months.‘

Now Craddock’s attorneys are pushing for an ever lighter sentence which, if granted, will see Craddock serve no jail time at all. [Continue reading…]

Things aren’t going well at Options Rider.

We’ve been getting comments from disgruntled investors complaining about withdrawal problems for months.

Comments like this, published only a few hours ago, appear to be reflective of the current situation:

I put in 4k, currently at 44k, will I see any pay out?

Additionally there also appears to be problems with Options Rider’s ewallet provider, which has seen services suspended for most of this month.

Now, in an email update sent out by Bob Roberts, Options Rider appear to be getting desperate for cash. [Continue reading…]

I recently reviewed 5 Star Signals and in conducting my own due diligence into the scheme, identified potential Ponzi fraud and unregistered securities issues.

For $497 a month, 5 Star Signals will provide you with access to

The first rule about the gold forum is, you do not talk about the gold forum.

With a mixture of it being hard to explain and also not wanting to disclose too much we will not give any details about what goes on in the gold forum.

I’m not kidding, that’s an official corporate product description from a member of 5 Star Signals management. This on top of a compensation plan that was likely affiliate-heavy and functioning as a pyramid scheme.

Rushing to the defense of 5 Star Signals within hours of the BehindMLM review, was Craig Walters.

Walters credits himself as the “Fund Manager” of 5 Star Signals Ltd. He appears to oversee funds 5 Star Signals affiliates invest through the company.

With potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions at play, that’s an awful lot of responsibility.

So who exactly is Craig Walters? [Continue reading…]

This is going a while back, but last we checked in the Department of Homeland Security had seized Payza funds deposited with Ultralight FS (dba Obopay Inc).

The US Department of Homeland Security has seized all MH Pillars dba Payza money on deposit with UltraLight FS.

Additional information will be published as we receive it.

How much money was seized was never disclosed, ditto any information about a resolution or outcome.

Now, almost two years later, some light is shed on the matter. [Continue reading…]

In their latest filing against Vemma, the FTC have taken issue with the raising of “affirmative defenses”.

In their Answers to the FTC’s Complaint, Defendants raise several “affirmative defenses” that are insufficiently pled, legally unavailable in defense of this action, or redundant.

For those unfamiliar with the term, an “affirmative defense” is

a justification for the defendant having committed the accused crime. It differs from other defenses because the defendant admits that he did, in fact, break the law.

He is simply arguing that he has a good reason for having done so, and therefore should be excused from all criminal liability. (FindLaw)

I’d have thought Vemma and Boreyko admitting to running a pyramid scheme would be a good thing for the FTC, so what are these objections all about? [Continue reading…]

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

The Amoo World website domain (“amooworld.com”) was registered on the 13th of July 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

The Twitter profile on the Amoo World website lists its location as India, which is likely where Amoo World is being run out of.

Of note is that Amoo World appears to have previously been launched as “amooye”, with the Amooye website linked off the Amoo World Twitter profile suspended by the hosting provider.

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 SuccessPay4u website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The SuccessPay4u website domain (“successpay4u.com”) was registered on the 3rd of April 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

Further research reveals the official SuccessPay4u Facebook group list Nick Shanks as its sole admin.

Shanks lists his Facebook profile location as Cape Town in South Africa, which is presumably where SuccessPay4u is being operated from.

As per a Facebook post made by Shanks late last month:

Looking for a private loan to be able to start my business. Anybody can help with it? Contact in PM please.

This was followed up on October 7th with:

Looking for co-admin for new cycler program. Site is ready, small invest required. URGENT!

And finally a SuccessPay4u prelaunch announcement on the 17th of October.

On his Facebook profile Shanks is also advertising a “private investment” opportunity, through which he promises ‘a 40% interest with a 2 months term‘.

The familiarity Shanks has with “cyclers” on his Facebook wall suggests he’s likely been an investor with more than a few of them in the past. No specific examples however are mentioned.

Read on for a full review of the SuccessPay4u MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the Xip4Life website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Xip4Life website domain (“xip4life.com”) was registered on the 9th of July 2015, listing “Christopher Bratta” as the owner. An address in the US state of Florida is also provided.

The address used to register the Xip4Life domain is the same used by isXperia, an MLM opportunity launched by Bratta (right) in 2007.

Current Alexa statistics on the isXperia website suggest isXperia has since gone into decline.

Of additional note is a marketing video linked off the Xip4Life official Facebook page, which is hosted on Kalpesh Patel’s YouTube channel.

On his LinkedIn profile, Patel claims to be a co-founder of Xip4Life.

Patel first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar as a top Zeek Rewards investor in the UK.

A few months ago the Zeek Receiver sued Patel, claiming he made $140,842 in the $850 million dollar Ponzi scheme.

Whether or not Patel has since paid back the funds he stole from Zeek victims is unclear.

Read on for a full review of the Xip4Life MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

Having only just resolved objections to Vemma automatically reclassifying affiliates as customers, now the company is again clashing with the FTC.

The latest dispute is over Vemma’s proposed compensation plan revision, which would govern it’s MLM income opportunity globally.

A copy of the proposed revision plan was included in a Vemma filing seeking a hearing on the dispute, so I figured we’d go over it and see what Vemma affiliates have in store for them.

In the conclusion I’ll also be going over the FTC’s objections and Vemma’s assertions about the plan, weighing in on whether or not they respectively have any merit. [Continue reading…]

It might not be standard-practice for an MLM affiliate enquire as to the source of funds newly recruited affiliates are using to sign up with, but surely there’s at least some level of evaluation on affordability going on?

The internet goes some way to distance the obvious, but if you’re meeting face to face and actually engaging with your recruits – you don’t really have an excuse.

Common-sense would dictate that if you got the inkling your prospect couldn’t really afford to get involved, you’d abort. Thank them for their time and perhaps jot them down for a followup in six months or so.

Unfortunately there some MLM affiliates would rather realize short-term profits regardless. Their reasons are their own, but their actions reflect poorly on the MLM industry as a whole.

Especially when it blows up in their faces.

This is one of those depressing MLM stories I wish I didn’t have to cover, but here goes… [Continue reading…]