As the uFun Club arrests in Thailand continue, the latest has seen a former Thai politician rounded up and hauled in for questioning.

And while the details of Sirichok Siriwannapha are sketchy, his involvement in uFun Club has provided some insight into the scheme’s money laundering activities. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the Your Life Ads website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Your Life Ads website domain (“yourlifeads.com”) was first registered on the 17th of October 2013. The registration was last updated on the 14th of January 2015 (private), suggesting this is when the current owner(s) acquired it.

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…]

Hegemon Group International was founded by Hubert Humphrey in January 2012.

The company is based out of the US state of Georgia, with Humphrey serving as CEO (credited as such in his LinkedIn profile).

Somewhat curiously, this title is absent on the Hegemon Group International website, with Humphrey credited only as ‘the Architect of the Leadership Format System‘.

Following a stint as an Amway affiliate, Humphrey (right) went on to become one of the original members of A.L. Williams & Associates (today known as Primerica Financial Services).

According to Humphrey’s Wikipedia bio, he

began to apply MLM techniques to his A.L. Williams sales organization, initially without the knowledge or consent of A.L. Williams founder Arthur L. Williams, Jr..

His methods became the foundation of the organization, and the growth of A.L. Williams to a sales force of 250,000 registered life agents when sold, and 44,000 registered stock brokers was attributed to Humphrey’s use of leadership training and recruiting in the company.

In 1990 A.L. Williams merged with Primerica to form Primerica Financial Services, which saw Humphrey leave the company.

Humphrey then created Alexander, Inc., which was renamed World Marketing Alliance, Inc. (WMA). The new company was also in insurance and investments, however the product was different. The company concentrated on marketing variable universal life insurance (VUL) and became one of the largest, independent broker/dealers in the country.

Humphrey eventually sold select assets of World Marketing Alliance to Aegon in 2001, which is now known as World Financial Group.

Of World Marketing Alliance, Rod Cook of MLM Watchdog claims

WMA peddles costly and complex packages of insurance and mutual funds much the way Amway sells soap. But how WMA runs its pyramid-style sales structure (Humphrey prefers to call it “the magic of compound recruiting”) is drew (sic) scrutiny from regulators and generating claims of fraud from investors.

Wen WMA insurance and securities went under (as WMA), and Aegon saved it by buying out Hubert Humphrey … they (WMA) were within days of being shut down by regulators.

That was the whole purpose of the Dot-Planet fiasco, as HH wanted to ensure that he had somewhere to move his “team,” if regulators killed the securities side of the business.

After selling World Marketing Alliance to Aegon in 2001, Humphrey then went on to launch World Leadership Group.

Humphrey retained WMA Mortgage Services, Inc., from his sale of WMA, which became the foundation for World Leadership Group WLG.

The flagship mortgage product that was sold was the “Option ARM” – a type of adjustable-rate mortgage.

World Leadership Group and associated companies ceased business operations in December 2008 citing current market conditions in the mortgage and real estate industries.

Four years later, Hegemon Group International was launched.

HGI is the umbrella for Hegemon Financial Group (“HFG”) and The Pella Group (“TPG”). Humphrey reused (the) WMA logo for the new venture.

HFG sells licensed products via Hegemon Financial Group.

TPG also offered non-licensed products in Land Banking, Mortgage Leads, Technology, 2nd Market Annuities, Merchant Services, P&C Referrals, and Debt Management.

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

One of the loudest players in the Dubli recruitment hype that took off last year was Matt Trainer’s team WUKAR.

Through partnership with Tony Rush’s Home Business Labs, WUKAR were responsible for recruiting hundreds, if not thousands of affiliates into Dubli.

As the months dragged on however, it clearly became evident that all was not what it seemed.

Now as Dubli itself is trying to emerge from a battered reputation, WUKAR’s Matt Trainer spills the beans on exactly why things didn’t work out. [Continue reading…]

Following a low-key webconference launch in the US earlier this month, things have been rather quiet over at OneCoin.

US affiliates have been holding sparsely populated events across the country and there was some media coverage, but for the most part OneCoin corporate have been publicly MIA.

Now, emerging chatter from OneCoin affiliates might explain why. [Continue reading…]

There is currently no information on the Lotto Spring website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Lotto Spring website domain (“lottospring.com”) was registered on the 21st of November 2014, with Jamie Mather or Nexus Group listed as the domain owner.

A PO Box address in the British Virgin Islands is also provided, but it would appear Lotto Spring exists there in name only.

On his Twitter profile, Mather lists his location as Malta – which is presumably where Lotto Spring is being operated from.

Nexus Group is a company that appears to be owned by Mather, also run out of Malta.

On his personal website, Mather (right) describes himself as an online marketing consultant, stage speaker, trainer, business partner, event creator and business consultant.

My Mission for 2015 is to team up with REAL Businesses and help them become something much bigger than they are today.

If you’re a business anywhere in the world who wants to evolve and grow their sales, digital presence, do something new and crazy, or turn their little deli shop in to the most renowned sandwich shop in the western spiral arm of the galaxy, then you need to check my skills and story.

If my skills and your requirements match, then we should already be on the phone.

As per a Facebook update posted on the 25th of July, Mather appears to currently promoting Lotto Spring in Russia:

So glad to be in Moscow again, in the summer it’s my favourite city on earth. Some good friend’s to meet with, some good contacts to share my new project opportunity with.

Various Lotto Spring marketing presentations identify Jamie Mather as the CEO of the company.

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

There is no information on the Next Level Africa website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Next Level Africa website domain (“nextlevelafrica.com”) was registered on the 29th of March 2014, with a “Noel Adams” of “Concrete Cleaning NSW” listed as the owner. An address in New South Wales, Australia is also provided.

Further research reveals Concrete Cleaning NSW is registered in Australia via the ABN 15 966 592 911. Cullen Troy Adams is listed as the owner of the business, with the relationship between Cullen Adams and Noel Adams not immediately clear.

Noel Adams (right) does have his own Next Level Africa affiliate website, on which he provides some additional information about his role within the company:

My name is Noel Adams I am the CEO of Smada World Pty Ltd Next Level Africa is owned by Smada World.

Smada World looks to be some sort of parent entity, set up on the domain “smada.info” (also registered to Adams). Various parts of the Smada World website also redirect to WIX, a free-hosting platform.

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

Just a quick update for those victims wondering about the proposed claim process last month, good news – it was approved.

As per a July 13th update on the WCM777 Receivership website:

The Court has entered an Order approving a Claims Process.

You will receive specific instructions, along with the official Claim Form and bar dates within the next few months from the Receiver.

That process will see a “web-based claim portal” established, through which manual claims can be filed and determinations of claims viewed. [Continue reading…]

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

The Cafe Nopal website domain (“cafenopal.com”) was registered on the 23rd of July 2014, with John Dierksmeier listed as the owner. An address in the US state of Texas is also provided.

Dierksmeier (full name John Dierksmeier Quesada), first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar as the Founder of MaxeVida in 2011.

MaxeVida combined retail sales and affiliate recruitment, tracked through a matrix-based compensation plan.

Similar matrix schemes launched by Dierksmeier prior to MaxeVida include TVBoxNet and EZProBuilder.

When MaxeVida seems to have collapsed sometime in 2012, with Dierksmeier (right) then going on to launch Only20Bucks.

Again based on a matrix compensation plan, Only20Bucks was a recruitment-driven feeder for iClubBiz (in which Dierksmeier was an affiliate).

iClubBiz itself was an autoship-centric recruitment scheme launched in 2013.

After launching Cafe Nopal in 2014, Dierksmeier went on to launch Nopa Vida in early 2015 and 2×2 Wealth less than a month ago.

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

For decades the hotel pitch was the acquisition method of choice for Ponzi fraudsters.

And although largely eclipsed by online webinars, Facebook groups and Google Hangouts, today the hotel pitch is still a staple for many MLM businesses.

One of them, MyAdvertisingPays, attemped to organize a series of events earlier this month, only to have the hotels had booked them at cancel at the last minute. [Continue reading…]