As part of the need to constantly source new investment funds from untapped markets, OneCoin held a recruitment rally in London on February 7th.

On OneCoin’s official Facebook page, here’s how the company pitched the event:

Today is a big day for London. Get excited and come to see Dr. Ruja Ignatova present on the Future of Payments.

One attendee was The Mirror’s Simon Keegan who, after sitting through OneCoin’s marketing shindig, wasn’t feeling the excitement.

The rally was billed as the first UK national event for OneCoin and attracted a whooping crowd of 1,000.

The audience at a recruiting rally last Saturday at a London hotel was told that it is also a way to get very rich.

“The earlier you join, the more you make,” gushed one speaker.

Rather than buy into the hype and impossible promises, Keegan saw OneCoin for what it is: a “worthless get rich quick scheme”. [Continue reading…]

When TelexFree sought to circumvent regulators by filing for bankruptcy, no doubt James Merrill and Carlos Wanzeler thought the move was genius.

Run up a three billion dollar Ponzi scheme and then, when the money runs out, use the bankruptcy courts to wipe the slate clean.

Well, sort of. Turns out filing for bankruptcy has come back to bite James Merrill in the ass. [Continue reading…]

Bob Roberts was the public face of the group of scammers behind the BancdeOptions and Options Rider Ponzi schemes.

Purportedly operating out of China with a low-key US presence (top US investors were given speaking positions within the company), Roberts’ contact with Options Rider affiliates was typically over the phone.

Options Rider held no affiliate events, nor did Roberts ever appear in any recorded video footage (to the best of my knowledge).

A combination of running out of funds to pay off investors and regulatory actions saw Options Rider well on its way to collapse late last year.

Now, in an effort to revive the scheme, Bob Roberts has been killed off, investors are being “encouraged” not to withdraw and promises of riches are being made. [Continue reading…]

Our last update on the Samoan uFun Club criminal trial left things up in the air.

Ponzi scammers Nicolas Giannos and Rosita Stanfield initially failed to appear at their February 2nd sentencing hearing.

An arrest warrant was issued but then later recalled, as the pair put in an appearance later that day.

Turns out after filing an eleventh-hour appeal, their lawyer instructed them not to appear in court, despite the scheduled sentencing hearing.

All said and done, the hearing was postponed till February 9th and took place yesterday. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on The Sum Opportunity website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Sum Opportunity website domain (“thesumopp.com”) was registered on the 19th of November 2015, with “ML Andrews” listed as the owner. A PO Box address in the US state of Texas is also provided.

Further research reveals the entity “The On Your Side LLC” using the same address, with the domain registration for The On Your Side LLC website listing “Melody White” as the owner. The business On Your Side Technologies also uses the same address.

Whether ML Andrews and Melody White are the same person is unclear.

On Your Side LLC and On Your Side Technologies offer website and software development services, which aligns with The Sum Opportunity’s website footer message:

Designed by On Your Side Technologies | Powered by On Your Side Technologies

I wasn’t able to ascertain whether this is ML Andrews’ first MLM venture.

Read on for a full review of The Sum Opportunity MLM business. [Continue reading…]

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

The CoinSpace website domain (“coinspace.eu”) was registered on March 11th 2015, with “Danjel Pawl” of CoinSpace LTD listed as the owner. An address in Malta is also provided.

A different address in Malta is given on the CoinSpace website, with no offered explanation.

Pawl’s name meanwhile is connected to CoinSpace only via the company’s website domain registration. Who he is or what relationship he has with CoinSpace is unknown.

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…]

In late January we reported that a South African bank had frozen bank accounts tied to MMM Global.

The move came after authorities in South Africa announced they were investigating the scheme last September.

Recently the National Consumer Commission concluded their investigation, with all but one of the nine suspected pyramid schemes given the all-clear.

Findings pertaining to the remaining eight schemes have been forwarded to South African Police for further investigation. Pending enforcement actions by police, the NCC announced late last week they wouldn’t be publishing their findings.

One of the schemes investigated was MMM South Africa, the local South African chapter of MMM Global.

Under the ruse of an “inevitable financial apocalypse” being perpetually just around the corner, MMM Global operate a Ponzi scheme through BitCoin.

Heading up MMM Global is Sergey Mavrodi, who hours ago issued his formal response to the NCC investigation. [Continue reading…]

2013 to 2015 were wild years for Ponzi schemes in Portugal. With regulators asleep at the wheel, seemingly anyone could launch a fraudulent scheme and have thousands of gullible investors line up.

After TelexFree, GetEasy was the most prominent of these scams operating in Portugal.

Under the guise of renting GPS trackers to non-existent customers, GetEasy solicited used new affiliate investments to pay off existing investors.

Amid claims GetEasy was “the world’s first legal investment-based MLM opportunity“, the scheme inevitably collapsed in February, 2015.

Total losses by investors have never been clarified, with there being an uneasy silence from Portuguese authorities regarding the scam.

Former GetEasy CEO Tiago Fontoura was arrested in Tunisia mid last year, but to date nothing much seems to have come of it.

With not so much as a peep from Portuguese authorities, an unexpected investigation in Spain has lead to raids and several arrests. [Continue reading…]

PlanNet Marketing operate in the travel MLM niche and are based out of Georgia in the US.

Identified as Founder and CEO of the company on the PlanNet Marketing website are Don Bradley and Andy Cauthen respectively.

Donald D. Bradley has over two decades of “in the trenches” experience in marketing, sales and product distribution.

He has achieved top ranking positions in the network marketing industry, being numbered among millionaire earners for the past 15 years, while helping others reach their financial goals.

Prior to launching PlanNet Marketing, Donald Bradley (right) was Vice President of Marketing and the purported top income-earner in Paycation.

Paycation also operates the travel niche and primarily pays affiliates to recruit new affiliates.

Paycation website Alexa traffic estimates for 2015 show a brief recruitment bubble followed by a steady decline:

Prior to Paycation Bradley was promoting Pro Travel Network, yet another travel niche business opportunity.

PlanNet Marketing CEO Andy Cauthen also has some experience with travel MLMs.

Cauthen (right) joined YTB International in November 2004 and by October 2006 had been appointed YTB’s President and COO.

Cauthen was again appointed President and CEO of YTB in May of 2012.

YTB International began operations as a pyramid scheme in 2001.

In 2008 the company was sued by California Attorney General Jerry Brown.

An out-of-court settlement required changes to the company’s business model, and generated a decrease in membership attributed to bad publicity.

In late 2008, YTB laid off 17 employees, a move that was part of a reorganization. In 2008 the company’s revenues were $44.8 million.

YTB said its independent audit at the end of 2008 expressed “substantial doubt about our company’s ability to continue as a going concern”, sentiment the company itself later echoed.

In 2009 the company was operating at a loss of $1.9 million for the first three months of the year.

Revenue in that quarter dropped 49% to $21.8 million and then to $18 million in the second quarter.

The company’s paying members also declined substantially in number, from a high in April 2008 of 138,000 to 60,414 in mid-2009.

Andy Cauthen assumed his role as President and CEO at YTB International in May of 2012.

On February 1, 2012 founder J. Kim Sorenson died at the age of 62.

In March 2012 the YTB announced a plan to merge with LTS Nutraceutical, another MLM firm. In May the company began a major restructuring, and stated that the President and CEO, Robert Van Patton, had submitted his resignation.

In September YTB called off the merger, and announced that founder and chairman Scott Tomer was also resigning.

On March 1, 2013 YTB International filed for Chapter 11 protection in federal court in St. Louis.

Cauthen left YTB International in June of 2014.

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

Despite reports late last week suggesting the NCC were going to publish their findings on several investigated MLM opportunities, the agency has today clarified there will be no public updates on the outcome.

Despite the overall lack of comment, NCC spokesperson Trevor Hattingh did give one of the companies investigated the all-clear. [Continue reading…]