Beauty Counter was launched in 2013 and are based out of California in the US.

The company operates in the personal care MLM niche and is headed up by Founder and CEO, Gregg Renfrew (below right).

As per Renfrew’s Beauty Counter corporate bio;

Like many of you, I’m a wife and mom—and like many of you, I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

As I applied sunscreen, lotion, and any number of beauty products on myself and my kids, I never thought for a second they might not be safe: After all, I thought, we live in a country that regulates everything.

So imagine my surprise when I learned that when it comes to the personal care industry, that’s simply not the case.

Companies are allowed to use known toxins—ingredients that have been linked to cancer, reproductive issues, hormone disruption—without telling us.

As I learned more—1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women in the US will be diagnosed with cancer—I had to do something. So I started Beautycounter, a company devoted to progress.

Beauty Counter appears to be Renfrew’s first MLM venture. Her previous roles include managing The Wedding List (a bridal registry) and CEO of Best & Co. (children’s clothing retailer).

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

An investigation into MMM Global by the South African National Consumer Commission appears to be making progress, with news yesterday of investor’s bank accounts being frozen.

MMM South Africa is the name of the MMM Global Ponzi scheme’s South African branch, with our review of the scheme noting that

as of September 2015, it had spread rapidly in South Africa with a claimed 1% per day or 30% per month interest rate scheme.

In South Africa,

the Consumer Protection Act describes any scheme that offers returns 20% above the repo rate (6.25%) as a “multiplication scheme” – otherwise known as a Ponzi scheme.

The Reserve Bank of South Africa is in charge of regulating securities in South Africa, with Capitec bank licensed by the regulator to offer banking services.

Claiming to ‘protect our clients and comply with the rules and regulations of the SA Reserve Bank‘, the bank has frozen accounts of suspected MMM South Africa investors. [Continue reading…]

Following indications of a regulatory investigation, Worldwide Solutionz collapsed in April of 2015.

Worldwide Solutionz itself was a Ponzi scheme that advertised $40 ROIs on $25 “lifejacket” investments.

Since the collapse, nothing much has come of it.

Marelize van Niekerk-Venter, owner of the scheme, has been laying low this past year. Affiliate losses are unknown, ditto the status of any regulatory investigations.

To what end it might be full of half-truths and inaccuracies I can’t say, but a new communication from Niekerk-Venter has surfaced this past week. [Continue reading…]

Bioceutica’s origins date back to 1996. Back then the company was known as Ideal Health and marketed nutritional supplements with an emphasis on customization.

In 2009 Ideal Health was renamed The Trump Network and paid Donald Trump a licensing fee to use his name.

Trump bailed three years later in 2012, with the Bioceutica website claiming the company was “facing bankruptcy” at the time.

The Trump Network was purchased that same year by Antoine Nohra (right), who promptly renamed it Bioceutica.

As per Nohra’s LinkedIn profile;

Mr. Nohra is an expert in the creation, expansion, acquisition and turnaround of marketing companies that support financial and retail clients.

He is the founder and Chairman of Credico Marketing Inc., a leading global network of independent sales offices partnering with clients to reach customers through face-to-face sales and marketing programs.

Credico has quadrupled in size since 2006, currently has 400+ offices in 16 countries, and its revenues have grown consistently.

Nohra himself doesn’t run Biocueitca however, with Candace Keefe serving as CEO since his acquisition.

Keefe began her network marketing career in Arbonne, eventually rising to the position of Senior Vice-President.

In 2009 Keefe (right) left Arbonne to co-launch Apriori Beauty. Keefe served as CEO of Apriori Beauty until her departure in 2012.

Stated Keefe at the time;

I chose not to work with the continued illusion that I held a title I simply did not. My partners voted me out of my title and the authority that the title held.

The “CEO” title in itself was of no importance to me, but the lack of ability to move forward in a positive and healthy direction was. It was simply not what I signed up for, and something I was not going to keep fighting for the rest of my life.

That was June 2012, with Keefe signing on as Bioceutica’s CEO a few months later in August.

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

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

The Shaboxx website domain (“shaboxx.info”) was registered on the 15th of August 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…]

In an effort to dupe investors into thinking the scheme is run locally, Sergey Mavrodi has set up local chapters of his MMM Global Ponzi scheme.

Localized versions see the country name they operate in prefixed with “MMM” (MMM South Africa, MMM Egypt etc.).

The more prominent of MMM Global’s localized chapters is MMM China, which appears to have collapsed late last year. [Continue reading…]

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

The iCharity Club website domain (“icharity.club”) was registered on the 30th of October 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

At the time of publication, 30.2% of all traffic to the iCharity Club domain originates out of India. Neighboring Pakistan is the second largest source of traffic, coming in at 12.7%.

This suggests that the admin of iCharity Club is likely based 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 Fast Viral Cash website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Fast Viral Cash website domain (“fastviralcash.com”) was registered on the 29th of October 2015, with “Joe Sanchez” listed as the owner. A residential address in the US state of Texas is also provided.

Sanchez appears to own or have owned a number of domains, with internet marketing appearing to be a common theme: webprosnet.biz, directegoods.com, listviralizer.com, getleads4free.com and sofreakingbored.com.

Due to the relatively ubiquitous nature of the name Joe Sanchez, I was unable to establish whether or not Sanchez has an MLM history.

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

The Business Shop website domain (“tbsbusiness.com”) was registered in November 2015, with the MLM opportunity launching shortly thereafter.

Identified as CEO of the company on The Business Shop website is Pedro Fort.

Fort (right) first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar as the owner of Fort Ad Pays, a Ponzi scheme that touts up to 300% ROIs on $1 to $300 investments.

The Business Shop appears to be the latest incarnation of MLM Shop, another of Fort’s schemes. In our BehindMLM review of Fort Ad Pays, we observed The Business Shop logo used to advertise MLM Shop back in July 2015.

This was before The Business Shop launched, with it likely coming about following a decline of new investment into MLM Shop.

Read on for a full review of The Business Shop MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the Easier Faster Cyclings website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Easier Faster Cyclings website domain (“easierfastercyclings.com”) was registered on the 23rd of November 2015, listing “Rebba Darris” as the owner. A residential address in the US state of Florida is also provided.

There is no further information available linking Darris to Easier Faster Cyclings. The email address used to register the Easier Faster Cyclings domain however is the same used to register “rush2residual.com” and “unlimitedmillionairesclub.com”.

Rush2Residual was a matrix cycler Ponzi launched in July, 2015 by An Fuller. The scheme collapsed shortly after launch.

Unlimited Millionaire’s Club launched a few months later in September, promising affiliates million dollar ROIs off of a $1.50 investment.

Unlimited Millionaire’s Club appears to have collapsed around October 2015, with the company website today unresponsive.

An Fuller would appear to be behind Easier Faster Cyclings, despite the bogus “Rebba Darris” name used to register the website domain.

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