06As per the AdIncomeMatrix FAQ, the owner of the company is identified as Bruce Bjert Olsson.

The AdIncomeMatrix website domain (“adincomematrix.com”) was registered on the 28th of February 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

Other than his LinkedIn profile listing his current location as Spain, details on Olsson are sketchy.

The AdIncomeMatrix FAQ claims the company is part of something called the “Residual Income Group”. Members of this group have limited experience with running companies, but do have experience in participating in revenue-sharing opportunities:

WHAT ARE THE PREVIOUS PROGRAMS THIS GROUP HAS HANDLED IN THE PAST?

There is always a first time in everything we do, because we were not born with anything we are doing now.

Our group don’t have any previous program we have manged at the moment but leaders in the group have experience in online business in the area of affiliate marketing, PPC Advertising and Mailer adverts, even partcipating (sic) in other RevShare Programs as members.

Revenue-sharing in MLM circles pretty much exclusively refers to what are otherwise known as Ponzi schemes.

Read on for a full review of the AdIncomeMatrix MLM business opportunity.

[Continue reading…]

News today that Thai police have made an eighth arrest as they continue to investigate uFun Club, an estimated $1.17 billion dollar Ponzi scheme.

The 8th suspect arrested is Chotipat Wutthihpanpokin, who went into hiding following his attendance of the recent Gateway Klang signing event in Malaysia.

Chotipat Wutthihpanpokin travelled to Malaysia on April 25 to attend a meeting of Ufun’s networkers in Malaysia and has gone into hiding after returning from Malaysia.

He said that it was difficult to trace Chotipat because he did not use smart phone.  However, police investigators finally found the suspect hiding in the house of his wife in Soi Too Bon 6 in Kanna Yao district.

In addition to apprehending Chotipat, police also seized documents related to uFun operations upon searching his wife’s house. [Continue reading…]

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

The ShareAdzClub website domain (“shareadzclub.com”) was registered on the 9th of March 2015, however the domain registration is set to private.

At the time of publication, Alexa currently estimate that 25% of all traffic to the ShareAdzClub domain originates out of South Africa. Whether or not that is where the owner(s) of the company are based out of though is unclear.

An official ShareAdzClub Facebook group is linked from the company website, with Max Milward and Paula Hohio listed as the sole admins.

Whether or not these individuals are running ShareAdzClub 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…]

In response to the ongoing criminal investigation taking place in Thailand, top uFun Club investors in the US held a webinar to reassure their downlines that nothing is amiss.

[6:15] Some of the stuff that’s been happening over in Thailand has had its ups and downs.

I’m going to be very real here, starting out, and that is just that it has definitely affected some people that were considering joining uFun.

I feel sorry for those people because they got introduced to it (uFun) at a time when there was some information that was being given out to, all over the world really, that was not honest.

It was not in line with what was the truth.

Speakers on the webinar included Michael Mansell, Rodney Burton, Bryant Barbee and Jamison Palmer. Together they are part of uFun Dominators, believed to be the largest US-based group of uFun Club investors. [Continue reading…]

Short of addressing whatever problems exist with their business model, we’ve pretty much heard every excuse under the sun from MLM underbelly scheme admins.

Usually these are shallow attempts at drawing attention elsewhere from the fraud taking place, which is easily refuted by redirecting the conversation back to said fraud.

Every now and then though, one company will get so caught up in their misdirecion and lies, that their defense turns into a right royal circus.

Options Rider is one of those companies, with a recent email communication sent out to affiliates ripe for the picking. [Continue reading…]

Whenever I see an income opportunity attempt to instill confidence by proclaiming association with regulators or the hiring of former staff, alarm bells go off.

In my mind the only reason to resort to such tactics is to try and convince everyone what you’re doing it not illegal. What that is can be any number of things, but when we see the SEC namedropped, typically it’s to do with unregistered securities and Ponzi schemes.

A BehindMLM reader recently pointed me in the direction of a video from DFRF Enterprises. The video serves one purpose, that being to convince Chinese-speaking viewers that DFRF is not an illegal Ponzi scheme.

To achieve this goal, two Chinese-speaking investors are flanked by the CEO of DFRF, and a gentlemen who claims to be a former FBI agent. [Continue reading…]

Ever wondered where uFun Club’s top recruiters stayed when attending uFun Club galas in Thailand?

The answer is in one of 46 condos the company had purchased using investor funds.

The condos have now been seized, as part of the latest efforts by Thai police to recover assets from the $1.17 billion dollar Ponzi scheme. [Continue reading…]

SingliWorld get off to a bad start by advertising on their website that they were “founded in 2007”.

The SingliWorld website domain (“singliworld.com”) however, was only registered on the 21st of January 2013.

It’s possible that the company existed under a different name, however SingliWorld, as it’s presented on their website, has only been around for a few years.

Credited as the Founder and Managing Director of the company is Hermes Leong (full name Hermes Leong Koon Wah).

There is no information about Leong (right) provided on the SingliWorld website, with the company instead providing a copy and pasted generic marketing spiel:

To be properly introduced to Singliworld is to learn about the individual(s) who had the unique vision to start it in the first place.

If you copy and paste “is to learn about the individual(s) who had the unique vision to start it in the first place” into Google, the same phrase is used in 288 unrelated results.

It appears to have been first used by Aspire Worldwide in 2011 and subsequently copied numerous times.

Further research reveals SingliWorld affiliates crediting Leong with ‘20 years of experience in regional business‘ and a ‘degree in computer management and information technology‘.

No specifics are provided and I was unable to find anything MLM related to Leong. For the most part who this individual is remains a mystery.

Of note is that on his LinkedIn profile, Leong lists his current location as Singapore. This is likely where the company is being run out of.

This is important because Singliworld Pte Ltd appears on an “investor alert list” maintained by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

As Singapore’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is an integrated supervisor overseeing all financial institutions in Singapore.

The Investor Alert List provides a listing of unregulated persons who, based on information received by MAS, may have been wrongly perceived as being licensed or authorised by MAS.

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

There is no information on the Two Bit Matrix website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Two Bit Matrix website domain (“twobitmatrix.com”) was registered on the 14th of February, with a “Donald Shickle” listed as the owner. An address in the US state of New York is also provided.

A Google search of the Two Bit Matrix domain address reveals a Facebook profile belonging to “Donnie Shickle” (right). A caption on the profile reads:

Hi, I’m Donnie Shickle, singer, songwriter, musician, entrepreneur and modern day renaissance man of sorts.

I’m always looking to network with honest, reliable, open minded people who like to think outside the box.

Shickle’s Facebook profile has not been updated since November 2013.

Further research reveals a LinkedIn account bearing the name “Donald Shickle” (), in which Shickle claims to be the CEO of Two Bit Matrix:

Shickle also claims to be the CEO of “Mad Ad Cash”, which sounds like a recruitment-driven pyramid scheme:

Guaranteed Earnings

You have to do very little effort to start earning income. Just introduce your few friends to us and earn money.

The above is from the Mad Ad Cash website, with further research confirming it to be a matrix-based recruitment scheme.

In addition to launching dubious opportunities, Shickle has also been involved in a few of them as an affiliate.

On the Facebook group “Let Your Voice Be Heard”, Shickle has advertised Feeder Matrix (pyramid scheme), EZ Cash Gifts (cash gifting), This Christmas Cash (pyramid scheme) and as recently as February of this year, Zero2Pro (pyramid scheme).

Mad Ad Cash was launched in early 2014, with Alexa traffic estimates revealing the opportunity is dead. Two Bit Matrix would appear to be the successor of the scheme, although Shickle has been promoting both simultaneously.

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

Canada’s AMF

is the body mandated by the government of Québec to regulate the province’s financial markets and provide assistance to consumers of financial products and services.

Back in January the regulatory body issued an iGetMania investment warning,

cautioning investors in Québec about an investment program connected to the Portuguese firm GetEasy Limited and the British firm iGetMania Limited.

In addition to that warning, the IMF also filed a lawsuit against GetEasy, iGetMania, International Finance Corporation and TachoEasy Middle East.

The lawsuit requested the above parties cease and desist operating in violation of Canadian law, until such measures are introduced to bring their business models into compliance. [Continue reading…]