Often one of the casualties of the MLM underbelly is that of charity.

With less than legitimate business models, MLM underbelly opportunities often seek to artificially create legitimacy through charitable association.

Typically an MLM opportunity will either directly set up an organization themselves as a charity make donations to third-parties.

OneCoin is one such example, having set up the One World Foundation through which its charitable donations are made. [Continue reading…]

Whereas our recently published BehindMLM review of USFIA primarily concentrated on their business model, in this article we take a deeper look into the origins of the scheme, what management have been up to and what’s been going on with USFIA outside of the US.

There’s a lot of information to get through (sourced from readers and my own research), so let’s get right into it. [Continue reading…]

I’ve had a few requests to review USFIA over the past month or so, but have held off due to the difficulty in accessing accurate information about the company.

Following bits of pieces coming in from the various readers along with my own research, I now believe I’ve got enough to put together an accurate USFIA review.

For MLM opportunity evaluation purposes, USFIA’s website isn’t very helpful but does provide some basic background information:

USFIA INC. is founded and owned by the US China Consultation Association, specialized in gem mining and processing, headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

According to the website, USFIA stands for “US Fine Investment Arts”.

There’s no information about who’s running USFIA on their website, nor any further information about it purportedly being run out of California.

The USFIA website domain (“usfiainc.com”) was registered on the 19th of July 2013, with a “Steve Chen” of “Alliance Financial Group Inc.” listed as the owner. An address in the US state of California is also provided, which is presumably where USFIA is being operated from.

Chen appears in various marketing material pertaining both to USFIA and the US China Consultation Association.

The following image is taken from a USFIA marketing material and identifies Chen as the President of USFIA:

Alarmingly the above slide also identifies John Wuo (cited as “John Wu”), an elected government official of the City of Arcadia, California.

Wuo, identified above as the mayor of Arcadia, is an Arcadia City Council member.

John Wuo was first elected to the City Council in 2002 and has been re-elected for his third four-year term in 2012, after sitting out for the required two year “timeout” in 2010.

He has served as a Centennial Mayor for the City of Arcadia in 2003 and three full terms in 2005-2006, 2009-2010 and 2014-2015.

I believe the “centennial mayor” position is likely the cause of his misidentification in USFIA marketing material.

In any event, the slide also credits Wuo as the Honorable Chairman of the USFIA Currency Fund.

Further research reveals the USFIA Currency Fund credited with the issuing of GemCoins, a cryptocurrency attached to the USFIA business opportunity.

Whether or not there is any direct relationship between USFIA and the City of Arcadia is unclear.

As to what the US China Consultation Association (UCCA) is, according to one USFIA affiliate presentation the organization is

made (up) of Chinese and American counselors from top industry fields around the world.

The goal is to establish a high level platform to facilitate communication between China and America, politically as well as economically.

The same presentation credits Steve Chen (right) as Vice Chairman of UCCA.

For all intents and purposes, it appears Steve Chen is the owner of USFIA.

Trying to dig deeper than that is where the headaches begin.

Going through Chinese isn’t my forte, so instead for further reading I’ll direct you to a RealScam forum thread full of well put together information.

Pay particular attention to posts #17 and #18 which, based off a Chinese news report, suggest USFIA is a reload scam that has previously collapsed twice in China.

When you’re done, read on for a full review of the USFIA MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

Bear with me, English news hasn’t yet surfaced so I’m working off Thai reports.

From what I can gather, at approximately 3:30pm Friday local Thai time, Pol Lt-General Suwira Songmetta, assistant national police chief, and his team delivered their criminal case report to the Attorney Generals Office.

From there the case report will be analyzed by Public Prosecutors, who will now decide whether or not to file criminal charges. [Continue reading…]

EMICoin, which stands for “Europe Mining Infrastructure Company”, provide no information on their website as to who owns or runs the business.

The EMICoin website domain (“emicoin.com”) was registered on the 15th of November 2014, however the domain registration is set to private.

A UK Companies House registration number is present in the footer of the EMICoin website (9603585).

Records show “Europe Mining Infrastructure Limited” was registered with the provided registration number on the 21st of May, 2015.

The address used to register Europe Mining Infrastructure Limited however is that of virtual office space in Hertfordshire, London.

Listed as the sole Director of EMICoin in the registration is Tan Eng Sion. Eng Sion’s country of residence is listed as Singapore, which is likely where EMICoin is being operated from.

It is extremely unlikely that EMICoin has any actual physical presence in the UK.

Why Eng Sion has registered EMICoin with a virtual office space address in the UK is unclear. Ditto why Eng Sion’s name does not appear anywhere on the EMICoin website as the Director of the company.

I was unable to find any further information on Tan Eng Sion. Whether or not he has any previous experience in MLM is unknown.

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

Perpetual Quik Start launched in mid to late 2014, with the company’s Anti-Spam policy listing Clinton Clark and Margaret Albright as the owners:

This Anti-Spam Policy Notice governs the use of the web page at and its associated services, web pages, domains and sub-domains, which are owned and operated by Safe Ad Zone, Clinton Clark, Margaret Albright (“Owners”).

Despite the mention of “Safe Ad Zone” in the paragraph above, the rest of the agreement refers to Perpetual Quik Start.

Further research reveals Safe Ad Zone to be some sort of filtering concept. As per the Safe Ad Zone website;

We are the Designed to Filter OUT Ponzi Schemes, Money Games and Mathematically Illogical Program, Projects Websites and Systems.

Getting back to Perpetual Quick Start, the company’s website domain (“perpetualquikstart.com”) was registered on the 9th of July 2014.

Margaret Albright is listed as the domain owner, with an address in the US state of Wisconsin also provided.

The Perpetual Quik Start website domain uses the name-servers of Albright’s personal website (“margaretalbright.com”).

On her site, Albright (right) claims to be

a real person who really makes a living online.

I don’t cheat or steal or lie to make my money. I honestly help people in a sincere manner that keeps me happy, keeps you happy and pleases God.

eBay was the first real money I ever made on the internet. It was a lot of work though and very time consuming.

I sold stuff on eBay for a couple years and made enough money that I actually did quit my day job.

The problem was, I gave up a full time job for another full time job. I was looking for a little more free time.

That problem lead Albright to launch sites like Perpetual Quik Start.

Update 30th June 2015 – Margaret Albright has been in touch, and despite her name appearing on the Perpetual Quik Start domain registration and site’s spam policy as an “owner”, claims she is not running the scheme.

I was in business with Clinton Clark for about a year. That ended in March of 2014. The fact that my name is still on his sites does not make me an owner, it simply means he did not remove my name.

Perpetual QUIK Start domain name is registered to me because I bought the name and built the site for Clinton. I do not own that site.

/end update

Other opportunities advertised on Albright’s website include:

• The 7 Day Success Plan (formerly “The 7K Team System) – $12.99 a month recruitment scheme
• Success Quik – multi-tier $10-$5000 recruitment scheme
• Referraler – a “downline building program”
• PTC Advantage – another downline builder site and
• Escalating Biz – yet another downline builder site

Most of the above opportunities exist to funnel those who sign up into third-party opportunities.

Is Perpetual Quik Start any different?

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

On the RxCut website the company advises that

RxCut is a registered trademark of New Millennium Consultants LLC.

Unfortunately there’s more than a few companies using this name, and I was unable to find any direct link providing further information on what exactly it is New Millenium Consultants LLC does.

That’s not to say RxCut don’t disclose their executive management structure however, with the company listing Gerard Ferro (CEO) and Eric Shugarts (COO) as co-founders of their website.

As per Ferro’s RxCut corporate bio;

Mr. Ferro brings over 28 years of broad-based experience in the health care industry and is known for developing cutting edge technology, systems and programs designed to reduce costs.

Mr. Ferro’s last company was SUNRx Inc, which he co-founded in 2001.

Taking the helm as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SUNRx, Inc. from 2001 until late 2007, he significantly changed the landscape of how Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM’s) operate today.

The idea behind RxCut appears to be very much in alignment with SunRx, which is still in operation today under different management.

Eric Shugarts is also from RxCut, at which he’s credited with ‘utilizing his vast information technology, PBM, and operations expertise‘.

In April 2006, SUNRx announced Mr. Shugarts as their CIO to take the company’s technology platform to the next level.

There, he revamped the IT operations and systems while designing and implementing enterprise cloud computing software and databases that powered the company’s growth and revenue.

In 2008, he co-founded the business later acquired by Free For All®, Inc., along with his colleague and founder of SUNRx, Gerard Ferro.

As Free For All, Inc’s CIO, Mr. Shugarts integrated the first prescription discount card program with the Google Health portal and developed an industry leading pharmacy search and medication pricing engine fully integrated with Google Maps.

Today RxCut use that same portal and pharmacy search and the rest, as they say, is history.

As far as MLM goes, unless I missed something RxCut appears to be a first for both Ferro and Shugarts.

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

Some insight today into why prosecutors in Samoa requested an extra week to put their case together earlier this week.

Speaking at a media press-conference held yesterday, Ministry of Police spokesman, Superintendent Su’a Muliaga Tiumalu told reporters that

at least 8 local companies have lodged complaints against the two men and a woman now facing cyber-crime charges stemming from an alleged pyramid money making scam.

The suspects, Nicolas Giannos, Rosita Stanfield and an unidentified seventy-four year old local pastor, were apprehended earlier this month following an attempt to transfer $100,000 out of Samoa.

The trio had been heavily promoting uFun Club in Samoa throughout May, and turns out that $100,000 was just the tip of the iceberg. [Continue reading…]

Sometime recently the Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam (AMBD) received information ‘regarding some individuals and companies fraudulently claiming on social media that AMBD supports or approves their financial products.‘

It appears after investigating the information, the AMBD felt it necessary to issue a second cautionary against investing in uFun Club. [Continue reading…]

There is no specific information about who owns or operates GoBig7 on their website, but it is possible to work out with a little research.

As per the GoBig7 Terms and Conditions;

This offering is a contract between you the buyer and our business, the seller.

The seller is located in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A. and by doing business with us you agree that this offering is made from Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A. and shall be governed by the laws of the State of Tennessee and the U.S.A..

Alrighty, so whoever is running GoBig7 is located in Tennessee.

But then the footer of the GoBig7 T&C states this:

Copyright 2003-2015 InternetMarketingLawProducts.com for World Light Ltd Direct all correspondence to World Light LLC, a public relations firm for World Light Ltd. in Seychelles.

So uh what? GoBig7 is copyright another website called “InternetMarketingLawProducts”, with any correspondence to be sent to a PR firm with an almost identical name to the client it claims to represent, who are based out of Seychelles?

Riiiiiiiiiiiight.

Further research reveals World Light LLC operates out of Tennessee, with Michael Dodd (as Mike Dodd) listing himself as the Director and Manager of World Light Ltd on his LinkedIn profile.

What all this nonsense about being in Seychelles is I have no idea.

Other than association through World Light LLC however, Dodd  doesn’t appear to want anyone to know he’s involved in GoBig7.

The GoBig7 website domain is set to private (registered on the 24th of April 2015), and Dodd’s name doesn’t appear anywhere on the company’s website.

World Light LLC and Dodd (right) first appeared on BehindMLM’s radar when we reviewed Penny Matrix back in 2012.

Penny Matrix was a $7 a month matrix-based recruitment scheme. The Penny Matrix website is still online today, but Alexa traffic estimates suggest there is little to no activity at the site.

But while the extent to which Penny Matrix has collapsed might not be clear, what is clear is that Dodd has moved on with GoBig7.

And the first thing you’re probably going to notice is that GoBig7 is another matrix-based company.

Read on for a full review of the GoBig7 MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]