In what appears to be the result of the first confirmed regulatory investigation into DFRF Enterprises, the British Columbia Securities Commission has issued an investor fraud warning.

In an alert issued on May 6th, the Commission warned the general public ‘not to purchase memberships or other securities of DFRF Enterprises LLC, DFRF Enterprises Ltd., or other companies associated with Daniel Fernandez Rojo Filho.‘ [Continue reading…]

Everyone has to pay taxes… even Ponzi schemes.

Yet despite telling their investors they were setting aside funds to do so, turns out uFun Club failed to pay a cent to Thailand’s Revenue Department. [Continue reading…]

If you’re wondering why there hasn’t been an MLM cryptocurrency established in the US yet, it’s because it’s much easier to get away with running a Ponzi scheme in countries where financial regulation isn’t up to scratch.

Do I mean to say that every cryptocurrency is a Ponzi scheme? Hardly, but I’ve yet to see one MLM cryptocurrency business pass compensation plan analysis.

OneCoin and uFun Club are two of the primary players in the niche at the moment, with both running questionable business models.

Both see affiliates invest real funds, which are then converted into Ponzi points (OneCoin tokens and uTokens respectively), which are backed by nothing more than invested affiliate funds held in reserve.

Both schemes are currently heavily targeting South-east Asia, whilst steering well clear of tighter regulatory environments such as that of the US.

And anyone who thinks that isn’t by design is delusional.

Yesterday saw the Ripple Labs fined $700,000 and subjected to additional penalties, for failing to register with FinCEN and establish and maintain an adequate anti-money laundering program.

And this is precisely what MLM cryptocurrency companies will be up against if they venture into the US. [Continue reading…]

The trouble with recruitment-driven schemes is that they rarely survive the two-year mark.

For whatever reason, two years is about the time an MLM opportunity dependent on recruitment begins to falter, if not collapse completely.

Those that survive are usually modified from their initial launch, either by tinkering with the compensation plan, adding something or rebooting the scheme altogether.

In the case of DS Domination, we saw talk about Options Domination surface towards the end of 2014.

The idea behind Options Domination was clearly to sign up DS Domination affiliates to a binary options platform and relive the opportunity’s initial momentum.

How that’s coming along now that Options Domination has launched, I have no idea. But today Roger Langille, one of co-founders of DS Domination unexpectedly bail.

A sign all is not well in the DS Domination camp or just a change of the guard?

Unfortunately Langille’s explanation to the field was sorely lacking in the information department. [Continue reading…]

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

The WinBeSurf website domain (“winbesurf.com”) was registered on the 28th of March 2015, with a “Jean Kangha” listed as the domain owner. An address in Paris, France is also provided.

Whether or not Jean Kangha is an actual person is unclear, with the name appearing on the internet only in conjunction with the WinBeSurf domain registration.

Alexa currently estimate that 84% of all traffic to the website domain originates out of France, which is likely where WinBeSurf is being run out of.

Supporting this is the fact that the default language on the WinBeSurf website is French. All posts on the official WinBeSurf Facebook page are also in French, ditto WinBeSurf’s official corporate marketing videos on YouTube.

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…]

Testimonials on the Global Success Plan website identify Frank Trueblood as the owner of the company.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Trueblood is based out of the US state of Minnesota, which is likely where Global Success Plan is being run out of.

The company itself appears to be a reincarnation of something called “Cha-Ching Success Formula”, which Trueblood was heavily promoting on his Facebook profile throughout 2014.

The last advertisement for the Cha-Ching Success Formula is dated 30th of November 2014, with advertisements for The Global Success Plan starting on the 8th of January, 2015 (no posts were made between those two dates).

Other posts in Trueblood’s timeline reveal him to be an affiliate of DS Domination (2014), Internet Lifestyle Network (2014) and Empower Network (2012),

In 2010 Trueblood (right) launched “1weektosuccess”, a matrix-based recruitment scheme. Trueblood has also been involved in a number of non-MLM internet marketing activities over the years (specifically lead capture and traffic generation).

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

Following the termination of a secret $90,000 backroom deal by Jeunesse, Mathew Nestler’s downline was handed over to his former partner, Kevin Giguere.

Giguere was secured by Jeunesse as part of Nestler’s secret deal, with Nestler bringing him over from their previous opportunity (in which Giguere was in Nestler’s immediate downline).

The transfer of Nestler’s downline is believed to have been brokered by the signing of a settlement agreement, the details of which are incredibly sketchy.

Nestler (right) claims Giguere set up a meeting with him (why Jeunesse corporate didn’t handle the matter has never been clarified), during which a check and settlement contract agreement were presented.

Nestler claims he refused to sign, yet Giguere turned up to Jeunesse headquarters with a copy of the settlement agreement bearing Nestler’s signature.

Nestler contends the signature was forged, with Giguere standing to benefit financially (by inheriting Nestler’s Jeunesse business) if the settlement was agreed upon.

In February of this year Nestler filed a lawsuit against Jeunesse, with the case still playing out in court.

Today however we take a look at events that played out in November 2014. A month after Giguere presented Jeunesse with the settlement agreement, allegedly bearing Matthew Nestler’s forged signature. [Continue reading…]

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…]