Despite the rosy image of thanks and gratitude carefully crafted on the Achieve Community forums, there is evidently a growing undercurrent of discontent.

Despite claiming Achieve Community would never accept deposits without a mechanism in place to pay out commissions, Achieve Community went ahead and did just that when they signed with iPayDNA.

For reasons that have never been clarified, Achieve Community was unable to pay commissions with iPayDNA despite accepting investment funds through them.

Part of the reason might have been the complex money laundering network Achieve Community attached itself through the payment processor.

It wasn’t long after iPayDNA was announced that Achieve investors began reporting bogus companies appearing on credit statement, strongly suggesting credit card factoring.

This naturally prompted a flood of refund requests, which now has apparently seen iPayDNA reach its refund limits. [Continue reading…]

Chatter on the grapevine this morning is that WakeUpNow are looking to file for bankruptcy.

I haven’t confirmed this yet myself, but a significant number of affiliates in other opportunities have been observed making the claim in recent promotional videos targeting WakeUpNow affiliates.

I did check Pacer for any bankruptcy filings but at the time of publication none were on the record.

The closest I’ve come to being able to confirm the news is a Facebook posting by Eric Turner, made just a few hours ago. [Continue reading…]

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

The Ultimate Ad Club website domain (“ultimatead.club”) was registered on the 13th of December 2014, however the domain registration is set to private.

Two videos are linked off the Ultimate Ad Club website, hosted on a YouTube account bearing the name “Tom Taylor”.

This account was created about a week before Ultimate Ad Club launched, on January 12th.

Further research reveals affiliate also claiming Tom Taylor to be the admin of Ultimate Ad Club.

Tom Taylor is credited with running Wealth4Life, which is confirmed on his LinkedIn profile:

Owner/Admin of currently 14 web sites, ranging from Matrix programs, Traffic Exchanges, Dating sites, Online Tour Agency, Team build sites as well as PTC’s and various others.

Wealth4Life would appear to be a downline builder Taylor has built to recruit people into various MLM opportunities.

The Ultimate Ad Club Is Part Of The Wealth4Life Group Of Companies.

As per Taylor’s LinkedIn profile he is based out of the Philippines, which is likely where Ultimate Ad Club is being run out of too.

Why none of this information is available on the Ultimate Ad Club website is a mystery.

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

In the FAQ section of the TreasureAdz website, the following information is provided about company ownership:

TreasureAdz.Com is managed by a team experts experienced in online advertising and revenue generation.

The team is headed by Joan Oshea.

A bogus Google Plus profile was set up under that name to promote TreasureAdz, but otherwise no further information on Oshea is available.

Given this it’s likely that Joan Oshea, as represented on the TreasureAdz website, doesn’t exist.

The TreasureAdz website domain (“treasureadz.com”) was registered on the 17th of December 2014, however the domain registration is set to private.

As always, if a 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 Orbit9x website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The company website does have a “corporate” section, however no actual information about Orbit9x’s corporate management team is provided.

The Orbit9x website domain (“orbit9x.com”) was registered on the 22nd of May 2013, however the domain registration is set to private.

An address in Mumbai, India is provided on the Orbit9x website, however other than suggesting the company is being run out of India, didn’t lead anywhere.

As always, if a 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…]

Early last year saw Chinese regulators move in on Nu Skin.

Suspecting it of conducting pyramid scheme operations in China, the company’s affiliates were also running amok and making all sorts of false claims to bring in new recruits.

Long story short? Nu Skin suspended its Chinese business operations pending a formal review and, along with some of its top Chinese affiliates, was fined $781,000.

Nu Skin resumed Chinese business operations on May 1st, claiming to have reined in its local business practices and affiliates. Thus far they’ve managed to avoid further regulatory scrutiny in China.

As a company however, turns out that while $781,000 might sound like a paltry fine for a company that generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, losing $78.8 million from your bottom-line? Not so much. [Continue reading…]

That South Africa is a haven for Ponzi investment fraud, so long as the schemes run around calling themselves “Private Member Associations”, might sound ridiculous… but it’s exactly the narrative WorldWide Solutionz would have you believe.

Not surprisingly, and shortly after the two-year period at which most online Ponzi schemes show signs of collapse or being shutdown, Worldwide Solutionz ran into regulatory problems in late October of last year.

ROI payments to Worldwide Solutionz investors were suspended and have been ever since.

Not surprisingly, this has left those who invested thousands into the business furious, with a recent update from owner Marelize van Niekerk-Venter providing some insight as to where the company is currently at. [Continue reading…]

Following the publication of TelexFree Trustee Stephan Darr’s status report a few days ago, a status conference pertaining to TelexFree’s bankruptcy proceedings was to be held today (February 5th).

Upon reading Darr’s status report however, it seems Judge Hoffman didn’t like what he saw.

Consequently, Judge Hoffman ordered the status conference cancelled and that Kurtzman Carson Consultants make Darr’s status report available on their website:

To be honest, I’m not 100% sure what this means. [Continue reading…]

For his part in promising to deliver Zeek Rewards investors to several reload schemes and then failing to deliver, Robert Craddock found himself defending two lawsuits.

Early 2014 saw BidsThatGive and OfferHub sue Craddock for cybersquatting, trademark infringement, wrongful use of computers, misappropriation of trade secrets, wrongful interference with economic relations, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, defamation and piercing the corporate veil.

Craddock (right) responded to the lawsuit and things progressed through the courts until Craddock’s attorneys withdrew themselves from the case in July.

The court approved the withdrawal of counsel in mid August, giving Craddock fourteen days to obtain new counsel.

By the end of September, well past the fourteen day deadline, Craddock had still failed to acquire new counsel. Thus the court ordered him to retain counsel and show cause as to why sanctions should not be imposed.

Craddock was given till October 6th to make this filing and retain counsel, which also came and went.

Ten days later Magistrate Judge Foley issued an order recommending Craddock’s answer to the original complaint be stricken, and that default judgment be entered against him. [Continue reading…]

Giving themselves a pat on the back, an announcement from DORA, the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, today celebrates the recovery of $2.1 million from investment scammers.

The sum was recovered from various investment scams dating back to 2013, with the Colorado Securities Division praised for their efforts.

After completing an analysis of its 2014 numbers, the Division of Securities, which is responsible for regulating and enforcing compliance with state standards by investment agencies and professionals, as well as protecting the public from fraudulent investment schemes, opened and completed a total of 149 major fraud investigations in 2013 and 2014.

These inquiries resulted in 17 felony criminal prosecutions, 31 civil cases, and approximately $18 million in court-ordered restitution.

At least $2.1 million of that amount was returned to investors, with some of the funds no-doubt being fines and other recoveries ordered to be paid back incrementally. [Continue reading…]