Much importance has been placed on the Ernst & Young report on TelexFree that was due out this month.

Despite the SEC’s case against TelexFree, criminal proceedings currently taking place against its owners and Trustee Stephen Darr’s damning evaluation of the company earlier this month, many Brazilian investors believed the Ernst & Young audit would somehow absolve the company.

Those hopes appear to have been dashed, with preliminary reports of Ernst & Young reports confirming fraudulent activity has been found. [Continue reading…]

Last we checked in with Better Living Global Marketing, it’s owner, Luke Teng, was attempting to solicit new investors to cover the scheme’s “cash flow problems“.

In his efforts to schmooze potential investors, Teng (right) made all sorts of claims – one of which was the revelation that he was “seriously considering” taking Better Living public.

Better Living Global Marketing’s cash flow problems began back in early 2014, with affiliate ROI payments grinding to a halt.

Over the past year, BLGM’s failure to pay out its advertised ROI resulted in seventeen BLGM investors lodging complaints with Hong Kong police.

This prompted an investigation by the Commercial Crime Bureau, which ran parallel to Teng desperately trying to attract new investors.

The Bureau’s investigation has now apparently concluded, with Hong Kong police yesterday raiding Better Living Global Marketing’s offices.

Residences of key-insiders of the scheme were also raided, with five arrests made. One of those arrested is described as the owner of the scam, and is believed to be Luke Teng himself. [Continue reading…]

In order to get to the bottom of allegations I’d received that Michigan’s Attorney-General Office had been in contact with Achieve Community’s owners, I reached out to them via email a few days ago.

I received a reply today, which informed me that my email had been turned into a Freedom of Information Act request.

In response to my query, the Michigan AG’s Office informed me that their Consumer Protection Division currently has an open investigation into Achieve Community.

As per the Michigan AG’s Office, the Consumer Protection Division investigation was opened in 2015. Going by the number assigned to my request and the number assigned to the investigation, it would appear to have been launched in January but I can’t say for sure. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the Help1 Direct Money website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Help1 Direct Money website domain (“help1directmoney.com”) was registered on the 16th of September 2014, with a “Robert Pressley” is listed as the domain owner. An address in the US state of Alabama is also provided.

Curiously, the address listed on the Help1 Direct Money domain registration does not match the “company address” listed on their website.

The address listed on the Help1 Direct Money website is in the US state of Georgia and belongs to that of ServCorp. Servcorp, among other things, are a virtual office (mailing address) provider.

As such, Help1 Direct Money would appear to exist in Georgia in name only.

Interestingly enough, the address provided for “Robert Pressley” in the Help1 Direct Money domain registration, belongs to a company called “Mail Box Printing & Mailing”. They too offer virtual mailing addresses.

As such where exactly Help1 Direct Money is being run out of is unclear.  Trying to pull up an MLM history for Robert Pressley also turned up nothing.

One too many wonky co-incidences there for my liking, so I’m going to flag Robert Pressley as possibly not being an actual person.

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…]

A message in the footer of the X100K website claims that the company is ‘powered by I-Affiliate Marketing, Inc.‘

A link for “Corporate Registration” also features in the footer, directing visitors who click on it to what appears to be a registration document for I-Affiliate Marketing Inc. in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

As per the Newfoundland and Labrador government website, this certificate of registration costs $300 CAD ($238 USD).

More to the point, it would appear to have nothing to do with X100K.

A visit to the testimonials section of the X100K website reveal affiliates thanking a “Michael Weber” for creating the company:

Thank you Michael Weber for making X100K! You have made a program noone ever made before, a foolproof sustainable program that will be here a long, long time.

This matches information provided on the X100K website domain, which was registered on the 28th of March 2013. Michael Weber is listed as the domain owner, with an address provided in the US state of Colorado.

A Google search of this address reveals it to be in what appears to be a residential district.

A YouTube channel named “Michael Weber” is filled with promotional videos for X100K, supporting that he is the owner of the company.

Other MLM opportunities Weber (right) has advertised on his YouTube channel include XtremeCashBox, a matrix-based Ponzi cycler.

Weber himself appears to have run XtremeCashBox, which has long since collapsed.

Affiliate marketing for X100K describe Weber as a “matrix specialist & programmer”, suggesting he is no stranger to the matrix-cycler Ponzi scene.

Read on for a full review of the X100K MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

As part of our continued coverage of Zeek Reward’s top thieves being steamrolled in court and having their legal arguments demolished, today we bring you news that the Receiver’s request for Class Certification has been granted.

Before we get into what that means, let’s take a look at the request itself. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the Double Diamond Cycler website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Double Diamond Cycler website domain (“doublediamondcycler.com”) was registered on the 1st of October 2014 and lists a Ronald Crane as the owner. An address in the US state of Florida is also provided.

Supporting this is a YouTube account named “Ron A Crane”, to which several Double Diamond Cycler promotional videos have been uploaded to. These are official company videos, as featured on the Double Diamond Cycler website.

Finally, Crane’s Facebook profile also confirms as much. On it Crane can be seen openly promoting Double Diamond Cycler:

Crane promotes MLM opportunities he’s currently involved in over at a website he’s titled “Expand Your Horizons”.

Currently featured on the site are the following opportunites:

• Momentum Feeder – $25 matrix positions, paying $125 once enough new affiliates have been recruited
• One Buck Marketing – $1 recruitment-driven scheme that pays affiliates to recruit new affiliates
• Kannaway – Hemp-based MLM opportunity

Bit of a mixed bag there… let’s see where a review of Double Diamond Cycler takes us.

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

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

The Paradise Payments website domain (“paradisepayments.com”) was registered on the 3rd of June 2014 and lists an “Optimus Dale” as the owner. An address in the US state of Arkansas is also provided.

A BehindMLM review of MagneticBuilder reveals that “Optimus Dale” is a pseudonym used by Sherm Mason (right).

Magnetic Builder launched in late 2012 and saw affiliates pay $29.95 to qualify to earn commissions when they recruited affiliates who did the same.

I’ve listed a slew of other opportunities Sherm launched in the Magnetic Builder review, all similarly themed.

Is Paradise Payments any different, or is this just another recruitment-driven pyramid scheme from Sherm Mason?

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

Forward: Bear with me… this has all gone down in the last few hours and putting the information together from mostly Portugese-language sources has been difficult. /end forward

Following the proclamation of plans to launch a Ponzi investment bank in the UAE late last year, GetEasy management went into hiding when said plans failed to materialize within the provided timeframes.

With investors wondering where their money went, now comes a series of announcements from various GetEasy ringleaders. [Continue reading…]

Back in September of 2014, the SEC had shut Zhunrize down for being a $105 million dollar Ponzi scheme.

The parties settled in December, with part of the settlement requiring the establishment of a Receivership.

Since then Michael Fuqua has been appointed Receiver in the Zhunrize case.

As part of his Receiver duties, Fuqua has been tasked with

• recovering Zhunrize assets
• identifying and verifying claims against Zhunrize assets
• pursuing and defending any litigation deemed to be in the best interests of the Receivership and, most importantly
• distributing recovered Zhunrize assets to the schemes victims and creditors

As mentioned earlier, Zhunrize was a $105 million dollar Ponzi scheme. Upon shutting it down, the SEC seized approximately $40 million held in various US-based accounts.

Since then the Receivership has gone on to recover an additional $30.7 million, with further recoveries expected pending co-operation from Chinese regulators. [Continue reading…]