Launched in the wake of the Ponzi schemes BBOM and TelexFree, GetEasy targeted investors from the same countries BBOM and TelexFree had previously flourished in.

Having exhausted that market, the scheme soon spread its wings to greater South America and Europe – with the latest reports indicating GetEasy has now also main inroads into Asia (Malaysia and India) and Africa.

Problems for the company first arose when the front GetEasy used to justify the shuffling of new investor money to existing investors began to fall apart.

Probably the most damaging was the revelation that the tracker company GetEasy had long professed to source GPS trackers from, announcing they have nothing to do with the company:

TachoEASY AG has recently become aware of the fact, that the trade name TachoEASY was associated with the Geteasy Group.

We have received a large number of statements of actual consumer confusion. We were also approached by third parties and asked about our possible relation to Tachoeasy Iberica.

TachoEASY AG is not affiliated with these entities and demanded vis-à-vis Tachoeasy Iberica that they immediately cease and desist any and all use of the trade name and logo TachoEASY.

The products distributed by Tachoeasy Iberica are not the original products developed and sold by our company, the TacoEASY AG. Any statements to the contrary are false.

There have also been reports that music streaming service Pleimo, another GetEasy smoke and mirrors relationship, terminated their relationship with the company after GetEasy failed to pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees.

Note that I myself wasn’t able to confirm this but it has been widely reported in GetEasy affiliate circles, so perhaps take it with a grain of salt.

As the threads of the elaborate web GetEasy had spun to cover its Ponzi operations came undone,  regulatory problems also began to surface.

October saw “Polícia Judiciária (Portugal’s primary law enforcement agency for criminal investigations), reveal they had launched an investigation into the company. In the following month the Bank of Portugal then warned investors that GetEasy were

not authorised, in Portuguese territory, to accept deposits or other repayable funds (nor to carry on any other financial activity subject to the supervision of Banco de Portugal).

Reports of GetEasy payment problems had already surfaced prior to the bank’s warning and police investigation, with the lack of payment issue remaining unresolved to this day.

Around mid-December rumours of a new company name have emerged and hints at possible new smoke and mirrors contracts to mask the flow of new funds to existing investors abound.

Now, after broken promises and then mostly silence from GetEasy corporate, CEO Tiago Fontoura has made a series of New Years Eve announcements.

In a thirteen minute video uploaded to YouTube, Fontoura attempts to set the record straight. [Continue reading…]

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

The MPT Max website does have an “about us” page, however only the following vague information is provided:

MPT Max is a Williams Corporation brand.

When you trade with MPT Max, your counterpart is Williams Corporation Limited, Hong Kong.

Williams Corporation also manages MPT Max`s back office among other administrative tasks, and uses Simray AS (Simray AS) of Norway as its partner in processing transaction such as account fundings and withdrawals.

Established by veteran trading professionals, Williams Corporation empowers fast, secure and accurate trading execution for online foreign exchange businesses.

Simray AS appear to be a real company, who on their website claim to provide ‘trading technology for the finance industry‘.

In a warning issued to investors back in 2011, the Austrian Financial Market Authority wrote

Williams Corporation Ltd. (“My Private Trade”) is not authorised to carry out certain banking transactions requiring a licence in Austria. Trading for one’s own account or on behalf of others in financial futures contracts including equivalent instruments settled in cash as well as call and put options on the instruments listed in lit. a and d to f, including equivalent instruments settled in cash (futures and options business) pursuant to Art. 1 para. 1 no. 7 lit. c BWG is therefore not allowed.

My Private Trade appears to be an affiliate portal for Williams Corporation, with the company referring to its agents as affiliates.

It’s also likely what the “MPT” stands for in the company name “MPT Max”.

Things get murkier with regulators in Slovenia identifying My Private Trade as synonymous with Simray AS.

In 2010 the Slovenian Securities Market Agency (ATVP) issued their own warning against Simray AS:

Slovene Securities Market Agency is warning investors about activities of the company SIMRAY ASA.

SIMRAY ASA, which is offering their services thorough internet site “myprivatetrade.com”, has not obtained the Agency’s authorization according to Market in Financial Instruments Act (official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia 67/2007, 100/2007, 69/2008 and 40/2009) or any other securities law to carry out services in the financial instruments field in Slovenia.

SIMRAY ASA is not authorized under the MiFID directive to provide direct investment services and deals related to financial instruments on the territory of the Republic of Slovenia.

The Agency strongly urges investors considering dealing with company SIMRAY ASA to exercise the greatest possible caution before proceeding, bearing in mind the contents of this public notice.

So Simray AS is Williams Trade is My Private Trade is MPT Max. But who’s running the show?

Norwegian Wikipedia fills in the blanks:

My Private Trade is an Internet-based currency trading service operated in cooperation between the Norwegian company Simray AS and the Hong Kong -based Williams Corporation Ltd. The concept operated from Copenhagen and Dubai.

The company was founded by Ståle Fossberg and Morten Oseberg Andersen under the name Simray Holdings LLC, but later changed its name to Simray ASA and finally Simray AS.

Fossberg is a Norwegian radio worker and former co-owner of T5PC Travel who was affiliated (with the) pyramid game T5PC.

Andersen is also the president of Norwegian Business Group in the United Arab Emirates. Simray was also involved in online gambling concept Playroom4you which was discontinued in 2012.

In addition to offering its customers to make money on currency trading, it is also an income opportunity by referring new customers to the concept of business model multi-level marketing (MLM).

Several European countries have issued warnings to their citizens against placing money in the concept because it is not MiFID authorized.

On their websites rejects My Private Trade all these allegations and believes that these warnings is about misunderstanding of the business concept. They also deny that they engaged in pyramid schemes.

The authorities in Hong Kong have also warned Williams Corporation because they believe the company has no license to provide financial services.

Sure enough, a visit to the “legal” page on the MPT Max website reveals the following notice:

From time to time, MPT Max and its service providers Williams Corporations Ltd. and Simray AS receive enquiries from Financial Authorities about their operations and the services offered.

It is apparently not always clear the nature of this business and the services provided, but we are always happy to provide any information and clarification required.

However, in some rare cases our communications fail in such a way that financial authorities occasionally misinterpret the information we provide and believe that MPT Max and its service providers operate in a business sector that they do not.

In some extreme cases, the financial authorities even post a public warning indicating that we are offering services we are not actually offering.

MPT Max and its service providers do not offer services such as banking or futures or option trading.

When any financial authority inaccurately issues warnings against MPT Max offering such services, it results in negative and unjust publicity for MPT Max and its service providers.

If anyone becomes aware of any unjustified warnings, please contact us immediately so that our legal department can take action and try to clarify this with the relevant authority.

So with the above perhaps addressing the regulatory banking and options trading concerns, the question remains… is MPT Max, My Private Trade, Williams Corporation and Simray AS one big pyramid scheme?

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

So far the court-appointed Zeek Receivership has sued the $850 million dollar Ponzi scheme’s top domestic (US) net-winners and their Canadian counterparts.

Now, in a lawsuit filed on the 29th of December, the Receivership is going after Zeek’s top Australian net-winners too. [Continue reading…]

MOBE, which stands for “My Online Business Empire, was founded in 2011 by Matt Lloyd (full name Matt Lloyd McPhee).

Based out of Australia, Llloyd claims to have launched MOBE ‘after spending several years with very little success with internet marketing‘.

My goal was to create a system that offered a person everything they needed to build an online business:  rather than them having to go through the years of trial and error I did.

On his LinkedIn profile, Llloyd (right) lists only LifePath as an MLM company he was involved in prior to MOBE.

Lloyd joined LifePath in 2008, a year before graduating from the University of Western Australia.

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

There’s no information on the Ezi Net Income website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Ezi Net Income website domain (“ezinetincome.com”) was registered on the 23rd of October 2014, and lists a “Dena Mullens” as the owner. An address in NSW, Australia is also provided.

While Mullens name doesn’t appear ton the Ezi Net Income website itself, Google has picked up a page featured on what appears to be some sort of Ezi Net Income traffic rotator:

Clicking through this result brings visitors to the website of “Retire Early Team”, also owned and operated by Mullens.

Describing her involvement in MLM as “years of disappointment”, Mullens introduces herself and explains what Retire Early Team is:

Hi, I am Dena Mullens owner and creator of the Retire Early Team and I would like to thank you for stopping by and viewing this website.

Our program can best be described as a Downline Builder program, that concentrates on building teams in several different programs.

Not surprisingly, Retire Early Team is a money-spinner for Mullens herself. Two paid membership levels are offered, each increasing the advertising exposure for the opportunities Mullen’s recommends through Retire Early Team.

Members of Retire Early Team are also paid commissions to recruit new members into the downline builder.

Through Retire Early Team and in addition to Ezi Net Income, the MLM companies Mullens is currently promoting include

• Four Corners Alliance ($29.95 a month recruitment scheme)
• Paradise Payments ($2 three-tier matrix recruitment scheme)
• Its5Bux ($5 two-tier matrix recruitment scheme)
• Direct Pay Biz ($9 two-tier matrix recruitment scheme) and
• MyNyloxin (matrix opportunity coupled with a “Media Unit” Ponzi investment scheme)

Every member that joins the Retire Early Team must purchase a level 1 position in the Ezi Net Income Program.

This program, whilst standing on its own merits in the market place, primarily serves as a feeder program for the Four Corners Alliance Program and the Retire Early Team Gold Member program.

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

Before we go any further, I’m just going to go ahead and say it: paid video communication services today are entirely redundant.

I mean really, $125 plus $20 a month ($365 annually) for video email? Is this some kind of joke?

Quite obviously, nobody is paying Talk Fusion thousands of dollars for video communication services. Considering what’s available today for free in this niche, not even by a long shot.

–BehindMLM Talk Fusion Review (August 2014)

Meet Minh Ho and Julie Campagna. Together they own and operate MJ Rich Media Corp. and joined Talk Fusion in 2007.

During their time with Talk Fusion, Ho and Campagna achieved the rank of “Presidential Blue Diamond. Not an easy thing to do, considering they claim to be the only Talk Fusion affiliates “out of millions” to ever qualify.

Earning roughly $2 million annually, Ho and Campagna were suspended as affiliates on October 10th.

Talk Fusion terminates distributors based on the selective and arbitrary application of the one-sided, unfair, vague, and unenforceable terms and provisions contained in the Policies.

On December 10th, Ho and Campagna’s affiliate status with Talk Fusion was formally terminated.

Now, in a lawsuit alleging fraud and injustice, the gloves have come off. And if Ho and Campagna are to be believed, how Talk Fusion is being operated and managed is cause for serious concern. [Continue reading…]

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

Using an annoying “infinite scroll” design template, the Preiscoin website only offers up that the company is purportedly based out of Switzerland:

The Swiss Preiscoin Emission System is based in Switzerland!

Can you think of anything more reliable when it comes to money?

Me personally? Well, yeah – such as who owns Preiscoin for a start… But for whatever reason, Preiscoin don’t want you to know that.

The owner of the Website and the Service Provider is PRS Group AG based in Buchs, 35 Churerstrasse, 9470 Buchs, Switzerland registered in the Commercial Registry of the Canton of St. Gallen under the number CHE-218550229.

Supporting their claim that Preiscoin is based out of Switzerland is the listing off all currencies on the site being in Swiss Francs (CHF).

I can’t see an MLM company not based in Switzerland going out of their way to use Swiss Francs, so at least this much suggests whoever is running Preiscoin is based in Switzerland (or somewhere close in Europe).

One possible suspect is “Mateusz Kurleto”, who the Preiscoin website domain is registered to. Kurleto appears on the Preiscoin domain registration with an address in the Pomorskie region of Poland.

The email address used to register the domain points to the company “Neoteric”, which appears to be a Polish software development company.

In the absence of clear information detailing Preiscoin’s management stucture on their website, whether Kurleto is directly involved in Preiscoin is unclear.

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…]

The Cycles 24/7 website domain (“cycles247.com”) was registered on the 19th of November 2014, however the domain registration is set to private.

Buried in the Cycles 24/7 FAQ is the claim that a “Richard Fleming” is the owner of the scheme.

I’m going to flag this is a likely fraudulent creation, based on the broken English used on the Cycles 24/7 website.

Here are just a few examples of the many grammatical errors that feature on the site:

We only charge a fee on withdrawals which is 5%.

If withdrawal went as pending please don’t panic.

We have set a daily withdrawal limit per payment processor once it reached all further withdrawal requests will become pending.

Experience would have me suggest the use of an Anglo-Saxon name and broken English indicates an Indian admin. These characteristics are typical of less than legitimate schemes operating out of India.

Alexa estimates that the top two countries traffic-wise to the Cycles 24/7 domain are the US (22.5%) and India (11.4%). I’d explain the US appearing first as it being a major source of promotion.

Note that an Indian admin is only a suggestion based on my experience having reviewed hundreds of MLM opportunities. What I am sure of however is that it’s more than likely “Richard Fleming”, as portrayed on the Cycles 24/7 website, doesn’t exist.

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 Reach Society website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Reach Society website does have an “about us” page, but only the following vague marketing copy is provided:

We are a group of entrepreneurs, networkers, and independent thinkers who believe that the path to true success can be found by striving to reach our goals by creating and offering opportunity to help others reach their goals.

We are founded on the principle that transparency and honesty, in the grand scheme of things, are more valuable and meaningful than hype and empty promises.

At the bottom of Reach Society’s “about us” page there’s an image of a woman:

No mention is made on the page explaining who this person is, but the filename for the image is “jhen_image_trs.jpg”.

Further research reveals that the woman in the image is Jhen Tripp.

The Reach Society website domain was registered on the 19th of November 2014, and lists Tripp (credited as Jenalyn Cabanag Tripp) as the owner of the domain.

On one of her Facebook profiles, Tripp lists her location as the US state of South Dakota.

Another Facebook profile bearing Tripp’s likeness is registered under the name “Myjhen Cabanag”:

There’s no mention of Reach Society on either of Tripp’s Facebook profiles, however her picture appearing on Reach Society’s “about us” page and name on the domain registration all but confirms she owns the company.

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

Sannderly Vasconcelos Rodrigues (Sann Rodrigues for short), was one of the top investors in the billion dollar Ponzi scheme, TelexFree.

For his part in stealing over three million dollars from investors who joined after him, Rodrigues (right) saw himself named as a defendant in an April 2014 SEC complaint.

As part of that case, which is on hold until the criminal case against TelexFree’s founders is concluded, Rodrigues saw himself slapped with a preliminary injunction back in May.

Among other things, this injunction saw Rodrigues ‘ordered to cease conducting any further fraud involving securities or otherwise‘.

Today I thought I’d raise the question of whether Rodrigues is meeting this court-ordered obligation. [Continue reading…]