BehindMLM first reviewed Xseed Health during its pre-launch infancy late last year.

Despite signing up affiliates, at the time the company had practically no information up on what affiliates could expect come their January 2014 launch. I was highly critical of this, as I believe if you’re going to sign people up, you at least need to be providing them the basic cost structure and compensation plan (how they will get paid).

If neither of those details haven’t been fleshed out yet, then to put it bluntly you shouldn’t enter prelaunch until they are.

Now, six months after Xseed’s launch we revisit the opportunity to see where they’re at. Read on for a full review of the Xseed MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

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

The company’s website domain (“brokersads.com”) was registered on the 15th of April 2014, however the domain registration is set to private.

Whether or not Brokers Ads has any US presence is questionable, but the company does state in its Terms and Conditions that

These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by the federal law of the United States of America and the state law of Nevada.

The Brokers Ads compensation plan material states that the company owns a PO Box in Belize, a known tax-haven.

Indicating likely ownership in neither Belize or the US though is the language used on the Brokers Ads website.

Here’s one example from a “news” item dated July 2nd:

Dear Affiliates, On the time of Technical Problem, Many Members buy Brown panel and now Brown panel Capped ratio is too much slow, Because 100’s Brown Panels buy from each and evry (sic) user,

So very soon we are giving you roll up option so you have to be roll up your brown panel and follow company rules, all Others Panel working smoothly, but brown panel will be capped very slow now,

Thanks
B.A Team

Alexa reveals the domain brokersads.com has a whopping 42.4% visitorship from Pakistan, making it the likely candidate for residency of the owner(s). The UK is second on the geographic list with 17.9% of the domain traffic, so that’s a possibility too.

Further supporting this is the citing of “Mark Alfred” and “Mark Charlie” as Directors of the company in the Brokers Ads compensation plan material.

The use of fake generic Anglo-Saxon names is consistent with dubious schemes being operated out of India and its neighboring countries, or Indian/Pakistani nationals operating out of the UK.

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…]

Formerly known as “Coin Generation”, establishing where Digital Generation is being run out of is a bit of a challenge.

The company advertises four addresses on its website:

• a “headquarters” in Porto, Portugal
• an “administrative office” in California in the US
• a “legal unit” in London, England and
• an “offshore division” in Belize

Digital Generation’s “headquarters” is nothing more than a rented virtual office from Regus. Photoshopped images from the Regus website of The Brasilia Building attempt to give the impression that Digital Generation has physical office space there, but they obviously do not:

Not surprisingly, the address provided for the “administrative office” is also virtual, belonging to Servcorp.

The “legal unit” is an address of a business that offers rented mailboxes, as seen below in Google Maps:

View Larger Map

Meanwhile the Belize address is full of companies that offer offshore corporation services, being also entirely virtual in nature as far as Digital Generation is concerned.

There is naturally no information on the Digitial Generation website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The generic name “Mark Peterson” appears as the owner of the domain “coingeneration.com”, but given the deception exhibited thus far, I’m inclined to say it’s unlikely this person exists.

The address in Portugal sticks out like a sore thumb and if I had to guess, I’d say that’s likely where the anonymous owners of Digital Generation are operating out of. The offshore registration in Belize is probably the only legit listing out of the bunch, and was done so solely to hide the owners’ money.

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 Med Saver Direct website indicating who owns or runs the business. The company’s Terms and Conditions do state however that,

All disputes will be settled in St. Louis County Missouri, United States of America.

indicating that this is where the company is being run out of.

The Med Saver Direct website domain (“medsaverdirect.com”) was registered on the 20th of February 2014, and lists a “Paul Schneider” as the owner. An address in Missouri is also provided, which matches Med Saver Direct’s Terms and Conditions.

Schneider’s YouTube account is used to host the official Med Saver Direct marketing videos, which are used embedded throughout the Med Saver Direct website.

Given this, it would appear Paul Schneider owns the company, however the nature of his relationship to Med Saver Direct is not disclosed anywhere on the company website.

Update 19th November 2015 – Paul Schneider has been in touch and with respect to BidForMyMeds, claims the following:

Craig Berens hired my firm Marathon Software to build a system to sell the services provided by BidRx.

Berens has an agreement with Dr. Ralph Kalies to distribute the BidRx services through associations and through MLM outlets.

We built the system with all custom source code for $20,000, integrated all payment processing and APIs for eligibility into the BidRx system in Wisconsin.

Berens asked me to be the first distributor and to recruit people interested in medical / pharmacy sales.

I recruited Larry Lalumodiere.

Larry built a team of over 2,600 distributors in 6 weeks. Commissions were paid weekly for 6 weeks.

Berens made $11,000 after all expenses the first week. I was the system admin person, so I had all of the costs outlined to each vendor and the sales commissions to the field sales people.

A number of so called heavy hitters met Craig Berens by phone. These heavy hitters were all in Lalumondiere’s downline.

They, the heavy hitters, established a Leadership Group. Larry and I were immediately excluded.

They told Bererns this could be a billion dollar company and Berens would be very wealthy.

They said Larry and I were in the way of this incredible growth.

I was terminated without cause.

Lalumondiere then started MedSaverDirect.

/end update

Comment #7 below the linked comment above, from the same reader, goes on to detail a cease and desist filed against Schneider by the state of Missouri.

Schneider was issued the cease and desist in 2012 for committing securities fraud.

The Missouri Securities Division went on to file a enforcement action against Schneider for securities fraud, with an enforcement order made in May of 2013.

The Commissioner finds Respondent (Schneider) offered and/or sold unregistered, non-exempt securities.

Respondent (is) permanently enjoined and restrained from offering and selling unregistered, non-exempt securities.

Respondent is ordered to pay seven thousand dollars ($7000) in restitution.

Respondent is ordered to pay one thousand dollars ($1000) as the cost of this investigation.

A suspended payment of $25,000 to the Missouri Secretary of State’s Investor Education and Protection Fund was also ordered, pending Schneider does not violate the Securities Act for three years from the date of the order.

The companies in question were MVP and SkyBuddy, which from what I gather was some kind of online gaming MLM.

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

AutoMatrix gained traction around the time TelexFree was busted by the SEC. The company website is in Portuguese and along with the local Brazilian domain registration, is quite obviously aimed at ex-TelexFree investors in Brazil.

There is no information on the AutoMatrix website indicating who owns or runs the business. The company’s website domain (“automatrix.com.br) however, lists an “Emmanuel Richard de Moura” from “OnBIT Tecnologia da Informação Ltda” as the owner.

OnBIT Technology appear to be a programming firm whose flagship product is a software suite they call “OnBIT S2”. The suite is given away for free, with the company instead relying on charging clients for support.

OnBIT S2 comes in a variety of applications, ranging from video stores, to handymen to political parties. A total of twenty-one applications are listed on the OnBIT website but, somewhat curiously, neither MLM or network marketing are one of them.

I was going to give OnBIT the benefit of the doubt and write it off as one of their clients running the software (with OnBIT perhaps just providing hosting), but then I noticed the AutoMatrix website is hosted on the same server as OnBIT Technology’s own website.

Also hosted on the same server is something called “Virtual Fort” (“fortevirtual.com.br”), which advertises itself as an “autosurf” scheme. Typically an autosurf scheme pays participants to view websites, which are provided via an automated rotator.

OnBitS2 features on at least one of the rotating advertisements shown on the Virtual Fort website.

What the exact story is there I’m not sure, but it would appear that Emmanuel de Moura and OnBIT are, on some level, involved in the running of AutoMatrix.

Given that “autosurf” also doesn’t appear as an advertised variation of OnBIT S2, one possibility is that OnBIT are perhaps testing out new uses for the suite before they release them to the public.

In any event, read on for a full review of the AutoMatrix MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

IDLife launched in early 2014 and are based in the US state of Texas.

Heading up IDLife management is CEO Logan Stout. In his IDLife corporate bio, Stout credits himself with ‘time in the ministry, business world, pro and college sports‘.

As a 10-time World Series player and coach, a leader of one of the largest companies in the country, and Founder of one of the best and largest baseball organizations in the world, there is no doubt Logan knows how to impact individuals, groups, organizations and companies alike!

On the MLM side of things, Stout (right) cites affiliate membership with Ignite on his LinkedIn profile. Reaching the rank of “Presidential Director”, Stout joined Ignite in April 2005 and left in September of 2013.

Ignite Energy operate in the energy MLM niche and are still around today. In various marketing campaigns for both IDLife and Ignite, Stout is credited as being the number two earner in Ignite when he left.

I wasn’t able to find any information on why Stout left Ignite, however a few months later IDLife went into prelaunch – indicating the launch of IDLife was likely the core reason for his depature.

Prior to Ignite, Stout was an affiliate with Advocare (nutrition and weight loss). Stout joined Advoare in early 2000 and presumably left around the time he signed up with Ignite in 2005.

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

Spinding went into prelaunch in January and offered affiliates cycler positions. Priced between $30 – $1890, the company required a constant stream of new affiliates to buy positions in the cyclers to keep paying out positions at the top.

Being the legal compliance disaster that it was, it was entirely unsurprising that the official launch was delayed due to payment processors being unwilling to take on the risk Spinding’s business model brought with it.

Eventually finding a home with i-Payout, who despite being caught up in the TelexFree Ponzi scheme case, continue to provide payment services to a number of questionable opportunities, Spinding eventually launched… and then flopped.

With the cycler queues all but stalling shortly after launch, Paul Nash decided to implement a matrix layer to the scheme. The idea was that matrix payments would spur recruitment, which in turn would result in cycler positions being purchased.

After months of excuses and delays, angry Spinding affiliates who had previously ignored the glaring compliance issues with the scheme began to question its legitimacy. [Continue reading…]

LEO, which stands for “Learn Earn Own” launched in 2012 and claim to have global headquarters in the UK.

I say claim because LEO’s supplied address, Howberry Manor is part of the Howberry Business Park.

Howberry Business Park provide a list of businesses in the park, with LEO being noticeably absent.

I’d be inclined to give the company the benefit of the doubt and suggest that perhaps the Howberry Park business listing wasn’t a complete directory, but when I punched in LEO’s other office addresses into Google here’s what I found:

• Dubai – PO Box
• Hong Kong – virtual mailing address provided by JumpStart ($134 HKD ($17.30 USD) a month)
• Egypt – virtual office space provided by Regus
• India – virtual office space provided by Regus
• Turkey – lawyer office uses same address, advertises “virtual office serves” on their website (difficulty with language barrier)
• Germany – “LEO Tower” address doesn’t appear to exist, website advises a LEO Tower might one day be built in Dubai

Given this, I’m putting a question mark as to whether or not LEO has any actual office space anywhere in the world.

Listed as the Founder, CEO and President of LEO is a one Mr. Dan Andersson (right).

Andersson’s LEO corporate profile is light on specifics, and instead reads as vague marketing copy:

In many ways Dan’s career has been a quest to find a platform to act as a catalyst for this vision of personal and professional development.

As a by product of this search he has gained European and Global direct selling executive experience; he did management and training consultancy to Fortune 500 companies.

Dan’s most relevant experience is probably when he was a training consultant, starting out of nowhere building a consultancy contributing to some of Europe’s most successful companies.

Clients included Toyota, DHL, Phillips, Digital Equipment, some of the largest retailers in the UK, banks, professional service firms, and a whole cross section of modern and traditional business.

After being a successful consultant he found himself back in Direct Selling when a UK Telecoms company asked him to join them as European Sales Director.

After that he joined one of the largest Chinese companies in the world and ended up as one of six Vice Presidents. Dan was responsible for the 24 countries in Europe, as well as Israel, Canada and USA.

I believe the “UK Telecoms COmpany” mentioned above is none other than SiteTalk/Unaico. BusinessForHome cited Andersson as President of the company in 2011.

Unaico SiteTalk was a failed MLM venture that revolved around a social network. A virtual share offering was tied into the business, along with commission qualification based on how much an affiliate paid the company.

Little to no retail activity took place, with SiteTalk Unaico collapsing around the time Annderson left in 2012. They’ve since rebranded as The Opportunity Network and have gone on to release multiple revisions of their Site Talk social network.

Last I checked in the company continued to operate at a loss and were trying to crack into the US market.

How much of  hand Andersson played in all of that panning out I have no idea, but as President he would have had some direct involvement back in the early Unaico SiteTalk days.

In any event, after apparently realizing that opportunity was going nowhere, Andersson abandoned ship and went on to launch LEO.

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

Hot on the heels being granted permission to subpoena several individuals and companies in relation to their involvement with TelexFree, Stephen Darr has dropped a second motherload of subpoena requests.

No less than eight parties are named in this second round, with Darr requesting permission to “obtain documents” and conduct “oral examinations” for the purpose of aiding ‘the Trustee in his continuing investigation into the Debtors’ financial affairs‘.

In no particular order, the eight parties Darr has issued fresh subpoena requests to are [Continue reading…]

A few weeks back news broke that the Norwegian Gaming Board had concluded their investigation into Lyoness.

Known for their thorough regulatory analysis of MLM companies in the past (see Wealth Masters and World Ventures), it was hoped that the Gaming Board’s conclusion would shed light on some of the figures behind the scheme. In particular, how much of the company’s revenue was derived from investment in account units, and how much of it was from non-investing shopper members.

Unfortunately when the Gaming Board announced their decision, not much was made public.

(The) Gaming Board has considered the business of our company Lyoness in Norway.The conclusion is now clear.

The Company does not engage in illegal activities in Norway.

The (Gaming Board’s) preliminary audit report concludes Lyoness (is) not engaged in an illegal pyramid sales system in Norway in violation of the Lottery Act § 16 second paragraph.

This conclusion is based on the information that the Gaming Board has about Lyonness operations in Norway today.

We’ll be back with more detailed information on the matter later.

That was it.

While we’re still waiting for an official breakdown of the decision, Norwegian newspaper VG has managed to score an interview with the Gaming Board’s Monica Alisøy Kjelsnes. [Continue reading…]