Earlier this week I published a review on the BidForMyMeds business opportunity. Key issues identified in the review was the misleading presentation of BidRx’s executive management as that of BidForMyMeds, a lack of disclosure as to who was actually running BidForMyMeds, and concerns over what was essentially a $17 a month chain recruitment scheme.

Within 6 hours of the BehindMLM review going live, BidForMyMeds got in touch and demand that I ‘immediately post a retraction‘. An Andrew Longcore, claiming to be BidForMyMeds “corporate attorney”, claimed that the review was ‘filled with false and misleading information‘. [Continue reading…]

When a Ponzi scheme starts to suspect it might be large enough to attract the attention of regulators, typically one of two things happens:

1. The owners, who may or may not be publicly known, disappear and either shut the company down or hand it over to someone else… or
2. Psuedo-compliance is brought in, with the company washing its hands of any wrong-doing and henceforth blaming its affiliates for promoting the opportunity “out of compliance” and misrepresenting it.

The idea behind the second one is the operators pretty much figure regulators shutting them down is a done deal, so they figure they’ll pretend they had no idea what was going on and just blame everything on their investors.

Guess which option WCM777 Ponzi operator Phil Ming Xu opted for?

Both… [Continue reading…]

With every motion TelexFree has filed in Acre being dismissed or denied and a Judge now sifting through thousands of pages of evidence, things appear to be getting increasingly desperate.

Appearing to have learnt nothing after recently being fined for wasting the court’s time, TelexFree latest hair-brained ploy continues the company’s tradition of ill-advised legal strategies.

Refusing to give up on the notion that the Acre court will permit one of the largest Ponzi schemes Brazil has ever seen to restart, TelexFree have approached Acre’s Public Prosecutors with a new proposal.

Submitted in court on Wednesday January 8th, in a nutshell TelexFree are proposing to refund affiliate investors, on the proviso they be permitted to restart the Ponzi scheme in Brazil. [Continue reading…]

The BidForMyMeds website doesn’t actually contain any information on the company itself.

Where the owner information for BidForMyMeds should be, the company displays information about BidsRX, naming Ralph Kalies as Founder and CEO of BidsRx. Given that the page is titled “About Us”, this is extremely misleading.

As far as I can tell, BidsRx and BidForMyMeds have nothing to do with eachother.

The BidsForMyMeds website does mention that they are “powered by BidRx”, but business wise there’s doesn’t seem to be any connection. Certainly not any that would justify putting BidRx’s executive staff on the BidForMyMeds “About” page.

Meanwhile the BidForMyMeds website domain (“bidformymeds.com”) was registered on the 21st of October 2013, with the registration naming a “Craig Berens” as the owner.

I wasn’t able to find any additional MLM history on Berens, indicating that BidForMyMeds is his first MLM venture. Berens name also does not appear anywhere on the BidsRx website.

The BidForMyMeds website domain uses a Michigan based address, which appears to be where the company is based out of. The BidForMyMeds Terms and Conditions state

Michigan law will govern and enforce this Agreement. Any litigation or arbitration arising out of the use of this website will take place in any state court located within Kent County.

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

Bitcoin Economy is currently in prelaunch with an announced launch set for February 3rd 2014.

The company’s website domain is registered anonymously (“bitcoin-economy.com”, registered 29th November 2013), however the Bitcoin Economy “Terms and Conditions” indicate that the company is registered in Seychelles (a known tax-haven):

This site (excluding third party linked sites) is controlled by the Company from its offices within the State of Seychelles.

Both you and the Company agree that the statutes and laws of Seychelles shall apply to any actions or claims arising out of or on relation to this Agreement or your use of this site.

The Bitcoin Economy affiliate agreement appears to contradict this, stating that

the formation, construction, interpretation, and enforceability of your contract with Bitcoin-Economy as set forth in this Affiliate Agreement and any incorporated documents shall be governed by and interpreted in all respects under the laws of the Netherlands without regard to conflict of law provisions.

Adding more confusion to the mix, the Bitcoin Economy affiliate agreement goes on to state that affiliates are entering

into contract with Direct Selling Global News, Ltd., doing business as “Bitcoin-Economy.”

I couldn’t find any specific information on Direct Selling Global News Ltd., but in the Bitcoin Economy FAQ the company discloses they use Hong Kong based banking channels:

Direct Selling Global News Ltd.
Account number: 848-535290-838
RM 2106 21/F Lemmi Ctr
50 Hoi Yuen RD
Kwun Tong KLN, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Bank info:

HSBC Bank
Head Office, 1 Queen’s Road Central
Hong Kong
SWIFT: HSBCHKHHHKH

Named on the Bitcoin Economy website as CEO of the company is Martin Bylsma (right). On his Bitcoin Economy corporate bio Bylsma is credited with having worked at Vemma (Managing Director, Europe), Agel Enterprises (“GM” for Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Iceland), ACN (Director of Field Support, Europe) and Amway (General Manger, Europe).

On his LinkedIn profile, Bylsma lists himself as operating out of Amsterdam in Norway.

Bitcoin Economy don’t explain why they are using Hong Kong based banking channels, however they do state why they are registered in Seychelles in their FAQ:

Why is the company holding founded in the Seychelles?

As most other classic offshore companies, a Seychelles International Business Company (IBC) is a tax-free corporation designed for engagement into all forms of international business, with no reporting and minimum record-keeping requirements, and comprehensive confidentiality features.

A Seychelles IBC, by the definition of the law, is not subject to any tax or duty on income or profits. It just did not make sense to incorporate our Internet/ Bitcoin company in the USA, Europe or Asia.

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

When we last checked in on Rippln, we noted that the company had gone suspiciously quiet for a few weeks. I say suspiciously because prior to the silence it was a task in itself to sift through Rippln’s hype machine and keep track of the company.

Firing back through Troy Dooly (who “works for some of the investors in Rippln”), CEO Brian Underwood (right) explained that the lack of communication was due to US holidays.

[2:38] I said Brian you’ve been silent, what’s happening?

He said “what are you talking about, it’s Thanksgiving. Some of us left down and went to Thanksgiving prior, some afterwards

We’re still conducting business. Matter of fact we do two calls a week, that isn’t being silent.

Now we haven’t done blog posts and stuff. I can’t win for losing, with you or these other critics.

If I make too much noise, you guys tell me I’m hyping this stuff. If I don’t make any noise cuz we’re working, then we’re “running” or we’re having a eulogy or some crap like that.

Shortly after Underwood’s response, Rippln released its long-awaited Communicator App… and then things went quiet again. A few posts popped up on Rippln’s Facebook page during December, with the last one a Christmas message dated December 25th.

Almost a fortnight later there’s been nothing from Rippln corporate, with affiliates once again left wondering what is going on:

No doubt Underwood’s answer would be “well it’s Christmas and New Years, can’t we get a break”, and for that reason I was going to leave writing a followup till mid January or so.

I say “was” because yesterday news broke that this time around, there might be an entirely different reason for Rippln’s silence. One that strikes at and threatens the future of the company altogether… [Continue reading…]

AdShareMega initially launched in December 2013 but due to a lack of affiliates signing up, was put back into prelaunch till late January 2014.

There’s no mention of who is running AdShareMega on the company’s website, however the company’s website domain (“adsharemega.com”) names a “William Brown” as the owner.

The AdShareMega website domain was registered on the 26th of July 2013 and an address in the US state of Ohio is also provided.

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

One of the top two biggest MLM Ponzi schemes today, WCM777 brought in the new year by announcing it was changing its name to Kingdom777.

Typically when a Ponzi scheme changes its name it’s because of a stigma attached to the old one, with WCM777 however the company is citing all manner of reasons for the change. [Continue reading…]

L’Dara launched in late 2013 and are based out of the US state of Arizona.

Heading up L’Dara, who operate in the personal care MLM niche, is CEO, President and Founder, Ray Faltinsky.

Faltinsky (right) is no stranger to the MLM industry, having launched Freelife back in 1995.

In 1995, cofounders Ray Faltinsky and Kevin Fournier, along with a group of investors including Anson Beard of Morgan Stanley/Dean Witter, launched FreeLife International as a direct sales company based on Ray Faltinsky’s prior research on that business model.

Freelife initially marketing products in the nutritional supplements, weight loss and personal care niches, but today focuses on products containing goji juice.

In 2007, following an undercover investigation by CBC, Freelife came under scrutiny for making claims it’s goji products contained anti-cancer and anti-ageing properties.

FreeLife’s former spokesperson, Earl Mindell, has made several unfounded claims about health benefits of the company’s brand of goji juice, including that it has anticancer and anti-aging properties.

Mindell’s involvement with FreeLife was subject of a CBC hidden camera investigation in January 2007, questioning the unsupported anticancer properties of Himalayan Goji Juice and validity of Mindell’s Ph.D. qualification (which was later proved invalid and removed from Mindell’s biography on the FreeLife website).

Claims that undetermined constituents of goji may have a beneficial effect on cancer derive from preliminary evidence of cancer cell inhibition in vitro (i.e. in a dish).

There is no scientific evidence such effects occur in vivo (i.e. when consumed). H. Leon Bradlow, coauthor of a study that Mindell cites as support for this anticancer claim, says that his original research does not, in fact, prove that goji has any anticancer properties.

To the best of my knowledge no regulatory action took place regarding Mindell’s claims, however in 2009 Freelife again found itself in the headlines after a class-action lawsuit was filed against it.

The lawsuit, filed in Arizona, alleged the company made

false claims, misrepresentations, false and deceptive advertising and other issues regarding FreeLife’s Himalayan Goji Juice, GoChi, and TaiSlim products’.

Freelife settled the lawsuit April 2010, making a donation to an “educational organization and promising to ‘take steps to ensure that its goji products are not marketed as “unheated” or “raw.”‘

Today Faltinsky is still listed as “CEO and Founder” of Freeslim on the company website:

In his Freelife executive bio dated 2011, Faltinsky wrote

With the launch of the new TAIslim 90 Day Challenge in October 2011, FreeLife will soon become ‘The Worldwide Leader in Healthy Weight Loss’ and achieve multi-billions in sales.

Those Leaders who lock arms with us now are in a unique position to create an incredible financial future.

Whether or not Freelife became a “worldwide leader in weight loss” and achieved “multi-billions in sales” is unclear, however today Faltinsky’s focus appears to have shifted over to L’dara.

Read on for a full review of the L’dara International MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

iBizWave claims to have been “founded in 2012” as iBizWave LLC. A visit to iBizWave’s website (“ibizwave.com”) reveals that the company is currently in prelaunch with “a few hundred beta testers”.

Despite this, iBizWave also claim to have “5500 customers in 170+ countries”:

How iBizWave have thousands of customers when the company hasn’t even launched is not immediately clear.

A tweet from iBizWave’s official Twitter account advises that the company expects to launch on January 15th, 2014:

Heading up iBizWave is CEO and co-founder James Ward (right). In his iBizWave corporate bio, Ward writes

I started my career as a money manager for a major Wall Street firm straight out of college. I learned a lot about the way money flows, and gained a lot of experience.

Even thought (sic) I was very successful in this profession, somewhere along the way I lost the passion.

I knew there had to be something better out there for me, so I started looking online for business opportunities to work on the side.

I literally spent tens of thousands of dollars paying designers, online marketing firms, and taking courses on how to setup my sales funnels and websites.

The good news is I get to introduce a system today that will eliminate 99% of the struggles that I went through, and save your (sic) some serious time and money.

On the MLM side of things James Ward founded and was CEO of the LGN Prosperity (also known as the “Little Guy Network”).

LGN Prosperity launched in 2007 and market travel cards, which in turn offer access to third-party travel discounts. Retail was an option in the opportunity but due to the one-time use of the travel discount cards, repeat business was non-existent (LGN Prosperity affiliates were not paid if card-holders booked travel services).

Today the status of LGN Prosperity is unclear, with the LGN Prosperity website advising it is down for “scheduled network downtime”:

I’m not sure exactly when the site went offline, but Google’s cache dates the same message back to December 26th of last year.

If I had to take a guess, I’d say that iBizWave has been prelaunched with the aim to replace LGN Prosperity.

Over at the LGN Prosperity Facebook page, iBizWave is openly promoted using the LGN Prosperity corporate account.

In a video published on the site on December 2nd 2013, James Ward urges LGN Prosperity affiliates to “upgrade” as there’s “only three days left” in which to do so.

This “upgrade” appears to be a grandfathering in type deal, with LGN Prosperity allowing affiliates to migrate over to iBizWave for $40 USD (advertised as “a 20% discount off of Retail Price”).

The upgrade splash page is over at “ibizwave.org”, on which Ward writes

Welcome ALL LGN Members to iBizWave.com I am so happy to announce I am the new CEO and Co-Founder of iBizWave.com.

Most importantly I am excited to be in a fantastic position to share this amazing opportunity with all the LGN Family first before introducing it to the rest of world.

I want to say THANK YOU for making LGN a huge success!

I truly believe that iBizWave will greatly surpass what was accomplished with LGN, and change tens of thousands of lives along the way.

The past tense used and ability for LGN Prosperity affiliates to migrate over with their downlines intact, would certainly suggest that iBizWave is replacing LGN Prosperity.

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