Not so much an MLM company as a website + script, Bungee Bones is owned by a one Mr. Robert Febure. No contact details are provided on the BungeeBones website, however the domain’s registration lists an address in the US state of Florida. Presumably this is where BungeeBones operates out of.

I wasn’t able to find any concrete MLM related history on Febure, indicating that BungeeBones is his first stab at running an MLM company.

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

With TelexFree affiliates publishing all sorts of rubbish pertaining to the SEC investigation of the company, it was only a matter of time before the company itself would have to address the regulatory elephant in the room.

Unfortunately those hoping for information on the Wednesday subpoena summons are going to be left disappointed. TelexFree’s lawyers have made it clear the company is not interested in sharing what went down. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the DualAdCycles website indicating who owns or runs the business. The DualAdCycles website domain (“dualadcycles.com”) was registered on the 9th of January 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…]

Quick Pay Group (also known as Qpay) is set to enter pre-launch in April 2014. In its official compensation plan material an expected launch date is set for July 1st, 2014.

Quick Pay Group claim to be based out Belize (a known tax-haven) and list a “Larry Jones” as the company’s CEO and Founder. No specifics about Jones are provided, other than the following vague marketing copy:

Mr. Jones has a decade long experience in Corporate Management. Serving a multi-national corporation, for which he was responsible for management of Global Expansion and Outreach programs.

His experience has gained him profound practical knowledge and understanding of factors that drive business growth and development. He has helped numerous individuals, from various financial, educational and racial backgrounds, become successful by realizing their true potential.

With QPG, Larry Jones aims to take these endeavors to a whole new level to broaden the outreach of opportunities that lead to success.

A lot of Quick Pay Group’s official marketing material is in British pounds, and their “Chief Operation Officer & IT Senior Adviser” is listed as a “Jasbir Singh Awapal”

I don’t know what it is with Indians, England and fake-sounding Anglo-Saxon names, but I’m going to have to flag “Larry Jones” as likely to not be a real person.

Jasbir Awapal on the other hand appears to be an actual person, and is responsible for building the Quick Pay Solutions website. Hidden in the source-code of the Quick Pay Solutions website is a link to Awapal’s web-design company:

Based out of New Delhi, India, Awapal Solutions provide “MLM softwares”, one of which is an “investment plan MLM software”.

On his Facebook profile, Awapal lists himself as the Director of Awapal Solutions:

Call me cynical but I’m going to suggest that the reality behind Quick Pay Group is that Awapal is running it out of India, possibly with an additional partner or partners unknown.

The Quick Pay Group website domain (“qpay.biz”) was registered on the 14th of October 2014, listing a “Moise Thomas” of “Quick Group Ltd” as the domain owner. An address in Belize City is also provided.

Who Moise Thomas is and what his relationship with to Quick Pay Group is remains unclear.

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

At the time of publication NextLevelX is currently in prelaunch, with the company website indicating the opportunity is a marriage between crowd-funding and MLM.

Named on the NextLevelX website as the founder of the company is a “Leslie Robert Wolfe”. In his NextLevelX corporate bio, Wolfe is credited with a whole stack of marketing achievements, however outside of NextLevelX, none of them appear to be directly MLM related (although some do appear to tie in with MLM training).

On the NextLevelX website, the company’s crowd-funding platform, “Crowd Fund Giving”, is credited as a trademark of the “Chamber of Commerce Network”. In his corporate bio, Wolfe provides some history of the Chamber of Commerce:

In the year 2000, I started the Blue Diamond, Nevada, Business Chamber Of Commerce. It was me and a few other people. After a year, the other people decided it wasn’t worth their time, so I took over all operations.

As I added more benefits to the Chamber, I realized it could be done on a National basis. So I also created the Chamber Of Commerce Network.

The idea is to make the membership so powerful, that people had to join. Our Platinum Membership (the only one we have) retails for $395. The membership is primarily used as a premium or incentive for licensing purposes.

What other Chambers won’t do is give their members an endorsement. You can be a member, but they will not endorse your business. WE DO endorse businesses. In addition, we also give them a AAA+ Rating and a guarantee that we will not tarnish their name in the the (sic) media or publish complaints.

We also guarantee that the business will profit from using the Endorsement and AAA+ Rating. If they don’t, they get their money back.

Wolfe (right) goes on to provide an example of how he “guarantees” membership with his Chamber of Commerce generates profit for businesses who sign up, using restaurants as an example:

Created The “Chamber Of Commerce Network” Restaurant, 5-Star Rating.

This 5-Star Rating business model guarantees fine-dining restaurants at least $60,000 in additional profits per year.

They choose which entree and dessert is suited for the 5-Star Rating. Now that they have it, those items will increase in sales and profits.

Restaurants cannot lose.

Exactly how Wolfe “guarantees” to “increase the sales and profits” of products given a 5 star rating by his Chamber of Commerce is not explained.

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

As first reported by Patrick Pretty, the US state of Massachusetts Securities Division has confirmed they are investigating TelexFree. A US investigation was first announced by Brazilian Public Prosecutor Alessandra Marques back in January, with TelexFree denying there was an investigation taking place at the time.

Since Patrick Pretty’s initial announcement at least two independent media outlets have gone on to confirm the existence of a US regulatory investigation into TelexFree, with one of them reporting the case is linked to the cease and desist issued to the WCM777 Ponzi scheme last November. [Continue reading…]

I think we can all agree at this point that TelexFree’s new compensation plan has been hastily put together in direct response to the recently revealed Massachusetts Securities Division investigation.

Nobody seems to really understand it, the information that has leaked out thus far raises more questions than it answers and for reasons known only to themselves, the company has thus far failed to provide affiliates with any official documentation.

Acknowledging the confusion surround their new plan, TelexFree themselves just announced they are going to be holding “corporate training” event to explain the plan. The company expects affiliates to pay $169 each to attend the event, failing which they presumably are expected to remain in the dark about it.

Looking at the bigger picture, it’s not uncommon for a Ponzi scheme to try and re-invent itself once US regulators begin an investigation. The most recent and simultaneously infamous example being that of Zeek Rewards.

In the months leading up to the shutdown of Zeek Rewards, management were touting a merchant shopping network as a way to boost the then non-existent retail activity within the opportunity.

Similarly and in addition to announcing a new compensation plan, TelexFree is now promising to launch some sort of mobile app they’re calling “TelexApp”. What the app does or how it integrates into affiliate purchasing VOIP investment positions is currently unclear, but it’s a clear attempt by the company to shift focus away from the $20 a week ROIs they pay out on each AdCentral investment position.

Using Zeek Rewards as an example and keeping in mind the current SEC investigation into TelexFree, I think something being overlooked is the fact that when push comes to shove, any changes made to a Ponzi scheme after the fact simply don’t matter. [Continue reading…]

Last week, purely by co-incidence, I stumbled across an invitation in which it was claimed holdings company Insider21 had “acquired” Rippln.

Shortly after publishing an article on the story I was contacted by Stanley Abbott, Insider21’s VP of Strategic Alliances. In his email, Abbott wrote [Continue reading…]

One of the frequent questions we get regarding Ponzi schemes here at BehindMLM is the question of liability for a scheme’s top promoters. Typically these promoters are the “face” of the affiliate-field and the ones who “got in early” and collect the largest returns.

As part of the Zeek Rewards Receivership’s effort to recover funds to pay out those who lost money in the scheme (Zeek was on the verge of going belly-up had the SEC not shut them down), the Receiver has gone after Zeek’s top net-winner affiliates.

In addition to “baiting the hook” by creating a number of net winners, the Insiders operated the scheme with the knowing, reckless or at least negligent assistance and encouragement of a number of managers and advisors that greatly enhanced the perceived legitimacy and resulting success of the scheme.

Thus far some have settled with the Receiver repeatedly issuing statements in his quarterly reports about pending clawback litigation to be filed against those who refuse to return the money they stole. After a long wait and speculation over whether or not the general public would learn who these stubborn thieves are, today we can reveal that on the 28th of February 2014 the Receiver finally began his clawback litigation efforts against them.

Because Zeek’s Insiders “won” or received (the victims’) money in an unlawful Ponzi and pyramid scheme, they are not permitted to keep their winnings and must return the fraudulently transferred winnings back to the Receiver for distribution to Zeek’s victims.

In no particular order, here are the top profiters in Zeek Rewards who, despite Zeek Rewards being a $600M Ponzi scheme, believe they are entitled to keep the money they stole from their victims.

Ladies and gentlemen, the worst of the worst the MLM industry has to offer: [Continue reading…]

Despite Steve Labriola, TelexFree’s International Marketing Director, promising affiliates that “if there’s something going on we’ll let you know,” at the time of publication the company has failed to make any official announcement on the Massachusetts investigation.

Fresh from partying it up in Spain, Monday has all but come and gone in the US and nothing has been communicated to TelexFree’s affiliate-base. Well, nothing official anyway.

According to one Brazilian TelexFree affiliate, who had a “private meeting” with company owner Carlos Wanzeler at the recent Madrid bash, turns out Steve Labriola might be telling porky pies. [Continue reading…]