Vappnet stands for “Viral App Network” and is based out of Indiana in the US.

Heading up Vaapnet is CEO Craig Haggard. In his Vappnet corporate bio Haggard (below right) is credited as a

22 year veteran of the United States Marine Corps and Indiana Air National Guard, has owned and operated two construction and real estate development companies and currently sits on multiple consulting and economic advisory boards for the state of Indiana.

On the MLM side of things Haggard is credited with having ‘over 15 years experience in the Network Marketing Industry’, however no specifics are given.

The only company I was able to link Haggard to was Organo Gold (coffee), which Haggard was an affiliate in along with Vappnet’s COO, Kevin Aders:

According to the Organo Gold University website, Craig Haggard joined the company in August of 2012.

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

DS Domination went into beta launch on August 23rd. Currently there is no information on the DS Domination website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The DS Domination “about us” page does not share information with the general public unless they join the company:

You are not allowed to view this page. This means you have not yet activated your purchase of this product.

Interestingly, the DS Domination website domain is registered to a “Kevin Hokoana” using an Army Post Office Box (APO) address in “Armed Forces Pacific”.

Despite the domain being registered to Hokoana however, DS Domination affiliates are crediting “Roger Langille” as “behind the company”, claiming he ‘ has been a top seller on EBay almost 10 year and was doing more than 7 figures a year!

A thread on the popular Warrior Forum (published on the 27th March, 2013) provides some additional information, indicating that both Kevin Hokoana and Roger Langille are seasoned affiliate marketers.

I have promoted some products for Kevin Hokoana, and made some affiliate sales, but he does not answer emails, and getting hold of the guy is next to impossible. I have even phoned him in the states, but no joy.

I work with Kevin as well and had trouble getting paid until I found out that he’s an Air Force Major and was unavailable for a few weeks straight due to the North Korea stuff. I know Roger (his partner) really well too which is how I found that out.

I already have Kevin and Roger on Skype, and the promises keep coming about payment, but so far… nothing..

I won’t be promoting anything else for them, because they are simply unreliable, and traffic is valuable, and I will be pushing the traffic to somewhere it is appreciated, and for affiliates promoters that respect their affiliates, because these two certainly don’t!

Meanwhile Roger Langille credits himself as “the eBay trainer” on his personal blog, claiming to be a “Titanium Seller”.

Currently, I am designing automated systems to allow people to monitor inventory, as well as automatically upload thousands of items in seconds. These systems will allow automation of eBay to take it to the next level and beyond.

On the executive side of things I haven’t seen anything Roger Langille has been involved in but as an affiliate I’ve seen his named pop up as an affiliate of MyShoppingGenie (now defunct recruitment-based app opportunity), Visalus (weightloss) and Sozo (coffee berry).

Finally there appears to be some ambiguity as to where DS Domination operate of. As already mentioned, the company’s domain is registered to Kevin Hokoana using an APO in what appears to be Japan. Meanwhile the company’s Terms and Conditions state:

These Terms and Conditions shall be construed in accordance with and governed by the laws of the United States and the State of California, without reference to their rules regarding conflicts of law.

You hereby irrevocably consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state or federal courts in San Diego County, California, USA in all disputes arising out of or related to the use of the Site or Service.

And then a third address pops up on DS Domination’s Privacy Policy Page –

This site is owned and operated by
DS Domination
15201 Mason Rd. Ste 1000 #145
Cypress, TX 77433

Whether DS Domination is based out of Texas, California or Japan is unclear.

Read on for a full review of the DS Domination Beta Launch MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]

International Markets Live (more commonly referred to as iMarketsLive), is headed up by President and CEO Christopher Terry and based out of New York in the US.

Describing how iMarketsLive came about, the company claims that

after years in the financial markets, a group of traders have come together with a group of marketers to create what is a perfect marriage for people who are looking for a way to create real wealth in their lives.

In a rather spammy interview conducted by Denise A. Martino (who was in the same MLM company as Terry at the time), Terry (right) reveals

I was dating a girl and she was bragging about how her boss was making $5,000 a month in some business and that I should talk to him, so I did.

He signed me up, and then my girlfriend, the very one who told me to speak to him, wanted me to quit because it was Amway! I told my sponsor that I had some problems and I had to quit. He told me, “Get rid of the problems.”

So, I broke up with my girlfriend and built Amway.

I was actually in Amway for several years in the 1990s. I was fortunate to hit levels of success here in the United States in that company. I then went overseas as Amway opened up new markets, which gave me the opportunity to have an international business.

The interview is dated August 2012 and in it Terry states that other
than the company he and Martino were in at the time (Martino was recruited into Terry’s downline), he has not joined any other MLM opportunities.

Unfortunately the company he and Martino were in is not mentioned by name, however Terry does mention that

I have no products to carry around, no juices or vitamins to purchase or sell, I did not have to sneak up on my family and friends, and I do not have to sell expensive products that I can buy in the store cheaper. We get paid to advertise. Period.

I have been approached by other network marketing companies that involve selling legal insurance, utility companies, juice companies, vitamin companies, weight loss companies, you name it! I have found that ours is so simple; our work is to advertise and it takes no more than two minutes per day.

In my experience of reviewing hundreds of MLM opportunities, nothing legitimate has ever come out of the marriage of “we get paid to advertise” and an MLM business opportunity.

One possibility is Zeek Rewards, who were the grand daddy of “get paid to advertise” at the time. If it is Zeek Rewards Martino and Terry are talking about, that would be somewhat ironic seeing as the spammy interview was uploaded on August 13th, just five days before the SEC filed charges against the company.

Note that the above is just a possibility and is not confirmed, I was unable to link either Terry or Martino to Zeek Rewards.

I did however find this tweet from the 5th of October 2012 in which Martino is promoting Wealth Creation Alliance:

At the time, Wealth Creation Alliance was a popular reload scam (micro-Ponzi) for ex-Zeek Rewards affiliates.

Other than Amway and the mystery “passive earning” “we get paid to advertise” business mentioned in the Martino interview, I don’t believe Terry has been involved in MLM. On the executive side of things, iMarketsLive would appear to be his first venture.

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

Genesis Pure launched in late 2009 and is based out of the US state of Utah.

Heading up Genesis Pure is Chairman and CEO, Dr. Lindsay Duncan (below right), with the company crediting its existence to Duncan’s ‘many years of hard-won wisdom and expertise in the natural health field‘.

On the executive side of things, Genesis Pure appears to be Duncan’s first MLM venture, with his corporate bio focusing on a career as a “naturopathic doctor” and formulator of “nutritional formulations” for his company “4 Health Inc”.

More recently, Genesis Pure appears to have acquired the MLM company LifeMax, with a 7th of August announcement on Genesis Pure’s Facebook page stating

Our Chairman & CEO Dr. Lindsey Duncan ND, CN recently shared with us some amazing news! Genesis PURE has partnered with Lifemax, a respected network marketing company who is the creator of a top-notch Chia product, Mila.

The exact nature of the “partnership” has not been disclosed at the time of publication, however the LifeMax website is down (redirecting to a currently empty subdomain on the main Genesis Pure domain):

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

Following the loss of TelexFree’s interlocutory appeal early last week, it appears that the company filed yet another appeal in an attempt to persuade the Acre Civil Court to reverse an injunction that currently prevents the company paying out existing investors or signing new ones on.

From a legal standpoint TelexFree’s appeal doesn’t make much sense (an appeal of an appeal?), as I believed the interlocutory appeal was the final appeal hearing in the Acre Civil Court.

In any case, TelexFree’s appeal of the decision handed down on the 12th (which upheld the injunction) was scheduled to be heard last Tuesday. A few hours before the hearing was to take place however, TelexFree got cold feet and abandoned the effort altogether.

TelexFree’s special appeal was scheduled to be judged in the Civil Chamber last Monday (19), but ended struck from the cause list because the company withdrew their appeal.

According to a (court) spokesperson, TelexFree’s lawyers filed a request to withdraw the appeal a few hours before the session, claiming that their request was harmed because of the merits of the appeal had already been dismissed by the 2nd Civil Chamber.

Why it took TelexFree a whole week to come to the conclusion that filing an eleventh appeal against the injunction using the same “we’re not a Ponzi scheme” arguments was a lost cause, is a mystery. [Continue reading…]

As the anniversary of Zeek Reward’s closure comes and goes, the noose around the necks of affiliates who took home the lion’s share of Ponzi profits grows steadily tighter.

The bar for court action has been set extremely low, with court-appointed Receiver Kenneth Bell advising that anyone who made $1000 or more in Zeek is a potential target. As an observer and someone who spends a great deal of time analysing the industry, for me there’s a particular interest in those at the top.

Those who made a few thousand will be dealt with in due course but of far greater interest are affiliates like this:

Randy Jarvis, a former Lexington resident and Zeek Rewards user met hundreds of affiliates while working at the Holiday Inn Express.

Upper-level affiliates would nearly book the entire hotel, some staying for weeks to attend “Red Carpet Events” run by the program’s former chief officer, Davidson County resident Paul Burks.

He said affiliates from Australia showed him how they were making $200,000 a day through the program while another couple from Vermont, who eventually talked him into signing up, showed him actual checks to validate the thousands they were making.

Why the particular interest in Zeek’s top affiliates over the not-so-profitable variety?

The receivership estimates that more than $295.5 million was “fraudulently transferred” to thousands of Zeek’s “net winners.”

It’s estimated that about 77,000 “net winners” pulled out more money than they put in. Several of the highest-profiting affiliates, who made more than $1 million through the program.

Through their wild income claims and check flashing, these are the top Zeek Rewards affiliates who collectively roped in who knows how many thousands of affiliate investors, the overwhelming majority of which lost money in the scheme.

Well, “lost” is probably not the most accurate of adjectives to use, as where the money wound up is wholly known. That being in the bank accounts of Zeek Reward’s top affiliates and in some instances, company management itself.

A testament to the greed of these top Ponzi thieves, many of whom are well-known in the MLM industry and continue to market similar schemes after Zeek was shut down, out of the 77,000 winners only ‘150 Zeek profiteers‘ to date have settled with the Receiver for a total of around $2 million dollars.

Instead of settling with the Receiver and handing over what they effectively stole, what have the rest of Zeek’s top affiliates been up to (in particular the aforementioned “highest-profiting” ones)? [Continue reading…]

EzIncome4All launched in August 2013 and names Terry Burns as the owner (also claiming that EzIncome4all is a subsidiary of “TNB Enterprises LLC”).

Burns operates out of the US state of Virginia and claims to be the ‘program owner of several other sites on the Internet and they are still open for business and will be for many years to come’.

The only company I was able to tie Burns (right) to as an owner was “Dream Team 2×2”. Dream Team 2×2 charges affiliates $35 to participate in a matrix-based recruitment scheme.

Launched in February of this year, Dream Team 2×2 appears to have gone into decline around July, no doubt prompting the release of EzIncome4All.

Prior to EzIncome4All and Dream Team 2×2, Burns’ launched “Golden Gate to Wealth” back in mid 2011. Golden Gate to Wealth was another matrix-based recruitment scheme that has since collapsed and is not operational today.

Other companies Burns credits himself with ownership are “Dream Team 1 Up”, “Traffic2Wealth”, “Mega Cycler” and “Surfin Adz”.

Between Golden Gate to Wealth and Dream Team 2×2, Burns’ YouTube channel suggest affiliate involvement in a number of suspicious schemes.

Listed are Highdef Nation (failed insurance-based pyramid scheme), EZ Downline Builder (downline generate for several recruitment-based schemes) and 2Bucks2Join (a $2 entry pyramid scheme).

Read on for a full review of the EzIncome4All MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

Having reviewed both Shopping Sherlock and Vitel, one of the common traits amongst both businesses is the lack of products both companies provide.

Shopping Sherlock had an app that provides discounts to third-party products and services, and Vitel up until recently exclusively offered third-party products and services through its network.

A few months ago Vitel introduced what they call the ViSocial, a $69.95 a month “social marketing platform” that doesn’t appear to have generated any significant interest.

That said, at least it was a solid attempt at finally offering an actual product within the company itself, as opposed to other company’s product and services.

Shopping Sherlock on the other hand continue to lead with their free app that provides access to third-party offers.

With that in mind, I can wholly see the commonality between the two companies that would be ideal for a merge. And that’s exactly what Shopping Sherlock and Vitel have done. [Continue reading…]

There is no specific information on the WaraNetwork website indicating who owns or runs the business, with the company only providing the following vague marketing spiel:

WARANETWORK.COM is an online advertising platform created and backed by financially diversified and financial services company based in the United Arab Emirate.

A group of social networking entrepreneur experts was hired to establish a successful microenterprises online advertising platform in order to help networkers and low income scale individuals/families, private businesses / enterprises, simple network users and experienced administrators and all those who looking for a stable and steady income business.

The WaraNetwork website domain (“waranetwork.com”) was registered on the 27th of May 2013, however the domain registration is set to private.

As always, if an 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…]

Last week, shortly after a judge denied his application for anticipatory bail, Carlos Costa (one of the three owners of TelexFree) put out a twelve-minute YouTube video outlining a proposed matrix based business model.

The idea behind the new model was that TelexFree will petition the courts in Brazil to permit them to adopt the model for 90 days. Costa argues that because the new model does not require TelexFree to charge membership fees, this would prove that TelexFree is not a Ponzi scheme.

The problem?

Charging affiliates membership fees or not has nothing to do with TelexFree being a Ponzi scheme. [Continue reading…]