Despite the repeated claims that TelexFree’s existing compensation plan and business model was “absolutely not a Ponzi scheme”, the company has decided to recently announce some changes.

Likely due to the co-incidental timing of Massachusetts confirming a US investigation into the company and issuing subpoenas ordering TelexFree officials to appear before the SEC this Wednesday, TelexFree’s new plan feels like it was cobbled together hastily.

It’s confusing, it’s a drastic change from the old “invest $289 and get paid $20 a week for a year” plan and most people aren’t going to get it first time around.

After seeing the plan released in Portuguese last week, I’ve held off publishing my own analysis till an official English version came out. I noticed over the weekend several sources have published identical explanations of the new plan so I’ve put together what I believe to be as complete a review of the new plan as currently possible.

I’ve also tried to break it down and present the new plan as cleanly as possible, including what has changed from the old plan. If there’s some points people still aren’t getting, feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll try to further clarify.

Additionally corrections are also welcome. It is noted that for reasons known only to themselves, TelexFree have not provided anyone with official documentation yet. [Continue reading…]

Xenesta launched in early 2014 and are based out of Texas in the US. Operating in the health and nutrition MLM niche, Xenesta is headed up by Founder, Kyl Smith.

Smith (not to be confused for a less flabby Karl Rove), is credited with being ‘a pioneer in the world of natural medicine’ and has an extensive corporate bio on the Xenesta website. None of it however relates to MLM, at least not directly.

Further research didn’t turn up anything on the executive side of things, but Smith (right) did work for the Scientific Advisory Board over at Xooma Worldwide (health and nutrition). Smith joined Xooma in 2008 and his name was used heavily to promote the company:

Ron Howell of Xooma World Wide (A 17 year old established company) and Dr. Kyl Smith (The former founder of Focus Factor) and the inventor of the new product Focus UP, along with Randy Heaton (The Founding Distributor) and Master Distributor Ronnie Web have joined forces to bring you X20, MetaboWize and Focus UP.

I’m not sure what happened in subsequent years, but today Kyl Smith’s name doesn’t appear anywhere on the Xooma website.

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

Spinding, an MLM opportunity that offers affiliates participation in a series of $30 to $1890 cycler queues, has been having issues securing a credit card payment option for its affiliates.

Promised late last week, it turns out that the company was initially approved, however pending further compliance review, the terms of the agreement were then changed by the processor and subsequently rejected by Spinding.

The reason for the change?

Compliance issues. [Continue reading…]

Over the past month or so Steve Labriola, TelexFree’s International Marketing Director, has been flying around the world seeking to strengthen the company’s efforts to attract new affiliate investors.

The Dominican Republic, Haiti and Spain are just some of the countries Labriola has visited recently, and as he continues his affiliate investor recruitment-drive globally, his efforts haven’t gone unnoticed.

TelexFree are already under investigation in the US, South America, Europe and now with Rwanda confirming that they too are investigating TelexFree, Africa can now be added to the list. [Continue reading…]

After accepting $289 AdCentral investments on the promise of a $52 a week ROI for roughly two years, TelexFree recently announced some upcoming changes to its compensation plan.

Some details of the plan have emerged in Portuguese but as of yet no official English documentation has been released. Two days ago Carlos Costa, one of TelexFree’s owners, released a YouTube video that sought to cover some of the main aspects of the new plan.

Published on TelexFree’s official Facebook page, at the time of publication more than 1400 comments have been left in response to the video – mostly from Brazilian affiliates of the company.

Today I thought we’d take a look at some initial reactions to TelexFree’s upcoming compensation plan changes. [Continue reading…]

Back in January of this year, Allessandra Marques of the Acre Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that a US regulatory investigation into TelexFree is underway. Citing the “senstive” nature of the investigation, no further information was provided.

Despite the obviousness of regulators in Brazil likely being in contact with regulators in the US (TelexFree are registered in the US state of Massachusetts), on January 15th Steve Labriola, TelexFree’s International Marketing Director, declared that ‘there is no investigation started or presented to TelexFree in any shape or form.‘

Labriola went on to dismiss Marques claims, because he and TelexFree hadn’t ‘heard of anything‘.

As watertight as Labriola’s reasoning was, now it has been confirmed again that at least one US state is investigating TelexFree in the US. [Continue reading…]

I was recently asked by a BehindMLM reader to take a look at “Insider21”, an opportunity they were just introduced to by a friend.

Already in the process of going through the emails I’d flagged during the week for reply, I flicked over to the browser tab I had open for looking up new company review requests.

I punched in “insider21.com” and what came up was pretty bland:

The company listed three “brands”, none of which appeared to have anything to do with network marketing:

• Texstar – a “company (that) provides numerous investment opportunities by participating directly in oil and gas exploration and mining programs”
• Bonamour – a “lifestyle products company” and
• MSD Gold – “one of the most promising gold mining companies in the world”

If there was an MLM business opportunity within Insider21, I certainly wasn’t seeing it. [Continue reading…]

Greenough Ads launched in early 2014 and names a Samuel Thomas Gillespie as the owner of the company on their website.

The Greenough Ads website domain (“greenoughads.com”) was registered on the 3rd of December 2013 and provides an address in the UK. According the Google, “Tollgate House” in Cardiff, Wales is a “waste transfer station” in the middle of an industrial lot.

No further information Gillespie is provided, with the Greenough Ads website only offering up the following vague marketing spiel:

My Name is SAMUEL THOMAS GILLESPIE the head of a team of admins running these Great Home base website which is an hybrid (sic) Program with four powerful sustainable incomes plans.

I myself was unable to find any further information on Gillespie in association with the MLM industry.

Due to the obviously fake address used, broken English on the Greenough Ads website and generic anglo-saxon sounding admin name used, I’m going to raise a red-flag and suggest that Gillespie does not exist.

It’s a common enough approach for scammers operating out of Asia (typically India) to register companies in the UK with bogus details.

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 Worldwide Solutionz website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The company does have a “Who are you?” section in their FAQ, but it only provides the following vague marketing copy:

WorldWide SolutionZ is an umbrella company combining the best and most innovative elements of on-line and off-line business to allow anyone with the initiative and desire to seek financial freedom to fulfil their dreams, through a range of cutting edge, unique business initiatives.

The Worldwide Solutionz website domain (“worldwidesolutionz.com”) was registered on the 28th of July 2012, and names a Ruan Van Niekerk-Venter as the domain owner. An address in Johannesburg, South Africa is also provided.

On his LinkedIn profile, Niekerk-Venter (right) credits himself as a “systems administrator” at Golder Associates (non-MLM). There is no mention of Worldwide Solutionz and I was unable to find any further MLM history, indicating that Worldwide Solutionz is Niekerk-Venter’s first MLM venture.

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

Fusion Shopping Network launched in early 2014 and are based out the US state of Wyoming. Heading up the company is Dr. Frank R. George, who serves as Fusion Shopping Network’s CEO and President.

Fusion Shopping Network seems to have originated from a previous venture titled “Fusion Entertainment”. According to a now defunct Fusion Entertainment blog (“fusionentertainmentllc.com”), back in February of 2013 Fusion Entertainment began to ‘work with top Comp plan software company (and) top MLM legal counsel‘.

Fusion Entertainment LLC is an Arizona domiciled Limited liability Company. It is currently owned and operated solely by Management. The Company is also advised on the Network Marketing side by a leadership council that includes some of the industry’s best and hardest working leaders.

It’s main business is currently the development of a new online auction and discount shopping site using a network marketing strategy for sales and marketing. We are developing a strong and innovative compensation plan that will attract many thousands and products and services that will attract millions.

In addition, we are partnering with some of the world’s best compensation plan consultants, networking software designers and others to create an extremely strong corporate structure and customer service program.

The end result of Fusion Entertainment’s efforts would appear to be the Fusion Shopping Network, with the following additional information provided on the company website:

Fusion Shopping Network is a Wyoming domiciled Limited Liability Company with headquarters in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It is a privately held Company with all Units (shares) currently held by Management. It was formed in 2013 following a divestment from Fusion Entertainment LLC, which was formed in 2010 out of Amethyst Technologies, Inc., an Arizona Type “S” Corporation formed in 1995.

Note that some of the above information was pulled from the Fusion Entertainment LLC website Google cache, indicating that the site was only recently taken down. Why the Fusion Entertainment LLC website was pulled is not immediately clear.

Prior to Fusion Entertainment the business was called “SpyderBids LLC”, which looked to be an attempt to cash in on the MLM penny auction craze at the time.

As for Frank R. George (right),

Dr. George is a “serial entrepreneur” and has been referred to by investors as a “rainmaker.” He has over thirty years of experience including multiple successes with launching and growing private companies, extensive regulatory compliance experience plus a strong understanding of private equity and other forms of business funding.

While he holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Genetics, he prefers to call it a degree in “thinking” and has used his talents and skills in several arenas over the years.

There’s no MLM related information in George’s Fusion Shopping or Fusion Entertainment corporate bios, and I was unable to find any further information online. Presumably Fusion Shopping Network is Frank R. George’s first MLM venture.

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