In less than a year three major darlings of the Ponzi payment processor niche have ceased operating in the US or been shutdown entirely.

Co-incidence or evidence that US regulators are increasing efforts to go after payment processors who are lax with fraud prevention, whether willingly or not?

For those who came in late, last May Libery Reserve was shutdown after a joint investigation between Costa Rican, US and Spanish authorities spanning 17 countries. Six months later  Vladmir Kats, co-founder of Liberty Reserve, plead guilty to ‘money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business’.

Then, in that same month Payza abruptly ceased processing withdrawals and deposits from US based clients. It was initially reported that the Department of Homeland Security had seized Payza’s funds as part of an ongoing investigation, but to date nobody seems absolutely certain of what went down.

What is certain though is that since November 2013, Payza’s US clients’ access to their money has been suspended. The fate of these funds and whether or not Payza will be subject to further regulatory action in the US remains unclear.

Now, EgoPay have just announced they are “closing” all accounts currently held by US clients. [Continue reading…]

Back in September last year TelexFree tried to convince a court in Acre that, despite being owned by the same three people, TelexFree should be able to use Ympactus’ funds to pay off Ympactus’ debts, including ROIs owed to affiliate investors.

As part of the injunction handed down against TelexFree, Ympactus’ funds are currently frozen.

Not surprisingly, a judge rejected TelexFree’s bankruptcy application, as it was clear the company was just trying to wriggle free funds it had been blocked from. Practically speaking, other than using a different name, there’s no difference between Ympactus and TelexFree.

Hearing the case, Judge Braz Aristóteles dos Reis firstly pointed out that in the public eye, TelexFree and Ympactus are one and the same company. That withstanding, they both also list James Merril as the owner in official company-related documents.

Furthermore, according to Brazilian law a company provided as a credit source in a Bankruptcy Protection application has to demonstrate active operation for over two years. Ympactus failed on this count with tax filings only dating back to 2012.

Same owners, same business, same AdCentral driven Ponzi scheme.

Now, almost six months later, it appears TelexFree figured they’d try their luck in a different Brazilian state by filing another bankruptcy application. This time filed in Espírito Santo, here’s how TelexFree’s latest attempt to circumvent the Acre injunction went down… [Continue reading…]

When you see my name associated with a particular company out there, I always tell clients… I make it clear they’re not allowed to use my name in any sort of promotional fashion.

Number one it looks horrible. Mainly from a marketing standpoint it’s a bad idea, in my opinion, to lead with lawyers. Right?

You don’t see the big companies out there like Amway and Herbalife saying, “look, we’re a clean company because our lawyer says we’re clean.” When you do that you’re all but implying your program has some significant problems.

-Kevin Thompson, appearing in a YouTube video uploaded February 12th, 2014.

Following the shutdown of Liberty Reserve for money laundering and the ongoing mysterious and abrupt suspension of business activities in the US by Payza, one payment processor name I’ve seen pop up with increasing frequency in the MLM industry is i-Payout.

I’m not sure who’s in charge of i-Payout’s approval process is for MLM business opportunities, but here’s a list of their more recent clients:

• Spinding (six-tiered Ponzi scheme that uses a global cycler business model)
• Wealth4AllTeam (long-running but now collapsed 10 day ROI Ponzi scheme)
• Primus Hub (attempted reboot of Wealth4AllTeam once it collapsed)
• Funky Shark (planned Ponzi scheme that shutdown during prelaunch following legal advice and a $40,000 fine)
• TeamVinh International (feeder co-op program for multiple recruitment-driven MLM schemes)
• MyAdvertisingPays (120% ROI advertising-based Ponzi scheme)
• Diamond Banners (matrix based recruitment scheme)
• Diamond Cycler (matrix based recruitment scheme)
• Argent Network (52 week ROI Ponzi scheme, advertised as “a mixture of Zeek Rewards and TelexFree”)
• 1BuckAdShare ($1 a position Ponzi scheme)

The above is just a sample list I was able to put together after conducting a small amount of research, I’m sure there are others. But what the above list should give you is an idea of the types of companies i-Payout have no problems providing ewallet and payment processor services to.

Effectively it would appear that if you can show i-Payout the money, “Welcome aboard!”

I personally found myself in communication with i-Payout when they took objection to me calling them out for providing TelexFree with ewallet services in the US.

TelexFree are currently under investigation in multiple countries and facing legal action in Brazil. Public Prosecutors in the Brazilian state of Acre have announced that pending charges against TelexFree for money laundering and embezzlement.

Despite the obvious Ponzi nature of TelexFree, i-Payout took it upon themselves to defend their (biggest?) client. In their email to BehindMLM, i-Payout wrote: [Continue reading…]

Following an investigation into Lyoness Europe AG, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in Poland are claiming Lyoness “can be a Ponzi scheme“.

Not surprisingly, the OCCP’s claim relates to the accounting unit investment scheme Lyoness have buried within their merchant shopping network:

The company offers participants the opportunity to receive material benefits that are conditional on the recruitment by them of other people into the program.

The program participant must first make a down payment on the purchase of vouchers or gift cards of Lyoness partners or make purchases with them.

Using gift cards and vouchers as a cover to mask the injection of funds by new Lyoness affiliates is a well-entrenched excuse used by Lyoness affiliates to defend the scheme. Unfortunately though, there’s no escaping the fact that if a Lyoness affiliate deposits money with the company, recruits enough new investor affiliates who do the same, that ultimately they will receive a >100% cash ROI.

Theoretically one can wait for shopping to generate enough units, but this in no way negates the much quicker accounting unit investment route. [Continue reading…]

When I sat down to review SereniGy and research the events leading up to its founding in 2009, I soon realised that there was far too much source material to include in a standard BehindMLM review introduction.

In addition to that, I was unable to find any single source (or even a few sources) that collectively addressed the events leading up to the formation of SereniGy.

With a mountain of browser windows open and fast approaching two thousand words, I made the decision to extract this particular series of events and do a separate writeup.

What you will find below is a largely unedited telling by Jay Noland (also known as James Dwight Noland and JD Noland), describing what took place before he went on to launch SereniGy. Noland (right) referred to the two phonecall teleconferences he held in late 2009 as the “Truth Sessions”.

I’ve included information from additional sources, including a rebuttal from those Noland accuses and what I was able to find by way of court documents.

Noland’s story is one of betrayal, infighting, secret alliances and an example of the complete breakdown of executive communications behind one of the most widely recognised companies in the MLM industry today.

In my research I was surprised to find a lack of cohesive information on this subject. Bits and pieces of what went down are scattered all over the place, but there wasn’t any definitive source(s) covering this particular timeline of events.

Feeling that it would be impossible to write a SereniGy review without including this information, I took the time to put it all together. Not only to be included as an appendix on a later BehindMLM review of SereniGy, but also for future reference. [Continue reading…]

Up until now you had to invest a lot of time building your international shopping network. Networking and making appointments to introduce Lyoness took a lot of effort as well.

These networking contacts had to be updated while taking care of your existing members. This was very time-consuming.

Well, that’s why we’ve developed MyLyconet.

-Lyconet marketing video, official Lyconet website

If one was to take Lyoness’ Lyconet marketing video and website at face value, it’s presented as a backoffice redesign to simplify the network marketing arm of the business opportunity.

Ensure more growth, team-spirit, strength and sustainability! With this many services, MyLyconet is the perfect tool in consistently helping you, expand your Shopping Network.

Be even more efficient and effective in taking advantage of your full Network potential!

What Lyoness don’t tell you though is that, not surprisingly, there’s a bit more to the story. [Continue reading…]

Xyngular launched in December 2009 and operate in the health and wellness MLM niche.

Xyngular is based out of the US state of Utah and is headed up by company President, Marc Walker.

In his Xyngular corporate bio, the company writes ‘network marketing is part of Marc Walker’s DNA‘. They also credit him with ‘being in the business (MLM) for a quarter of a century‘.

Prior to launching Xyngular Walker (right) held various executive positions over at Xango (mangosteen juice). I believe when he left to start Xyngular, Walker was Xango’s Vice-President of International Operations.

Before his time at Xango Walker held an executive position at Nu Skin (personal care), holding a number of corporate positions including Director of Global Business Development and Assistant Director of US Distributor Services.

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

After over a year of rallying against the US government, throwing any number of conspiracy theories out there, promising the return of Zeek Rewards and everything inbetween, it appeared the SEC and Zeek Rewards Receivership finally caught up with Robert Craddock.

Craddock, a Zeek Rewards Ponzi net-winner who was quite obviously furious at the prospect of being forced to return stolen funds to victims, published the following abrupt backflip on the ZTeamBiz website back on November 13th, 2013:

November 13, 2013

Fellow Zeeker’s,  this is our final posting. As you know the goal was to assist the people of Zeek Rewards, and provide relevant information relating to the Zeek Receivership.

Here are a few links you need to have to finish the process.

zeekrewardsreceivership.com

This site is operated by Kenneth Bell the appointed receiver for Rex Venture Group.

Again it has been a pleasure this past year providing updates to help you stay informed and hope you visit the zeekrewardsreceivership for further updates.

Only weeks prior Craddock (right) was promising his followers he was going to “bring back the Zeek Rewards excitement” and reveal a brand new “really good rev-sharing opp” for them to invest in.

At the time, I speculated that it was likely Craddock had been likely told to cease and desist by the Zeek Rewards Receivership.

To date Craddock hasn’t clarified what made him suddenly go all gushy for the Receivership and abandon his Ponzi resurrection plans. Fast forward four months later though and it appears Craddock has decided that enough time has passed to pick up where he left off. [Continue reading…]

RevStar Global combine a bunch of opportunities under the one brand, offering a multi-niche MLM business opportunity.

Listed as co-founders on the RevStar Global “Our Team” website page are Paul Redmayne (President) and David H. Hooker (Executive Vice-President).

Paul Redmayne was the President of Blue Bird Bids, a Zeek Rewards Ponzi clone that launched in late 2012.

Blue Bird Bids collapsed shortly after launch following concerns, raised by Vice-President Eric Swaim, that auto-bidding bots were being used to drive up auction prices.

Following the collapse of Blue Bird Bids, the company transformed into PureNRG Fx with Swaim at the helm. PureNRG FX abandoned the Ponzi points business model in favour of a recruitment-focused compensation plan to market Playboy branded energy drinks.

Swaim is joining Redmayne in his new MLM venture, credited as the company’s Vice-President of Sales on the RevStar Global website.

Meanwhile PureNRG FX appears to have stalled some time ago, however the status of the company in light of RevStar Global launching is not clear. At the time of publication, Eric Swaim’s name does not appear anywhere on the PureNRG FX website.

In his RevStar Global executive bio, David Hooker (right) credits himself with having been “headhunted” by Mark Hughes and Larry Thompson to join Herbalife in Europe – ‘a position that he held for many years helping to develop many of the leaders that are still prospering with that company today‘.

Over the years David has held senior executive positions with many of the major international corporations such as Herbalife International, Lifestyles International, Modicare India and Nature’s Sunshine Products.

With David’s unparalleled skills, concepts and drive, he took their International Business Development Programs to new heights, becoming the most widely recognized programs in the industry.

More recently however, Hooker aligned himself with the Banners Broker Ponzi scheme as their “Director of Compliance”.

Hooker held Banners Broker investor recruitment events, hosted corporate calls and appeared as an official spokesperson for the company.

Despite having never formally reviewed Banners Broker due to a lack of an MLM component within the business, as I understand it the scheme involved investors investing in a fictional advertising network.

Banners Broker appears to have begun collapsing around early to mid 2013, leaving many investors out of pocket. Currently those left in the scheme appear to be stringing the remaining investors along with promises of Banners Broker resurrecting itself.

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

There is no information on the MMO Cashout website indicating who owns or runs the business. The company does have an “About” page, however only the following vague marketing copy is provided:

MMOCashout is the brainchild of Las Vegas, NV-based Peak Venture Group Inc, featuring an extraordinary executive and management team with extensive experience in network marketing, the gaming industry, information technology, sales, and operations.

Note that there is a Peak Venture Group using the website “peakventure.org”, however this does not appear to be the same Peak Venture Group behind MMO Cashout.

On the Peak Venture Group website, they state that

Peak Venture Group was founded in 2000. We are registered with US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a 501(c)(3), focusing on education to the benefit of the entrepreneurial community in the Colorado Springs region.  We are also registered with the Colorado Secretary of State as a non-profit.

The MMO Cashout Peak Venture Group Inc. however doesn’t appear to have a web presence. Corporation Wiki lists an entry for them in Nevada, registered as a corporation in September 2012. A David B. Tiffany and Steven M. Tiffany are listed as the group’s Director and President respectfully.

David Tiffany’s name pops up as the owner of the MMO Cashout website domain (“mmocashout.com”). Peak Venture Group also features in the listing, with a provided corporate address of “somewhere street” in Nevada.

Whilst David Tiffany and presumably the rest of Peak Venture Group’s executive management are behind MMO Cashout, the exact nature of the company’s corporate structure is currently unknown.

I did try to research any MLM history for either Peak Venture Group Inc. or David Tiffany, but didn’t turn up anything. Presumably MMO Cashout is the group’s first MLM venture on the executive side of things.

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