Been busy last week, so this will have to be a big news update. Remember folks, I link to the actual news items, not just random blog posts.
International Suspect Schemes on the Rise
Recent scheme reviews on BehindMLM revealed that more and more schemes claim to be international, when most of the international presence are mere facades.
Mr. Link IT Solutions -- probable Ponzi investment scheme, claims to be IT exporter from Japan with office in China and Japan... AND Brazil (where it's really based in)
BrokerAds -- clone of BannerBroker ponzi scheme, with horrible broken English, and Alexa traffic pattern indicating it's probably ran out of Pakistan, even though the site's disclaimer seem to suggest a US connection.
LEO (Learn, Earn, Own) -- PO Box in Dubai UAE, Mail drop in Hong Kong, Regus Virtual office in Egypt and India, and more virtual office in other locations.
Beware when you run into one of these "international" companies. Do your due diligence.
World Ventures threatens critic with vague "cease and desist"
A travel blogger was accosted by a WV marketer, was creeped out by the vagueness, and published her experience and her subsequent research on her blog, and has recently received a "cease and desist" from World Venture's Lawyer "Shawn E. Tuma", where he 1) accused the blogger of "false, misleading, defamatory, and disparaging statements about WorldVentures"... but provided NO example of such. 2) accused the blogger of "misappropriating, misusing, and disparaging[sic] WorldVenture's intellectual property" when using name in a review / opinion is clearly a part of fair use. 3) accused the blogger of "engaging in unfair competition and deceptive trade practices" Wait, what? How does operating a travel blog compete with operating a "travel MLM"?
What's most hilarious is Mr. Tuma's demand... that the blogger not only take down (but not delete) anything related to WorldVentures, but to cease making ANY remarks in ANY public form regarding World Ventures.
Read more about this dumb threat on Popehat: http://www.popehat.com/2014/07/09/popehat-signal-help-a-blogger-threatened-by-a-multi-level-marketer-worldventures/
International Suspect Schemes on the Rise
Recent scheme reviews on BehindMLM revealed that more and more schemes claim to be international, when most of the international presence are mere facades.
Mr. Link IT Solutions -- probable Ponzi investment scheme, claims to be IT exporter from Japan with office in China and Japan... AND Brazil (where it's really based in)
BrokerAds -- clone of BannerBroker ponzi scheme, with horrible broken English, and Alexa traffic pattern indicating it's probably ran out of Pakistan, even though the site's disclaimer seem to suggest a US connection.
LEO (Learn, Earn, Own) -- PO Box in Dubai UAE, Mail drop in Hong Kong, Regus Virtual office in Egypt and India, and more virtual office in other locations.
Beware when you run into one of these "international" companies. Do your due diligence.
World Ventures threatens critic with vague "cease and desist"
A travel blogger was accosted by a WV marketer, was creeped out by the vagueness, and published her experience and her subsequent research on her blog, and has recently received a "cease and desist" from World Venture's Lawyer "Shawn E. Tuma", where he 1) accused the blogger of "false, misleading, defamatory, and disparaging statements about WorldVentures"... but provided NO example of such. 2) accused the blogger of "misappropriating, misusing, and disparaging[sic] WorldVenture's intellectual property" when using name in a review / opinion is clearly a part of fair use. 3) accused the blogger of "engaging in unfair competition and deceptive trade practices" Wait, what? How does operating a travel blog compete with operating a "travel MLM"?
What's most hilarious is Mr. Tuma's demand... that the blogger not only take down (but not delete) anything related to WorldVentures, but to cease making ANY remarks in ANY public form regarding World Ventures.
Read more about this dumb threat on Popehat: http://www.popehat.com/2014/07/09/popehat-signal-help-a-blogger-threatened-by-a-multi-level-marketer-worldventures/