In Wake Of Profitable Sunrise Alert, British Columbia Issues 2 More Warnings Against HYIPs; Like Profitable Sunrise, Both ‘Programs’ Had Presence On TalkGold And MoneyMakerGroup Ponzi Forums
EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks to PP Blog reader “Tony” for pointing us to the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) warning against the Lucra Fund and Goldenarium HYIP schemes. Earlier this month, BCSC issued a warning on the Profitable Sunrise scheme. The British Columbia Securities Commission has issued warnings on HYIP “programs” known as Lucra Fund and [...]
UPDATE: Nicholas Cox, Figure In North Carolina Fraud Scheme Operating Near Ground Zero For Zeek Rewards, Sentenced To Federal Prison
With the alleged $600 million Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme dominating local headlines in North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad region, including the city of Lexington in Davidson County, an earlier, smaller fraud scheme operating in the region largely fell out of the news. But the Integra Capital Management LLC Ponzi and fraud scheme operated by Nicholas Cox [...]
BULLETIN: Securities Fraudster/Ponzi Schemer Sentenced To 40 Years
BULLETIN: Jasen M. Snelling — who last month was sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison in a federal Ponzi-scheme case brought in Ohio — now has been sentenced in Indiana state court to 40 years. The state case was brought after an investigation by the office of Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson. Snelling [...]
KABOOM! Money-Services Firm That Turned A Blind Eye To International Scammers Will Forfeit $100 Million After Probe By U.S. Postal Inspection Service
“MoneyGram knowingly turned a blind eye to scam artists and money launderers who used the company to perpetrate fraudulent schemes targeting the elderly and other vulnerable victims.” — Lanny A. Breuer, Assistant Attorney General, Nov. 9, 2012 BULLETIN: The price of willful blindness just went up if you’re a money-services business that facilitates international mass-marketing [...]
UPDATE: As Proposed Money-Saving Measure, Zeek Receiver Asks Judge To Treat Oct. 8 Preliminary Liquidation Plan As Status Report; Meanwhile, Yet Another Zeek Member Declares Herself A Fraud Victim
UPDATED 8:26 A.M. EDT (OCT. 31, U.S.A.) Saying it would save money, the court-appointed receiver in the Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme case has asked a federal judge to treat the receiver’s Oct. 8 preliminary liquidation plan as a status report. (See Oct. 9 PP Blog story.) Separately, yet another Zeek member has declared herself a [...]
FEDS: Man Tried To Scam Zuckerberg, Facebook Out Of Billions ‘By Marching Into Federal Court For A Quick Payday Based On A Blatant Forgery’
A New York man tried to scam Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook out of billions of dollars by forging documents and filing a lawsuit to make it appear as though Zuckerberg had promised him a 50 percent share of the company, prosecutors said. Paul Ceglia, 39, of Wellsville, was arrested this morning after an investigation by [...]
10 Individuals, Including 6 Pitchmen, Indicted In Alleged ‘Vendstar’ Bizop Scam That Fleeced Customers $10,000 At A Time, Prosecutors Say
“Instead of becoming successful entrepreneurs, the individual investors become victims of fraud, often losing their life’s savings. In this way, business opportunity schemes tarnish the American Dream of success through hard work. We will help protect the investing public by prosecuting these cases aggressively.” – U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of [...]
BULLETIN: In Bizarre Blog Post, Zeek Claims ‘All’ Of Its Critics Are Behaving ‘Unprofessionally By Acting On False Information’; MLM Firm Blasts ‘ North Carolina Credit Unions’ For Circulating Memo ‘Unfavorable To Zeek Rewards And False’
BULLETIN: The Zeek Rewards MLM “program” that is married to a penny-auction site known as Zeekler and plants the seed that an annualized return in the hundreds of percent is possible has declared that “all” Zeek criticism has been “unprofessional” and based on “false information.” Some Zeek affiliates have said that Zeek provides a payout [...]
EDITORIAL: Is AlertPay (Payza) FINALLY Doing The Right Thing? Scam-Friendly Payment Processor That Is Darling Of Global Wink-Nod Fraudsters And Ponzi Forums Says It Is Banning Programs That Offer A Return — But Questions Remain
EDITOR’S NOTE: Payza seems to have taken an important step Friday in the battle against online fraud. The payment-processing company perhaps deserves an accolade for that. But it’s too soon to heap praise on Payza. We are particularly concerned about the phrasing of a specific line in Payza’s altered User Agreement. More on that below [...]
MOST UN-’WISE’: 2 Ponzi Schemers Ride Their Wordplay To Prison Sentences Totaling More Than 33 Years; Judge Declares Crime ‘Evil’
“Defendant Trebor Company (Robert spelled backward) is a sole proprietorship owned by [Robert C. Brown Jr.] and is the name he has used for his ‘investment group.’” — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in civil complaint against Trebor and Brown, July 23, 2008 “Evidence at trial established that much of the investor money was funneled [...]
