Two days ago (September 29th, 2017) SEC shut down two companies ran by Maksim Zaslavskiy trying to promote ICOs, or initial coin offerings. Zaslavskiy claimed his cryptocurrencies are backed by Real Estate (REcoin) and Diamonds (DRC - Diamond Reserve Club/Coin). Turns out they are just bogus claims.
For those who track this sort of things, this is a virtually beat-for-beat clone of an earlier scam, Gemcoin, "backed by amber", shut down by SEC back in 2015.
Gemcoin was a fictional cryptocurrency released by USFIA based in Arcadia, California. Its head is Steve Chen (also known as Chen Li 陳力). Chen ran 13 different entities that dabbled in MLM telecom, real estate, jewelry and gemstones, art imports, and so on, and also encouraged recruitment from inside China. In 2014, his latest scheme, American Mining 美洲礦業 collapsed in China leading to multiple arrests. American Mining also promised massive profits by investments in amber.
Steve Chen's final scheme, Gemcoin, is aimed at overseas Chinese ex-pats. It is supposedly a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin but backed by amber. It also claimed amber is very valuable and USFIA has exclusive mining rights and jewelry factory in the Dominican Republic. It had the backing of several local celebrities, including former mayor of Arcadia John Wuo. Steve Chen and his second, Leonard Johnson, ran investment seminars in multiple Chinatowns across North America, sometimes even dressing up his security guard, John Zhang, as a "jewelry appraiser".
When SEC finally shut down USFIA/Gemcoin in 2015, the scheme had taken in over 30 million dollars. John Wuo, who had endorsed Gemcoin, quickly resigned as city councilman "due to health reasons". And the truth started coming out... The receiver who took over the company said there are no gem grade amber in storage, just regular 'souvenir' grade stuff. And the alleged contract for the mine doesn't exist either. It was all one huge hoax scam.
When you go through the history of REcoin and DRC, you will find a familiar albeit accelerated pattern.
a blog about Skepticism, MLM, Scams, and Critical Thinking
Showing posts with label Gemcoin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gemcoin. Show all posts
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Friday, September 16, 2016
Scam Tactics: Whip Up Fear, Provide "Solution", Take Your Money under false pretense
A lot of so-called "entrepreneurs" (read: MLM noobs) are so fond of repeating marketing speech they don't ever stop and wonder WHY are they doing what they're doing, and whether it makes any sense. One of which is the "mystery tease", where there's practically NO public info about the company, or the promoter is trying to keep things VERY VERY vague. You pretty much have to join, get the info, then consider canceling in order to get ANY information on the company.
When questioned why does the company operate this way, the rep, either stammer "so don't join" or retorts with insults such as "you're obviously not an entrepreneur". The implication for both is "if you want to know about the company before you join, you're obviously NOT ready to join."
Isn't that just faith, i.e. "I am willing to join without knowing what I am joining"? Does that even make sense?
But this just reminded me of the infamous diamond scams during the late 1970's in the US.
The scam is simple... The sellers claim to be sourcing diamonds and are offering them as investment instruments to folks who are afraid of the stock market fluctuations. The concept is simple: "everybody loves diamonds", "it only appreciates because supply is strictly controlled by a monopoly", "all diamonds are sealed with certificate guaranteeing their quality", and so on. And all of these statements are even... true.
Sufficiently convinced, the buyer sent off a check for thousands, and in a week or so, he gets diamonds... sealed in plastic with the certificate guaranteeing their quality... Except for the caveat: the quality is only guaranteed if the plastic is NOT broken. I.e. any attempt to have it appraised means it's no longer guaranteed. And many customers did break the seal only to find the diamonds are inferior or even worthless quality. It was bad enough that New York's Attorney General has to establish a "Diamond Task Force" just to process the hundreds of complaints of fraud.
This is related to the modern "shrink-wrap contract", i.e. "if you break the seal, you accept the licensing terms", usually for software. And it's in a legal gray area.
But these diamond hawksters also book hotel or resort ballrooms and hold "diamond investment seminars" where they prey upon fear of the audience ("at this inflation, your stocks and bonds are not keeping up"), and esp. seniors ("if you don't have some easily liquidated assets like diamonds, your kids can seize your cash assets and ship you off to a nursing home")
Doesn't that just reminds you of the modern equivalent?
Friday, November 27, 2015
Scam Tactics: Attribute Transfer
Scammers want you to trust them, and they usually try to invoke something that we respect and revere, then use "attribute transfer" to get you to transfer the respect and reverence onto the scammers. Many scams invoke religion, patriotism, celebrity, and such, in order to transfer authority, sanction, and prestige to their scam, so that the victims are more likely to accept it than reject it out of hand.
It can be summarized as "we are kinda like that more popular thing".
This is related, but not the same as excitation-transfer theory in psychology, which is defined as "how residual excitation from one stimulus amplify the response to a different stimulus". One of the most often given examples is the cliche advice "take a girl on a date to do something really exciting like roller coaster in hopes of she associate the excitement with you".
Profitable Sunrise promised payout of 1.6% to 2.7% DAILY and justified these profits by claiming that they make short-term usurious rate "bridge loans" to large businesses. Yet nobody in Europe can track down this company. The executive, "Roman Novak", apparently does not exist, as no one seem to have ever met him.
In the US its most notorious promoter of Profitable Sunrise was Nanci Jo Frazer of Ohio, who used a church / charity called "Focus Up Ministries", which was later renamed "Defining Vision Ministries" for her recruitment purposes, along with her husband and another co-conspirator. As a part of settlement with state of Ohio, they are to pay back $108146.61 over the next TEN YEARS, AND have her "ministries" dissolved. The fine is substantially reduced from original judgment of 710000 dollars.
Nanci Jo Frazer and gang was also known to have released fake news that claimed she had been exonerated. You can still find it when you Google her name. It's bogus.
Scammers invoked attributes of religion, Jesus, sunrise (a generally good symbol), and so on to make their scheme look more realistic than it is.
USFIA started back in 2012/2013 when it infiltrated China as "American Mining 美洲犬業" claiming to offer amber jewelry at discounted prices, but will pay people if they invest money in "amber units" AND introduce yet more investors. Its owner, Steve Chen 陳力 had several previous ventures including Amkey and NGTalk that had failed or withered. Chinese government caught on in 2014 and arrested over a dozen local representatives in a nation-wide raid, but failed to stop the scam as Steve Chen operates out of the US city of Arcadia, in the suburbs of Los Angeles and based his USFIA (and various other entities, such as AFG) there. Two of the suspects escaped China to Thailand, and was repatriated as a part of "Operation Foxhunt 2014". However, the root of the problem was not destroyed, and USFIA quickly rebooted itself by late 2014 by adopting a new American name: US Fine Investment Arts, and a new Chinese name 富豪集團 (Royal Group), and shifted to "investment in Gemcoin, a new cybercurrency backed by amber". It then proceed to claim their cybercurrency is "approved" by California law, and just look at Bitcoin's meteoric rise.
USFIA was closed in 2015 by coordinated raid between SEC, State of California, FBI, US Marshal Service, and so on. A receiver took over the company and fired all employees immediately and proceed to take inventory of all assets. Receiver's first report shows that they were barely able to find about 20 million, and Steve Chen has chosen NOT to provide a list of his assets, claiming his 5th amendment privilege to not incriminate himself. All the supposed amber jewelry with astronomical prices are vastly overpriced, and supposed inventory of amber to "guarantee value" is worth "nominal value", i.e. souvenir grade, not gem grade. The "law" that Steve Chen and minions claimed permitted Gemcoin actually repealed a law that says business may ONLY use US dollars and in no way validates or approves "Gemcoin". There are even rumors that one of the VPs in the company claimed to be related to President Obama. There was no proof that Gemcoin is actually a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. So far the only proof appears to be a PDF file that contained screenshots of "transactions" online.
USFIA is also famously used several celebrities at its events, including former mayor of Arcadia John Wuo who appeared in multiple events singing praises of the scheme and its leader. In 2015 John Wuo was a city councilman and quickly resigned after USFIA office was closed, citing "health reasons".
Scammers tried to invoke attribute of state government, bitcoin and cybercurrency in general.
To see through attribute transfer, you have to look through the examples and stick with just the facts and general idea, such as
What is Attribute Transfer?
Attribute transfer relies on easily recognized symbols linked to popular and accepted concepts. Cross, Jesus, Flag, Cartoon, Prayer, Military Service (in some areas), large and old companies, famous investors with loads of money, scientists and doctors (in white lab coats) and so on. They wish you to associate the attributes of the popular concept or symbol with this new scheme that they have.It can be summarized as "we are kinda like that more popular thing".
This is related, but not the same as excitation-transfer theory in psychology, which is defined as "how residual excitation from one stimulus amplify the response to a different stimulus". One of the most often given examples is the cliche advice "take a girl on a date to do something really exciting like roller coaster in hopes of she associate the excitement with you".
 |
| Profitable Sunrise brochure using Christ the Redeemer image |
Example: Profitable Sunrise
Profitable Sunrise is an international ponzi and pyramid scheme shut down in 2013 that supposedly operates out of England and solicited investments with slogan "profit with every sunrise" (which is itself a symbol) and also used the symbol of the "Christ the Redeemer statue" in Brazil (see right).Profitable Sunrise promised payout of 1.6% to 2.7% DAILY and justified these profits by claiming that they make short-term usurious rate "bridge loans" to large businesses. Yet nobody in Europe can track down this company. The executive, "Roman Novak", apparently does not exist, as no one seem to have ever met him.
In the US its most notorious promoter of Profitable Sunrise was Nanci Jo Frazer of Ohio, who used a church / charity called "Focus Up Ministries", which was later renamed "Defining Vision Ministries" for her recruitment purposes, along with her husband and another co-conspirator. As a part of settlement with state of Ohio, they are to pay back $108146.61 over the next TEN YEARS, AND have her "ministries" dissolved. The fine is substantially reduced from original judgment of 710000 dollars.
Nanci Jo Frazer and gang was also known to have released fake news that claimed she had been exonerated. You can still find it when you Google her name. It's bogus.
Scammers invoked attributes of religion, Jesus, sunrise (a generally good symbol), and so on to make their scheme look more realistic than it is.
Example: USFIA
USFIA started back in 2012/2013 when it infiltrated China as "American Mining 美洲犬業" claiming to offer amber jewelry at discounted prices, but will pay people if they invest money in "amber units" AND introduce yet more investors. Its owner, Steve Chen 陳力 had several previous ventures including Amkey and NGTalk that had failed or withered. Chinese government caught on in 2014 and arrested over a dozen local representatives in a nation-wide raid, but failed to stop the scam as Steve Chen operates out of the US city of Arcadia, in the suburbs of Los Angeles and based his USFIA (and various other entities, such as AFG) there. Two of the suspects escaped China to Thailand, and was repatriated as a part of "Operation Foxhunt 2014". However, the root of the problem was not destroyed, and USFIA quickly rebooted itself by late 2014 by adopting a new American name: US Fine Investment Arts, and a new Chinese name 富豪集團 (Royal Group), and shifted to "investment in Gemcoin, a new cybercurrency backed by amber". It then proceed to claim their cybercurrency is "approved" by California law, and just look at Bitcoin's meteoric rise.
USFIA was closed in 2015 by coordinated raid between SEC, State of California, FBI, US Marshal Service, and so on. A receiver took over the company and fired all employees immediately and proceed to take inventory of all assets. Receiver's first report shows that they were barely able to find about 20 million, and Steve Chen has chosen NOT to provide a list of his assets, claiming his 5th amendment privilege to not incriminate himself. All the supposed amber jewelry with astronomical prices are vastly overpriced, and supposed inventory of amber to "guarantee value" is worth "nominal value", i.e. souvenir grade, not gem grade. The "law" that Steve Chen and minions claimed permitted Gemcoin actually repealed a law that says business may ONLY use US dollars and in no way validates or approves "Gemcoin". There are even rumors that one of the VPs in the company claimed to be related to President Obama. There was no proof that Gemcoin is actually a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. So far the only proof appears to be a PDF file that contained screenshots of "transactions" online.
USFIA is also famously used several celebrities at its events, including former mayor of Arcadia John Wuo who appeared in multiple events singing praises of the scheme and its leader. In 2015 John Wuo was a city councilman and quickly resigned after USFIA office was closed, citing "health reasons".
Scammers tried to invoke attribute of state government, bitcoin and cybercurrency in general.
How to See Through Attribute Transfer
To see through attribute transfer, you have to look through the examples and stick with just the facts and general idea, such as
- What does the speaker want?
- According to the speaker, WHY should you believe the speaker?
- What attribute are they trying to transfer onto themselves from the symbol?
- Is there any LEGITIMATE connection between the speaker and the symbol?
- What's left of the speaker's argument AFTER you cross out the attributes?
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Scam Basics: Do you "Google" your upline, the company leader, and so on?
Do you Google your own name as well as those people you know? Come on, everybody does. People who go on dates google each other's name, or even the photo, just to make sure they're not being catfished.
So why aren't people Googling their MLM uplines, and businesses googling their customers, and so on?
(NOTE: Yes, I'm using "Google" as a verb, meaning "to search online, probably using Google search". You are welcome to substitute Yandex , Baidu, or whatever your favorite search engine may be. )
A few years ago I wrote about "due diligence", and the case of Janamjot Singh Sohdi and his scam, and how he managed play an investment advisor and defrauded about a thousand people out of 2.5 million dollars despite having a long rap sheet such as having investment broker license revoked, disbarred from NYSE, and so on. All of which can be easily Googled.
In the same article, I also wrote about the suspect scheme of "Phil Ming Xu" called WCM777, and how Xu was linked to the "Vantone scam" in China. WCM777 was eventually closed by SEC.
How did I found out that Xu was linked to Vantone scam in China?
I "googled" it, of course.
And it seems that's way more due diligence than most people bother to exercise, even bankers who's supposed to be following Federal "Know Your Customer" guidelines.
Have you ever heard of Daniel Filho? How about his full name: Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho? Still no? How about his company, DFRF Enterprises (named with his initials)? Yes, it's a scam, closed by the SEC in June 2015. But what ELSE did you find out through Googling?
So why aren't people Googling their MLM uplines, and businesses googling their customers, and so on?
(NOTE: Yes, I'm using "Google" as a verb, meaning "to search online, probably using Google search". You are welcome to substitute Yandex , Baidu, or whatever your favorite search engine may be. )
A few years ago I wrote about "due diligence", and the case of Janamjot Singh Sohdi and his scam, and how he managed play an investment advisor and defrauded about a thousand people out of 2.5 million dollars despite having a long rap sheet such as having investment broker license revoked, disbarred from NYSE, and so on. All of which can be easily Googled.
In the same article, I also wrote about the suspect scheme of "Phil Ming Xu" called WCM777, and how Xu was linked to the "Vantone scam" in China. WCM777 was eventually closed by SEC.
How did I found out that Xu was linked to Vantone scam in China?
I "googled" it, of course.
And it seems that's way more due diligence than most people bother to exercise, even bankers who's supposed to be following Federal "Know Your Customer" guidelines.
Have you ever heard of Daniel Filho? How about his full name: Daniel Fernandes Rojo Filho? Still no? How about his company, DFRF Enterprises (named with his initials)? Yes, it's a scam, closed by the SEC in June 2015. But what ELSE did you find out through Googling?
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Scam Tactics: Sell the Hype and the Opportunity, Ignore or minimize the Reality and the Cost
Scams usually hook you by selling you the hype and how much money you can make (i.e. the opportunity), while minimize or ignore the reality (such as risk, market, etc.) and cost.
I'll just go over some recent examples and show you what sort of **** they had to spread to generate hype about their so-called "opportunity" while ignoring reality.
The "Internet TV" biz clones
In 2015, over half dozen "internet TV box" companies popped up advertising stuff like "watch your favorite TV for free, cut your cable TV bill, watch favorite sports"... etc. They want you to pay them about $300-500, and for every people you enroll (who also pay them $300-500) you earn money, possibly $100 or more per person. They go by names that includes words like "Box" "Stream" and so on.
That's a pyramid scheme, folks. I've covered what's a pyramid scheme before, so I won't repeat that here. Let's discuss the hype instead.
The matter of fact is you can buy TV boxes like these for about $50-75 on Amazon. They are all based on KODI (used to be XBMC) any way, and wholesale from China they cost even less. You can probably hire some kid to program it for you for another $10-25 if you don't to spend time on it. So where does the extra $200+ go? To the company and whoever recruited you, of course.
TL;DR = you got something for $300 (or more).that you can buy for $60 (WTF?!)
AND you can get better and more legal boxes for $100 (Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV, etc.)
They all advertise (some more blatant than others) that they can get pay-per-view programs and subscription programs for free. They tell you people are already doing this, boxes "like" this are being marketed by Amazon and Roku and others (except those don't pirate and cost less than $100). They count on you having "heard" of such stuff, but having NO detailed understanding of such. it sounds "vaguely familiar".
What they don't tell you is getting stuff "for free" is actually piracy and that breaks so many laws that you'll be personally held responsible for such. And it's no joke, there already has been a raid in UK on seller of such boxes. And let's not forget RIAA and MPAA and so on suing grandmas and so on for astronomical sums.
The schemes hyped up the benefits (OMG FREE EVERYTHING!) and potential upside (OMG MAKE MONEY WHILE HELP OTHERS 'SAVE' MONEY!) while minimizing and hiding reality (The boxes cost $60 on Amazon) and risks (it's illegal to pirate and you can get sued).
TL;DR version:
Hype / Opportunity: OMG Make money, save money, no more cable TV!
Reality / Cost: Overpaying by 3-600%, piracy is illegal
Coming next, "cryptocurrency biz"
I'll just go over some recent examples and show you what sort of **** they had to spread to generate hype about their so-called "opportunity" while ignoring reality.
The "Internet TV" biz clones
In 2015, over half dozen "internet TV box" companies popped up advertising stuff like "watch your favorite TV for free, cut your cable TV bill, watch favorite sports"... etc. They want you to pay them about $300-500, and for every people you enroll (who also pay them $300-500) you earn money, possibly $100 or more per person. They go by names that includes words like "Box" "Stream" and so on.
That's a pyramid scheme, folks. I've covered what's a pyramid scheme before, so I won't repeat that here. Let's discuss the hype instead.
The matter of fact is you can buy TV boxes like these for about $50-75 on Amazon. They are all based on KODI (used to be XBMC) any way, and wholesale from China they cost even less. You can probably hire some kid to program it for you for another $10-25 if you don't to spend time on it. So where does the extra $200+ go? To the company and whoever recruited you, of course.
TL;DR = you got something for $300 (or more).that you can buy for $60 (WTF?!)
AND you can get better and more legal boxes for $100 (Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV, etc.)
They all advertise (some more blatant than others) that they can get pay-per-view programs and subscription programs for free. They tell you people are already doing this, boxes "like" this are being marketed by Amazon and Roku and others (except those don't pirate and cost less than $100). They count on you having "heard" of such stuff, but having NO detailed understanding of such. it sounds "vaguely familiar".
What they don't tell you is getting stuff "for free" is actually piracy and that breaks so many laws that you'll be personally held responsible for such. And it's no joke, there already has been a raid in UK on seller of such boxes. And let's not forget RIAA and MPAA and so on suing grandmas and so on for astronomical sums.
The schemes hyped up the benefits (OMG FREE EVERYTHING!) and potential upside (OMG MAKE MONEY WHILE HELP OTHERS 'SAVE' MONEY!) while minimizing and hiding reality (The boxes cost $60 on Amazon) and risks (it's illegal to pirate and you can get sued).
TL;DR version:
Hype / Opportunity: OMG Make money, save money, no more cable TV!
Reality / Cost: Overpaying by 3-600%, piracy is illegal
Coming next, "cryptocurrency biz"
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Scam Hilarity: How Gemcoin Scammer "Interprets" the American Justice System (HINT: It's VERY hilarious)
In the interest of all Gemcoin sheeple or perp, Chinese or otherwise, this post will be bilingual.
爲了大家的利益，珍寶幣是真是賤，讀者在中國或外國，以下中英雙文對比．
Recently there were a post on Sina blog (PDF linked) that claimed "there was no FBI raid" at USFIA and "SEC was just doing routine inspection". I took a look. It's hilarious. This clearly written by someone with "motivated reasoning".
最近有在新浪博客的一篇文章 (PDF) 聲稱美國富豪USFIA “沒有被FBI調查”和“美國證券交易委員會只是做例行檢查”。我親自看一看。它真的好笑。這顯然是“有動機推理”的人寫的。
Due to size constraints, I'll just explain the important parts. I don't quote out of context.
由於尺寸的限制，我選重要部份解釋。我不斷章取義。
What he wrote will be in blue.
他寫的用藍色
First, the title:
第一，文章標題
＂受联合国70周年大会邀请AFG公司副总裁等8人参加了联合国成立70周年大会＂
UN 70th anniversary celebration invited AFG VP et al 8 people to attend
Anyone can take a photo in front of the UN building. There are even shops inside the UN building. These photos of Leonard S. Johnson and two unidentified individuals can only prove they were in New York recently. It has no other value.
任何人都可以在聯合國大廈前拍照。聯合國大樓內甚至有商店。照片只可以證明Leonard S. Johnson 和兩個身份不明的人最近去過紐約。沒有其他價值．
（FBI的战士们英姿飒爽哦，这张图片被媒体刊登在报端网络，渲染AFG公司被查封。可是，去过美国AFG公司的人一眼就能看出，这显然不是美国AFG公司背景的照片，媒体用好莱坞拍电影常用的移花接木、蒙太奇手法进行创作，实在让我们见识了美国的言论自由）
Translated; FBI Warriors, so fierce, so cool! This photo was published by media, claiming AFG was closed. However, those that went to AFG can see that this is not at AFG. Media use Hollywood fast cut to create false impressions, such as freedom of press in America.
This photo is of FBI agents assisting in the Boston Marathon bombing in May 2013, when they searched Norfolk St. in Cambridge area of Great Boston. The actual title of the photo is fbi-norfolk-street-cambridge.jpg I have seen no American media use this photo with the Gemcoin story. If there is, please point me at the article. Otherwise, I must conclude that the blogger was the one who falsely inserted a photo, exactly what he's accusing "American media" of doing.
這張照片是聯邦調查局探員協助2013年5月波士頓馬拉松爆炸案，他們在搜查諾福克(Norfolk) 街在大波士頓的劍橋(Cambridge)地區。照片的實際名稱是FBI-norfolk-street-cambridge.jpg 我沒有看到任何美國媒體使用這張照片在珍寶幣故事上。如果有請指點我文章在哪。不然我必須定論這位珍寶幣博客才是插入不相干照片捏做新聞用來反指責“美國媒體”捏做新聞。（惡人先告狀）
（这张图片被媒体刊登在报端网络，渲染AFG公司被查封，但这显然不是美国AFG公司背景的照片，媒体用好莱坞拍电影常用的移花接木、蒙太奇手法进行创作，实在让我们见识了美国的言论自由。无怪乎刘因全之流可以肆无忌惮的拼接各种图片在媒体攻击AFG公司。美国报纸竟然和大陆文革中的大字报十分相似可以随便造谣惑众）
Translation: This photo was published by the media claiming AFG was closed by law. This is clearly not AFG in the background. Media use Hollywood special effects creatively and we have witnessed American freedom of press. How dare "Michael Liu" and his ilk publish all sort of photos to attack AFG. American newspapers are much like the hated paper in the Culture Revolution to spread rumors and lies.
Those of you who can use Google image search will quickly realize this is a photo of the deputies in Lee County Florida. Again, I have not seen this photo in relation with Gemcoin, and again, I have to conclude that this Gemcoin blogger is the one who inserted irrelevant photos to accuse "american Media" of making up news.
那些會用谷歌圖片搜索的會發現這是佛羅里達州李縣(Lee County) 警長部 (Sheriff's Department) 的照片。同樣，我沒有看過此照片與珍寶幣報導有關，再次我必須做結論，這位珍寶幣博客才是插入了不相干照片捏做新聞用來反指責“美國媒體”捏做新聞。（惡人先告狀）
Here comes the hilarious part!
現在才是滑稽的料到了！
爲了大家的利益，珍寶幣是真是賤，讀者在中國或外國，以下中英雙文對比．
Recently there were a post on Sina blog (PDF linked) that claimed "there was no FBI raid" at USFIA and "SEC was just doing routine inspection". I took a look. It's hilarious. This clearly written by someone with "motivated reasoning".
最近有在新浪博客的一篇文章 (PDF) 聲稱美國富豪USFIA “沒有被FBI調查”和“美國證券交易委員會只是做例行檢查”。我親自看一看。它真的好笑。這顯然是“有動機推理”的人寫的。
Due to size constraints, I'll just explain the important parts. I don't quote out of context.
由於尺寸的限制，我選重要部份解釋。我不斷章取義。
What he wrote will be in blue.
他寫的用藍色
First, the title:
第一，文章標題
＂受联合国70周年大会邀请AFG公司副总裁等8人参加了联合国成立70周年大会＂
UN 70th anniversary celebration invited AFG VP et al 8 people to attend
Anyone can take a photo in front of the UN building. There are even shops inside the UN building. These photos of Leonard S. Johnson and two unidentified individuals can only prove they were in New York recently. It has no other value.
任何人都可以在聯合國大廈前拍照。聯合國大樓內甚至有商店。照片只可以證明Leonard S. Johnson 和兩個身份不明的人最近去過紐約。沒有其他價值．
（FBI的战士们英姿飒爽哦，这张图片被媒体刊登在报端网络，渲染AFG公司被查封。可是，去过美国AFG公司的人一眼就能看出，这显然不是美国AFG公司背景的照片，媒体用好莱坞拍电影常用的移花接木、蒙太奇手法进行创作，实在让我们见识了美国的言论自由）
Translated; FBI Warriors, so fierce, so cool! This photo was published by media, claiming AFG was closed. However, those that went to AFG can see that this is not at AFG. Media use Hollywood fast cut to create false impressions, such as freedom of press in America.
This photo is of FBI agents assisting in the Boston Marathon bombing in May 2013, when they searched Norfolk St. in Cambridge area of Great Boston. The actual title of the photo is fbi-norfolk-street-cambridge.jpg I have seen no American media use this photo with the Gemcoin story. If there is, please point me at the article. Otherwise, I must conclude that the blogger was the one who falsely inserted a photo, exactly what he's accusing "American media" of doing.
這張照片是聯邦調查局探員協助2013年5月波士頓馬拉松爆炸案，他們在搜查諾福克(Norfolk) 街在大波士頓的劍橋(Cambridge)地區。照片的實際名稱是FBI-norfolk-street-cambridge.jpg 我沒有看到任何美國媒體使用這張照片在珍寶幣故事上。如果有請指點我文章在哪。不然我必須定論這位珍寶幣博客才是插入不相干照片捏做新聞用來反指責“美國媒體”捏做新聞。（惡人先告狀）
（这张图片被媒体刊登在报端网络，渲染AFG公司被查封，但这显然不是美国AFG公司背景的照片，媒体用好莱坞拍电影常用的移花接木、蒙太奇手法进行创作，实在让我们见识了美国的言论自由。无怪乎刘因全之流可以肆无忌惮的拼接各种图片在媒体攻击AFG公司。美国报纸竟然和大陆文革中的大字报十分相似可以随便造谣惑众）
Translation: This photo was published by the media claiming AFG was closed by law. This is clearly not AFG in the background. Media use Hollywood special effects creatively and we have witnessed American freedom of press. How dare "Michael Liu" and his ilk publish all sort of photos to attack AFG. American newspapers are much like the hated paper in the Culture Revolution to spread rumors and lies.
Those of you who can use Google image search will quickly realize this is a photo of the deputies in Lee County Florida. Again, I have not seen this photo in relation with Gemcoin, and again, I have to conclude that this Gemcoin blogger is the one who inserted irrelevant photos to accuse "american Media" of making up news.
那些會用谷歌圖片搜索的會發現這是佛羅里達州李縣(Lee County) 警長部 (Sheriff's Department) 的照片。同樣，我沒有看過此照片與珍寶幣報導有關，再次我必須做結論，這位珍寶幣博客才是插入了不相干照片捏做新聞用來反指責“美國媒體”捏做新聞。（惡人先告狀）
Here comes the hilarious part!
現在才是滑稽的料到了！
Thursday, October 1, 2015
USFIA Update: "bank accounts show apparently NO revenue" (since 2013), and more
Official SEC press release: SEC Halts $32 Million Scheme That Promised Riches From Amber Mining
LATimes is a day late in reporting the Fed raid and shutdown of USFIA/Gemcoin, but apparently they actually read the SEC filing against USFIA, and they got a few extra details than anyone else thus far.
Here's the relevant parts:
And it seems the politicians have nothing else to say.
LATimes is a day late in reporting the Fed raid and shutdown of USFIA/Gemcoin, but apparently they actually read the SEC filing against USFIA, and they got a few extra details than anyone else thus far.
Here's the relevant parts:
USFIA has raised about $32 million from investors since 2013, according to the complaint. Nearly $19 million of that came from foreign investors, with $5.7 million coming from checks mostly issued by domestic investors, it said.
The company’s bank accounts show no apparent revenue over that period, the complaint said. Instead, recorded transactions show large withdrawals to purchase luxury automobiles, entertainment and travel, as well as several transactions with various companies controlled by Chen.and earlier in the article, Steve Chen apparently knew the gig's up, because...
Earlier this month, according to the filing, Chen attempted to wire $7.5 million out of USFIA’s account at Bank of America to a Chinese bank after he was interviewed by the Arcadia Police Department about a separate case involving alleged death threats against disgruntled Gemcoin investors.
And it seems the politicians have nothing else to say.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
USFIA Raided by SEC, FBI, etc. on 29-SEP-2015, assets frozen, company seized
Multiple news sources, including onsite witnesses, have reported that FBI, SEC, and several other agencies have raided USFIA on 9/29/2015 and froze its assets, and appointed a receiver to take over.
San Gabriel Valley News
San Gabriel Valley News
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| SGVT: U.S. Government seizes Arcadia company's assets in GemCoin fraud case (29-SEP-2015) |
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
USFIA Update Continued
Previously, we have covered how Amkey exited China after series of scandals (product problems, repeated changes of comp plan, sudden reversal of "opening stores" plan) and never received the direct sales license it needed to operate in China, leaving thousands of distributors stranded and disillusioned.
What was surprising though is Amkey continued to operate outside of China, and attracted a following in Singapore and nearby countries.
What was surprising though is Amkey continued to operate outside of China, and attracted a following in Singapore and nearby countries.
Amkey and AllianceNGN
Despite Amkey quietly withdrawing from China, it apparently enjoyed several years of continued growth, or at least fast recruitment, in places such as Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and places that speaks Chinese, mainly by adding something called "NGNTalk", an IP talk product for long distance calling without the long distance fees.
NGN Talk's parent company, Alliance NGN, has a very intriguing Chinese name 美国联邦环球通which literally translates to US Federal Global Talk. Really official sounding, isn't it?
Various Chinese fan websites claimed that "Alliance NGN" has received FCC and EC certification. Searching FCC website shows no such certification.
The NGNTalk fan sites (in Chinese, example here, and here), and blogs littered all over the place about NGNTalk hinted at the level of recruiting. The deeper the tree, the higher the share (up to 20% if you go beyond level 8) as well as direct reward for recruiting per head, and so on.
If you look at the main menu of the alliancengn.com, it was actively soliciting investments. Why else would it have "Investor Guide" on its website as a main menu item?
This was confirmed when one digs into Alliance NGN's innards, where you discover that you can sign up and "invest" and even trade and receive "guidance".
NGN Talk's parent company, Alliance NGN, has a very intriguing Chinese name 美国联邦环球通which literally translates to US Federal Global Talk. Really official sounding, isn't it?
Various Chinese fan websites claimed that "Alliance NGN" has received FCC and EC certification. Searching FCC website shows no such certification.
The NGNTalk fan sites (in Chinese, example here, and here), and blogs littered all over the place about NGNTalk hinted at the level of recruiting. The deeper the tree, the higher the share (up to 20% if you go beyond level 8) as well as direct reward for recruiting per head, and so on.
If you look at the main menu of the alliancengn.com, it was actively soliciting investments. Why else would it have "Investor Guide" on its website as a main menu item?
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| Alliance NGN website, courtesy of web designer MartinMa Note the section above: Investor information |
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| Alliance NGN backoffice screenshot courtesy of MartinMa Apparently one can invest money into "brokerage accounts" at Alliance NGN, which was supposed to be a "telecom" company... Hmmmm.... |
Sunday, September 27, 2015
USFIA Update: Turns out USFIA itself is a reload scam... Successor to Amkey
Some readers have posed the question... How did Steve Chen got so big, involving possibly hundreds of millions of dollars?
The answer is... he's been at this for much longer than USFIA. USFIA (as either "American Royal 美洲富豪" or "American Mining 美洲礦業") was only his latest scheme. His previous scheme was "Amkey 安旗" , which started in 2004, and was basically forced to exit China after repeated scandals, but continued in Asia for many more years.
So what exactly was Amkey? According to Amkey's website...
Current US address is the Steve Chen building... 135 E. Live Oak, Arcadia. But let's start from the very beginning...
Amkey entered China in October 2004 by registering "Amkey (Beijing) Technology Development Ltd." 安旗（北京）科技发展有限公司 in a business park in Beijing. It apparently bought some factory in Shenzhen in 2005 and started selling its products after approval process.
According to an expose penned by an ex-member (PDF of article in Chinese) , Amkey was guilty of multiple misrepresentations.
On 14-SEP-2005, Premier Hu Jintao, attending a UN meeting, apparently met with over 600 local who's-who in the Chinese community, and Steve Chen was apparently among the crowd.
This was immediately plastered all over the Amkey news channels as "Premier Hu and Wife Welcomed By Amkey US CEO, Chinese-American Elite Merchant Council Chairman Steve Chen", claiming that 7 members of the company representing the three branches of Amkey (US, Beijing, and Hong Kong) to attend "US-China CEO Summit", claiming only the top 50 CEOs of the world can attend and they got 3 out of the 50 seats.
So what's the reality? According to the expose writer, Amkey attended a "US China Commerce Summit" at the Waldorf, not the Top 50 CEO summit. As for "welcomed Premier Hu"? A photo of Hu's motorcade driving past an Amkey banner streamed along the route was the "proof" provided by Amkey's website.
Another bout of hilarity ensued regarding the 2004 "Xiamen Direct Sales Legislation Proposal Seminar" 厦门直销立法座谈会. Twenty-two companies were invited to talk with Chinese legislators about what sort of legislations and regulations the direct sales industry needs in China. Amkey, who was NOT among the 22 invited companies, falsely claimed to be among the attendees by inflating the company count to 23 (link in Chinese). This was not done by affiliates, but by Amkey corporate website. The officials were not amused. Furthermore, the only time Amkey appeared in the news is it was on a BLACKLIST of 20 companies that was investigated for possible pyramid schemes.
The answer is... he's been at this for much longer than USFIA. USFIA (as either "American Royal 美洲富豪" or "American Mining 美洲礦業") was only his latest scheme. His previous scheme was "Amkey 安旗" , which started in 2004, and was basically forced to exit China after repeated scandals, but continued in Asia for many more years.
So what exactly was Amkey? According to Amkey's website...
A leading nutritional supplement products corporation, Amkey, Inc, is the provider of the world’s only cell renewal and protection products with multiple international patents. We are a US company established in June 2003 headquartered in Los Angeles, California. We are an e-commerce network marketing company combining R&D, production and the sales of high-tech nutritional supplement products, skin care products and daily sundry items.It claims to be a member of the Direct Selling Association (US), but searching through DSA.org as of today (27-SEP-2015) shows no such company listed. Searching through news archives seems to indicate that Amkey was accepted by DSA in June 2005, but there is no press release about when it was ejected.
Current US address is the Steve Chen building... 135 E. Live Oak, Arcadia. But let's start from the very beginning...
Amkey in China
Amkey entered China in October 2004 by registering "Amkey (Beijing) Technology Development Ltd." 安旗（北京）科技发展有限公司 in a business park in Beijing. It apparently bought some factory in Shenzhen in 2005 and started selling its products after approval process.
According to an expose penned by an ex-member (PDF of article in Chinese) , Amkey was guilty of multiple misrepresentations.
On 14-SEP-2005, Premier Hu Jintao, attending a UN meeting, apparently met with over 600 local who's-who in the Chinese community, and Steve Chen was apparently among the crowd.
This was immediately plastered all over the Amkey news channels as "Premier Hu and Wife Welcomed By Amkey US CEO, Chinese-American Elite Merchant Council Chairman Steve Chen", claiming that 7 members of the company representing the three branches of Amkey (US, Beijing, and Hong Kong) to attend "US-China CEO Summit", claiming only the top 50 CEOs of the world can attend and they got 3 out of the 50 seats.
So what's the reality? According to the expose writer, Amkey attended a "US China Commerce Summit" at the Waldorf, not the Top 50 CEO summit. As for "welcomed Premier Hu"? A photo of Hu's motorcade driving past an Amkey banner streamed along the route was the "proof" provided by Amkey's website.
Another bout of hilarity ensued regarding the 2004 "Xiamen Direct Sales Legislation Proposal Seminar" 厦门直销立法座谈会. Twenty-two companies were invited to talk with Chinese legislators about what sort of legislations and regulations the direct sales industry needs in China. Amkey, who was NOT among the 22 invited companies, falsely claimed to be among the attendees by inflating the company count to 23 (link in Chinese). This was not done by affiliates, but by Amkey corporate website. The officials were not amused. Furthermore, the only time Amkey appeared in the news is it was on a BLACKLIST of 20 companies that was investigated for possible pyramid schemes.
Scam Tactics: Two-Face, revisited
Previously MLMSkeptic has covered "two-face", i.e. present two separate distinctive personalities to different audiences, as an Herbalife tactic. Tell government and Wall Street 72% of participants do NOT want income, while holding a convention cheering on those who did profit and entice those who haven't joined with prospects of income.
But there is an even simpler version of two-face... present someone NOT as who they are, by simply dressing them up as something else.
And there's an update later about how Gemcoin / USFIA is being condemned in Vietnam... but first...
Those of you who keep up with the USFIA / Gemcoin developments should recognize this guy (photo from May 29th 2015 USFIA event):
With a bit of help from the newspaper ChineseDailyUSA (owned by Sho Tay of Arcadia, BTW) we've determined the guard's surname is Zhang (yes, I misspelled it in the translation).
And with a different photo, where the guard is now... "international jewelry appraiser", was identified as John Zhang.
If you're wondering why did the translation differ... I'm just going with original material, man.
But recently I came across a different coverage of the same Toronto event...
So we have his full name, "John Zhang", and a search at Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, who licenses security guards and investigators, and you get "ZHANG JOHN BAO PING" of West Covina, CA.
The logical conclusion is the "jewelry appraiser" and "security guard" are the same person: the security guard was dressed up as "jewelry appraiser" for the Toronto event, and possibly for the other events in various Chinatowns as well.
That is two-face, at its most basic: present one face, the guard face, to the locals, then at where people don't know you, you can be other people, like "appraiser".
And the Toronto event and its coverage belies the recent "denial" of USFIA, where they claimed they don't even operate Gemcoin.
But there is an even simpler version of two-face... present someone NOT as who they are, by simply dressing them up as something else.
And there's an update later about how Gemcoin / USFIA is being condemned in Vietnam... but first...
Those of you who keep up with the USFIA / Gemcoin developments should recognize this guy (photo from May 29th 2015 USFIA event):
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| Live ammo shooting coach Security Guard Chang (Zhang, actually) Right 5, photo with fans |
And with a different photo, where the guard is now... "international jewelry appraiser", was identified as John Zhang.
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| Life412.com / Professional Gem Appraiser John Zhang (Right 2), Company VP Leonard S. Johnson (Right 3) international market president Alicia Gesier (Right 4) and Toronto International Market President eric Wu (Right 7) |
If you're wondering why did the translation differ... I'm just going with original material, man.
But recently I came across a different coverage of the same Toronto event...
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| torcn.com / USFIA VP Leonard S. Johnson announcing USFIA Currency Fund Gemcoin's formal release and introducing Alliance Financial Group (AFG) background and its affiliate USFIA Currency Fund the guy on the right is, according to placard: John Zhang, international jewelry appraiser |
So we have his full name, "John Zhang", and a search at Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, who licenses security guards and investigators, and you get "ZHANG JOHN BAO PING" of West Covina, CA.
The logical conclusion is the "jewelry appraiser" and "security guard" are the same person: the security guard was dressed up as "jewelry appraiser" for the Toronto event, and possibly for the other events in various Chinatowns as well.
That is two-face, at its most basic: present one face, the guard face, to the locals, then at where people don't know you, you can be other people, like "appraiser".
And the Toronto event and its coverage belies the recent "denial" of USFIA, where they claimed they don't even operate Gemcoin.
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Scam Tactics: Using Cultural Preconceptions and Stereotypes for Affinity Scam
As the Gemcoin scam reached national stage, a video surfaced recently of Steve Chen and company throwing some sort of USFIA Club party at a McMansion owned by one of his real estate companies (AHome) ostensibly as some sort of reward for "top performing" USFIA participants.
During the event, Steve Chen was wearing a light blue polo with some sort of a badge on left breast, a photo badge clipped on the right breast, and was wearing a gunbelt with holster (and gun), with some sort of shield/badge on the belt in public display. The caption identified him as chairman, USFIA club. (lit: US Royal Club)
A later picture shows the gun and the rest, belt shield, shoulder patch, and photo ID badge and its close-up, where it clearly says: GREAT WALL, photo, badge, name, number, date, and "Public Safety".
Search of LA Area for "Great Wall" yielded a company called Great Wall Security Training Center, in San Gabriel, CA, not far from Arcadia.
Where, as you can guess, they train security guards, including armed guards, gun permits, pepper spray permits, billy club permits, body guard permit, concealed carry permit, and other related stuff.
Why did a chairman demote himself to security guard just to carry a gun around? On a grand-opening ceremony of his own club? For that, you have to understand Chinese culture.
During the event, Steve Chen was wearing a light blue polo with some sort of a badge on left breast, a photo badge clipped on the right breast, and was wearing a gunbelt with holster (and gun), with some sort of shield/badge on the belt in public display. The caption identified him as chairman, USFIA club. (lit: US Royal Club)
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| Vidcap from video, red caption by Oz, BehindMLM.com white caption says: USFIA Club Chairman |
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| Photo of Steve Chen cutting ribbon of his own place, close up of badge brown and green markup by Oz, behindmlm.com, Steve Chen is obviously dressed as security guard, ID'ed so by badge |
Search of LA Area for "Great Wall" yielded a company called Great Wall Security Training Center, in San Gabriel, CA, not far from Arcadia.
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| Great Wall Security Training Center banner from their own website |
Where, as you can guess, they train security guards, including armed guards, gun permits, pepper spray permits, billy club permits, body guard permit, concealed carry permit, and other related stuff.
Why did a chairman demote himself to security guard just to carry a gun around? On a grand-opening ceremony of his own club? For that, you have to understand Chinese culture.
Friday, July 24, 2015
USFIA Update: Is USFIA involved in child labor exploitation of amber mines in Mexico?
Thanks to SierraMadreTattler, MLMSkeptic was recently made aware of an article published back in May 2015 that certain unnamed Chinese has been hiring anybody who can work (including children) in the tiny town of Simojovel, in Chiapas, Mexico, to mine amber. Children as young as 7 were hired to work in the amber mines, often during school breaks, with promise of pay of up to $500 pesos per day. Many even die in the mines.
But is there any link to USFIA? We don't know as USFIA does not specify if they use any Mexican amber. In fact, most of their amber mining references are about amber mining in Dominican Republic. However, since each affiliate prepare their own slides based on whatever sales meeting they attended at USFIA HQ, they often have additional insight, such as the one I found here:
So here, we have an USFIA affiliate claiming (based on his attending USFIA HQ seminar) that no less than Chen Yan, Steve Chen's brother, visiting Mexico to check up on factory (mine?) of amber. And it's in a tiny village.
But is there any link to USFIA? We don't know as USFIA does not specify if they use any Mexican amber. In fact, most of their amber mining references are about amber mining in Dominican Republic. However, since each affiliate prepare their own slides based on whatever sales meeting they attended at USFIA HQ, they often have additional insight, such as the one I found here:
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| USFIA affiliate states that Chen Yan, VP of USFIA, frequently travels to factory (mine?) in Mexico and Dominican Republic, and stated their mine seems to be in a TINY village in Mexico. |
Thursday, July 16, 2015
USFIA Update: If you or family or friend invested in Gemcoin, a US Reporter Would Like to Talk To You
Following comment was left on BehindMLM website, and the email address is verified.
I have no doubt some Gemcoin supporters will spam her account with promo material, about how nothing is wrong and a couple haters are spreading "lies" about Gemcoin. Good, show her why you tell the truth and everybody else ain't.
And if you are on the side of justice and truth, and you have some personal experience on Gemcoin (maybe you were in that "motorcade" that went to Quail Ranch?) let her know.
And as original comment stated, this will only stay up for ONE WEEK STARTING TODAY.
EDIT: And a shoutout to the SierraMadreTattler.blogspot.com, fellow blogger keeping track of the situation in Sierra Madre, neighbor of Arcadia! Thanks for the repost! I added the Chinese translation after you reposted it, sorry!
Posted by: Carol MatlackAnd just in case, here's Chinese version:
Jul 16th, 2015 at 10:16 pm (Q)
Hello, I am a journalist with Bloomberg Businessweek magazine. I’ve been doing some research on USFIA and the Gemcoin, and I’m interested in speaking with investors and friends & families of investors, about their experience.
The moderator of this forum has kindly agreed to post my email address so you can contact me: cmatlack@bloomberg.net (This address will only be posted here for a week, so please make a note of it if you plan to contact me.) Thank you.
您好我是彭博商业周刊(Bloomberg Businessweek) 的记者。我一直在做关于USFIA和Gemcoin珍寶幣研究，而我想知道投资者和投资者家庭朋友的经验。本次论坛的主持人也欣然同意貼我的电邮地址，以便你可以与我联系：cmatlack@bloomberg.net（此地址将只被张贴在这里一个星期，所以请记下它，如果你打算与我联系。 ）谢谢。
I have no doubt some Gemcoin supporters will spam her account with promo material, about how nothing is wrong and a couple haters are spreading "lies" about Gemcoin. Good, show her why you tell the truth and everybody else ain't.
And if you are on the side of justice and truth, and you have some personal experience on Gemcoin (maybe you were in that "motorcade" that went to Quail Ranch?) let her know.
And as original comment stated, this will only stay up for ONE WEEK STARTING TODAY.
EDIT: And a shoutout to the SierraMadreTattler.blogspot.com, fellow blogger keeping track of the situation in Sierra Madre, neighbor of Arcadia! Thanks for the repost! I added the Chinese translation after you reposted it, sorry!
USFIA Update: Who are they trying to fool with these "screenshots"?
A few days ago, the "official" Facebook page of Gemcoin / USFIA posted this:
Can you see the problems? No?
The "Blockchain Wallet" is the first problem. Blockchain never heard of Germcoin.
Second one requires a bit closer look.... Look carefully:
Do you see the problem yet? No? Let's go a little closer:
That's right, you're looking at a photo of PDF being displayed on a computer screen. In fact, if you open Adobe Reader XI now, you should see the SAME toolbar. Here, I'll even show you.
They're showing off a PDF file and claiming it "proves" that their cryptocurrency blockchains are working?!?!?!
How stupid do they think people really are?
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| Facebook post by Gemcoin / USFIA official page |
The "Blockchain Wallet" is the first problem. Blockchain never heard of Germcoin.
Second one requires a bit closer look.... Look carefully:
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| Getting the details of one of those pictures... See the problem yet? |
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| The title says: [unreadable Chinese] Gemcoin Wallet.pdf -- Adobe Reader |
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| Screenshot of Adobe Reader toolbar / menu bar |
How stupid do they think people really are?
Friday, July 10, 2015
USFIA Update: What was USFIA doing before Gemcoin? Exactly the same thing... selling promises of amber
Previously, we have established that the Arcadia based USFIA is the SAME "American Mining" scam that plagued China in 2014, and was destroyed in multiple raids in China as of June 2014. Its head in China, Ho Peng, was arrested in Hunan. The initial reporting agency, Changde police, even went to Thailand to arrest two that escaped there in November 2014.
USFIA had since published disclaimer that they never endorsed the company name being used for illegal purposes and basically disowned Ho Peng.
But let us examine... Was USFIA doing anything different then vs. now? What was USFIA doing before 2015?
Here's the earliest mention of USFIA 美洲矿业... in California.
Here's the earliest mention of USFIA 美洲矿业... in California.
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| ChineseinLa.com classified ad in Chinese: American Mining needs gem commerce reps, dated 06-SEP-2013 They need reps to join US and Chinese markets, no requirements other than speak clearly and be nice |
Note that they were looking for 加盟商 / Franchisee (30 of these), and 業務代表 / business rep.
Selling what? Gemstones? Or protoshares of whatever USFIA offers? Interesting, as we have no record of this.
What we *do* know is by March 2014, reps have indeed reached China, and is attracting official attention, because they do *not* have a direct sales license in China. So the reps all lied, claiming "it's coming soon". They attracted enough attention in Liaoning that local newspaper wrote an article on them, leading them to clear out overnight.
And this is their comp plan:
Selling what? Gemstones? Or protoshares of whatever USFIA offers? Interesting, as we have no record of this.
What we *do* know is by March 2014, reps have indeed reached China, and is attracting official attention, because they do *not* have a direct sales license in China. So the reps all lied, claiming "it's coming soon". They attracted enough attention in Liaoning that local newspaper wrote an article on them, leading them to clear out overnight.
And this is their comp plan:
- Invest $1000, $2000, $5000, $10000, or $20000, get "merchandise" and "business center", plus $100 yearly "maintenance fee".
- Get referral bonus (8% to 15% depending on how big the package your referral bought)
- Get Leadership bonus (get referral bonus of your upline and downlines down 3 generations)
- Get Passive Monthly bonus (refer 1, get 1.75 shares, refer 2 get 2 shares)
- Management monthly bonus (if you got 2 downlines who brought in 300K each (10000 USD = 1 point, so 30 pts) you get 20000 that month, and it goes up from there.
- Autoship bonus -- get a share of downline's purchases, if they maintain minimum of $100 per month, going down 12 generations
- Travel bonus and Car bonus
Let's keep this in mind while we check into a bit of history.
First, let us examine the an old Chinese news on sina.com.cn, reposting news from Hunan Daily:
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| hunan.sina.com news of 12-NOV-2014, reporting arrest by Changde police in Thailand regarding the USFIA "American Mining" scam |
The part I highlighted in blue is:
据常德市公安局透露，2013年10月，黑龙江人陆巍加入陈力、所罗门杨等人在美国洛杉矶设立的传销组织“美洲矿业”，并成为其在中国地区的传销组织领导人之一。“美洲矿业”在北京、新疆、湖南等地以投资琥珀期权、原始股为名，大肆招募会员。他们将其所销售的劣质琥珀冒充多米尼加蓝珀欺骗会员，还多次以“美洲矿业”之名，在中国举办传销宣传聚会。
Which translates to:
According to Changde Ministry of Public Security, Mr. Lu Wei (from Heilongjiang) joined in October 2013 the pyramid sales organization "American Mining" (USFIA) established in US Los Angeles by Chen Li and Solomon Yang, and became one of pyramid sales leaders in the China region. "American Ming" (USFIA) recruited heavily in Beijing, Xinjiang, and Hunan using the promise of profit from investments in amber options as well as protostocks. They used bad quality amber to pass for Dominican blue amber and defrauded the members, and several times used "American Mining" (USFIA) name to hold pyramid sales promotion and recruitment meetings in China.
Li Chen (i.e. Chen Li 陳力）is Steve Chen, head of USFIA, UCCA, AFG, and so on and so forth.
Thus, there is absolutely NO DOUBT this is the same organization, same head, same company. Arcadia is a suburb of Los Angeles. In fact, some Spanish speakers are known to have mistaken John Wuo, then mayor of Arcadia, as "mayor of Los Angeles". Tsk tsk tsk, can't they even check Wikipedia?
USFIA posted an announcement dated June 2014 that Ho Peng was a rogue operator and the company disclaimed any and all relations with him. Then in late 2014 they launched Gemcoin, allegedly "backed by amber".
Frankly, this already smells like "same wine, new bottle", but let's make absolutely sure... what was AFG / USFIA / WHATEVER doing BEFORE the crackdown in China?
Here is an video found on Tudou (Chinese Youtube), believed to have been uploaded by a Spanish affiliate of USFIA back around February or March 2014, of their visit to AFG/USFIA HQ in Arcadia California. And they were speaking Spanish, not Chinese. As Chinese New Years decorations are still in display this can't be much later than March, and it was showing AFG, so this is before the introduction of Gemcoin. The video was then reuploaded to China's Tudou by a USFIA affiliate in China who added an overlay for his own website (no longer in service).
And just for comparison, this is USFIA lobby now:
Seems they replaced the back sign to say AFG / Gemcoin, but kept some of those Chinese lanterns in the back. But there's no doubt it's the same desk, same lobby.
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| AFG / USFIA lobby, circa approx. March 2014. Note this is pre Gemcoin, and around Chinese New Years |
Seems they replaced the back sign to say AFG / Gemcoin, but kept some of those Chinese lanterns in the back. But there's no doubt it's the same desk, same lobby.
Thursday, July 9, 2015
USFIA Update: Turns out both the Chinese name and the English name may have been stolen
Today, MLMSkeptic takes a deep dive into the Interwebs, to dig up who is the REAL "American Mining" (it's NOT USFIA), by looking at various corporate listings as well as news from Asia to prove that the name "American Mining" was stolen by USFIA.
USFIA which supposedly stands for US Fine Investment Arts, was known as 美洲礦業／美洲矿业 in Chinese, which translates to American Mining. Chinese Commercial Yellow Pages (CCYP) shows that they are the same:
Furthermore, when the scam was active in China, it used the same logo and Chinese name. This is primary rep Ho Peng at such a seminar in Macao. Ho Peng was arrested in China in June 2014 along with 21 other promoters of USFIA 美洲矿业 in China.
And just to confirm, this always has been USFIA's logo. This is the current rendition of the logo:
The address matches. This is indeed the USFIA in question. And this is a US Corporation registered in California by Steve Chen.
However, we do have a problem as there is already a 美洲礦業 in Shenzhen, China. As this is in China, the proper way to write it is 美洲矿业 (simplified Chinese).
And yes, they have a logo. This was from a talent wanted ad they posted earlier:
And this one is easy to verify via third party sources. Search for AA Mine Mexico brought up an official Mexican government listing of mining projects in Mexico with Foreign Capital:
Okay, sounds legitimate enough. Is there yet OTHER sources to prove this is the "real" 美洲矿业 , i.e America Mine Holding?
Absolutely!
USFIA which supposedly stands for US Fine Investment Arts, was known as 美洲礦業／美洲矿业 in Chinese, which translates to American Mining. Chinese Commercial Yellow Pages (CCYP) shows that they are the same:
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| Screen cap of Google Search Results for 美洲礦業, confirms that USFIA is 美洲礦業, which translates to American Mining |
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| Ho Peng, USFIA top rep in China, at a promo event in Macao April 2014. Ho was arrested in June 2014 for his role in 美洲矿业 scam. |
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| "USFIA Inc. US Fine Investment Arts" |
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| Profile for USFIA in California, which used Chinese name 美洲矿业 which means American Mining, even though USFIA supposedly stands for "US Fine Investment Arts" |
However, we do have a problem as there is already a 美洲礦業 in Shenzhen, China. As this is in China, the proper way to write it is 美洲矿业 (simplified Chinese).
And yes, they have a logo. This was from a talent wanted ad they posted earlier:
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| America Mine Holding Talent Wanted ad in China, short profile on company in Shenzhen, China |
And this one is easy to verify via third party sources. Search for AA Mine Mexico brought up an official Mexican government listing of mining projects in Mexico with Foreign Capital:
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| Official Mexican Government website confirming AA Mine Holding is Chinese owned |
Okay, sounds legitimate enough. Is there yet OTHER sources to prove this is the "real" 美洲矿业 , i.e America Mine Holding?
Absolutely!
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
USFIA Update: Denial in Spain (and fun Spanish Vocabulary)
As previously mentioned, Spain Official Agency CNMV (La Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores trans: National Commission on Markets and Values/Investments) issued a warning against USFIA (i.e. AFG / Gemcoin ) back on May 18th.
In Spain, such illegal unregistered investments, basically HYIP, are known as chiringuito financiero or "financial snack bars". Chiringuito is an open air snack bar often found on Spanish beaches serving snacks and drinks where you order from a counter and find your own seats. Some are even mobile on a tricycle. Thus, a chringuito financiero is a ramshackle unregistered investment, often without even a physical presence, and only exists via phone calls, email, and websites. And USFIA (AFG / Gemcoin) was identified as a chringuito financiero.
Normally that's hardly noticeable, as the commission issues dozens of warnings every year. However, one of the comments was quite interesting, on a newspaper called "ValenciaPlaza".
Translation: Israel G. Gomez wrote That is not the website of USFIA. I see they have contrasted the news and have little idea of what they say, deplorable!
So what website was CNMV talking about? "Usfiamlm.com"
FWIW, usfiamlm.com is now a parked Godaddy domain. Well, if it wasn't guilty, why is it parked so early? It's not as if Guardia (Spanish Police) raided it, right?
In Spain, such illegal unregistered investments, basically HYIP, are known as chiringuito financiero or "financial snack bars". Chiringuito is an open air snack bar often found on Spanish beaches serving snacks and drinks where you order from a counter and find your own seats. Some are even mobile on a tricycle. Thus, a chringuito financiero is a ramshackle unregistered investment, often without even a physical presence, and only exists via phone calls, email, and websites. And USFIA (AFG / Gemcoin) was identified as a chringuito financiero.
Normally that's hardly noticeable, as the commission issues dozens of warnings every year. However, one of the comments was quite interesting, on a newspaper called "ValenciaPlaza".
Translation: Israel G. Gomez wrote That is not the website of USFIA. I see they have contrasted the news and have little idea of what they say, deplorable!
So what website was CNMV talking about? "Usfiamlm.com"
FWIW, usfiamlm.com is now a parked Godaddy domain. Well, if it wasn't guilty, why is it parked so early? It's not as if Guardia (Spanish Police) raided it, right?
Monday, July 6, 2015
USFIA Update: Gemcoin ATMs (probably not) and warning in Spain about it being unlicensed investment
NOTE: Previous coverage on USFIA can be found here
MLMSkeptic has a special disdain for someone scamming their own kind in order to get ahead, which is pretty much every scammer out there, when the truth is often in plain view, albeit the view may have been distracted.
A certain Gemcoin promoter online claimed that Gemcoin ATMs , THOUSANDS of them, will soon be distributed around the world, so people can get cash through their Gemcoin account. As an example, they showed two ATMs allegedly with Gemcoin listed next to the typical ATM logos like VISA / MASTERCARD / AMEX and so on.
As you can see, that's "Gemcoin" 2nd from the right on the top row, and here's a guy that looks like he's getting money from it.
So why is there a "Gemcoin" logo's bottom showing just above the ATMs?
Turns out, these two are probably the ONLY ATMs that display the Gemcoin logo... because they are installed at Gemcoin HQ, i.e. UCCA / USFIA / AFG / whatchamacallit in Arcadia. Don't believe me? Here's a different angle of the same ATMs, from a different Gemcoin promoter:
Then consider this shot from the FRONT of the lobby... at the reception desk
One must conclude that the two confirmed-to-exist (whether you can actually convert Gemcoins to cash is a different matter) alleged "Gemcoin" ATM are located in the main lobby of USFIA/AFG, as this is the SAME paneling used in both pictures. Albeit it's not in public view, but around the back.
Frankly, other than banks, the ONLY other locations with ATMs, esp. these free-standing kinds, are local convenience stores. You know, something like this:
MLMSkeptic has a special disdain for someone scamming their own kind in order to get ahead, which is pretty much every scammer out there, when the truth is often in plain view, albeit the view may have been distracted.
A certain Gemcoin promoter online claimed that Gemcoin ATMs , THOUSANDS of them, will soon be distributed around the world, so people can get cash through their Gemcoin account. As an example, they showed two ATMs allegedly with Gemcoin listed next to the typical ATM logos like VISA / MASTERCARD / AMEX and so on.
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| Screencap'ed from investgemcoin.com |
So why is there a "Gemcoin" logo's bottom showing just above the ATMs?
Turns out, these two are probably the ONLY ATMs that display the Gemcoin logo... because they are installed at Gemcoin HQ, i.e. UCCA / USFIA / AFG / whatchamacallit in Arcadia. Don't believe me? Here's a different angle of the same ATMs, from a different Gemcoin promoter:
Then consider this shot from the FRONT of the lobby... at the reception desk
One must conclude that the two confirmed-to-exist (whether you can actually convert Gemcoins to cash is a different matter) alleged "Gemcoin" ATM are located in the main lobby of USFIA/AFG, as this is the SAME paneling used in both pictures. Albeit it's not in public view, but around the back.
Frankly, other than banks, the ONLY other locations with ATMs, esp. these free-standing kinds, are local convenience stores. You know, something like this:
Sunday, July 5, 2015
USFIA Update: Who is this security guard and was he also identified as gemstone appraiser?
Previously, we've identified the USFIA shindig in Arcadia, where Steve Chen threw a party for "USFIA Club Grand Opening", where he threw a party, then started up a motorcade to visit his closed Quail Lodge golf course and promised this will be developed into a huge profitable enterprise. This was back on May 29, 2015. John Wuo was present.
Also present was this security guard, in no less than three photos.
Do we agree that these three shows the photo of the same guy? Taller than most Chinese, stocky.
Also present was this security guard, in no less than three photos.
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| Security guard, photo 1 of 3, hiding in background to left |
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| Security guard photo 2, posing with fellow guards and motorcade control, far right |
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| Security guard photo 3 of 3, posing with fans with thumbs up sign |
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