BREAKING NEWS: Peruvian Legislator Warns Public About WCM777

Given that Peru is in South America, it's no surprise that WCM777 would have reached there as well. And now that Colombia has declared WCM777 illegal, it is no surprise that Peruvian legislator has warned the public about the danger of WCM777.

Peruvian legislator Jaime Delgado has issued a public statement that warned all against WCM777, a foreign company doing illegal pyramid-selling business... just like TelexFree that came from Brazil. Their pitch basically is give them up to $2000 USD, and you can realize profit of up to 300% in a few months.

You can read the original article here in Spanish

http://peru21.pe/impresa/alertan-polemico-negocio-2158106

UPDATED 21-NOV-2013  It is now stated that Jaime Delgado has asked the Peruvian Superintendency of Securities, Peruvian Superintendency of Banking and Insurance, as well as Peruvian Attorney General, to look into this scam.

http://www.connuestroperu.com/consumidor/20/40008-advierten-sobre-negocio-piramidal-de-empresa-wcm777

There are various Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, and even a few domains registered in Peru. In fact, one of the biggest pushers of WCM777 pyramid scheme (according to Colombian government) is a pastor David Lozano, of "Ministerio La Luz". This is him on his ministry website, at the bottom, touting WCM777:

BREAKING NEWS: WCM777 now ILLEGAL in Colombia, promoters may face arrest

Noticieas Uno (News One) of Colombia has reported (first spotted by Oz at BehindMLM) that the Superintendency of Companies in Colombia, has outlawed WCM777 as a pyramid scheme. Promoters face arrest, and two top promoters in Colombia have been identified by name. Webpages and internet activities promoting WCM777 are being taken down with assistance of Internet ISPs.  Assets are being frozen to prevent the money leaving the country. News One have also noticed the Massachusetts shutdown order.

Here's the video report in Spanish.

And original link:
http://noticiasunolaredindependiente.com/2013/11/16/noticias/intervencion-piramide/

When full text becomes available it will be translated and linked. For now, enjoy with Google auto-translate.

Why Experts Do NOT Add Credibility To A Company

O RLY (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of the most often heard excuses thrown at the MLM Skeptic is "so and so is involved. So and so is an expert and thus Acme XYZ can't possibly be a scam".

And two of the most favorite experts used for pseudo-legitimacy are lawyers (esp. MLM lawyers), and accountants, esp. auditors.

Frankly, many lawyers are so blind or so suave their testimony is completely worthless.

While I hate to bring up an old issue, it is worth pointing out that Gerald "Gerry" Nehra of Nehra and Waak, one of the more prominent MLM lawfirms, had a reputation of pointing at ponzi schemes and said "not Ponzi". He did so first with Ad Surf Daily (and testified in court to that effect), then did the same with Zeek Rewards (his and Waak's name were on the final Zeek creditor's list). Their involvement was touted highly by participants of both schemes as "proof" that the "business" can't POSSIBLY be illegal. Yet both were shut down as scams.

(And it's noted that another person who told people that both ASD and Zeek are not Ponzis... Keith Laggos, MLM consultant)

Just because lawyers said something legal doesn't make it legal.

But what about accountants?

Why Do Investors or Participants NOT Use Google Enough?

Google 貼牌冰箱（Google Refrigerator） (Photo credit: Aray Chen)

One of the most powerful tools against fraud is Google.

Every bit of the evidence, example, illustrations, etc. presented here  of possible or alleged fraud came from simple Google research, that anybody could have done for themselves.

I freely admit that I have the advantage of being a polyglot... that is, I read multiple languages, including Chinese, Spanish, and of course, English. However, there's always Google Translate. You just have to know not to rely on them.

Fraudsters generally have a history of failures or sanctions by the law. And those histories are now online to be searched, if not by Google, then by some official records search facility offered by the government.

And very often, you just have to connect the dots.

In a case that spanned across the US, Janamjot Singh Sohdi, ran a ponzi scheme called Elite Financial Services from 2005 to 2011. He told people he can manage their money to pay handsome returns, but what he really did is to pay return to early joiners with money from the late joiners. He was finally caught in Fresno California, but not before stealing 2.4 million dollars.

Yet the warning signs had been there.

• He went by multiple names, such as Jimmy Singh, or Jimmy Sohdi
• His investment broker license was revoked in 2005
• He was permanently disbarred from New York Stock Exchange in 2006
• He was issued a "cease and desist" in California 2009 as any sort of investment advisor

You can find more about "Jimmy" here. 

Why do people not use Google? Are they afraid of what they will find? 

What about WCM777? Warning signs that been there all along.

BREAKING NEWS: WCM777 settles with US State of Massachusetts for Securities Violations

PattrickPretty.com spotted this news first. 

WCM and WCM777 have accepted an consent order with US State of Massachusetts Securities Division, that it will refund any and all residents of Massachusetts, which is believed to number about 160, almost all exclusively in the state's Brazilian community. Apparently the state has been aware of of WCM777 since at least September 2013, and backtracked violations since March 2013.

Without admitting guilt, WCM777/WCM agrees to stop marketing their illegal securities in MA, and offer to refund all participants their money. Company has 15 days to submit a report that it has contacted all participants, with proof, that it has refunded, or attempted to do so.

Actual press release by State of Massachusesetts can be read here:

http://www.sec.state.ma.us/sct/current/sctworldcapital/world-capital-markets-consent-order.pdf

Are Latinos Defending Herbalife Making Sense?

Rafael Fantauzzi is head of NPRC (National Puerto Rico Coalition) and recently he penned a piece for Fox Business Latino, where he basically claimed that Herbalife is merely misunderstood. You can read his piece here, as I may have misunderstood his message, but I doubt it:

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/opinion/2013/11/04/herbalife-successful-business-model-for-latinos-or-predatory-pyramid-scheme/

Is he making any sense? My answer to that is absolutely not.

His primary praise for Herbalife is heavy involvement of the Latino community. To quote him:

Herbalife has succeeded at something that quite a few companies, and the Federal government for that manner, have failed, and that is to achieve real Hispanic inclusion. Hispanics make up at least 60 percent of Herbalife’s direct selling workforce – better known as distributors.

Okay, what's the next thing Fantauzzi said however, is a bit more controversial:

The big problem I see is that the critics of Herbalife and multi-level marketing companies are confusing business ventures with a welfare program. They assume that everyone must have equal outcomes, not just equal opportunity.

He then went on claiming that Herbalife rewards hard work, and he can't denounce a company that is the embodiment of American dream.

Does his points actually make sense though? I say no. Let me explain why.

CONTINUED COVERAGE: Interush was ALREADY declared illegal in China in 2012, fined in Taiwan in 2010!

Emblem of Hong Kong
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Further research on Interush's asian ventures hit a bit of a snag as Interush apparently used multiple transliterations and thus, multiple names, which made research more difficult. However, once the proper search terms are found, all the evidence of crime started showing up on Baidu, Bing, and Google searches.

The keys are their Chinese names... one used  英达锐  (pronounced In-da-zuey) and another is 英特USH  (prnounced In-te-ush). Sometimes, the product, that "IRIS suite" is called "讯联网" which is just "comm net". 
Once these terms are located, following 4 news items popped up.

Don't Let the Comm Net Scam Catch You!  (12-DEC-2012)
http://www.jjxw.cn/2012/1212/74770.shtml

Summary: a grandma in the Jiaojiang region of China, who never touched computer before, much less take a trip, was enticed by a saleswoman to get a visa to Hong Kong to attend a 3-day class and invested thousands of RMB into this "comm net" with promises of being a net millionaire. This turned out to be illegal pyramid selling under prosecution around China. However, the money, being paid outside of mainland, is impossible to get back.

Comm Net Scam Investigation; IPO Lie Scammed Tens of Thousands  (20-AUG-2012)
http://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/gsnews/20120820/100512895571.shtml

Summary: Comm Net scam is an illegal pyramid selling scheme that relies on recruitment speech that claims that this will be the big chance to score Internet riches after Google, Amazon, and Baidu. Many recruiters posted ads around Southern China around Guanzhou (aka Canton). Scheme was already outlawed in Nanning, Jenzhou, and Inner Mongolia. "Subscribe" and become stock owners, then when company IPO members will earn lots of money. It is illegal, and it is against the law. Police do what they can, but due diligence is up to the citizens. Report any potential wrongdoing.