Woo in 2013: Some bogus images "proves" their product works? Nah.

Is your product from Mr. Bogus?
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The problem with modern health is it's so complicated that modern charlatans moved in using pseudo-science, fancy jargon, and bogus advertising to claim their products work.

In 2004 or so there was a flood of so-called "foot bottom patches" allegedly from Japan. The claim was you apply these to the bottom of your feet at night, and when you wake up in the morning, you'll find the patches having turned dark, and that supposedly had leeched "toxins" from your body, thus proving it works. 

What utter bogosity. The patches actually turn dark to ANY moisture. Just drip a few drops of distilled water will make them turn dark. Tests of pads turned dark with distilled water vs. pads turned dark under actual feet, as well as unused pads were tested, absolutely NO difference in metal content was found. 

The claims were so bogus, FTC sued the makers of Kinoki pads and shut them down. They claim they didn't really make money and thus can't pay the FTC fines. 

And now the patches are back, with even MORE bogus claims than EVER. 

BREAKING NEWS: Brazilian News "Fantastico" Investigates TelexFree, finds suspicion of pyramid scheme

The article's too long and it's in Portuguese, but you can read Google translation easily.

http://g1.globo.com/fantastico/noticia/2013/06/justica-ve-indicios-de-piramide-na-telexfree-e-determina-investigacao.html

BREAKING NEWS: If You Got Net "Profit" of $1000 from Zeek, You Need to Contact the Receiver!

According to the settlements thus far, and statement from Zeek receiver Ken Bell's update to the court, if you own as little as $1000 (i.e. you're a "net winner" and you got $1000 or more profit from Zeek) you need to settle with the receiver or he's going to SUE you!

Yes, as little as $1000.

And indeed plenty of people have settled, usually at 60% rate, i.e. if you owe $1000, you may be able to settle for about $600.

Those still dreaming about getting away with their illicit gains can expect to sweat quite a bit more.

You cannot trust the disclaimer

NOTE: Part of this post was reworked into one of my hubpages hubs.

Suspect schemes often contains some strange disclaimers, as if they can avoid legal responsibility with it.  The matter of act is if a company lie in a disclaimer, like "This is not an investment", when the business, in fact, passes the Howey Test, then the disclaimer is a lie and thus company has committed fraud.

Most Ponzi schemes claim to be investments, but a noticeable portion claim they are not. "Ad Surf Daily" was shut down in 2008 and its website has the following disclaimer (pulled from court document PDF):

All payments made to ASD are considered advertising purchases, not investments or deposits of any kind. All sales are final. ASD does not guarantee any earnings or profits. Any commissions paid to Members are for the service of viewing other Member web sites and for referring Members to AdSurfDaily. All advertising purchases are non-refundable.

Note the elements:

• We say it's a purchase, not an investment
• No refund (all sales are final)  (repeated twice)
• No earning or profit guarantee
• We say we pay you for the service (of watching ads) and referral (of new members)

In general, paying other people for service is called salary, or compensation, not "commission" (which implies sale had taken place, but not to the person being paid). So this is confusing already. 

The Federal court shut it down via a full IRS / Secret Service raid in 2008 and its owner is now in a Federal jail, having plead guilty to wire fraud. 

[ Learn more about Ad Surf Daily ponzi scheme ]

Let us now look at another disclaimer... In April 2012, Zeek Rewards also started requiring its affiliates to recite a long disclaimer at sales meetings. It is reproduced below:

“If you make a purchase from ZeekRewards you are purchasing a Premium eCommerce subscription or you are purchasing bids to give away as samples. You are NOT purchasing stock or any other form of “investment” or equity. You MUST actually use the bids that you purchase or give them away as samples to help grow your business. Affiliates who present our products to others in a misleading manner or in a way that leads the buyer to believe he or she is making an investment or purchasing equities will be terminated and all commissions and awards will be forfeited. Buyers MUST read the entire How It Works and Get Paid pages on the ZeekRewards website and the Legal Disclaimers.”

Now let's compare the points

• We say it's a purchase, not an investment
• If you say the wrong thing we don't want you
• You have to use what you buy or give it away. (implying that's what you're being paid for)

Zeek Rewards was closed by SEC as a Ponzi scheme involving 700 million dollars and up to a million members. Clearly, the disclaimer is fraudulent.

[ Learn more about Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme ]


Note the common points between the two Ponzi schemes:

• "we say we're not investment"
• "we say we're paying you for service" (it was implied in the second one) 

Both turn out to be lies. Members are required to buy stuff (ads in one, bids in the other) in order to participate in this "revenue sharing". The more you buy, the more you share. The "service" each member performed is negligible and certainly not worth whatever profit they are sharing.

WTF is TelexFree trying to do in Brazil?

Either they got a real cult going or they're making up **** as they go.

First, they started floating unverified claims that they signed a contract with Best Western to build hotels in Brazil (for the upcoming World Cup). (Why? What's the relation? Where's the confirmation?)

In Feb 2013 then they got investigated by department of justice.

Their follower go nuts, claims investigation is over and ended right after it started.

In March 2013 Brazilian ministry of Finance claimed TelexFree is likely a Ponzi scheme and not sustainable.

Their followers appear to be undeterred, started posting hate mail to all the websites citing this news.

In June 2013 Brazilian court shut them down, order them to stop recruiting and paying people.

Ten Months Later, Zeekheads Still In Denial

English: The protest event Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Park in New York, on Day 8, September 24.
with protester making a sign "I don't mind being called a conspiracy theorist" (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A hearing about dissolving the receivership of Zeek Rewards ponzi scheme was moved to July 2013. And the news coverage of that attracted many ZeekHeads posting comments such as

"There was no victim until the SEC got involved."

"Someone paid off the judge and they closed Zeek with minimum evidence".

"Government is the crook that stole our money"

and other comments of a similar nature.

http://www.the-dispatch.com/article/20130607/News/306079985?tc=ar

It was last August (16-AUG-2012) that Zeek was closed. Ten months later, Zeekheads are STILL in denial.

It was last September that I posted "7 Myths/Excuses Zeek Apologists Kept Repeating" and it's interesting that the same ones are still being used.

BREAKING NEWS: TelexFree gets "cease and desist" court order in Brazil

According to Brazilian news "Globo" (as reported by Behindmlm) the local court judge had ordered TelexFree to cease operation in its recruiting and and advertising arm.

Oz at BehindMLM has long concluded (back in 2012) that TelexFree is merely a Ponzi scheme disguised by a telephone company, and since then the various supporters of the scheme have circulated various misinformation, including "there was no investigation in Brazil" and so on and so forth, despite newspaper reports. TelexFree allegedly hiring Gerald "I can't spot a Ponzi with both hands and a flashlight" Nehra didn't help either.