TVI Express Busted by Chinese Authorities in Zhejiang as Pyramid Scam

“TVI旅游快车”浙江踩刹车“新型传销”纷纷现形 TVI Express has been brought to a halt in Zhejiang Pyramid Scams have been brought to surface

2009-08-10 11:28:48 Source: Xinhua News agency

Translated by K. Chang

Translator's note: I am not a professional translator, but I do speak and read both Chinese and English. In some sentences, I have to go for the meaning and the nuance instead of going for a literal translation. I do aim for accuracy. If you have a suggestion on how to improve the translation, please feel free to comment. Original is here:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://zhejiang.12312.gov.cn/zjzz/swzf/513081.shtml&ei=VLzjSt6kO46kswOM7dCwBA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCAQ7gEwAg&prev=/search%3Fq%3DTVI%2Bsite:.cn%2Bzhejiang%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3DTHE

TVI Express: the final verdict

This will really be the final word on TVI Express I will write. It will be a summary of all the previous entries. However, I will also post a translation of the Chinese article, as the Google Translation isn't that good. Any way, here goes...

TVI Express: The Final Verdict

Tens of Thousands of people have been lured by the promise of quick profits, i.e. "earn up to $15000 in a week" to join "TVI Express" all around the world. India, China, and now the US. This supposedly London-based company claims to sell discounted travel vouchers. However, TVI Express is a Ponzi scam, plain and simple. They may have hidden their deeds pretty well, but there are enough clues out there for everybody to find. But will you see it, or stay in self-denial?

The problems of TVI Express are plenty. For organization, I've divided it up into three categories: company background suspicions, company practice suspicions, and finally, faulty retorts.

TVI Express uses voodoo math to claim it's legal

Image via Wikipedia

Frankly, I'm getting a little tired of TVI Express bashing, because it's so obvious. However, here's a fellow Blogger that seems to have fallen under the TVI Express spell and uses funny math to prove his own point. Let's analyze some facts.

Let's say FIRST GUY is the 1st guy on the board. He's Level 1.

He recruits 2 more people. He's now level 2, There are 3 people in the traveler board.

Each of those 2 people at level 1 recruits 2 more people, pushes FIRST GUY to level 3. There are now 7 people in the board.

If the guys at the bottom (4 of them) each recruit 2 more... You now have 8 people at the bottom, the "First Guy" is now level 4... cycles out of the Traveler's board.

Oh, and who 'certified' TVI Express?

Image by Larry and Laura via Flickr

Some people are claiming that TVI Express has been "approved" by various consumer websites. Let's see what's at the bottoom of TVI Express website...

Thawte -- legitimate site, but all it certifies is that TVI Express uses valid SSL encryption. You can buy that for a website for $250. That doesn't say anything about the legitimacy of the business. Usefulness: D

Better Internet Bureau -- while it sounds impressive, BIB is a private company out of CANADA, and NOT affiliated in any way with Better Business Bureau. They claim to "approve" websites for inclusion, but there's a fee: $45. And there's no way to "validate" the display of this seal. There is no list at BIB's website to look up if the company is REALLY allowed to display the BIB seal. Usefulness: D

TVI Express use shill sites to give itself high ratings

I've had some people who wants to convince me that TVI Express is a legit opportunity because it got a "5-star rating" from some website called citizencorps.com

Frankly, I never trust the words of ONE website, esp. it's a website I've never heard before. I'll list some of the things I find VERY STRANGE about this website.Then I'll tell you my opinion at the end. So, please read on. I don't really care if you agree with me or not, but I find it very troubling that people actually cite this place as a "legitimate review".

TVI Express: completely illegitimate scam

Image via Wikipedia

Let's do an informal test... Let us use Google as a research tool on what people think about TVI Express.

If you do this search:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=CZD&q=tvi+express+news&aq=f&oq=&aqi=


You get "about 86200 results.

However, if you do a filter of all that to "news only" (click on "show options", then click on news on the left), you get ZERO results. In other words, NONE of these 86200 results came from what Google considers to be a "legitimate news source".

TVI Express: 9 reasons why it is the biggest Ponzi scheme ever

Someone got arrested

 

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article has been superseded by 

http://kschang.blogspot.com/2010/02/tvi-express-8-facts-you-need-to-know.html

You may have heard from someone you know or been recruited on Facebook and such about this "wonder exciting opportunity to earn a lot of money" called TVI Express. To put it plainly, it is a Ponzi scheme, and if you fall for it, you are an idiot. And if you continue to recruit people if you KNOW it is a Ponzi scheme, you are ACTIVELY COMMITTING FRAUD, and may be subject to CRIMINAL PROSECUTION in your country. And if you do NOT see why TVI Express is a Ponzi scheme, you are both stupid AND self-delusional. Let us look at the facts:

Soledad Accident Update

As expected, they are blaming the driver, now dead, for everything. It is hard for a dead guy to defend himself, isn't it?