Tuesday, October 27, 2009

TVI Express: completely illegitimate scam

This is one of the huge welcoming signs for Go...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".



Let's try a different tack... let's go to Google News, then enter TVI Express as a search term.

http://news.google.com/news/search?aq=f&pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=tvi+express

That yielded a mere 18 entries. (And 2 sponsored links, interesting...)

However, look a little closer. First one, from Reuters, looks legit until you notice where Reuters got it from:

This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further
information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.

SOURCE Clouse and Associates, LLC

In other words, Reuters just copied this from someone else, called 24-7PressRelease.com. Press Releases are written by the releaser, in this case, this company called Clouse and Associates. NO ACCURACY is verified or assumed. In fact, if you tried searching for this from Reuter's own website (use the search box in the upper right) for "tvi express", you'll get "not found".

The 2nd link is from 24-7PressRelease.com

The 3rd link is from PR-CANADA.net, another press release.

The 4th link is from USPRWire, another press release.

The remaining links are in foreign language and are NOT related to "TVI Express".

In other words, there are NO regular press coverage for this supposedly great investment opportunity from ANY of the world's legitimate media sources. All supposed coverage are from some TVI associates PAYING sites to pump out some press releases.

Now, let us try to dig up some background on this "TVI Express". When was this company established? Their website says nothing. No founding date at all. And as we've mentioned, they claim to do business in London, UK, but UK business registry has no record of such a company, nor are they at their own listed address any more. So far, nobody has bothered answering this important question.

However, a clue can be gathered from their domain registration, even though they had domain privacy turned on (i.e. very little public information available. The record says the domain was registered in 2008, April 29.

However, if you look through the search results for "TVI Express" through Google archives, you will find that there is NO MENTION of the company until February of 2009.

http://www.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22tvi+express%22&scoring=t&um=1&sa=N&sugg=d&as_ldate=2009/01&as_hdate=2009/12&lnav=hist9

This is confirmed by at least one entry that claims that TVI Express is in "prelaunch" Jan 15, 2009.

In other words, this company is less than one year old. Sorry, but investing in such a young company, with NO products to sell (which they say so in their own FAQ), but you do have to PAY to join. Sorry, but I am NOT *that* dumb.

What is even more interesting is that some TVI associates are now PAYING members to join! Just pay a FRACTION of the normal $250+fees (as low as $99 USD or even lower), the sponsor pays the rest, and you can be a TVI Express member! Guess they are DESPERATE for new members!

Guess who'll be left holding the bag when it all comes crashing down?

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

3 comments:

Unknown said...

TVI Express earned a 5 star rating from Citizen Corps, which is a company that rates online based businesses. The reason for the 5 star rating is because TVI have created a very simple and easy to follow business model that almost insures a 100% success rate. There is a lot of complexity in simplicity, and TVI has done a wonderful job at making everything simple for their users.

GuyReviews said...

Oh, that's funny. You base your investment decision on ONE 5-star review by an unknown entity? Fine, I'll analyze CitizenCorps.com for you as well.

GuyReviews said...

And for those who haven't kept up... CitizenCorp.com has since posted a retraction... and has downgraded TVI Express to a mere 3 stars out of 5.

"UPDATE: TVI Express downgraded to 3 Stars.

TVI Express originally received a 5 star rating. There are multiple reasons for the new rating. Since our original review the company has left it’s offices in the UK and has not announced a new location. All indications are the company is actually located in India. Who the actual owners of the company are has not been released..."

http://citizencorps.com/tvi-express-travel-ventures-international/