TVI Express supporters makes unsubstantiated claims of legitimacy... again

Increasemymonthlyincome.com, a.k.a. travelventuresinternational.net, ran by two TVI Express members, continue to push the scam despite being served a "cease and desist" letter in state of Georgia.



Their most recent announcement went as far as claiming a US convention in January 2011, and US call center in 2012 (located in Florida).  (see link)



Then they claimed that no less than THREE lawfirms (up from just 1 named before in Utah) is working on how to make TVI Express complaint with US laws.

However, a lot of the statements are just plain... weasel. Here are the problems.



1) No such announcement of US convention was available on TVI Express website. So it is NOT an official announcement or an official convention.

2) No such listing on the community calendar on TVI Express website (embedded Google Calendar). There is NOTHING listed for January 2011. NADA. Thus, it is NOT a community event either.



3) Call center in... FLORIDA? Makes absolutely NO SENSE. American call centers are usually located in the CENTRAL time zone (usually Colorado) so it can provide service to all four timezones (Pacific, Mountain, Central, and Eastern) for maximum hours in all cases. Locating call center in Florida basically cuts service to western regions by nearly half.



4) Putting a call center on US soil means TVI Express would be subject to US law, and there is NO WAY TVI Express can comply with US Federal law (FTC regulations) regarding network marketing and keep the present package. You'd have to tear down the whole thing and start over.

5) In one post the call center is coming in 2012. In a different post they claim it is coming in 2011. What is going on? Can they even get their own facts straight?



6) They never bothered to name the lawfirms referenced. The source of the original claim that the Utah lawfirm was retained came from an upline, and CANNOT be corroborated by any other evidence. Reliability of such information is low.


7) They weasel out of their claim of convention by stating it is subject to change. HELLO! January is only a few months away!




Based on the statements on their own website, and history of lies told by various TVI Express supporters, esp. Tarun Trikha, the reliability of the announcement is low to none.

Another Craigslist ad denouncing TVI Express

Recent Developments Have Caused TVI Reps To Be Jobless

---

Date: 2010-09-30, 10:30AM PDT
Reply to: serv-at6py-1981797568@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}

---

I want to be clear...I was a member or TVI Express and an ardent believer in the business. I brought a team of people into TVI and loved the idea and everything they were going to offer...if TVI could have provided what they promised.


Because Of The Downfall of TVI Express, Leaders Were Left Searching For Suitable Options For Their Teams.

No One Wanted To Encounter The Same Unanswered Questions, Lies, And Misrepresentations That Were Made By TVI Express...

I Needed To Find A Business In The Travel Industry That Had A Number Of EXTREMELY Important Criteria In Order For Me To Save Face With My Team:


A Company With At Least a 6 Figure First Year Earning Potential


A Transparent Company - One Where We Knew Who The Founders Were And It Was Clear Where The Company Was Headquartered.


A Company With Real Products People Could Use Immediately


A Company Where It Pays to Help Others Succeed and People Are Financially Rewarded For Successful Teambuilding


A Company Built For The Long Haul - Not Just Another Flash In The Pan Like TVI Express


http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/biz/1981797568.html

The "club" argument debunked... again

Some TVI Express shills are still hanging on by their fingernails by claiming TVI Express is a "club", like AAA Auto Club, that provides benefits to people, and company wants to make you rich if you refer a lot of people to it. So it's a "business".



First of all, what is the business model of a "club"? A club charges members dues every month (or whatever period is good) and in return provides benefits to its members (presumably at a cost lower than the membership dues received, so it can earn a net profit). A travel club can use the membership list to get discounts from actual travel providers as well as market to the members services and discounts that cost additional money. AAA's real money maker is actually insurance. Golf clubs charge dues to keep up the golf course and makes money at the pro shop for the balls, clubs, and other equipment.

There are "clubs" like supermarket and bookstore clubs that basically wants to give you discount in return for your personal information and purchase history tracking. They don't need membership fee because the benefits they give you cost them very little, but the potential increase in sales more than offsets the discounts they give. 

TVI Express doesn't charge per month, just a one-time fee of $250 + whatever. And for that $250, you supposedly get discounted trips through the travel portal, and the 7-day 6-night hotel accomodations somewhere and half the price of ticket. In reality, the travel portal, relabeled Travelocity obtained through wctravel.com, is worth ZERO, since it is virtually identical to Travelocity. It offers no additional savings. The trip itself is nearly impossible to redeem, all the announced hotels are in India, and now costs extra $150 USD "processing fees and taxes" to redeem. Thus, the $250 membership is NOT worth $250 at all. It is worth practically NOTHING.



It's like mail ordering an "exotic African musical wind instrument", and getting a plastic vuvuzela out of the box. It is perfectly accurate: it is African, it is a wind musical isntrument, and it is exotic, but it's worthless.

And here's the really troubling part... the "matrix cycler".



Let's say I tell you that you can make $1000 if you can convince 50 people each to pay $50 for a plastic vuvuzela. Would you do it? If I say if you only convince 10, you get your $50 back?

That's exactly what TVI Express had done. Offering something that's worthless, charge you money, and tell you that you can make the money back, and much more, if you drag a LOT of people buying the same worthless stuff.



And that is the very definition of a pyramid scheme, albeit slightly disguised by a WORTHLESS benefit package. 

Donna Ebreu, "coach of integrity", needs inspiration after end of TVI Express

Problem is, she needs more than inspiration. She needs GRAMMAR lessons. 

LIFE And It’s Mystery

September 28, 2010 · Filed Under Inspirational  

 

yes, that's exactly what it says.  Do you know what the problem is?

 

ANSWER: It should be "its". It's an elementary level English grammar mistake. 

Wow, someone is denouncing TVI Express on... Craigslist?

See for yourself, and whoever you are, thanks for the link to my hub. 

RE:MONEY DOES NOT GROW ON TREES, ONE HAS TO EARN MONEY, (SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAMSCAM SCAM )

---

Date: 2010-09-28, 3:46PM PDT
Reply to: serv-7uc2h-1978799726@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}

---

Don 't believe me,just google up "Tvi express scam" and you'll see that they were chased in Germany,and with their banking in Cyprus got Cypus into shit with the EU

"TRUTH #1: Australia and United States, after China, have acted legally against TVI Express. China have declared TVI Express as pyramid scheme back in June 2009, and have arrested and convicted many as fraudsters.
Australia issued restraining order in May 2010 against 3 members to stop them from promoting TVI Express, and in September 2010 state of Georgia in the United States issued a cease and desist order against North American branch of TVI Express, a copy of the order is included to the right."


http://hubpages.com/hub/TVI-Express-Lies-exposed

• Location: SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAMSCAM SCAM

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/van/fns/1978799726.html

Learn how a perfect scam works by dismissing its critics

http://hubpages.com/hub/10-Steps-to-a-Perfect-Scam

Fits TVI Express to a T, no pun intended.


Every member is touting the testimonials, even using it to combat "it's a scam" postings with statements like "It's not a scam because I did get paid."  Some then get evangelical: "It's new a different, and works, you should join us and work hard."



The article has been around LONGER than TVI Express. 

Facebook support group for TVI Express Scam Awareness

Visit Steve Motley's TVI Express Scam Awareness Facebook Group



http://www.imfaceplate.com/articles/marketing/tvi-express-worldwide-scam-alert

Here's news coverage of the ACCC vs. TVI Team OZ trial

URL: http://aap.newscentre.com.au/acci/100902/library/industry/23873071.html



The Daily Telegraph (Australia)

Enter the `matrix' --- Happy snap of trio at height of alleged pyramid scam

Author: John Rolfe
Publication: The Daily Telegraph (23,Thu 02 Sep 2010)
Edition: 1 - State
Section: Features
Keywords: ACCC (5)

---

WHEN this photo was taken earlier this year, times were good for the trio behind TVI Express. Times are not so good now though, as they attempt to defend themselves in the Federal Court against allegations of promoting a pyramid selling scheme.

This is the first time that the ACCC has pursued civil action over an alleged pyramid scheme -- defined as when a newcomer must make a payment to an existing participant, ``induced by the prospect'' of making money by introducing more people.

Every previous pyramid scheme prosecution has been criminal in nature. But the Australian Consumer Law, which came into effect on July 1, allows for civil cases.

The maximum penalty for individuals is a fine of $220,000. Disqualification orders can also be sought.

The ACCC's legal counsel this week told the court that $315,000 had flowed into the private bank account of Lualhati ``Teddi'' Jutsen from almost 1000 people, who paid $330 to become members of TVI in the first half of 2010. This money was then transferred to a ``mysterious'' Bangkok-based company.

The deposits followed presentations to potential participants by Ms Jutsen, Tina Aroha Brownlee and David Graeme Scanlon. Would-be participants were promised a six-night holiday, plus a flight for a friend and discounts on other travel.

ACCC legal counsel Simon White SC told the court that there was either no product being sold or the product was of no value and that the presentations were mainly about ``deriving income from introducing others''.

The court was played a recording that ACCC undercover investigators made of an online seminar in which Mr Scanlon said TVI participants could develop a ``solid income pipeline'' with a ``revolving matrix''.

In the recording, Mr Scanlon said TVI was the ``Ferrari of home-based businesses'' and expanding into 10 new countries a month.

Mr White told the court that to move through the ``revolving matrix'', participants were told it was necessary to recruit others.

He said participants were promised a $US500 to $US10,000 credit into their ``e-wallet'' or rewards such as a laptop, yacht or ``luxury villa in an exotic location''.

Justice John Nicholas asked Mr White the process for converting e-wallet credits to cash. ``We are not aware of anyone being able to do it,'' Mr White said.

Speaking on behalf of all three, Ms Jutsen told the court that the ACCC case was ``deeply flawed''.

Confirmed: TVI Express is finished in state of Georgia, US

TVI Express associate provided the following scan of the actual cease and desist order:

TVI Express was given 21 days to appeal. Nothing happened, even though  headquarters was notified as soon as this letter was received. This order is now permanent and cannot be appealed.

More Hilarity: TVI Express spammer spam a spam site

A blogpost about TVI Express was found on redesinteligentes, which says it's about technology.

If you look at the categories, you'll see that it's supposedly about tech, with categories like computer games and so on.


Yet if you look at 'recent posts' you'll see stuff like wedding bands, ladies' boots, and so on. So it turned into a spam site recently. And about week and a half ago, you got that blogpost about TVI Express.



If you read the blogpost you find it's UNFINISHED. It got chopped off at the end.

If you take one of the sentences, say "Sometimes people only buy into something because they just want to BUY THE SOAP" (near the top), and search for that on Google, you get links to "rock recliner chair", ECI Powder, Flying Fish Knot... all displaying the SAME article. There's no doubt it's spam.




The article's source can't be ascertained, as there's no reliable timestamp on these blog posts. However, the theme of the post is clear: it claims TVI Express is the next big thing comparable to Amway, yet it perpetrated some major logical fallacies.


First, it claims that TVI Express is a MLM with a real product. The "buy the soap" analogy refers to Amway, that people "join Amway just to buy the soap".

"...And under them somewhere is probably going to be some people who just wanted to enjoy the TVI Express benefits and never ever refer anyone much less sponsor anyone. They just want the SOAP!"

This is a major fallacy. You don't need to join Amway to buy Amway products. You just need to buy the product from your local Amway rep. You don't make any commission for yourself or your upline that way, but you surely don't need to join Amway to buy Amway.


With TVI Express, it's even worse. It's just Travelocity underneath, and Travelocity is FREE TO USE. You don't need to join TVI Express to enjoy those benefits. In other words, instead of costing $250 to access the soap seller, it turns out the soap seller can be accessed for free.

Then the author goes off on a tangeant, claims TVI Express is NOT a scam because it gives you real benefits and it does NOT pay on recruitment, or "enrollment" as he calls it.

For all those people that think TVI Express is a scam, TVI Express does offer a nice benefit package for the price of the membership. But guess what? You don’t make money from just enrolling people into TVI Express. There is no “you get $50 for each enrollment”.

So what is the benefit package? 1) Access to "backoffice", which is FREE to use  2) 7-day 6-night vacation which is impossible to redeem, and now costs extra $150, and only available in hotels in India. It is nice... To people living in India.



How about "make money from just enrolling people"?  Sure you don't get paid per head... You get paid every 200+ heads, to the amount of $10000 USD, by cycling out of both boards.



Partial lie, but a lie nonetheless.

As both points the writer presented are false, the conclusion is bogus.

More Hilarity: Says "Paid Survey Review", shows TVI Express instead!

Read this yourself... BAIT AND SWITCH LIARS, any one?



http://www.indobisnis.info/express-paid-surveys-review-7/

TVI Express "office" in Indonesia: in a strip mall?

According to TVI Express website, this is their address in Indonesia, right off their "contact us" page:



STC Senayan, 4th Floor # 69
Asia Afrika Pintu IX Gelora Senayan
Jakarta Pusat 10270



STC is "Senayan Trade Center", so the STC Senayan is duplicated.

So let's study this address a little... Who else is on 4th floor of STC Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia?

There's a lawyer in suite 1008

There is a Toy/Model store at #17



There's an architecture office in suite 1043



An actress / dancer in suite 1003



A toy bear shop at suite 111

Power company in suite 71

And so on and so forth.

Did you ever wonder what the building looks like? Here's a picture from a business on the third floor:

 

In other words, it's a tiny little office in this shopping center, that sells nothing. Not that impressive, is it? Certainly not as impressive is that "Marble Arch Tower" that TVI Express used to claim to reside.  Clearly that's why they haven't bothered to show you a picture of it. 

ACCC update: Contempt case against Teddi Jutsen was delayed till next week

Here is the e-mail response I got from ACCC regarding TVI Express:

Dear Mr Chang

Thank you for your email of 16 September 2010 to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in relation to TVI Express.

The ACCC is running two separate cases in relation to TVI Express.

The first case, which alleges that TVI Express is a pyramid selling scheme which the respondents participated in, was finalised recently.

The ACCC is now waiting for the Court to hand down its decision.

Until that decision is made by the Court, the three respondents remain restrained from promoting TVI Express. More generally, please note that it is illegal to participate in a pyramid selling scheme. Ultimately only a court can declare that a scheme is illegal.

The second case is a case against Ms Jutsen involving contempt of court charges. The contempt matter is before the Court next week for the hearing.

I trust this information assists.

Sincerely

Tania

ACCC Infocentre

So if you want to see TVI Express member get slapped hard by the law, just wait a little longer. 

More Hilarity: TVI Express fan site now reports... celebrity news

See for yourself:

http://tviexpressreviewsite.com/latestcelebritynews/

Hilarious: TVI Express spam appeared on Abortion Blog

See for yourself:

http://abortion.ebloge.com/what-is-the-maximum-number-of-weeks-pregnant-you-can-be-before-an-abortion-is-too-late/

Tarun Trikha's latest "15 points": more bull****?

IncreaseMyMonthlyIncome published "15 points" relayed through an upline, allegedly from "owner and CEO" Tarun Trikha. Here's my commentary on the 15 points.

1. The 7 night free vacation is available on the website now. From my understanding e-wallet funds can be used to pay the taxes. You have until Dec 31st to book your trip and have one year from booking to use it.

Comment: This is like, fourth or fifth time they say it's available?

2. 93% of the people in the survey regarding do you want a free 3 night 4 day business vacation with breakfast available in place of the 7 night at over 95% hotels said Yes! So they are also going to make that available.

Comment: and this is news? They already announced this a while back.

3. They are working on a better payment system and TVI signed a contract with a True Cash, a Canadian co. to provide Visa debit cards to load your money onto so it is more easily accessible. They have already purchased 100,000 debit cards that will be available in approx 5-6 weeks.

Comment: Search of Google shows no such company called "True Cash" anywhere. In fact, TrueCash.com is a PORN site.

4. Club TVI is a TVI co. that will be setup as a timeshare. They are currently buying hotels in Asia and Europe for Club TVI.

Comment: They lie about "tie up" with RCI before. And you would actually BELIEVE they are buying up hotels for timeshare? Muhahaha.

5. We are all invited to attend the next Convention In Jakarta, Indonesia in Sept. You can use your free travel voucher to stay for free.

Comment: Sure, that $5000 you can't spend otherwise. Psssssttttt.

6. A Master mind team will be formed in the U.S. by Sept 25th to be a go between for Distributors and TVI mgt. They will also be responsible for distributor training, seminars, qtrly meetings with mgt and bi-annual meetings with mgt.

Comment: you mean the uplines aren't already doing that? Bull****.

7. TVI will try to do a better job of keeping everyone informed before they have to take down the website for maintenance. Typically the website has been under attack and they have had a way to inform us ahead of time.

Comment: under attack by critics, or hackers? There's nothing on the website worth hacking. You can't get any travel on it, and memberships are worth nothing. Why would any one want to hack TVIExpress.com?

8. TVI is opening a new Support Center in Asia by the end of Sept manned by 52 more support personnel. Their goal will be to answer the phone within 2 minutes and to answer support tickets within 72 hours.

Comment: last one was promised in July 2009, and did not open until April 2010. How many months do you think this one will take?

9. TVI is currently working with the same company that provides travel services to Expedia and Travelocity to provide their travel services. They are also searching for more channel partners to get better discounts on travel. They are also working on adding commission payouts to distributors for anyone on their team that travels.

Comment: Sure, still claiming Travelocity connection. Legitimacy by "association" again.

10. The U.S is currently the 3rd largest market for TVI. India is first and S. Korea is second.

Comment: Completely irrelevant.

11. They are currently having Grimes and Reese, a law firm out of Utah, work on getting TVI compliant in the U.S.

Comment: And where were they when the TVI Express members got served in Atlanta Georgia?

12. Presidential Power pool payouts will be available in Sept.

13. Residual payouts are to remain from the 10th to the 15th of the month timeframe.

14. The next office to open will be in Greece.

Comment: Next to Cyprus, I see.

15. Tarun talked about stabilizing the company for the long term, he feels he has the right management team in Place, and has a long vision for making TVI the world leader in travel and appreciates all the distributors in the U.S. that are working to make that a reality!!!

Comment: the only way to "stabilize" a scam is to shut it down completely.

TVI Express supposedly hired lawyers for legalities in the US: too little too late?

TVI Express reached US in July 2009, and only in August 2010, a YEAR later, did news surfaced of alleged hiring of some MLM lawfirm in Utah to make TVI Express "complaint" with US laws, and even then it was NOT confirmed.

Troy Dooley was first to release such news, but it wasn't on his regular website, MLMHelpdesk, so that's pretty weird.

Then alleged TVI Express "owner and CEO" (named by TVI Express member, not me!) Tarun Trikha supposedly confirmed that they did hire the firm to represent TVI Express in the US.

Then a TVI Express fan site claimed to have called the lawyer and gotten confirmation that they are indeed representing TVI Express. However, closer examination of the report shows that it was relayed from an upline, not a direct report, so it's NOT a confirmed report.

So where were they in Atlanta, Georgia, where TVI Express members were handed a cease and desist order?

I have written to the lawyers and asked them for their comment but have not received any reply.

Even TVI Express fan websites are calling Tarun Trikha "owner and CEO"

See for yourself:

"Awesome NEWS!!!!
Today we were privy to hearing directly from Tarun Trika, owner and CEO of TVI. "
Source: http://increasemymonthlyincome.com/tarun-trika-tvi-express-owner-and-ceo-speaks-don-traurig-message/

And the announcement is the same bull*** we got last year, September 2009, as recorded by PlanetTVI.

And note that this is issued third-hand... Through another upline. No such transcript was available on TVI
Express, so it CANNOT be regarded as official! And what happened to Sam Cooper and all those other folks Tarun Trikha claimed to contact, if he's "owner and CEO"?

EDIT:  And here's a Tweet that says the same thing:

Owner of TVI Express International Tarun Trikha will join us Live Wednesday 9-1-2010 at : 2PM EST register at: www.easybailout.com 12:24 PM Aug 31st via web

source: http://twitter.com/maxdiamonds

TVI Express member refused to acknowledge scam despite US shutdown

Image via Wikipedia
Donna Abreu, who claims to be "coach with integrity" (her blog says so), refuse to acknowledge that TVI Express is a scam, even as she posted letter from her upline that TVI Express is being shut down in Georgia (the state) and probably in the US. She wrote:

"I believe TVI was never a scam. In the US, though, they don’t like MLM and the rules are strict. TVI didn’t make it. Same thing happened in Australia."

This is absolutely bull****. MLM STARTED in the US of A, by the granddaddy of all MLMs: Amway. This is when a guideline on what makes a MLM legal was established, and the rules are actually every simple: it must have some real product or service to sell to outside consumers, and associates must be paid on sales, and uplines must be paid on what was SOLD by downlines.

TVI Express cannot abide by these simple guidelines. It is a scam.

"Giants like Melaleuca have been around for 20+ years and yet they are banned from certain states in the US.  It just happens."

It does NOT just happen. Melaleuca's products are "fine" (I make no claims on their efficiency). They are banned from some states because of certain marketing practices: people are rewarded by recruiting people into "wholesale club", which is just an auto-ship program for Melaleuca products, not for actual sales. In early 2000 some distributors sued Melaleuca for misrepresentation. You can find information on Melaleuca easily on Google. I found all this in five minutes. She claims to be a marketing coach and she can't cite **** about Melaleuca except to spew bull****.

"Shut down or no shut down, the TVI comp plan through trial an error turned out to be too difficult for the average marketer to make m0ney."

Bull****. The comp plan is very straight forward: recruit 200+ people so you can make your $10000. Recruit more to make even more plus "incentives". Sell NOTHING (except more memberships). There is no trial and error. The only trial and error would be what sort of bull**** so called marketing coaches and uplines have to spin in order to "inspire" their downlines to recruit more victims to make themselves richer.

"People dropped out like flies. And those that tried hard got way discouraged."

People dropped out because they realized TVI Express is NOT a MLM. There is no sales, no marketing. Just recruiting. IT IS A SCAM.

"I made m0ney, but the majority of our team could not. It was heart-breaking for me."

Exactly, you got in early. You recruited enough victims for YOU to make money. Those under you can't find enough dumb***es to make themselves rich. More bull****. Of course you won't say it's a scam... You made $$$!

For a "marketing coach" to even today, refuse to understand that a scam only has recruiting while a legitimate MLM have products or services to sell to outside consumers, only shows that Ms. Ebreu has a highly inflated sense of her MLM knowledge and integrity.

Yes, this is my opinion, and I stand by it. Even today Ms. Ebreu kept her bull**** TVI Express hub on hubpages up, even though I had debunked every single one of her bogus justifications right in her comments.

Those who refuse to see the facts even when it is right in front of them are doomed.

What sort of people are writing about TVI Express now?

For grins, I did a search on "TVI Express" via Google, and set filter to "last 24 hours". What sort of results did I get?



1) 5izt.com, is TVI Legit or not, but that cited a spam, where they ran the original article through a rewriter, which substituted random words with their synonyms. So "travel" became "journey", and so on. The result is completely garbled.   SPAM

2) is a link to my report that Colombian press is reporting on TVI Express scam.



3) is "helping-people-to-make-money-quick.com" from this domain name, you can already guess this will be probably pretty spammy.  The link goes to a video link that supposedly shows you how to profit from TVI Express... Which is stolen right off TVI Express website, no doubt. SPAM.



4) someone spammed the comment at the website "moroccohotel.info" with ad for TVI Express. SPAM

5) someone posted an article about TVI Express on... "Emergency Supply and Food" website. SPAM


6) globaldust.com... supposed to be about the international band fans (i.e. groupies), so why would the admin post an article on TVI Express? SPAM


7) TVI Express article on... rcracer website in Australia? A website about radio controlled vehicles? SPAM



8) Work From Home Get Paid Today.com ... third party TVI Express review... copied from article repository, no actual content available. SPAM

9) TVI Express True Review "best network marketing company" website... repost of "Manny" bogus TVI Express video review, already debunked many times over. SPAM



10)  Website content and newsletter directory... on everlyn's blog? An article littered with random shoe ads? SPAM.



Out of first 10 posts in last 24 hours about TVI Express, 90% were SPAM and contained fake information! 

Colombian press reported on TVI Express scam

Local promoters falsely claimed endorsements and ties to hotel chains, resort consortiums, even chamber of commerce to entice members.
Read Google translation here

TVI Express told to cease and desist in state of Georgia, USA

BehindMLM reports that Donna Abreu, one of the North American leaders (whose "TVI Express Review Blog" I have reviewed before to be absolutely bull****) reported that one of her upline have been served a cease and desist letter from State Attorney of Georgia.

TVI Express has hired no lawyer to help defend its American members, unlike their promise to fight to the end in Australia. (BTW, their promise to fight includes violating TWO court injunctions, emptying their bank account frozen by court order) 

The member was also told that TVI Express also violated American FTC laws regarding pyramid schemes and MLM. I had indicated this is so since beginning of this year.

And here's one more warning: ANY AMERICAN TVI EXPRESS MEMBERS CAN BE PROSECUTED FOR RUNNING A PYRAMID SCHEME if they choose to continue recruiting. While TVI Express is a foreign entity, and thus beyond the reach of FTC, any members within the US found to violate the law CAN be prosecuted. I did not say this... "TVI Express North America Leader" did.

You can read BehindMLM's report here, and the letter published from TVI Express supporter here.

Mmegi Online / Consumer Watchdog warns people AGAIN about TVI Express

The original post is available here, but here's the excerpt:

Several people have been in touch to find out more about TVI Express, the things that this particular pyramid scheme won't tell you and you won't find out until it's too late. Like the fact that none of the so-called rewards you get are actually free.  You have to pay "taxes and processing charges" before you can obtain the free holiday they say you'll get. Like the fact that the vouchers they offer are obtainable much more cheaply elsewhere.  Like the fact that the "free flight ticket offer" they tell you about is "valid only for domestic flights" and is only offered when you have already bought a ticket with real money.

Like they lie about their "partners", claiming partnerships with companies like Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, Avis and Marriott. Like the fact that the authorities in China, Australia, Indonesia, India and Hungary are all on their case. Like the fact that they are a classic example of a pyramid scheme. You've been warned!

Anoop claims TVI Express member "scroller" is not fake, so what does he prove?

A member named "Anoop" claims that he also analyzed the scroller and claims it accesses live data. You can find his comments here:


The problem is, he claims he can see what data.php does, and it accesses live data. And that variable "c" proves it accesses "live data", according to Anoop.


Two problems with that assertion.

1) You can't see the source code of data.php, so unless he has direct access to the server, and can see the source code, you can't prove that it accesses real data. So what is he basing his claim on?

2) You can see the output, which is an XML file. But again, if it access some data and spits out an XML file, why would it need to access "gettimer", which essentially is a random number seed?

When I asked Anoop to answer these questions, he instead points back at the data, and claims that the data *does* change, without providing any proof. Clearly, he wants me to do all the work. Which echoes the answer "Vanessa" gave a few months back: "I say it does change".

So to give Anoop benefit of a doubt, I did the test AGAIN...

I used one browser, and one access method, to pull down content of data.php. It came out to be 25KB of data. I had to transform the data a little bit to import it into OpenOffice Calc, but it came out to be... EXACTLY 500 entries.

I used a different browser, and a different access method (to ensure I got a different IP address), 20 minutes later, and pulled the content of data.php AGAIN. Imported that into a separate sheet of OpenOffice Calc. The file is also about 25KB... and I got exactly 500 lines as well after import.

Isn't that interesting... 

So I looked at the files directly... the beginning is the different, and ending is different. So maybe it's only tracking 500 members? That is possible, even though the site usually claims to have over 1000 people online at a time.

Then an idea hit me... I should SORT the data, by the first and second fields (look like member name and country). So I sorted both sheets by those fields.

I ended up with exactly the same data... in both sheets.

I was so surprised, I thought I must have messed up. I hit undo on both sheets, and compared to original XML import. There was no mistake. After I sort both, I end up with same file.

I repeated the import process, making sure I did not mess with the data. I also took random spot checks, a dozen names randomly from the first file. They are indeed all in the second file, just in a different location.

This CONCLUSIVELY PROVES that the data is fake. They just threw the same 500 names through a shuffler and spits out the same file in a different order each time it's pulled.

Go ahead, try it yourself. Pull one copy of http://www.tviexpress.com/data.php  at one time, then wait X minutes or hours and pull a second copy. Import, sort, and compare. I'll bet you will end up with the same 500 entries.  It begins with "17picorp2010" from Canada, and ends with "ziphog12mc" from South Africa.
TVI Express: replacing one fake with another.

P.S. Anoop now insist he checked membership list against "lost password" list and they "seem to match". Since when does TVI Express make their "lost password" list public? Why would such a list be public any way? Is Anoop a TVI Express employee?

P.P.S. Furthermore, the whole idea that a Flash object needs to access an XML file, generated through PHP, which gets the data from unknown source is ludicrous. The "currently logged in members list" should be a table on the server, and the Flash object should be able to access the table DIRECTLY without any intermediary such as data.php or XML file.

Thus, the fact that Flash Object have to access an XML file generated through PHP indicates that
a) the file was a fake all along, there was no database; or
b) the programmers for TVI Express were incompetent; or
c) TVI Express got cheated as someone basically did something with 4x the effort needed.

None of which is good for TVI Express, because a) says TVI Express is a fake (and judged by all the other fakery it had engaged in, there really is no surprise, b) says TVI Express employs idiots to do its work, and c) says TVI Express employs idiot managers to supervise work needed.  Maybe b) and c) are why the "booking portal" took almost a year to complete?

P.P.P.S. And Anoop, thanks for reminding me to check the data again, and put ANOTHER nail in TVI Express's coffin.

TVI Express member spams auction site to recruit victims

The following ad was found on the Swiss auction website ricardo.ch



http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ricardo.ch%2Fkaufen%2Fstellenangebote%2Fmarketing-medien-pr-werbung%2Fregion-westschweiz%2Fsociete-tvi-express-afin-de-completer-nos-equipes%2Fv%2Fan500355405%2F

The site's official language is German, but the posting was in French. Which is why the auto-translator left half in Gobbledygook.

TVI Express desperado tried to auction off 7-day 6-night on eBay

If you look through Alexa's traffic into on TVI Express, you'll see that someone actually tried to auction off their 7-day 6-night vacation certificate on eBay



http://www.alexa.com/site/linksin/tviexpress.com

Look at link #6



That URL no longer exists on eBay, but there can really be no doubt as to what it is. 

TVI Express Alexa ranking dropped below 10000

No amount of spam links can keep TVI Express above 10000.



3-month average dropped to 10180 on Alexa, and 7-day average is 10847, which indicates continued downward trend!

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/tviexpress.com