Filipino National Bureau of Investigation reports on TVI Express scam

Filipino National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)  repeated the report from ACCC of Australia that TVI Express is a scam.

http://www.nbi.gov.ph/news/tvi_express.html

This is the first time TVI Express was mentioned in OFFICIAL Filipino government communique (except for the "company registration").

Wonder what's next? (Get out while you can)

Who is Jill Sanders and why was she pushing TVI Express scam?

Yesterday, we profiled a spamticle site that claims to be about "Color Men's Wear" but in reality posts spam articles and videos from all over, and one of them was this TVI Express video from "traveltviexpress". Her Youtube Channel still exists:

Either she only owns one shirt (or all identical shirts, like Steve Job's two dozen black turtlenecks) or she recorded all these videos in one take, which means she was reading from a script. Lighting suggests it was all done in one take.

According to the youtube profile, she joined on 30-JAN-2010, uploaded these videos, and NEVER updated them ever again. Last activity date is same as join date. Clearly, this is a spam channel.

The TinyURL forwarder is still active, and sends you to a free Weebly site, which only contains a capture page that wants your contact info, nothing else.

However, her name, according to the video, is "Stephanie Bower", not Jill Sanders. Why is Jill Sanders posting a video by Stephanie Bower?

We will research this "Stephanie Bower" later. For now, we'll concentrate on Jill Sanders.

Search on Twitter revealed that last tweet was in December 2009, even BEFORE the videos.

The URL mentioned in the Tweet, TVIExpressPass.com, has expired domain as of August 2010, over a year ago.

Unfortunately, "Jill Sanders" is a pretty common name and without further information further ID is not possible. All the searches for Jill Sanders and South Lake Tahoe brought up information on a real estate agent. She looks completely different from the girl in the video. Before I noticed the girl in the video is a Stephanie Bower, NOT Jill Sanders, that threw me off completely. So who is Jill Sanders? The real estate agent is white and has short but face-framing blond hair.

Then I found ANOTHER Twitter account, which belongs to the real estate agent, as "TahoeHomeLink.com" is the home page of the real estate agent.

Then why was she tweeting about TVI Express? These tweets are identical to the one in that TVI Express Jill Sanders account.

Apparently Jill had strayed into scams and had since picked up real estate and abandoned her scamming ways. 

Bravo, Jill, bravo. All the power to you, and a lesson to TVI Express members: you *can* go legit if you want to. 

NEWSFLASH: First Indonesian TVI Express scammer convicted and sentenced for fraud. Where's Goenarni Goenawan?

UPEKS online just reported that the first TVI Express scammer, previously arrested in Majene, has been sentenced to nine months jail for fraud  (link is in Indonesian). However, this is a local "distributor". Where is Goenarni Goenawan, head of PT TVI Express Indonesia? SHE should be the one in jail!

More TVI Express Spam Domains from Czech Republic

Previously we've highlighted tviexpress.tw, which is supposedly TVI Express for Taiwan, except it has not a SINGLE WORD IN CHINESE, not is it owned by by Chinese, but rather, a Czech TVI Express member, which makes it a completely UNofficial site! Furthermore, he had registered 303 different domains.

Here's another one: tviexpress.ph, which is Philippines. The problem is, there is an official (well, official for a scam) TVI Express office in the Philippines. And this domain ain't owned by them .

The WHOIS server for Philippines shows:

Domain	tviexpress.ph
Organization	Josef Pavlicek
Expiry Date	2012-07-28
Primary Contact Secondary Contact	sobank...@... callbac...@...
Address	V Zatisi 917 Kunovice, 68604 CZ
NameServers	ns1.regzone.cz ns1.regzone.info ns1.regzone.de

There's another way... if you do a server stat on that domain name, you get:

Server Type:

Apache/2.2.16 (Debian)

IP Address:

95.168.216.184 Reverse-IP | Ping | DNS Lookup | Traceroute

ASN:

AS39392

IP Location:

 - Czech Republic - Supernetwork S.r.o

Response Code:

200

Domain Status:

Registered And Active Website

Yep, it's our Czech domain spammer Joe Pavlicek. Furthermore, at the bottom of the page, you find a section in Czech, not English or Tagalog (the Filipino language). Which proves that this domain is pretty bogus.

NEWSFLASH: Indonesia BKPM considering fraud charges against PT TVI EXPRESS INDONESIA

Last nail in the coffin for TVI Express in Indonesia. "VP" of TVI Express Goenani Goenawan nowhere to be found, not answering phone call or SMS messages!

http://www.tempointeraktif.com/hg/bisnis/2011/09/27/brk,20110927-358600,id.html

TEMPO Interactive , Jakarta - The government officially revoke the licenses of foreign investment (PMA) belonging to the tourism bureau service company, PT TVI Express. "So the tourism business license (Trading License Travel Bureau) is also not true," said attorney Direct Selling Association of Indonesia (APLI), Ina Rachman, in Jakarta, Wednesday, September 27, 2011. Revocation of permit FDI refers to the Coordinating Board's decision letter Investment numbered 61/C/VIII/PMA/2011 on 24 August. "Revocation done because the business activity does not correspond with the permission of BKPM," said Director of Region II BKPM, Yuliot. According to Ina, BKPM also weighed the decision of the Task Force recommendations Handling Allegations Unlawful Actions in the Field of Community fund raising and investment management. Task Force believes, TVI Express has mismanaged the implementation of investment activities, which do not comply with the license he had. Actually TVI Express only licensed tourism trade in services, such as the sale of hotel and restaurant vouchers. But companies that conduct fundraising activities of the community and run a direct sales activities. Though they have not had a direct selling license. TVI Express Some victims, such as in Aceh and North Sumatra, had complained to police last July. Before, they deposit money to tens of million dollars per member with an appointment get a refund up to three times after three months. But the promise was never kept. APLI even considering to sue TVI participate. mode fraud under the guise of direct sales to make the image of a multi-level marketing people are not trusted anymore. "We willing to defend the good name of MLM, "said Chairman APLI Helmi Attamimi. Director of Inspection and Investigation Agency Investment and Capital Markets Financial Institutions awaiting follow-up particulars abuse BKPM permission TVI Express. "The case has come to our attention. It's already in the handling of Task Force that I lead, "Sardjito said when contacted by Tempo . Until last night, the owner of PT TVI Express, Goenarni Goenawan, not be reached for comment about the revocation of PMA and cases of alleged fraud committed company. The telephone call is not normally active. short messages sent Tempo also has not been reciprocated . EKA Utami APRILIA | BOBBY CHANDRA

Who is D Etheridge and why was he pushing TVI Express?

It appears that Demetrice Etheridge wants to teach Christian Entrepreneurs... to a bunch of scams.

He only ever calls himself D. Etheridge. Why? Because his first name, Demetrice, is a girl name. Really.

And there's his helpful picture in the background explaining why TVI Express is a pyramid scheme, thanks!

He included a helpful 877 (toll free) number for you to call (my picture got cut off, but here's a full one.

A search on Google for this number shows this guy pushes every scheme that's out there... LGN, Royal Cruise Matrix, plus various bleh tips like "how to use Twitter to find leads" or "how to push a website using Social media".

Right now he's pushing "TakFusion", and he's sponsoring people into this "Unviersity of Internet Science". He gets a cut of course.

But perhaps this is a more telling statistic... Pulling from the TagWalk Twitter inspector...

Last post about TVI Express.. 8 MONTHS ago, in December 2010.

This just conclusively proves that Pinnacle Expressed is a zombie spam blog.

TVI Express Spam Hits Even UK Radio User Blogs

UK's Unique Radio is an online radio website. They seem to have a function where the users can publish microblogs, and TVI Express spammers are ruthless in spamming the microblogs. Here is one example:

The URL is long, and the header too large so I won't bother showing you that. The post title is in Chinese and it's clearly spam with random "wedding dress" keywords. Then there's a comment: TVI Express spam, interlaced with "Air Nike" keyword spam.

Absolutely hilarious, isn't it?

And judged by the links, they also spammed a tattoo message board.

Moron Claims TVI Express Success AFTER Members Got Arrested

In the past weeks some TVI Express supporters continue to pass "good news" from TVI Express like a parrot. One of them is Suranga, who has a blog called SurangaAgency.blogspot.com

According to domain reg, iearnonlinemoney.info is registered to a Sarath Suranga, who lives in Dubai, UAE.

Clearly, Suranga, being in Dubai, wouldn't know or even CARE that members of TVI Express had been arrested in South Africa back in MAY 2011 for running a pyramid scheme, and South African authorities have declared it illegal back in DECEMBER 2010!

Irvin Shirindzi lead away by police
after being arrested for running
TVI Express pyramid scheme
 in Limpopo South Africa
(photo from Observer.co.za)

From this you can gather a few observations:

1) TVI Express continues to announce "good news" about South Africa despite news of arrest back in April and May. Either they are the most incompetent company in the world, or they are intentionally ignoring the situation in South Africa.

2) TVI Express supporters are the same way: continue to parrot the "good news" without verification in any way, shape, or form.

And one last item of hilarity: This is the "banner" on Suranga's website, which presumably came from TVI Express:

It is clear all these are simply stock photo unrelated to TVI Express. What's really hilarious is the guy in lower left with the Vuvuzela... Look carefully on that TVI Express logo

THE LOGO DOES NOT MATCH THE CREASE ON THE T-SHIRT

It was clearly "PhotoShop'ed" (tm)

That tells you TVI Express releases pictures that can't be trusted either.

And Suranga... You are a parrot.

Image by Ed7 via Flickr

Consumer Watch Botswana Did Radio Show on TVI Express, still no proof of legitimacy

http://consumerwatchdogbw.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-air-with-tvi-express.html

I had a very amusing experience on radio this morning. After last week's coverage of the TVI Express pyramid scheme, when I reported on it being illegal in Namibia, Georgia, Indonesia and under aggressive investigation in South Africa and Australia, some of the local TVI Express people were very cross indeed and demanded a right of reply.

So they got one this morning. However given that what I'd said was entirely true, their right of reply wasn't unconditional. I was there this morning to respond to some of their comments. 

They genuinely seemed confused about what they wanted to say. They described themselves at various points as "investors"and then "not investors", "employees", "directors", "distributors" and "members" of TVI Express. 

At one point one fo them said that the Bank of Namibia was considering changing their ban in Namibia but changed the subject quickly when two of us pointed out that we'd contacted the Bank who had denied any such thing...

Related articles

• Botswana Consumer Watchdog reminds authorities TVI Express still NOT outlawed in that country (kschang.blogspot.com)
• TVI Express Indonesia members still in denial about BKPM ruling (kschang.blogspot.com)
• NEWSFLASH: Botswana TVI Express recruiter/victim admits guilt of recruiting others (kschang.blogspot.com)
• Archive revealed sad signs of denial in Africa (kschang.blogspot.com)
• NEWSFLASH: South African News Named Tarun Trikha as head of TVI Express Scam (kschang.blogspot.com)

More Zombie Content from 2009 warmed over like death

A website called eTicketsForSale decided to warm over some TVI Express Zombie Articles, because it had the word "Travelocity" in it. Here's the beginning and end of it... but no author.

 blah blah blah blah blah...

Okay, but who the heck wrote this? If you go back to ArticleAlley, you find the author is supposedly "UltimateBizReviews", and it is dated 2009. So this is definitely zombie content.

So who's UltimateBizReviews? Clearly not that ultimate, since he hadn't submitted a single article since end of 2009. In fact, the Spamticle about TVI Express is third-to-last.

But what's this guy's name? Turns out he's Bill Tannar, who operates Ultimatebizreviews.com

However, there is no mention of TVI Express on the entire website.

Clearly, this article is bull****.

Did Larry Wells grew a conscience?

Previously we've highlighted LarryWell's spam blog site posting zombie content touting the "benefits" of TVI Express. Guess he doesn't have much of a filter, since he just posted an entry on why TVI Express is a scam:  http://larrywellsreview.com/150fast-tvi-express-illegal-ponzi-watch-my-review-and-be-shocked/

The guy basically reposted MY news back in May 2010 about how China is prosecuting TVI Express scammers, arresting at least two. I've found quite a bit more both before and after that event, in more countries than ever.

Clearly, Larry Wells can't attract any decent content, and he's reposting whatever he can find. Guess he has to hit some REAL content every once in a while...

NEWSFLASH: TVI Express HQ in Bangalore India raided by police, 2 arrested

IndiaTimes reports:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/2-held-for-taking-many-for-a-ride/articleshow/9241742.cms

BANGALORE: Central Crime Branch arrested two partners of a multi-level marketing company in Wilson Garden for cheating several persons including software engineers by promising them time-share holidays at posh resorts and hotels abroad. In MLM schemes, a member has to enrol a certain number of new members before he becomes eligible for benefits. 

Mohammed Nayeem and Ramiz Ashraf Vani, both from Baramulla in Jammu & Kashmir, opened a travel agency called Travels Venture International Express (TVI Express) at Hara House Building in JAT Street off Hosur Road about two years ago. Through their company website, they offered customers annual holiday packages abroad for just Rs 15,500. 

CCB found they'd cheated people to the tune of Rs 2 crore. "We're questioning them to find the volume of business across India. We're going through their hard disk and online transactions," an investigating officer said. 

The scam came to light when the duo tried to fob off customers with excuses. Once they enrolled a member, they set new conditions of eligibility for accommodation," police claimed. 

"They tried to evade customers and when some got suspicious, they approached the police. The company made fake offers with an intent to cheat," said a CCB officer. Both are remanded to police custody. 

TVI Express Philippines continues to lie on Facebook

Apparently, their favorite lie is "it pays so it's not scam"

TVI is not a scam,We already have more than 100persons who joined and earned and exit the EXpress board & received a 10,000Dollars and more than 500persons received 500Dollars just here in the Philippines, if it is a scam why this people is receiving that such money, the only person telling bad things about TVI is the one who didn't understand its marketing plan.STUDY IT AND YOU WILL KNOW WHAT TVI Express REALLY IS!
(TVI Express Philippines)

Problem with the above statements:

First, 100 people received $10000 means 20000+ people joined TVI Express, since TWO separate "boards" must be filled, each of them paid $250. Besides, it is in eWallet, not real money. Since TVI Express does not sell anything, (go ahead, tell me, what does TVI Express sell, and have you sold any?) the ONLY income is membership fees, and that makes it a PONZI SCHEME. Later member's money are going to earlier members.

Second, 500 people receiving 500? Nope. That is a lie. It is $250 in eWallet (which is NOT real money), and a voucher code valid for 1 TVI Express membership, with value of $250. You *have* to sell that voucher to someone else, basically recruiting that person, to get $250. In other words, that new member just paid an older member DIRECTLY, PROVING IT IS FRAUD.

Third, in a pyramid scheme and Ponzi scheme, SOME people will get the money, and the rest will all lose money. It is the VERY DEFINITION of pyramid scheme. Thus, claiming that "some people have gotten money" actually PROVES it is a scam, not disprove it. If ALL people have gotten money, then you may have disproved it. But that is not the case here.

Fourth, dismissal of critics as "do not understand marketing plan", that is just idiotic, blanket dismissal of "they don't understand us". They claim they have superior knowledge, but they are clearly not willing to share such knowledge. WHAT ARE THEY AFRAID OF? They don't know the answer, so they tell you to look at the sales pitch. THEY ARE COWARDS WHO ARE UNWILLING TO FACE THE TRUTH.

Related articles

• Exposing TVI Express potty mouth: Joel Dela Torre Roasa (kschang.blogspot.com)
• Another TVI Express booster avoiding the truth (kschang.blogspot.com)
• TVI Express announced partnership with ex-pyramid member (kschang.blogspot.com)
• More Hilarious Filipino TVI Express Ads (kschang.blogspot.com)

Who is Marcus Grooms and is he still in TVI Express?

On the TVI Express website, there's a testimonial from Marcus Grooms

This picture is indeed of Marcus Grooms, who has a Facebook page. That name somehow looks familiar, and then I realized that this is the guy that fake "MLM Techer" Andie "interviewed".

http://www.andiepetoskey.com/tvi-express-scam/

And my review of her review is here

http://kschang.blogspot.com/2011/02/tvi-express-weasel-coaches-suppsed.html

If Andie here posted a TOTALLY bogus review, and claim it's great, then this Marcus Grooms can't be that good either. After all, he claims he has 23 years in financial industry, and he can't even spot a pyramid scheme, then what good is he?

Any way, let's search Mr. Groom's website, which is here:

http://www.marcusgrooms.com/

Same guy, yes? Yet there is NOT A SINGLE WORD about TVI Express on his entire website.

Yet other references to him, AND the testimonial, means he definitely was involved, and was pushing it rather heavily.

The logical inferences is that TVI Express is a scam, and Mr. Grooms was duped, joined, then quit immediately.

I sent Mr. Groom an email requesting comment through his website, and thus far there is no reply.

Related articles

• Commentary: MLM Law In the US (and the rest of the world) (kschang.blogspot.com)
• Kas Pedersen is a Weasel Coach Who Argues with NO FACTS (kschang.blogspot.com)
• Another TVI Express booster avoiding the truth (kschang.blogspot.com)

NEWSFLASH: More Indonesians said they were scammed by TVI Express

Students claimed they have been defrauded by MLMers pushing Tianshi and TVI Express, invested a ton of money, got nothing back. UPEKS Online reports:

http://www.ujungpandangekspres.com/index.php?option=read&newsid=68937

Extended Stay Spam Blog Attracted TVI Express Marketing Spam Instead

When a blog's name is "Extended Stay", both in URL and in title, you'd expect to find articles about extended stay hotels and such. So why is there an article about how to RECRUIT for TVI Express, much less whether TVI Express is a scam?

Not just zombie articles and weasel articles, but zombie weasel articles!

It's like zombie had sex with weasel, and this is the result.

TVI Express opened in 2009, and it was only reviewed in May of 2011? What a crock.

But look at the conclusion:

Where have I read this before? It was the exact same article posted on Albertam.com, which I had already identified as a spam blog. The wording at the end, including the link to MyVacationLife.com, are identical.

Clearly, this MLMSpot is a spamblog as well, populated by articles copied from various "free article farms".

Yet another spam blog hits Internet with TVI Express Message

Some spam blog named "superaffiliates" decided to use an incomplete website to post some zombie TVI Express spam video articles by "Tish Washington".

So who the heck is Tish Washington? The article points to "CashPass4u.info" website, which is indeed registered by Tish Washington (and expires next month)

So what does CashPass4U.info say? It's pushes a cycler called "Infinity Downline", which is a spammer, phisher, and pushes you to join a $25 "matrix". It is already blacklisted by MyWOT (Web of Trust)

So what does Tish Washington look like? This is her Facebook profile:

What's even funnier, CashPass4U.info slogan is  ON FIRE TO RETIRE  Apparently this is what they meant:

Image by Images_of_Money via Flickr

At least they are not pushing TVI Express... Another EX-member!

More Spam in a domain name... leading to poor sites

A site called Albertam.com has a spam article about TVI Express

However, this article is just copied from somewhere else. And who is this susanpotts?

Exactly ONE article  (that blank space was to prove I didn't cut off the page)

So who's bestonlinemoneysystem.com ? A site with bad reputation on WOT:

Spam site with links to sites with poor reputation. Ha-ha-ha.

The spam article has a link to MyVacationLife.com

But if you go to that website, it forwards to HowiePerks.newPlanA.com, which doesn't say anything.

If you click on the disclaimer, you realize it's a WorldVentures site... a TVI Express clone.

Finally, consider the weasel conclusion the article made (I'll highlight some sentences):

From what we got from the web site it looks as though members get paid for recruiting which is what gets MLM companies into trouble. It’s is highly suggested that you scrutinize the compensation plan and how it works before deciding to join.

Having success in the TVI comp plan shall be determined by your ability to sponsor people into this company in order so that you can help them duplicate your efforts and cycle out of the board. If you want to speed up your success and cycle out of the boards quicker you will want to tap into the power of online lead generation.

Generating MLM leads online is known as a skill that when learned can enable you to recruit like-minded entrepreneurs into you network marketing company on a daily basis. 

Translation:

1) TVI Express is a scam.
2) Why? You earn by recruiting a lot of people.
3) If you want to succeed in this scam you need to learn how to recruit
4) We will help you learn how

Or in other words: We will help you succeed in this scam. 


Weasel...