TVI GAT posts a rebuttal that's not a rebuttal

Previously I posted a comment about someone who will help you join TVI Express for $37. I had assumed that this "someone" will pay for the other $213 or whatever to join TVI Express.

Turns out the truth is even worse than I suspected. First, here's the comment (link to original comment)

The Nay Sayers are need to do more research, before they go spouting gibberish. The $37 membership is from TVI Global Assist Team. By cycling through the TVI (GAT) they pay your way into TVI Express by generating income by referring new members into TVI GAT.

Our Administrative Team is in regular contact with TVI Express Administration and are experiencing growing pains. we get regular updates of the TVI Express activities and upgrades as they become available.

Please do your research before you start slamming programs as scams!

TVI GAT is a Perfectly legitimate program and we have many members making money with TVI Express.

So I looked into it a little further, and they are NOT lying... That $37 actually does NOT get you into TVI Express... That gets you into TVIGAT (or TVI Global Assist Team). If you recruit enough members to fill up their "2x2 matrix", they'll pay your TVI Express dues and help you become a full-fledged TVI Express member. They will even let you BUY 2 more referrals at $20 each.

So what exactly is a "2 x 2 matrix"? It's basically the 8-ball scam without the last level of 8. (So you end at the level of 4). See this diagram to the right, linked from another suspicious site...

And what is an 8-ball scam, which is exactly the same as one of TVI Express's "board" or "matrix"? To borrow the picture from Wikipedia...

Yep, it's the same as 8-ball scam, without the bottommost layer. 

In other words, it's a alleged-scam TVI Express feeder program, which is in itself a junior version of double 8-ball scam that this alleged-scam TVI Express was using.

Sorry, but anybody that feed members to an alleged-scam, and even uses a similar pyramid system that doesn't sell anything, but only to recruit people, is guilty by association.

Or put it this way: IMHO, TVI GAT is really TVI Express Junior edition. 

Desperate TVI Express Members will PAY your dues to join up

Image by Gadget Virtuoso via Flickr

They hope to cycle out of the board and recoup their losses before the whole thing collapses like Los Angeles in the movie 2012. So they will PAY most of your $250 join up fee.

In fact, here's one that you only need to pay $37 to join. Presumably, s/he will pay the remaining $213.

When people are THAT desperate to recruit people to join a supposedly "greatest opportunity ever", you know something is very wrong...

TVI Express endorser backpedals on endorsement

Someone tried to tell me that Citizencorp.com endorsed TVI Express wholeheartedly with a 5-star (out of 5) review via the comments. I told him that I don't trust a review site with no details on who the reviewers are, and the facts don't even match what the company FAQ says.

(Slight aside, if you click on his profile, you can see that the guy who left the comment is no longer on Blogger! Can any one say SHILL?)

Turns out that CitizenCorp.com now decided that TVI Express *is* a scam after all, and has issued an alert regarding it. It has downgraded TVI Express down to 3 stars out of 5.

Okay, CitizenCorp.com, maybe you are NOT a shill site after all. My apologies for calling you one earlier.

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: