According to an Ingroup, InCruises press release:
InGroup® International LLC has made the difficult decision to suspend the enrollment of new Members on its website who are Polish residents. Additionally, the company has stopped accepting payments from all existing Polish Members.
inGroup customers from Poland that have existing travel reservations will not be affected. And existing Members can fully use their Reward Points to book future travel, or they can request a refund. Either way, existing Polish Members will be fully protected and made whole in this decision.
This inGroup decision is a consequence of the incorrect assessment of the inCruises® Membership offer by the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKIK).
In March of 2021, the UOKIK published a list of cryptocurrencies they deemed potential frauds. To our surprise, the inCruises Membership offer was included on this list. inGroup has never operated any type of cryptocurrency business. Nevertheless, despite repeated calls to remove our name from this list due to its defamatory nature, the UOKIK refused to acknowledge the correct and legal nature of the inCruises membership business model.
In response to this listing, inGroup retained legal counsel in Poland and has engaged with regulators, providing everything that was asked to clear this
Tag Archive for Pyramid
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OneCoin Official Statement Regarding Publications About Exposed Criminal Group Related To OneCoin cryptocurrency
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
January 22, 2018
The OneCoin company would like to officially state that the multiple recent media announcements about an exposed criminal group, engaged in money laundering using the OneCoin cryptocurrency, are untrue and are misleading the public.
The OneCoin company believes that all the above media allegations are the result of a well organized, purposeful campaign, aiming to damage our corporate reputation and destroy our business.
Let it be clear to the public that the company has never been involved in criminal or illegal activities in any country or territory of operations, including in the Republic of Bulgaria. The company and its partners have always openly declared their willingness to cooperate with regulators, governmental organizations and media, and provide any information that would be useful in clarifying any confusion or suspicion, related to their business activities.
Therefore, we have been extremely surprised that we were never approached and asked for clarification, including by any media outlet worldwide, as expected by media striving for journalistic professionalism, fairness and objectivity. A point that we could all agree on is that media is essential to and should be the pillar of a healthy democracy.
The fact that during the past couple of days we are witnessing completely the
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China Goes After Pyramid Schemes – Media Mix It With Network Marketing
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
According to an article in – GoKunming- Southwest China’s largest and best English-language website – dozens of Pyramid leaders have been arrested.
The article:
“The headlines have been loud and slightly hysterical recently. The cover story of popular magazine Caixin features the gaping jaws of a great white and the words “Man Eaters” .
It turns out this sort of hyperbole is not about imminent shark attacks, but instead concerns the predatory pyramid schemes — sweeping across the country and bilking millions out of their hard-earned money.
Beijing recently stepped in after police uncovered scam after scam in nearly every corner of the country.
Marshaling the combined bureaucratic power of the ministries of Labor, Education, Commerce and Public Security, the ‘National Crackdown on Multi-Level Marketing Schemes’ is effective now and runs until November 15.
Pyramid schemes designed to defraud or swindle people out of money have been against the law in China since the 1990s. They were officially criminalized following the discovery of a string of large-scale operations in 2009. Since then, similar news stories sporadically appeared and then public interest would quickly ebb.
China arrest dozens of Pyramid ring leaders
However, over the past several weeks, four deaths circumstantially linked to separate MLMs operating in Tianjin and
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Market America Sued For Fraud And Pyramid Allegations
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
According to an article in Court House news:
Two distributors for Market America claim the company’s $7.3 billion valuation comes from millions of people who have lost money after enrolling in the pyramid scheme, including Chinese-Americans whom the company targets to sell products to relatives in Asia.
Chaunjie Yang and Ollie Lan sued Market America and its founders James Howard Ridinger, Loren Ridinger, and president and COO Marc Ashley in a federal class action on Tuesday.
The racketeering lawsuit says that while the executives tell distributors they can earn more than $560,000, only those at the top make that kind of money.
Ninety percent of sellers do not receive a penny, according to the lawsuit.
“According to Market America, the only way to fail under Market America’s business model is to quit. Meanwhile, Market America and its confederate conspirators now assert a business valuation of $7.3 billion that they have made off the backs of millions of people in their pyramid,”
the class claims in the lawsuit.
Yang says he handed over $35,000 to Market America and eventually lost money in the venture. He says in the lawsuit that people enrolling in the scheme have to pay a $399 startup fee and $129 a month.
Market America
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German Regulator Freezes IMS – An OneCoin Company For Unauthorized Payment Services
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
The BAFIN in Germany regulates financial transactions and according to a German press release, Bafin ordered InternationaI Marketing Services – a OneCoin company – to freeze and cease its operations in Germany as the company did not and does not have the required authorization for finincial transactions.
The order may still be subject to judicial review.
BaFin is one of the largest financial supervisory authorities in Europe. With its more than 2,600 employees, BaFin takes an industry-appropriate and risk-oriented approach to supervision on the basis of recognised European supervisory standards.
As an integrated financial supervisor for the banking, securities and insurance sectors, BaFin ensures the stability of the largest financial market in continental Europe.
BAFIN did not judge the Direct Sales compensation plan:
BaFin does not have the right to decide as to
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ACN Addresses The Pyramid Objection
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
ACN, Inc., the world’s largest direct seller of telecommunications, energy and essential services for home and business, is addressing one of the biggest challenges in the direct selling industry head on for the first time in a powerful video designed to educate people on what ACN and the direct selling industry are really about.
And more importantly, what they aren’t.
“Pyramid Scheme” – it’s a four-letter word in the direct selling and multi-level marketing industries because many people incorrectly assume that legitimate direct selling companies and pyramid schemes are synonymous. The fact is: they couldn’t be more opposite.
While there are pyramid schemes out there, more importantly, there are legitimate direct selling companies like ACN who provide individuals with an opportunity to build a home-based business of their own.
Educating consumers on the difference has become
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Lyoness Plans To Appeal Against Swiss Pyramid Decision
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
According to an article in TT.com an magazine in Austria, Lyoness has stated it plans to appeal the decision from the Swiss Court that the company compensation plan is a Pyramid – Snowballl system.
The google translation, partly edited:
Against Lyoness, main sponsor of the Austrian football club Rapid Wien, is an other civil law judgment. This time, the Swiss Obergericht Zug has described Lyoness as a snowball system. Members would only receive money when they recruited other members. Moreover, the business model is intransparent. The judgment is not final.
Lyoness had resisted a corresponding judgment of the lower court and has now cut off with the complaint. A judgment of the Supreme Court of the Canton of Zug (APA), dated February 28, is entitled to appeal “if a legal question is of fundamental importance”.
Lyoness
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Top Executive Speaks Out On State Of The USA Network Marketing Industry
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
Justin Serra is the General Manager of North America and serves on the global executive team for Modere.
Justin:
“While no one can debate that the USA network marketing industry is changing, the debate continues on about what the changes will bring.
Given the size of the industry only a very small fraction of companies have been directly affected by regulators, yet many companies are nervous it could be just the beginning. Based on the precedence recent actions have set, the industry, as a whole, may have serious reason to be nervous.
Given the respected and well run companies that have been recent targets of the FTC, company owners and field leaders know it’s just a game of Russian Roulette to who could be next.
This article is not to debate the politics of why the FTC
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Is The DSA Still Relevant?
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
The USA Direct Selling Association (DSA) describes its role as “the national trade association for companies that offer entrepreneurial opportunities to independent sellers to market and sell products and services, typically outside of a fixed retail establishment”.
Lately several CEO’s and distributors are having doubts about the DSA added value while consumer watchdogs like TINA are plain negative.
Ramin Mesgarlou CEO – Global Wealth Trade and the Forensic Networker’s opinion:
One after one DSA companies fall to FTC, Vemma being the latest one. Herballife, Amway, ACN and many more are constantly being challenged or taken down by FTC for being an illegal pyramid so DSA needs to be asked this ONE important questions and that is
“Is DSA Still Relevant? “
We were part of DSA in 2008 and pulled out because quickly I realize they were more of
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USA – FTC vs Network Marketing Industry: Defense Fund Formed
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
Network Marketing Icon Richard Bliss Brooke has taken the initiative to launch a Defense Fund as the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) attack on Vemma is considered by many as an attack on the Network Marketing industry and the FTC has very deep pockets….
Richard Bliss Brooke:
This letter is an industry wide call to action: a call to arms if you will.
Obviously we all need to take a hard look at our business practices and make the customer the king. But what we need to do right now as well is ensure that Vemma prevails in its case with the FTC on the issues that the FTC has taken the liberty to get totally wrong… like “who should be considered a customer” and due process vs. a police state.
“One of our own” deserves