Thread: Banners Broker HYIP ponzi scam

Originally Posted by Theseus

I suspect that theonly way it would apply is if UK members' contracts were with Driscoll's firm, however (and someone who has been a member can set the record straight) my understanding is that they are ultimately with the brass plate company in Belize, which is probably outwith the scope of the regulations.

A UK affiliate by very loose T&Cs can only buy a Blue Package to start with and then has to upgrade after 7 days.
Don't know if that makes a difference!

Jason

Originally Posted by noname999

Don't jump the gun. We have no way of knowing that this is the end of BB. Don't want assumptions coming back to bite us in the new year.

Hm...it's all about the trust.I mean any organization where many people do something depends mostly on trust.You can't build anything without trust - now,where trust ist built mostly - social networks,forums,blogs.I am convinced,if BB lose the battle there,nothing and nobody will stop the collapse.It's not the same a ponzi with 50 000 members and one with 250 000 - the bigger the number,the bigger the number of unhappy & unpaid members willing to strike back..Once they start to wail & cry around the net,it will be almost unpossible to hold the trust on desired level - it's already happening - facebook is partly wasted,many blogs and forums as well - but it's just begining.After Christmas and New Year shoping fever,many will try to cover all this expenses by withdrawing larger amounts and the new army of unhappy and unpaid members will be born.

Yes, so many forums talking about BB now and overwhelmingly people are saying 'Dodgy Brothers Inc'. Its amusing, but also kind of sad, that pimps who think they know better continue to argue against the bleeding obvious and common sense. Like this Roland Millward fellow on Banners Broker - Is the Forum Losing its Bite?

Boy is Roland in for a rude awakening.

Is it just me, or has BB been removed from Better Business Bureau? I just get my own IP address shown on screen when I try and view their listing.
Banners Broker Business Review in Toronto, ON - Mid-Western & Central Ontario BBB

Originally Posted by Hypanor

Is it just me, or has BB been removed from Better Business Bureau? I just get my own IP address shown on screen when I try and view their listing.
Banners Broker Business Review in Toronto, ON - Mid-Western & Central Ontario BBB

I can see the right page!

what a great facebook page, nice photos jason and phil, sorry to read about the abuse, and jason about you and your fiancee, no wonder you are keen to help others and reveal bb's true colours. I have no doubt those who lose out/get ripped off will probably not thank you both, hopefully those who you help/save will, but just in case no one does may I sincerely thank you both from little NZ for standing up to and speaking out publically about bb. Good on ya, keep it up,

To the mysterious facebook page Banners brokers ponzi scam, great job love it, will help a lot......hard to find on fb still what can be done to make it more popular love to see it go viral,
If you are a victim and you are too scared of your account being locked to speak out, USE A DIFFERENT NAME, ASK A FRIEND WHO ISN'T WORRIED TO POST ON YOUR BEHALF, TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY TO POST, LIKE, SHARE..........JUST LET OTHERS KNOW..............SURELY IT IS THE LEAST YOU CAN DO ................
kiwi

Originally Posted by Hypanor

Someone is spamming BB facebook pages with this link http://www.facebook.com/pages/Banners-Broker-Ponzi-Scam which goes to a 'Page cannot be found'.
A quick search though, and this comes up...
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Banner...881465?fref=ts

Anyone here responsible for it? Says it was created on Sunday.

That would definately be a way to get around the 200 pound rule, wouldn't it

Originally Posted by Poyol

A UK affiliate by very loose T&Cs can only buy a Blue Package to start with and then has to upgrade after 7 days.
Don't know if that makes a difference!

Jason

Originally Posted by Poyol

I can see the right page!

Well that was weird, so do I now.

Originally Posted by Hypanor

Is it just me, or has BB been removed from Better Business Bureau? I just get my own IP address shown on screen when I try and view their listing.
Banners Broker Business Review in Toronto, ON - Mid-Western & Central Ontario BBB

I can see it, I'd upload a screenshot, saying "This business is not BBB accredited" if I could, but I can't from my phone, so I won't...

"A big wave of Credit Card fraud is putting pressure on the company" this from the faith sloan blog......can someone explain that to me? what's going on can bb steal money from affiliates credit cards?
kiwi

BBBBB.jpg

There you go, Theseus.

Originally Posted by kiwi chick nz

what a great facebook page, nice photos jason and phil, sorry to read about the abuse, and jason about you and your fiancee, no wonder you are keen to help others and reveal bb's true colours. I have no doubt those who lose out/get ripped off will probably not thank you both, hopefully those who you help/save will, but just in case no one does may I sincerely thank you both from little NZ for standing up to and speaking out publically about bb. Good on ya, keep it up,

To the mysterious facebook page Banners brokers ponzi scam, great job love it, will help a lot......hard to find on fb still what can be done to make it more popular love to see it go viral,
If you are a victim and you are too scared of your account being locked to speak out, USE A DIFFERENT NAME, ASK A FRIEND WHO ISN'T WORRIED TO POST ON YOUR BEHALF, TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY TO POST, LIKE, SHARE..........JUST LET OTHERS KNOW..............SURELY IT IS THE LEAST YOU CAN DO ................
kiwi

Yeah good idea. I'll share it with my FB friends, and have posted it up on Whirlpool too.

Originally Posted by kiwi chick nz

"A big wave of Credit Card fraud is putting pressure on the company" this from the faith sloan blog......can someone explain that to me? what's going on can bb steal money from affiliates credit cards?
kiwi

Dunno, I asked that a couple of pages back. Don't see how unless people have given them their card details.

Originally Posted by Poyol

I can see the right page!

More pressure needs to be applied then. They are not following their own guidelines re Gradings. I quote from their site:

A business' BBB grade is lowered if, in BBB's opinion, the business falls within either of the following two categories:
•Types of business that, in BBB experience, are believed to operate in violation of the law or materially misrepresent their products/services. Businesses that fall within this category will always get an F grade.
•Types of business that, in BBB experience, are likely to generate marketplace concerns or a high level of customer dissatisfaction because of the inherent nature of the products/services offered. Businesses that fall within this category can get no higher than a C grade.

Grading Element point 4.2 should also be taken into consideration:
BBB does not have a clear understanding of the business and its practices. This includes situations where BBB has conflicting information about the business and the business is not able to resolve the conflict to BBB's satisfaction.

The contact email to send your email of disgust to is 'fiona _at_ mwco.bbb.org'
Manager, Dispute Resolution & Information Services - BBB

Originally Posted by Hypanor

Dunno, I asked that a couple of pages back. Don't see how unless people have given them their card details.

If someone has bought into BB using their CC they might have them, depending on the processing method. Then, of course, they've also got a full set of notarised identity documents from the same person, so instant, complete ID theft...

Just a little lesson for the shrooms:

Take a look at this post on MMG from BBrookie:
thank god I recovered my initial purchase cost that took like 6 months and wasn't a small amount either. (But decided to start pulling money against my "sponsors" advice.)

To say that I was uncomfortable about a few months after being convinced I should join I didn't have a good feeling from that point on just glad I have neutralized my risk, I think anyone unsure should do the same and don't listen to anyone trying to tell you otherwise it's your money and you can work your account how ever the hell you want!
Sure keep it in if you want but remember the longer it stays in the higher the risk factor vice versa.

Regards,

Relieved Affiliate.

This pond scum was previously defending BB to the hilt. Now all of a sudden, they admit that they were very worried. Learn from this. People are lying through their teeth to try and sucker in others. They do this to try and get their own money out. Absolute scum.
If you don’t believe me, check back through this scumbag’s post on MMG.

this from 4neetworking.biz forum, response from Roland to questions re paypal

"The reason is Phil is that Paypal allow refunds to be made and this can cause a lot of problems. For example a new account is opened using Paypal. The person opens the account, buys lots of stuff, transfers things to other people then claims a Paypal refund. Plus Paypal can be expensive"

i have questions
Paypal allow refunds? .........and the problem example is that people can open paypal accounts, buy lots of stuff, transfer it, and get themselves refunds from paypal? crickey is he telling us it's just that easy to rip off paypal.........so because of this clever bb chose not to use paypal....bb are so 'on to it' about paypal's system errors......and finally bb is a multi million dollar company but paypal can be expensive!! ....... (anyone would think it was April 1 rather than xmas time)

That roland is really lame, someone posted on the 4network site some quotes from finchsells (which is nicely worded, well done finch) regarding rajiv dixit and icf etc... Roland's intelligent response was "yawn".....good grief how, i wonder, how do so many bb affiliates actually believe this group are clever enough to spell algorithm......

Originally Posted by Hypanor

Dunno, I asked that a couple of pages back. Don't see how unless people have given them their card details.

I know people here in NZ make their intial investment opps i mean 'purchase' using their personal credit cards, so yes card details are given

Originally Posted by kiwi chick nz

"A big wave of Credit Card fraud is putting pressure on the company" this from the faith sloan blog......can someone explain that to me? what's going on can bb steal money from affiliates credit cards?
kiwi

It would be a pretty poor fraud indeed, if we all knew exactly how they do it, wouldn't it ???

People are forgetting, not only are they dealing with the criminal fraudsters behind Banners Broker, they are in the main dealing with unlicensed, unregistered, offshore payment processors as well.

Payment processors which, up until a few months back, most of them never even knew existed.

Very few of the Banners Broker member / victims will have done any background checks on the payment processors, yet all of them have gladly handed over their C/C details AND sent of their most vital pieces of personal I.D. to who knows where.

All it would take is ONE person inside Banners Broker and ONE person inside one of the payment processors and they can kiss goodbye to their accounts for years to come.

And that's WITHOUT talking about the criminal hackers who make up a recognized part of the criminal 'net community.

There have been many reports coming in of ex Zeeklers having their accounts raided.

Why would anyone imagine Banners Broker, with it's ridiculous "security requirements" would be any different ???

From Finch's blog, some comments from D Pressed

"The departure of Ian Driscoll (if true) is a highly significant development. And further evidence that BB is imploding.

I believe he is basically a decent bloke…naive perhaps, but someone who genuinely believed in the BB business model and saw it as genuine opportunity for ordinary people to make a passive income. He worked incredibly hard attending and presenting BB up and down the country, answered questions cordially and to the best of his knowledge at that time. His background is not internet marketing and he strikes me as an upbeat optimist, so the claims he made seemed plausible to many of us in a similarly hopeful boat a year or so ago. This doesn’t excuse a lack of research or understanding of realities of selling web-space and advertising on the net, but nor does it strike me as the behaviour of a cynical conman out to rip people off from day one.

His wife is also someone who lacks the manner of a person who envisaged this scheme as being anything other than legitimate; until the scales presumably fell from their eyes when they discovered their downline affliates are simply not being paid and unreasonable terms and conditions have been imposed on affiliates who try to question the tactics or the business model.

I wonder if his departure comes as a result of him finally realising that the business model he (and many of us reasonably believed in), is a mere facade?

Clearly, the Driscolls were in early on, so if anyone has made a lot of money form BB it’s them; but I do think the they have conscience and are not willing to milk the scheme any longer on the basis that the promised ad-network which was the crux of BB’s legitimate sustainibility, has been misrepresented to everyone. Including some of the top affliates and promotors. Of course I might be wrong and they could have departed for any number of legitimate reasons, but it was only a month or so ago than Ian and his wife hosted the BB bigwigs in Yorkshire….and perhaps were unhappy at the blatant additional emphasis on attracting affilates and discouraging advertisers; and the critical cashflow problems which are bounfd to arise if the only money comes via the ad-pub product package.

Where this leaves their liability financially, or in law, is anyone’s guess…..but it has to be a major concern for a business (and those with cash still tied up in it) which claims to still be making long terms plans based on a viable business model, yet are shedding some of their most committed and charismatic cheerleaders."

"I should add that I am speculating as to why the Driscolls have departed and what impact it will have on them personally, the many people they signed up as affliiates, and the large income they’ve drawn from the scheme.

That’s not really my business or concern. What matters is, in the face of such debacles; how long BB can keep claiming to be developing the fabric and integrity of a legitimate, long term legal business, while regularly inadvertantly doing things and saying things which completely undermine their statements of positive intent."

Now that, to my mind, doesn't sound like idle speculation. I'd never have thought of that and I've got a mind that works in strange and mysterious ways.

From BB Network on FB

"Banners Broker with Mark Longman normal capping for a yellow panel is on average 26 days
2 hours ago · Like"

Gosh - that's a very long time to cap - well up from the 2 weeks or so?

The driscoll's are not innocent. They are not decent, or genuine. Anyone who believes otherwise, is an idiot.

Originally Posted by noname999

The driscoll's are not innocent. They are not decent, or genuine. Anyone who believes otherwise, is an idiot.

That whole quote does sound like justification doesn't it? Have to admit my jaw dropped when I read it.

Originally Posted by kiwi chick nz

this from 4neetworking.biz forum, response from Roland to questions re paypal

"The reason is Phil is that Paypal allow refunds to be made and this can cause a lot of problems. For example a new account is opened using Paypal. The person opens the account, buys lots of stuff, transfers things to other people then claims a Paypal refund. Plus Paypal can be expensive"

i have questions
Paypal allow refunds? .........and the problem example is that people can open paypal accounts, buy lots of stuff, transfer it, and get themselves refunds from paypal? crickey is he telling us it's just that easy to rip off paypal.........so because of this clever bb chose not to use paypal....bb are so 'on to it' about paypal's system errors......and finally bb is a multi million dollar company but paypal can be expensive!! ....... (anyone would think it was April 1 rather than xmas time)

Type in "paypal refund scams" in google, you'll find out what goes on.

If you look back through this thread, you will see discussion on why Paypal didn't associate itself with BB. Main reason probably due to legitimising the business: BB would dearly have loved that to have happen. But the downside is as you mention above.

BB alone interesting in really ripping people off. Remember, there will be experienced HYIP/ponzi players who joined early on and I don't think they would be troubled by the ethics of ripping BB off if it was at all possible.

:)

Originally Posted by noname999

The driscoll's are not innocent. They are not decent, or genuine. Anyone who believes otherwise, is an idiot.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure when his last venture folded it had debts well in excess of £300k.

Further to what noname says above, let's be very clear about one thing, there is nothing honest or decent about anyone in the upper echelons of BB, regardless of how naive they may come across.

This is a well-orchestrated major criminal activity and we can but hope they get their collars felt when the day of reckoning arrives.

Originally Posted by FinchBlog

"The departure of Ian Driscoll (if true) is a highly significant development. And further evidence that BB is imploding.

I believe he is basically a decent bloke…naive perhaps, but someone who genuinely believed in the BB business model and saw it as genuine opportunity for ordinary people to make a passive income. He worked incredibly hard attending and presenting BB up and down the country, answered questions cordially and to the best of his knowledge at that time. His background is not internet marketing and he strikes me as an upbeat optimist, so the claims he made seemed plausible to many of us in a similarly hopeful boat a year or so ago.

There is no more valuable weapon in the arsenal of a HYIP ponzi fraudster than a genuine "true believer"

HYIP ponzi fraud and affinity fraud thrive on "decent blokes"

A HYIP ponzi fraudster will give almost anything to get a true believer with a "decent bloke" persona to front for the HYIP ponzi.

One "decent bloke" is worth a thousand pimps and shills to any HYIP lucky enough to find him/her, in terms of how many other "decent blokes" he/she can bring onboard.