Thread: investonline.net - Invest Online Ltd. - HYIP Ponzi scam

A straight (less popular) HYIP ponzi scam investonline.net,
advertising max return on investment 5% per day:

investonline_home.jpg


Claiming to be based in Seychelles and with an office in Switzerland:

investonline_contact.jpg


Got on Radar of Swiss FINMA who issued an alert and put it on authorized institutions list on Feb 5 2014:

investonline_finma_alert.jpg
URL: https://www.finma.ch/e/sanktionen/un...aspx?orgid=414


PS: Transactions are conducted with EgoPay and Bitcoin currencies, as well as deposits with MasterCard, Visa, Maestro

Their laughable set of documents they tried to establish credibility with:

Seycheles Certificate of Incorporation:



Certificate of Good Standing:



And some letter from some self-regulated (or should i say self-proclaimed) agency - PolyReg which says they are ok, not exactly clear what is being regulated, I think they trying to say that Invest Online LTD. is ok to conduct any money laundering :)



Yeah, "FinMA or any federal agency, chill out, we (PolyReg) got this" :)

Do by any chance Invest Online LTD. has an indulgence letter from a roman pope? :)

Whois record of a person who owns the domain just before it was updated to fake Seychelles and Panama names/addresses:

Attachment 6993

Code:

Administrative Contact:
   -
   Christopher Mcgowan (investonline@safe-mail.net)
   +1.6035660127
   Fax: 
   27 Adelaide St
   Hudson, NH 03051
   US

heh, so this is what Seychelles said:

INVESTONLINE_SEYCHELLES.jpg
URL: Seychelles International Business Authority: Alert

So good photoshopped Seychelles certificate guys :)


Your Turn Panama :)

What do you think of all the "convincing" forum posts on that investonline's website?
i took a look myself, you think it is too good but still true?

It is a HYIP PONZI scam, which still goes on regardless that every place they said they based in declared them illegal.


What do you mean by "true" ?

I'm talking about their forum on investonline.net's site. There are tons of topic posts illustrating people making money with their so called "real n legitimate" brokerage on their public forum since 2007 I think. You can even create a individual forum account to investigate yourself. I'm just delving into it more, they have brave and big claims in terms of profits they can create for you.

I was investigating myself, they also have a category on their forum where it tells you to post online scams... Haha if they are fake, they they are extremely brave to have a "list scam" category on their public forum...

Originally Posted by CharlieGraham

I'm talking about their forum on investonline.net's site.

Even the players who know that this is just a ponzi will generally stay away from any hyip that has it's own in house forum.....

Good grief. The last post in their own forum was back in December 2013. Real legit program here!

Originally Posted by CharlieGraham

Haha if they are fake, they they are extremely brave to have a "list scam" category on their public forum...

You mean like people who use Jesus as a way to part people from their money? Or the guys who claim to have a team of lawyers and FBI agents reviewing their programs? All con men have to have a way to gain your trust, what better than to pretend to be one of the good guys?

Here is what you could look at just for fun. Where is the money held after you make a deposit? Do you make a check out to an independent investment bank that will send you statements and is available on the phone? Is the money held separate from other investors with no access to withdraw funds by anyone other than yourself? And really suss this one out, don't buy bullshit they are selling, call the banks they claim to be dealing with, use numbers you independently verify.

Or do you send the money direct to these wizards of finance and they handle everything? They handle the statements, the withdraws, auditing the "returns"? Then ask yourself based on a couple hundred years of scams how this might play out.

They are not brave, they are anonymous.

What worse can happen – site taken down ? They are too low profile for an international man hunt.

Do you think they care if site will be taken down ? - they got the money already, do not even need to use any excuses of non paying if that happens.

Just few facts as: they offered outrageous returns, used EgoPay and Bitcoin, Used photoshopped certificates, both places they claimed to have offices declared them illegal
would outweigh any possible excuse what the site says, and how good they pretend they are.
Those are not just RED FLAGS but direct indication of SCAM.

My opinions here are solely based upon my observations and personal contacts and interactions. I am neither pro nor con. Simply want to point out what are in my opinion facts.

I checked this site out before any announcements by the powers to be - back in Dec 2013.

I first saw this site advertised on Google. I personally contacted authorities listed above. I too had many questions about the discrepancies.

I wrote to the site owners and asked them some direct questions about the discrepancies that I saw and are listed above.

Here are one of many of their responses and I quote:

"Dear XXX,

Our Marketing director informed us today that our Anti-money laundering accreditation from Polyreg was terminated some time ago when we started to accept Bitcoin as an investment instrument. It seems that many financial institutions and regulatory bodies such as Polyreg are not very fond of Bitcoin due to its anonymous features (all Bitcoin accounts require only an email and a password for account registration). Many of these regulatory bodies believe that the nature of Bitcoin transactions that do not require any name or addresses are incompatible with the current banking "Know Your Customer" (KYC) policies. As a result of that, our Polyreg accreditation was terminated and our management is already discussing terms with other organizations such as ACAMS (- Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists) to treat Bitcoin as commodity and not as a currency in order to avoid banking KYC policies. Other countries such as Finland, Norway or Germany already consider Bitcoin a commodity and not a currency, so we will just have to choose one of the regulatory bodies in these countries. By all means, Bitcoin is not illegal in Switzerland, all companies and individuals can trade or invest Bitcoin as they please, but they cannot be accredited by organizations such as Polyreg. IO Group will continue to operate as usual and generate interest for its members and shareholders. A new website version is being developed and will be uploaded soon on Invest Online LTD - The Best Investment Company - Home , the Polyreg accreditation is to be removed and hopefully ACAMS (- Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists) will take its place. If by any reason you decide that your portfolio is not in good hands, we will be happy to refund your investment at any time.


Thank You,
Customer Support
www.investonline.net"

======

All in all what I found was some of the stuff was off base - yet some of the stuff was on target.

Also I found that some of the comments here are off base and based upon shall I say a lack of knowledge.

The site basically deals with bitcoins - trading mostly in bitcoins and other forex type of trading. While they will accept dollars - they really prefer and are set up to receive bitcoins.

They payout in either bitcoins or USD, it is your choice. Payouts are made daily or compounded and held to the end of the period. Again, this is your choice to receive daily payments or compound payments.

There is quite a full discussion on their Forum about how they operate, some participants in their site; as well as how they conduct business.

For example - there are many post on their blogs/forums see a picture of their actual forum below. The Forum is certainly controlled. (I think if I was running the site - I would control and moderate it also.)

Some of the participants are certainly concerned - so they post when and how much money they have received and if their plan has been completed.

Perhaps the most important thing that I found out were:

1) they do pay;

2) they do not run away - they have solid customer support; and

3) in order for them to work with some of the money/or payment processing companies as well as Google - they must disclose some very sensitive identification information.

Some of the payee companies that the site deal with along with Google have pretty stringent identification and banking requirements. I don't know about Ego Pay - they do not deal with US based customers - but I do know about Solid Trust a payment processor for them. What struck me - was SolidTrustPay - they are based in Canada and they are tough as nails in identification and know your customer compliance. SolidTrustPay is very tough and do not play. For example to be a member of Solid Trust you must have your act together and have verifiable ID not only in hand but Video recorded. In order to participate your ID/passport, credit card; residence; banking information all must be video iD and verified before hand. Otherwise you can not use the service. Additionally, I am somewhat familiar with Google advertising and know that you must provide identification and payment data.

Form my vantage point - the site wants to fly under the radar - I don't know if this is good or bad. What I do know that is that they pay daily and they do pay well.

investonline.com.jpg

By the way, I notice that this site has the same moderator posting review as investonline.net

the only moderator posting in this thread so far is EagleOne and it certainly wasn't a review.

While I certainly welcome you to the thread and look forward to the information you can provide, can we start with ONE undeniable fact and work from there.

In the United States and many other jurisdictions the general solicitation of investments of non accredited investors is illegal. So right off the bat they are breaking the law.

General Solicitation Ban Lifted Today - Three Things You Must Know About It - Forbes

Not as potent as the whole breaking the law thingy...

Of the 7 warning sings of a Ponzi scheme I count 6, and number seven will come it always does.

SEC.gov | "Ponzi" Schemes

Originally Posted by blac

I wrote to the site owners and asked them some direct questions about the discrepancies that I saw and are listed above.

Can you provide the ANSWERS to these questions?


======

Originally Posted by blac

Also I found that some of the comments here are off base and based upon shall I say a lack of knowledge.

Can you please provide corrections to these comments. Nik loves to be corrected, be gentle with me though I am a bit of a sensitive Sally.

Originally Posted by blac

The site basically deals with bitcoins - trading mostly in bitcoins and other forex type of trading.

From the SEC, I am in a cutty pasty kind of mood:

"Secretive and/or complex strategies. Avoiding investments you do not understand, or for which you cannot get complete information, is a good rule of thumb."

I would consider COMPLETE information a discussion with the investment bank or brokerage that is clearing the trades, the details of the independent auditor, where funds will be held, and who has access to them. (Here's a quick tip, if your withdraws are controlled by [super investor genius trader], you are like a frog in the soup.)

Originally Posted by blac

What I do know that is that they pay daily and they do pay well.

All Ponzi schemes pay at first, that is why the scam has survived as long as it has. You put in a little, get it back straight away. Put in more, same. Then you decide to let it ride, this is going to be big. So and so is a man of god, a trading genius, has government connections, top secret stuff. Stop me when any of this starts to sound familiar.

Why thank you - I am glad to be here.

I am no legal scholar - but this is what I know about general solicitations in the USA - under the new regs that were implemented this past Fall when "Raising Money" under rule 506(d) you can indeed - advertise - promote - send emails - newspaper adds - radio announcements and spots - Google ads - fliers, brochures etc. to the general pubic who may or may not be accredited investors. The catch is those subscribing to the stock/security offering must be an accredited investor - otherwise the offending party would more than likely be sanctioned. I am at a loss in terms of your claim that ".....right off the bat they are breaking the law." What law would that be? Granted in my opinion they have some crap and misinformation on their website - But guess what - so does this forum. By the way - exactly what law has been broken?

Yes, I did find some comments here on this forum off base and based upon shall I say a lack of knowledge. And I promise to be very kind. Notwithstanding the comment that I just mentioned above about "breaking the law" comments about the forum on the site are off base.

I think it was said here and I quote - "Good grief. The last post in their own forum was back in December 2013. Real legit program here!" I posted a small example of Comments made on their forum that were as new as 10 March 2014. This was only a small example - there are many more.

Additionally, because you pasted something from an SEC website - come-on - now what does that mean? I do have some experience with "super investor - genius traders." But tell me who said anything about a super investor or genius trader?

Who said anything about and I quote you "So and so is a man of god, a trading genius, has government connections, top secret stuff. Stop me when any of this starts to sound familiar." Oh, I know they didn't say this stuff - you did? Again mis-information and a slight rush to judgment I would think. Rush to judgement to no rush to judgement.......

Here are some facts for you:

1) Seems like these folks have been around for quite sometime - yet there has not been one complaint about them on the internet - other than the misinformation here. If they had ripped someone -off then surely this rip-off would be plastered all over the Internet - and I for one would be leading that charge.

2) In order to do business with some of the companies they are doing business with they must pass stringent video in your face ID requirements including - ID/passport, credit card; residence; banking information all must be video iD and verified before hand.

Instead of slapping some mis-information on the internet - or cutting and pasting from an Sec website - stuff that may or may not be applicable - why not simply register on the folks site and ask them all the questions you want - then post their responses here.

Better yet - why don't you find at least 1 person that has been ripped off by these guys - and have them post here how they have been ripped off?

Originally Posted by blac

Better yet - why don't you find at least 1 person that has been ripped off by these guys - and have them post here how they have been ripped off?

Oh dear, not that silly ponzi pimp rationalization again.

Geez, you'd think you guys would come up with something new.

It's called the "shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted" HYIP ponzi defense.

IOW, no one should say anything until after the victims' money has been lost.

Originally Posted by blac

My opinions here are solely based upon my observations and personal contacts and interactions. I am neither pro nor con. Simply want to point out what are in my opinion facts.

Yeah, right.

There you were just aimlessly surfing the 'net and, on a whim, you just decided to drop in here to defend a HYIP ponzi fraud which has attracted warnings from the Swiss and Seychelles governments.

P--U--H--L--E--A--S--E

Not only are InvestOnline Ltd not in compliance with US and international laws, they boast about it:

You guys? Now who would be you guys?

There is only one guy here. And I am not connected with the website at all.

Let's move away from gross generalizations and let's deal with the facts. You said they broke the law about accredited investors - and basically you did not know what the heck you were talking about. That's call misinformation.

Now tell me please - just the facts:

1) Exactly what law has been broken?

2) Exactly who has been ripped off?

3) Exactly how many complaints are there on the internet?

4) Exactly how have they gotten past the stringent vidoe ID requirements at some pretty touch sites?

No I didn't happen to just drop in here - Like I mentioned to you before - I had already discovered the info that you posted here. I have talked to these guys. Why don't you? Instead sitting behind a key board passing out false information. If you want this site to do some good then get your facts straight - otherwise this site is no better than the site we are talking about.

Not getting your facts straight is a form of ripping people off as well.

Keep it on the facts - when you start talking about you guys and making up stuff - then the creditability is lost.

If you are going to accuse someone of something get it right. Who has been ripped off - when have they been ripped off - how have they been ripped off ad by how much? Very simple questions.

Blac, You either just found your first HYIP ponzi or you are being dishonest and pretend to be naive.



First of all the advertisement ban was only lifted on private offers which ride under Regulation D rule 506 (SEC.gov | Rule 506 of Regulation D),
"* The company cannot use general solicitation or advertising to market the securities;" -- only that part

nobody lifted the other restrictions, feel free to familiarize yourself with them.
and it still has to qualify all the requirements , guess how many non accredited investors maximum they can solicit under that rule - 35 :)

It is common scammers tactics when SEC relax some rule , they pretend that makes them legal, JOBS act, Crowd funding, Relaxed advertisement - things not even ruled on or misrepresented and created noise in press and here you go, they can feed lies to uneducated investors.

Anyway even if they think they qualifying under rule 506 they MUST file Form D with SEC, and provide an investment prospectus as well as inspect your personal income to know if you are accredited investor.
- Thats for US, for swiss - every public offer on investment must be authorized by FINMA , no exceptions, but FINMA even went further and said this Company is unauthorized.

So did the seychelles , where they claimed they based and more, SIBA even said the company does not exist and has no licenses and that Seychelles incorporation certificate is fabricated.

About PolyReg - who cares :) That self-regulating "agency" is nobody, perhaps they do some "accreditation" in money laundering, it is just a loose organization which apparently gives papers to anyone who asks for a fee, it is not a government body. Just a fact that PolyReg did not even check if such company even incorporated says a lot.

In any case, how some AML accreditation by a self-regulating body has anything to do with public investment offers ?

Scammers do that a lot, getting pointless seals of approval which mean absolutely nothing

I think we should start issuing RealScam certificates here too :)

If you like this anonymous "company" so much and think there are any positive sign about it, go ahead and invest and keep compounding, in 5 years you can beat Bill Gates ;)


PS: I am waiting when you point to misinformation which according to you I provided here.

Is it run by kids ? They called E-Trade and Schwab investment programs :)

"100% anonymous investment" is also sounds funny :) I can understand Anonymous donations, but anonymous investments that is just hilarious.

That would not be recognized as a legal contract under any court in the world or logic. If it was anonymous how would you demand your money back or prove they are yours :)

Originally Posted by blac

then the creditability is lost.

Err, I think CREDIBILITY is the word you are looking for and I'm not surprised you got it wrong.

Credibility is not something one usually associates with shills pimping HYIP ponzi scams

Blac, going to them and talking is retarded, they are scammers that is what they do, and it will be exhausting if we ran after each of thousands scams online and request their explanations.

If you want, invite those morons here..
After all let give them a chance to defend their scam.
Defend their name here – where it was misrepresented, according to you.
Or I would love to see them sue the RealScam ;)

blac: You are disingenuous when you claimed you are neither pro or con about investonline.net. Your actions and statements prove that your are 100% pro of this program. And no you have not provided any facts, only your opinion that you believe are facts. All you have done is provide all the information that investonline.net has claimed are "facts." Those "facts" have been proven to be false/lies. But they sure did sound good didn't they.

I am also not buying that they have been in business for as long as they claim, but that does not mean that their domain name has not existed that long. All they had to do was buy a shelf domain name, sit on it for a few years, and then activate it and claim they have been in business since pick your year. Oldest HYIP Ponzi trick in the book. It is an illusion and only an illusion they have been in business all that time.

Why don't you get all those wonderful people on the blog to come here and prove to us how "real" this program is because you desperately need help. In fact we welcome them here just as you are welcome here.