I've always believed that 50% of affiliates know full well they sign up a Ponzi Scam when they join and the other 50% either get blinded by greed or genuinely believe with all their heart that this 'opportunity' is the scheme that will make them rich beyond their wildest dreams.
Luckily, the majority see through the scam eventually.
Take this guy, Alfonse. This excellent story should be a warning to anybody tempted to join a 'RevShare'/ PONZI scam:
Just because it pays out - it doesn't mean it isn't a scam:
'I first saw TM being mentioned on Facebook by a friend in the U.K. He regularly posted updates about how much money he was earning. I didn't even know what an AdPack was!
When I asked him about it, he showed me an 'AdPack compounding calculator' which showed how much money I would make depending on how many AdPacks I bought and then compounded the income.
At no time was advertising mentioned. In fact, I and many others used the pointless TM banner ad and link with my AdPacks.
I admit that I was a greedy idiot and ignored the 'haters' for months and even convinced 24 people to get involved.
Two key lies were the main reason why I believed in TM:
1. Charles and his dirtbag leader buddies, including the amazing disappearing Immy Aslam, said that only around 5% of TM revenue came from AdPack sales... and
2. PayPal offered 6 months buyer protection in case anything went wrong.
As soon as that last lie started spreading, TM had third world country hayseeds investing literally their house in TM.
But it wasn't just poor people who genuinely believed TM was their key to riches. TM had people like Sunil Patel and Sharon James convince victims to invest huge amounts of money.
These victims are the same poor fools who fill the pro TM groups with ridiculous declarations of love for Charles, and claiming that TM will 'prevail' and somehow magically become a legitimate business. It's tragic in my opinion...
It should also be a cause for concern for Charles and some of his inner circle of 'leader' Ponzi pimps. I've seen many messages posted in the TM groups threatening Charles. That was before he did a mass block of all the 'haters'.
I admit that the advertising did work for me for a couple of months last year prior to the suspicious and sudden drop off in traffic delivery experienced by others in this group around November/December. Lara can attest to this.
I started off just using the TM ad with my AdPacks but later learned how to setup ads for affiliate products on clickbank and got a few sales. I also promoted things like Bitcoin sites and my own blog.
The traffic worked and I believed the lies about the breakdown of revenue and the PayPal buyer protection cover.
I freely admit that I was blinded by greed. I soon started spending hours a day making user guides for TM, helping people setup ads, doing video calls with new prospects etc..
By December I was regularly making over $100 a day just in commissions. I was on cloud nine! I withdrew money regularly and bought things like the latest iPad, jewellery for my wife etc. I paid off some debts and gave money to friends and family.
My aunt died and left me some money. I didn't hesitate and invested US$5,000 into Traffic Monsoon. The next day I quit my job and moved to Thailand, where it's possible to live VERY comfortably on $100 a day which I was making from commissions.
I started withdrawing $100 a day to payza and it worked for December, but then it all came crashing down...
Charles and his friend Immy announced the TM world bank and then casually mentioned that TM had decided to 'move away' from PayPal.
My heart sank. Suddenly I started looking at TM critically. I had noticed that my signups for offers advertised on TM had dropped to zero almost overnight. Some of my downline noticed the dead traffic too.
Something was not right. I could feel it.
I sent an email to my downline and told everyone to get out of TM as soon as possible. I researched how to do *chargeback claims through PayPal and banks and offered my help.
Unfortunately, many of my downline trusted what Charles said and ignored my advice. Some of these people were lifelong friends and family members who now think i'm a crook for getting them involved in TM.
I was still withdrawing the $100 a day from commissions and the instant withdrawals from TM to payza stared taking a day, then 2 days and finally weeks. The Facebook TM groups were full of people posting withdrawal updates and worrying about it.
I started worrying.. I didn't have enough money to return to the country where I was working before and the job options in Thailand were very limited.
Eventually I had almost $3k in pending withdrawals to payza, which would have been my 'salary' for January.
Then Charles announced TM 2.0 and told members that all pending withdrawals would be placed into pending status until PayPal released the funds after 6 months.
That's when my life started falling apart. I started drinking every day. I couldn't sleep with worry. My wife was furious that I had put $5k into TM and quit my job. She was right - it was a very stupid thing to do, but I was greedy and believed all the lies that Charles and his friends told us.
I'm thankful that most of my referrals got their money back, but there are a handful that are now facing a long wait to get some of their investment back from the receiver.
So, that's my story with TM and I'm sure there are many worse ones out there. TM cost me a good job, friends, my marriage and respect of my family who all warned me that it was a scam when I first joined.
I hope and believe that justice will be delivered by the SEC. I also believe that you're wasting money on legal options that will be fruitless.
The facts are black and white. Only 0.4% of TM income came from 'products' that weren't the revenue shares (AdPacks). Charles was present at many meetings and presentations where the key message was 'get 10% growth every 55 days. Compound this income into buying more revenue shares'.
I don't care how many times he spouts the pseudo compliance drivel about TM not being an investment. It's just another lie to add to the very long list..'
*Just to proof that a Chargeback IS still possible, I got this message this morning:
Hey Tara,
I have been reading through your articles and finally decided to put through a complaint with Natwest. and after refusing the first few time and contacting the ombudsman, they finally decided to charge back my initial investment with TM (£1600) plus compensation (£300) and any extra cost. I dont know how to thank you or pay you back but God Bless!