Info For People Caught Out By The Banners Broker Scam
Hi Folks
I'm assuming that there are people within the WA Community who, like me, were unwittingly sucked into the Banners Broker Ponzi Scam a few years back. Hopefully we've all put it behind us as a bad experience.
For those who are still out of pocket, there is now hope of obtaining your money back.
Apologies if you were already aware of this information and have acted accordingly, but this post is for people like me who had given up hope and were not aware of recent developments.
I paid for my Banners Broker subscription via Debit Card and had my Chargeback Claim denied.
Different countries have different Chargeback regulations. Here in the UK, people who purchase a product or service in good faith which later turns out to be fraudulent are protected so long as they made their purchases via a Credit Card. The Card Provider has to issue a full refund. However, the same does not apply to Debit Card transactions, for which the Chargeback protection is only voluntary on the part of the Card Provider.
Banners Broker were closed down in 2014, and Joint Liquidators were appointed in the various countries where they operated.
The co-owners of Banners Broker - Chris Smith and Raj Dixit - were arrested on 9th December 2015 and charged with fraud. On 27th September 2017, the pair pleaded Guilty to charges under the Competition Act of running a Pyramid Scam and received a 'slap on the wrist' sentence of 2 years less 1 day in the Community and a $50,000 fine. Not bad for ripping people off to the tune of $93 Million.
On 9th December 2016, all Joint Liquidators relinquished their responsibilities to the Canadian Court appointed Liquidator, who's contact details are as follows:
msi Spergel inc. , 505 Consumers Road, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, M2J 4V8, Canada
Attn: Frieda Kanaris
http://www.spergel.ca/banners
E-mail: bannersbrokerinternational@spergel.ca
Tel: 001 416 498 4313
People who have successfully claimed via national Receivers have had their joining fees and - if applicable - package upgrade fees refunded, although not any money their memberships generated in terms of 'earnings', the latter quite correctly IMHO.
You will recall that earnings shown in e-wallets such as SolidTrustPay were reversed by Banners Broker with all sorts of excuses that it was a 'technical glitch' and reassurances to 'keep the faith' as it was 'all being sorted'. etc.
Yesterday, I received the following e-mail from the Canadian Receivers by way of reply to my enquiry:
"Dear Richard, as the Canadian Receiver, we have not yet received Court approval with the claims form or the claims process to be used in the Canadian proceedings. We have noted your contact information and will update you accordingly. Unfortunately, we cannot provide anything further at this time nor how long the process will take.
Regards
msi Spergel inc., court-appointed receiver of Banners Broker International Limited
Frieda Kanaris | Senior Administrator - Corporate Insolvency"
So, although it's some way down the road still, this gives hope to those of us for whom this issue is as yet unresolved - good luck with your claims.
Have a prosperous and productive day, everybody :-)
Rich
Recent Comments
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Like many Ponzi schemes, it did not have the appearance of such. It looked genuine and legitimate and took a lot of people in, including many experienced online Marketers.
There'll no doubt be many more lurking around the corner to catch unsuspecting people out.
If we all knew what a Ponzi looked like there wouldn't be any Ponzis! Personally, I can't believe they got off so lightly. It's hardly a deterrent to others IMHO.
Glad you didn't get caught out with it, Mike - you did well to avoid that one. Hopefully your last experience didn't leave you too much out of pocket :-)
Cheers
Rich
Yes, a lot of people don't realize that paying with a debit card is not the same as paying with a credit card as far as fraud is concerned. A debit card is on the Retail side of the banking business and a Credit Card is on the credit card side of the banking business - 2 totally different sides of the business. Credit cards handle fraud much easier than a debit card. However there is a difference between fraud and being stupid (you would be surprised to find out how many people willingly give out their credit card number to a fraudster on the internet). If you willingly gave over your credit card number to a fraudster it may be handled differently than if your credit card number got stolen. So the lesson learned here is don't give your credit card or debit card number out with caution and after researching the company.
Lots of people got caught out by this one, Darleen, including many experienced online Marketers whom I would not brand as stupid. And I doubt if many people just dived straight in without doing their due diligence. If Ponzi scams were so easy to spot then there wouldn't be any.
Rich
I I wasn't calling you stupid, sorry it sounded like it - I meant the general overall public. There is yearly approx 190 billion a year to credit card fraud. What I am saying is that if you give your number out there is a possibility it is not the bank's fault and you may not get your money back. It is different than having it stolen.
I had not heard of this. Sounds absolutely sinister.
I remember years ago being part of a banner exchange program, but I think it was free and to my recollection was a good thing. I remember it bringing in a lot of traffic.
That Is one thing I was fortunate that I wasn't involved in.
There were other bad experiences though.
We live and learn, sometimes the hard way!
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I didn't know anything about this. You've just educated me. It is very easy these days to fall victim to fraud. I consider myself a very savvy person, yet I clicked on a fraudulent link last year and had to go through the process of closing down a credit card because of it.
The fraudulent website looked flawless and on the level. I felt like an idiot after it all went down.
White collar criminals have gotten very sophisticated and spend a lot of time making their "money making programs" look legitimate. The Internet really can be a landmine, even for those who know what they're doing.
I'm sorry you got caught up in that. It's too bad the guys responsible can't be sued by all the people they took advantage of.
Wendy