"TVI Express", also known as "Travel tybee island vacation rentals Ventures International", first appeared on the scene in 2009 in India, and claims combine three trends: e-commerce, home business, and travel. It is a convicted pyramid scheme around tybee island vacation rentals the world and is prosecuted in multiple countries around the globe as a pyramid tybee island vacation rentals scheme. Due to the way it operates in multiple tybee island vacation rentals countries, with server elsewhere, individual countries had to shut them down individually, leading to its continued survival. However, the scheme is mostly dead in 2012, except in the Philippines, where it still has many adherents.
The origin of TVI Express is unknown, though its founder is believed to be "Tarun Trikha" (also spelled Parun Trika in some cases). He had previously appeared on various network marketing forums claiming he's new and wants to learn. Archived forum posts indicated that he had previously started various ventures, but none of them were much of a success and quickly expired, leaving no trace of their existence. He operates a "conglomerate" called V2Global, based somewhere in India .
Tarun Trikha came up with "Travel Ventures International", or TVI Express, in late 2008, and launched it in 2009, and he was very careful tybee island vacation rentals in crafting a facade of legitimacy through multiple layers of suggestions and vague wordings. It is clear he planned this for a while, as he crafted this scam the same way a spy agency construct a "legend" for its agents.
Third, he hired a decent web design team to make his website, and it is quite slick, with little if any bugs, and decent tybee island vacation rentals hosting. Though many of the pictures are cribbed from stock photo websites and even other MLM websites such as Xango.
Fourth, the adcopy inside the website are mostly cribbed from a book by Randy Gage, along with parts cribbed from ad copies of other MLM websites (in a similar style). One page used chopped quotes from Warren Buffet and Sir Richard tybee island vacation rentals Branson to "suggest" that TVI Express was partially or fully owned by these two celebrity investors when such a thing did not happen.
Sixth, he created tybee island vacation rentals scripts and such for the "distributors" (i.e. members) to read for the videos, so people can create market videos by cutting and pasting some parts of his existing videos and add their own appeal to the audience.
Seventh, he probably established VOIP forwarding, and hired people who speak proper English, not people with heavy Indian accent , so affiliates didn't think they called India. It is unknown where is this call center operated from, but it certainly was not in UK. It is probably in India.
The result is one fancy marketing campaign that proclaims "you don't need to sell anything", and "you recruit two people, and teach them each to recruit two people, and you'll make money in your sleep", and "make $10000 per week". Different people will find different things they like, some like travel, some like money.
TVI Express works by having you pay $250 + some fees to join the company as a "distributor" (despite its FAQ originally stated that "you don't need to sell anything"). Once you joined, tybee island vacation rentals you are issued an e-certificate that supposedly lets you redeem a 7-day 6-night trip for two and companion flight ticket. You also get access to a "back office" from which you can order trips, hotels, cars, etc. Finally, you are also entered into this 1-2-4-8 pyramid (they call it a 2x3 forced matrix, but it's same as the 8-ball scheme, shown to the right) with "bottom fill". As people tybee island vacation rentals join, they are pushed under you in the same level, and you move up as more people join. When the "traveler's board" is filled (i.e. full of 15 spots) you get $250 in your eWallet and $250 e-voucher that you can use to join again (buy another spot). (yes, you can stack your membership), and you are cycled out and moved onto the "express board". The express board is another 1-2-4-8 pyramid composed of other people tybee island vacation rentals wh o cycled out. When you cycle out of the express board, you get $10000 in eWallet + $5000 eVoucher for some company training events.
TVI Express managed to slip in a lot of different fine print, and it doesn't tybee island vacation rentals check its distributors for making bad presentations. For example, the trip redemption was virtually IMPOSSIBLE to do until mid-2010, 12 months after it opened. Furthermore, new fees are added to redeem tybee island vacation rentals the trip, and not all hotels and airlines are allowed. The list of participating hotels, resorts, and such is NOT displayed. You only find that after you joined, and it's NOT the same list as those available in the "backoffice" (i.e. Travelocity tybee island vacation rentals backend). Also, the payout is often represented as $500 and $15000 cash when they are not.
The website took off in January 2009, and was first promoted in India. It initially had some problems in the Sikkim region, and was reported to the police as potential scam. Police ordered tybee island vacation rentals the company to refund 6000+ participants their money, and they sent in a lawyer with checkbook with no admission of guilt, claiming they were misunderstood.
China at the time is just getting warmed up to direct tybee island vacation rentals selling, tybee island vacation rentals but MLM is actually ILLEGAL in China, as it had LONG experiences with pyramid schemes and such. Yet most people are just entranced with the fancy terms like "matrix" and such, and many translated versions (some are still online years later) shows that they are reinterpreting and embellishing company promotional ad copies, even claiming that TVI Express is international commerce and thus CANNOT be shut down by Chinese authorities.
Chinese bloggers started doubting the scheme as soon as April and May 2009, and some started posting tybee island vacation rentals detailed investigations of domain, backend, and more, determining that TVI Express is a hybrid pyramid / Ponzi scheme , and the entire "UK business" is merely a facade. When a newspaper picked up the story in June 2009, authorities stepped in and started to arrest "leaders" for defrauding the public. By September 2009 TVI Express virtually ceased to exist in China, as arrests were made all over China. Many were sentenced in 2010, and TVI Express made the "Blacklist" soon after.
TVI Express tybee island vacation rentals reached US in late 2009, probably spread from China through Chinese American communities, and was picked up by local MLM promoters as the next big thing, tybee island vacation rentals on the heels of Cruise tybee island vacation rentals Matrix and similar schemes. Many MLM coaches picked up on this, and most reacted to it favorably, tybee island vacation rentals and only very few pointed to it as a pyramid scheme. Some even proclaimed it legal and profitable. Even MLM veterans with dozen years of experience can't see through the facade.
It fell to amateur scambusters to translate the articles from China, India, and elsewhere about TVI Express scam. And initially they were not believed, with shills trying every excuse under the sun, such as sour grapes, it paid me, and much more to discredit tybee island vacation rentals the critics.
All that was silenced when state of Georgia department of consumer affairs slapped "TVI North America", which is NOT an official branch, but just a bunch of distributors in the Atlanta tybee island vacation rentals area, with a "cease and desist" order, in August 2010. Though many TVI Express reps refused to accept the news, and later, only reluctantly gave up the scam, and some continued tybee island vacation rentals to blame their downline for being lazy and blame the US for "not MLM-friendly".
TVI Express reached Europe in 2009, but met large resistance, as law enforcement and newspapers have covered the scam quickly. tybee island vacation rentals An article in a newspaper on the Spanish island of Majorca tybee island vacation rentals appeared in 2009 and was one of the first coveage of TVI Express in Europe. There are also reports tybee island vacation rentals in Eastern Europe about defrauding locals. Hungary declared it a pyramid scheme in 2010 as well.
There are scattered people promoting, tybee island vacation rentals but they didn't meet much success. Though they moved East, into former Soviet-bloc countries where they are somewhat more welcome, though some were already weary of Ponzi schemes. Albania, for example, was rocked tybee island vacation rentals by massive Ponzi schemes that at one point soaked up 40% of national GDP.
TVI Express tybee island vacation rentals in Australia was primarily handled by "TVI Team Oz", a team of one guy and two girls. They were conducting various recruiting seminars throughout Australia and New Zealand until Australian consumer protection agency ACCC slapped them with a cease and desist as well as a lawsuit and a bank account freeze. The trio then defied the freeze by withdrawing smaller amounts from multiple branches, and ACCC slapped them with a contempt of court charge as well. The trio was found guilty of fraud in late 2011 and was severely fined in 2012. One of them tried to blame the government for not telling them it's a pyramid scheme.
Namibia was first to recognize the threat and its central tybee island vacation rentals bank issued a full warning in 2010 ordering the all participants to stop immediately. South Africa and Lesotho followed, and South Africa police actually made several arrests of top promoters.
In mid 2009 TVI Express tybee island vacation rentals moved out of their office in the central London address. This may have been due to an investigation tybee island vacation rentals by a Chinese newspaper in UK. For several tybee island vacation rentals months, they existed tybee island vacation rentals only as a phone number and website.
A new UK office was not established tybee island vacation rentals until December 2009, and it's not even in London, but in Uxbridge (near Heathrow). It is also a virtual office, though there seem to be personnel there as they supposedly accept office visits if you make an appointment.
tybee island vacation rentals TVI Express then registered a new office in Cyprus (which tybee island vacation rentals is an island off Greece), which is also suspected to be a virtual office as it is shared with multiple companies. Rod Cook the MLM Watchdog believed that UK office of fair trade may have kicked them out or was just one step behind.
TVI Express in 2009 promised "local offices" in India, though it was not established until 2010. The offices were quietly shut in 2012, and travelled for "Elite Travel and Tour", which itself seem to have shut down by June 2012.
TVI Express tybee island vacation rentals is documented to have reached Southeast Asia in early 2010, specifically Indonesia, where a local called Goernani tybee island vacation rentals Goenawan became the local head, and registered "TVI Express Indones
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