Finanzas Forex, TIRN... I've seen this movie before, haven't I?
Investment firm springs up out of nowhere.
Investment firm has innovative, fast-and-loose strategy.
Investment firm posts record profits.
You invest.
Investment firm is being harassed by big bad government agencies.
Investment firm has to hold on to your money until this mess can get all cleared up.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve either invested in Finanzas Forex or TIRN. Finanzas Forex is being sued for libel by DWB Marketing, and by Crowne Gold, inc over contract issues. For TIRN, the bad guys are the Securities and Exchange Commission. They’re set to go to court with David Merrick soon, charging him with operating a Ponzi scheme (if you get a chance to read all of the documentation, do it. It’s a good read).
But I’d hate to jump to conclusions. Let’s analyze this from both a pessimistic and optimistic point of view.
Optimistic:
FFx and TIRN are victims of bad timing and poor management. They didn’t get the licenses they needed to operate in the United States, and they’re being busted because of the national paranoia that Bernie Madoff and other REAL Ponzi schemers have caused. The SEC has shifted into overdrive, and innovative risk-takers like FFx and TIRN are paying for it.
Verdict: Things will sort themselves out. Justice will prevail, and these noble companies will once again continue to churn out profits for us.
Pessimistic:
Let’s be honest. Both companies are mad shady. TIRN’s bank activity didn’t show any trading going on while it was operational, and FFx has never posted real trade information on it’s shabby website. Plus, FFx has a really stupid security feature. Both companies had an “unofficial” way to put money into the company (paying cash to other customers for them to transfer funds into your account), and both have jumped to create other alter egos (TIRN is now PMR, and FFx is pfplace.com) as soon as their money got frozen.
Verdict: Consider the money you invested a tuition payment to the School of Hard Knocks.
Positive or negative, your response to the situation can be nothing but passive. You either have to wait for the best, or forget about it and put it behind you. It’s a powerless situation to be in if you happen to have funds tied up in one of these companies (like me). Nevertheless, if we use this chance to learn and grow, we’ll at least have something to show in the end. But this is only possible if we share information.
With that in mind, do you have an “inside scoop” on what’s going on at Finanzas Forex or TIRN? Perhaps a link to obscure, overlooked information? Please leave a comment and share it!
I’ve updated to Wordpress recently, and it’s been the most destructive thing I’ve done to this site so far.
Well, kind of.
The thing is, with blogger, the site was organized in a specific way. Google had my old links up, and i’d get a 404 error message someone would click the link (searches for “Finanzas Forex” would drive a lot of traffic to my site). Hopefully that will be resolved soon, and Google will put my updated links up.
Even more hopefully, I’ll post something new. There have been some interesting developments in different forex companies (notably FFx and TIRN), but the legwork required to do a quality post has had me avoiding it.
Along the journey of yours truly, the Capitalist Bum, I’ve come across some interesting characters. Abel Mesa of La Promesa Corporation, German Cardona of Finanzas Forex, and Paul Orberson of Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing. All of these seem to be people that singlehandedly pulled up a company by its bootstraps and rode it to the top through Multi-Level Marketing goodness.
Now it’s time for a new Condender: David Merrick.
A Wikipedia search for Mr. Merrick revealed that he is a dead Tony-Award winning theatrical producer. Clearly this isn’t the man I’m looking for.
The other David Merrick is the founder and CEO of the Traders International Returns Network. They are similar to Finanzas Forex, in that they both trade on the Foreign Exchange market, and both are registered in Panama. According to the flash animation on their homepage, TIRN trades on the Forex market, commidities, financial instruments, precious metals, and retail investments.
Judging by their web presence, TIRN certainly seems to be up-and-coming company. They have a twitter feed (but don’t seem to be doing anything with it), and their website is chock-full of rss readers that display the most current investment-news charts and graphs.
On the business end, they seem to be fast. Deposits and withdrawls are quick, taking about one business day to process (take that, Finanzas Forex!), and debit cards from the company are sent promptly. Like FFx, you make money from the investments of people on your downline, with a 5% initial payment, then a small residual payment per month.
Here’s their Return on Investment breakdown:
$500 – $999 = 9% return per month
$1,000 – 3,999 = 11% return per month
$4,000 – $9,999 = 14% return per month
$10,000 – $ 24,999 = 17% return per month
$25,000 – $49,999 = 19% return per month
$50,000 = 21% return per month
Minimum investment: $500
Maximum investment: $50,000
Add 1% if the investment is maintained for 6 months.
However, TIRN does have a shady side: The Comision Nacional de Valores of Panama (their version of the SEC) put out a document stating that TIRN has no licence to operate in Panama, and are not regulated by anyone. One of the conditions of signing up for TIRN is that you not speak negatively of them online, or your account may be terminated.
I’ll edit this post as I get more information, but my prospect for TIRN is the same as Finanzas Forex. Scam or not, I know that there is money being made. If I invest sometime in the future (I currently find myself penniless), I’ll use only the money that I can afford to lose.
However simplistic that example may have been, that’s what’s going on to our dollar right now.
With trillion-dollar bailouts and expensive wars going on, the dollar is being cheapened every day by the printing presses at the Federal Reserve.
How is it that we don’t feel it, you ask? Here’s the short answer: We’re in a depression. People have begun saving again and paying off bills, banks are loaning less and NOT circulating the dollars. So while many, many dollars are being pumped into the system, not a lot of them are being spent.
Just like a bunch of Mickey Mantle cards in storage, no one feels the effects of uncirculated dollars.
This is why an economic recovery is going to be the worst thing imaginable for dollar holders
As the markets thaw out, and consumers start spending again, people are going to realize that there’s a whole lot more paper dollars floating around than before. About a week ago, as rumors started floating around that we were on our way out of this slump, the dollar fell. Coincidence? No way.
This is how Obama is going to cut the federal deficit in half
Loans don’t adjust for inflation (yet). Pres. Obama is going to pay off debts with cheap dollars. The dollar is already at risk of losing its AAA rating, and China, our biggest debt holder, is taking notice.
The important thing is to have something that has value in and of itself. The dollar is worth something because the US Government says it does. That’s no good — this is where gold comes in. It’s real, it doesn’t inflate, it can be stored, sold, bought, melted down and can be transported easily.
Well, the transportability issue isn’t really all that accurate, since we don’t even deal with cash much anymore– we’re used to the digital buying and selling of dollar-backed credits. Fortunately, I found an awesome site called GoldMoney.com. they have their own currency, called GoldGrams, which are 100 percent backed by gold. They function like a bank, allowing you to make payments on things online and transfer from GoldGrams to dollars quickly (for a small fee). The best thing is that the money is independent of the dollar, so the more the dollar tanks, the more buying power you have. Just these last few weeks, one GoldGram went up in value by 3 dollars. The more dollars begin to circulate, the lower they’ll go in value, while gold goes up. Gold is about to hit 1,000 dollars an ounce. The time to get into gold is now.
If you like sensible economics, and good monetary advice, check out Richard Maybury’s free bulletins. Honestly, his books changed how I see the world.
Think fast:
Someone tells you that they’re making a fortune doing something that another guy with a fortune told you to do, because God told him to do it.
Welcome to the strange world of Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing, and the strange re-interpretation of a website called SuFortunaDVD.com.
First off, I think it’s impossible to have a company name with more industry buzz-words.
Fortune High Tech Marketing. It’s like calling a cereal Yummy Crunchy Tasty-Puffs.
I don’t doubt that the founder, Paul Orberson, has found incredible success as a salesman (here’s an article to prove it), but in his business plan, success is only to be found at the very top.
Regardless of that, it seems like things get a little convoluted when translated to Spanish.
Enter SuFortunaDVD.com, a website that is tailor-made for Prosperity-Gospel Christian latin Americans. In the middle of the video, the short man tells of Paul Orberson’s claims that God told him to create a company that would allow him to share his fabulous wealth with everyone (last I checked, that was called a charity). At the home page is a thirty-minute long video where a short man with white hair explains the way the company works. Here’s what I gathered:
You have to sign up three people as salesmen, then sign on customers that subscribe to 10 of these products. The money is made by subscribing these customers to “customer loyalty” programs. The problem is that if you only have 17 programs to pick from! Try convincing someone in this capitalist market that they’ll be locked into a loyalty program.
With such a poor business strategy, where does this company make their money?
This is where the 300 dollar entrance fee comes in. For licensing and other “startup costs”, Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing will charge 300 dollars from the starting block. SuFortunaDVD gets by this prickly subject quickly by saying that by signing up just a few people, you’ll be able to recoup that cash, and more.
SuFortunaDVD.com doesn’t seem to convince, either. The website is slapped together, made with Joomla, an automatic drag-and-drop website maker.
The Problem: To be sucessful in this business, you have to make sure that everyone in your “downline” is actively working. You have to babysit everyone below you.
At the end of the video, the short man talking re-introduces himself as Pastor Juan Ayala, the Executive Manager of all of Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing. Why he would want to present himself as a religious leader instead of a business professional shows that he has a very focused audience. When clicking on the “radio” button, a playlist comes up of christian songs proclaiming wealth and success, interspersed with testimonies.
It seems like this business is more about faith than work.
The last time I realized I was making money with Google ads, I made the ad space bigger.
This appears to have worked. I’ve made more in the last two months than I’ve made in the whole year-and-a-half existence of this blog. And I haven’t posted anything for two and a half months!
That being said, I’ve been able to pay for hosting for this year, and hopefully I’ll receive my check in the mail.
I have to keep writing.
I got a strange letter in the mail last week. It had my name and address printed out and glued to the envelope, and the return address said “finanzas forex”, and MY address. The letter was bulky, and scotch-taped on one side. I honestly expected there to be a cloud of white powder when I opened it. Going against my better judgment, I opened it. The letter was a bunch of printed-out internet articles from a website that purportedly exposes MLM schemes. It was page after page of Finanzas Forex flames and the dangers of it. The letter really concerned me, not because it was talking badly about FFx, but because someone actually took the time to do a WHOIS search of my website, copy my address, and send me something to my house. I think a simple comment would have sufficed, my snail-mail-stalker-buddy. Needless to say, I’ve made the WHOIS information private.
Holy crap!
I’ve risen the Google ranks to become the fourth site listed for “finanzas forex”! If anyone looks over my first posts, they’ll see that this boost in internet stardom is a far cry from my humble beginnings. There are even people quoting me! Like PhD students and Polish guys and even robots! I must say that I’ve become somewhat of a celebrity on the pseudo-investment-pundit-blogosphere.
Being true to my roots, I’m going to increase the space alloted for google ads. Maybe I’ll finally turn a profit.
Note: My apologies to Christine Folch, the PhD student, whose blog I linked to for the sole purpose of progressing my own selfish agenda. Because the forum I linked to above may have not been written in Polish, I also extend my aplologies to my Polish (or Slovenian or Czech or whatever) friends.
Thankful for God’s blessings every day, even for the things I take for granted. Good turkey, too.
Finanzas Forex recently sent out a communiqué, advising everyone that thay have nothing to do with GrupoSafengo.com, apparently an investment website. On their “Terms and Conditions” page, GrupoSafengo states that they are listed commercially as “Evolution Market Group, inc”. It seems like Safengo is registered with that name in Colombia, while FFx is registered in Panama… It’s strangely suspicious that Grupo Safengo would want to use the exact same name of a company that does the exact same thing they do. Reminds me of the “Abibas” shoes they sell at the flea market.
Finanzas Forex has been up to alot lately. They’ve lately required that every investor revise and sign a contract, and it’s rumored that they already have aquired a bank, and will finally have a defined place to send money to. It’s also rumored that Finanzas Forex is going to close itself off to new investors, and create a satellite company that will have all of the licenses needed to operate in the countries around the world (As of now, Colombians can’t sign up due to legal issues).
Although it’s annoying to have to sign a contract, and keep up on which country can and can’t sign up, it’s also reassuring. FFx is playing by the rules, which implies that they’re actually in the game. Every day I have less and less doubt that it’s a scheme. So far, I can’t complain. I’m coming up to the six month mark, and my investment seems to have paid off. Already people I know have taken out their original investment, and I’ve been able to withdraw without too much incident.
FFx or not, it’as always good to diversify. I recently bought stock in Calypso Wireless, a publicly traded company that has several patents in cell phone technology. Their big one is a patent on the technology that allows them to switch from the cell network to wifi seamlessly. T-Mobile is infringing on their patent. Last week, Calypso Wireless filed a lawsuit with them with the Williams Kherkher Law Firm, possibly the most powerful legal team ever (they hold the record for winning the largest settlement in the universe). The stock has jumped from two cents to four, and is rumored to hit 25 cents over the course of several months.
So i’m in. I’ll see what happens.