Banners Broker

Jimar

I'm 100% convinced this is a pyramid scheme.
The sad part is I have relatives who have invested and now can't get their money back. They are saying its a technical bug. Something to do with issuing a card.

It has all the hallmarks of a pyramid scheme. Read the following info from the national consumer agency: The scare piece at the end is the fines for involvement.
http://www.nca.ie/index.jsp?a=587&n=367&p=121

Jerrygo

I have just discoverd that my uncle has been cojolled into putting 1000euro in this "investment scheme". (That is how it was sold to him). He is a naive man in his late 60's. Only a state pension to live on. He came to me with his driving licence, for advice on how to upload this. I was immediately suspicious as to a possible identity theft scam.
Anyway I have just spent the last 3 hours trawling the net for info on bannersbrokers. I have never come accross such an obvious ponzi scheme! Buying and selling non existent banner ads. The only revenue to pay older members is that obtained from new members! My god is there nothing that can be done about these people? Has anyone complained to the consumer society? Or to the financial sevices authority? or the garda?
Have we learned nothing from the light touch regulators of our banks?
Please tell me someone, that you have reported these low life scammers, and that there is an ongoing investigation of them.

martyoo

The only revenue to pay older members is that obtained from new members!

That says it all.

All that will happen to them is that the scheme will collapse and they will move on.

Link below has a lot of info on them.

http://finchsells.com/2012/10/21/banners-broker-scam-dont-let-it-affect-you/

A Primal Nut

martyoo wrote: »

That says it all.

All that will happen to them is that the scheme will collapse and they will move on.

Link below has a lot of info on them.

http://finchsells.com/2012/10/21/banners-broker-scam-dont-let-it-affect-you/

Has anybody talked to the NCA about this? The longer it goes on the more money people will lose.

martyoo

Has anybody talked to the NCA about this? The longer it goes on the more money people will lose.

I rang them about it. They have had a few calls in about them already.

Not sure they can do too much about it apart from putting an notice up on their website.

dahamsta

Be interesting to know if the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation has an open investigation. If this really is a ponzi, them's the guys that'll prosecute.

martyoo

If this really is a ponzi, them's the guys that'll prosecute.

Even if it is based out of Canada? Not sure if they can.

dahamsta

martyoo wrote: »

Even if it is based out of Canada? Not sure if they can.

They can, in several ways. I was more talking about people over here promoting it though. The con men, rather than the thicks. There's always a few mixed in.

A Primal Nut

martyoo wrote: »

Even if it is based out of Canada? Not sure if they can.

Don't they have an office in Cork?

areyawell

I know its a ponzi scheme but how do you actually sign up on there website? I mean I only see options if you want to advertise your own product or if you want advertisements to appear on your own site?

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup

Wishful thinking from a few posters here hoping that the NCA (lol), Garda Fraud or any Irish organisation will manage to prosecute or get money back. Our agencies are just too small or completely useless in the NCA's case to do anything.

Only hope is someone like the FTC in the States go after them if there's enough Americans caught up in this. Fair play to the mods for keeping this thread open, unlike the others. boards.ie ranks well on the search engines and people need to read this when they search.

Jerrygo

Just as an update to my previous post, regarding my elderly uncle getting scammed by this ponzi scheme. I have spent a good bit of today phoning different authorities, and filling forms of complaint against bannersbrokers. I have been informed that there have been numerous complaints against them, and that there is actually an ongoing investigation into Bannersbrokers.
I would advise anyone who who has put money in this ponzi, who has not made the profit that was promised,who has been locked out of their account, who has been unable to contact banners support, who has been misled or made false promises by them, who has been unable to withdraw their money, who has been forced to upload licence or passport info, who has any complaint or concern about bannersbrokers ireland to contact in the first place http://www.nca.ie/nca/contact-form.
The more intelligence they get on this mob the better.

diarmuid14

It is a scam, I have a website myself that I own and run. i opted in for the ad/pub combo for the minimum entry fee to see if Banners Brokers was genuine. I wanted to use them to push traffic through my site etc...... surprise surprise on my traffic counter of my dashboard of my site!!!! what do you know no traffic for the amouts they are claiming they have sent through?!?!?!?! when i contact banners about this I get vagu replys about or software team is dealing wit the problem etc bla blas bla SCAM
tried to with draw money.more vague replys about my address not being approved.even though its been over two months? well over the 14 day period.............

RATM

georgiecasey wrote: »

Wishful thinking from a few posters here hoping that the NCA (lol), Garda Fraud or any Irish organisation will manage to prosecute or get money back. Our agencies are just too small or completely useless in the NCA's case to do anything.

Only hope is someone like the FTC in the States go after them if there's enough Americans caught up in this. Fair play to the mods for keeping this thread open, unlike the others. boards.ie ranks well on the search engines and people need to read this when they search.

You're right there in respect of the Irish authorities ability to prosecute a scam like this- it is more or less non-existent. High Court Judge Peter Kelly was astounded earlier this year (and said as much) to discover that the Garda Fraud Squad for the entire country( right thoughout all the crap that has happened the banks, Golden Circle, Ernst & Young's audit, Quinn CFD's, etc ) consists of no more than 9 Gardai. It came up in court about the speed at which the Anglo debacle was being investigated -it came across like the Fraud Squad were forced to put 80-90% of their time into the Anglo case and more or less nothing else got investigated due to lack of resources.

On top of all the bank fraud there is also a huge backlog of cases of rogue solicitors who were using clients funds during the boom. There are dozens of mini-Michael Lynn's on their books and they are struggling to keep up. Just to make matters worse the head of the unit, who has 30 years experience with fraud in Ireland, is due to resign this year and the manpower is not likely to be replaced- meaning the unit's power and reach is reduced from an already extremely weak position.

The whole sorry episode is a direct reflection of how seriously Fine Gael take tackling white collar crime in Ireland. Politics is all about words, but actions (or non-actions) speak louder than words and the fact that when Fine Gael got into office ignored requests for more manpower for the Garda Fraud squad to help investigate and prosecute the huge backlog of white collar crimes says it all.

podgemonster

These lads held a presentation in West Cork a few months back which my parents attended. My father rang me saying so many lads he knew were earning money on it, very repectable knowledgable people were investing and wanted to see what I thought about it.

Using Boards and other forums and contacting a friend of mine whos a Web designer I realised something was definetly amiss and pleaded with him not throw away his money and managed to talk him out of it.

From the info here and reading the forum linked earlier I'm relieved he did the right thing.

RATM

Is there anyone here going to their conference in Citywest this coming weekend? Would be interesting to hear what it's like

tricky D

Presentations and conferences - sounds like it's getting near the bottom of the pyramid. Not long left before it wraps up.

jordata

tricky D wrote: »

Presentations and conferences - sounds like it's getting near the bottom of the pyramid. Not long left before it wraps up.

and just heard on the promo for today's Liveline that Joe will be covering the topic today - so that may speed up the end of this particular scam.

On now!

moneymad

anyone having trouble listening to joe on the rte website?

Listening to it on a radio.

moneymad

Deleted User wrote: »

Listening to it on a radio.

ok

Dionysius2

Would-be-investors should be aware that they need to be extremely cautious in all their dealings with this type of venture.
Be advised that this ticks all the boxes for a Ponzi scheme. Approach it only from the point of view of verified statistics and cold light of day logic. Do not be guided by instinct because all the world's uncovered Ponzis overwhelmingly devoured medium to low level caution.

kbbucks

Pyramid City!

H8GHOTI

moneymad wrote: »

anyone having trouble listening to joe on the rte website?

Try this:
http://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/rteradioweb.html#!rii=9%3A%2D2%3A53%3A28%2D11%2D2012%3A

moneymad

H8GHOTI wrote: »

Try this:
http://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/rteradioweb.html#!rii=9%3A%2D2%3A53%3A28%2D11%2D2012%3A

thanks.

These people on the radio are gormless fools.

bastados

H8GHOTI wrote: »

Try this:
http://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/rteradioweb.html#!rii=9%3A%2D2%3A53%3A28%2D11%2D2012%3A

These schemes seem to flourish down the country,the guys on Joe Duffy talk about the internet like it's some magical unknowable space.

H8GHOTI

moneymad wrote: »

thanks.

These people on the radio are gormless fools.

No problem.

"This next fella is from Cork"
"I'm actually from Cobh"


No one yet has really made much sense.

H8GHOTI

They wasted loads of time talking nonsense & going around in circles.
Then one decent question there at the end went unanswered. Why affiliates?

The figures that fella was giving about turning $2k into $75k probably weren't true. I doubt he actually withdrew that & has it in his bank now.
So the cost of finance that the last guy was on about was based on false figures. Shame, it could have got interesting.

moneymad

H8GHOTI wrote: »

They wasted loads of time talking nonsense & going around in circles.
Then one decent question there at the end went unanswered. Why affiliates?

The figures that fella was giving about turning $2k into $75k probably weren't true. I doubt he actually withdrew that & has it in his bank now.
So the cost of finance that the last guy was on about was based on false figures. Shame, it could have got interesting.

And did you hear that clown saying "We advertise on the blind network Joe".
Deep down they all know it's a pyramid scheme.

Bistoman

I was just wondering, If this is a magic money making scheme, Why the feck would You want anyone else to invest? Surly the less people involved the more to You get to keep.
Who was it that said " A fool and His money are easily parted" ?
Of course its a scam, And it's at this time of year ,when some people are so hard up that they are persuaded to invest, that the real damage to the community is done.
Sure there is money to be made, But it already has been made, and the rest are just left with more debt. It should be a jailable offence to promote this S***e!!

ED E

Loved how the head of their irish operation doesnt even appear to know how the internet functions. "Where does the money come from?" "The internet" [Or something to that effect], had a chuckle to myself.

My aul fella was considering the thing, I was very sceptical when he tried to describe it. He was of the impression that it looked like a ponzy but actually wasnt. And guess what, he has a good friend egging him on to go this weekend...

Bistoman

areyawell wrote: »

I know its a ponzi scheme but how do you actually sign up on there website? I mean I only see options if you want to advertise your own product or if you want advertisements to appear on your own site?

I think they want You to hand over hard cash at the " Meetings" so You dont have the same automatic statuary rights that you would have if You payed online. That's My guess.

dahamsta

Cobh is 20 clicks from Cork. What's difficult to understand about that?

H8GHOTI wrote: »

No problem.

"This next fella is from Cork"
"I'm actually from Cobh"


No one yet has really made much sense.

H8GHOTI

Bistoman wrote: »

I was just wondering, If this is a magic money making scheme, Why the feck would You want anyone else to invest? Surly the less people involved the more to You get to keep.
...

The opposite is true. The more people you get to join directly below you the better. You earn commission etc..

dahamsta wrote: »

Cobh is 20 clicks from Cork. What's difficult to understand about that?

Eh? Cobh is in Cork. County Cork.
The way he answered was like Joe had said the wrong county.
Just a bit funny, I thought.

Bistoman

H8GHOTI wrote: »

The opposite is true. The more people you get to join directly below you the better. You earn commission etc..

I understand that,I get how these Pyramid schemes work,But they ware trying to sell it as a " You cant Loose" Scheme , i.e. a " Magic Money making machine"

RATM

My sound card is fecked so can't listen

Were Banners Brokers actually mentioned by name on Joe Duffy ? And were they mentioned as an actual ponzi scheme or a potential one or how was it phrased ? If so it looks like their game might be up as anyone who heard Joe today (a lot-he gets 400k+ listeners per day) and who is invested will be scrambling to withdraw their money. They won't be able to pay the newest of investors and the thing should collapse. I feel sad for them as Christmas is coming up and you don't want that hanging over you when money is already tight.

If BB were mentioned as being a ponzi on Joe Duffy today I suspect that conference in Citywest this weekend is going to be a bunch of investors looking to lynch senior management ? If senior management even show up ?

Also it would be interesting to hear from PaulaMorton who started this thread to hear if she has tried to withdraw and what level of success she's had ? Or any other investors who have managed to withdraw money lately ?

H8GHOTI

Bistoman wrote: »

I understand that,I get how these Pyramid schemes work,But they ware trying to sell it as a " You cant Loose" Scheme , i.e. a " Magic Money making machine"

Ya, a lot of the lines you hear are "You don't need to recruit" or "It's possible to make money without inviting others".
The part they leave out is "you can make a small amount but you'll make more and make it faster, if you do get others in".
That's the case even if everything they say is legit & it's not a ponzi. They don't hide the fact that it helps to recruit others.
If you were in it & wanted to make the most out of it, you wouldn't keep it a secret.

Jumboman

Is this scam within the law or is it illegal ?

Jumboman

Just found a picture of banners broker "HQ"

http://finchsells.com/2012/10/21/banners-broker-scam-dont-let-it-affect-you/

H8GHOTI

areyawell wrote: »

I know its a ponzi scheme but how do you actually sign up on there website? I mean I only see options if you want to advertise your own product or if you want advertisements to appear on your own site?

You can't sign up, unless your invited by someone else.

moneymad wrote: »

And did you hear that clown saying "We advertise on the blind network Joe".
Deep down they all know it's a pyramid scheme.

To be fair I think blind networks do exist in the world of advertising and were already being used before this came along.
There's a little bit about them here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising_network
So you could see how people might believe it. It is a handy excuse/reason to use as to why you can't see the ads. Great front for a ponzi.

RATM wrote: »

My sound card is fecked so can't listen

Were Banners Brokers actually mentioned by name on Joe Duffy ? And were they mentioned as an actual ponzi scheme or a potential one or how was it phrased ? If so it looks like their game might be up as anyone who heard Joe today (a lot-he gets 400k+ listeners per day) and who is invested will be scrambling to withdraw their money. They won't be able to pay the newest of investors and the thing should collapse. I feel sad for them as Christmas is coming up and you don't want that hanging over you when money is already tight.

If BB were mentioned as being a ponzi on Joe Duffy today I suspect that conference in Citywest this weekend is going to be a bunch of investors looking to lynch senior management ? If senior management even show up ?

Also it would be interesting to hear from PaulaMorton who started this thread to hear if she has tried to withdraw and what level of success she's had ? Or any other investors who have managed to withdraw money lately ?

If you can listen to it on another laptop or something it's up on RTE player.
For anyone that missed it:
http://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/rteradioweb.html#!rii=9%3A10089838%3A53%3A28%2D11%2D2012%3A

Yes they were mentioned by name. Some people rang in saying they thought it might be a ponzi/pyramid scheme. One guy changed his mind after depositing and is waiting 2 months for a refund. A couple of people said they were making money & so were friends/family. So a bit of a mix really.

I don't see how anything on the show would change peoples mind. Anyone who has already invested, wouldn't believe it's a scam based on anything that was said. Anyone that is convinced it is a scam, probably still does.

I'd imagine if anything it will only increase the interest in this thing in City West. Which is what they wanted. It'll be up to them to convince people and try to sell it to those that turn up.

keithclancy

Jumboman wrote: »

Is this scam within the law or is it illegal ?

Only a matter of time before its shut down:

http://www.examiner.com/article/600m-online-ponzi-scheme-shut-down-by-the-sec

mrkr

Investigative report from today's Irish Examiner

http://www.irishexaminer.com/analysis/another-scheme-too-good-to-be-true-215389.html

wasper

I joined in March & I am very happy with what I have got. I withdrew just over $4k & by Sat I will be withdrawing another $2K. I think it works & BB is a small company that wants to get a small slice of the ads on the internet that is being dominated by Google, Facebook & Yahoo. The market is enormous.

Bistoman

wasper wrote: »

I joined in March & I am very happy with what I have got. I withdrew just over $4k & by Sat I will be withdrawing another $2K. I think it works & BB is a small company that wants to get a small slice of the ads on the internet that is being dominated by Google, Facebook & Yahoo. The market is enormous.

If it is such a good money making company, Why do they need Your Investment?

lala88

Bistoman wrote: »

If it is such a good money making company, Why do they need Your Investment?

Most big company's Google, Coke etc all have investors dont they? Nothing strange about company's wanting investors

keithclancy

lala88 wrote: »

Most big company's Google, Coke etc all have investors dont they? Nothing strange about company's wanting investors

I don't think Google or Coca Cola etc ever paid their Investors 400% interest, or gave 50% of referral contributions.

All going to end in tears, I hope you guys didn't encourage family, friends and neighbours to sign up ! :pac:

lala88

Im not involved with this but have heard of it. But like most things on here iv yet to see anyone gave anything to back up it being a scam other then the usual s*** of just saying it is

keithclancy

lala88 wrote: »

Im not involved with this but have heard of it. But like most things on here iv yet to see anyone gave anything to back up it being a scam other then the usual s*** of just saying it is

Oh no, i've been at a seminar before ... there was a similar one years ago, NCA have some good tips here:

http://www.nca.ie/nca/pyramid-schemes

Bistoman

lala88 wrote: »

Most big company's Google, Coke etc all have investors dont they? Nothing strange about company's wanting investors

keithclancy wrote: »

I don't think Google or Coca Cola etc ever paid their Investors 400% interest, or gave 50% of referral contributions.

All going to end in tears, I hope you guys didn't encourage family, friends and neighbours to sign up ! :pac:

And Your Man Yesterday never said anything about "Investors" He was talking about selling a product, It's completely different.