Pyramid Pirates

Before you find your prince, you may have to kiss a few frogs. Translated, this means that there are good products out there on the internet, but sometimes you may be conned into buying into junk or, worse, scams. Let me warn you against a new one.

Recently, I paid $97 subscription for the first month of the “University of Internet Marketing” (also known as Incredible System) program, marketed by JB Virtual Enterprises Inc. (JB is an acronym for Justin Blake). I was under the impression that it would be like Success University, which has a wide range of useful professional and personal development courses. Boy, was I wrong!

First of all, support was atrocious. I couldn’t log into the program after paying, so I sent a support ticket to the system for help. Almost 4 days passed before I got a response. Finally, I got into the system. What I found was a huge disappointment.

Instead of finding useful resources like courses, e-books, seminars, workshops etc. on internet marketing, all I found was a system for recruiting sign-ups into the so-called program. This was the so-called UOIM affiliate program, whereby recruiters (also known as affiliates) would earn a commission for every person recruited. There is no real product involved. The vendor provided information on how to find recruits, and even had supporting ‘materials’ like sample advertisements for recruitment. From what I could tell, it was nothing more than a pyramid scheme.

I confronted the vendor via the support ticket system. When the vendor finally responded, they denied that UOIM was a pyramid scheme. Yet, they couldn’t show me any courses! I demanded my money back. On the UOIM / Incredible System website, a 90-Day Money-Back Guarantee is promised.

Believe it or not, these guys refused to make the refund. Not only that, but they promptly locked me out of the program. I couldn’t log in anymore. Even more audacious, they sent me a message around a week later to taunt me.

Isn’t this a clear case of cheating in every sense of the word? Can anyone suggest what I can do next to get justice?

Watch out for JB Virtual Enterprises Inc. and their ‘products’. They’re downright dishonest!

Wow $97 for a month subscription is quite steep;

That person is based in the United States, I would send a notice to the FTC.

Jon from aojon.com signed up for one of these things that claimed a free 7 day money back period. After signing up and recieving their files it basically said to buy these ads on Adwords for the product and after 7 days they would send the "real" product. Basically just old school scams brought online.

The only way you are going to make money in this game is working long and hard.

Thanks for your kind words. Where I come from, people who cheat and don't honor their responsibilities sometimes find dead chickens, or a pig's head, at their front door. Pig blood may even be splashed on the door and the threshold. Nasty messages naming the offender are scrawled all over the neighborhood. And that's just a polite warning.

Although I do fantasize sometimes about seeing scoundrels get their just desserts, I restrain myself, taking comfort in the fact that you reap what you sow. In this instance, I'm also glad to be able to warn honest, hardworking people against dirty companies like JB Virtual Enterprises Corp.

I guess the equivalent of scrawling incriminating messages on the walls is writing in the forums! Isn't the internet handy?

Maybe the administrators of this forum should introduce a pig head or pirate icon (skull and crossbones) for dishonest companies. What do you think?

OOoohh, I've been finding out more about Justin Blake and his crooked gang! Ever since I started posting on various forums to warn others about the University of Internet Marketing (also known as Incredible System) marketed by JB Virtual Enterprises Inc, I've been getting replies alerting me to threads in various forums complaining about these people.

You can find a couple of fascinating threads at Allan Gardyne's Associate Programs Forum and Lynn Terry’s Self-Starter’s Weekly Tips Forum (under the topic "Beware of Justin Blake") and also Anthony Blake's Forum (see topic "Scam"). Read them and see for yourself why people are calling Justin Blake and Charles Ryder dishonest. There're a lot of interesting comments about their pit bull Diane Sullivan too.

Don't get scammed by these con-artists!