This Step in Due Diligence is important if an HYIP claims to be in existence for some time. Since most HYIP’s only exist for a few months before they collapse, it’s no use trying to find something about their history other than what one can find on some monitors.
In the case of Elite Alliance.net with their claim of existing since 2002, however, some history should be available to prove the truth of that claim. In his interview with Paul from Money News Online Leon Reiter evaded an answer to Paul’s question: how did you manage to do it for as long as you claim without a functioning website and without any traceable record of your existence?
Yes sure, the registration certificate of Elite Group S.A. in Panama states the year 2002 including the following dignitaries:
TESORERO CHRISTINE DESGRANGES
SECRETARIO CECILE FERAY
PRESIDENTE ERIC DESGRANGES
From this data it seems that Elite Group S.A. is a family business. It is not the registration document for Elite Alliance, though.
Another search on Google may bring you to: “RED FLAG ALERT #2 - fake forex AND fake Rolex at the same address” posted on realscam.com. There you can find the IP address: 174.37.9.199
So let’s check this out.
Type http://174.37.9.199 into your browsers search bar and up comes: an Elite Alliance.net site. Check that IP address in Who Is, however, and it can’t be found.
Then check sitefile.org/replicacenter.com.htm and you’ll find:
This is a sitefile evaluation of the replicacenter.com domain that was registered on Jul 15 2002.Our system estimates that replicacenter.com has a revenue of about $3 USD per day and is worth $1,978.Our data shows that the site is hosted in Dallas, US. The website is active on the IP 174.37.9.199 and receives about 135 unique visitors per day. Alexa ranks replicacenter.com at 1,233,518 .
Oops! Something is really fishy here! Does realscam.com have a valid point for his post?
The two IP addresses given for replicacenter.com on Who Is don’t open up, like 174.37.9.199
REPLICACENTER.COM NAME SERVERS
Name Server IP Location
ns17.zoneedit.com 209.126.159.118 San Diego, CA, US
ns3.zoneedit.com 76.74.236.21 Los Angeles, CA, US
Has replicacenter.com has disappeared from the web? No, the site http://replicacenter.com/ is still online, so maybe those two IP addresses are constantly too busy to open up.
If you, as reader of this blog post, have an explanation for these abnormalities, please post them in a comment below.
Showing posts with label due diligence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label due diligence. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
HYIP Due Diligence on Site Content
In a previous post I discussed the appearance of HYIP sites. Today I look at the content.
The navigation through a site should be obvious, with a bar at the top and/or in a side column.
The first link of interest is the “About Us” link, which should give more information about the company itself. If they claim to be in existence for any length of time, look for proof of that. That may involve an extensive search, depending on the proof delivered. One would expect a link to a registration certificate in here, which should be checked to verify any claims made.
The second link of interest is the “FAQ”. A comprehensive FAQ page divided into several sub-headings covering different aspects of importance to would-be investors proves that member interests are important to the management of the system. It can also be proof for the length of time the company exists. The more detailed a FAQ page is, the less need there will be for members to contact management.
A short FAQ page delivering only basic answers, however, can mean that the company is very new and does not have much experience dealing with members. It can also indicate a lack of interest and concern for its members. If this is the case, it will become obvious when one tries to contact management and answers either are delayed for longer than 24 hours or don’t come at all.
The more detailed a FAQ page is, the less need there will be for members to contact management. Sometimes there is no separate “FAQ” link on the navigation bar. Often you can then find it when clicking on the “Contact” link.
So we come to the “Contact” link. This link is very important on any site where on is asked to invest any money, not only concerning HYIP. You want to know who you are dealing with, where your money will go before you spend it. So, even if there is a detailed FAQ page, you should be able to come up with a question that’s not yet answered or maybe needs more clarification. So, by all means, send a support request before you invest any money. If you don’t get an answer within 24 hours, stay away from that system.
With an HYIP site there sure must be a link to their “Plans”. Now I won’t discuss this any further as there are enough sites where you can find discussions of different HYIP plans, like for instance on monitor systems.
I’ll refrain from comparing HYIP sites today, since Elite Alliance.net is down, having reached their bandwidth limit. If they don’t upgrade immediately, they will have bandwidth again as from July 1. So the Waiting Game goes on.
The navigation through a site should be obvious, with a bar at the top and/or in a side column.
The first link of interest is the “About Us” link, which should give more information about the company itself. If they claim to be in existence for any length of time, look for proof of that. That may involve an extensive search, depending on the proof delivered. One would expect a link to a registration certificate in here, which should be checked to verify any claims made.
The second link of interest is the “FAQ”. A comprehensive FAQ page divided into several sub-headings covering different aspects of importance to would-be investors proves that member interests are important to the management of the system. It can also be proof for the length of time the company exists. The more detailed a FAQ page is, the less need there will be for members to contact management.
A short FAQ page delivering only basic answers, however, can mean that the company is very new and does not have much experience dealing with members. It can also indicate a lack of interest and concern for its members. If this is the case, it will become obvious when one tries to contact management and answers either are delayed for longer than 24 hours or don’t come at all.
The more detailed a FAQ page is, the less need there will be for members to contact management. Sometimes there is no separate “FAQ” link on the navigation bar. Often you can then find it when clicking on the “Contact” link.
So we come to the “Contact” link. This link is very important on any site where on is asked to invest any money, not only concerning HYIP. You want to know who you are dealing with, where your money will go before you spend it. So, even if there is a detailed FAQ page, you should be able to come up with a question that’s not yet answered or maybe needs more clarification. So, by all means, send a support request before you invest any money. If you don’t get an answer within 24 hours, stay away from that system.
With an HYIP site there sure must be a link to their “Plans”. Now I won’t discuss this any further as there are enough sites where you can find discussions of different HYIP plans, like for instance on monitor systems.
I’ll refrain from comparing HYIP sites today, since Elite Alliance.net is down, having reached their bandwidth limit. If they don’t upgrade immediately, they will have bandwidth again as from July 1. So the Waiting Game goes on.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
HYIP – how to do Due Diligence
Reading through comments on Elite Alliance’s Facebook page it seems that many people just react on recommendations from others, without really investigating a HYIP site before joining. So, in this post I’ll once more discuss DUE DILIGENCE.
There are 6 Steps one needs to take when doing DD. Here’s a summary of those from MNO:
1. Check out a program’s website
2. Investigate how a website looked in the past 3. Make Research on Forums and Monitoring Sites 4. Check WHOIS information: Domain registration data of a company’s website
5. Request the company’s documents:
Valid Business Registration Certificate, Financial Records, List of banks with which the Company has a financial relationship.
6. Confirm the validity of the Company’s documents by contacting the issuing institution
So let’s take Step One – the program’s website:
Appearance: Does it appear as being a professional site? Points to look for: Is it clean and uncluttered? Is there enough information for first time visitors? Is the information neatly organized? Is the use of the language on the site professional,(no typos, no slang)?
The appearance of Elite Alliance.net :
The very first thing visitors will see about EA on an invitation page: a black background with a typical hype image taking up three quarters of the top space. The links on top only become clear when clicked on, being: MNO Monitor, Conference, Interview, Facebook, Private Forum and back Office. Below the hype image a short summary of Do’s and Dont’s with the Invitation code to enter and to the left of that a Facebook social plugin.
Ok, so you enter the black cave. Another black cave with visible links this time: Home, About, FAQ, Terms, Contact, a link to sign up and one to sign in plus a 3 sentence Welcome Message with a link to their registration document. That’s it for the Home page of Elite Alliance.net.
Now I’m looking at a similar HYIP Home page: A mainly white background touched here and there with light blue. Clean visible links right on top being General, About, Investment, Plans, News, Affiliate Program, FAQ, Terms, Career, Contact Us , a Telephone number to request a call back plus a live support button. In the middle of the top window one can see sliding info about payment methods, how to deposit and their USP. When one scrolls below top fold, there’s more info about the company and, very important, a photo of the Executive Director plus some informative links on the left hand side.
Comparing the appearance and visible content of these two home pages, I would say the second one appears more professional, gives more info at first glance and invokes more confidence than Elite Alliance.net.
I will discuss the content in my next post, so keep following.
There are 6 Steps one needs to take when doing DD. Here’s a summary of those from MNO:
1. Check out a program’s website
2. Investigate how a website looked in the past 3. Make Research on Forums and Monitoring Sites 4. Check WHOIS information: Domain registration data of a company’s website
5. Request the company’s documents:
Valid Business Registration Certificate, Financial Records, List of banks with which the Company has a financial relationship.
6. Confirm the validity of the Company’s documents by contacting the issuing institution
So let’s take Step One – the program’s website:
Appearance: Does it appear as being a professional site? Points to look for: Is it clean and uncluttered? Is there enough information for first time visitors? Is the information neatly organized? Is the use of the language on the site professional,(no typos, no slang)?
The appearance of Elite Alliance.net :
The very first thing visitors will see about EA on an invitation page: a black background with a typical hype image taking up three quarters of the top space. The links on top only become clear when clicked on, being: MNO Monitor, Conference, Interview, Facebook, Private Forum and back Office. Below the hype image a short summary of Do’s and Dont’s with the Invitation code to enter and to the left of that a Facebook social plugin.
Ok, so you enter the black cave. Another black cave with visible links this time: Home, About, FAQ, Terms, Contact, a link to sign up and one to sign in plus a 3 sentence Welcome Message with a link to their registration document. That’s it for the Home page of Elite Alliance.net.
Now I’m looking at a similar HYIP Home page: A mainly white background touched here and there with light blue. Clean visible links right on top being General, About, Investment, Plans, News, Affiliate Program, FAQ, Terms, Career, Contact Us , a Telephone number to request a call back plus a live support button. In the middle of the top window one can see sliding info about payment methods, how to deposit and their USP. When one scrolls below top fold, there’s more info about the company and, very important, a photo of the Executive Director plus some informative links on the left hand side.
Comparing the appearance and visible content of these two home pages, I would say the second one appears more professional, gives more info at first glance and invokes more confidence than Elite Alliance.net.
I will discuss the content in my next post, so keep following.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Due Diligence - a must for HYIP
When looking to make money online, one invariably also looks at HYIP or High Yield Investment Programs. Receiving interest on an investment is the easiest form of generating a passive income. You just deposit and wait until an investment matures, then collect your money.
Since there are so many scams and Ponzi schemes in this field, it takes a lot of due diligence to find a program which delivers on its promises. Here is what I normally do before I join anything: I click on all the links on the site. The FAQ is the first link I click on. If that doesn’t give me enough info, I start googling various forums and review sites.
Most of the review sites are biased and don’t give you a true picture. The owners are members of a specific system, trying to build up their down-line in it, so will logically paint a rosy picture. In forums you mostly find a whole lot of payment proof, which may or may not be true, so those are of not much use either. Some HYIP systems have their own forums. Those are the worst to look for unbiased info, because a member that posts something negative about the system will be banned from posting.
Then there also are monitoring sites. These sites get paid by the admins of HYIP systems and it’s very difficult to find a monitoring site that is not biased, but gives a balanced view of HYIPs and delivers regular updates. In the HYIP arena daily updates are necessary in order to help investors make informed decisions as most HYIP systems don’t stay open very long. If the site is not updated daily, it may happen that an investor picks a HYIP which has already stopped paying and he will thus loose his deposit and end up scammed.
When I was invited to join Elite Alliance Wealth Club, I did my normal thing: first checked through all the links on the site. Their FAQ didn’t give me enough info. In fact, I think it can be vastly improved. The link to MNO led me to Money News Online, their monitoring site. There I found lots of info, which appeared to be fairly unbiased. What I found correlated with what I had been told by the person who invited me to join him in this:
The payment history was positive since the start of Elite Alliance Wealth Club.
The interview left some questions, especially as to exactly how EA generates the money to pay such high interest rates and why they opened up for the public, originally being a private club.
The review was complete, impartial and realistic, without the ecstatic expectations of my sponsor. In view of my previous experiences I could only agree with the fact that MNO classifies Elite Alliance as just another HYIP.
It was only after listening to the General Manager that I was convinced that this was going to be the Elite HYIP, intended to generate a passive income for a long time , so I started the sign-up process, anticipating an ever growing passive income from small beginnings.
Since there are so many scams and Ponzi schemes in this field, it takes a lot of due diligence to find a program which delivers on its promises. Here is what I normally do before I join anything: I click on all the links on the site. The FAQ is the first link I click on. If that doesn’t give me enough info, I start googling various forums and review sites.
Most of the review sites are biased and don’t give you a true picture. The owners are members of a specific system, trying to build up their down-line in it, so will logically paint a rosy picture. In forums you mostly find a whole lot of payment proof, which may or may not be true, so those are of not much use either. Some HYIP systems have their own forums. Those are the worst to look for unbiased info, because a member that posts something negative about the system will be banned from posting.
Then there also are monitoring sites. These sites get paid by the admins of HYIP systems and it’s very difficult to find a monitoring site that is not biased, but gives a balanced view of HYIPs and delivers regular updates. In the HYIP arena daily updates are necessary in order to help investors make informed decisions as most HYIP systems don’t stay open very long. If the site is not updated daily, it may happen that an investor picks a HYIP which has already stopped paying and he will thus loose his deposit and end up scammed.
When I was invited to join Elite Alliance Wealth Club, I did my normal thing: first checked through all the links on the site. Their FAQ didn’t give me enough info. In fact, I think it can be vastly improved. The link to MNO led me to Money News Online, their monitoring site. There I found lots of info, which appeared to be fairly unbiased. What I found correlated with what I had been told by the person who invited me to join him in this:
The payment history was positive since the start of Elite Alliance Wealth Club.
The interview left some questions, especially as to exactly how EA generates the money to pay such high interest rates and why they opened up for the public, originally being a private club.
The review was complete, impartial and realistic, without the ecstatic expectations of my sponsor. In view of my previous experiences I could only agree with the fact that MNO classifies Elite Alliance as just another HYIP.
It was only after listening to the General Manager that I was convinced that this was going to be the Elite HYIP, intended to generate a passive income for a long time , so I started the sign-up process, anticipating an ever growing passive income from small beginnings.
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