TulipTools Internet Business Owners and Online Sellers Community

Quote:Last spring, a Web site called 12dailyPro.com began offering viewers an amazing financial deal: a 12 percent daily return on membership fees./

All they needed to do was to view a dozen advertisements a day on the Web site, the company said. The site would then pay returns to visitors based on how much they invested in membership "upgrades."

Now federal and state authorities are investigating Charlotte-based 12dailyPro and sites making similar offers as possible Internet-era variations on a classic Ponzi scheme...

The 12dailyPro site is among the largest of the dozens of what are called "autosurf" Web sites that have cropped up on the Internet. With names like Auto.ExchangeTrade.com and vegasurf.com, the sites piggyback on a legitimate trend -- the surge in Internet advertising -- by promising generous returns to members who agree to view their ads....

Quote: U.S. regulators charged the owner of 12dailypro.com and her two companies with fraud for allegedly running a $50 million Ponzi scheme, according to a statement released on Monday.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged last week that Charis Johnson, 33, raised more than $50 million from more than 300,000 investors by convincing visitors to the Web site that they could earn a 44 percent return on their investments in 12 days by looking at Internet advertisements.

The scheme, which the SEC calls "paid auto-surf," required users to buy $6 "units"--up to a maximum of 1,000 units--and to view advertisements from what were described as paying advertisers. While investors were led to believe that their returns would be generated by advertising revenue, payments were made almost entirely from cash generated by other unit buyers in a classic Ponzi scheme, the SEC alleged.