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...The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed fraud charges against the owner of an "autosurf" Web site, accusing Charis Johnson, 33, of operating a $50 million Ponzi scam from which she snagged some $2 million to fill her own coffers.

Filed in Los Angeles federal court, the suit alleges that Johnson, a resident of Charlotte, North Carolina, operated a Ponzi scheme via www.12dailypro.com. The scheme, according to the SEC complaint, netted Johnson a whopping $50 million from the more than 300,000 members who joined up since the middle of 2005.

"The defendants falsely represented that upgraded members earnings 'are financed not only [by] incoming member fees, but also with multiple income streams including advertising and off-site investments,'" the SEC alleges. "In fact, at least 95 percent of 12daily Pro's revenues have come from new investments in the form of membership fees from new or existing members."

The SEC has frozen $1.9 million that Johnson transferred to her personal bank account along with other 12daily Pro assets...

Read more of the article here.

-- MDT

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The Risks:

Just like any other type of contribution, participating in autosurf programs has its own risk. The autosurf industry today is full of scams. Many individuals have taken autosurfing as an opportunity to create modern pyramid schemes. They design their sites to look like professional autosurf companies, offer high interest rates (in return for high contributions), and run away with the members' money when the programs start to collapse.

12DailyPro has never missed a payment to anyone! Additionally every single member has been paid on time. See for yourself here. You can make up to $220 profit a day without ever having to recruit anyone, advertise, or sell anything. This paid Auto-Surf program is the real deal, and you will soon see this for yourself once you join.

A word of warning when contributing:

• Don't contribute money that you can't afford to lose
• Investigate before you contribute. Research the various programs.
• Diversify money into several autosurf programs in order to reduce your exposure to one program and reduce your risk

FBI Probes Site, Ponzi Scam Alleged

By Gregg Keizer
TechWeb News
February 17, 2006

The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced this week that it has begun an inquiry into 12dailypro.com, a so-called "auto-surfing" marketing company that's been accused of running a Ponzi scam...12dailypro is one of several "auto-surf" sites on the Web that promise large returns to members who agree to view their ads. More than two weeks ago, its payment processor, StormPay, suspended payments to 12dailypro members, claiming that the site was an illegal Ponzi scheme...

...12dailypro.com members, including the company's president, Charis Johnson, continued to rail against StormPay on message forums, at times taking a conspiratorial view of the Ponzi allegations. "The fact is that kind of media in this world are only pawns for a larger enemy, who will eventually lose his battle. Yesterday I lost sight of that," wrote Johnson Thursday. "I am under fire right now and my faith is being tested. I will continue to pray that I will not act as the world does and I will remember who's ultimately in control."

She was confident, however, that the FBI investigation would exonerate 12dailypro. "We have been completely up front with investigators and have answered all questions posed to us and cooperated fully," she wrote on Wednesday. "Let me assure you, had they deemed this to be a scam, I would not be chatting with you right now. I would be in custody."

For its part, StormPay is under investigation by Tennessee authorities who are conducting an audit of the 30,000 to 35,000 frozen 12dailypro accounts...

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'Apostle' was a swindler, SEC says - Forest Lake church founder accused of financial scheme

BY MEGAN BOLDT
Pioneer Press
Jan. 16, 2006

To many in the small congregation of Shiloh Family Church in Forest Lake, Neulan Midkiff is a man of God. He gave to those in need and even helped found the church. But federal regulators paint a different picture. In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Texas, the Securities and Exchange Commission accuses Midkiff and five others of participating in a high-yield investment scheme that offered monthly returns between 4 percent and 12 percent — without risk. The scheme allegedly brought in at least $36 million and possibly as much as $150 million.

Midkiff, 63, did not return messages left for comment. But he did deny wrongdoing to Mark King, a financial consultant for the firm that has court-ordered control of his and the other defendants' frozen assets.

The case could grow to affect about 1,500 people from across the country who put money into what authorities call a Ponzi scheme, which uses the contributions of newly recruited participants to cover extremely high returns promised to original investors — until the ploy crumbles.

Investigators claim Midkiff alone brought in more than 200 people who invested more than $2.6 million. Many of those were members of his congregation, and some took out second mortgages to raise their stake, said King, who works for Hays Financial Consulting in Atlanta, the court-appointed receiver.

"The people I talked to couldn't believe he did this," King said. " 'He's a minister.' 'He's Apostle Midkiff.' 'He was trying to build this church for the community.' They were shocked."

Wendy Goers, co-pastor at Shiloh Family Church with her husband, vehemently defended Midkiff and said he is wrongly accused. "I respect the man greatly," Goers said. "He would never do anything to hurt anyone. He's more likely to give someone the shirt off his back. He's a good Christian man."

The SEC alleges that Midkiff and the other defendants — who live in Texas, Atlanta and Australia — offered and sold interests in foreign bank deposit programs that they promised would yield high returns.

Investigators claim the money never went to the purported deposit programs, while the promised monthly returns haven't been paid since September. The civil complaint says the program has been going on since at least July 2004.

Religion seemed a recurring theme: According to court documents, some investors became aware of some defendants through churches or religious organizations. The alleged ringleader, Atlanta resident Travis Correll, portrayed himself as a "good Christian" and philanthropist who donates to charitable causes. "Midkiff may be parroting Correll's sales pitch to prospective investors," SEC staff attorney Ronda Blair said in a court document.

Several former neighbors in a Forest Lake neighborhood where Midkiff used to live said they were approached — or know people who were approached — to invest. Apparently, people who had invested with Midkiff would tell others about the plan and rave about the returns they were seeing. Some invested, trusting Midkiff because he was a minister, King said.

Records show Midkiff and his wife own two homes in Forest Lake, including a lakefront house purchased last June for almost $1.3 million. And they were the registered owners of four vehicles — including a Mercedes-Benz, according to Minnesota Department of Public Safety records retrieved in August.

Court documents allege Midkiff funneled about $2.6 million to Correll from Midkiff's own company, Joshua Tree, a limited liability company in Carson City, Nevada. "I'd say that's a conservative amount," King said.

Goers refused to talk about the case or give details about the church.
But neighbors said the congregation is small, with maybe 100 members. Midkiff was the "Apostle" leading Feast of Tabernacles Ministries, ac-cording to the group's now-defunct Web site. His wife, Donna, is its "Prophetess."

Shiloh Church was to be the beginning of the ministries' plan to plant a network of churches around the globe, the site said. Their mission: "to teach and preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ as we seek and save the lost through bridges of outreach that span the gap between the Body of Christ and the world." The husband-and-wife team offered five-day "prophecy training" seminars, which cost $45 for individuals and $65 for families.

Investigators are examining whether Midkiff owned the church building, King said, as the court-appointed receiver tries to find and secure the defendants' assets and report them to the federal judge handling the case. Depositions will then begin to seek facts from all the purported players, he said. If the court finds any wrongdoing, the frozen assets could be used to pay back some of the money owed investors. "It's like a big jigsaw puzzle," King said. "It's going to take a while to piece together."

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