*****GIFTING SCHEME ALERT!!!!!*****

[TexasStooge]

'Gifting scheme' leaves investors broke and scared

By BRETT SHIPP / News 8 Investigates (WFAA ABC 8)

What starts as an offer to make big money from home is creating financial hardship for some of its investors around the country.

News 8 has traced The Power of People Network to a North Texas man, whose organization may be nothing more than a pyramid scheme—something its organizers deny.

Ads for the network read, "Cash from home," and "$500 to $1,000 a day."

Absurd?

Not to someone who's unemployed or in a financial bind.

Harry Mack of Sacramento, Calif., is now contemplating the once-unthinkable: selling his coveted Beatles collection to pay debts.

"[I've got] some of the original Beatles posters that came with the albums, and they're in great shape and in collectors shape, so I mean, hopefully I can get some money for them," he said.

It all started when his real estate business went south and Mack turned to the Power of People Network (POPN) for salvation.

POPN marketed itself as a "life changing," "lucrative," "private gifting" club that could lead to "financial independence." It claimed to be built on the legal principles of the birthday or Christmas gift, only on a much grander scale.

A new member was required to give $500 to $3,500 to the person who invited him. That person, in turn, would recruit other "market partners."

"Each of your market partners represents what we call a lifeline of perpetual income for you and your family for generations to come," explained a POPN promotional video.

Mack borrowed $3,500 to begin his gifting business.

He was recruited by Bill Stowers, who also took out a $3,500 loan.

"Oh yeah, I was going to be making $60,000 a month," Stowers said.

While both men had concerns about the similarity with outlawed pyramid schemes, the The Power of People Network Web site offered assurances that it was all perfectly legal. They said an online diagram of POPN's network's looked plausible.

But when they tried to recruit others from a list of more than 100 leads, they had no luck.

"We shot air balls; we got nothing. Not one person chose to participate," Stowers said.

Within months it became clear that their $3,500 was lost.

"I feel like a complete idiot. I mean, I was duped," Mack said.

Now, Mack is selling albums to raise money; Stowers is selling his house.

"I don't sleep," Stowers said. "The pipe dream that was there and taken away... it's just a very sad situation."

Pam Holden and Debbie Erbar, also of Sacramento, said they lost $1,000 on the POPN program.

They said they first lost faith in POPN's charismatic creator, Jonathan Parr of Corsicana.

Just weeks ago, they said Parr told all of the members that those who doubt the system were enemies of it.

"'Those of you who are not being positive, those not supporting us, those who are on the calls trying to say negative stuff, we will find you, we will deal with you, and we will deal with you harshly,'" Erbar quoted Parr as saying.

At that point in our interview, Holden began to break down. "I'm afraid," she said.

But the man who allegedly strikes fear over the phone would not emerge from his home to answer questions. "You need to leave your business card, and I'll give you a call," said a voice from behind his door.

Parr did return a call from News 8, but he declined to answer questions.

Days after our visit, the POPN program was gone from the Internet and replaced with POPN Life Income Opportunity, a new Internet gifting club that excludes members of the previous program, who have now apparently lost their investment.

U.S. Attorney Richard Roper of the Northern District of Texas said this underscores the financial peril of gifting programs like this.

"They invest money thinking, 'I'll get my money out,'" Roper said. "It's just too bad those people who get in down at the bottom of the ponzi scheme, because not everybody is going to get their money back. People are going to lose, and more likely than not, it's going to be you who lose."

"It's just like a house of cards," Roper added.

As Harry Mack reviewed his classic Beatles albums, he said he was keen to try and hang on to his copy of "Help!"

"Just be careful; my God, be careful," Mack warned. "If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is."

News 8 has been contacted by other alleged POPN investors from coast to coast, all desperate to get their money back.

The U.S. Attorney says that may be impossible at this point, but he encouraged anyone concerned to contact their regional office of the FBI.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/w ... 32861.html

[Janice]

These scams have been around for years. What makes me mad is when they home in on the elderly who have no supervision.

They need to advertise on tv about all these scams.