ABC4 report on 17th Feb 2006

The latest ABC4 report echoed what many of us already suspected about Stormpay. They appear to be more dependent on 12DailyPro and other autosurfs than they have led on. Read on.

The FBI's Probe Into 12 Daily Pro and Storm Pay Heats Up; Utah Issues Subpoenas

The FBI in North Carolina is now leading the investigation of Charis Johnson and 12 Daily Pro.

The Special Agent in Charge is asking for information and victim stories. Reports can be submitted in two ways: 1) calling this toll free number 1-800-876-7060 or, 2) fill out a form on the Internet. The website is www.ic3.gov.

Agents have gotten a head start from the Charlotte Better Business Bureau. Tom Bartholomy, BBB President, has handed them his complaint files.

Then again, FBI agents may simply want to be at the Airport Embassy Suites in Charlotte next weekend. A reported 500 12 Daily Pro members are holding a 3-day convention there. Charis herself is expected to be the headliner. According to sources that have seen the itinerary, she promises to conduct a Question and Answer session. Despite the troubles of the past couple weeks, hotel managers confirmed the convention is still on.

Meanwhile, the BBB in Nashville, Tennessee rolled out a new report on Storm Pay, the online payment service that froze the 12 Daily Pro account, precipitating this mess. The report is not flattering, highlighting a history of unresolved complaints. With the consent of the people who submitted complaints, the BBB of Middle Tennessee has also shared its information with the FBI’s resident agent in Nashville.

One other thing: When ABC 4 talked with Storm Pay executives on Monday, they claimed that 12 Daily Pro was just a small portion of their overall business; 3 to 10 percent, they said. But a graphic from Alexa.com of web traffic for the two companies seems to indicate a different story. The tracks are almost identical. Both rise sharply through January, and then plummet in February. It would appear that Storm Pay’s fate is more closely tied to 12 Daily Pro than its executives care to admit.

Meanwhile back in Utah, the state division of consumer protection has issued four subpoenas, three to 12 daily pro, and one to Storm Pay. The state is asking all those subpoenaed to come to Salt Lake City, because the state now wants to get their testimony on the record.

The subpoenas began going out several days ago, and one was issued just Friday afternoon.

According to the state's top consumer watchdog, it's time to find out how many Utah "victims" are involved.

As to how many Utahns are involved in 12 Daily Pro and Storm Pay, Francine Giani, of Utah's Commerce Department suggested, "Hundreds? Hopefully not thousands, but it could be thousands easily, but we don't know that information. That's what we're hoping the subpoenas will uncover."

The subpoenas "command" the companies and individuals to appear in Utah for depositions. If they don't comply, the subpoenas warn they may be considered in contempt and referred to court.

These are tough measures, Giani admits, because according to the state, "It looks like a pyramid, its acting like a pyramid, its smelling like a pyramid scheme." Giani also added, "It's a corny thing, but if it sounds to good to be true it probably is. I think we need to think before we send in our money."

Giani says so far, there have been lots of phone calls but only one official complaint in Utah, She also added that if more people file paperwork with the state, that could help the two other states which now have official investigations underway.

The Utah State Division of Consumer Protection has also asked ABC 4 to remind Utahns of where to find its online complaint form.

Here is the link to that site:

www.consumerprotection.utah.gov


Story by: Brent Hunsaker and Chris Vanocur

Source: ABC4 (watch video)

The graphs in the video can be found on Alexa.
(Graph 12DailyPro.com)
(Graph Stormpay.com)

p.s. Try this with the other autosurfs that use Stormpay. The same correlation in web traffic can be found. The theory is, the higher the web traffic, the more transactions taking place.

Stormpay had an average of about 200m DAILY pageviews in January, before the fiasco. Now, the average appears to be about 50m daily pageviews. That is indeed a tremendous drop in traffic (and transactions). We can account for the drop in traffic partly due to the DDOS attacks and recent downtime, not to mention the public backlash and boycott of Stormpay by the GPT and autosurf community.

However, 3-10% seems like a pretty low figure, when we consider the graphs. But, let's assume Stormpay is telling the truth (LOL, I know, I know). If 12DailyPro represents 10% of their business, how about the autosurf (& HYIP) industry as a whole? 30%? 40%? 50%? More?

Whatever the case, the damage is done. Confidence in Stormpay is shattered. The online community have already switched to alternative payment processors.


Other sites of interest:
FBI (Charlotte) Press Release
Funny pic of Charis, as Charispatra
Psychology of Compliance: 12DailyPro Investigation