Online scam lured a fortune into its web
Con artists revealed as authorities try to claw back stolen cash
THE identities of the biggest leeches behind a global investment scam, including several from Britain, have been revealed in court papers filed in the United States.
Traffic Monsoon billed itself as a way of making money from the internet by generating traffic to websites which then paid out for clicks on adverts.
The truth is that there was virtually no source of revenue other than the money paid by people who joined it.
This money was then shared among the parasites placed at the top of the pyramid.
I’ve previously told how US regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission had frozen its assets, stating: “Traffic Monsoon’s advertising business is an illusion designed to obscure the fact that it is offering and selling a pure Ponzi scheme.”
The regulator has also launched legal action against Traffic Monsoon’s founder, Charles Scoville of Utah.
Now the court-appointed receiver has filed a class action detailing who milked Traffic Monsoon for the most money, launching action for the recovery of “their ill-gotten profits”.
At the top of the list is Imtiaz Aslam from Manchester, also known as Imy or Immy, who is variously described at Companies House as both a property developer and driving instructor.
He made not far short of £4million from the scheme, an incredible sum considering that he only paid around £8,400 into it.
The 48-year-old held sessions with Scoville to drum up recruits in the UK and boasted in online videos of a network of members spanning 17 countries.
“Charles Scoville is a genius,” he declared in one video.
In another, from 2016, he boasted: “I’ve been in just over a year now and I’m making money I’ve never made before, several thousand dollars a day with this opportunity, and anybody can do it.”
Another name on the court receiver’s list is well-known to me – Sharon James.
She was also a recruiter for a failed Bitcoin trading scheme called USI-Tech, a disaster that I’ve reported on several times.
According to the Utah court papers, she put around £1,500 into Traffic Monsoon and got back approximately £190,000. As the scheme began to collapse with members complaining that they couldn’t withdraw their investments, she posted: “I don’t want to be around negative people, it’s not my thing, so if there is any negativity around, I’m not interested, you can post negativity on here, I won’t read it, I’ll just delete you.”
She bragged online of being the highest female earner in Traffic Monsoon and said of Charles Scoville: “He’s just an amazing guy, he really has got our backs, so trust in the man.” Tragically, around 160,000 people worldwide did just that and have nothing to show for it apart from the knowledge that they helped line the pockets of the people who got commission for recruiting them.
Traffic Monsoon raked in £132million in cash, and the lie of real returns was perpetuated with investors being told they had made £535million of supposed profit that they reinvested into the scheme.
Now the receiver, Peggy Hunt of US law firm Dorsey & Whitney, says she will fight to recoup the money.
“Net winners are not entitled to retain profits that they received from this unlawful Ponzi scheme, and must return them to the receiver for the benefit of the receivership estate to be distributed to victims of the Traffic Monsoon fraudulent enterprise,” she told the court.
Sharon James and Imtiaz Aslam have not replied to my emails inviting them to comment.
The scheme raked in £132m plus another ‘£535m’ that was reinvested