August 5, 2008 – 10:53 pm | by Shelley Penney - The MLM Diva
Again… no surprise to us. Lest anyone think I am gloating over the demise of Ad Surf Daily, and all of the people who put money in, took money out, didn’t get any extra back, or totally lost their shirts…. I am not. I did say I do not feel a lot of sympathy for anyone over this, and I do not. To me, and many others, it was obvious what it was from the very beginning. If people dive in head first KNOWING what it is, how can anyone feel sympathy. ‘
I do not understand the people I consider very intelligent, been around the block, savvy networkers who jumped in on this (and others like this). Most, if not all of them, swore up down and sideways that it was legal. Many of them are friends and acquaintances of mine. It has me puzzled that’s for sure, but diversity is what makes the world turn. It is not for me to judge these people because they disagreed with me,( if I liked them before I still like them now). We’ll leave the judging part to the feds, and that way my friendships remain intact, and everyone can draw the lessons from it that they wish to learn, without any finger pointing!
Here’s the story as it is unfolding for tose of you who want to know…
(It’s like a news blog to be read from the bottom up)
The U.S. Secret Service, investigating allegations of fraud, on Tuesday raided two buildings in Quincy where an Internet advertising company operates. Agents also raided and seized the company president’s lakeside home.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia called AdSurfDaily Inc. a “massive Internet-based wire-fraud scheme” and a “Ponzi scheme … masked as an advertising company.”
Ponzi schemes operate under the principle that money from new investors is used to pay off earlier investors until the whole scheme collapses.
Company President Thomas Andy Bowdoin Jr.’s home at 8 Gilcrease Lane, which is next to Lake Talquin, and his condo in Myrtle Beach, S.C., were seized by the federal government, as well as $53 million in bank accounts held by Bowdoin, Clarence Busby Jr. and Dawn Stowers.
No one has been criminally charged, and the investigation is ongoing.
The company, also known as ASD Cash Generator, has been selling Web advertising on its site for anyone who markets a product or service, according to a press release from the Gadsden County Chamber of Commerce dated July 3. The advertisers would earn rebates by clicking on ads and viewing other Web sites for 10 to 15 minutes a day.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, ASD promised its advertisers returns of between 125 percent and 150 percent. But the company did not operate as a seller of advertising services and there was no legitimate product being sold to support the profits ASD promised to pay to its advertisers, the office said.
In July, Bowdoin told the Chamber of Commerce he expected sales of more than $100 million in 2008. He estimated the company’s advertising sales in the last six months at $40 million, with almost 75,000 members in its network.
“Have you driven by their offices lately?” David Gardner, the chamber’s executive director, said at the July chamber meeting. “You can’t even get by. Cars are parked everywhere.”
Bowdoin then announced that he made Quincy’s historic Masonic Lodge at 13 S. Calhoun St. his company’s corporate headquarters. The chamber’s members praised the company for bringing high-wage employment opportunities to Quincy. But three weeks later, the chamber released a statement urging consumers to contact agencies like the Better Business Bureau to make “informed business decisions” before investing in the company.
“I hate it for Quincy for what could have been,” Gardner said Tuesday. “There are people without jobs and vendors who won’t be paid.”
Bowdoin and his wife, Faye, created the company in 2006, the chamber press release stated. ASD had grown to 60 employees and expected to employ more than 150 people by the end of the year.
Bowdoin’s wife owned a flower shop in downtown Quincy for 24 years. Bowdoin grew up in Perry, he said at the chamber meeting.
“We started here,” Bowdoin is quoted as saying, about Quincy. “This is our home, and we plan to stay here.”
Eight agents served the three search warrants, starting at 6:30 a.m., said Resident Agent in Charge Robert A. Munson, who heads the Tallahassee office of the Secret Service. The Gasden County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the raids.
The Florida Attorney General’s Office reports it has received 30 complaints against the company, said spokeswoman Sandi Copes. The office is investigating allegations that the company is involved in “improper marketing tactics,” but no more information was available. This investigation is unrelated to that of the Secret Service.
While the Secret Service is well known for protecting the president, its original mission when it was founded in 1865 was to investigate the counterfeiting of U.S. currency, according to the agency’s Web site.
Today, the agency’s investigative responsibilities have expanded to include crimes that involve financial institution fraud, computer and telecommunications fraud, false identification documents, access device fraud, advance fee fraud, electronic funds transfers and money laundering.
Updated 6 p.m.
The United States Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC has released a press release calling AdSurfDaily a "massive internet-based wire fraud scheme" akin to a "Ponzi scheme masked as an advertising company." Ponzi schemes operate under the principle that money from new investors is used to pay off earlier investors until the whole scheme collapses.
The federal government has seized two homes, in Florida and South Carolina, and about $53 million, according to U.S Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor and U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge John Mrha in Orlando.
Updated 5:29 p.m.
The Florida Attorney General’s Office reports it has received 30 complaints about Ad Surf Daily Inc., an Internet advertising company based in Quincy, and that it is investigating allegations that the company is involved in “improper marketing tactics.”
The office has received nearly 100 calls from people asking if the company is legitimate, said spokeswoman Sandi Copes.
Copes would not elaborate on the nature of the office’s investigation, but said more information will be available Wednesday.
ASD had its offices raided this morning by the U.S. Secret Service. The home of the company’s president, Andy Bowdoin Jr., in Quincy was also raided.
Check Tallahassee.com for updates.
Updated 3:45 p.m.
In a press release dated July 3, the Gadsden County Chamber of Commerce announced that Ad Surf Daily Inc., an Internet advertising company, had chosen Quincy as its corporate headquarters.
Today, two buildings that ASD used in Quincy were raided by the U.S. Secret Service, along with the home of the company’s president, Andy Bowdoin Jr.
The press release states that anyone with a Web site that markets a product or service can pay to advertise on the ASD Web site. The advertisers can earn rebates by viewing other Web sites for 10 to 15 minutes a day.
Bowdoin and his wife, Faye, created the company in 2006, according to the press release. ASD had grown to 60 employees and expected to employ more than 150 people by the end of the year.
“We started here,” Bowdoin is quoted as saying, about Quincy. “This is our home, and we plan to stay here.”
The company’s advertising sales in the last six months was estimated at $40 million, with almost 75,000 members in its network, the press release states. Bowdoin expected sales of more than $100 million in 2008.
The press release is peppered with quotes from the Chamber of Commerce, praising the company for bringing “high-wage employment opportunities” to Quincy.
About three weeks later, the chamber announced that it is unable to "endorse" any member businesses, including ASD. That press release also said the chamber had not been notified by any "authorized agencies" of formal complaints against ASD. The chamber encouraged consumers to contact the Better Business Bureau and other state agencies to "make informed business decisions."
Attempts to reach Bowdoin were unsuccessful. No one answered the door this afternoon at Bowdoin’s lakefront house at 8 Gilcrease Lane.
Updated 2:15 p.m.
Thomas Andy Bowdoin Jr., who is listed in Nevada as AdSurfDaily Inc’s president, secretary and treasurer, cannot be reached at his place of business. But in a message on his answering machine aimed at his “customer service people,” he tells them not to answer the phones or make any comments about the investigation until the company’s attorneys work things out.
1:30 p.m.
The U.S. Secret Service has been in Quincy executing three search warrants since 6:30 a.m. in connection with its investigation of AdSurfDaily Inc.
Eight agents are searching the business’s offices at 13 S. Calhoun St., an office next door and the home of the owner, Thomas Bowdoin Jr., 8 Gilcrease Lane.
The company was incorporated on Dec. 14, 2006 in Nevada and provides advertising space for Web sites on the Internet, according to documents filed with the Florida Department of State.
Agents are searching documents and computers, said Robert Munson, resident agent in charge of Tallahassee. The Secret Service office in Orlando is handling the investigation.
“I really can’t comment on the investigation because it’s ongoing,” Munson said.
The Tallahassee Democrat has a reporter on scene and will report more information as it becomes available.
First post
U.S. Secret Service agents are raiding an Internet marketing company in Quincy, said Lt. Jim Corder of the Gasden County Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff’s Office is assisting in the raid of AdSurfDaily Inc., which is located on South Calhoun Street.
A statement posted Friday on the company’s Web site, www.asdcashgenerator.com, says the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia has directed the company to stop moving funds into or out of company accounts.
Tags:
ADS,
Ads Surf Daily,
Bowdoin,
Florida,
illegal,
MLM,
ponzi
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