Pacific Webworks, Lawyers and Social Networking

Introduction

The last thing we need is more scummy scammers and following on from Google’s legal action against Pacific Webworks (PWW) one would naively have thought that the “business” folk would be more circumspect.  (See previous article and comments, https://strangelyperfect.tv/5146/more-on-google-profits-and-pacific-webworks/ )

At the beginning of June, it appeared that the Google case against PWW had fallen flat and that PWW had gotten away with it.  This certainly appears so from yesterday’s press announcement by the odious PWW management, such as here.  It says,

SALT LAKE CITY, Jun 28, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Pacific WebWorks, Inc.  today announced that a Stipulated Final Judgment and Order for Permanent Injunction was entered in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah in the Google, Inc. vs. Pacific WebWorks, Inc. matter.

CEO Ken Bell commented, “We are very pleased to have this behind us. We have devoted a great deal of time and energy to resolving this situation and are anxious to return to the business of growing our company responsibly and profitably through our new marketing program. We appreciate our shareholders’ patience and understanding as we deal with the many details involved in the development and marketing of our products to small business users.”

Quite Bad

This looks quite bad until you realise that the PWW share price and dealing volumes have both fallen!

So what does the market know about the “settlement” that we don’t, eh?

Bloosky.com and The lawyer

PWW and Bloosky, were both named by Google, and Bloosky were (and still are) represented by Blair Jackson, who is a lawyer and on the company payroll of Bloosky in various positions.  (See at the bottom of here).

On checking out Mr Jackson, he’s part of:

CHRISTIANSEN & JACKSON, P.C.
10421 S. Jordan Gateway, Suite 600
South Jordan, Utah 84095
Telephone 801.576.2662
Facsimile 801.415.9340
Attorneys for Defendant Bloosky Interactive, LLC

You can see this on some delaying action in the Google case by Jackson for Bloosky, documents here and here.  But it gets better…   In this document, you’ll see that Bloosky are suing someone called Daniel L. Balsam for not adhering to an earlier agreement not to disclose what was said… or something. (I’ve yet to check this through!  But it looks a bit like pot-kettle-black to me…)

Whatever.

socialtoolkit.com

Yes. Whatever.  A bit more fishing on Jackson took me to the website(s) of one Vernon Howard.

He was scammed by socialtoolkit.com, in  exactly the same way as thousands of others were by Google Treasure Chest – promoted, run, designed and financed by Pacific Webworks.  It’s a scammers paradise with copious bad-web references and complaints.   The “business” says on it’s website,

Each day, more and more individuals, small business owners and Fortune 500 companies across the globe are realizing the value of SocialToolKit.com and choosing to increase their Social Networking efficiency, productivity and profits.   (Note to self:  “I must increase my Social Networking efficiency” – SP)

Here’s Vernon’s extremely well written story:

It’s an incredibly detailed tale, complete with copious screenshots, of his dealings with the various parties involved.  And he’s no shrinking violet.  He’s taking the buggers on!

There’s only one trouble.

He’s using Blair Jackson of Christiansen & Jackson, PC – Attorneys at Law, to take on socialtoolkit.com !!

How is this Weird?

Weird?  It’s positively scary!

Because if you read Vernon Howard’s account, you’ll see that he was billed by  YourProfitGateway.com

YourProfitGateway.com, when you check it’s (now freely accessible) WHOIS, unsurprisingly redirects to https://www.visualwebtools.com/site/

visualwebtools.com

If you’ve been following this, you’ll know from a while back that Visual WebTools is owned and run by…….. (trumpet fanfare)

Pacific WebWorks!

Latest News from The Visual WebTools Camp

Pacific WebWorks Updates Marketing Efforts

Thursday June 24, 2010 11:52:01 EDT SALT LAKE CITY, Jun 24, 2010

Last Thursday, this is what the odious CEO Ken Bell of PWW said about his company, their marketing and their product, Visual WebTools.

Pacific WebWorks, Inc., www.pacificwebworks.com, (OTCBB:PWEB) announced today that the company continues to perfect their new marketing program which offers prospective customers the opportunity to receive a tutorial on the product and interact with the company during the buying process.

CEO Ken Bell stated,

“Visual WebTools continues to be one of the premier online software products for small businesses in the marketplace. We expect our new, more interactive marketing approach to result in a more informed buyer who will be better equipped to employ our technologies into their online business. As a result, we expect future revenues to be more stable. We anticipate revenues to accelerate during the second half of the year with continued profitability.”

Bell continued,

“During the first six months of 2010 (i.e. since Google sued them – SP the company has focused on stabilizing profitability, servicing current customers and developing our new multi-tiered marketing program. We expect new customer acquisition in the future to be derived largely from our new direct contact marketing program. With our strong balance sheet, a current ratio in excess of 10x, tangible book value of nearly double our current market capitalization and strong historical earnings, we are positioned to continue to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace.”

What are Google Doing?

The emphasis above, is mine.  From it, you can clearly see that Bell claims that his company is responsible for all the things that lead up to the nefarious practices that then lead to people being scammed.

So is the Google thing over with yet?  Why haven’t the Salt Lake Tribune said anything about it yet?

I still think there’s more to come out with this.  Remember the falling share price of PWW?  The markets know, you know.

Comments

20 responses to “Pacific Webworks, Lawyers and Social Networking”

  1. Strangely avatar

    Oh dear.

    It appears that I was right all along….  The SEC filing of last week (Sep 15, 2011) by Pacific Webworks (PWW) makes it unambiguously clear what been going on since 2009 twix PWW and the financial markets.  Quote:

    On September 12, 2011 the Chief Financial Officer of Pacific WebWorks, Inc. concluded that the previously issued consolidated financial statements for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2009 and the interim periods for 2010 should no longer be relied upon because the consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2009 require a series of material adjustments.

    Pacific WebWorks, Inc. engaged a new independent registered public accounting firm, HJ & Associates, LLC, Certified Public Accountants and Consultants (“HJ & Associates”) in April 2011. In the course of HJ & Associates’ audit of our consolidated financial statements for our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, a series of adjustments were identified for the year ended December 31, 2009. Accordingly, these adjustments resulted in material changes to our consolidated financial statements for that year and the subsequent interim periods related primarily to the misstatement of accounts receivable and payable, prepaid expenses, deferred revenue and related revenue and expenses. The net impact to the Consolidated Statements of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2009 is expected to be a decrease in Revenues of approximately $360,000 and an increase in Net Income of approximately $150,000.

    Read more: https://www.getfilings.com/sec-filings/110916/PACIFIC-WEBWORKS-INC_8-K/#ixzz1Yb28yKfp

    So this gives clear indication of the reasons for the boardroom & accountancy changes at the business which I’ve picked up on.  Previously these aspects of the business had close family ties at these levels.

    I wonder what other errors might pop up in future…?

     

  2. Strangely avatar

    Taken from here https://strangelyperfect.tv/5146/more-on-google-profits-and-pacific-webworks/#comment-4575 and repeated for ease of thread-ness!

    It's been all go at Pacific Webworks (PWW) so far this year.

    So far we've seen the executive count drop from 3 to 2 with the departure of Robert Brett Bell. See http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks

    We've also seen their former accountants "Chisholm, Bierwolf, Nilson & Morrill, LLC" booted off the shop floor and then barred by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ("PCAOB") on April 8, 2011 . See http://biz.yahoo.com/e/110427/pwebe.ob8-k_a.html

    We've also seen the familially named Michael J. Larsen last 4 days as their new accountant, see http://xml.10kwizard.com/filing_raw.php?repo=tenk

    The best of all is the last bit from the current two directors' CVs, which is identical! See https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyOffi

    It states:

    "He has not been involved in any legal proceedings during the past ten years that are material to an evaluation of his ability or integrity." – for both Ken Bell & Christian Larsen.

    So correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it the director's responsibility to hire accountants and weren't these accountants sacked and then booted off the accountancy register?

    Also, let's not forget the "Google Slap" against all the directors and many members of their immediate families who were all involved in the "scheme to deceive" as the court was told…!! This is what was reported here: https://www.allbusiness.com/legal/legal-services-l

    Pacific WebWorks also entered into a permanent injunction in which it agreed it would not misuse Google's name in the future. Besides the company, the injunction also includes officers Kenneth W. Bell, Robert Brett Bell, William Marc Bell and Christian R. Larsen and their spouses, Roberta L Bell, Jillian Bell, Ashley A. Bell and Jennifer Larsen. Companies set up by the wives apparently were used as part of the scheme.

    So could someone please explain how Larsen & Bell can coolly say that they have:

    "not been involved in any legal proceedings during the past ten years that are material to an evaluation of his ability or integrity."

    …when plainly, they have?

  3. Jacksonville Divorce avatar
    Jacksonville Divorce

    Strangely you have made an awesome post and i appreciate your work and keep it up. Thanks for sharing this with us.

  4. Emmanuel Blimie avatar
    Emmanuel Blimie

    How do I get to Vernon Howard? Gimme whatever you have about this fool. He stole my money and lied say his stupid business socialtoolkit.com send me stuffs. So many others are hurt by this fool called Vernon Howard. Why would he lied like that? Sometime I wish I could assume law into my own hand on lying scammer like Vernon Howard but again that's why we got justice. I will not rest though until I get to Vernon Howard for a refund. We are all too tired with Vernon Howard scrap.

    1. Strangely avatar

      @Emmanuel Blimie

      Read everything in the article & comments again and you'll see that it's not Vernon you should be after!

      Also, read my Privacy Policy here about privacy and you'll see that all contributor privacy is protected, within the bounds that I've set.

  5. Strangely avatar

    Here's a post from 2005 by someone ripped off by PWW under one of their other names, TradeWorks Marketing, Inc.
    https://www.ripoffreport.com/multi-level-marketing

    Since 2005, in this post, you can see how PWW have gone from scamming a few hundreds of folks for THOUSANDS of dollars, to their recent behaviour of scamming THOUSANDS of folks for a few hundred dollars!

    Interestingly, their much self-touted web and finance skills seem to be falling a bit flat when you try any of the hyperlinks on this webpage….
    https://secure.visualwebtools.com/tradeworks/merc

    …notice the "https" and "secure" in the above link? Ha Ha.

    Here's the latest puff (from today) on the latest version of their fantastic scamming system, VWT.
    http://uk.sys-con.com/node/1489462

    …and it says:

    Pacific WebWorks (OTCBB: PWEB) reported today that they have completed the release of all components of Visual WebTools Version 5 with the exception of the Clip on Commerce piece which is in the final stages of completion. This new version provides users of PWEB’s Visual WebTools product with simplified methods of creating and updating their websites as well as many expanded features.

    Visual WebTools, PWEB’s landmark product, is a suite of software programs that fit together to perform the basic functions useful to a small business on the Internet. The product includes WebWizard, ClipOn Commerce, WebContacts, WebChannels, Web Profiling Tool and WebStats.

    Ken Bell, CEO, stated, “With the completion of this upgrade to our innovative technology, Pacific WebWorks can now continue to deliver a quality product to its thousands of existing customers and to our prospective customers. We continue to analyze both our existing marketplace and new potential marketplaces where our products and skill sets can be most profitably applied.”

    Bell continued, "With the company’s current balance sheet strength we are seeing new opportunities for our business model and products. These opportunities could contribute to accelerated revenues, cash flows and earnings significantly beyond the company’s current levels during the coming quarters while also expanding our markets. Our company’s management continues to look for every opportunity to expand our current business model to enhance the company’s revenues, profits and ultimately our shareholder values.”

    One thing to remember with that little spiel, is that PWW or PWEB for traders, is that THEY HAVE NEVER EVER PAID A DIVIDEND!!! So what price shareholder value, eh?(SP)
    em>

    About Pacific WebWorks and Intellipay

    Pacific WebWorks provides a comprehensive suite of affordable, easy-to-use software programs for small businesses that want to create, manage, and maintain an effective Web strategy including full e-commerce capabilities. Pacific WebWorks operates a number of wholly owned subsidiaries including IntelliPay, TradeWorks Marketing and others.

    yeah blah…

  6. Jessica avatar
    Jessica

    Those court documents from Pacific Webworks and Bloosky – wow! Anyone know what the settlement was? I know that company encore ads, and pacific webworks is not related – as I know those guys too, in Provo, Utah. Encore isn't a affiliate network – they are an advertiser and agency – so they buy all those domains for their clients! I used to work for a company that worked with them, they sold some products online for us! Hope this helps 🙂

  7. Paul Schlegel avatar

    Awesome post, Strangely

    We have GOT to start mapping the connections between all the various companies and players, too!

  8. gregw2 avatar

    I am a little more than CURIOUS.

    Has anyone linked securecardservices.controlcrm.com or http://dietsuccessguild.com to Pacific WebWorks?

    My brother Bill has been investigating them and feels that they are connected somehow but has not found anything concrete.

    If you or anyone has any information it will be greatly appreciated and any help will be published on our site.

    1. Not Kevin avatar
      Not Kevin

      Greg, not sure about PWEB but both those domains are linked to Encore Ads a cpa affiliate network/ advertiser in California.

      encoreads.com/about.html

      linkedin.com/pub/dan-vahdat/5/48/672

      controlcrm.com:
      http://whois.domaintools.com/controlcrm.com

      dietsuccessguild.com uses domains by proxy to hide ownership but this website is on the same server:
      http://whois.domaintools.com/acaileanzone.com

      dan.vahdat (@) encoreads.com is associated with about 212 domains

      Domain tools gives 96 domains hosted on this IP address.

      Acaicomplete6.com

      Acaileanzone.com

      Advancedlearningtoday.com

      93 more…

      (I am not a member so cannot view them all)

      However I know at least 2 of them are work at home scams [ultimatehomebasedwealth.com and paydayhomeincome.com] according to sameip and yougetsignal. These are promoted by EWA (Ryan Eagle) affiliate network:
      http://odigger.com/offer/EWA-Private-Network/Biz-

      For Controlcrm.com: There are 4 domains hosted on this IP address.

      Controlcontact.com

      Controlcrm.com

      Gcnpmedia.com

      1 more…

      1. Paul Schlegel avatar

        Here's the rest:

        Acaicomplete6.com

        Acaileanzone.com

        Advancedlearningtoday.com

        Agelessresv.com

        Botonicalbeautyessence.com

        Californianomineeservice.com

        Colonpuredetox.com

        Completebeautysecret.com

        Completeonlinesucessfromhome.com

        Decolontox.com

        Detoxifyingwellness.com

        Dietsuccessguild.com

        Directhomepayday.com

        Directonlinesuccesssystem.com

        Directsucesshomepayday.com

        Elearningtoextreme.com

        Endurancehealthcircle.com

        Extremefitzone.com

        Extremeprofitpro.com

        Healthierfitchoices.com

        Healthierphysiqueextreme.com

        Healthmehealthyou.com

        Healthproageless.com

        Healthybodyrealm.com

        Healthybodysolution.com

        Healthycleansecomplete.com

        Homebasedprofitbuilder.com

        Homegeneratorincome.com

        Homepaydayprofitsystem.com

        Homeprofitsolution.com

        Incomegeneratorsuccess.com

        Infiniteonlinelearning.com

        Interactivehomeprofitbuilder.com

        Legenddataonline.com

        Lifestyledetoxification.com

        Michaeljacksonanniversarycoin.com

        Michaeljacksonanniversarycoins.com

        Michaeljacksonofficialcoin.com

        Michaeljacksonofficialcoins.com

        Nationalcleansealliance.com

        Naturalallureessence.com

        Naturalfitnessresults.com

        Naturalhealthcircle.com

        Naturalhealthierbody.com

        Naturalherbalallure.com

        Naturalresv.com

        Naturalresvcomplete.com

        Naturaltrimslim.com

        Naturalyouthglow.com

        Nutritionhealthzone.com

        Onlinecompletehomesuccess.com

        Onlinedirectpayday.com

        Onlinehomelearningcentral.com

        Onlinehomeprofitsystem.com

        Onlinelearningmadesimple.com

        Onlinepaydaysuccess.com

        Onlineplatinuminteractive.com

        Onlineprohomesystemprofit.com

        Organichealthselect.com

        Organicslimmingsecret.com

        Organictrimmingsolution.com

        Paydayhomeincomeprofitsystem.com

        Paydayhomeprofitsystem.com

        Paydayhomesuccess.com

        Powercleansedetox.com

        Powerdetoxcleanse.com

        Powerfitsuccess.com

        Premierehomelearning.com

        Premiereonlinelearning.com

        Premieronlinesuccess.com

        Processhomeprofitsystem.com

        Profithomesuccess.com

        Propowerdetox.com

        Purerevhealth.com

        Pureyouthsolution.com

        Qualityhealthyfit.com

        Resvcomplete.com

        Revitalcleansediet.com

        Securesuccesshomepayday.com

        Slimdownzone.com

        Slimtrimzone.com

        Superfitnessplus.com

        Systemhomeprofits.com

        Thelearningadvantages.com

        Totalcolonex.com

        Totalhomeincomewealth.com

        Totalhomeprofitbuilder.com

        Ultimatehomebasedwealth.com

        Ultimatehomebusinesssuccesssystem.com

        Ultimatehomesuccesssystem.com

        Ultimateonlinehomelearning.com

        Ultraorganitcsolution.com

        Vitalbeautyessence.com

        Vitalbeautysolution.com

        Weight-lossreward.com

        Weightlossofamerica.com

        If you can afford the $18/month DomainTools is an incredible value for what you can get out of it.

      2. Strangely avatar

        https://www.linkedin.com/pub/roy-ferman/3/207/578

        Roy and Dan are chiefs at Encore and Ferman is the listed contact at Encore.. I'm not sure if it's the same Roy, but I found a web page from 3 years back where he gives a reference to a fellow internet marketeer! This links in to his claimed time at Mobile Messenger
        https://www.naymz.com/gene_phillips_2315977

        Someone affected by a scam even gave his MobileMessenger.com email address here!

        http://lancewiggs.com/2007/08/31/remove-yourself-

        The thing is, that Ferman also claims to have worked at Hotmail and Microsoft, presumably at the time the former spam central, Hotmail, got bought out by M$.

        It's not a great leap to go from the various M$ messenger products, combine them with Hotmail (which the Redmond machine has now done and calls Live Messenger or something these days as a ripost to get market share from Facebook), and then see how Ferman got involved in his own version of Messenger which seriously compromised folks' bank accounts and computers… (just try https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=MobileMessenger…. for a google search with scam…!)

        Now see the current business that Ferman runs with a coterie of former (trusted) associates. For some "previous", add scam to Hydra LLC in a google search and see what pops up! Why?

        Well,

        Dan Vahdat was senior accounts chappie at Hydra (from his LinkedIn profile) which was the main cpa-er behind the Google Money Tree scam (forerunner of the Treasure Chest), templated, served and cash-transacted by Pacific Webworks, as we now know!

        Looking at the screenshots from the Hydra days, they're exactly the same as the ones from 2-3 years later – you know the ones; the google cheques etc.

        So yes, Greg. The links are there, but not cast in stone just yet.

        1. gregw2 avatar

          Hey thanks for the response.

          Bill had found some names and templates that were very close, if not nearly exact that were associated with the two, before he quit.

          He does not do much now. I rewrite everything for him so I do not have time to fill his shoes.

          Anyway thanks again and great work.

          I wish I had the time to investigate all of the connections, or had built a database 2 years ago when we started.

    2. Paul Schlegel avatar

      What is it about them that makes him suspect they might be linked to PWW?

  9. Not Kevin avatar
    Not Kevin

    Very interesting. Bloosky is a cpa affiliate network but only one of many which ran the Google Kit offers. Others who ran the offers include CONvert2media and EWA Network + many many more.

    The "advertisers"/"merchants" (like Pacific Webworks; Just Think Media etc) ran their "offers" (scams) through the cpa networks whose affiliate created the fake blogs and fake news sites. So Google should also be suing the cpa networks AND their affiliates as well as the advertisers. Without them the scam would never have spread like wildfire all over the net in the way that it did.

    These affiliate networks are still running the same offers/scams (they call them bizopps: [short for business opportunities] but the only opportunity they offer is to have your bank account drained!) – the only thing that has changed is that all mentions of Google have been erased for obvious reasons! Almost 200 of them listed here for example: http://bit.ly/av4n4g

    I am not sure why Google is only pursuing one cpa affiliate network (Bloosky) but my guess would be that Pacific Webworks passed the buck/offered a scapegoat and the Google lawyers took the bait?

    Which is why the email exchange you linked to was interesting too, particularly the quote "Pacweb’s choice to throw bloosky under the bus is a really interesting one, but it will not stand. Watch how it plays out. You will see where it comes down."

    Mystery and suspense! 🙂

  10. Strangely avatar

    Hi Vernon

    The email exchange is very interesting, and if Jackson has an "inside scoop" I'm sure that there are lots of interested parties who'd be eager for his information.

    It IS certain though that he was still their lawyer on June 11, 2010 as that's the date of the legal delaying document in the links above. (This is one)

    He also says that Bloosky "is a network provider". Well it comes from how one defines "network", doesn't it? Bloosky themselves on their front page describe themselves as:

    Online Advertising

    Direct Marketing

    List Management

    For me, this means spam email lists, which I've gone into ad-nauseum especially with regards to the odious Robert Allen chap…..

    My point about all this (and I meant no disrespect to you by my words so I hope you didn't think that way), is that the tentacles of these "networks and associations" run very deep, especially in Utah! Everyone seems to be involved or hit by the slime in some way.

    PWW have been instrumental in setting up a system that allows people to scam with ease. (I prefer the word thieve to scam, but I'll call it scam for now).

    Despite the Google "settlement", it's still not clear and obvious to me that PWW weren't scamming in the first place and have slightly switched their tack as the ill winds of discovery turned their way.

    Keep up the good work. I love the way you just leap in after the bad guys in such a clear and precisely validated way. We'll get the bad guys one day, and as I said above, despite PWW's statement this week that all is sunshine and roses, the markets seem to think otherwise!

  11. Vernon Howard avatar

    I'd like to get you feedback on something and converse via email if possible. Blair got back to me on the allegation that he associated with Bloosky.

  12. Vernon Howard avatar

    Oh, never mind… I see now.

  13. Vernon Howard avatar

    How is Blair Jackson of Christiansen & Jackson, PC – Attorneys at Law affiliated with PWW? You said this was scary! I know that they originally helped form some of these companies, but they now know that was wrong and are willing to go after them. Please explain since maybe I'm missing something that could be vital.

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