SCAMSTERS INC.

Recently I have been approached by some of my close friends to join GoldQuest(also known as Questnet). GoldQuest is yet another multi-level marketing scheme. GoldQuest/ QuestNet operate under the name “QuestNet LTD” co. ref no. “993949-P”. It works on the principle of Pyramid Scheme. A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme. Pyramid schemes are illegal in many countries, including the United States, Great Britain, France, Canada, Malaysia, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Iran. Normally, 99.99% of the people lost their money in any MLM or pyramid scheme.

First see the dictionary of QuestNet ::

According to the dictionary of Quest members world is divided into two types of people, one is Prospect and other is IR (Independent Representative).

C.A.P. stands for Contacts, Appointments and Presentations. This will serve as “tracker” when they start in the business and treat each day as a business day. They keep with them, a list of all the names that they will call or contact, all the schedules appointments for the day and planned business presentations held during the day. For weekend, they have some special plans, that is called weekend plan.

Inviting is the first and one of the most important skills you will need to master in order to be successful in this business. Master the art if inviting with this following techniques
a) curiosity is the key to inviting, create one and not satisfy it. (DO)
b) It’s a major no-no to present the business over the phone. (DON’T)
c) The members always review the names in their memory builder. (DO)
d) When contacting the prospects, they behave as if they are not soliciting but offering an opportunity to discover a business idea that could literally change the life of the prospect. (DO)

Presenting
The information packet of Quest Members normally contain
a) Company Profile and then MLM AND RM.
b) Business Model
c) Company brochures.
d) Teamwork all over INDIA (how they are working)
e) Fake Cheques.

Follow Up:
Most people are not ready to commit instantly or just after one meeting. Actually it is difficult to make some people fool easily . So follow-up comes next. At this time, all the quest members talk with that person and go over with any questions that he might have. In this follow up, the members act like Hollywood actors and show that they are very happy, making so much money etc.

What these fraud quest members do to make their friends fool ::

• They never explain the business to anybody by them self before going through the training session and getting sufficient experience. Normally in 2-3 months, they get full experience in cheating persons so after loaded with all the guns they target their innocent friends.
• Normally they do not approach their friend and tell him everything about Quest. They only tell that they are into an business and earning. They try to make their friend curious about what business they are into. What business, no clue. They show their friend as if they are earning a lot and happy with how the business is going. Then when the innocent person insists a lot, then they will tell him to come and discuss the business. Remember, they never tell anything like its networking, its quest. Just they use the word BUSINESS. That is it. Their aim is to get the presentation done. The presentation is actually a mind was session.
• They will show full confidence on the system and the team work is excellent. But normally it will be all fake, you would know all these things after becoming member of the QuestNet.
• When the friend insists on telling what business they are doing, they ask him to meet them and discuss the business along with their business associates. They will never use the word presentation. These day, these cheaters are using the word “meeting” for this.
• When friend might ask you that is it networking. They Say NO. They tell him its not network marketing and they are not selling toothpaste and all (Actually Amway is competitor of QuestNet in this business). They are doing a business and not salesman job. They tell him that if he is interested then come for a meeting. They show as if they are least bothered if he does not turn up. But you know all these things when you will become members. Normally they spend many days and nights for a single person and try to act that they don’t care.
• When after all frauds and lies friend becomes ready to come for a meeting, they tell him that the guy with whom he would be meeting a guy who is master of the business. He has earned this this amount (all false data, full of lies, they never give the correct data). The Quest members call this method of attracting the attention of the friend as “Edification”
• After the presentation Follow up takes place. It is the most important thing in the business of making people fool. As soon as the presentation is done, they Quest members ask their friend “CHALE LOGIN KARNE”. If the innocent friend says I would think, would ask mummy, would ask friends, etc., then these Quest members try everything to get those things out of his mind.

What these people will tell when the friend will talk about money problem ::

• Money problem : Arrange 15-20k and then take 10-15 from your friends. Or else shop from friends credit card and then apply for a loan and give back. I also did the same. What u think, did I had 30k with me when I joined. I also had the same case but I managed.
• A and B problem : Everyone is so helpful and we would definitely get our common friends under you. If you wont grow, do u think I would grow. So I would have to help u. I have no other option. Rest you’re my friend, do you think I would have contacted you just for your 30k. You have such a good friend circle and I want that all of them should come under you only.
• My friends would never join : When we both have joined all others will also join. Its just a matter of how the things are explained to them. If I would have told you about the business in 10 mins, about 3 left 3 right 11.5k and 30k investment, you would have also not listened to me. But one should get the clear picture and then only, one would join. So its better that you don’t discuss the business before you get the do’s and dont’s session or else you would spoil your own business.
• Would ask my parents, brothers, sisters, friends : Don’t tell about the business to anyone. You would just misguide them. What u would tell. You got the clear picture in 1.5 hrs and what u think u can tell your friends and relatives in 15 or maximum ½ hr. Its just not possible. Its better you don’t ask them. I can tell their response , i.e a BIG NO. Network marketing has got a very negative image because of Amway and all…ml concepts.
• I would tell them nicely that its not ml and very good business model : What u will tell. Then tell him the flaws. Your relatives and friends would ask for cheques and all. I have got a personal experience.
• I would think and tell You in two days. If you would think in that sense u can never succeed in any business. If u want to open a restaurant, u first hire cooks and all. You don’t go out for customers first and then cook the food. Anyways, it is your personal wish, if u would contact anyone u would spoil your own business. I would advice you to start with the business right now and have your do’s and don’ts session and start with the business. If you still want to think, you can but don’t discuss or try to take advice from anyone because you would get a negative reply only. That is my personal experience.
For knowing more about this company I searched on Google. The search results were really alarming which I want to share with you.

CHENNAI AUG. 21. With the arrest of Goldquest officials in Chennai, where the company’s India headquarters is located, police claimed to have exposed yet another alleged money circulation racket. Over 50 members have filed complaints stating that the company owed around Rs 12 lakhs to them. The arrested persons include Pushpam, a Malaysian citizen of Indian origin and company managing director, Joseph Augustine, accounts executive, and Pushpendra Kumar Shukla, public relations officer.

Source :: http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/08/22/stories/2003082210240300.htm for this reason they have changed their name to questnet.

Gold Quest is illegal in Srilanka. — GoldQuest, the controversial network marketing scheme, is now illegal in Sri Lanka after its scam drained US$ 15 million in foreign exchange from the country, the Central Bank said Friday.

The Questnet’s MD and his associate have been issued a red alert notice by Interpol and have been arrested by Indonesian police.

If you try to see the details of quest.net domain name through viewwhois. There is no contact information, everything is encrypted. If this is honest company then why they are not showing their identity.

Read this article “Albania under the Shadow of the Pyramids” It is from World Bank official website.

There is a company called Gold Quest chain marketing. One of my friend took me to their office without giving any prior information. There 10 members put e in a closed room and forced to take thier product membership. For this I was asked to pay 30,000Rs. and 450Rs. registration charges. They claimed that if I can get 2 more members I will be paid some bonus amount and as the chain will grow I will be getting more bonus. When I refused to take the membership, they harrassed me for about 4 hours. I was able to escape from there anyhow.

Source:: IndiaComplaints.com.

TEHRAN, Oct. 26–Judiciary Spokesman Jamal Karimi-Rad said Wednesday the Hong Kong-based GoldQuest company has agreed to pay compensations to the government and the people, ISNA reported.
Karimi-Rad added that the company, which has representatives in Iran, has agreed to compensate following the measures of judiciary, which labeled their activities ‘fraudulent’.
Asked if any organization had authorized the company to print coins with Imam Khomeini’s picture on it, Karimi-Rad said the company has not received any authorization and the Center for Publishing Imam’s Works has filed a complaint.
The company offered gold coins and other valuable items via the net, promising the buyers hefty profits in a short period. The government announced that their activities were damaging the economy by causing an outflow of capital.
Subsequently, the judiciary launched an investigation into the case, saying their activities were illegal. Later, a group carrying coins into the country was arrested upon arrival and the coins were found to be counterfeit.

Source :: IranDaily.com

GoldQuest products are collectors items and will show rapid price appreciation.Or so they told their unfortunate victims, claiming 30% or more appreciation for their Princess Diana ??Coin?? The truth, as it is often happens, appears rather less palatable, as an advertisement on ebay testifies. ??Goldquest gentlemens numismatic watch / leather box. Worth P34,000.00. Will sacrifice sale for P23,000.00. Will ship in philippines??. The buyer was trying to sell it for 30% LESS than he paid for it. However, to be doubly certain of a sale, the starting price on the auction was set at P19,500, a little more than half its purchase price. The valuable ?numismatic watch? received no bids.

Source:: ebay

Now, he knows , its time to let you know about the actual game plan. He asks you, if you possess a credit card. If you have already, he advises you to apply for two more. (after all he is your friend and he would never want you to run after him for money). So once the deadline for one credit card approaches, simply transfer the amount to another card. Sounds so easy isnt it? So he already wants you to start cheating. At this point you cant think that even you are on the verge of being cheated.
He then tells you about the investment. He wants you to buy his product for Rs 32000/- . Which includes a Gold coin and a silver one too. . As said by him, “Once you make the payment, you become a member and you are ready to start your own business. And if you are not interested in the coin , you put a post on ebay, you can literally have an auction and the price you can get is upto Rs 40000/- .
You Pay the money!! and its over. You get the coins, now play with them. Try putting them up on ebay and find me one single man who paid more than Rs 8000/- for that.
Me and my friends have suffered from this. Just to warn you about that. the real picture is quite different than they actually present it in front of us.
I request you to learn to say No!! . Dont get pusshed out of the limits. Just say No!

Source:: http://goldquesttragedy.blogspot.com/

Once again I would like to reiterate

Quest.net OR Goldquest OR Questnet is a big Fraud and Scam. Please stay away from it. It will ruin you, your friends and your country. Thirty thousand or 800$ is not a big sum for me but the main point is that Shayam, Ravi, Ashmit and Deepak have lost their good friend. I will never trust these people in this life. Read this BBC report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3641100.stm

The report clearly mentions how the goldquest ruined Sri Lanka and their President had to issue a warning. The company is banned in Sri Lanka since then.

Big Finanical loss for the country :: Try to understand this, You pay 800 USD for a 200 USD coin. That means 600 USD goes out of your country . Now, you get commission for every new member. Which means for every new member, 600 USD goes out of your country. Assuming, there are say 100,000 members. Which means 600,00,000 USD go out of your country. This is what creates the economic problem for the country.

Don’t become a victim. Protect other innocent people from this fraud and scam. Please don’t ruin your family and friends. Don’t even attend the quest presentations and seminars.

Therefor I request all Indians not to join this company, this company is draining foreign exchange from our country without doing any development and invest. IT Professionals are soft targets so Beware !!!

Remember Wealth is only gained through honest and hard work, so LIVE WITH IT !

Source: abhisays.com

Useful links

Wikipedia links.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_scheme
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_scheme
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Level_Marketing

Yahoo Answer links

1. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070605234540AA9Jiht
2. http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060911043021AAgqJv3

Various blogs regarding gold quest

1. http://www.lankalibrary.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=2499
2. http://jayaraj-m.blogspot.com/2006/11/questnet-business-model-uncensored-with.html
3. http://jayaraj-m.blogspot.com/2006/11/ah-another-interesting-scenario-how.htm
4. http://jayaraj-m.blogspot.com/2006/11/gold-quest-blocked-in-iran-too.html
5. http://www.mouthshut.com/product-reviews/GoldQuest.com-925043198.html
6. http://www.mouthshut.com/review/GoldQuest.com-54567-1.html
7. http://users.openface.ca/~cobe/eth/quest.html
8. http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?newsID=1594030582&no_view=1&SEARCH_TERM=11
9. http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5905
10. http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/1/31660.html
11. http://the-direct-salesmlmnetwork-marketing-search-swicki.eurekster.com/gold+Quest+International+marketing/
12. http://www.indianexpress.com/sunday/story/9571.html
13. http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Wednesday/Frontpage/20070509073726/index.pda
14. http://the-direct-salesmlmnetwork-marketing-search-swicki.eurekster.com/gold+Quest+International+marketing/
15. http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/05/08/ft/07.asp
16. http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Wednesday/Frontpage/20070509073726/Article/index.html
17. http://www.yahind.com/news/directory.php?id=87
18. http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5905

Sembium police on Friday arrested the Group Managing Director, the Managing Director and seven staff members of Quest Net, a private online multi-level marketing company, and sealed the company’s office on Mc Nichols Road in Chetpet.

The arrested persons were remanded to judicial custody and sent to the Puzhal prison.

The police also confiscated 71 kg of gold coins, 12 laptops and documents from the company.

According to the police, the arrest was made following inquiries based on a complaint lodged by V. Dinesh Kumar, who said that he had been cheated to the tune of nearly Rs.1 lakh over a period of two years.

When the complainant had approached Srikanth, commission agent, seeking an explanation on Friday, he was beaten up and threatened with dire consequences.

More complaints

A special team was formed under the direction of Police Commissioner G. Nanchil Kumaran, who conducted an inquiry and found that several others in Pulianthope and Otteri had also lodged complaints in the local police stations.

Following the arrest, a group of persons on Saturday came to the Police Commissioner’s office to make a representation.

When they were not allowed inside, they gathered outside and raised slogans. Four persons were detained.

K. Feroze Khan, a customer of the company, told mediapersons said that the company, set up in 2001 in the country, had offices abroad. The company was transparent in its dealings and had several thousand customers in the State, he claimed.

By afternoon, hundreds of people gathered in a hotel near the Commissioner’s office and staged a protest. When the hotel staff evicted them, they blocked the road disrupting traffic. Several of them were arrested and later released.

Source:The Hindu

For the third consecutive day on Tuesday, people came in large numbers to the office of the Commissioner of Police in Egmore and lodged criminal complaints against the Gold Quest and its directors.

Additional police personnel were deployed at the entrance of the Commissionerate to regulate the crowd.

Thorough examination

Commissioner of Police G. Nanchil Kumaran told The Hindu that the police would thoroughly examine all petitions and take stern action against the accused, if they were found to have cheated the public.

So far, they had received about 900 complaints, the Commissioner said.

Last week, the police had sealed the company’s premises near the Chetpet police station.

Agents and some staff of the company who had information about the functioning of the company are being investigated.

Source:The Hindu

The police seized cash, gold and silver, totally worth Rs.20 crore, allegedly belonging to the promoters and some senior executives of the Gold Quest, Commissioner of Police G. Nanchil Kumaran told reporters here on Tuesday.

Following complaints of cheating against the multi-level marketing company, the Pulianthope police had registered a case and arrested seven persons 10 days ago. Subsequently, they raided premises of the company and seized incriminating documents.

They are on the lookout for a key accused, said to be in Malaysia, and many other persons suspected to be the key links.

Until Saturday, a total of 8,227 complaints from the public, including those from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Puducherry, have been received by the police. The petitioners continue to pour into the Commissionerate, he said.

Mr. Kumaran said that apart from Rs.3.5 crore in cash seized from a private bank locker, 87 kg of gold coins, 900 kg of silver coins, 250 mobile phones, a Honda Accord car and a Honda City car were seized during the search operations.

Commending the Joint Commissioner of Police (North) M. Ravi, Deputy Commissioner (Pulianthope) G. Sampath Kumar and the police teams for swiftly acting upon the complaints, he said that public should refrain from investing their hard earned money in such multi-level marketing schemes. Many educated youth, including women and senior citizens, had parted with their savings by becoming a member, he added.

The police are examining the possibilities of detaining the accused under stringent Acts as the investigations conducted so far suggested that the intention of the accused was to cheat public, he said.

Mr. Kumaran said that they have submitted a report to the Director-General of Police and sought approval for transferring the case either to the CB-CID or the Economic Offences Wing police.

Source: The Hindu

Yeah friends, I have been cheated by my four college friends. Oh no, why I am calling them friends, it is better to have enemies in place of such friends. I lost almost 32 thousand rupees (almost 800 dollars) due to these cheaters. Now they are trying to use me to cheat other friends in our coterie. But enough is enough, I will not let them make innocent people fool. The time has come to disclose their secret to the world. Hold on, I will tell the complete set of incidents that took place and ultimately caused me big financial loss. Actually these fraud people are maintaining a big network in Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad and other big cities of India. You may have read my one of the articles of QuestNet. On 9th Feb, I was emotionally blackmailed, physically and mentally tortured to become its member. I will never forget that rainy day in Bangalore when Shayam, Ravi and Deepak from Chennai came to Bangalore with a fixed target in their mind. What was that target ? To pressurize me by showing fake cheques, giving wrong information so that one more Prospect will become the IR of Quest. My other friend, Asmit who couldn’t manage to come told me that he was earning good money in this business. I think everything has become messed up and confusing so let us proceed step by step. These are the steps and master plan that these four people and almost every quest member is following after getting into the greed of making quick money.

So Shayam, Ravi, Ashmit and Deepak just followed these steps and convinced me to become the QuestNet member. So now big question, what they earned from that ? Nothing, just nothing. However they spoiled their relationship with me. Do you know what Deepak is doing, he is using a cheque of some other member of the QuestNet (Upline member — The members in the chain above a particular person are called uplines.)

These people are using this cheque and saying their friends that “Seema Jain is mother of Deepak and Deepak is earning lakhs of rupees per month”. So all the software professionals beware Deepak may approach you with such cheques. Even Shayam is using this cheque in Bangalore to increase the members of QuestNet.

I always consider these four persons as my good friends. But I will never forget their statements regarding QuestNet. So let’s see what they told me ?

Shayam – Yaar tagra business hia, I want to purchase a flat in hyderabad and with the salary of Accenture it is not possible in 2-3 years so I have joined Quest. Believe me, Abhishek since you are my best friend that’s why I am sharing these secrets with you. We will work together and become millionaires. See Deepak’s cheque of 50 thousand rupees has just come this week.

Ravi – You know me from College time, I have never done any stupid thing in life. So I will strongly recommend you to become its member. I will put my achievements of QuestNet in my resume.

Deepak — Yaar, I have got the goal of my life. I can earn millions here and see I am earning. This chain marketing experience will help me to get admission in good B school.

Asmit – Don’t complain me after some time that I didn’t tell you the secret of making money. See I have earned 20000 within a month.

End of the story :: What I lost due to Quest ?

• Shyam, Ravi, Ashmit, Deepak have lost my friendship, now I will never wish anything good for them, at least in this life.
• I have lost my faith on my these college friends. Whenever I will remember the college days, all these events will be flashed before my eyes that what happened with me after leaving the college. Even I am not going in Convocation of my college on coming 11th April.
• Instead of telling the lie and showing the fake cheques, had they told me the fact, I would have given 30k rupees without any question. But everything is finished now.
• I have to show their real face infront of the world.

Now I will share a true story of another victim which I got through a chain mail.

First of all I had been invited by one of my office colleague to come for the meeting his friends. He asked me to come on Saturday (Holiday) to meet his friends and to have some fun there. I think he invited me because he wanted me to push him up by joining as his down line. I blindly trusted him and went with him. He took me one small office maintained by his up lines and asked me to wait for a while to introduce me all. After a bit time later, I was introduced to all where most of are all working in software industry.

The occasion was called ‘A business Presentation’. I was taken to a closed room; some guys came to me and asked all my personal details including family details also. They noted all my financial burdens to their mind and started presentation. I took my time to listen, bringing with me a pen and a paper just to make sure that I don’t miss even a single point from the presenters. Just before the presentation started, I looked around to see if there was anybody I know. I couldn’t find anyone I know, other than my colleague. We were a group of about twenty and I wasn’t expecting to see a lot of people that I know. Instantly, the element of trust started to build up in my mind. Eventually the presentation started.

Wow, a talkative & smart enough guy sat in front of me to present a business, guy from Software Industry who had made lakhs of rupees in the shortest time imaginable. The introducer went on to tell me the names of those who had already joined the QuestNet community from the locals, himself included. During this time, my mind was off because I was looking forward to the real business idea. The credits for the idea (the company) and the presenter were just beyond human imagination, it appeared as if we had reached an all time solution to our financial problems.

The moment of truth came and the presentation started. ‘I’m so and so, from a reputed IT organization and have done A, B, C, to no avail. Bla, bla, bla,…’ Worth noting is that all other products and services were discussed, but special emphasis was made on the mesmerizing me. During the presentation, the trap lays are:

1. They identified that I am very much fresh to this kind of network business and its concept. They tried to take an advantage with my weakness and successes finally. And they (top leaders, smart, power and public speakers like Anuradha, Nagaraj, Sridhar…etc) started the Business presentation and I trusted them because the main reason I Trust the person who was introduced me to them is my colleague cum friend but he also blind and don’t know the reality. It is a logical method which they will try to bring us into business.
2. They made me a dream. (You should dream, without dreams then there is no future) and told me the importance of change in life. Compared with many successful personalities like Infosys Narayana Murthy, Reliance Ambanies etc. (If you don’t accept the change, You will not get success in my life and if you keep continue the same work and routine activities, there is no way to reach highest positions in life…etc) By the way they tried me to put my concentration upon them to get into this loop. And they sold my own dream to me as a gold numismatic valued item and weekly income.
3. They made me believe the credibility of the company from showing cheques, showing coins, showing the customer list of the company (bodies like WHO, World Olympic committee, Vatican city and Pope etc. This is true but the tie ups carried between the GQ and these bodies were not network marketing)…through reputed people in my own country, neibourhood and specially the company I work for. They showed me a false team spirit which they said they work as a huge family, huge team and doing this to help people (but reality is the members join later in this team is always jealous about the people on top). They showed me cheques they earn and made me feel like if I not join this I’ll be left behind.
4. They said it’s a global business and it is running all over world. It is legal and accepted all over world and comparatively no other business is there like to earn money fast.
5. They let me to believe it is only the way I can earn fast by investing Rs 32,200 + Rs 460 /- only once and I can get the income for 2 generations regularly on weekly basis.
6. And they let me to believe that I can get the numismatic value to my product after few months apart from earning weekly wise income ranging form Rs 11,500 to Rs 5, 75,000 per week. And they believed me that I can get what ever I dream for through Questnet.
7. Next I was told about what are the needful things to do to join with them. They said first I need to get registration & purchase a product from list of products. I have chosen the gold coin for Konark Sun temple. Then I was completely unaware of its worth and weight. Even I didn’t have the thought to ask for the same as I was in inspired mood.
8. After completion of presentation, I was asked how the business plan is and I replied it is very good as I new to this kind of businesses.
9. Immediately I was told about investments for registration & product details. And asked me how is the investments. I just then replied too much to afford it is. After they asked me what are the credit cards I am holding then. I told only one credit card I am using that too very urgent case only. Then the presenter asked my details like name, address, some account details like Pan Card etc.
10. After they took me to Lunch and offered me free lunch and then took me the same place to registration. They done all my registration with the details I provided earlier and finally asked my credit card details. I was then thinking once again and tried to get suggestions from friends. When I tried to call some of my friends, they asked me it is an opportunity I am missing if I call to my friends. And they didn’t give me an opportunity to get arise a second thought in my mind. It was totally blocked by their words and inspirations.
11. I was totally then in mesmerized & inspired mood and unconsciously given my card to that team. They did my registration. After completion of registration, all came to me and wished me as “welcome to quest family”.
12. Registration was completed and every one was happy. They took me to another room and explained me what are the does and don’t. In the do and don’t, they told the ways to get the members to presentation.
13. In the “Does & Don’t” section, they instructed me to get my friends, relatives, colleagues to the presentation without tell them first about company and its process. I just have to invite them there as telling meeting friends or having party etc.
14. Once I get them to the local office where usually presentations going, they once again repeat the process same to the new members also. It is a continues process to get the people join and invest their money as I was.

After me joined, They conducted conferences like VCon, Recom, Mouna (I have been to all these several times) by the people like Padma, Anuradha, Shabarinath etc. come these and they use powerful brain storming tools to change the minds of people to go ahead with this business…but they be careful not to use the work GQ in these seminars. These training are good in away because it will make you a good human being and make the way think different but these people use these for wrong purposes. I.e. To get the new members into the business.

Here ends this true story.

So before joining QuestNet, please read this article. I am confident, after this you will never like to hear the name of this fraud business. QuestNet is graveyard of friendship, please spread this word and give link to this articles so as to protect innocent persons from QuestNet.

Source: abhisays.com ( http://abhisays.com/ideas-and-thoughts/questnet-the-graveyard-of-friendship.html )

The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday obtained a court order halting a $27 million fraudulent scheme involving investors in the United States and Canada. The SEC sued Las Vegas-based Gold-Quest International and its principals, David M. Greene, age 54, John Jenkins, age 62, and Michael McGee, age 52, all residents of Las Vegas, NV, for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme and misappropriating investor funds. The Honorable Lloyd D. George, United States District Court Judge for the District of Nevada, issued an order freezing assets and appointing a temporary receiver over Gold-Quest and its affiliates.

The SEC's complaint, filed in federal court in Las Vegas, alleges that since May 2006, the defendants have raised and misappropriated more than $27.9 million from more than 2,100 investors in the United States and Canada. The complaint further alleges that, undisclosed to investors, the defendants paid more than $19.1 million as returns to other investors in this Ponzi scheme. According to the SEC's complaint, Gold-Quest and its owners claim they are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States or Canada because they are members of the Little Shell Nation Indian tribe, purportedly headquartered in North Dakota. However, the Little Shell Nation is not in fact recognized as a sovereign tribe or nation.

In its lawsuit, the SEC obtained an order (1) freezing the assets of Greene, Jenkins, and McGee; (2) freezing and repatriating the assets of, and appointing a temporary receiver over, Gold-Quest and its affiliates; (3) preventing the destruction of documents; and (4) temporarily enjoining Gold-Quest, Greene, Jenkins, and McGee from future violations of Sections 5(a), 5(c), and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The Commission also seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions, disgorgement, and civil penalties against all defendants. A hearing on whether a preliminary injunction should be issued against the defendants and whether a permanent receiver should be appointed is scheduled for May 14, 2008 at 2:00 p.m.

The SEC acknowledges the assistance of the Alberta Securities Commission, the British Columbia Securities Commission, the Manitoba Securities Commission, the Ontario Securities Commission, and the Nevada Secretary of State, Securities Division.

Source: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

A Malaysian company has disassociated itself from the functioning of its subsidiary in India, whose name has cropped up in connection with an investor scam in Chennai.

The parent company QI Ltd group has said that it was not associated with QuestNet India, a firm which is being investigated by the Chennai police for allegedly cheating thousands of Indian investors in a multi-level marketing scheme.

QI Ltd group said in a statement that it was a diversified multinational company and the Chennai based firm QuestNet was its subsidiary.

However, QuestNet India and its business in India were separate from QI group and the managing director of the parent company, Vijay Easwaran was not a director of the Chennai-based firm, it said.

Easwaran does not exercise direct management or control over the Indian company, national news agency Bernama said, quoting the company's statement.

"Several issues in the context they have been reported in India are inaccurate and misleading," the statement claimed, adding that Easwaran "is also not a fugitive in the way the Indian media reports incorrectly allege."

Chennai police, had last week, detained seven members of QuestNet India, including a female managing director, after investors alleged that the company had failed to pay returns as promised.

QuestNet India would defend all allegations against it in court and take requisite measures to get the detained members released, said the company.

Source : ET

Chennai City Police Commissioner Nanchil Kumaran on Saturday said necessary steps would be taken to get refund of deposits made by thousands of investors in the controversial Gold Quest International.
.

Speaking to reporters in Chennai, he said the police are speeding up the process to arrest the company's managing director Vijay Eswaran, who is reportedly in Malaysia now.

The Commissioner said as many as 17,348 complaints were filed against the firm.

'It is learnt that the company had cheated Rs 45 crore by collecting money from its members.' he said.

Stating that the police found that Gold Quest had invested Rs 150 crore in share market, Kumaran said steps are being taken to put that money on hold.

He also said that the firm had invested in a couple of other financial institutions too.

Source: newstodaynet.com

The police have seized properties valued at Rs. 47 crore, including cars and gold coins, from multi-level marketing Quest Net. This is in addition to the over Rs.3 crore worth of properties seized sometime ago.

Managing director of the company Pushpam Appala Naidu, who was arrested on May 2, has been detained under Goondas Act. Efforts are on to arrest Vijay Eswaran, the group managing director, who is abroad, Police Commissioner Nanchil G.Kumaran told mediapersons here on Saturday.

The seized properties included two luxury cars, 12 laptops, 87 kg of gold coins, 910 kg of silver coins, 8,372 gold watches, besides Rs.3.51 crore in cash.

Frozen

Bank lockers having cash and fixed deposits in various banks, totalling Rs.50 crore, have also been frozen.

Efforts are on to take possession of a building each in Hyderabad and Mumbai, valued at Rs. 32 crore, belonging to the company, besides documents pertaining to its investments in shares and mutual fund, to the extent of around Rs.200 crore. Nearly 17,350 complaints have been received by the police.

Source: The Hindu (http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/25/stories/2008052560330100.htm)

QuestNet India which operate their business on Multi Level Marketing (MLM) model and distribute numismatic products (gold coins, silver coins and precious metal medallions) from GOLDQUEST has been busted with the arrest her managing director, a woman from Malaysia.

Read more:
http://clickfraudscam.blogspot.com/2008/05/mlm-fraud-questnet-busted.html

A high-flying Malaysian woman entrepreneur, who is the managing director of a multilevel marketing company here, has been detained by police for alleged fraud.

The police have also despatched an All-Points Bulletin (APB) to locate the founder of the company, believed to be a Malaysian Datuk, to facilitate investigations into the case.

Deputy Commissioner of Police G. Sampath Kumar said the 45-year-old woman was picked up on Sunday night after police received numerous complaints from investors against the company, QuestNet.

He said police sealed the company premises here and also detained the woman’s seven employees.

“Initial investigations revealed that the company had allegedly failed to keep its promise to pay returns to those who invested in it.

“We have received 1,837 complaints against QuestNet so far, not only from Chennai but also from other parts of Tamil Nadu and Andhara Pradesh as well,” he said yesterday.

Sampath said the police had registered a case against the Datuk.

“We have placed him as the number one suspect,” he added.

An assortment of gold coins weighing 87kg and silver coins weighing 889kg, watches and mobile phones worth millions of ringgit were seized from the company premises located here.

Sampath also said Chennai police wanted to contact Datuk Vijay Eswaran of the QI Group, whose headquarters is in Hong Kong, to assist in investigations into the case.

Source: thestar.com

India is deploying crack sleuths to track down the operators of a Goldquest-Questnet scheme in the Karnataka state after thousands of victims complained to the police, media reports said.
"Initial investigations into the fraud committed by Quest-Net India Limited has revealed the firm had duped people to the tune of several hundred crores (hundreds of thousands of rupees) across the country," the Deccan Herald said.

"Interestingly, the directors of this Chennai-based company, including MD Pushpam Appal Naidu, are now ‘out of the country’.

"Police have no information about their whereabouts."

Last month agency reports out of Kabul said the Afghan government had banned the scheme.

The Deccan Herald said city police would hand over the case to the Corps of Detectives, a state-wide investigations authority.

The number of victims in Bangalore has increased from 800 to 2,500 in just a week.

Reports indicate that the scheme had been previously banned or collapsed in Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Iran, Philippines and the UAE.

However after a few years, when the furore dies down, it crops up again. The scheme uses a multilevel or referral system to recruit members with a chain or victims that grows in a pyramid formation.

People higher in the pyramid or the 'upline' get 'commissions' for each new recruit. Goldquest has in the past sold gold coins, medallions and telecom services.

Critics have pointed out that 99 percent of the victims of such schemes who make up the so-called 'downline' end up losing money.

But the loss ratio could be increased by using techniques such as 'binary compensation' which makes it even more difficult to qualify for 'commissions'.


Source: (Lanka Business Online http://www.lbo.lk/fullstory.php?newsID=1770522714&no_view=1&SEARCH_TERM=11)

The case pertaining to Quest Net multi-level marketing company has been transferred to the CB-CID. Those wishing to lodge complaints against the firm may henceforth approach the CB-CID office in Guindy, said Commissioner of Police R. Sekar.

Since early last month, the Commissioner’s office has received over 17,000 complaints and even on Wednesday, around 300 complaints were received, he told a press conference here on Thursday. Such crimes have increased in the past few months and the police arrested several persons in connection with the cases. They are also creating awareness of such crimes.

The Commissioner cited three different cheating cases recently in which the accused have been arrested.

A juice vendor, Kaliammal, in Koyambedu, was cheated by a man, who posed as a police inspector, promised to get her son a job and cheated her of Rs.10,000.

On Thursday, police picked up the accused, D. Sekar of Arni, from the Koyambedu bus stand. On interrogation he confessed to having committed the crime and police recovered Rs.8,000 from him.

In another incident in Vyasarpadi, one M. Murali lodged a complaint that someone had injured him with a sharp weapon and stolen Rs.1.53 lakh from him. Investigations revealed that Murali had inflicted injuries on himself and his friend, D. Dandapani, had the money. Murali has been working as collection agent for four years in an electrical company and had staged the drama. Both the men were arrested, Mr. Sekar said.

In the third incident, three men waylaid a doctor and sought medical help. They brought him to a place behind Pachaiyappa’s College hostel and robbed him of Rs.9,500 in cash, jewellery and an iPod. The three men were arrested from Chetpet. One of the accused was wanted in a car theft also, he said.

Source: The Hindu

I would like to bring to your kind attention the “Great Indian Petrol Pump Fraud” happening all over Bangalore (and I believe all over India).

Today in the morning, I saw the fuel gauge of my car touching the “Empty” sign, so I thought that while on my way to office, I will fill petrol worth 1000 Rs in my car. When I reached the petrol pump at 9:30 Am today(24th April 2008)(BP petrol pump near Richmond road) I showed the crisp 1000 Rs note to the attendant at the petrol pump and told him to fill 1000 Rs. I repeated 1000 to him 2-3 times so that he registers 1000 Rs in his head fill the petrol for 1000 Rs. I repeatedly told him because of the past experience whenever I had asked him to fill petrol worth 1000 bucks at different gas stations(i.e. for eg. at Advaitha Gas station, near udapi garden BTM to name one of them),the attendant always filled 200 rs of petrol and said “Sir your 200 rs of petrol is filled” . I used to say I asked you fill 1000 Rs of petrol not 200 worth. He would look at me like an innocent kid and would start filling the remaining 800 Rs of petrol.

But this procedure of 200+800 didn’t stop at one petrol pump but gas attendants at all the petrol pumps followed this weird ritual. I could sense something fishy but not before losing money to this procedure 3-4 times. So coming back to Today’s incident I asked the “Honest” petrol pump attendant to fill the petrol,While filling the petrol my attention was diverted towards the pollution check centre at the same petrol pump but when I looked back at the meter indicator, I was shocked to see the familiar “200″ mark at the petrol pump meter. I told him again why didn’t you fill for 1000 Rs. He said that he heard 200 Rs. So I told him to fill 800 Rs of petrol also. After he had filled the petrol, I got in the car and started towards my office. While on my way to office, I observed the fuel gauge in my car. It had moved from
“Empty” first to half and then little further. But from my past experience that when I used to get 1000 rs of fuel filled in the empty fuel tank, It used to come to certain level but today it hadn’t come till there. So I thought SHOOT….I got duped again.

After reaching office I checked the Internet for same Frauds which had happened before my case. I was shocked to find that many other people also faced the same problem of 200+800 and some bikes of 40+60 bucks (these petrol pump attendants don’t leave anybody).I spoke to my boss and a colleague of mine at office they told me of the same incident. I was like … this problem is not only with me but with people all over Bangalore. Basically people all over Bangalore (maybe all over India) are getting cheated in this ingenious fraud which is promoted by our friendly neighbour hood petrol pump owners and their honchos gas attendants.

The ingenious technique these people follow is discussed below in italics

When asked for diesel worth Rs. 500. The attendant filled up only Rs. 100. noticing that I told him to fill for Rs. 500 but by that time he is done with 100 so the attender said he will fill up for remaining Rs.400…that is when he did a trick of as though he is resetting by playing games of hurry burry and continuing to fill and when he is done for Rs. 400 he asked for 500 (100+400) but in reality he only filed for 100+300 as he is not really reset the machine to zero even though it appears as he reset it.

So after reading the messages on the website I went back to the petrol pump ,parked my car in middle of the petrol pump called the attendant and told him that you have cheated me of 200 rs of petrol instead of filling petrol worth of 1000 Rs you have filled the petrol worth only 800 rs ,I told him I am going to sue your petrol pump and I want to write a complaint against the same .He got frightened said “Sorry Sir By mistake i have not reset 200 rs”. He didn’t ask me any more questions and directly filled 200 Rs of petrol.

I wonder that BP, IOC, HP talk about going in losses and hence they ask govt. to increase the price of diesel and petrol but in reality petrol pump owners are helping us save lots of oil by asking us to pay 1000 rs but giving us petrol worth 800. What a brilliant way to conserve oil and make profit for petrol pump owners. I guess people should know about the ingenious way in which petrol pumps owners helps us.


(This story was sent as an email )