Traffic Monsoon Claim Portal Is Open

Do you remember Traffic Monsoon? It was over 3 years ago, The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against it for operating a Ponzi scheme and subsequently the site was shut down. The owner of the business Charles Scoville insisted at the time that he had been selling an advertising service. But it's clear that some of the users were receiving a return on "investment" where there was no real advertising revenue, therefore the judge decided the scheme was a Ponzi scheme.

The Traffic Monsoon's asset was frozen and the lawyers Dorsey & Whitney LLP were appointed as the Receiver. 

Traffic Monsoon Receivership Updates

Anyway just before Christmas 2019, the court granted D&W permission to begin a formal claims process in this case. If you made your claim for a refund of your investment 3 years ago via D&W, you would have received an email notification from them by now, with your unique reference number. 

A proof of claim is a written statement that says the amount you are entitled to be paid back from Traffic Monsoon or the owner Charles Scoville. If you have all the receipts, that'll be perfect but it's a tricky one. Earlier on Traffic Monsoon was accepting payments via PayPal, then PayPal banned it. TM then started to use Payza, which turned out to be an unlicensed money clearance service. The site has been seized and the company's been indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in the District of Columbia. (Basically all scammers!) All your payments were made over 3.5 years ago, neither of them would be able to prove the transactions for you, anyway.

But each time you made a payment, you would have received an email notification from TM - ridiculously simple one though. If you didn't save them, check your inbox and see if you've still got them.

Most importantly, make a statement yourself - just like you write a formal letter with your name, address, and give as much information as you can. The payment dates and amounts if you have kept the record of them, and say you are entitled to be paid back. You can use Google Docs, download it as PDF and upload it onto the portal.

Ponzi Scheme

2016 - I was naïve. Stupid. Someone I trusted had referred me to Traffic Monsoon, and I simply thought the idea of an advertising agent sharing the profit with the investors was somewhat similar to a shareholding. What I failed to realize was...was everything. Who would be benefitted from the advertisements, how they were generating such an excessive revenue, and at whose expense (customers other than the investors).

That's not how businesses work - you don't receive a rebate that's more than you spend from a company that you don't own. The idea of sharing a profit with users/customers, other than the shareholders, for no particular reason is just wrong. I didn't see that 3 years ago. But anyway Traffic Monsoon did turn out to be Ponzi, the members were robbing Peter to pay Paul. I'm glad that the case is moving towards closure.