Earlier this 12 months we noticed the launch of one of many extra shady MLM crypto schemes; Meta Bounty Hunters.
It wasn’t till post-launch that the “staff” behind Meta Bounty Hunters was revealed.
What we did uncover was MBH was being closely promoted to iBuumerang associates via firm proprietor Holton Buggs.
Then there was Travis Bott who, via Meta Lab Company, has revealed his newest crypto grft; an NFT Ponzi manufacturing facility.
Earlier than we get into Meta Labs Company, let’s deliver you in control.
The grift behind Meta Bounty Hunters was easy – promote 8888 Star Wars knockoff cartoon NFTs at $2000 a pop.
Hooked up to the essential grift was an MLM alternative, which operated as a pyramid scheme. Then on prime of that you just had “weekly reflection payouts”, which turned Meta Bounty Hunters right into a Ponzi scheme.
By Travis Bott’s personal admission, Meta Bounty Hunters generated $17.5 million. A fast payday for himself, Buggs and anybody else concerned on the government stage.
The Meta Bounty Hunters NFT assortment is traded on Open Sea, possible between a small group of insiders artificially inflating the ground worth (at present 2.29 ETH or $4028).
Exterior of the NFT bubble issues look bleak. Earlier this month the WSJ reported NFT buying and selling was down 92% from peak stupidity final September.
Right here’s how Meta Bounty Hunters as an MLM firm goes:
Fairly clearly, the cash is within the grift itself; promote cartoon tokens to dumbasses.
Doubtless realizing this, Travis Bott launched Meta Labs Company in late March.
As per a Might twenty second Meta Labs Company press-release;
Whether or not you have already got your artwork generated or need assistance, Meta Labs Company has an in-house staff of creatives, designers, and artists with net 3 expertise.
They’ll assist guarantee your NFT launch aligns together with your model picture, voice, and character.
Their staff is supplied with over 10+ years of expertise within the Net 3 world. They’ve mint entry to 10+ blockchain networks and a deep understanding of good contracts and find out how to optimize fuel charges.
What actually makes Meta Labs Company particular is its give attention to distinctive utility and offering worth again to the holder.
“One of many issues we recognized was using proceeds and ensuring the proceeds from mint have been going to be deployed in a means that was going to profit the group,” says Travis Bott, CEO of Meta Labs Company.
Naturally Bott and his staff aren’t talked about anyplace on Meta Labs Company’s precise web site.
Hooked up to Meta Labs Company is “Meta Labs Brokers”.
What we do discover there although is a clone of the Meta Bounty Hunters “reflections” Ponzi scheme:
We additionally get a listing of Meta Labs Company’s executives:
Meta Labs Company’s first Meta Labs Brokers Ponzi grift is less expensive than Meta Bounty Hunters:
A $300 funding will get you entry to a smaller reflections pool. Dropping $1700 on a “Secret Agent Assortment” place opens up returns from “massive reflections”.
The mathematically astute of you’ll be aware that burning 5 $300 positions to acquire a “Secret Agent” funding place involves $1500. I’m assuming the $1700 direct funding value is advertising and marketing.
It appears $17.5 million off of 8888 positions wasn’t sufficient. Bott’s new NFT Ponzi grift sees him flogging 30,000 $300 positions and 5000 $1700 positions.
Though the funding positions are cut up with a two-tier worth mannequin, movement of cash from traders to Bott is similar – $17.5 million.
Effectively, kind of. The precise quantity fleeced is more likely to be decrease because of the “commerce in 5 $300 positions to get a Tremendous Agent place” scheme.
Past the central Ponzi grift Meta Bounty Brokers additionally has a raft of “coming quickly” grifts.
Crypto Chads, Nomad by Ganga and Lions Not Sheep.
Crypto Chads appears to be a money seize concentrating on insecure males. Nomad by Ganga is tied to Joaquin Ganga Lopez, an LA based mostly tattoo artist.
Lions Not Sheep is a right-wing aligned attire firm. Its NFT assortment cartoon artwork is once more geared toward insecure males:
Earlier this month the FTC sued Lions Not Sheep and proprietor Sean Whalen. Of their grievance, the FTC accused Whalen of mendacity in regards to the origin of Lions Not Sheep attire.
The Federal Commerce Fee as we speak took motion in opposition to attire firm Lions Not Sheep Merchandise, LLC, and its proprietor Sean Whalen for falsely claiming that its imported attire is Made in USA.
Based on the FTC’s grievance, the corporate added phony Made in USA labels to clothes and accessories imported from China and different international locations.
The grievance alleges that on Oct. 8, 2020, Whalen printed a video of himself to his social media accounts, with the title MADE IN AMERICA! alongside a Chinese language flag.
Within the video, Whalen stated he might conceal the truth that his shirts are made in China by ripping out the origin tags and changing them with tags stating that the merchandise was made in the US.
Whalen settled the FTC’s allegations via a $211,335 judgment consent settlement. That judgment is nothing financially if the Lions Not Sheep NFT grift goes forward.
Meta Bounty Hunters Season 2 can also be referenced on Meta Labs Company’s web site. It appears Bott isn’t accomplished fleecing his unique traders simply but.
Central to Bott’s NFT grifts are “reflections”. That is simply one other title for returns, sourced from invested funds. It’s a traditional Ponzi scheme, run via money seize NFT collections.
What began with Meta Bounty Hunters has now morphed right into a full-blown Ponzi manufacturing facility – minus the MLM (extra money for Bott).
Travis Bott relies out of Utah within the US. Regardless of providing a passive funding alternative via their NFT schemes, neither Bott or Meta Labs Company are registered with the SEC.
Replace eleventh June 2022 – Holton Buggs hasn’t nonetheless hasn’t acknowledged his suspected possession stake in Meta Labs Company.
On a June sixth iBuumerang webinar nonetheless, Buggs said he “launched” Meta Bounty Hunters.
BehindMLM coated this as a part of an article exploring iBuumerang distributors being fed into the Meta Labs Company NFT Ponzi manufacturing facility.