Boulat Rafikov
It seems that Mr. Rafikov has had his hands in many HYIPs (High Yield Investment Program) such as the infamous Global Pension Plan. It had various people[1][2][3] go to lengths to find out more about him, and eventually people found that GPP was a scam[4].
Despite GPP being under investigation by the authorities, Mr. Rafikov is still promoting it at his website boulat.com, along with an identical investment scheme named World Pension Plus.
The website owner details for worldpensionplus.com and yarfin.com (where member applications are submitted) have been hidden by a domain proxy company located in, curiously, Singapore[9].
Of course boulat.com is also promoting MYMoneyTree.tv, because after all he is one of their Special Advisors. But Mr. Rafikov also owns a website specially dedicated to me2everyone, which he aptly named me-2everyone.com and promotes heavily. I found out that this website belonged to him through a post he made at Yahoo Groups[5]. His me2everyone member ID listed on that website is #26, which would suggest an early involvement.
That same Yahoo message pointed to another investment program with a high yield promise called "Re-forestation in Angola Project", which does not appear on his personal website but certainly has his involvement. The wesbsite shows some pictures of him and Emicopf Lda's owner[7][8]. The owner is Emilia Escorcio Ferreira (which is shown in the website title), a.k.a. Mila, and she is Boulat Rafikov's spouse[6]. Kuito, Angola[map] is his place of residence and he is originally from Ufa, Russian Federation / Bashkortostan[map].
Mr. Rafikov's "bnetwork" spreads to the outer reaches of the Internet and markets, from selling the very same property he's trying to reforest[10] to non-existing hyrdofoil boats that are actually a lure for Get Rich Quick mailing lists[11]. From providing intel on new HYIPs[12] and affordable Ukrainian dairy products[13] to... being a Special Advisor?
He may hold a Phd as an Ophthalmologist, but I don't think he is seeing things clearly enough to be fit as an advisor for a business. I certainly wouldn't want to see his name in the "meet the team" of me2eveyone's Beta (when is that going to happen, by the way?)
Xen Academy
Xen Academy is a strange bird. Whatever it was, there's little detail available except that it was blaming MoonCell on its failure and was seeking to compensate its members upwards £700,000. It most likely would have gone unnoticed, hadn't it been mentioned in some of the (annoying) e-mails and forum posts that me2everyone members are spreading en-masse.
But since I posted a blog about it, they've taken the website down (I must admit, they are quite responsive). All you'll find now at www.xenacademy.net is a "closed" notice. Fair enough; I tend to keep copies of things I write about, so here's a screenshot (actually, it's a screenshot from a PDF "printout" - technicalities aside, click on it to be able to read it):
The only member I could see advertising Xen Academy was someone in Bundaberg, Australia from Friends Direct Marketing Pty Ltd[14]. There's a Bob Fordham that comes up under that, who happens to be promoting me2everyone as a member, but otherwise there's little to be known.
But since that landed me in Australia, I had a quick peek at this Tim Fielding fellow that MYMoneyTree.tv mentioned (as a Special Advisor for Australia). Indeed, Mr. Fielding's does seem to be well versed in the area of luxury cruise travel[15] -- and nothing as outlandish as Mr. Rafikov. A sensible person, it seems.
The only thing that caught my attention was a single blog post on his website that stood out from his usual blogs[16], which promoted me2everyone. Mr. Fielding's me2everyone ID is #27 (Mr. Rafikov was #26). If anything comes from this blog, it would be a guessing game of who owns which membership ID!
Another early member
And that comment brings be back to the UK again, to me2everyone member #11[17] to be exact: Peter Bennett. Peter belongs in a similar, if not same, league as Boulat Rafikov. In Mr. Bennett's own words: "Involved with online investment programs for the last 10 years and manages International Passive Income with a Newsletter subscription of around 2000 active members"[18]. Another HYIP opportunist, that is.
Though Mr. Bennett has not been as active spreading the word about me2everyone as Mr. Rafikov has been, there are plenty of other "investments" his name appear on. An interesting one, which is also pushed by Mr. Rafikov, is the Sqip Stakeholder Program that promises the same features, almost word-for-word, as me2everyone with the exception of the 3D "virtual world" bit.
It doesn't offer shares but PEPs or Private Equity Points which carry dividends, which can be sold to or traded with other members, earn additional PEPs through sales and referrals, become more valuable as the company grows, and so forth. Shares without calling them shares, basically.
Furthermore, it will have social networking, a market place, a search engine, MP3s music downloads, online auctions, an instant messenger and more. It promises to be a mega portal, bigger than Facebook, Yahoo and... Well, I think you get the gist.
Sqipcom Ltd., the owner of Sqip, is registered in the Seychelles however, which is similar to Belize, an unscrupulous business haven. It does not have any direct ties to LoreKai, which is a good thing, I guess (makes for good competition between the two).
At any rate, I am quite interested to see who will be on the actual team or Global Exec or whatever moniker they choose, when me2everyone goes into its beta stage. Even more so, I'd like to see an actual product or service - even if it is unfinished. Then I'll change my tune a bit!
Note: As usual, you are to draw your own conclusions - I could be wrong! Regarding the information within this blog, the references are provided below and none of it was hidden from public view at the time of writing. I am not receiving any personal or financial gain from this blog.
References:
[1] Global Pension Plan - Do Your "Due Diligence": http://www.bizoppsblog.com/88/global-pension-plan-do-your-due-diligence/?cp=38
[2] Talkgold.com, Re: GlobalPensionPlan.net: http://208.101.11.124:54321/forum/showthread.php?t=63508&page=190
[3] Mature Not Senile blog, "I think I'm getting paranoid" : http://jude8753.com/2009/01/17/i-think-im-getting-paranoid/
[4] "...a pyramid fraud scheme warning for Global Pension Plan which was issued by the Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)" - Source: http://www.ecommerce-journal.com/articles/hyip_weekly_report_why_you_should_avoid_global_pension_plan
[5] Sandvox website examples response by Mr. Rafikov: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/sandvox/message/5575
[6] Boulat Rafikov's Google profile: http://www.google.com/s2/profiles/117160687892028252655
[7] The Re-forestation in Angola Project: http://re-forestation.net
[8] Mr. Rafikov at Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/22900733@N08/2195662434/
[9] www.worldpensionplus.com Whois Domain Information: http://www.whois.net/whois_new6.cgi?d=worldpensionplus&tld=com
[10] 750 Hectrare land in Angola for sale by Mr. Rafikov: http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/100332583/Virgin_Land_Property_In_The_Most.html
[11] "Dr. Boulat Rafikov, Hydrofoil 12-passenger Boat, 32 knots, 10.5 meter length, Mercruiser D4.2 Turbo engine" - Source: http://www.foils.org/linksout.htm
[12] Mr. Rafikov's bnetwork at Qassia: http://bnetwork.qassia.com/
[13] Affordable Diary[sic] Products by Mr. Rafikov: http://www.premierbc.com/lead.php?typeid=s13174&language=english
[14] Friends Direct Pty Ltd's Xen Academy membership - http://www.google.com/search?q=site:www.friendsdirect.com.au+Xen+Academy&hl=en&filter=0
[15] Fielding's Guide to Luxury Cruises: http://www.fieldings-luxury-cruises.com/luxury-cruises-blog.html
[16] "Feb 27, 2009, Become a primary shareholder of the 'new' Facebook V2..." - http://www.fieldings-luxury-cruises.com/luxury-cruises-blog.html
[17] International Passive Income, "New programs": http://www.internationalpassiveincome.com/New.html
[18] International Passive Income blog, Peter Bennett: http://internationalpassiveincome.blogspot.com/
