Thread by @Yaolri

You just came across the company @_beofficial and are thinking about investing with them?

A thread about why it would be a bad idea to do that and give money to its founders, the Islam brothers.

Last May, website (befactor.com) of the new Dubai-based company @_beofficial and its related social media accounts went live.

On its website and in promotional videos, @_beofficial says it "has created simple steps that already allowed people from all walks of life, regardless of their race, background, and skill-set to build a multi-million dollar business from their smartphone while traveling."

For a certain fee per month, @_beofficial promises you access to...

...their ecosystem of applications that "provides an opportunity for people from all walks of life to build and own a business from their smartphones while living their best life."

"Empowering individuals", "global platform", "artificial intelligence", "unlimited income", "multi-million dollar business", etc.

Sounds too good to be true, right?

First big ⚠️

@_beofficial is nothing else but a rebranding of #MELiUS, a Dubai-based MLM forex and cryptocurrency company that looked a lot like a pyramid scheme.

Do read behindmlm.com's work on MELiUS and BE: behindmlm.com/mlm-reviews/be…

French media @le_Parisien also did an excellent investigation into #MELiUS last June (in French).

Launched in late 2018, MELiUS started off well but then recruitment slowed down end of 2019.

Probably why it's being rebooted under a different name.

leparisien.fr/video/video-me…

The founders of #MELiUS and @_beofficial—the Islam brothers, we'll come back to them later—did not bother hiding links between the two.

On the left is BE's ecosystem of apps. On the right is the world of MELiUS.

They even kept the names of the iRide and Triva apps.

What about the others?

Let's take SHiFT for instance.

It "sprang as a simple trading app that reshaped the way people do and understand the methods of trading."

It used to be the iGOTRADE app of #MELiUS.

The new "community driven application" SENSE?

It was named PIPSMASTER under #MELiUS.

Second ⚠️ ?

@_beofficial's compensation plan. A set of bonuses that incentivise the sale of subscriptions in what end up looking like pyramid structures.

It seems to be all about recruitment, with the apps being the glitter to draw you in.

But the third and most important ⚠️ for @_beofficial is about the founders themselves.

The Islam brothers: Moyn Islam, Monir Islam, and Ehsaan B. Islam.

Those guys were the founders of #MELiUS, that dodgy MLM forex/cryptocurrency company.

They love flashing that @forbes magazine page that was simply a paid advert according to behindmlm.com.

Even more concerning is the fact that two of the Islam brothers—Moyn and Monir—were big promoters of the #OneCoin cryptocurrency Ponzi-pyramid fraud.

mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/w…

One of the biggest scams in history, #OneCoin defrauded investors of billions of dollars.

Journalists @JamieJBartlett and @GeorgiaJCatt did a great investigative podcast for @BBCSounds about the OneCoin scam.

Highly recommend it.

bbc.com/news/stories-5…

Early 2019, the US @TheJusticeDept announced charges against some of the #OneCoin leaders.

Ruja Ignatova had disappeared in late 2017.

Two top leaders, Sebastian Greenwood and Konstantin Ignatov, were arrested.

justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/m…

But others, like the Islam brothers, are still running free and "in business".

To keep monitoring @_beofficial and other dodgy MLM companies, do read behindmlm.com.

It's an excellent source.