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Broken Dreams and Millions Lost: The IM Academy Story
Bloomberg Originals· 2025-07-09 19:42
Repeat after me. I am a winner. I am a winner. I am a success. I am Academy essentially sells you a dream.Invest into yourself, into your mind. Empower yourself. Grow someone who's never going to be a slave to the corporate ladder. Who's never going to have to work 9 to5 their whole lives.They say your network is your net worth. It's not what you know, it's who you know. The rooftops.I didn't know how big it was or how big it was going to get. I am the greatest trainer of all time. It was all about look at ...
The Truth About Deep Fakes, and What We Should Do About Them | Ben Colman | TEDxMidAtlantic
TEDx Talks· 2025-07-09 16:47
[Applause] So let's talk a little about AI and how we got to this exciting but also scary world of deep fakes. So over the last few years been a massive democratization of AI. We've seen hardware costs dramatically decrease. We've seen software cost dramatically decrease where we have a lot of software that is now free. We've seen inference costs go down by a factor of 100.We've seen over 10,000 products available on our desktops, on our phones. Typically, we're just a Google search away where anybody witho ...
Broken Dreams and Millions Lost: The IM Academy Story | Bloomberg Investigates
Bloomberg Originals· 2025-07-09 13:01
Business Model & Claims - IM Academy sells a dream of financial freedom through online trading education [1] - The company claims members can learn to trade online, make money, and become rich [10] - It emphasizes personal empowerment and escaping the "nine-to-five" corporate life [1] - The company uses social media influencers to showcase a luxurious lifestyle to attract new members [9] - The company's founder aimed to build a billion-dollar business with a million users [15] Recruitment & MLM Structure - IM Academy operates on a multi-level marketing (MLM) structure, rewarding members for recruiting new members [40][41] - Recruiting is heavily incentivized, with commissions and rank advancements tied to the number of recruits [40][44] - The company encourages aggressive recruitment tactics, urging members to prospect multiple people daily [39] - The company's income disclosure revealed that 94% of members earned less than they paid for their subscription in a year [49] - A small percentage (005%) at the top earned an average of $14 million per year [50] Trading & Education - IM Academy offers online trading lessons, initially focused on foreign exchange (Forex) markets [8] - Members receive "signals" or predictions on price movements, but these are risky and can lead to losses [31][34] - The company claims to teach members to trade various assets, including shares and cryptocurrencies [30][31] - Critics argue that most members make money through recruiting rather than trading [43] - The company is not regulated to provide financial advice, and the founder has never registered as a broker [36][37] Ethical & Legal Concerns - The company faces accusations of fraud, misleading advertising, and running a pyramidal scheme [2][69] - The company's founder has a criminal record and some promoters lack formal financial education [37] - The company has been investigated by the FTC for deceptive or unfair actions [52] - The company has faced numerous complaints, with people reporting significant financial losses and feelings of being brainwashed [57][58][59] - The company isolates members from their families and friends, encouraging them to associate only with other members [55][56]
X @The Block
The Block· 2025-07-08 21:57
Two men charged in $650 million global fraud scheme involving foreign exchange trading and crypto https://t.co/j2R7dFRtef ...
X @Bloomberg
Bloomberg· 2025-07-08 19:32
Bridging Finance’s receiver is suing EY for C$1.4 billion ($1 billion), alleging the auditor failed to detect fraud and misstatements that contributed to the Toronto private lender’s collapse https://t.co/bTLiELBI3c ...
X @Cointelegraph
Cointelegraph· 2025-07-05 09:10
🇦🇺 INSIGHT: A $123M crypto scam in Australia laundered funds through a licensed money transfer firm. One of the country's biggest frauds. https://t.co/Z5TATuT631 ...
X @U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission· 2025-07-02 20:15
Beware of fraudsters impersonating organizations or individuals to lure people into scams. They may impersonate government agencies or employees, or legitimate investment professionals.Learn what to look out for and steps to take to protect yourself: https://t.co/Qt54YANz4S https://t.co/b7CCFVUqqC ...
X @Bloomberg
Bloomberg· 2025-07-02 06:34
Worldline hires an external firm to go through its portfolio of risky clients as the payments firm seeks to restore trust following media allegations that it turned a blind eye to fraud pummeled its share price https://t.co/qwbVAQx14e ...
X @Bloomberg
Bloomberg· 2025-07-01 14:25
Switzerland’s financial watchdog has stepped up pressure on trading platform Swissquote to do more to curb suspicious activity amid a surge in attempted fraud and hacks https://t.co/zfP5Jt4NAy ...