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Alerts & Hot Topics » TIME FOR COMMON SENSE (TDU-Thirty Dollar Unit) by Stephen Renberg |
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Thirty Dollar Unit (TDU) is an online investment program that has promised for each $30.00 unit you purchase, you will receive $12,500 when the program concludes and payments are made. They have already missed 3 deadlines for this payment to be made, and many now are questioning its validity as a legal program. Much discussion has centered around the legality of TDU, and this post was made on the TDU forum for the members to step back and think. I felt this post was extremely well written and presented, and requested we be allowed to reprint it here. Mr. Renberg was kind enough to allow us to do so. After reading his comments, we hope that everyone will stop, think and use their common sense about the legality of TDU. We also highly recommend that you use this common sense in evaluating any program you are thinking of joining, and also read our Red Flag Warnings, and Due Diligence links on our forum for additional information to assist you in evaluating any investment program, online or not.
Time for Common Sense by Stephen Renberg
I understand this thread was set up to ask questions of the administration of TDU, and I promise that I will ask a question of "Jackie" or "Leah" or whomever is the administrator by the time I finish (although I have noticed that most people posting here do not ask questions but use this space to express personal opinions). I have only posted here twice and both of them were back in March or April. I still come here from time to time to view the dynamics of a forum and the interaction of the participants (I have never participated or even seen a forum before). You might not recall, but I don't have a dog in the fight, so I don't really get involved in the war of words that has been ongoing for the past few weeks. A friend of mine purchased a few units for me in hopes of paying me back some money he owes me even when I told him that I was quite sure that this TDU would not work as advertised. However, that is my opinion and has been from the day he first showed me the TDU website. My opinion at that time was based upon the following:
I have years of experience dealing with registered investments and have held registered securities licenses as well as commodities licenses. That doesn't make me better than anyone else, just aware of the Federal and State requirements for investments (and that includes TDU). Thirty Dollar Units was not registered and the people selling this investment are not licensed either. This is not an opinion of mine, but a fact that everyone must live with. A registered investment requires that a prospectus be provided that gives all of the information about the investor, the type of investment being made, the track record of the investor and the names, addresses and phone numbers of the parties involved along with many other requirements. You might not agree that all of this information need be presented, but it is the law.
I have found it quite humorous when several people stated that they did their "due diligence" before sending in their money. Sorry people, but nobody did any "due diligence". It simply is not possible! How can you check out an investment when you don't even know who "Jackie" really is? How can you check out the investor when you don't know who they are? Since nobody knows how the money was to be invested, how can you verify that it is possible to make the types of returns promised? Without investor information, how can you check out their prior performance? See, without any information, it is impossible to perform any "due diligence". It is for this very reason that a prospectus and registration is required - so people can perform their "due diligence" and make an informed decision whether to invest or not.
Registration would also not allow TDU to make the outlandish promise of paying from $12,500 to $27,500 for each $30 invested. While the SEC or the various states cannot insure that the investor will make money, they don't allow the registrants to make claims that cannot be backed up with prior investing history or performance. And I can assure each and every one in this forum that NOBODY in the history of investing has ever made the returns that would be required to make the payouts that have been promised.
Just based upon those two facts, I knew that TDU could not be legal, nor could it make the payments as promised. I told my friend this, but he purchased the units in my name anyway. Now, I am not a fool and wish that the story of the golden goose was true and we would all get paid (I would never turn down a payout, but never for one minute expected it). However, if you want to continue to believe for the next twenty years it is okay with me, as that is your right and has no impact on me. I do feel badly when I read sad stories of forum members losing houses or facing bankruptcy, but there is a lot of that going around right now in the financial hardships the world is facing.
The reason I have called this post the "Time for Common Sense" is I wanted to address some dynamics that I don't think anyone has addressed. Since this will be my third and final post, I just want to point out a few things and ask you to step back for a second and just think. I believe that most people have astute common sense when they allow it a bit of credibility and don't let emotions overcome what they truly know in their heart and mind. One of the selling points for the TDU program was that it is supposedly a humanitarian program to help the members of this forum. Now don't be defensive, but are we really candidates for a humanitarian program? A few in here have lost homes, but I bet they are not sleeping under a bridge. We all have clean water, clean clothes, sufficient nourishment for our needs, and indoor plumbing with proper sanitation. I have traveled the world, and in many, many places these basic human needs are not met. I have seen people living in cardboard huts without running or clean water. They don't have plumbing and there is human waste and infection all around. These are the people who are candidates for humanitarian aid, not us. I think that this was just a ploy used by the originators of TDU to give it credibility that is not deserved. I know that this is just my opinion, but step back a second and let common sense take over, and ask yourself: are you really a candidate for humanitarian aid?
I also believe that we have truly underestimated the craftiness of the people who set up TDU. It is my opinion that Leah James has played this group of people like a finely tuned fiddle. From her first advertisement where she claimed to be a person who was paid from the first cycle through all of her posts where she says just enough to give people hope and keep them believing while she extracted the money from Alert Pay and STP, she has been very smooth. I particularly like the part when she told her critics to stop threatening her, while a threat was never ever made. Criticism is not a threat. It is merely the expression of an opinion concerning the performance of promises made. I even liked the post that Jennifer made when Jackie sent an update through her because she could not get into the forum.....the administrator could not get into the forum? I know others were having challenges several weeks ago, but all of that has ended. Once again, it is just my opinion, but I believe "Jackie" or "Leah" used this as a ruse for not coming in and posting as promised. After all, she has everyone's email address (I assume that Jennifer isn't the only one who could receive a message from her) and could communicate with everyone without even using this forum. Now, step back and use common sense for a minute. So, why doesn't Jackie use our emails and follow through with her promises? I believe most people know the answer to this question if they would only admit it.
When I watch the back and forth attacks that have occurred the past few months, I am left to wonder a little as to their origination (and yes, there have been assaults from both directions) the last time I posted in here I was attacked and even had some PM's sent my way telling me to go to hell and leave the good people of the forum alone. I remember when Trish was a very solid supporter and wrote very positive posts without any of the language being used currently. I also know that when several members caught "Jackie" in several lies (yes, in case you have forgotten), Jackie did claim that someone had hacked the TDU account at Alert Pay which was a total fabrication and several other stories that were too incredible to believe. We could review them all, but that would not accomplish a thing. At this point, Trish came to the conclusion that TDU was a scam and would never pay. I think that the reasons she and others have lashed out is in frustration since their hopes were smashed at that time. In most of her posts in the other forum, she takes her frustration out on "Jackie" and her minions, but does also strike out at forum members who still believe. I think she does this because the continued support for "Jackie" in this forum only facilitates the scoundrels, and assists them in avoiding the state and federal authorities. I also believe that those in here who strike back do so because they don't want their dream destroyed yet and still hold out a degree of hope. For me, if a person wants to hope for a long, long time that is okay. Just don't attack those who have a different opinion (that goes both ways) and don't blindly assist "Jackie" in her larceny. And why in the world do people still praise "Jackie" for all that she has done? There are still people who were never verified into the forum after all this time. I don't believe she is working hard for anyone except for herself, but just my opinion.
One other point I want to mention and have people think about was the claim for the previous cycle. My friend claimed that someone had been paid $450,000 in the first cycle. I looked at him incredulously and asked him how he knew that. He could only tell me that someone had told someone else who had told him, etc. etc. etc. Well, take a step back once again and use your common sense. Do you really believe that if there had been a previous cycle, with people getting paid these incredibly high returns, that TDU would have had to offer incentive bonuses in December in an effort to get all of the units sold by the end of the year? Does that make any sense whatsoever? Don't you think that if people had been paid in the first cycle, they would have purchased a large percent of the available units in the second cycle? Remember the thread where the forum members discussed how many units they were going to purchase in the next cycle? Well, it is only human nature to jump all over something that has proven itself to be true. If there had been a first cycle, it is my contention (using common sense of course) that the units in the second cycle would have flown off the shelf and would have been sold in a few weeks if not days. There would not have been a need to offer referral bonuses in December.
Okay, as promised, I will ask "Jackie" a question so my post here will be legal. My question to her would be: Jackie, you claim you are a humanitarian person who loves her people in this forum and wants everyone to have great weekends as we all wait for the latest and greatest update from you. So, when will it be enough and you can either let everyone know that sun has set on this program and nobody will ever be paid? Or alternatively, when will you close down the forum and let everyone get back to their normal lives? And as they say, “That’s the rest of the story.” |
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