Global Pension Plan - Is it a Scam?

The idea is that you pay €30 to join and once 100,000 members have joined, each member will receive at least €55,000 provided that they are under the age of 67.

In this report I would like to take a look in the Global Pension Plan and try to discover what it is all about, why it has been formed, when it was formed, how it works, where it is based and, most importantly, who is behind it.

So, the question is:

will the Global Pension Plan make you wealthy or simply remove €30 from your bank account?

Background

Back at the very beginning of 2006 there were slight rumblings online about a new investment scheme that costs just €30 to join but could potentially pay out €55,000+ in just a few months.

This plan, for some reason, needs 100,000 people to join before it closes the doors to new applicants. All 100,000 people will apparently receive €55,000 each plus any so-called "Loyalty Bonuses". These are to be paid into an offshore bank account for which the member will receive a debit card.

The "Loyalty Bonus" is a payment of €2,000 per member you introduce and also for each member in their downline - possibly a staggering amount of money for a scheme that pays money for introductions made to 12 levels down.

The website for Global Pension Plan (globalpensionplan.net) was launched sometime earlier in November 2005 but it took some time for the inevitable hoards of High Yield Investment Program (HYIP) seekers to find it.

On the site the organizers have written a great deal of sales copy promising that by utilizing some kind of financial transaction with a "Trust Partner" they can create returns of €55,000 per member.

All they require to do this is an initial payment of just €30 which covers all of the administrative costs incurred in setting this deal up.

No names are mentioned and no contact details are given except an email address which is support@globalpensionplan.net.

The Fundamentals Behind the Global Pension Plan Scheme

According to the organizers, the Global Pension Plan (GPP) is:

"...an extraordinary financial opportunity with unlimited income potential..."

The website explains the plan as follows:

"When you are invited to become a member of Global Pension Plan, your only out of pocket cost to register is €30. This fee covers all of the expenses (administration, processing, maintaining the data base and web sites, handling, banking solution, shipping, etc.) involved to maintain your Global Pension Plan membership"

It then continues to say:

"The face value for each member's pension plan contract is €200,000.

Of this amount 60% or €120,000 will be disbursed as follows:

Premium for the policy assuming an average age of 34: €41,000
Loyalty Program Rewards (€2,000 x 12 levels): €24,000
Compensation to each member under 66 years of age at
payout: €55,000
Total amount disbursed: €120,000"

The basic idea is that somehow the organizers of this scheme claim that they will be able to create a series of pension contracts for each of the 100,000 members and then mortgage these contracts to release money.

They then claim that this money will be divided with the vast majority going to the individual members and the rest seemingly being given to the mysterious "Trust Partner" or whoever else is involved.

At least that is the impression the site gives with its explanation of the whole process.

Obviously, anyone wishing to clarify if this could actually happen should consult an independent financial advisor before investing.

Why has someone created the Global Pension Plan?

The simple answer is one word - MONEY.

Somebody is going to make a whole load of money out of GPP and that may or may not be the people who join up and pay their €30.

If this whole plan can work (and believe me, I am no financial advisor nor lawyer so I cannot clarify if it could or not) then it could create a great deal of money.

However, surely a transaction like this where contracts are involved and borrowing is done, there are inherent risks. And when you see the word "mortgage" together with the word "contract" in a sentence then you should be fully aware that there are risks and lots of legal requirements.

When was the Global Pension Plan created?

The domain globalpensionplan.net was registered on the 21st October 2005.

The first archives of the site can be traced back to 29th November 2005 when it looked remarkably similar to how it looks now (14th March 2007).

The main difference was that back then they linked to two different sites which they described as their "partner sites" and they only took payment via e-gold.

On the archived site it claims the Global Pension Plan was "launched on the 23rd of May 2005" and if this is true it must have been under another domain name for the reasons given above (date of domain registration).

How does it work?

This isn't made clear by the wording on globalpensionplan.net - it is not described in any great detail or explained particularly well. This isn't reassuring because anything involving mortgages, contracts, insurance etc is complex and usually requires the advice of a lawyer or financial professional.

They promise that you will gain upwards of €55,000 if 100,000 members join up and "after the closure [of the plan] there will be a processing time of about 6 weeks before the payouts take place".

The money is allegedly obtained by somehow creating 100,000 pension plans and then releasing the equity from these plans by mortgaging them.

Basically, the organizers of Global Pension Plan are banking on creating €20 billion from nothing - or giving the illusion that they are doing so.

That is by creating 100,000 x €200,000 "insurance contracts".

They call this the "face value of each member's pension plan contract".

Whether this can or cannot work is something that you would have to discuss with a financial advisor or a banking expert.

If it sounds too good to be true...

Where is the company behind Global Pension Plan based?

This is very hard to discover and at best anything in this section will be an estimate based on what little information is revealed on the globalpensionplan.net site.

The domain registration details are as follows:

WhoisGuard
WhoisGuard Protected
8939 S. Sepulveda Blvd
Westchester, CA 90045
US

Typically, domain registration guarding is used by someone who does not wish to be associated with the domain in question or the contents of that particular domain.

In other words, they do not want to be traced.

In the case of GPP they do not give any details whatsoever on the website about who they are, who the "Trust Partner" is, who the "insurance company" is or anything else which could tie one particular company to the Global Pension Plan.

In the FAQ on the site, one question is:

"Why don't you reveal the name of the insurance company you cooperate with or the name of the Trust Partner?"

Their answer to this question is:

"...we need to protect the privacy of all or our partners... if we reveal the name of the insurance company, what would most possibly happen? Hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of people would call them to verify the information. That would most probably lead to a huge work load, frustration and delays in the office of the insurance company... So please let us act as your middle-man taking care of all the contacts and making the program succeed..."

The archive of the Global Pension Plan website from the 10th January 2006 lists two websites which are described as "our partners in success". These domains are:

(1) Boulat.com and
(2) Financia4us.com

The first domain, boulat.com has the following registration details:

Boulat Rafikov
BB Trading Agency
C.P.1717
Benguela, N/A 00000
AO

(Benguela is a province in Angola, a country in south-central Africa).

The second domain, financia4us.com has the registration details as follows:

SmartNet Development, Inc
10161 Park Run Drive
Suite 150
Las Vegas, NV 89145
US

Note: email and phone/fax details have been removed for privacy reasons.

Now, references for both of these domains have been removed from the GPP website so they may not be anything to do with the investment scheme.

However, the Global Pension Plan website does say the following:

"...our site and servers are also located outside the USA, EU, Australia, New Zealand etc and our banking is done in top of the line offshore banking location..."

Could this mean that the company is based in Angola? After all, this location is outside of the US, Europe and Australasia...

Who is behind the Global Pension Plan?

As with the "where are they" question, it is pretty much impossible to tell who is behind GPP. All that is known is that the person who contributes to the forum in the guise of an administrator goes by the name of "Stella".

Memberships are paid using eBuillion which is pretty much anonymous and so even this method of discovering who is behind the scheme is out.

If, for example, payments were taken using PayPal then you would be able to see who has received your money through your account but PayPal is not offered.

Perhaps this could be because the owner of GPP is in a country which PayPal does not cover - Angola for example!

Some Important Points to consider about the Global Pension Plan scheme

#1 - One thing that everyone who joins GPP seems to say is that they are willing to "take the risk" of losing €30 just in case this scheme does actually pay out and they get €55,000 or more.

Perhaps this is what the GPP organizers are banking on.

Let's face it, if they do happen to get 100,000 members then they will receive €30 from each one i.e. €3 million.

Not bad for a couple of years' work.

Give or take a few hundred thousand for eBuillion fees and hosting etc, they could easily walk away with, say €2.5 million.

And if they did, what are the members to do?

How are you going to find someone who is completely unwilling to reveal who they are or where they are?

#2 - Although I have not joined or seen what is required to sign-up to the scheme, I assume from the wording on their website that the GPP owners require certain personal details from each member.

Also, in the FAQs they state that once 100,000 people have joined they will need from each member:

"...a copy of a government issued ID like passport, driving license, birth certificate etc. indicating the very same details as used when signed up with us..."

I would not recommend sending a copy of any form of ID to someone who is not willing to reveal who they are. Like the 419 scammers, these forms of identification could be used in any manner, even perhaps to open bank accounts in your name etc.

#3 - The Global Pension Plan has used an ingenious method to get its members to refer other people even though they will not see any immediate gain.

The incentive to sign others up is a simple promise that you will receive a massive €2,000 for each sign-up to 12 levels down i.e. a potential €24,000 per sign-up.

Of course, you have to be a trusting person to believe that will ever see any of this money and please do think carefully before involving family or friends in this scheme.

Nothing has been proven yet about the Global Pension Plan and, at the moment, no-one has the slightest idea of who they are dealing with.

#4 - Read the "Disclaimer" and "Risk Factor" sections of the GPP site.

Pay particular attention to the following in the "Risk Factor" section:

"Global Pension Plan offers no guarantee of any kind. Risk is an integral part of any financial transaction... Global Pension Plan will make every effort to reduce the probability of loss but payment of Compensation and Loyalty Program Rewards are on a best efforts basis..."

and this in the "Disclaimer" section:

"The details contained herein are for informational purposes only, are subject to possible error, change, and/or amendment, and are provided specifically as a courtesy at the request of the recipient"

So, please take note that the actual rewards are to be provided on a "best efforts basis" and the whole site is "for informational purposes only".

#5 - It's no surprise that GPP uses only e-Gold to process payments because they payments simply cannot be reversed - they are akin to using cash.

From Wikipedia:

"...there is no way of having transactions reversed, even in case of a legitimate error or an unauthorized expenditure. e-gold's Terms of Use stipulate that all transactions are final and e-gold cannot be held responsible for any spend..."

#6 - Read the FAQs very carefully, you aren't going to get a refund under any circumstances:

"...you can cancel the membership but we are not going to refund your membership fee..."

Conclusion

This short report aims to answer a few very relevant questions about the Global Pension Plan.

What I would suggest that you do if you are considering investing in this scheme is satisfy yourself with the risks involved and also consider the contents of this page as you try to answer the vast majority of the questions you may have.

When someone requests money via an irreversible payment system, refuses to tell you who they are and also aims to acquire your personal details and identification then you are well advised to do a great deal of what the Americans call "due diligence".

And if you do join and the GPP organizers request that you sign certain legal documents, I would recommend that you consult a solicitor and a financial advisor before signing anything.

Further Notes:

I am happy to be proven wrong about anything written in this report and will make amendments if need be.

You can contact me via the contact form on this site or leave a message on the blog post which I have setup to discuss this particular investment scheme at:

Global Pension Plan - Do Your "Due Diligence"