Here's my story of how I was scammed by Jeff Berwick and TDV Passports / TDV Immigration / TDV Media:
On December 17, 2013 I entered into a contract with Jeff Berwick's TDV Media for his 4-year Paraguayan passport program. (I signed the contract on the 17th. Berwick signed the contract on the 18th.) I opted for the payment plan instead of paying the full amount upfront, just in case things turned sideways. I sent a $3,000 Paypal payment to get the ball rolling.
The contract I signed was between me and TDV Media. Here's the letterhead on the contract I signed:
Here's an excerpt of the contract that outline the payment structure:
Here's Jeff Berwick's signature at the bottom of the contract:
Note that the agreement makes no mention of TDV Immigration or TDV Passports. The contract is solely between me and Jeff Berwick and TDV Media.
I traveled to Paraguay in February the following year and met Bettina. She ushered me around Asuncion. I got all of the paperwork done and received my residency card a couple months later. (It seems I'm lucky because every other victim of TDV Immigration I've corresponded with said they never even got their residency.)
I made all payments on time as required by the contract. Since Paypal limits the length of payment subscriptions, each payment subscription could only last 2 years, at least that's my understanding. After the first 2 years were paid off, my plan expired and I requested a new one to continue the payments.
Here's the email I sent to get that reply. It was cut off when I made the screenshot.
(Side note: Jeff Berwick has claimed on several occasions that he has nothing to do with TDV Immigration for years. If that's the case, why was his employee, Michael Bach, setting up a payment plan in 2016? I should also add that all of my payments were going to finances@dollarvigilante.com.)
I resumed making payments on the 2nd Paypal subscription. The last payment made was in August 2016. I was supposed to have an automatic payment go through in September but it didn't, so I sent Chris Martin an email:
I'm a pretty patient person, so that wasn't a problem. I waited a couple months and decided to email Chris Martin. I got no response. I then contacted the general email address for TDV Immigration and got no response. I also tried the phone numbers on the TDV Immigration website. Those numbers were either non-working or answered by someone speaking an Asian language.
The funny thing is that I really wanted to pay TDV Immigration. There's a clause in the contract that states all accrued interested will be wiped out if the client pays the full amount of the program before the start of the 4th year. The 4th year was about to start in December.
After trying to contact Chris Martin and TDV Immigration for a couple months, I feared I was scammed. I had paid for almost 3 years and now that the 4th year is approaching, the year I'm supposed to get my passport, the company cancels my payment plan and becomes non-responsive.
I began to doubt whether TDV Immigration's Paypal account was actually closed due to government intervention or whether TDV Immigration, Berwick or Chris Martin canceled my payment plan. I called up Paypal and they said the owner of the account canceled the payment plan.
I then recalled seeing Chris Martin's profile on Linkedin.com. I checked the site and he was completely wiped off of it. Also, any mention of Chris Martin was removed from the TDV Immigration site.
Then I created a thread on Liberty.me to put pressure on Jeff Berwick and TDV Immigration. After a couple months, he did post once in the thread but completely ignored my case. I also tried contacting him via Facebook,Skype, Youtube, etc. He refused my Skype request and routinely deleted my Youtube and Facebook accounts. He also blocked on those accounts.
I tried contacting TDV directly but communication stopped when I mentioned I was a TDV Immigration client. Here's one email I sent that Michael Bach responded to:
I didn't get a response after that. Then I emailed them again with a different email address with the vague email subject of "subscription." I got this response:
Things seemed to go nowhere so I decided to see if Paypal could chargeback some or all of the amount I paid. I was able to get $1200 back of the $12,600 I paid.
Here's another screenshot showing my subscription:
Here's one of the chargebacks that went through:
Here's a list of the chargebacks I submitted:
After posing as a prospective client, I got a couple responses from someone by the name of Phalla Try over at TDV Immigration. The responses were relatively useless due to her limited understanding of English.
Then about a month ago, I got an email from Jeff Berwick. He claimed that this was the first time he had heard of my problem. (His email included the last email I sent to Michael Bach.) He seemed genuine, so I decided to see if I could get a resolution. Nothing much happened except for long delays between emails. Most of them were me asking if he could respond to the info I provided him.
Berwick contacted Chris Martin about the matter. Martin sent me this email:
I replied:
There's a couple things interesting about Chris Martin's reply. Whenever I had a question, Martin would usually reply within 48 hours. However, he became non-responsive after my payment plan was canceled. Also, I was told by Phalla Try that Chris Martin was no longer with TDV Immigration. However, the email I got from Chris Martin came from cmartin@tdvimmigration.com. If Chris Martin is no longer associated with the company, why does he still have a company email address?
So, that's the story. To this day, I have not received a refund aside from $1200 in chargebacks. BTW, no one from TDV Immigration or TDV Media responded to the Paypal chargebacks.
If anyone has questions, PM me or post in the comments section.
P.S. Check out my update here: https://steemit.com/berwick/@rich-meister/hitting-jeff-berwick-and-tdv-immigration-in-the-wallet
Not to overshadow your story, but much of your personal experience was used for this Steemicide Hotline episode. I wish transparency and justice were real in Steemit.
I appreciate your help. It also made me laugh. :)
my advice is to post often and consistently. I want justice, transparency and the truth.
oh good, i am glad
Yeap, my radar picked this guy up early on Steemit. Bleached scammer. Stay away. @thedollarvigilante goes for your pocket first, not the FED. This is how he sips cocktails in exotic islands selling his tinfoiled followers stories of grandeur.
I had my doubts about him, too. But I just thought he was flaky. Not an actual criminal. That's why I chose the financing plan. I think that's the only reason I actually got residency. He wanted to get more of my money, so he had to provide at least something. Unfortunately, I think I'm the only one who actually got Paraguayan residency.
I bet my $11k and change paid for a lot of outdoor colonics. No matter how many colonics he does to himself naked in the outdoors, it will not clear him of his frauds. For that, he needs to pay restitution.
this was one of the spookiest vidoes i've subjected myself to. yeah, you probably paid for his maid.
I don't think I've ever been so terrified as I was when the camera panned south. This guy is like the poster child for narcissistic personality disorder. You just know that isn't sweat or coconut oil that has him glistening like a bipedal slug - it's sleaze oozing out of his pores.
Like I said, before I saw this video, I didn't know the extent of his narcissism and pathological disorders. Post-viewing, I'd like to stay a convenient distance from this madman. The emptying of his bowels combined with administering his own testosterone were uniquely terrifying to watch.
or his testosterone shots
yep
Kudos for telling your story. I look forward to more posts like this.
Thanks, George. I plan on pursuing this until I get justice, so there will be more updates coming.
I also appreciate you providing all this information.
Rich, thank you for putting all of your evidence out there. I am glad you did this because many people were asking for evidence. Now it's here. For those who don't know or haven't looked into it, there's another person with a story similar to yours. Here's his video. There are many more, too, with similar stories:
Stellabelle, you're welcome. I've also had people claim I had no evidence. While I posted all of it on Liberty.me, the forum layout made it difficult follow. Steemit is a better platform for laying a case out like mine.
BTW, I did speak with Kevin Schmidt (the guy in the video) over the phone and he seemed sincere. Although, he seemed resigned to not recovering his money. Many of Jeff Berwick's victims have given up too easily and that has allowed him to perpetuate his frauds on more victims. Fortunately, I will not stop until I get justice.
his victims tend to be worshipping Beta men who cannot stand up for themselves. I am glad to find a person who is strong-willed and determined. The absurd thing about all of this is that Dollar Vigilante has made thousands on this platform. He could return your money in Steem if he were an honest man (not)...the world is insane. And he claims to be about liberty. What a fucking joke.
Good points. The worst thing is that he keeps talking about how government steals and then he does the same thing! I've already offered to take a refund in BTC. I'll add Steem to that mix.
i hear u
just continue posting and getting to know this community. It's built for transparency. The more people get to know you, the more trusted you become. And you can earn money too. that's my best advice.
Jeff Berwick has always appeared to me to be a shameless fear-profiteer who is happy to sell worthless products to people he has instilled with fear of doom and gloom. Sorry for your experience, and hopefully you can at least contribute towards his growing poor reputation.
Thanks, biophil. I appreciate your support. He screwed over the wrong person this time. I have the tenacity of a 1,000 men.
You have allies in interesting places too. Just hang in there. Everything will be straightened out in time.
@dollarvigilante wtf bruhhhh? I was a big fan but .... i am having mixed feelings
you downvoted the post but did not comment the fuck?
You have a good point, Deez. He should put his case forward for taking my money and not delivering.
Berwick and his company TDV Immigration violated my contract. As an anarchist, he should abide by his contracts. I'm not asking for much from Berwick, just a refund. He has my money and per the contract, if I don't get the passport then I'm owed a refund. Pretty straightforward.
Yes .. i did read your whole post cuz i didnt belive you untill i saw you posted all them screenshot + emails
.. really i hope @dollarvigilante does the right thing here ... like thats just going to fuck his reputation
& not sure why @thejohalfiles downvoted you what more proof do you need?
Thanks for your support, Deez. There are a lot of other victims but most gave up quickly. They really didn't provide any proof, so it was difficult to tell whether they were competitors lying or actual victims. Fortunately, that's not my style. I think my case is pretty clear.
No one at TDV Immigration/TDV Media has disputed that I had a contract with them. Nor have they disputed the authenticity of the email/Paypal screenshots.
I, too, don't understand why anyone would downvote this post. Like you said, there's substantial proof.
I've been trying to get justice since last year. I can't imagine $11,400 is worth damaging his reputation but apparently Berwick doesn't think it's a problem. This is my first article on Steemit but it won't be my last.
Following you
gL*
This is extremely disappointing to discover. I am sorry for your losses. Unfortunately, we are living in the age of SCAMS. Longing for the days when you could count on a handshake.
Thanks for your support, tashi. There are many more Berwick/TDV Immigration victims out there. The problem is that most give up too easily and disappear after writing on RipOffReports or a similar site if they do anything at all.
Many of them have been taken for $50k or more and got zilch. Fortunately, I'm only in the hole for $11,400 and I did get residency. I have another article in the works for Monday. I don't plan on relenting until I get my refund, even if it takes several years.
Truly sad situation. I live in Panama. My wife and I got our permanent residency for $3300 for the two of us. That is the equivalent of a green card in the US. After 5 years we can get citizenship and a passport.
Thank you very much for posting here Rich. I'm looking forward to following the development and all details you can afford to include in your posts. The more complete documents, email-files etc, the better.
We all knew Jeff was a bit of a conspiracy nut and hypeman, but seeing these claims and what looks like screenshots from what went down does call into question his other business dealings as well.
Has Jeff ever publicly stated his side of the matter? In a post somewhere or youtube video?
A person that got screwed by Berwick's Mexican passport program released a video. However, in my case I have gotten zilch. Here's that video. It's pretty damning.
Whats so damming about it? Hes explaining himself
You realize that the guy who shot and released the Skype conversation did so because he was scammed out of thousands, right? If his contract was the same as mine, TDV Immigration owes him a refund less a processing fee and costs in the event they are not able to deliver.
Appreciate your story. Always thought it wasn't serving Steemit having someone like him as its cheerleader...
Thanks. I realize that business deals sometimes go sideways but not taking responsibility and just disappearing with clients money is no way to act. An honest businessman would try to make restitution, especially if he did not go bankrupt. TDV Media is alive and kicking but I'm still out over $11k, so there's no excuse for not giving me a refund.
Thanks for letting us know! Several users here tried to lift the veil on this guy like Stellabelle https://steemit.com/tdv/@stellabelle/who-is-jeff-berwick and Contentjunkie. This guy deserves all the (bad) publicity he deserves
You're welcome! Berwick makes his living off the Internet and that's the only way to hit him hard. I couldn't find any articles about Berwick by content junkie. If you know the links, please post them.
Point of observation only
On December 17, 2013 I entered into a contract
Here's Jeff Berwick's signature at the bottom of the contract:: (DATED 18 DEC)
Could be an issue....
I should have worded it differently. I was sent the contract by Chris Martin. I signed it on the 17th and then sent it over to Chris Martin. He sent it to Jeff Berwick who signed it on the 18th.
Good Deal Rich. Like I said,... it was only an observation.
Good Luck
I appreciate your feedback. I want to make my case against Berwick and TDV Media/ TDV Immigration as clear as possible.
I wish you luck in recovery of your funds. I honestly do.
Baah, thanks for your support. Paypal would only go back 6 months for the chargebacks. I got as much back as possible from them. I'm posting wherever he frequents like you recommended. I hounded him on Liberty.me and he no longer posts there. I also plan on posting on his Youtube channel. I did that in the past but he banned all of my accounts. Make sure to check out the update link in the PS of this article.
Wait, he can ban youtube accounts??? I didn't know you could do that
I should have been more clear. He can't ban Youtube accounts but he can ban you from commenting on his videos. It's really sneaky because you can't tell you're banned from commenting unless you logout and then try to find your comment. When logged in, your comment appears. However, you are the only person that can view your comments. I had to create account after account to post my comments. I've taken a break from Youtube but will be resuming shortly.
Yeah that's pretty dodgy. I've never been to sure with Jeff, because he can have some good financial advice but he can sometimes seem a bit untrustworthy. It's a shame what happened to you, I hope you can recoup some of the money back.
This is so messed up. Following and hoping you get justice!
Very interesting article. I've just joined Steemit via Jeff's YT channel where he was explaining how cryptocurrency works and the future thereof. It was in my future plans to subscribe to one of his products he is promoting but will hangon on that while gathering more facts about the "alleged scamming" you claim he is involved in.