This video answers a lot of the questions that had been raised by a number of people on Steemit and within the Libertarian community.
Many have asked the question "Why would someone not seek to get back their $30,000 if they were scammed out of it?"
This video answers that question.
Kevin Schmidt, the victim shown in the video already came forward on a site called Complaints Board. His entire story, along with all his contact details, email and cell phone number are plainly displayed on the internet.
If you have questions about him or his experience, in the video, he encourages you to contact him:
Kevin Schmidt
kevin_schmidt@me.com
318-402-1811
Here's the website that Dollar Vigilante advertises these passports on that Kevin Schmidt used: http://tdvimmigration.com/
I'll save you some time scanning through all the comments to this video, but Dollar Vigilante in the comments below just claimed:
I haven't had anything to do with the passport business in about 4 years
However, I just went to his YouTube channel where he advertises TDV Immigration on the info for the videos on his own channel. He clearly is advertising this TDV Immigration business, and this was from 2015:
Arrive at your own conclusions.
At last
Excellent job stellabelle
Massive respect for bringing this to light. ✊
it looks like you've really done a lot of research to try and share the truth about these scams so that other people don't get harmed/scammed.... thank you!
If you take a look at the contents of my youtube channel, my content is geared towards helping others learn new things. I also wrote a book in the hopes that I could help people get out of situations that were not good. From day 1 on Steemit, I do feel that I have been trying to help people and that was the whole reason I created the Secret Writer project too. I feel that what the world needs more than anything is people who care about others' well-being. We don't need any more rock stars. We need more people to give a shit about other people and do what is in the interest of decency.
You are totally right @stellabelle I will start following you from here and hopefully we can work together to contribute to make this world a better place for all earthlings all around the world - keep up the great work
inspiring work
Amen sister.
A lot of people are trying to make changes, and get away from traditional mindsets and dealings and that causes bumps in the road for those new mindsets and challenges for the average person. We need people we can team up with so to speak, to help at times. We are all in this together.
Kudos to Kevin and Leah. It'll be fascinating to watch the Berwick apologists try to spin this away.
Omg, it's a monkey shit fight, thanks @stellebelle, the way they're going at it, there is no honor between thieves. I'll stay far away from theses guys here on Steemit including the people who are enabling them.
Thanks. Resteemed.
'V' is for Vendetta and 'S' is for Sh!t I need to stay on @stellabelle's good side.
But in all seriousness, TDV is absolutely awesome!
How can you pick on the guy?
Just look at his Facebook profile video:
Pure awesomeness! Respect!!!!
Keep up the good work @stellabelle.
It is appreciated.
people have forgotton my introduce yourself post in which I confessed that I am an information addict, writer and researcher. I will research a topic incessantly, sometimes for days, going without normal meals until I find out the truth. I don't believe anyone at face value and I don't put up with bullshit either.
To be completely fair, I have nothing against TDV and his Anarchapulco event and Anarchast show. He's a good showman. I don't even have any judgment towards drugs, addiction and having sex with prostitutes, as long as its your own money. Do what you wish, but don't abuse people's trust.
What I have issue with is advertising a passport business that has clearly ripped off people. It just doesn't really make much business sense actually.
I am in total agreement
Stella, you know NOTHING about what you are talking about here. It's not even my company. Who talked you into doing this?
"going without normal meals until I find out the truth." that how people lose their minds ;)
''-I don't believe anyone at face value and I don't put up with bullshit either.''
I believe in your objectivity, but with such serious claims, wouldn't it have been more prudent and precise to use the word allegations in respect with Mr. Schmidt's testimony?
Yes. You are correct. I have taken your advice. Thank you.
As far I know He tried o become mexican resident without success. Is not that easy. I read a post of him telling he became dominican citizen Why I Left Canada and Became A Citizen of the Dominican Republic in august. But even there, He explain he was waiting for 8 years to became citizen of that republic. I believe in this kind of business only one thing matters: MONEY. If you are a High Net Worth Individual (HNWI) you can live wherever. That's for sure: from Sweden to New Zealand; from Canada to Chile, but it will delay years before yo get a passport. And that is in any country at least you have parents from the country you wanna live. I have a cousin that have triple nationality: german, american and mexican and now he lives in spain so maybe in a few years He will choose the spanish nationality.
@garvofe What you are describing is something completely different than what Berwick has done to the dozens of victims of his Mexico passport program, from whom he took many hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars, and did not return to them, or so it seems from their testimonies thus far. The video above of Kevin Schmidt, and also the one here (www.galtsgulchchile.com/jeff-berwick-exposed/) outline $30,000 USD that Berwick took from the Schmidt family, and never repaid, and approximately $300,000 USD that Berwick took from two other parties, and presumably never repaid, while also not fulfilling his promises to them. This, as most would agree, seems to be fraudulent on Berwick's part.
In an email (in my 2nd reply to you, below this one) from Berwick to a potential Mexico passport client, dated July 30, 2015, Berwick attempts to persuade this potential TDV passport client to send $80,000 USD to Berwick's company for two Mexican passports, and presumably Mexican citizenship. Mind you, this email was sent by Berwick nearly six months after he was filmed on February 6, 2015 (in the video on the GGC website), just days before his Anarchapulco conference, where he outlines that he squandered approximately $300,000 USD from just two passport clients…and that he could not pay the money back. Outlined in my own emails from our investors at GGC, and their conversations with Berwick's CFO of the Mexico program, Chris Serin, this program was Berwick's only source of income, which they boasted about quite loudly in their emails. So, if this was Berwick's only income in 2014 and 2015, and he clearly states that he squandered all of the money on other things, then how did he fund Anarchapulco in 2015? How did he fund 'his' $100,000 USD investment into a marijuana grow operation in 2014/2015? It would seem, logically, that he funded both of these things with the money that he seems to have stolen from the victims of his Mexico passport program.
In the February 6, 2015 video, Berwick outlines that he has not completed any of the promised citizenships and/or passports, while outlining what appears to be significant corruption and illegalities that Berwick must have known could create grave consequences for those whom ever attempted to use such passports or citizenship documents, if he, or his wife, were ever able to obtain them. Does this seem ethical to you?
Fortunately, the potential passport clients in July 2015 did not send $80,000 USD to Berwick, because it sure seems that they would have lost it all to Berwick. There is far more to be released about all of this very shortly. Cheers.
And when will you, Li'l Kenny Fraudster, complete the promised Paraguay citizenships and/or passports totaling $150,000 that you haven't delivered? Hmmm???
Your only source of income from 2012 to this very day is the GGC investors and the Paraguay passport clients that you defrauded. Your theft of $10.6 million combined are orders of magnitude worse than what you're accusing Jeff of here.
Where's the money, Li'l Kenny? We're waiting...
Wonderful to hear from you Catharine Cuthbert, or maybe this is "Terrence Gilespie", or maybe Josh Kirley, or maybe alter ego "Eddie Willers." It seems like Catharine Cuthbert's vindictive writing style, so I'll assume it is you. I'll rebuke the information on your websites, and from your false online aliases, in due course. You don't want to admit that there are thousands of emails, signed documents and much more that are contradictory to your false narrative, so we will allow the courts in Chile to review such information.
By the way, when are you going to get your story straight? You propagate that I stole $8m, then $7m, then $10m, the $2m, then…I kill the homeless dogs that I rescue. Maybe you are now going to attempt to say that I poison the empanadas that we deliver to homeless shelters on weekends. Do you practice lying about others in the mirror each morning? Does it feel good?
So, it's now $10.6m that you claim that I "stole", yet you have been working for well over two years now with the party who is actively trying to steal the GGC assets, Mario Del Real. Are his actions (and possibly yours?) of committing forgeries, falsifying corporate documents, malicious use of false signatures, falsifying public documents, theft of GGC funds, and much more, ok to carry out when you participate with him in carrying these crimes out, and in helping him to attempt to evade prosecution? Hmmmm. I guess we shall see.
I've never taken money from clients for passports in my life, which you know, since you stole and hacked my computers and all GGC files and accounts. I don't deny working with TDV, or Berwick, in 2012 and part of 2013. You may try and make it seem as if I do, but that simply is not the case. The program in Paraguay that I did work on for TDV, as you know, was investigated in 2014 and all false accusations about it were dismissed in 2015, as outlined in court documents. If Berwick is representing things about me, and my past relations with TDV, in a light that is other than honest, that most certainly would not be a surprise. It is clear that he cannot locate the truth if it walked up and smacked him in the face.
Typical, lying Li'l Kenny Fraudster, just making crazy stuff up. Show me where I said that you stole $8m, then $7m, then $10m, the $2m. Where's the link, some sort of document?
I don't change the amount you stole from GGC investors. Before we had hard evidence, I estimated that you stole $11 million as we said in our first press release. Since completing our forensic investigation of GGC, I have always said that it is $10.45 million from GGC and related scams and i have now added the $150k you stole from the Paraguay passport people. Since you are clearly math challenged, I'll help you out by adding the numbers to a total of $10.6 million. But, I let you off the hook for the money you stole from the lemon harvests, and the money that you effectively stole by not paying trades people, workers and professionals who worked on GGC.
I have posted an email that you sent to all the GGC investors on July 28 2014 where you admit that you set up the Paraguay passport scam. Here is the link:
http://ggcrecovery.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Johnson-4th-email-to-investors-Jul-28-2014.pdf
From this email it is clear that you are the one who said that you set up the passport scam.
The woman you used for the Paraguay passport scam was raided in 2014, but it is ridiculous to say that the accusations were false. They were true, but the authorities didn't prosecute because the people in her network were powerful enough to cover the scam up.
Your lies about the Paraguay passport scam were exposed in your interview with Christopher Cantwell. Here's the link to our blog post on the interview. http://ggcrecovery.com/the-cantwell-interview-johnson-cornered/
And you did starve two dogs to death. We have many witnesses to that.
Your technique of projection won't work, Li'l Kenny. Everybody knows you're the liar. It's all over the internet, and documented.
Find out more about Berwick's scams, lies and crimes here. Much more to come this week.
www.galtsgulchchile.com/jeff-berwick-exposed/
Are you the squatter?
Yes, he's the squatter... sitting on the land he stole from all of us and accusing all the people he defrauded of being the fraudsters!
Hmmm…don't you mean the land that your colleague, Mario Del Real, has attempted to steal while working with you, Kirley and others, with forgeries, falsified documents, theft and more? You never put a dime into GGC Berwick, but you have caused millions of dollars in damages to it dating back to mid-2013, so how could you possibly think you have any claims to being an owner? Are you going to try and claim that the partial payment of your debts to me was now suddenly for the purchase of ownership in GGC? You guys can't pay off my attorneys any more, so it is going to get quite difficult for you now.
Johnson never put a dime into GGC. Johnson is the one who worked with Mario Del Real. And absolutely no one except Li'l Kenny Fraudster and his buddies did any monetary damage to GGC.
lol…which one of the looters of GGC are you 'freedom engineer'? Josh Kirley? You guys are well known for hiding behind aliases, fake blogs, fake names, and more. That will be shared here shortly.
This will be an interesting week or two for all of you who still try to cover up your own crimes and those of your fraudulent hero, Berwick.
It was a legitimate question. The name carries a lot of baggage. Why not just divulge who's operating the GG (without a C?) username?
…and this is Joe Johnson isn't it? Are you still associated with Cobin, after he ran his real estate scheme into the ground, while he is still trying to accuse me of an endless list of things that I haven't done? Are you the elusive "Terrence" or is that the little writer guy, Bodzin, who kept sneaking around GGC until I told him to pound sand in 2014, after we found out he was trying to create any bullshit story he could that was derogatory of myself and GGC? You guys are quite pathetic. Cheers.
Wow, really swing in wide arcs, don't you? And you call me pathetic?
Yeah, this is Joe.
Hey anotherjoe…I did so on other posts, but hadn't done so here as of yet. I just posted my identity above. Cheers. Please follow me. We will be sharing quite a bit of information on the true history of GGC, as well as the many scams, lies and crimes of Berwick.
Hey Joe…wow…another post that you, Cobin, "Terrence", etc., didn't like…so, you flagged it away. How very 'free speech minded' of you. Is Frank Szabo still working for Cobin, after he got jacked for $500,000 on Failed Orchard?
Your comments are libelous and reflect your character. You're free to say things all you want, just as I'm free to downvote them.
I hope @stellabelle investigates this debacle thoroughly.
My name is Troi Bryan. I have no dog in this fight.
Hi Bryan. I'm Ken Johnson, the Founding Partner of Galt's Gulch Chile. I just joined here a couple weeks ago to shed some light on the false information about GGC, and myself, that was orchestrated largely by Jeff Berwick, his close cohort Chris Serin, Josh Kirley and a couple of others. I apologise for thinking you were one of the corrupt clients of GGC, or one of Berwick's sidekicks. It's been over two years now since Berwick and those trying to seize GGC's land/water assets have been smearing me, and trolling virtually anything and everything that exposes their lies and crimes. I'll be posting an intro story by tomorrow for this account, and will follow that up with a large amount of information that exposes all of Berwick's scams, crimes, lies and fraud…with many victims. I will also be providing large amounts of evidence showing that the false narrative about me, and GGC, is indeed false. Cheers.
Here we go again with the same old lies. It's so stupid and obvious it's ridiculous. How can Johnson be "the founding partner of ggc?" If he is a partner, then there are other partners by definition, therefore he can't be "the" partner. Yet, he denies that he had any partners, a demonstrable lie exposed by both legal documents and eye witness accounts.
Johnson started with three GGC partners, promptly defrauded them of their share of the project, then moved on to defraud 73 families of $10.45 million with GGC and related scams. In the process, he racked up $100s of thousands in bills to local trades people, utilities, SII (taxes), lawyers in Santiago, his accountant, his American employees and his Chilean farm workers. He is a liar, a thief, and a manipulative sob.
I don't doubt this criminal will be posting a "story" tomorrow. It will be mostly fiction. Any truth he lets slip will be employed only to disarm you into believing his overall mendacious narrative that he was a victim. Yeah, right.
After you waste your time with his idiotic sob story that will no doubt be long and exceedingly boring, go to our webpage for the truth and evidence about Galt's Gulch Chile: http://ggcrecovery.com
Post away, Li'l Kenny, all you want. Judge Mardones probably doesn't read English and he certainly won't be reading anything you write on this tiny corner of the internet. While you write, be assured that Prosecutor Cáceres will be preparing his felony cases against you. Enjoy your last few days of freedom--on our dime, as always.
Still looking for that intro post,...
@ggcrecovery Thanks for the grammar lesson. Hmmm...so now I "promptly defrauded" three GGC partners? Ok. You must be talking about the very bitter expat in hiding, John Cobin, his business partner, German Eyzaguirre, your close ally, Jeff Berwick. Apparently, you haven't seen the signed and notarised dissolution of all business relations amongst these "partners"? Or maybe you have, and simply are choosing to misinform people about it? I go with the latter. Cobin carried out some highly unethical things that are well documented in emails and communications from Berwick, Eyzaguirre, and Cobin himself. I guess these don't exist in your mind?
I've already covered your false accusation about my purported theft of millions of dollars (which changes with the wind), so I won't get into that in this reply. Can you provide actual proof of these mysterious "$100s of thousands in bills" that are actually true, rather than lawsuits trumped up by former attorneys of GGC, or myself, whom Kirley retained to then file immediate lawsuits against GGC? As you know, one, and apparently more, of my past attorneys had received payments directly from convicted felon, EJ Lashlee, whom is a fellow "rescue" team member with you, Kirley and Baker. Is this one of the "bills" that you speak of? Rodriguez has some big problems heading his way for accepting payments from, and colluding with, parties adverse to the GGC project, and myself, as he was invoicing tens of thousands of dollars per month. As you may know, I have the actual bank transfer receipts from Lashlee to Rodriquez…but, maybe that doesn't matter to you when misinforming others about the situation. The remaining "bills" that GGC did have have mostly all been paid now, after many months of working to repair the millions of dollars in damages that you, Kirley, Lashlee, Baker, etc. inflicted upon the GGC farm, buildings, and land, from October 2014 through April 2015. Of course, the entire time, you were colluding with the Del Real family, whom as you know, have carried out a long list of crimes against myself, GGC and our good and honest clients…meaning that you seem too have done so as well.
Feel free to follow this account. We will be posting quite a lot.
LOL…we'll be debunking the lies of that website shortly Berwick, as we will with 1-2 other sources of information that you have your dirty paws on.
Yes, follow this sociopathic fraudsters account while he posts BS. Check out who Ken Johnson is here: http://ggcrecovery.com
nope. I don't trust you @galtsgulch.
who are you @galtsgulch ?
He's the criminal Kenneth Dale Johnson, criminally charged with three felonies in Chile for the Galt's Gulch Chile international affinity fraud.
See above.
These phony anarchist freedom activists need to be exposed for who they really are.
Check out the conglomerate that's downvoting this.
Good shit! Expose the fraud for what he is............
Upvoting. This guy in the video seems like the real deal. So Kevin paid TDV 30,000 $US for second passports which were not delivered. And no communication, apology, or plan for restitution has come from TDV?
See Chris Martin's (the owner of the company, not me) response below.
Jeff, I've been following for a while, and you are an authentic anarchocapitalist -with all the restrictions of this fascist world-, an outsider; and the outsiders are always in risk of being misunderstood, and always in risk of meet all kind of people, marginal people -good, bad, ugly-. Don't mind. From BTC to Anarchapulco; from silver to leave those dangerous criminal States, you are congruent and coherent. And if you believe in Steem I'm damn sure is a good bet. Thanks for your advices.
Game... on...
That's a game to you? Aren't we talking about other people's reputation and money here?
Yes, & yes... I plan to be a spectator not a participant.
The guy in the video seems really genuine. If he is lying then he is an amazing actor and should win an Oscar.
He is genuine. I spoke with Kevin about a year ago when I released the 12-minute video of Berwick as he outlines all of the corrupt aspects of his Mexico passport scam, and the hundreds of thousands of dollars that he stole from just two of his victims. I spoke to him tonight also. He is a good guy, who put his trust in Berwick…and Berwick screwed him…just as Berwick did to me and to countless others.
Based on Berwick's emails to clients, Berwick's scam companies, TDV Media LLC (Canadian-based, banking at CIBC with Janet Tam as the account exec…feel free to contact her in BC), TDV Global, TDV Immigration and whatever else (I'll be releasing the bank information and exec info on all of these accounts) took money from 80-100 victims for his Mexico passport scam from 2013-2015. Mind you, in the video (www.galtsgulchchile.com/jeff-berwick-exposed/) Berwick clearly states that he is working with corrupt officials, back dating documents, etc., and that he hasn't completed any passports for any of his clients…yet, in his email to a potential victim/client in late July 2015, he was STILL soliciting funds. In this instance, in his own email to this client (which is posted on Stellabelle's other stories in the comments), Berwick was assuring this client that his Mexico passport program was great and that the client should send Berwick $80,000 USD for deposits on two Mexican passports from TDV.
He is a 100% fraud and conman. Period.
"He is a 100% fraud and conman. Period."... says the biggest fraud of alltime. Nice projecting. Aren't you in jail yet??
@dollarvigilante It is hard to know who to believe in these circumstances. I like to take people as I find them based on personal experience but that isn't always possible. I would suggest you do a post on your side of the story. Everybody has a right to respond to these kind of allegations.
Search for five steemit posts by The GGC Recovery Team. We also have a web page at http://ggcrecovery.com with a time line, documents and eye witness accounts. Con man Johnson just has long, rambling, mendacious drivel that he posts on comment sections. He's a liar, a thief and a manipulative sob. He's facing three felony charges in Chile for his GGC fraud.
It's not hard to know who to believe. Read our web page. All you need to know is that con man Johnson defrauded three business partners and then took in $10.45 million, yet four years later, 73 victims have nothing to show for it. No master plan, no titles to property, no loan payments, no dividends, nothing. There was absolutely no progress in the real estate development. All Johnson did was take leads from Berwick's marketing, defraud investors and rake in the money. Best scam he ever ran, except he didn't bet on the fact that a handful of us GGC victims pledged to each other that we would never quit until we have restitution and justice.
I hope you get it.
ouch
Johnson had his own passport scam in Paraguay, where he was working with corrupt officials, back dating documents, etc. He hasn't completed passports for his clients either, and owes them over $150,000.
Even after being exposed as a con man with GGC and the Paraguay passports, Johnson was still trying to con people out of $$ earlier this year. We have the emails to prove it.
$30,000 for passports sounds like a black market deal, and getting scammed is a part of that risk
It was for assistance through the process for him and his family. There are other legit services out there that do this legally. Some articles on the matter pertaining to Paraguay here and here
Just fyi, the person behind all of this posting (for the most part) is Ken Johnson. He defrauded myself and dozens of investors out of over $10 million in Chile on a real estate project. The case is in court and he has already lost twice and before he goes to jail he tries to hurt my reputation. Most people know this very old, long story (its gone on for years). You can read up about Ken Johnson here: http://ggcrecovery.com/. He defrauded dozens of investors and now lives on the very land he "sold" them! It's quite unbelievable. As for this "passport fraud" thing, Ken actually used to run that company (which makes it even more hilarious that he says I am defrauding people)... he defrauded me personally for over $200k on that one. As for this particular case, I haven't had anything to do with the passport business in about 4 years as I turned it over to Chris Martin after we realized Ken was a fraudster and I wanted nothing to do with the business anymore. Chris Martin has responded below and, it turns out, Kevin Schmidt is even lying about this particular case as, apparently, he worked with Chris to get "residency", not "citizenship" in Paraguay. Not sure why he is lying about this and not sure why Stella Belle is reposting things from these fraudsters. Stella, do you not look into who you are dealing with? You are getting involved with a very criminal group of people.
OMG. But the irony is seriously cracking me up. It's a serious pot-calling-the-kettle-black moment.
So this is failed business enterprise #2 that you walked away from without any feeling of responsibility for the victims. Got it.
I wonder how many more there are?
Actually, you are incorrect. Ken is not behind any of this posting.
That's strange, because when I go to http://tdvimmigration.com/ and click on the twitter icon at the top, it takes me directly to your Twitter account, The Dollar Vigilante: https://twitter.com/DollarVigilante Try for yourself. If that's not connected, I don't know what is.
I'm an independent science and tech writer and also a researcher. I think for myself and research a myriad of topics that I come across organically. I care about finding out the truth and I share information that can help others make good decisions based on facts.
Let me repeat: I am independent researcher. I am not getting involved with anyone. I am researching to get facts and information so that people can be informed. Your attempt at scaring me is juvenile.
Permanent residency for four family members shouldn't be more than about $5,000, depending on any additional services desired. That's if someone's holding your hand and doing a lot of the running around on your behalf. It's a two-year process in many countries, so pretty much worth it if you can afford it. We've helped a lot of folks get their's in Chile.
Citizenship generally takes about five years after temporary residency has been approved - again, depending on the country. But a lot are like that. There's nothing to it. You just go down and show that you've been in the country at least half of each year and you're in.
…are you guys still using shady ways to "help folks" get residency in Chile, via shell companies issuing a work contract to those who pay you for your services? That was always one of Cobin's "services"…at a very high price. Is he still charging over $100/hour to drive people around Santiago and other areas? I'll have to put a call into the PDI or the Ministry of Foreign Relations and Immigration to have them check your clients' history in Chile. Cheers. By the way, when were you going to post a link to pitch your "help" in Chile…or a link to more of Cobin's scam projects?
This is nuts. You just come in and start making accusations with no foundation to them. Please do call PDI. Our services are above board and spotless.
Joe, I know how Cobin operates his gimmicks for residency. I presume you are still working with him…so, the accusations are accurate. Is "Terrence" working with you on it too? I see you have a little group who likes to flag and remove comments that you don't quite like. You must admit Joe, that is indeed quite pathetic. Cheers.
Actually, this is the first time I've ever flagged anyone. I don't even know all the folks who downvoted you already. But your libelous accusations warrant it.
I wasn't going to enter this fray, preferring to just sit back and watch to see how it goes. But your groundless attacks have changed things.
I don't have a problem believing Jeff Berwick could be a scammer... and that he might be a sympathetic person at the same time. Things are never black & white when it comes to personalities. Here is a case of his words against the other(s)' words. We can't just get on a mob mentality bandwagon and condemn him on the basis of people's words. To me all the people involve are strangers, so I feel like it's not of my business to get involve in fights between private parties. I'm all for investigative journalism when it has to do with public interest but with tangible proof. Surely they must have signed some kind of contract. I hope Mr. Schmidt took more precautions than only believing in TDV's good will and friendship after one night's sleepover.
Show the contract Kevin... from what Chris Martin tells me, it stipulated only residency.
agreed. a look at the contract would be good.
Why would somebody pay $30,000 for a piece of paper?
Because getting a second passport is a good idea?
Anarchists dealing in citizenship & residence: isn't it contradictory?
It opens doors and allows you to do business under another citizenship, which has some huge advantages. Yeah, stinks having to deal with it. But you can't really travel abroad without one. There is a stateless person passport available, but you have to be in certain countries to get one. Of course, US Inc doesn't relinquish its claim of ownership easily.
Yeah, it stinks. I guess that's, in a sense, the biggest scam of the story. Put my ignorance on the back of my financially poor non-travelling self. All I know is, since about 10 years ago, when my Canadian self wants to go it the only other country I ever went, the U.S., I now need a Canadian passport, which wasn't necessary before. That is the only reason I bought one under $100 five years ago. Don't want to sound like U.S.A. bashing but as an accountant I know it to be true that this country as a tendancy to put its hands in everything fiscally. I find it strange that when one of my Canadian customers, who is doing business with an American company on Canadian soil has to fill an W-8BEN form so that the U.S. American government won't collect any taxes before he is paid for the job. Of course, you can get it back later if your not an American but imagine the trouble.
Yep, hassle, expenses, draconian imposition, all because someone does business with an American. Accountants have every right to bash the US.
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Reminder: watch this vid later.
@stellabelle, quite the can of worms opened up in the comments, eh? :)
Well, this will get interesting. You've seen all sorts of accusations flying around.
I'm happy to share more info, if you'd like, and address the accusations thrown at me. I can get you in touch with Cobin too.
Its nice acting as Switzerland on this shit.
Just enjoying the latest show :-)
This is really disappointing to hear, as I've been watching TDV videos all day... :O
everyone help me follow+upvote me
https://steemit.com/steemit/@myothant/travel-to-koh-tao-thailand
wow. I would never had imagined he was a charlatan
I'm curious, why do people want a second Passport? I thought you were only allowed to have one - just like you are only allowed one State ID or Driver License at a time and have to surrender your old one. Not sure how it works if you had dual citizenship, though.
To be honest it sounds like both Jeff Berwick and this guy were both doing something illegal. Please comment if I'm wrong about this, just my basic understanding of law and commonsense. But maybe Jeff convinced them it's totally fine if it wasn't legal. So not trying to victim blame but selling passports seems like one shady thing to do.
Why is this r4fken person downvoting everyone? My first one after being on here for over 2 months :)
I'm just curious about this whole thing as I've never heard of this sort of thing before. I guess asking questions and forming an opinion based on what you know or seen, some people don't like that haha.
Then I watched this video
that was commented in another post.So if someone is offering legit immigration services like a lawyer would, that sounds cool. But if they're actually selling them outright like some others have said then that sounds super shady to me. I wouldn't have even discovered this story if it wasn't for reading Dollar Vigilante posts - which from them it looks like he positioned himself as an expert and seemed like a cool guy living the life.
So I was a bit shocked when I heard about the passport business. So it really is a good reminder that you can make you look like whatever you want on the internet. Which isn't always bad, fake it until you make it when starting out :) All about acting the role as long as no bad intentions.
Just ignore r4ken flags. He flags everyone. I thought he had quit his flagging ways.
You can have a second passport. That's not a big deal. And there are very good reasons to have one, whether you plan on renouncing or not. As an example, it's far easier to open a bank account in many places with just about any passport other than US. Foreign banks hate the US system, FATCA, etc. Some won't deal with US persons because of it.
Of course you're allowed to have multiple passports. Unless you're from the Philippines or something, then no.
Interesting. I figured it was treated the same as any other identification. But don't you have to also have citizenship also where you have a passport from too?
yeah, people say "second passport" and "second citizenship" interchangeably.
Interesting. Didn't know that. I was thinking fake documents, but after a quick Google search many of these sites say you make a donation to the gov in the country in which you want it... Seems interesting, and probably shady stuff.
I know there's lawyers that specialize in immigration but it's usually a bunch of paperwork and waiting. So I know those types of services are mainly legit.
Yeah, there are some legit ones out there but they're super expensive and unnecessary. The best way is to just do it yourself. Paraguay's pretty easy and comes with some nice perks (fantastic gun laws and no tax on foreign income, for instance).
if it sounds too good to be true. let's all pool our resources together to buy property enforced citizenships, everywhere!