Wrist Charge - A Kickstart Knockoff

Welcome to Kickstarter, Creatine Marketing. We've followed many a scam brought to you by the likes of Pulvino and friends at Creatine Marketing, but Wrist Charge just might be the first endeavor we've brought you that actually asks you, the consumer, to pay the $50,000 price tag for to get the scam started. Why was I not surprised to find Creatine Marketing was right in the middle of this, running the promotion?

Mohzy Loop

For this client, I have to admit, I wanted to think it was cool. Really. Wrist Charge, "the band in charge". My first thought jumped to green energy. Could it be? A motion powered charger? No, no mention of cool electromagnets or anything. Too much to hope for, but I'll keep looking. Surely, Wrist CHARGE at is at least bracelet shaped battery that can hold an extra charge for my iPhone on the go right? That's a cool idea (and I later found exists over at ThinkGeek). No, despite the name, Wrist Charge is nothing more than another USB cord. Ok, I guess an easy to carry Lightning cable isn't a terrible idea, but is this really the kind of idea worthy of the Kickstart community? In fact, didn't I see this done already in the Chinese markets, Amazon? Yep, I sure did, for a mere $15. In fact, DealsWoot has a special featuring them for $8.99. Well, maybe it's at least better quality? Looks like Mohzy is Apple MFi certified,  and Wrist Charge hasn't even been approved for it yet. So why then do we need Wrist Charge?

ThinkGeek Wrist Charger

Really we don't, it's just another product knockoff marketing itself as innovation. The truth is, I really don't think the Wrist Charge is a bad idea. It's just not a great idea, or even an original idea. For that matter, it's not even an original name. The ThinkGeek Wrist Charger, a much cooler product IMO, shares the name, yet actually provides a charge on your wrist.

Jerry Castro demonstrating Wrist Charge

My view of Kickstarter is a tool to help innovation, not helping fund a businessman copying someone else's product. In fact, if I saw this product in a store,  trusted the brand, and didn't know the history its marketing team has with misrepresenting products and services, I might have bought this, but I for one have no desire to give money for a mediocre product that already exists. In fact, according to Kickstarter, creators have no contractual obligation to use backer money for the project, or even complete the project and fulfill rewards. Kickstarter provides no guarantees. but recommends backers to make a judgement call based on creator's relevant experience, and provided details; details that Jerry Castro does not provide. There's no explanation for the high $50,000 Wrist Charge goal more than "Injection Molding (this is the BIG EXPENSE), Design and Production Expenses, Cost of Materials". Like Creatine Marketing staff, Jerry Castro claims a plethora of successful products, none of which look very successful or at all innovative either after looking into them, and none of them similar to a product like Wrist Charge. Seems to me, $50,000 is going to be profitable for Jerry Castro's bank account than he stands to make from this knockoff product.

So what's the tie in with Creatine Marketing that causes my instant skepticism? I'm skeptical of anything Creatine Marketing is involved in, and here are a few of the related reasons why. First off, I noticed this product in the first place seeing tweets form several Creatine Marketing owners Robert Black Jr & Jennifer Mount, and staff blogger Sasha Norikov all started tweeting endorsements. Looking at the Kickstarter page, there were a few comments from Sasha responding to an unhappy backer as a customer, and not a hired promoter. Finally, looking at the product website, it reeked of Creatine Marketing's badly customized Wordpress theme M.O.. Finally, it was definite after seeing Wrist Charge's Twitter feed is maintained via Creatine Marketing's old favorite and exclusively white-labeled tool, SnapSocial.

Now that I knew Creatine Marketing was involved, I started to notice all the trademark tactics: unsolicited spam, false claims of solutions, and treating paid, syndicated press releases as commercial endorsement. Since we already know from the many other examples at creatinemarketingshady.blogspot.com, Creatine Marketing is known for making promises and then taking your money and giving nothing back, there's no way I'll be sending you my money, Jerry Castro. Fool us once... and this time your reputation catches up with you.

Related Pages

1. Wrist Charge KickStarter Page
2. Wrist Charge Website
3. Mohzy Loop USB
4. ThinkGeek Wrist Charger
5. 5 Important Things to Remember About Kickstarter

Update (July 26, 2013)

*from the editor

Since the original publication of this article, we've been contacted by Jerry Castro and been in dialog with him regrading a request for removal, and eventually a threat of SLAPP for slander, which I am addressing in a dedicated post.

*from the author

Given the attention this has received, I thought it to be worthwhile to provide an explanation for the statements I made above.

Concept and Design

I found no indication that the Wrist Charge is an actual copy of a specific product design, however, there are numerous products with the same functional idea that have been around for years already, as I mentioned above, even some which in my opinion are better designed and more functional, and while the very idea of wearing a charging cable around my wrist doesn't strike me as particularly fashionable, there might be a market with high school girls. For what it's worth, I think male or female would be better served with a product like Charge Card (an already funded Kickstarter), which would serve the same purpose in a more utilitarian and convenient design. From my perspective, there's little to no innovative thinking with Wrist Charge and whether it's diectly knocked off or not, it's not the first of its kind, by any means. 

The Tactics

I am calling Wrist Charge out on its marketing tactics. Deceptive marketing really irks me. Paying someone to write and distribute press releases is not the same as getting real industry endorsements. Claiming the Wall Street Journal wrote a story about your product when you paid to have them publish your won writing is outright lying. Same goes for Yahoo Finance, CrownSourcePR, and other that are quoted on the project homepage, all written by Wrist Charge. Using your dormant extra twitter account to tweet endorsements to your product page is just as bad. Building up a following from zero with a contest does not qualify as real product engagement. These are all trademarks tactics of a scam artist, and if you choose to employ them, you look like one too. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and walks like a duck, it's probably a duck.

The Creator

And that brings me to my next point of criticism for Wrist Charge, it's creator, Jerry Castro. Jerry Castro is an inventor. Some inventions are successful, some aren't. In America it's up to the consumer to decide a product's success. In that same way, one's past work says a lot about one's future potential. Jerry Castro in an inventor of the type of things you find in the clearance shelf at Walgreens. His products like The Makeup Frame, and Zen-Ergy Balance Bandz aren't exactly the success of the Frisbee, and that's ok, but peddling mediocre ideas doesn't make you a successful innovator. Maybe I'm missing something here, but again it comes back to how important it is to make honest representations.

The Money

My final point is a conclusion I come entirely based on my three points above and my tendency to be cautious of those asking for my hand-earned dollar. There's no saying Jerry won't go forth and bring unto us Wrist Charge bracelets that grant wishes and more. I was making the point that based on the information (or lack thereof) presented in Wrist Charge's project page, coupled with the deception shown in marketing the project, I would think twice about donating money to the project. Kickstarter is not a store. It's a fundraising site. Once you give the money, it's gone, and you can only hope you choose wisely. Wrist Charge certainly wouldn't be the first Kickstarter project to take the money and cancel the project, and it's something that you have to remember, ESPECIALLY if you are not familiar with the Kickstarter community. YOU AREN'T BUYING ANYTHING, and beyond that, you have no say in what happens to your money after you hand it over. So choose wisely. For my dollar, I'd rather give it over to a project creating something that hasn't been done already, and provides a breakdown of what the money is for.

We admit that it is possible that the business arrangement between Creatine Marketing and this company may have changed or not be fully expressed as we have shown here. If we have incorrect information or you wish to clarify the information posted here, please feel free to contact us with the necessary information.

Jeff Pulvino

Jeff Pulvino is a self described serial entrepreneur best known for his involvement in the high profile scandal in which Pulvino's failed company, US Loan Auditors, and its partner company My US Legal declared bankruptcy after a multimillion dollar lawsuit and stealing from thousands of homeowners using deceptive marketing tactics.
Though cited as a client, he is, in fact, actually one of the principal owners of Creatine Marketing with both an office on premises, and acting as a sales consultant. While officially un-cited on the staff page, it's not difficult to find his ties to the company. Jeff is also in a long-term relationship with other Creatine Marketing co-owner, Jennifer Carr-Mount.
Any work by Creatine Marketing is actually self investment as Jeff's primary focus is promoting Creatine Marketing.

Creatine Marketing's Service Claims

Client Description

Creatine Marketing Client Page Capture 6/01/13

Jeff Pulvino came to us looking to expand his brand name, Jeff Pulvino. He was a successful entrepreneur, consultant and marketing expert.

Who is Jeff Pulvino?

Jeff Pulvino is a successful serial entrepreneur with the ability to develop visionary ‘next-level’ ideas and deliver them to marketplace while meeting the end-user needs with precision timing. Jeff has a solid background of product development and marketplace knowledge, developed around strategic observations and business intelligence. He is experienced with all aspects of operations specializing in sales, marketing, project management, organizational process development, and infrastructure expansion, all geared towards driving growth and increased revenues for higher profitability.
In his professional career Jeff has been involved with several successful start-up business ventures, most of which he co-founded. He brings real-life knowledge and experience in offering proven and tested strategies and solutions for taking your business to the next level.

Website Facebook LinkedIn Twitter

Services Provided:

• Website Design
• Logo Design
• Business Card Design
• Social Media Profile Creation (100+ profiles)
• Social Media Integration
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Shadiness Factors

• Jeff Pulvino is actually an unlisted owner of Creatine Marketing listed as a client for his personal endorsement
• Jeff claims he is a successful entrepreneur, but has no successful businesses to his name. The most well known company, USLA, is known mostly for its high profile failure
• Articles written by Jeff Pulvino are actually copy-written articles by Creatine Marketing staff writers. Jeff has no formal training in marketing, or social media.
• Despite the logo design service listed, none of Jeff's online profiles or his personal website show a logo
• Jeff Pulvino has a permanent injunction against him, barring him from business in the real estate industry for deceptive marketing tactics, and owes $15,000 in civil penalties over the next 3 years
• Jeff Pulvino is listed as successfully cofounding many businesses when he really moves from scam business to scam business every couple years including:
  • currently founding member of Creatine Marketing, unlisted
  • previously co-founded "property tax reduction" service called Prop 8 Associates with Shane Barker
  • previously cofounded equityflips.com, with Shane Barker
  • previously cofounded US Loan Auditors, famous for its high profile government shutdown, with Shane Barker
  • previously founded US Capital Investments, US Loan Auditors parent company
  • previously founded My US Legal Services, US Loan Auditors Legal division, along with Shane Barker and James Sandison
  • previously founded Cashout Options, with Shane Barker

Social Media Activity

Most of Jeff's online activity points back towards Creatine Marketing. Though apparently the most popular of Creatine Marketing's online personas, Jeff's profiles have very little social engagement and include automated spam and posts shared with most of the company's other profiles.
Most of the 100s of social media profiles, other than the top 10, have little to no active content and constitute online spam.

Powered by Creatine Marketing

Website built is actually customizable Wordpress theme named Temptation, available for $35 at Themeforest.

We admit that it is possible that the business arrangement between Creatine Marketing and this company may have changed or not be fully expressed as we have shown here. If we have incorrect information or you wish to clarify the information posted here, please feel free to contact us with the necessary information.

Helpful Tips Before Applying To Any Internship

In today’s competitive job market, internships are most certainly a great way to get your foot in the
door, gain applicable work experience, and receive valuable mentorship from established professionals. With summer upcoming, summer internships offer a productive use of a school break. However, it’s important to take extra precautions to avoid falling prey at the hands of dubious companies taking advantage of both unsuspecting students and recent graduates. Read on for a helpful list of tips to follow which will help your internship application process.

1. Before you scramble to fill out any application, make sure you do a comprehensive online search using “company name here + scam” as a general search inquiry. You will be surprised to see how this search term will narrow down the results for most fraudulent businesses, and show you everything beyond what the company itself actively puts out on the internet.

2. If the company is fairly new, do a similar search on the company’s owners to make sure you will be working with qualified and reputable people in the industry.
3. With the advent of social media, it has now become easier to track down existing employees of companies. Beyond contacting the higher-level executives, be sure to reach out to other interns and junior-level employees on Facebook and LinkedIn to get a genuine perspective of the pros and cons of the internship experience.
4. Glassdoor has become a useful tool to gauge the highs and lows of a company from the insider perspective. Check to see what has been said by existing and former employees and interns so that you can get a feel of how the company treats its workers.
5. Beyond seeing the employee perspective of a company, check to see its reputation amongst its consumer base. Look on Yelp, the Better Business Bureau page, and Ripoff Report to read reviews from former clients to see if the company has established a reputable image while operating in business. Looking into these resources will give you reputation management insight into how the company handles and responds to negative criticism.

After you do all these things and everything seems to check out, here are some things to look out for at the interview:

1. Does the company have its business license displayed in a prominent location? Be cautious of local businesses that are incorporated or licensed out of state.
   * According to regulations in several states, companies are required to display their business licenses where people can see it. Check the laws of your specific state for business compliance regulations.
2. Are the required federal and state labor law posters displayed in a visible location in the office; such as the break room, kitchen, or common area?
   * According to regulations in several states, companies are required by law to display labor law posters (minimum wage, worker’s compensation, what to do in an emergency etc.) in a noticeable area of the office.

3. If applicable to your situation, ask to see examples of client work they have done in the past. Be wary of companies that seem to focus more of their efforts on self-promotion rather than client projects, as this is an indication of a lack of commitment towards its customers.
4. Ask to clarify what the post-internship advancement opportunities are, if they exist. Post-internship employment is never guaranteed, but employers should always be clear about what the possibilities are. Steer clear of companies that aren’t upfront or vague about opportunities.

Finally, if you get accepted for the opportunity, make sure that your employer offers you specific details of the internship in writing such as a contract or typed-out offer letter. This way you always have specific documents to refer back to if any issues or complications arise.

Creatine Marketing: Brought to You by the Same Scam Artists of US Loan Auditors, My US Legal, and US Capital Investments

One of the Most Suspicious Marketing Firms Sacramento Has Ever Seen

Scam artists tend to capitalize on emerging trends, adjusting their strategy according to shifts in consumer activity. Creatine Marketing claims to be one of the best marketing firms Sacramento has to offer.  On the surface, they offer web design and marketing services but internally they are a multilevel marketing scheme driven by their efforts in Visalus, Organo Gold, X-treme Biz, and Solavei. Flashback to 2010 a well-known and sizable company by the name of "US Loan Auditors" was brought to their knees when they were slapped with a $60 million lawsuit by the California Attorney General Jerry Brown, a class action lawsuit, and a lawsuit from Bank of America. The key players named in the lawsuit were Jeff Pulvino, Shane Barker, and James Sandison. Their crime? Falsely claiming they could help troubled homeowners faced with foreclosure and the housing crisis, by going after the lending scam artists who provided them with bad loans. They claimed to be experts on predatory lending and preyed on desperate homeowners with little to no means of escaping foreclosure. 

The outcome? As indicated by the official court documents, civil lawsuits, nationwide news reports (here and here), testimonials from various victims on Privatecomplaints.com, Ripoffreport.com, and Complaintsboard.com, and complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau, US Loan Auditors would overcharge on a loan audit report, and tell the desperate homeowners they had a case against their lending scam artists, keep charging the victims a monthly rate of $1500. Either it would take them months to actually submit paperwork to the court, or they simply wouldn't return voicemails or acknowledge clients' requests to cancel payments.

CBS Local's "Call Kurtis Investigates" did a TV investigation on US Loan Auditors here:

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=5366609

According to the official court document, Jeff Pulvino was not an attorney or an authorized real estate salesman, thus he wasn't in any legal capacity to be able to offer professional advice on homeowners' mortgage or loans. Furthermore he was denied his license by the certification board due to his criminal record including multiple DUIs, driving on a suspended license, and attempted grand theft. 

James was an attorney who had strikes on his record from previous infringements, and became officially disbarred in 2011. 

"Sandison stipulated to disbarment, admitting he misappropriated more than $68,000 from Comcast and another $56,388 from a client, and by allowing a resigned lawyer to use his name and client trust account while holding himself out as as attorney.

He opened trust and business accounts without his partner’s knowledge, misused those accounts, and did not maintain a proper balance. Although he paid out some funds to Comcast, he misappropriated $68,332.07. He did repay $33,000 of that amount. He also misappropriated $56,388.82 in legal fees to which his partner was entitled."

One of the Questionable Marketing Firms Sacramento Should Be Cautious Of?

Now, this brings us to the present day in 2013. The same individual gentlemen named in the lawsuit Jeff Pulvino, Shane Barker, and James Sandison started another social media marketing company named Creatine Marketing located in 3840 Rosin Ct, Sacramento, CA. Their company is driven by profits from multi level marketing scams that each of the owners participate in.

Shane Barker, now a former chief Marketing Officer of Creatine Marketing now runs his own marketing company, Modera. Jennifer Mount, former Executive Assistant at US Loan Auditors now works as a co-founder of Creatine Marketing. Daniel Fleetwood, former Vice President of Sales at US Loan Auditors, now also operates as a co-founder of Creatine Marketing.

Now why is this relevant? Let me reference former US Loan Auditors accountant, Paula Sontra's legal affidavit from back in October, 2010

“I was also told by Pulvino that he, Barker, and Sandison are planning to start several new companies, and that they are planning to hide any association between these new companies and their individual names because of their "bad credit history," and especially Sandison's name because of the bar issues," by which I assume he meant the disciplinary charges for embezzlement and other misconduct that the State Bar recently filed against Sandison.

I was told by Pulvino they would like to form these new companies quickly and that
they will be Nevada corporations. I was also told that they would prefer to establish each one as a separate entity because if legal issues arise with one or more of them, the others could be kept going. Pulvino told me that they may obtain a separate office space for each company, preferably different suites in the same building.”

Sure enough, flash forward to 2013, Jeff Pulvino is a co-founder of CreatineMarketing, without any public acknowledgment on the website's team page, and Shane Barker and Jeff Pulvino are publicly listed as reputation management "clients". The company's business license is a Nevada business license under the name of Next Level Ideas, Inc and listed under Daniel Fleetwood, former Vice President of Sales at US Loan Auditors. 

Who is Creatine Marketing? feat. Nicolas Fordham & James Sandison

James Sandison, a now disbarred attorney, works in the "legal department" at Creatine Marketing. His name is also nowhere on the company's website. The company (as shown in the second video) are preparing to use two separate office spaces in the same building at 3840 Rosin Court. The man shown in the video Nicolas Fordham, runs MXSWeb.com and X-treme Biz, MXSWeb's affiliate marketing program.

Creatine Marketing is now housing members of Organo Gold, Visalus, and X-treme Biz, all affiliate marketing schemes with questionable business practices. Jeff Pulvino, Daniel Fleetwood, Robert Black, and Patrick A. Weller all operate parts of Organo Gold whilst working under Creatine Marketing. Interesting enough, Organo Gold had claims filed against them by the Federal Trade Commission for its false health claims. http://www.krgv.com/news/special-investigation-organo-gold-federal-investigations/ 

Creatine Marketing's domain name was set up in October 1st, 2010, around the same time the owners of US Loan Auditors were publicly handling their lawsuit and subsequent bankruptcy, so as Paula Sontra officially stated, Jeff Pulvino made the immediate move to establish Creatine Marketing after the downfall of US Loan Auditors:

     "Registered through: GoDaddy.com, LLC (http://www.godaddy.com)
     Domain Name: CREATINEMARKETING.COM

Created on: 01-Oct-10
Expires on: 01-Oct-13
Last Updated on: 15-Jan-13

     Registrant:
     Next Level Ideas"

They advertise for sales rep positions on Craigslist:

"Creatine Marketing is looking to hire experienced and aggressive B2B sales representatives IMMEDIATELY! No direct marketing experience is necessary.

Real Estate, Loan Officer, Mortgage, Car Sales, Computer Sales, and any B2B Sales experience is all preferred."

Now given the business owners' history with US Loan Auditors it seems suspicious that candidates with real estate experience would be preferred for one of the supposed best social marketing companies with no real public ties to the real estate industry. What would the "leading experts in social media marketing" want to do with former real estate salesmen?

SNAP Social and X-Treme Biz: Just Another Multilevel Marketing Scheme

SNAP Social is a social media aggregate platform that Creatine Marketing supposedly developed with the help of professionals in India, and one that they plan to sell via a multilevel marketing scheme. The truth? While the owners and sales reps at Creatine Marketing falsely tell people that they developed their own "original" platform, the third party tool actually comes as a courtesy of Sendible. For $99 a month, Sendible allows businesses to white label the tool and re-brand it for the purpose of reselling it to clients.

SNAP Social and X-Treme Biz original presentation

SNAP Social and X-Treme Biz Platform

Sendible: Look Familiar?

Other shady business practices Creatine Marketing employs? Creatine Marketing uses unlicensed Microsoft and Adobe software on their company computers such as the Windows operating systems and the Adobe Creative Suite.

Although the industry that these individuals have shifted to is different, the tricks are the same. Jeff Pulvino, Daniel Fleetwood, Jennifer Carr Mount, and James Sandison, all former employees of US Loan Auditors, now work under the same roof again under the guise of Creatine Marketing. If they manage to fool you with their smoke and mirrors, then they truly are "experts" at reputation management.