Ponzi Scheme: My Harvest America Goes Bust, Local Residents Lose Thousands

An elaborate Ponzi scheme has left many in Lakewood out a hefty amount of money. For months the advertisement in a local publication caught the eye of many and seemed too good to be true; for roughly $250 one can get a $300 visa gift card.

Many in Lakewood put down their money for the seemingly great deal. As it turns out, the deal was too good to be true.

The parent company behind the deal was My Harvest America. A visit to their website, which would once reveal a description by the company’s founders how people could make money by investing with them, now yields the following message:

“Due to circumstances beyond our control, My Harvest America, Inc. has been forced to file for protection under Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.

Further information for claims will be forthcoming from the US Bankruptcy Court, May 27, 2011
Case # 2:11-bk-15482.”

The founders were in essence running a Ponzi scheme. People couldn’t merely buy one card and get their money. Rather to join the investment one had to constantly give money every month and pay a monthly fee on top of that. In return an eventual payoff would yield a significant return on ones investment.

That return never came and My Harvest America has now filed for bankruptcy leaving many in the frum world short hundreds if not thousands of dollars. My Harvest America originally paid off their investors leading many to believe in the investment. The backlog on their payments continued to grow and they have now filed for bankruptcy leaving many in the dark.

The following report was a scam report on My Harvest America written in February by MLMsuccessguide.com. Note how they originally call My Harvest America a good investment only to change their tune in May, when it was revealed that the payoffs had stopped coming.

“My Harvest America began as an online grocery store. They paid shipping charges to the customer. Shipping costs proved too expensive and they decided to drop the grocery program. That was in mid to end of 2010

About October 2010 they introduced a new program, discounted debit card and gift cards.

They have two programs, loyalty cards and Elite cards. You can do just the loyalty or both. The Loyalty program cost $ 29.95 per month. The two together cost about $ 65 per month.

Within the Loyalty program you can buy, each month, a debit card with a discount of 25%. It is offered by a major bank. You can choose from denominations:

$ 50 gift card face value, cost, only $ 37.50
$ 100 gift card’s face value, your cost, only $ 75.00
$ 150 gift card’s face value, your cost only $ 112.50
$ 300 gift card’s face value, your cost only $ 225.00

If you purchase $ 150 or $ 300 card you make money ($ 7.50 or $ 45.00 each) per month. You would not net a profit buying the $ 50 or $ 100 debit card.

As a member of the Elite program you can get a loyalty card plus the Elite card. The Elite Card is a gift card that can be used in a well-known national retailer. You can get a gift card every 15 days. You enjoy a 40& discount on each gift card. The gift card amounts and costs are:

$ 50 gift card face value, cost only $ 30.00
$ 100 gift card’s face value, cost only $ 60.00
$ 200 gift card’s face value, cost only $ 120.00

If you get two $ 200 Elite gift cards each month you will receive a cards that costs $ 240 for a savings of $ 160 per month. My Harvest America is not a scam.

The best thing to do is buy the $300 loyalty debit card and two $ 200 Elite gift cards every month. Your cost will be $ 465 for the card plus $ 69 per month, a total of $ 534. The value of the three cards will be $ 700. You will make approximately $ 166.00 per month.

And you can do it every month without sponsoring a single person. Yes, Harvest America is a multi-level network company. However, you do not need to sponsor a single person in order to participate in and profit from the Loyalty and Elite card programs. That’s good.

The My Harvest America compensation plan is 3 x 8 matrix, which is pretty standard. If you want to sponsor that can generate some extra income for you. However, if you do not recruit you can still make an income of $166 per month by taking advantage of the two card programs.

The conclusion of this My Harvest American scam review is that it is not a scam. It is a legitimate business opportunity with a very good program. This is the only program I know where you can make $ 160 month after month without doing anything except taking the time to get your card.

I give 10 stars to My Harvest America. Visit My American Harvest for more information and to join.

Update May 2011 – This program is no longer recommended. They have changed the program and are paying extremely slow.”

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