BartMax, a new Ponzi scheme, launched its website bartmax.vip on August 1st, 2024, with privately registered domain information. The scheme appears to be a reboot of the collapsed MetaMax Ponzi, operated by the same anonymous individuals.
The Russian Central Bank issued a fraud warning regarding BartMax on September 9th, 2024. This follows a similar warning from the Philippine SEC against MetaMax on June 25th, just weeks before MetaMax collapsed in July 2024. BartMax emerged after initial reboot attempts like Meta Quest-Plus failed.
BartMax attempts to legitimize itself with a Hong Kong shell company certificate for "BartMax Streaming Entertainment Advertising PTE LTD." This entity was previously named "Unlucky Company PTE LTD" as of August 3rd. Such incorporation documents are easily fabricated and hold no value for due diligence purposes in MLM schemes.
The platform offers no actual products or services. Affiliates can only recruit new members. BartMax operates as a task-based Ponzi, promising passive returns on USDT investments. Investment tiers, labeled VIP1 through VIP8, range from a 30 USDT investment yielding 3 USDT daily to a 6,000 USDT investment yielding 600 USDT daily.
Additional investment plans offer daily returns based on duration and investment amount. For example, investing 100 USDT or more for three days can yield returns of 0.5% to 5% daily, depending on the specific tier.
BartMax also incentivizes recruitment with referral commissions. Affiliates earn 10% on their first level of recruits, 3% on the second level, and 2% on the third level.
While joining BartMax is free, full participation requires a minimum investment of 30 USDT. The scheme's structure mirrors that of MetaMax, which collapsed after investors were directed to watch YouTube videos as part of its task-based scam.