20/02/2010. Interview with the admin of Aballong

THIS PROGRAM IS PAYING SELECTIVELY! PLEASE DO NOT INVEST!

Hi everybody! For the first post today I must say I am very pleased to have one of the most interesting interviews I have seen from an HYIP admin in some time. I’m talking with Alrea Cruz who, in partnership with her husband Martin, runs one of the most interesting HYIP websites I have seen in some time.

It’s called Aballong and I’m pretty sure it has what it takes to be one of the big success stories of the Spring. Out of the plethora of websites claiming to be involved in arbitrage betting, Aballong is the only one that I am aware of to even attempt to offer you real solid examples of what they are doing with your money. And not just one or two examples of sporting events that happened a couple of years ago like some websites do, but rather daily updates about their activities which you can easily verify yourself either online or on the back page of your newspaper.

Alrea has I think made an excellent attempt at answering all my questions and I can only say I wish there were a lot more admins like her as I do appreciate this approach. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did, but before we hear from her let me just briefly remind you that Aballong is a long term investment project offering interest rates that fluctuate between 2% and 8% per week. Payments however are now made by the day. For further information on Aballong please refer to my original review of the program published here.

“1. Hi Alrea, please introduce yourself to the readers of MNO and tell us about your own role within Aballong. What are your own duties within the program? How would you describe a typical working day for you as an admin of an online investment project?

Hi Paul, and Hi to all your readers, let me first thank you for giving me this marvelous chance on your blog to explain Aballong better. But let’s start with me. I am Alrea Cruz, 25 years old, and married to my long time love Martin, who is the Arbitrageur in our company.

Even so, let’s start with my life as the admin. I wake up at around 6am, start looking to all the support requests, the winning bets of the day, and then my emails. This takes quite some time since I spend time on all our members and go into details for each request.

At around 9AM Martin explains to me how we did and gives me the bet’s to place in the news section and in the members area. He also explains how we did the day before so I can update the daily Member returns to the accounts.

At around 11am I do the daily payouts, but this is just the main time structure since I pay usually a few times a day not to waste time with too many open payment requests.

We usually take a 2 hour break what includes lunch, and discussing the bets and the general performance of the program.

At 2pm I am again looking at the tickets and emails and start answering open questions, fixing accounts, see if there are problems and check if all is running normal in the system. I will have an additional check before I go to bed, but that’s just a normal day. Of course we have days where I do more or less.

Martin is mostly, apart from food breaks, on his computer to place bets, calculate arbitrage situations, and transfer money to and from the bookies all day on his computer.

2. Can you also give us some background on the program? How long have you been running? What were you hoping to achieve by starting it in the first place? Apart from you is there anybody else working on Aballong?

Aballong was created by Martin and I because after working on arbitrage betting for quite a while now we began to realize that we really needed more money to get the arbs working for us. To create regular arbitrage situations you need always a great amount of money in all the bookies you play with. But still not too much in the bookies so as not to risk to have a bookie for a while without getting an arb situation with them.

Sometime you can archive more in bwin, or in bet365 etc., but you might not have the amount to play with in these accounts, and that is why we needed more money from outside sources So for this reason Aballong was created.

Aballong is now online since February 1st and we are happy with how things are moving with the support of our Members. Martin and I were also focusing on a small group from the beginning, so we will never allow more than 250 Investors to join the program at any given time. Though this excludes the monitoring, blogger, and other free account holders.

We both believe a smaller group is easier to handle, and we can communicate with our investors the way they deserve. It makes no sense in my opinion for a program to just focus getting as many members as possible and then not be able to handle the support requests. I want to wake up one day and know all my members by their first name and this is impossible with a large group. Martin would also have a hard time in placing huge bets since there is not always a great arb situation. And we need to spread our bets between different bookmakers. There might be an arbitration in two of them but not in all of them at the same time. So we need money but cannot handle too much money at the same time since we have to guarantee profits.

3. What about the investment plans? Can you explain them in detail to us? What are the minimum and maximum amounts for investment, what rates of interest are on offer and how long do they run for?

The Aballong investment plan is based on the daily income we archive using arbitration. On some days we place lots of bets and archive a much higher return, but on some other days, there might not be any.

We allow for some days without payments, but then there are some days with larger payments. We were expecting a return of 2%-8% per week with an average income of 6% per week guaranteed. We did however exceed this amount in the first few weeks. I can say we are at this point looking at an average gross income of around 7-9% per week, which is a bit higher than expected but was archivable with the extra amounts we got from our members.

I am very glad and happy that our script allows not just a fixed profit daily, weekly or monthly, like most others do, but is based on a real return situation. So to explain this a little better, some days you might see 2% on your account balance earned, sometime only 0.2%, or sometimes even nothing. But during the full week are sure to archive profits somewhere between 2%-8% or even more as we have occasionally done in the past. The investment opportunity runs for 365 days, and you will
have your principal returned at the end of that term. If you need your principal investment earlier then just request it via a support ticket and we will return it to you within 30 days.

4. Tell us about the payment options available from Aballong. What payment processors are you currently dealing with?

Aballong accepts AlertPay (including credit card payments), StrictPay, PerfectMoney, LibertyReserve and GlobalDigitalPay. We also accept Bank deposits for verified clients. We have also submitted our documents to SolidTrustPay and are waiting for their verification any day. So I believe we offer a large range of e-currencies but if you have any other suggestions we are happy to listen.

5. How highly would you rate the security of your own website? Tell us about your hosting provider and how highly would you rate them as a service provider?

Our website is hosted with HushHosting, and Martin and I are very impressed with their support team. they are always quick and helpful in every situation, even stuff they might not need to help with like integration of the design where we were having some trouble doing ourselves.

The script we are using is also customized from HushHosting, but primarily based on the popular Neversay script. Neversay I was advised was never been hacked or has any backdoors, so it was the right choice for us to use. We also recently installed SSL encryption, which we should really have done from day one but they needed supporting documents to activate the insurance and security on the Comodo part. I am not really an expert in technical aspects of it so I just submitted the documents and can’t really explain what HushHosting installed for us after that. But I know it is from Comodo and has our site encrypted and insured.

6. What about your script? Who is the provider and what do you think the benefits of this script are to both the admin and the investors?

The script is based on Neversay as I explained in the last question. Neversay is easy to handle not only for the members but also for the administration. And we are very thankful for the additional features HushHosting provided us with.

7. You also use SSL encryption I see. Can you explain to those not that familiar with online business exactly what that means and why is it so important? Why do you think so many HYIP admins are so slow to add this feature?

SSL is encrypts the web traffic and so hackers cannot see what you submit. Beyond that I don’t really know too much about it but I do know for sure that for any serious online business it is a must. I believe most administrators are not using it because it is not free. You need to submit your company papers or in a personal account, your passport and proof of a valid billing address. Most administrators want to remain anonymous so they will not choose this, in my opinion, very important option.

8. After the introduction of SSL and the change in the payment schedule, how have things improved for Aballong?Are investors more willing to get involved now and take the program more seriously?

Paul, this is a very important point. Yes. This is exactly the case. Once we installed the SSL and did the changeover to daily payouts the number of investors and the amounts deposited increased by a large number. We are very happy how the program is improving and growing, and I could not wish for a nicer and more consistent support from our investors.

9. What kind of customer support do you offer? What is the best and most efficient way to contact you if I have any questions? Do you have Live Chat support? What hours (GMT) is this service available during?

We do have live chat support and a support ticket system, but for now we are only allowing tickets. I try to deal with them as fast as I can. We did not launch the live support just yet however, since 99% of all support requests are requests for monitoring services. I do not need any more of them or want to waste my working time in live chat with monitors. We are working to integrate the Kayako live support and ticket module in the Neversay script and that will enable the live feature for active investors, but we waiting still to implement this feature to.

10. What other outside business and investment activities are Aballong involved with? What are you doing with your member’s money and how are you generating such profits? Can we see any proof of these activities?

Just yesterday I sent a nice explanation about arbitrage betting and how it all works. Allow me to post parts of this update to support this question, as I believe everything was explained nicely here:

What is soccer arbitrage?
An arbitrage situation is when bookmakers’ values differ enough that they allow bettors to back all outcomes and still make a profit.

Don’t the bookmakers know about this? Yes they do! Bookies don’t create arbitrage conditions with their own offers. You can’t go to a single bookie and bet on all results
without losing money. From a business perspective bookmaker are only interested in making money. An arbitrageur’s bet is still a good bet since, in the long-run, the odds are still in the sportsbooks favor. There is a misconception about a bookie need to balance his book. It is believed that with a balanced book, the bookie can make a risk-free profit. This is true. But even if a book isn’t balanced and a bookie is “short”, and the bookie exposes himself to a possible loss, he still makes money in the long-run because of the overall diversification of all of his bets on all different games. But even taking this into consideration, some bookies may be opposed to clients making money from dealing with them, without incurring the risk. It is, therefore, important to take measures to disguise your activities and not make it obvious that you are an arbitrageur. This is why we are placing our bets on so many different bookies in the internet.

How we make soccer arbitrage work?
Martin must use at least two different bookies. Betting on all results at the same bookmaker won’t work. You have to find at least two bookmakers whose prices differ and are high enough so that an arb is created. This used to be quite a challenge but there are so many bookies on the Internet now that we have more options of odds to choose from.

Do arbitrage opportunities REALLY exist?
Genuinely, the frequency with which arbitrage opportunities arise is relatively low, since each bookie is careful not to ride against the general tide of opinion regarding the estimating of a sporting event. Although advantages of a few percent are not uncommon, maybe only 1 book in a 100 or fewer are capable of yielding an arbitrage
opportunity. Nevertheless, given the enormous number of soccer events around the world for fixed odds betting today, there is still a good number of sure bets to be found every single day. However, in view of the difficulties highlighted here, only the
most dedicated arb-watcher will realistically be able to benefit repeatedly from arbitrage betting with a view to securing a regular income. We are happy to do the job for you.

Can I prove it is an interesting question. We do show where we bet, but if we would place the best before they happen no one would need us to do the arbitrage betting anymore! They could just copy our bets and place them alone. But Martin spends at least 6-8 hours a day making calculations so why would we give this hard work away
for free?

11. If your betting activities are so profitable, why do you need investors money to finance them? You split the profits 85:15 with the members but why not use your own money and keep everything? At the rate you earn money you could build up an enormous reserve in a few weeks. Why all the trouble of opening an online HYIP?

You cannot do arbitrage betting with small amounts, and honestly we need $45,000 from an outside source to reach the amount we wish to bet with. We were trying to make a living out of the bets in the last few years but we can archive a much higher arbitrage situation with more money involved. You might also have a look at this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbitrage_betting
to understand that there is a very low to no risk involved but large amounts are still needed. These are amounts we simply did not have and still don’t have to play it in the big league. On the other hand, if there was no website offering the services we do, or any forex software/trader/HYIP does, why bother to be in the industry in the first place? I am sure we are offering a unique service with a unique concept since I see around in the internet and cannot find one single arbitrage betting website who does the returns on actual arbitrage income. All others are offering a fixed daily income. My question to them is this – could they please contact Martin and explain how they can fix a daily return in arbitration betting? Sometimes you can make a lot, but on some days you make nothing. So I am always asking myself how they can offer fixed returns when the returns are so unpredictable. But it might just be me and they know more than us.

12. Tell us about the verification process you had for larger investors. Why did you ever ask for it and why have you since dropped it? Why do you ask for it for bank wire transfers when no other online HYIP does? Do you offer any verification documents of your own in return?

The Bank Wire option needs to be supported with a verification document. Our Bank might ask why and from who we got such amounts, and we need to be able to send an explanation with their name and information. I am happy to give everyone who does verify themselves for bank wires the same information about us, as they may well face the same situation when they get paid large amounts from our bank, so there is nothing wrong on with verification. We were doing it with Paypal also, which we have now dropped since we started using Alertpay as a credit card partner. In Paypal people can request back charges, so they might get paid and charge back at the same time, this way we are at least knowing with who we are dealing with.

13. Recently there seems to be a lot of online HYIPs claiming to be involved with arbitrage betting without offering any evidence. What is your opinion of them and why should the investors treat Aballong any differently?

As I explained in one of the previous answers, I do not see any real arbitrage systems out there. Yes, they might claim to do it, but again how can someone possibly offer a fixed return? The arbitrage situation appears daily, maybe in some games even 1-3 days before, but even so you simply can’t fix a daily profit. On some days there are no games. On some days there are no arbitrage situations. And on other days there are so many of them, but how the arbitrageur can fix a daily profit? He can’t, and so I am very dumbfounded to see things like this all over the internet. Also when they do real betting, why not share them with the members, how did they make money, ask some of them about some games and where they bet, they don’t even know with how much money you can gamble with in some providers they are claiming to use. Because they not even have an account there. We do have accounts and we do make the arbitration. And yes we do win our bets because these situations do exist.

14. Are there any plans to develop Aballong further in the near future? Do you have any interesting changes or promotions organized? How are you planning to keep the program competitive with so many new HYIPs opening every day?

Aballong is accepting only 250 investors, or a maximum of $45000. The rest is our own money we are placing so we do not need to attract new members in the future. I am sure if we allow more members because of recommendations that this will be just fine. The best advertisement for us is when one member recommends us to another. This number will be reached pretty soon I believe and after this point we will only allow people to join who are investing directly and be recommended from an uplink. So I do not believe we need to attract new members with promotions. For old investors we might have some games like the one with the bet of the day what is running until March 1st Any more is not needed and will not be offered by Aballong.

I would like to say thank you Paul and thank you to all Money-News-online readers for taking the time and having Aballong in your blog. If any readers feel that Paul missed a question, or you want to know anything more about Aballong or Arbitrage situations, feel free to contact me directly I will take time to answer every question or concern you might have.”

And I’d also like to thank Alrea for taking the time and effort to return such a good effort. God luck to her and Martin, but more importantly I think good luck to all the members. I hope you have found this in some small way helpful in making up your minds about whether or not Aballong is a suitable investment for your own needs. And if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to take Alrea up on her suggestion and contact her through the website with them. I’m sure she can do a more than capable job of answering them.

That’s about it for the moment guys, but don’t go too far. I’ll be back as usual tonight with all the day’s news stories so stay tuned for that!