12/02/2012. Interview with the Admin of NewGNi

Beware! NewGNi has stopped paying! Do not invest there!

Hello everyone! After quite a busy week on MNO the article that in many ways I was looking forward to most myself was the following interview I had with Jurgen, the admin of NewGNi. A lot of you will no doubt be aware of the long history behind this one, though strictly speaking NewGNi themselves have only been operating for about the last six weeks or so. If you don’t then you can find out by referring back to my original review of the program first published here.

I have to say that I thought reviving the biggest single program in the online money making world was a brave move. I mean I know that Jurgen is understandably keen to distance NewGNi from the old program, but like it or not investors will always make that association. It really could have went either way, and although I was convinced the program was a winner when Jurgen first let me in on his plans to open it while he was still trying to organize it last autumn, I honestly had no idea what the reaction of investors would be. That reaction has been one of almost universal enthusiasm according to the feedback I’ve gotten since I started monitoring NewGNi just after Christmas, indicating that the overwhelming majority of MNO readers had a very positive experience the last time they were involved with a project Jurgen had a hand in running (even if he wasn’t the actual admin).

And so as NewGNi continues to grow, its not difficult to see why it’s rapidly becoming a popular addition to the portfolios of many smart internet based investors. A combination of profitability and sustainability is always the most important thing we look for in the more serious long term projects, and NewGNi certainly has that. Investment options for example include a straight choice between 1% per business day, or 6% weekly. Neither plan has any fixed expiry date so once you join once that’s it – you will continue to get paid indefinitely, though if for some strange reason you don’t like the sound of that then you have the option to withdraw your principal and leave after 180 days. But as well as that it’s also an exceptionally well researched, planned, and organized program with some very big plans for the future. But let’s allow Jurgen to explain how it all works.

“1. Hello Jurgen, and thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. First of all please introduce yourself to the readers of MNO. Tell us what exactly is NewGNi and explain what role you play in the organization and management of it.

Hi Paul, my best greetings to you and all your readers! It’s a pleasure to be with you once again. My name is Jurgen Wilckens and together with my co-admin Chris, who is a long time acquaintance of mine, we are running the project NewGNi. In this kind of business, or I should rather say in any business that involves handling other people funds, trust is the utmost important issue. So I am glad that Chris agreed to start this venture with me. We share our resources and both of us are active on the customer front, as well as in administrating NewGNi.

We consider NewGNi as a passive second income opportunity.

2. I don’t really want to dwell too much on the past but we know you have done this before and many people will have some questions. So if you don’t mind maybe you can clarify a couple of things for us once and for all, and then we can move on:

Sure Paul, I appreciate your questions!

a) What was your involvement in the old version of GNI, and how did you get involved in the whole thing in the first place?

I was co-founder of the old GNI, back in 2006. We started our arbitrage trading pool with a few friends, who handed over some funds to the pool. Later mates of our friends joined and we started to develop GNI into a business model that opened to the general public in 2008. My involvement in GNI was solely coordinating and managing the trading operation behind the scenes. I was barely concerned with the day-to-day running of the program and after the rapid growth in early 2009, all involved had a full plate all the time, so I was at most briefed about what happened on the front.

b) When did this involvement finish? Why did you leave? Was it an amicable split? Have you any contact with any of the former staff there (admin or support)?

I left the company months before it finally collapsed, due to some huge discrepancies with Robert Spearman, who refused to shut down GNI when the funds in their Yesilada Bank account were frozen (not GNI funds, but the whole of Yesilada’s holdings in their correspondence bank accounts). Robert insisted to pay wire transfer investors who transferred funds into GNI Yesilada’s bank account interest, while GNI couldn’t access those funds at all. I was worried at this time that GNI will become unsustainable – or how could it pay premium investors, who invested via Yesilada, about 30% interest monthly – without having those funds at GNI’s disposal??? Robert disregarded my thoughts and was eager to put more efforts into trading activities, to overcome the losses. That was the beginning of the end of goldnuggetinvest.com and I decided to leave.

The second cause of the collapse of GNI was certainly referral abuse. The lock-in period was only 30 days and the members abused it, withdrawing their funds and re-invested them again, cashing in 5% referral commission. That alone over a 6 months period accumulates to an additional 30%. Now, I let you do the math for a several years period… That’s the main reason why the lock-in period of the NewGNi is set to 180 days. We don’t want those players and have measures in place to trace them and to keep them away.

I haven’t spoken to Robert Spearman or with any former member of the staff since I left and only recently a former support staff member contacted me, seeking a support job.

c) What do you say to anyone who feels you are somehow responsible for them losing money?

We’ve received a few requests to refund former members of GNI. Unfortunately we are not in a position to help them. Having been the co-founder doesn’t mean that I left with pockets full of funds. I was paid according to my trading results, as the other traders, and got a percentage of our monthly surplus on top.

I also need to stress out that NewGNi is not the follower, and definitely not the legal successor of the old GNI, but rather a fine-tuned reinvention of the concept that made the old GNI such successful.

3. I know you would rather not be associated with the online HYIP industry at all, but the fact is (whether it was your fault or not) you have a connection with an anonymous Internet company that collapsed. What do you say to potential NewGNi members tempted to join but still cautious about this?

I can understand if some of your readers might hesitate to join, due to the collapse of the old GNI.

Some people asked us why we have chosen NewGNi as our name? Sure, we could have taken any other name, to avoid controversy. But, the fact is that the old GNI was my brainchild as well. One Robert Spearman horribly managed it, and as a result it eventually collapsed. But we must not forget the undeniable fact that the old GNI paid its members for a very long time and that the old GNI was beneficial to the vast majority of its former members!

Anyway, we don’t force anybody to join: Every man is the artisan of his own fortune.

All the others who joined us already are making money – and that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

4. Following on from that, and again not wanting to dwell on the past, but what did you learn from your experience with the old GNI? Can you pinpoint the areas where it went wrong and demonstrate to members now that these issues can be identified in future and dealt with effectively? Do you believe NewGNi can be bigger, better, run for longer, and how can you assure MNO readers that that is going to be the case?

Having laid down the reasons of the collapse of the old GNI, we consider NewGNi as a very refined version of its predecessor. The key to success is in our experience and our fastidious attention to care about our clients and even more importantly, the funds entrusted to us.

Can the NewGNi become bigger than the oldGNi? With our members support – yes we can! Can it be better? I think we are already better, with strict policies in place. Patronizing, bending the rules and jobs for the boys are not an option. We will also not offer higher interest plans, just because certain clients are offering big deposits. And finally, using commercial banks is not an option.

Just on a side note: Not only GNI felt victim to Big Brothers interference in the banking sector. Just recently Cash Club 21, an online business that offered monthly returns based on arbitrage trading folded, after their Belgian bank account at ING was seized with about EUR 2 million of funds by the Belgian authorities. Is he a scammer, or did he scam his members? I don’t believe so and have credible information from my contacts in the trade (books and related payment processors) that he was well known and did what he said he did: arbitrage trading. His mistake was not only using a main street bank to accept funds, but also to freely publicize his ID, personal address etc., catching the attention of jealous subjects, the enemies and villains of the online investment industry.

We will not do the same mistake and as much as we respect the privacy of our members, we expect that they do respect our privacy in return.

5. Anyway, I hope we can put all that behind us now and concentrate on new opportunities, of which NewGNi is definitely one of the better ones. What plans are you offering the members now? How much does it cost, what can I earn in return, and how does one go about joining?

We are offering only two sustainable plans:

The Daily Winner
Interest: 1% daily | Minimum Invest: $20 | Maximum Invest: $20,000

The Weekly Champion
Interest: 6% weekly | Minimum Invest: $50 | Maximum Invest: $50,000

Interest for the daily plan is added to our members cash balance on weekdays only, around the same time the investment was made.

Interest for the weekly plan is added weekly to the cash balance, on the same day the investment was made.

6. What payment processors do you use? Tell us about the payment schedule. When I have an outstanding interest payment from NewGNi, how do I request it and how long before I see it in my e-currency account? Is there a reason you don’t allow instant payouts?

We currently accept Liberty Reserve, Perfect Money and SolidTrust Pay. Earnings are paid to the members cash balance and can be requested to their payment processor accounts from there. We are processing payments once a day from Monday until Friday after 16:00 GMT. Payments requested after 16:00 GMT or during weekends will be processed on the next weekday. Instant payouts are not enabled due to security concerns.

7. Has the introduction of STP made much of a difference to you? Do you plan to add any other options, such as AlertPay for example who I know you never wanted to work with in the past?

SolidTrust Pay has become a vital addition to the accepted payment processors. AlertPay is not an option, due to their restrictions and…lets say ‘general habit’ towards investment programs. We would love to accept Neteller or Skrill (the former Moneybookers), since we use them daily for trading, but unfortunately they don’t accept any investment projects.

8. Can you explain in layman’s terms the concept behind arbitrage betting? How does it work? How do you identify these opportunities and how fast do you have to move in order to take advantage? How many of these would you come across in let’s say an average month? Can you give some of the most recent examples of successful trades?

Arbitrage is the well-known financial practice of taking advantage of a price differential between two markets. In the case of sports arbitrage, the ‘prices’ are the odds, and the markets are two or more competing bookmakers. The situation occurs when both bookmakers have sufficiently high odds on each side of an event. You place a bet on both participants, covering all outcomes of the game, and are guaranteed a profit. Arbitrage situations happen regularly, hundreds of times every day. Sports arbitrage betting on the Internet has existed for about a decade, and a lot of people have made (and still are making) good money from it.

The easiest way to explain an arbitrage is in a 2-way event such as a tennis match, a basketball event (with no draw option) or an ice hockey event that includes potential overtime and penalties. In all of these events, there will be a winner.

Let’s take an example of a 2-way tennis match. Player1 at Bookie1 has the odds 2.10 and Player2 at Bookie2 has the odds 2.10. If you bet $500 at both bookies, you win $50 regardless of which player wins. You have placed a total of $1000 and you will get $1050 back, no matter the outcome of the event.

We are using available software tools to identify and place arbs, as well as some paid alert services. An arb doesn’t exist for very long, usually only a few minutes, the bookies are changing the odds permanently. However, there are tens of thousands of such situations every month, with the ever-increasing number of books and the tough competition in the market.

Apart from the given 2-way bet, there are 3-way bets (for sports with a draw option), as well as combinations thereof, like betting on the 1st or 2nd half only and so-called Asian Handicaps, European Handicaps and Back Lay sure bets.

Now I will give you a few examples of arbs I was trading earlier today (9 February 2012):

Football: Club Friendlies 9 Feb
CSKA Moscow – FC Timisoara
Win CSKA Moscow: BetCity @ 1.35
Draw: betfair @ 6.20
Win FC Timisoara: betfair @ 14.00
Profit: 2.73%

Football: FA Cup 19 Feb
Crawley Town – Stoke City
Win Crawley Town: StanJames @ 5.25
Draw: 21kBet @ 3.60
Win Stoke City: Pinnacle @ 1.99
Profit: 3.01%

Tennis: Davies Cup 10 Feb
Germany – Argentina
Win Germany: Victor Chandler @ 3.50
Win Argentina: Interwetten @ 1.45
Profit: 2.53%

Tennis: ATP Quimper 9 Feb
Gensse Augustin – Jaziri Malek
Win Gensse Augustin: Marathon @ 3.55
Win Jaziri Malek: bet365 @ 1.50
Profit: 5.45%

Futsal: UEFA Futsal Championship 9 Feb
Spain – Italy
1st Half Advantage Spain: bwin @ 2.20
1st Half Draw: BetVictor @ 3.75
1st Half Advantage Italy: NordicBet @ 4.00
Profit: 2.96%

9. How secure is the website of NewGNi? What are you doing to protect it and members’ accounts from hackers? Are you on a dedicated server? Who is your host? What kind of anti-DDoS protection do you have?

Security is of course a major concern! We have measures in place to secure our members accounts that we don’t want to disclose publicly for obvious reasons.

We are hosted on a dedicated server provided by Dragonara with SSL encryption and DDoS protection.

So far we are pretty happy with our configuration and set-up.

10. What kind of script is your program running off? Where did you get it, how safe is it, and why do you think this one is most beneficial for you as an admin and your members?

We are using, what we consider the most advanced and secure script currently on the market. It’s called Shadow Script, freely available, but not that often used probably because of its monthly license fee based on active members. It is very much thought through and can be customized to meet our demands. The developer, his name is Chris as well, is offering outstanding and timely support.

11. Can we see any statistics regarding the site? How many members have joined since the beginning and how many are active at the moment? Are you pleased with the support from the members so far? How important a role do they play in bringing in new members?

We are pretty amazed with our results and the feedback from our members so far. At the end of January we had already more members and more active funds than the old GNI after three months.

As of today (9 February 2012) we have 783 members with an active member ratio of 48.28%.

Our members are entitled to earn 5% referral commission, if they invite others to join.

12. How can members contact you if they have any questions or support related issues? Maybe you could now introduce members to the support team or any other backroom staff you have working with you on NewGNi?

Members can contact us via the support ticket feature in the member’s area. Non-member’s can use the contact form, accessible from all the frontend pages of our website.

Currently Chris and I are handling all support requests. Not to forget to mention our two full time arbitrage traders who are working in the background.

13. I notice that you’re now making use of various social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. How much of help have they been in communicating with existing members and perhaps even encouraging others to join?

Yes, times are changing very swiftly in this so-called digital age. That means for businesses – and especially for online businesses, to adopt new means of marketing, support and communication with its clients.

In our point of view, Facebook and Twitter are a must these days, for any online-based business. Customers nowadays research companies online and then ask for recommendations through social media sites, to share opinions and experiences on companies, products and services, as part of their decision making process.

On the other side, Facebook and Twitter are essential for us to stay in touch with our member base, if we experience downtime of our portal for example.

14. I’ve heard it said that you may soon be hiring staff online for customer service positions, is that true? If so then when will this start to happen, what will you expect of these people (in terms of both experience and results), and what are you offering by way of payment?

Yes Paul, that is true. As soon as we feel the need to have additional support staff to communicate with our members in a timely manner, we will start hiring customer service reps. Applicants should have experience in online support and at least be fluent in English. Applicants should also be willing to work at least 4 hours per day for part time or 8 hours per day for full time. Here our ultimate aim is to have three staff members working full time in different time zones to offer our clients 24 hours of support. Terms and conditions will be discussed individually with the applicants.

15. What have been the most common questions and problems you’ve had to deal with so far? Is there anything you wish to say here so that members can avoid having to contact you later?

First of all, I’d like to advise all our members to read our FAQ and our User Manual, which can be found in the member’s area. Most common questions are answered there.

A lot of support requests referred to the Secondary Password. Now, we have addressed this issue already in a newsletter in early January: The secondary password is the ultimate key to your funds with us. Please treat this secondary password like the PIN of your Credit or Debit Card!

Another common question is how to re-invest earnings. The procedure to do so is in principle the same one as how to cash out to your payment processor. Go to ‘Request Cashout’ in the member’s area and choose ‘Sent Back to E-Wallet’ from the ‘Action’ labeled pull down menu. Requests of withdrawals to the E-Wallet are considered as all other withdrawal requests, so your funds will not be available immediately. Once we processed your request, the funds will show up in your E-Wallet and can be invested via the ‘Investment’ link.

16. How have you been promoting NewGNi so far? What advertising strategy have you been using? As with the previous incarnation of the program (if you don’t mind me calling it that!) you again seem to avoid the traditional HYIP related resources as much as possible. Why so? How are you reaching your target audience? Are you happy with the results so far or could it be improved?

We are spending our marketing budget sensible, or conservative if you like. Apart from our presence here at MNO we have bought some advertisement on selected blogs.

We set no great store to be present in the HYIP or ‘money making’ related forums, and so do 90% or so of our members I believe. The reason is that those forums are merely the playgrounds of monitors fulfilling their obligation to post that they’ve got paid, as well as some individuals, cockroachin’ around there with uncertain agendas – in other words, not a place for us to throw money at.

Most businesses spend more time and money trying to find new clients than they spend retaining the clients they have. The logic behind client retention is simple – it costs far less money to keep current clients happy than to spend much more money to recruit new clients. Also, loyal clients tell their friends, recruit members and will get more involved over the time

Can we improve? Always Paul, a rolling stone gathers no moss.

17. After coming online in December and beginning to get established now, what next for NewGNi? How do you see it developing and expanding over the coming year? Do you have any changes or improvements in mind over the coming months?

By the time this interview is conducted our website is being translated into the Russian and French languages. We have chosen native speakers for the job and expect to have this done by the end of the month. We are planning to add at least Spanish and German as well. Other languages might follow, depending on demand.

After that, our next step will be the addition of a local representative program, headed by a country representative. This program will ensure that our members will get assistance in their local languages and to shorten response time.

Another planned addition for the coming weeks is a live arb page, which will be only accessible for active members.

And there will be more, but as the saying goes: Don’t play all your trump cards at once.

2012 will be an exciting year for NewGNi and its members.

18. And finally is there anything else you wish to say not covered in this interview? Anything in the review you may not agree with or wish to comment on?

Thank you Paul! Your review was appreciated. Your unbiased and no-nonsense approach to the industry is the reason that your blog has become what it is today.

To your readers who are not already with us, I would like to say the following: If you want to earn a decent second income in the months ahead, please consider NewGNi. Give us a try and join us on our journey – you wont regret it!”

Well, what else can I say? Thanks a lot to Jurgen for that and I really hope anyone reading it found it as interesting as I did. At some point in the future – and I’m not making any concrete promises here yet – we might have a second interview, or rather a “Q&A” session, with Jurgen where MNO readers can submit their own questions. That won’t be until after the program is a lot bigger but just in case you think there was something not explained to your liking or a question you’d like answered then think it over. I’ll let you know if and when it goes ahead. For now though I just want to say good luck to Jurgen with NewGNi which I sincerely hope he can develop into something impressive and generate a good profit for all involved. Best of luck also to anyone already a member or just thinking of joining NewGNi. Fingers crossed Jurgen was right in his last answer that you won’t regret it.

INTRODUCTION OF FXTRUST

Another brand new short term program making its way to MNO Premium/Sticky listing today is FXTrust. Experienced investors will undoubtedly recognize some familiar features about FXTrust like DDoS protection and hosting on a dedicated server by AntoDdos, and an SSL secured website with a familiar layout running off a licensed GoldCoders script. The investment plans are also very similar to what so many other short term games are now offering including 105%-130% after 1 day, 116%-230% after 3 days, 142%-600% after 7 days, 190%-1300% after 14 days, and 350%-2600% after 30 days. Two payment processors are accepted by FXTrust – LibertyReserve and PerfectMoney – with a minimum investment of $10 and all withdrawals promised to be paid within 12 hours. More details of FXTrust will be discussed in the upcoming review on MNO soon, but meanwhile you can check out the site for yourself and see the brief announcement from the admin about the program’s opening which was today:
“FXTrust has been officially opened for investments worldwide!
FXTrust has been officially opened for investments worldwide! Fill free to join and become a part of FXTrust community. Start earning money today!”

That’s about it for today, guys. I’ll be back as always tomorrow with all the days news stories plus a closer look at a new short term program to be added to my monitoring page. Until then enjoy what’s left of your weekend and I’ll see you all on Monday night!