Table of Contents
Introduction
If you’re visiting this site, you’re probably wondering what Up2Give is all about. Perhaps you’ve received an invitation from a close friend who says Up2Give can “change your life.”
Before you start changing anything, you first need to know what the company is, what it does, how to join, and most importantly, is Up2Give a scam?
I’ll answer these questions and more before trying to convince you why you should not get involved with Up2Give.
Because it may turn out like Forsage and Mind Capital, which are crypto ponzi scams.
What is Up2Give?
- Name: Up2Give
- Website: up2give.com
- Owners: Jerry Lopez, Sean E. Starr, Andres Kartrud
- Price: $32
- Rating: 1/10
Up2Give is an MLM company that entertains the idea of cash gifting. Essentially, participating members give Bitcoins to other members in the hopes of getting something back. The website says that it offers a crowdfunding opportunity to all, or a donation system where members help each other out.
The company was founded by a Mr. Jerry Lopez. You won’t find this information on the website—for obvious reasons as you’ll soon find out—but rather through a video depicting this guy as the CEO.
The domain up2give.com was registered in late-2019 privately. Since then, Up2Give has been in its pre-launch phase, despite promising to officially launch in January 2020. There haven’t been recent developments anywhere, and it’s already been a year.
What Does Up2Give Offer?
For an MLM company to legally operate in the US, it has to offer a tangible product or service of value. However, according to the website, Up2Give’s headquarters are located in Guatemala, which may have a completely different set of rules.
Up2Give doesn’t straight-up offer products for sale, but instead, Up2Give members obtain a piece of subscription-based software known as The Giving Box—a tool that lets users participate in Up2Give’s global economy based on “the core principles of philanthropy.” Using the Giving Box is how you can see how much you’ve made through donations from other members, so it has no value outside of Up2Give’s ecosystem.
The classes supposedly offer Essential Skills Training Courses. I truly would have loved to learn more about these classes, but that Learn more “button” you see above doesn’t actually redirect you anywhere. However, in this horribly promotional video featuring Mr. Lopez, they mention all sorts of soft skill training courses that U2G Academy offers.
What Does It Cost to Join Up2Give?
Signing up requires handing over a $32 registration fee in BTC plus paying an additional 0.005 BTC (roughly $57 dollars) toward your back office. To use The Gifting Box, your only means of accessing your Up2Give wallet, you’ll have to pay an additional $32 every month.
The Gifting Box’s system starts on the first of every month. You can keep your place in The Gifting Box’s system if you do the following:
- Pay the $32 user fee and 0.005 BTC before 12:00 AM on the 2nd of every month.
- You’ll have a full 24 hours to give toward your next level, or you will have until the 6th to do this, giving each user a sufficient amount of time to keep their place from the previous month.
- If you were unable to pay the $32 + 0.005 BTC fee, you have the option of having your sponsor pay on your behalf, so you don’t lose your place
- After the six-day period is up, business continues as usual
- Non-members can also donate by using the Simply Giving Tab on an acquaintances account, though the donor receives nothing in return
How Do You Make Money with Up2Give?
After studying Up2Give’s compensation plan, I discovered that the only way to make money back on your investment is by filling your entire 2 x 1 or 2 x 6 matrix. Doing this can promote you to the next level with greater earnings potential.
The 2 x1 matrix lets you keep only two positions, whereas the 2 x 6 matrix lets you hold 2 positions on level 1, four positions on level two, eight positions on level 3, and so on until reaching the sixth and final level.
Affiliates pay 0.01 BTC after the 2 x 1 matrix has been filled. This covers the monthly fees incurred by every paying member who has put in 0.005 BTC to fill a spot. After filling the sixth level, you’ll be swimming in money.
Here’s a quick overview of the potential monthly earnings and placeholder fee through Up2Give’s scam—er… system:
- Level 1 – 4 BTC with 0.01 BTC fee
- Level 2 – 16 BTC with 0.01 BTC fee
- Level 3 – 64 BTC with 0.02 BTC fee
- Level 4 – 256 BTC with 0.05 BTC fee
- Level 5 – 1,064 BTC with 0.25 BTC fee
- Level 6 – 4,096 BTC with 1 BTC fee
What I Like About Up2Give (Pros)
Nothing, nada, zilch. Up2Give is as scammy as scams can be.
What I Dislike About Up2Give (Cons)
Everything, from its sketchy-ass owner to its fraudulent crowdfunding/donation system designed to cheat its users out of their hard-earned cash. Allow me to elaborate.
Make Money through Recruiting
If an MLM company doesn’t offer a product or service of actual value outside of its ecosystem, then it’s pretty much a scam. Up2Give does not have anything to offer other than the subscription-based The Giving Box software which is designed to “help” users benefit from this donate-to-me-and-I’ll-donate-back scheme.
Sketchy CEO
Mr. Jerry Lopez, along with his sidekicks Andreas Kartrund and Sean Starr, claims that Up2Give has been in the works since 2015. They also claimed that the company will end its pre-launch phase in January 2020 but have yet to expand on their business. Perhaps COVID19 set them back, or maybe (most likely) they don’t intend to improve their dubious system.
Additionally, all three of these figures have pretty bad track records. Mr. Lopez was involved in several failed health and wellness MLM companies before trying his hand in cryptocurrency scams. Andreas was a part of the Wo Token wallet Ponzi scheme. I couldn’t find any meaningful pieces of information on Sean E. Starr, but you know what they say: a pair of rotten apples spoils the trio.
Horrible Reviews on Trustpilot
Trustpilot is a website where shoppers and consumers are free to leave reviews, good or bad, about companies they’ve dealt with in the past.
As you can see, of the six reviews available for Up2Give, five of them rate it as BAD. Sam Song, a Trustpilot user, pretty much sums up why Up2Give’s involvement in cryptocurrency is bad news.
Verdict: Up2Give is Up2NoGood
Thanks, labchap, for this awesome tagline.
Up2Give is a horrible company, through and through. Nothing about it makes sense; if you’re “donating” your money in the first place, why would you expect anything back?
Up2Give is a blatant Ponzi scheme that has nothing of value to offer and where recruiting new members is your only means of getting a return on your donation/investment. It won’t take long for Up2Give to collapse in on itself with nothing to show for itself.
If you have a penchant for recruiting members, it’s possible to make some money with Up2Give in its beginning stage. However, it’s not a sustainable business, and it’s only a matter of time before Jerry and friends abandon ship and start up a new Ponzi/pyramid scheme.
I’m all for making some extra money on the side, but if you’re going to use the internet to do so, why not put some effort into affiliate marketing?
By partnering with huge e-commerce corporations like Amazon and eBay, you can earn some extra scratch by promoting their products and earning a cut of the profits for every sale you helped create.
And it cost nothing to get started with with this program.
Hey, it’s Kenny here. I’m a single dad, freelance writer, an affiliate marketer. I have been making a living online since 2016, after quitting a 10-years engineering profession. When I’m not on the laptop, I’ll be in the kitchen experimenting with new cuisines.