Above and on opposite page: Two pages on Winston Gilling's website advertising his new Internet get-rich-quick scheme

Montego Bay - Winston Gilling, a former pyramid scheme operator who is still facing charges of breaching the Financial Institutions Act after his first scheme crumbled two years ago, is now offering a new get-rich-quick scheme via the Internet.

An investment of $8,500 (US$174), his website boasts, can become "over half-a-million dollars in three months".
According to Gilling, he has personally made over $30,000 (US$800) from this new scheme which operates under the name North Wind.
A detailed sales pitch on his website says persons who sign onto the programme are sponsors; and by joining, they generate income for themselves as well as those who convinced them to sign on. Sponsors can make money either from earning points when they get others to join, or branching out into network marketing by using the information they obtain from the more than 40 electronic books they will get for their initial payment of $8,500.

PAULWELL . claims are incredulous

Sponsors are told that they will receive payment in US dollars via an ATM card, ostensibly generated by a US-based bank, and assigned once the initial payment of $8,500 is made.
Gilling said business had picked up over December and he now has about 35 "sponsors".
"North Wind is not a partner plan (pyramid scheme)," Gilling insisted in a recent interview with the Sunday Observer. "North Wind is a completely different thing. First of all, when you spend your money with North Wind you are not putting your money in some scheme. You are acquiring valuable information that can change your life forever. If you are interested in marketing on the Internet, online marketing, to become a North Wind member is to acquire valuable information to help you in that regard."

The programme, Gilling said, is "an investment in your mind".
"North Wind is really basically an investment in, first, the information that you acquire," he explained. "This is the information age, you are acquiring information that is going to teach you how to be a success at online marketing."
However, Gilling admitted that all his earnings to date have come from his ability to get others to sign up.
Gilling's Revolving Partner Plan, like other pyramid schemes that mushroomed across mostly western parishes two years ago, was based on a similar method of getting more and more people to join.

Melhado. it is as risky as the pyramid schemes

But the schemes, which promised huge interests on small deposits, crumbled after the supply of new depositors dried up. The collapse triggered protests and mini riots in St James, Westmoreland, Lucea and Trelawny as irate depositors who were left out of pocket demanded payment.
Gilling, who was charged with 15 counts of taking deposits without a license, was only one of a number of operators prosecuted.
A 63-year-old retired school teacher, Esmie Jones, was another. Jones was slapped with both civil and criminal charges and her criminal case is still before the Montego Bay courts.
One scheme operator was shot and wounded in the neck at Upper Deck condominiums in Montego Bay and there were reports of at least one operator's death in the western end of the island.
The police have never directly linked these attacks to the schemes. However, the common belief is that there was a connection.

The pyramid schemes, which drew strong warnings from Prime Minister P J Paterson, the police and the then head of the Securities Exchange Commission, Earl Melhado, were estimated to have milked depositors of millions of dollars.
But despite some similarity to the old pyramid schemes, Gilling is adamant that this new venture is a legitimate, less risky opportunity to take advantage of a business venture called network marketing that is used worldwide.
According to Gilling, it uses the same principles Jesus Christ espoused to proclaim the gospel - spreading the word so that everyone can benefit.
"I believe, with all my conviction, that if people can increase their income significantly, that Jamaica can only be made the better for it," Gilling told the Sunday Observer. "We saw it with the partner plan, but the partner plan was destroyed. Here is something that is far more legitimate. As I said on the website, I won't try to defend the partner plan here, with a matter being in court. But here is something that is legitimate, not like the partner plan where you are putting your money in some scheme, but where you are investing in your brain, network marketing."

But Melhado, who was one of Gilling's most strident critics when he operated the Revolving Partner Plan, was sceptical. And while he is now in private practice and he has not described the new offering as a pyramid scheme, the attorney is cautioning the public to be wary.
"Mr Gilling is ingenious at coming up with schemes.," Melhado said. "I would give the warning that it is as risky as the pyramid schemes and they have seen what has happened to those who put their money in the pyramid schemes. And the same fate will befall them if they participate in this scheme."

Melhado's circumspection was shared by Technology Minister Phillip Paulwell who, after taking a cursory look at the website, described the money-making claims as "incredulous". He told the Sunday Observer that he would launch an investigation to determine the legitimacy of the venture.
"I am going to ask our Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) and my director of technology in the ministry to do an investigation because it does seem quite incredible a venture," he said. "It is a bit confusing and it is making this incredulous claim, so my natural inclination is to caution members of the public on some of these sites. And it's not only (Gilling's) site but there are quite a few of them which are seeking to do similar get-rich-quick schemes. And I am going to ask the CAC to be on the alert and to look at some of these sites to see whether or not they are real."

One of the problems, though, is that there is now no legislation in place that will provide redress to persons who have fallen prey to questionable activities over the Internet. That is a loophole which Paulwell's ministry is trying to plug.
He said that one aspect of the legislation that is now being developed in the business of e-commerce would deal with claims that are made on the Internet and how to provide protection for the public against misrepresentation and fraudulent claims.
But even if there were legislation in place at the local level, persons who may end up dissatisfied with the North Wind programme may still have a hard time recovering their money.

From information provided on the website, North Wind only provides a post office box and telephone number in Texas.
But, according to Gilling, he has checked out the site and would not have gotten involved if he did not think it legitimate.
"Had I not known that it was legitimate I would not be bold enough to come back to people to present something again to them after what has happened with the partner plan," he said. "The ATM cards are issued under the laws of the United States. When I (originally heard of the venture via an e-mail message) I didn't believe it. I said no, this sounds too good to be true. And the first thing I did, I called Scotia Bank to find out if it is true that I can have an account in the US and have an ATM card that I can use right here in Jamaica. And the young lady said of course, as long as it's on the Cirrus or the Maestro platform, as long as I have that, it's fine."
Gilling insisted that he is not engaged in any illegal activity.
"I am sure it's not illegal," he said. "Anybody can legally purchase something on the Internet, what can be illegal about that? There are people who are purchasing all kinds of things on the Internet," he argued.

But the jury is still out on whether or not Gilling's new scheme is in violation of any of the nation's laws. As he pointed out, and as was later confirmed by the Financial Services Commission (which now includes the former operations of the SEC), he has not breached any of their laws. Because electronic books are said to be provided once the US$174 is paid, Gilling's argument is that he is not engaged in taking deposits but merely offering a product for sale via the Internet.
"What he is doing falls outside of our remit, there is nothing that we can do," explained the FSC's senior director of examinations and investigation, George Roper.

But he added that the FSC would be keeping an eye on the situation.
"If he seeks, however, to re-institute the partnership, or pyramid or Ponzi schemes that we saw about two years ago, we would have to warn the public and advise them to stay away from that. Because again, that kind of activity falls outside of our remit and we could not afford any protection to the public. And Mr Gilling, we know, was one of the prime operators (of pyramid schemes)," Roper said.

An in-depth perusal of the site reveals that Gilling has been very careful in trying to cover all the bases. He is not taking deposits, but offering a product for sale, and he has made sure to add a caveat to his money-making claims.
Sponsors are warned, in underlined red type, that while it is possible to earn more than $600,000 in less than three months, it is likely to take more time than that. He also stresses that sponsors determine how much money they make by the amount of effort they put into the programme and even offers 11 tips that will increase the likelihood of making money through North Wind.
The first item on the list is encouraging others to join.

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