DBM Masterminds launched earlier this year and is headed up by CEO and Founder Dillon Dean.

No corporate address is provided on the DBM Masterminds website. The company’s website domain however is registered to Dean using an address in the US state of Colorado, possibly indicating that this is where DBM Masterminds is being run out of.

According to Dean’s DBM Masterminds corporate bio, he’s been involved in “internent marketing” for three years:

I’m Dillon. I have been in the internent (sic) marketing industry for about 3 years. My mission and goal is to help EVERYONE make money, not just hot shots and heavy hitters. I created a system that ensures commissions for all my members. Nothing like it.

A Facebook image dated December 2013 suggests that Dean has previously been involved in Vemma:

Further research reveals blog entries by Dean marketing both Vemma and TVC Matrix (MCA), circa early 2013:

Vemma I haven’t reviewed yet (they market the Verve energy drink), but TVC Matrix market a recruitment-driven matrix compensation plan attached to motor-insurance (MCA).

The latest post on that blog is dated November 2013 and pitches what appears to be a binary options opportunity. It would appear that by the end of 2013 Dillon had moved on from both Vemma and TVC.

Read on for a full review of the DBM Masterminds MLM business Opportunity.

The DBM Masterminds Product Line

DBM Mastermind themselves don’t appear to have any retailable products or services, other than affiliate membership.

A “DBM Products” section appears on the company website, however this appears to be populated with Amazon products:

As you can see above, DBM Masterminds have simply copy and pasted the Amazon product description and jacked up the price.

I confirmed this by checking other products listed on the DBM Mastermind website. The first four listed at least all had descriptions copied over from Amazon and were listed at a higher price.

I suspect Dean maintains an Amazon affiliate account through which the products listed on the DBM Masterminds website are offered.

In any event, this would appear to have nothing to do with the DBM MLM business opportunity.

The DBM Masterminds Compensation Plan

Although it’s presented as an 11 level deep matrix,

the DBM compensation plan operates more like a straight-line cycler.

A position is purchased by a DBM Masterminds affiliate for either $70 (Gold) or $280 (Success).

Then once 584 positions have been purchased (composed of 120 Gold and 464 Success positions) an affiliate is “paid out”.

DBM Masterminds refer to 584 positions being purchased after an initial position as a “cycle”.

How much an affiliate receives when their position cycles depends on how much they spent on their position:

Gold position – $150

Success position – $625

Referral commissions are also offered on the purchase of positions, paying out $6 for a Gold and $24 for a Success position.

Joining DBM Masterminds

Affiliate membership to DBM Masterminds appears to be free, however affiliates will need to purchase either a Gold or Success position in order to participate in the compensation plan side of the business.

This pegs the minimum cost associated with DBM Masterminds affiliate membership at either $70 (Gold) or $280 (Success).

Conclusion

I would advise everyone to compound their money with DBM Masterminds. To purchase your positions with your available DBM balance at any time. -Dillon Dean, DBM Masterminds marketing video

Marketed with the tagline “make money while compounding”, there are some serious unregistered securities concerns with DBM Masterminds that need to be addressed.

For starters, the company is offering affiliates investment positions by way of Gold and Success packages.

An affiliate invests either $70 or $280 per position, and then collects a passive >100% ROI once a specified amount of new investments have been made.

Quite obviously, DBM Masterminds take newly invested money and use it to pay out returns on existing positions.

Not only does this match the definition of a Ponzi scheme, but it would also be certain to fall foul of the SEC’s definition of the offering of unregistered securities.

Not helping is the use of investment terminology, which is frequently used by Dillon Dean himself to market the opportunity:

The product side of DBM would appear to be irrelevant and entirely optional. Affiliates can purportedly “purchase” products through DBM and then list it on eBay through the company itself.

What actually happens is DBM receives money for an order, creates an Amazon listing and then dropships a product to a buyer. The Amazon commission is then split between DBM and the affiliate who bothered to initiate the process.

It has nothing to do with the position investment scheme DBM are offering, which relies solely on new investments from affiliates to generate ROI revenue.

With nothing being bought or sold to retail customers within the MLM side of the business, DBM Masterminds in its current state will fail any regulatory test thrown at it.