The State Of Paid-To-Surf Programs After The Stormpay Crackdown

What a difference a year can make. 12 months ago, auto surf programs were at their peak. More and more people were investing some serious cash hoping to multiply their money by as much as 12 times within a few months. At the center of this craze was Stormpay, the payment processor of choice by most of these paid-to-surf programs. Stormpay, you see, caters to a more global market. Whereas PayPal operates in selected territories, Stormpay has a wider reach. At that time, it was the best choice for auto surf companies, given the fact that Stormpay would open the doors for more people to join their programs.

And it worked.

The auto surf industry became a bustling field, where the companies as well as the investors enjoyed unbridled success. Investors were able to recoup the money they have expended, with profits soaring to fantastic rates in such short periods of time. And the companies were able to amass enough capital to finance their operations.

But that was then.

2006 welcomed the paid-to-surf industry with the grimmest news. Stormpay froze the accounts of auto-surf programs, and up to this writing, a lot of investors have yet to receive the money that have accrued to them. For those who managed to receive their pay in their accounts, they cannot withdraw the same as such amounts are traceable to the auto surf companies.

Why did things come to this?

There are two sides to the story. Stormpay claims that some of these paid-to-surf companies are using the pyramid model, which is generally outlawed since such companies do not have real assets. The auto surf companies are claiming that Stormpay is merely using the alleged irregularities as a smokescreen when the truth of the matter, according to them, is that Stormpay doesn