Brittany Johnson, operating from Tennessee, launched MoneyBee 1up on September 12, 2012, collecting $15 monthly fees from participants. The operation functions as a membership program without any actual product or service to sell, relying solely on recruitment.
Johnson's history includes That Cash Train, an earlier multi-level marketing scheme she started in June 2012. Public records link her to this previous venture. That Cash Train collapsed within months, prompting Johnson to rebrand and relaunch under the new MoneyBee 1up name.
The business model for MoneyBee 1up is straightforward. Members pay $15 each month. This payment grants them the ability to sell memberships to other individuals. There are no tangible products or services beyond this recruitment right.
The compensation structure involves a "1up" rule. A new member's first membership sale goes to their recruiter. Only after this initial "pass-up" sale do members begin to earn commissions. Each subsequent membership sale generates a $12 commission, with all funds originating from new recruit fees. No legitimate retail activity supports these payouts.
MoneyBee 1up's website claims members can "earn a huge monthly income from referring a few people." However, the arithmetic does not support this. Most participants in a 1up structure will not recruit enough people to cover their own $15 monthly fee. Those at the chain's lower levels consistently lose money, while those at the top, like Johnson, profit from the collected fees.
The flow of money depends entirely on recruitment, not on product sales. This arrangement meets the legal definition of a pyramid scheme.
Johnson also built mandatory spam into the system. Anyone joining MoneyBee 1up must agree to receive emails from admin@moneybee1up.com, sometimes as often as every 24 hours. This practice collects participant attention for further recruitment pushes.
The company's website offers no details about who runs MoneyBee 1up. Domain registration records identify Johnson as the owner, but the public site maintains deliberate anonymity. This lack of transparency makes it harder for individuals to file formal complaints.
Johnson's past indicates MoneyBee 1up will likely follow the same path as That Cash Train. When recruitment inevitably slows, members stop seeing returns. The scheme then collapses, allowing Johnson to potentially move on to another iteration under a different name.
These operators build disposable recruitment machines. They extract money from participants before the inevitable collapse, then shift to the next scheme.