DANNY DE HEK

BDM Gas Club: A $10 Fuel Scam Feeding a $20,000 Pyramid

Let’s cut through the fumes: BDM Gas Club is not about saving money at the pump—it’s about pumping cash into a pyramid. With a $10 buy-in and a pitch that promises “never pay for gas again,” this scheme blends multi-level marketing with faith-wrapped manipulation and funnels it all into one classic objective: recruit, recruit, recruit.

The voice behind the hype is John Austin, a self-proclaimed nutritionist and health freedom fighter. He’s also the star of BDM’s lead promo video, claiming that a $10 decision could earn you “unlimited income.” Meanwhile, he’s begging for donations on GoFundMe, alleging persecution by the Wyoming Attorney General over a health encyclopedia and supplement sales. The irony? He’s fighting for the right to sell snake oil—then turns around and builds a referral-based gas club with no verified fuel discounts, no supplier contracts, and no accountability.

But Austin’s not alone in this. Enter T. LeMont Silver, a man who calls himself “The Professor.” Silver has a long track record in the MLM underworld, popping up in one scheme after another—BitLocity, GSPartners, CashFX, 7K Metals, Infinity2Global—you name it, he’s sold it. Now he’s plugging BDM Gas Club to his audience under the same tired gospel of passive income, personal freedom, and faith-fuelled prosperity. These two are building what looks like a Ponzi-style ecosystem under the cover of righteous entrepreneurship.

Let’s look at how the scheme actually works:

  • You pay $10 once to join the club.
  • You’re told to refer three people—and your membership is “free.”
  • Then it’s refer more people, duplicate your team, and get paid.

BDM Gas Club claims you can earn over $1,000 per month with just 128 people in your network. Their promotional math charts out six levels deep, showing members how to “watch their income grow.” But there’s no product, no fuel card, no legitimate discount engine. It’s all money in, money out—and only the people at the top of the chain make anything meaningful.

To insulate themselves from regulation, BDM uses a Private Membership Association (PMA). It’s a legal loophole often exploited by shady operations to dodge consumer laws. Their documents—Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, PMA Agreement, End-User License Agreement—are a tangled mess of disclaimers and threats. Dispute their scheme? You waive your right to public court. Want a refund? Sorry, it’s “non-refundable.”

The Bigger Picture: BDM Community’s 13-Club Pyramid

BDM Gas Club isn’t a standalone scam—it’s just the entry point to a much larger and even more disturbing pyramid scheme called BDM Community. Hosted at bdmcommunity.com, the site lays out a sprawling “network” of 13 donation-based clubs, ranging from the $10 Gas Club to a $20,000 Elite Platform. Each tier markets itself as a step toward financial freedom, but the mechanics are always the same: join, donate, recruit, and hope others do the same.

They call it “purpose-driven” and “community-based,” but it’s textbook MLM donation cycling wrapped in motivational buzzwords and biblical metaphors. Their homepage openly admits: you select a club based on your budget, refer others, and then “watch the community support flow in.” In other words, they’re glorifying money shuffling, not selling any real product or service.

Even worse, this structure is designed to appear philanthropic. They say things like “one seed, unlimited harvests,” tapping into religious generosity while covering up a pay-to-play scam model. The so-called community benefits only flow upward—to those who joined first or are savvy enough to exploit the system.

The connected platform BillionDollarMind.io mirrors this entire strategy. It recycles the same players, the same bait-and-switch tactics, and the same 12-tiered donation tree. This is where the gas club funnels into broader “wealth seminars” and so-called “mindset training.” Of course, to access those, you need to pay up. The same rules apply: donate in, and then convince others to do the same.

Faith as a Sales Tactic

Seminars and marketing materials repeatedly use language like “freedom,” “God’s will,” and “miracles,” subtly coercing people of faith into believing participation is a moral or spiritual duty. If you question the scheme, you’re not just a skeptic—you’re framed as lacking belief.

You’re Not Buying Savings—You’re Funding a Fantasy

There’s no real gas discount provider. No contract with any fuel supplier. No backend showing savings. Instead, there’s a $10 cash injection and a network of people who must endlessly recruit others. And what do members really get? A replicated website, a few PDF flyers, and the hope that three more desperate people sign up under them.

Their Terms confirm it:

“To receive donations, a member must donate to someone in each level and enroll a new member in each level.”

That’s not empowerment. That’s a cash-fueled con job.

Final Verdict: A Scam Ecosystem Masquerading as Ministry

What started as a $10 “fuel freedom” scheme now reveals itself as a sprawling donation funnel, dressed up in buzzwords like “abundance,” “crowdfunding,” and “purpose.” With people like John Austin and T. LeMont Silver at the helm, this isn’t a movement—it’s a multi-layered financial trap for the desperate and hopeful.

If you’re being pitched on joining BDM Gas Club or BDM Community, you are not being invited into a support network—you’re being recruited into a cleverly disguised, donation-driven Ponzi scheme. Stay away, speak out, and warn others.

This isn’t about gas—it’s about draining your wallet.

— Danny de Hek, The Crypto Ponzi Scheme Avenger

About the Author Danny de Hek, also known as The Crypto Ponzi Scheme Avenger, is a New Zealand-based investigative journalist specializing in exposing crypto fraud, Ponzi schemes, and MLM scams. His work has been featured by Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Guardian Australia, ABC News Australia, and other international outlets.

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Update: Response from John Austin (May 2025)

Following the publication of this exposé, John Austin — listed as the Chairman of BDM Gas Club’s Private Membership Association — responded via email. Rather than addressing the structural concerns or providing any evidence to counter the claims made, his reply was defensive, vague, and laced with spiritual warnings.

Here’s what he had to say:

John Austin’s Response:

Hi Danny,

I wish for both our sakes you would learn the meaning of Ponzi. It means more being paid out than coming in. We are crowdfunding, (totally legal) not running a Ponzi and not running a scam. We are a Private Member Association. You may want to look that one up too and learn about it. Just because you are either jealous or don’t like us is no reason to throw mud. You should also learn about the Law of the Harvest. In the end you can’t avoid it. You sow mud and you will reap it multiplied. It might be fun dishing it out, but when it finally comes back in boatloads, you may have a smile on the other side of your face. On the other hand, your slanders only give me energy. When people get upset, you know you are over the target.

Kind regards,
John

Our Reply to John Austin:

Hi John,

Thanks for your response.

You suggested I “look up the meaning of Ponzi,” so let’s start there. A Ponzi scheme, by definition, is a fraudulent investment setup where returns paid to earlier participants come from funds contributed by newer participants, rather than legitimate profit-generating activity. In BDM Gas Club’s case, the compensation model is entirely referral-based with no actual product or service being sold — just membership access and promised “donations.” This is a hallmark of both Ponzi and pyramid structures, depending on the flow of funds.

Let’s examine the facts:

  • $10 membership fee is not for a service — it’s the price to participate in a so-called opportunity.

  • Members must recruit others to receive donations, and the model relies on constant downline growth.

  • The more people you recruit, the more you earn — not through value, but through financial inflow from new signups.

  • The “12-level donation plan” matches the structure of a classic cash gifting pyramid, not a crowdfunding project.

  • There is no independent retail product, no verifiable gas savings platform, and no external value creation.

You also mention “crowdfunding” and Private Membership Associations (PMAs) as legal shields. Crowdfunding is not a blank cheque to run a recruitment-based income funnel, especially when it involves misleading financial promises. And PMAs are not exempt from fraud statutes, wire fraud, or securities laws. Multiple PMAs have already been shut down by regulators when used to facilitate unlicensed financial activity.

Further:

  • The BDMCommunity.com site now pushes 13 different “clubs”, escalating donation tiers from $10 up to $20,000. That is not organic crowdfunding — that’s a financial pyramid.

  • Your own promotional material claims people can “earn unlimited income” and “drive for free” after paying $10 and referring three people. These are income guarantees, which the FTC and multiple regulators have flagged as deceptive in every major MLM enforcement case in the past decade.

  • Your GoFundMe campaign, where you claim you’re being persecuted for publishing a health encyclopedia, seems at odds with your promotion of a matrix-based funding scheme targeting financially vulnerable people with false hope.

And finally, I’m not “jealous,” John. I’m just tired of seeing mum-and-dad investors scammed by false promises of financial freedom.

My mission is to shine a light on predatory schemes dressed in community language and spiritual marketing. You are free to respond publicly, and I welcome debate based on evidence — but veiled threats about “harvest” and “reaping mud” don’t intimidate me. They reinforce the cultish mindset often found in schemes like this.

If you believe you’re doing nothing wrong, you should have no issue with transparency. So I invite you to publish your actual compensation structure, refund policy, and average earnings disclosures. Let the public decide.

Regards,
Danny de Hek
The Crypto Ponzi Scheme Avenger

John Austin’s Response:

Interpret it how you want to Danny, but that’s not how the courts look at it.

If you go back to the original “Ponzi Scheme,” they were taking in money that was supposedly being invested in a high leverage operation and paying investors back exorbitant returns. But, they weren’t investing the money at all. No product, service or business operation, just paying out the few people who requested withdrawals with other investor’s money. The initial withdrawals that were made created trust, which caused investors to tell family and friends resulting in an avalanche of money coming in the door. But as is true with ALL Ponzi schemes (this is where you mistake the definition), they all eventually fall because the books are being cooked and in the end, they would have to pay out more money than they took in. Of course they never do that. Investors eventually want to spend some of their money and start withdrawing. The early investors do well, if they are lucky enough to take their money before the Ponzi goes bust, but the majority lose everything because when withdrawals begin to equal new money coming, the perpetrators ALWAYS close shop and run with the money.

That said, your definition of Ponze is a misapplication of the operation that resulted in the word Ponzi being created. Calling me a Ponze is like calling everything a pyramid scheme. Well, we are talking about every government in the world and most churches and many other organizations. So, if you want to be truthful, perhaps you should turn your focus to the real pyramid schemes and tell people to stay away from the Seventh Day Adventists because the particular church you went to mistreated you. You have a habit of putting things and people into categories where they don’t belong. I have no great love for Seventh Day Adventists, but I have known some honorable people who went to that church. One size doesn’t fit all. Go find people who are actually hurting others if you want to be of service and prevent people from being hurt. That is just good common sense.
Moreover, neither gifting or crowd funding are investments, nor do they guarantee a return and they are both entirely legal. The parameters of each are defined at the outset, so that you can determine if it is going to work for you. Nothing in life is guaranteed. You could start your own brick and mortar business, invest a lot of money and fail. Who is to blame? Why don’t you tell people to not start a business, because they might lose their money.
Moreover, if gifting or crowdfunding is done under contract as in a private member agreement, it is outside of public scrutiny and since you are the public, you are totally off base even though you apparently don’t clearly understand the facts. I know – a man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still and that’s why the Lord said you can’t put new wine (understanding) in old skins. It would break your paradigm. It would be too difficult to admit that so much of the work you have done throughout the years was done under a false premise and a total disservice to humanity.
Perhaps you want to be the mother or father to all of the people on earth and protect your children from stubbing their toes? Or, perhaps you are just addicted to the coffee that people are donating to keep you going? As much as you don’t understand me, I don’t understand you. We are obviously polar opposites. Like you, I could spend my entire life trying to destroy your work and reputation and I could no doubt do just as much damage to you as you are doing to others, but why would I waste my time on such a worthless venture?
Finally, you characterize me as some kind of a bad guy as if a $10 charitable donation to another member is going to hurt somebody. I haven’t had any complaints yet. Imagine that? Isn’t the law meant to provide relief for people who have been hurt? If there are no complaints, likely people don’t feel hurt and if that is the case and I were a public company, the law would be outside of its jurisdiction to attempt to prosecute when no harm is done.
However, if trying to stop me gives you energy and gets somebody to buy you a cup of coffee, be my guest, because it only gives me notoriety and more energy. I love the fact that more people are hearing about our Gas Club. Even reposting my webinars, brought me new members, so thank you for that. Keep up the good work, because when people actually check me out, many of them end up joining. So, one of us must be mistaken, don’t you think?
The time has arrived when good things will increase and negativity will decrease. Perhaps you have already noticed evil people resigning, being removed and even jailed by the thousands all around the world. If not, open your eyes and begin to look first at the US stage and then the national stage.
My advice is this – if you want to do some real good in this world. Start exposing the pedophiles. They are in almost every position of leadership around the world. This will actually save the lives of women and children who are being sex trafficked and tortured. Oftentimes their organs are harvested while fully awake and without anesthesia so that their blood becomes flooded with adrenaline. Their blood is then harvested and sold as adrenochrome, which is said to be the most expensive and the most powerful drug on earth.
There is so much good that a man with your many talents could do to make the world a better place and to leave a legacy when your time comes. Maybe you don’t believe in a life hereafter, but I say it’s better to believe in one and do whatever it takes to get there, than to disbelieve now and find out later that you were deceived.
That’s why I go out of my way not to hurt people.
Kind regards,
John

Our Reply to John Austin:

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply — though let’s be clear, it reads more like a sermon than a serious response to the legal and ethical issues raised about your so-called “BDM Gas Club.”

Let me address a few key points:

1. Your Definition of a Ponzi Scheme Is Conveniently Selective
You claim I don’t understand Ponzi schemes, yet your own operation checks nearly every box:

  • You collect money from new recruits.

  • The money is redistributed to earlier participants as so-called “donations.”

  • There is no actual retail product or external source of revenue.

  • You rely on continuous recruitment to sustain payouts.

That’s the very mechanics of a Ponzi. Whether you call it gifting, crowdfunding, or a “Private Membership Association” doesn’t change that. You can dress up the model in legalese and spiritual metaphors all day long, but regulators don’t judge based on intent — they judge on function.

2. Crowdfunding Is Not a Magic Cloak of Legality
Legitimate crowdfunding platforms (e.g. GoFundMe, Kickstarter) do not operate multi-level commission structures. They also don’t require users to pay first in order to participate or recruit others to receive money. Your system does both.

3. PMA = Pyramid Masking Activity
You continually reference “Private Membership Associations” as if that exempts you from financial laws. It doesn’t. PMAs are not bulletproof shields against pyramid scheme charges. In fact, the FTC and DOJ have cracked down on dozens of PMAs used to disguise unlicensed investment schemes and gifting circles.

4. No Complaints? That’s Not Proof of Legitimacy
You claim no one has complained, therefore no one is harmed. That’s flawed logic. The absence of formal complaints does not mean there is no fraud — it often means victims are ashamed, unaware, or too afraid to speak up. I’ve personally heard from people burned by “referral-based opportunities” like yours who never reported it.

5. Your Adrenochrome Tangent Is Disturbing and Irrelevant
It’s alarming that, when faced with questions about your financial practices, you pivot to conspiracies about organ harvesting, elite pedophiles, and end-times prophecy. That alone should raise red flags for anyone reading this. When people start invoking adrenochrome in business discussions, it usually means they’ve run out of facts.

6. Let’s Talk Results
You say my content brings you more members. Great — that just means more people will eventually realize they’ve been lied to. And when the model inevitably collapses (as all unsustainable “refer-and-earn” schemes do), they’ll remember who sold them the dream and who warned them first.

I’ll continue doing what I do best — exposing predatory schemes wrapped in marketing fluff, spiritual gaslighting, and false promises.

You’re welcome to sue me if you believe I’ve misrepresented you. Just know I’ll gladly hand over every clip, every screen recording, and every document to a judge — and let them decide.

Kind regards,
Danny de Hek