Guy Explains Pyramid Schemes With One Instagram Comment To Someone Involved In One, Makes Her Quit Immediately
People who are trying to make an extra buck sometimes get involved in things they don’t quite comprehend. And that’s how so many naive people end up in the hands of scammers.
Luckily there good Samaritans who try their best to enlighten their friends, family members, and acquaintances about shady business practices, such as multi-level marketing schemes. One Instagram user noticed something was off after they saw a friend looking for people to become product testers and quickly realized that the person in question might be involved in a pyramid scheme. So they took their time to explain why it’s better not to participate in such MLM companies activities. And their response might have saved someone a lot of money. Scroll below to learn about multi-level marketing companies yourself! (Cover image: Eva Rinaldi)
People who are trying to make an extra buck sometimes get involved in things they don’t quite comprehend
Luckily there good Samaritans who try their best to enlighten people about shady business practices
Here’s how people reacted to this conversation
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Share on FacebookAs I recall they did some research on Amway one time (one of the biggest MLMs) and over 90% of the products that Amway sold that year were just sitting in their distributor's garages. In other words, they don't actually sell much product to consumers to use, it's mostly sold to hopeful sales reps who then end up stuck with it. The Amway business lesson: it can be easier to sell $20,000 worth of "inventory" to a thousand people, than to sell $20 worth of products to a million of people.
I almost got suckered into Amway almost 40 years ago by some creepy neighbours. I was collecting for charity and they invited me in - big mistake. Luckily I was only 17 and had no money to invest(smelled a rat anyway) so they wasted their time
Load More Replies...I was also invited to a friend's home for dinner after I told her I was looking for a job. I had been laid off. She said she was having a friend over that was looking for people for his company. When we got there, they brought out papers and stuff and asked me how much money I would need to make a year to make me happy. I immediately knew what it was and put down my paper and pen and sat there, fuming. They asked me what was wrong, and I told them that I wasn't happy with the subterfuge. I needed work and they were trying to scam me out of money and then I left. Such a crappy thing to do.
When I was getting my degree I was looking for a part time job to help with rent, bills, etc. I answered an ad looking for 'part time to full time secretarial and office managers'. Drove to an office building 45m away from my house where they were holding group interviews. Seemed pretty legit up until they put us in a room for the initial explanation of the company, its goals, and work force needs. I initially thought it was a staffing company, given the way the ad was written, what the person on the phone said, and what the 'office' looked like. Once they started the presentation it quickly became apparent that it was an MLM geared towards flipping condos and houses. 5 min into the slides I gathered up my stuff and rose to leave. They stopped the presentation to tell me that they would appreciate that I not go to the restroom until the initial talk was over. I replied that I was going home as I didn't have time for this c**p. They insisted that this was a genuine opportunity, and I replied that if was looking for a real job in order to pay my real bills, not go into debt further to make other people rich, and how exactly was I supposed to sell condos when I was barely making rent for my own place. They kept arguing that this was legit, and tried to physically bar me from leaving the room. By this point a guy had stood up to leave as well and we threatened to call the cops if they didn't let us leave. One of the scammers followed me out to the parking lot and stood in front of my car, all the while insisting that they weren't a scam and I needed to come back inside to hear the whole presentation before I made up my mind. She even threatened to turn me in for false registration or some such nonsense, and when I told her to go right ahead and that I would in turn register a complaint for unlawful imprisonment, harassment, and wasting my time and gas she finally got out of my way.
My son got conned into 'interviewing' for one that sold 'high quality Ginsu level' steak knives. He called me to come pick him up 20 m after he got there, and when I arrived he was standing in the parking lot with 3 guys trying to talk him into going back inside. They called him daily for weeks afterwards, until I told them that if they called again I would register a complaint for harassment.
Load More Replies...The few women I know who have been "successful" selling whatever MLM product to their friends and family have relatively well off husbands. Husbands with enough money to allow their wives to sink &$$ into lots and lots of inventory. Basically paying for their wives to play businesswoman. Eventually the wife gets out of the MLM and then they have the inevitable fire sale, unloading their garage full of inventory for pennies on the dollar. Mary Kay used to change the shape of their makeup compacts making any existing inventory obsolete.
And they also have clients who are upper income and can spend lots of money on product.
Load More Replies...My husband and I lost several good friends because we refused to join an Mlm scheme. Last I heard most of them ended up being sued by people at the bottom and the company went under. Sad that we lost friends but glad we didn't cave.
Oh, my husband and I were in a group like that. They actually were not allowed to say the *A* word. We lost thousands of dollars. The company was sued and filed bankruptcy. So I was involved in a class action lawsuit. What did I get out of it? A 4 month supply vitamins. That's how they paid off the victims, in leftover product.
Load More Replies...A few years back my childhood best friend tried this c**p on me. It had been a while since I'd seen her and she wanted to visit for what I thought was a catch up and to reminisce over old times. But no it was to try and suck me into some scheme involving 'revolutionary eco friendly cleaning products' I'd never heard of before. It became abundantly clear within 10 minutes of her arrival that all she wanted to do was an aggressive sales pitch of this "business" she was trying to startup with her husband. I freaked out .... but didn't know how to handle it so said I'd have to think about it. She said she'd call me the next day to get my answer, but I could never bring myself to answer a call from her again. I was sad I'd lost a childhood friend ... but thinking back, we'd lost touch for a few years prior ... so I didn't really know her anymore and we probably had nothing in common anyway.
Another variation on this I've heard: 'We help close the sale on a number of online product transactions for major companies like Apple, Best Buy.' - Wtf does that mean? For ones like Amway I like to ask the peddlers/victims: When you buy soap do you think of going to your friend or neighbor, or do you do the odd thing of going to a Target or Walmart or grocery store? Sigh. Also about on this level, there's a crowdfunding site for aspiring authors to raise money for their costs of creating a book, that's called Pubslush - the idea is that like Kickstarter, they help you raise money, they take a cut of what you raise. But Pubslush says on their own guidance: 'Most of what you raise will come from your personal network of family & friends.' So it's like, wtf is the point of them taking a cut? I can ask my family for money by myself.
Especially that you can simply announce a fundraiser in any social media and get a lot of money with no middlemen. Hell, some people you don't know can even give you money for the hell of it or because they think it's a good cause. Multiply this by, say, one thousand and you got yourself a substantial amount of money. MLMs, much like door-to-door salesmen seem to be stuck in the time when their scheme could be profitable, but now the instant access to information and online shops tjhey are as more obsolete than metal money (gold is still worth a lot).
Load More Replies...A guy friend in the 1970s invited me to go hear the actor Bob Cummings speak. I thought it would be fun since I'd enjoyed his acting and sit coms. Turned out it was for Shaklee or some products to keep you young. My dad had warned me about scams early on, so I listened for about five minutes and was gone. So disappointed in Mr. Cummings.
Their products are ridiculously expensive, especially in my country, where we earn 3 times less than in the US. 2-3 christmas gift sets equal my month salary. I've never seen such an expensive soap. I went to one meeting at my friends' house, just for fun and to try cosmetics for free. It was all nice until the lady asked us to give her 5 new telephone numbers each. I said no, I don't share contact info without asking first. She was annoyed and persistent. I bought one foundation, but it was just ok, nothing special. Also we laughed, because she wore Mary Kay necklace. Who would wear jewelry with their company name? But she was blind. She was constantly calling us, sending e-mails and pushing. She really believed she could achieve great things. It was sad.
Load More Replies...@Notsoswift: I thought it was a typo at first. Thanks for the laugh.
Load More Replies...Very few people are actually good at these businesses. They have to go out to festivals and set up shop and do all sorts of things to sell. The problem with them is that these peoole harass the c**p out of their friends. I have one who messages me weekly although I've repeatedly said I cannot afford the product. Love her to death but get off my butt.
I have an old friend who sends me emails. I hate that he's caught up in this kind of thing.
Load More Replies...Here in Fiji, since about 1-2 months, ALL the "job search" Facebook pages are under "attack" by dozens and dozens of "alleged" philipino millionaires that are trying to lure and attract the most weak and desperate part of fijian people, the ones who are looking for a job for living, to buy food, clothes and pay rent fees. They show off these luxury cars, their prefect suits, and every post is soaked of pics of fijian banknotes and images of remittance through Wester Union. They pretend their "natural" phyto-products can cure diseases like diabetes and cancer Simple nutritional supplements passed off as "miracle healing products". The amount of fijian people asking for more info and details (in private box of course) is impressive and depressing. In a country where a carpenter, or a waitress can earn an average of US$ 1.64/hour (yes, 164 us cents) you can't tell them they can earn up to US$. 470 per day. This is scam.
Tupperware was genius though, you could not just buy the items, and we all needed flour containers and juice jugs with air tight push buttons, i loved the buttons as a kid. They were not so much a scam as reason to turn french onuon soup into dip and drink cheap flask wine with friends while you took orders. I dont think you had to buy stock of tupperware here in Australia in the 70s
Load More Replies...It's true only a few driven people are successes in these types of businesses and I find that integrity often goes to the wayside with little white lies and omissions. I am free of MLM and am so much happier with competitor products I can buy online or at a brick and mortar.
The sad thing is... as an unemployed, freshly graduated college student, on 3 different occasions, I responded to 3 different adds for "office assistants, potential managerial opportunities". One was a condo flipping scam, one was the knife scam, and one was a cable package scam. And I say scam, bc the acronym MLM does not encompass the idea behind these frauds. It's sick that these companies advertise themselves as potential, legit employments, and prey on desperate people.
It's all fun and games until you get that random phone call or message from a friend you haven't talked to in 10 years...boom pyramid scheme. I always do one order to support them, but i'm never a reoccurring customer.
It is very simple to spot a pyramid "company" that tries to present itself as an MLM company in order to seem legal: 1. The start-up or registration fee is a considerable sum of money. 2. You will invariably be told that you will be able to recoup the fee by introducing four (or more) friends to the "company". This means that the scheme funnels money to you without them having bought anything at all. 3. There may or there may not be any products. If the company does have some kind of product and it is completely overpriced for what it is, you can be pretty sure that you are dealing with a pyramid scheme. They are not even interested in selling anything, all they really want is the high registration fee with the hope that you will bring a few more suckers along. Stay away! A real MLM company does NOT work like that. The registration fee is low & commision is paid on real sales of real products only. Due diligence is a good thing!
MLM doesn't stand for Multi Level Scheme, but for Multi Level Marketing. The pyramid (Ponzi Scheme) is forbidden by law. On the other hand, MLM or network marketing exists for about 70 years and has proved itself as a very viable marketing solution. I remind you: Amway, Tupperware, 4Life, and many many others, with very high quality products that cannot be purchased in the regular old fashioned way. Before canceling the solution you should check what giants like Robert Kiyosaky , Erick Worre or Sir Richard Branson have to say about.
I remember a college friend who made me attend an orientation for a pyramid scheme like this. There were four of us during that time, still studying in college without a part-time job..just studying... Then this person befriended us for a couple of weeks and finally brought us to that place she called "a party"....I didn't want to go to that "party" at first but my other friends were too pushy and I didn't want to argue so I just went on with the flow. When we got there, I felt so betrayed when I saw a white board and sample products!!! I didn't want to be rude so I just listened to that guy talking in front. After that, they asked me if I would like to join but I was already pissed (it was a damn long talk) and said "Thanks for the effort but there's no way I'm going to spend money, work hard and let others benefit from it. Bye".... When you're a student, anything that's almost as expensive as your tuition fee is ridiculous. I never tried seeing that "friend" again.
I guarantee that girl ignored him, suckered some people, and ended up losing money anyway.
Someone once invited me to lunch and started talking for about 45 min about all these crazy trips hes been on because his job was able to do that for him. He went on x amount of trips and had like 3 adopted kids and does so much with his time after not having to go to work. So then my and bf ended up asking him whats he does he drops the I want you in my team. We are Amway. I was like uuuuhhh f**k no goodbye. Thanks for the meal.
there are good MLMs whose products are easy to sell, but mostly dont. keypoint : is it profitable by selling alone, not recruiting people ? if not, run away.
All network marketing companies do not fit this narrative this person explained to her. It is true to some degree when it comes to products, however, your success is determined by your work ethic. I tried the ones with products and found I do not like having to have products to push on anyone. I got involved in a travel network marketing company and made money immediately. 8yrs later I have paid off over $12K in debt because of it. But it wasn't easy and I had to work consistently and hard for it. But to have residual income as a result of it makes it worth it. Just do your own homework before you start any company.
YTB? http://www.yourtravelbiz.com/about_us_corp.asp 100% scam
Load More Replies...As I recall they did some research on Amway one time (one of the biggest MLMs) and over 90% of the products that Amway sold that year were just sitting in their distributor's garages. In other words, they don't actually sell much product to consumers to use, it's mostly sold to hopeful sales reps who then end up stuck with it. The Amway business lesson: it can be easier to sell $20,000 worth of "inventory" to a thousand people, than to sell $20 worth of products to a million of people.
I almost got suckered into Amway almost 40 years ago by some creepy neighbours. I was collecting for charity and they invited me in - big mistake. Luckily I was only 17 and had no money to invest(smelled a rat anyway) so they wasted their time
Load More Replies...I was also invited to a friend's home for dinner after I told her I was looking for a job. I had been laid off. She said she was having a friend over that was looking for people for his company. When we got there, they brought out papers and stuff and asked me how much money I would need to make a year to make me happy. I immediately knew what it was and put down my paper and pen and sat there, fuming. They asked me what was wrong, and I told them that I wasn't happy with the subterfuge. I needed work and they were trying to scam me out of money and then I left. Such a crappy thing to do.
When I was getting my degree I was looking for a part time job to help with rent, bills, etc. I answered an ad looking for 'part time to full time secretarial and office managers'. Drove to an office building 45m away from my house where they were holding group interviews. Seemed pretty legit up until they put us in a room for the initial explanation of the company, its goals, and work force needs. I initially thought it was a staffing company, given the way the ad was written, what the person on the phone said, and what the 'office' looked like. Once they started the presentation it quickly became apparent that it was an MLM geared towards flipping condos and houses. 5 min into the slides I gathered up my stuff and rose to leave. They stopped the presentation to tell me that they would appreciate that I not go to the restroom until the initial talk was over. I replied that I was going home as I didn't have time for this c**p. They insisted that this was a genuine opportunity, and I replied that if was looking for a real job in order to pay my real bills, not go into debt further to make other people rich, and how exactly was I supposed to sell condos when I was barely making rent for my own place. They kept arguing that this was legit, and tried to physically bar me from leaving the room. By this point a guy had stood up to leave as well and we threatened to call the cops if they didn't let us leave. One of the scammers followed me out to the parking lot and stood in front of my car, all the while insisting that they weren't a scam and I needed to come back inside to hear the whole presentation before I made up my mind. She even threatened to turn me in for false registration or some such nonsense, and when I told her to go right ahead and that I would in turn register a complaint for unlawful imprisonment, harassment, and wasting my time and gas she finally got out of my way.
My son got conned into 'interviewing' for one that sold 'high quality Ginsu level' steak knives. He called me to come pick him up 20 m after he got there, and when I arrived he was standing in the parking lot with 3 guys trying to talk him into going back inside. They called him daily for weeks afterwards, until I told them that if they called again I would register a complaint for harassment.
Load More Replies...The few women I know who have been "successful" selling whatever MLM product to their friends and family have relatively well off husbands. Husbands with enough money to allow their wives to sink &$$ into lots and lots of inventory. Basically paying for their wives to play businesswoman. Eventually the wife gets out of the MLM and then they have the inevitable fire sale, unloading their garage full of inventory for pennies on the dollar. Mary Kay used to change the shape of their makeup compacts making any existing inventory obsolete.
And they also have clients who are upper income and can spend lots of money on product.
Load More Replies...My husband and I lost several good friends because we refused to join an Mlm scheme. Last I heard most of them ended up being sued by people at the bottom and the company went under. Sad that we lost friends but glad we didn't cave.
Oh, my husband and I were in a group like that. They actually were not allowed to say the *A* word. We lost thousands of dollars. The company was sued and filed bankruptcy. So I was involved in a class action lawsuit. What did I get out of it? A 4 month supply vitamins. That's how they paid off the victims, in leftover product.
Load More Replies...A few years back my childhood best friend tried this c**p on me. It had been a while since I'd seen her and she wanted to visit for what I thought was a catch up and to reminisce over old times. But no it was to try and suck me into some scheme involving 'revolutionary eco friendly cleaning products' I'd never heard of before. It became abundantly clear within 10 minutes of her arrival that all she wanted to do was an aggressive sales pitch of this "business" she was trying to startup with her husband. I freaked out .... but didn't know how to handle it so said I'd have to think about it. She said she'd call me the next day to get my answer, but I could never bring myself to answer a call from her again. I was sad I'd lost a childhood friend ... but thinking back, we'd lost touch for a few years prior ... so I didn't really know her anymore and we probably had nothing in common anyway.
Another variation on this I've heard: 'We help close the sale on a number of online product transactions for major companies like Apple, Best Buy.' - Wtf does that mean? For ones like Amway I like to ask the peddlers/victims: When you buy soap do you think of going to your friend or neighbor, or do you do the odd thing of going to a Target or Walmart or grocery store? Sigh. Also about on this level, there's a crowdfunding site for aspiring authors to raise money for their costs of creating a book, that's called Pubslush - the idea is that like Kickstarter, they help you raise money, they take a cut of what you raise. But Pubslush says on their own guidance: 'Most of what you raise will come from your personal network of family & friends.' So it's like, wtf is the point of them taking a cut? I can ask my family for money by myself.
Especially that you can simply announce a fundraiser in any social media and get a lot of money with no middlemen. Hell, some people you don't know can even give you money for the hell of it or because they think it's a good cause. Multiply this by, say, one thousand and you got yourself a substantial amount of money. MLMs, much like door-to-door salesmen seem to be stuck in the time when their scheme could be profitable, but now the instant access to information and online shops tjhey are as more obsolete than metal money (gold is still worth a lot).
Load More Replies...A guy friend in the 1970s invited me to go hear the actor Bob Cummings speak. I thought it would be fun since I'd enjoyed his acting and sit coms. Turned out it was for Shaklee or some products to keep you young. My dad had warned me about scams early on, so I listened for about five minutes and was gone. So disappointed in Mr. Cummings.
Their products are ridiculously expensive, especially in my country, where we earn 3 times less than in the US. 2-3 christmas gift sets equal my month salary. I've never seen such an expensive soap. I went to one meeting at my friends' house, just for fun and to try cosmetics for free. It was all nice until the lady asked us to give her 5 new telephone numbers each. I said no, I don't share contact info without asking first. She was annoyed and persistent. I bought one foundation, but it was just ok, nothing special. Also we laughed, because she wore Mary Kay necklace. Who would wear jewelry with their company name? But she was blind. She was constantly calling us, sending e-mails and pushing. She really believed she could achieve great things. It was sad.
Load More Replies...@Notsoswift: I thought it was a typo at first. Thanks for the laugh.
Load More Replies...Very few people are actually good at these businesses. They have to go out to festivals and set up shop and do all sorts of things to sell. The problem with them is that these peoole harass the c**p out of their friends. I have one who messages me weekly although I've repeatedly said I cannot afford the product. Love her to death but get off my butt.
I have an old friend who sends me emails. I hate that he's caught up in this kind of thing.
Load More Replies...Here in Fiji, since about 1-2 months, ALL the "job search" Facebook pages are under "attack" by dozens and dozens of "alleged" philipino millionaires that are trying to lure and attract the most weak and desperate part of fijian people, the ones who are looking for a job for living, to buy food, clothes and pay rent fees. They show off these luxury cars, their prefect suits, and every post is soaked of pics of fijian banknotes and images of remittance through Wester Union. They pretend their "natural" phyto-products can cure diseases like diabetes and cancer Simple nutritional supplements passed off as "miracle healing products". The amount of fijian people asking for more info and details (in private box of course) is impressive and depressing. In a country where a carpenter, or a waitress can earn an average of US$ 1.64/hour (yes, 164 us cents) you can't tell them they can earn up to US$. 470 per day. This is scam.
Tupperware was genius though, you could not just buy the items, and we all needed flour containers and juice jugs with air tight push buttons, i loved the buttons as a kid. They were not so much a scam as reason to turn french onuon soup into dip and drink cheap flask wine with friends while you took orders. I dont think you had to buy stock of tupperware here in Australia in the 70s
Load More Replies...It's true only a few driven people are successes in these types of businesses and I find that integrity often goes to the wayside with little white lies and omissions. I am free of MLM and am so much happier with competitor products I can buy online or at a brick and mortar.
The sad thing is... as an unemployed, freshly graduated college student, on 3 different occasions, I responded to 3 different adds for "office assistants, potential managerial opportunities". One was a condo flipping scam, one was the knife scam, and one was a cable package scam. And I say scam, bc the acronym MLM does not encompass the idea behind these frauds. It's sick that these companies advertise themselves as potential, legit employments, and prey on desperate people.
It's all fun and games until you get that random phone call or message from a friend you haven't talked to in 10 years...boom pyramid scheme. I always do one order to support them, but i'm never a reoccurring customer.
It is very simple to spot a pyramid "company" that tries to present itself as an MLM company in order to seem legal: 1. The start-up or registration fee is a considerable sum of money. 2. You will invariably be told that you will be able to recoup the fee by introducing four (or more) friends to the "company". This means that the scheme funnels money to you without them having bought anything at all. 3. There may or there may not be any products. If the company does have some kind of product and it is completely overpriced for what it is, you can be pretty sure that you are dealing with a pyramid scheme. They are not even interested in selling anything, all they really want is the high registration fee with the hope that you will bring a few more suckers along. Stay away! A real MLM company does NOT work like that. The registration fee is low & commision is paid on real sales of real products only. Due diligence is a good thing!
MLM doesn't stand for Multi Level Scheme, but for Multi Level Marketing. The pyramid (Ponzi Scheme) is forbidden by law. On the other hand, MLM or network marketing exists for about 70 years and has proved itself as a very viable marketing solution. I remind you: Amway, Tupperware, 4Life, and many many others, with very high quality products that cannot be purchased in the regular old fashioned way. Before canceling the solution you should check what giants like Robert Kiyosaky , Erick Worre or Sir Richard Branson have to say about.
I remember a college friend who made me attend an orientation for a pyramid scheme like this. There were four of us during that time, still studying in college without a part-time job..just studying... Then this person befriended us for a couple of weeks and finally brought us to that place she called "a party"....I didn't want to go to that "party" at first but my other friends were too pushy and I didn't want to argue so I just went on with the flow. When we got there, I felt so betrayed when I saw a white board and sample products!!! I didn't want to be rude so I just listened to that guy talking in front. After that, they asked me if I would like to join but I was already pissed (it was a damn long talk) and said "Thanks for the effort but there's no way I'm going to spend money, work hard and let others benefit from it. Bye".... When you're a student, anything that's almost as expensive as your tuition fee is ridiculous. I never tried seeing that "friend" again.
I guarantee that girl ignored him, suckered some people, and ended up losing money anyway.
Someone once invited me to lunch and started talking for about 45 min about all these crazy trips hes been on because his job was able to do that for him. He went on x amount of trips and had like 3 adopted kids and does so much with his time after not having to go to work. So then my and bf ended up asking him whats he does he drops the I want you in my team. We are Amway. I was like uuuuhhh f**k no goodbye. Thanks for the meal.
there are good MLMs whose products are easy to sell, but mostly dont. keypoint : is it profitable by selling alone, not recruiting people ? if not, run away.
All network marketing companies do not fit this narrative this person explained to her. It is true to some degree when it comes to products, however, your success is determined by your work ethic. I tried the ones with products and found I do not like having to have products to push on anyone. I got involved in a travel network marketing company and made money immediately. 8yrs later I have paid off over $12K in debt because of it. But it wasn't easy and I had to work consistently and hard for it. But to have residual income as a result of it makes it worth it. Just do your own homework before you start any company.
YTB? http://www.yourtravelbiz.com/about_us_corp.asp 100% scam
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