Remember the Monavie Acai juice Multi-Level-Marketing scam Chris Walters told you about a few weeks ago? There’s a whole community blog set up where people can post their Monavie stories as moderator-approved comments at purplehorror.com. Here’s one from a frustrated salesperson: “Our upline said that we weren’t pitching it the “right way”. Their idea of the right way was to lie. They didn’t think of it as lying, but it was… They would ask people if they had any medical conditions and whatever they said, the answer was always “Monavie can definitely help you with that.” Note the word “upline.” That’s a common word multi-level-marketing schemes use to refer to the person directly above you in their modified pyramid scheme.
network marketing
Consumerist Attends Robert Allen's Get Rich Quick In Real Estate Seminar
By 10.23.08
I wanted to find out what Robert Allen’s “get-rich-quick in real estate with no money down” promise was all about, so when I saw a full page ad in the Daily Post advertising one of his free seminars recently, I went and checked it out. I’ll give you a full run-down later, but here’s the quick and dirty, and what I can tell about how the darn thing seems to function.
Despite Subprime Implosion, Robert Allen's Troops Still Pitch "Get Rich Quick In Real Estate With No Money Down"
By 10.21.08
Robert Allen promises to make you millions teaching you how to buy real estate with no money down. Unsurprisingly, Ripoffreport is littered with complaints about his company and those that use his name. Here’s the story they tell:
How The Modern Pyramid Scheme Stays Barely Legal
By 10.5.07
The modern pyramid scheme has undergone slight tweaks in order to stay just with the bounds of the law, and still keep the fun scam times going. When you strip away all the pretty foil and chocolate, though, a naked Ponzi sits in the center, laughing his ass off.
4 Typical DS-MAX MLM Scam Job Ads Found On Monster, HotJobs, CareerBuilder And Jobster
By 6.19.07
Using the names of companies accused of being DS-Max (now known as Innovage) subsidiaries/affiliates on Ripoffreport and a list on DS-Max The Aftermath, I did a search of Monster, Hot Jobs, and other job sites to pick out real ads that are out there and should be avoided.
How To Spot A DS-MAX Style MLM Scam Job Ad
By 6.18.07
Here are some of the qualities of a “business” operating under DS-MAX (now known as Innovage, though the same company owns both trademarks...) principles, an organization responsible for many complaints alleging scams, fraud, and general employee deprivation in a “sales-cult” atmosphere. [More]
Pursue Exciting Opportunities In Energy Deregulation
By 5.31.07
You too can work for an energy supplier and seize a piece of this exciting money-making opportunity! At least, that’s what the Craigslist ad told us.
You may know well the great promise of Network Marketing.
We love the part where they say the amount of money you can make from this depends on,
The timing of entry of the networker into the company growth curve.
aka, it’s better to be at the top of the Ponzi scheme. For the uninitiated, network marketing is just another name for multi-level-marketing (MLM), structurally similar to a pyramid scheme, except usually there’s an actual product being sold. Employees get money for selling products, and for signing up new recruits. A cut of your commission flows up to the guy who signed you up, and you get a cut of your recruits’ commissions, and so on up the pyramid. The FTC ruled that MLM isn’t illegal per se. Often they’re set up so the people on the very bottom don’t make much, or even end up losing, money. Amway is a famous example.
