About BehindMLM
Ever visited an MLM review site that just didn’t seem right?
‘Don’t join this MLM company, it’s a SCAM! Join MY MLM company instead!‘
There’s a lot of rubbish MLM review and news sites on the internet that masquerade solely as lead generation tools for their owners. I believe there’s a distinct lack of concise and clear information out there regarding companies within the MLM industry and MLM itself.
The aim of Behind MLM is to fill that void and prove to be a useful resource to people curious about the MLM industry and the companies that exist within it.
I created BehindMLM out of a genuine interest in the MLM industry and a desire to provide the public with relevant and accurate MLM information, news and company reviews.
I hope you find BehindMLM a useful resource and feel free to leave any feedback below. Additionally you can contact me if you’ve got any further queries about the site, want to submit a company for review or for any general questions.
Thanks for reading!
Can you give me your insight on Ignite powered by Stream Energy… Give me your positives and negatives, or write an article about it.
Hmm an electricity MLM, that sounds interesting!
Due to travelling and other commitments I’m way behind the 8 ball on publishing articles for BehindMLM. I’ve added Ignite to my list though I can’t promise when I’ll publish my opinion of them.
Hi Oz!
I’m definitely looking forward to hearing your views on the MLM industry and looking at some MLMs a little more in detail.
Should prove an interest read on what generally ends up being a hot topic of discussion.
Thanks Anonymous and I look forward to writing about them!
Finding the time is proving all to challenging at the moment but perseverence is the key hey.
Hey, you reckon Xyngular is worthy of a mention? Just when you thought you’ve seen it all, here’s a guy posing as a doctor, alongside a few sidekicks.
Haven’t looked into them but I’ve added Xyngular to the research list. Thanks for the heads up.
Are there any companies that you do recommend?
I don’t particularly see BehindMLM as a platform to recommend business opportunities. Along with some broader articles I try to analyse MLM companies and present an unbiased factual look to differentiate from the abundance of marketing spiel available.
These days it’s quite hard to get information about MLM business opportunities without being subject to an ulterior motive (usually business related) in the process.
Although progress is admittedly slow, I aim to over time build a sizeable cache of knowledge for those out there researching the various MLM business opportunities available.
Just a quick note, I tried adding comment numbering and found that in doing so it was overriding the Gravatar placement.
I wasn’t able to get both showing (I think this is a theme limitation of only being able to display one thing beside each individual comment.
I think gravatars are more functional than comment numbering so for now I’ll leave it. As for quoting individual comments, even on the longer commented articles you can always blockquote or simply reference the date (comments are published via date hierarchy).
I’m just wondering why you are “anonymous” and don’t put your identity out there.
Also, anyone can post negative things about MLM companies online, and they are usually by someone who has joined a company, bought the “dream,” yet sat around “dreaming they’d become rich” without doing much of anything.
They blame their company, their sponsor, the leads, the system, their parents, whomever or whatever rather than take responsibility that they simply didn’t get off their “sofa” and get to work. Then they quit and the whining begins.
Your site and others like them can ruin the reputation and business of a company without even giving them a chance. I believe there should be a process where the offending remarks can be removed if the person crying like a baby because they didn’t have the “goods” to make it in the big, bad world of MLM.
How about being fair and making the person PROVE what they say and not put the negative info up about the company until they get a chance to make a rebuttal and/or show the “whiner” never did a darn thing to build a business.
Like the BBB-although even with them, if you are a PAYING member you won’t get a negative report. How about being fair in this horrible economy-give a company a chance.
They may have many people who DO want to give it a shot and will actually work the business, but with negative info on the Internet it makes their chances at success harder to achieve. Plus without proof it’s just mean spirited pseudo “journalism.”
Because the information I publish should be able to stand on its own, regardless of who I am. It’s not about me, it’s about reviewing and analysing MLM and the various opportunities available.
Exactly. That’s why BehindMLM is different. I’m not affiliated with any MLM company. Instead I try to provide information from the viewpoint of someone doing their own research and analysis into a company.
Informing people before the marketing side of a company saturates them with blind positivity.
You’re implying that MLM itself has a 100% success rate and that any failure is on the distributors part. This is as nonsensical as claiming that 100% of MLM failures lies within MLM itself.
People have a right to publish their negative experiences, regardless of why you think they ultimately failed.
Companies are free at any time to publish rebuttals. Instead, they usually take the path of lawsuits. This also ties into the anonyminity of BehindMLM as a lot of countries out there currently have judicial systems that heavily favour business over people in terms of capital needed to effectively defend yourself against legal allegations.
Easier to bog people down in the legal system and hope they fold than to engage people.
And as for proof, this works both ways. I don’t expect people to divulge personal information up on here. But on the other hand, ever tried asking an MLM to back up its ‘multi-billion dollar this and over xxx thousand members’ claims?
Good luck with that!
Information on the internet in no way shape of form changes the probability or percentage rate of succesful distributors/associates/representatives in a particular MLM business. This is a fixed statistical number.
BehindMLM is a blog, it’s not a major news broadcaster.
@ChrisMolinari — While associates have at least a part in failure of their own “venture”, it would be EXTREMELY unfair to blame it all on them without studying the overall picture. In fact, it is one of the 13 excuses I’ve identified by scams to blame their victims, i.e. “you must be doing it wrong”.
In fact, I’ll go as far as guess most of that attitude is pushed by their own uplines, who promised them success, and blame them for failure.
This is just ONE blog among the bazillion different sites / blogs about MLM (or scams that claim to be MLM). If you really think one website can ruin a MLM, you need an attitude adjustment.
Almost every MLM has a disclaimer that tells the prospects to do their due dilligence. Still they are mad about sites like BehindMLM that actually do this work for them just for free.
However, I can only speak for myself and my blog, and it has certainly had influence on the reputation of the companies Wealth Masters International and Carbon Copy Pro.
The reason why I created my blog was the extreme amount of garbage posted everywhere about these companies, and my blog appearantly drowned in this ocean of deceit. However, it caused enough attention from both journalists and authorities, and now the companies are in serious trouble.
However, I have several times asked for information about the company and every time they have served lies that have been very easy to reveal. One example is the claim that the average annual income for WMI representatives is 1.300.000 NOK.
Pretty stupid as the Norwegian top consultant Per Gunnar Hoem has denied such an income for himself. Still he seems to tell his new prospects face to face that he earns 300.000 or more each month as this is refered to in their marketing material.
Even their Norwegian lawyer has not been able to point out anything wrong, he has only claimed that there is a possibility that it could be wrong to use the words “illegal”, “pyramid scheme” and “fraud”, and if it appeared to be wrong they would then consider legal action.
He even accused me for hacking into WMIs data center, he appearantly did not know that this information was available in WMI’s homepage. Every term he was mad about has been documented very clearly to him, and after then I have not heard from him.
This is probably the reason that CCP has not contacted me yet. Instead they are treathening OZ for a comment citing my blog. They are
There were at least 500 websites in Norwegian describing the “fantastic business opportunity” of CCP/WMI when I started blogging. If these companies were solid, ethical and making success for their representatives there is no way that my single blog could ruin the reputation of these companies.
The main reason is that my blog is based on proven facts, and these 500 websites were based on lies and deception that could easily be revealed (like people claiming to be successful internet marketers one week after signing up with the company).
The chance that any online business opportunity is a scam is at least 99 %. Giving a business a chance in this branch does not mean joining them by paying hundreds or thousands of dollars and eventually find out if it worked or not.
According to you, if these lazy people with the wrong mindset were filtered out in the application process for all MLM companies, the success rate in MLM would explode.
This is not going to happen. There must always be hundreds or thousands of loosers in every non-retail scheme to produce one millionaire.
I have no idea what you are talking about. Of course people that say they are successful internet marketers after one week, but those people are simply stupid and think by “puffing” they can get people to join.
Saying 99% of MLMs are scams is untrue. Most of these companies have to pass through their state Atty. General’s office, file papers, fund the company, and spend hundreds of thousands if not over a million dollars getting off the ground.
How stupid to spend all that money just to create a short-lived scam.
The “gifting” programs and their “ilk” are the scammers. The work from home deals where they want you to open a bank account and deposit checks then send one of your own to them, only to find their checks were bogus-THOSE are scams.
You are in a foreign country and do not know how difficult it is for companies to even get off the ground. They have legal teams and if they screw up the Atty. General will shut them down.
And NO there are not hundreds of thousands of losers in ONE company to create one millionaire. Most GOOD companies tell new people if they follow instructions, talk to enough people and actually do some work, within 8 to 12 months they could potentially increase their incomes to say $500 to $1000 extra per month.
For most people that seemingly small amount of money could change a person’s life especially in this economy. But there are NO guarantees. I just think you have been unfair to a few people I see on your site and should have a way to find out the truth and if they person shows you some proof of what they say you should remove the offending report.
It would make you seem very fair and give you a lot better PR. Incidently, I do online PR and SEO, so I know what I’m talking about.
Chris, I guess you have to find the difference between “hundreds or thousands” and “hundreds of thousands”.
When I said that 99% of all online business opportunities are scams, I did not say that 99 % of all MLM companies are scams.
For companies that claims to do MLM, I will rather say the scam rate is at least 95 %. This will not include 95 % of MLM participants, as the “good” ones are bigger than the dirty ones. Still it has been proved that 97 % of all MLM partipants never earn money.
You claim there is NO guarantee in MLM, which is completely wrong. If you are an average MLM representative there is a guarantee that you will loose money.
The online business opportunities that can not be considered as MLM, are gifting schemes, ponzi schemes, affiliate scams and classical pyramid schemes without any product. These scams pop up everywhere, new ones each day, and actually only a few of them ever succeed scamming a considerable amount of people.
Most of them disappear within months.
I can again verify that no WMI og CCP member has been able to point out anything wrong in my blog, they just say it is full of lies without bringing any documentation of it.
The reason is simple, I have the proofs, they have nothing to show and they stay away to avoid even more embarassing stories. I have even asked their lawyer for documentation, but he has not even replied to my e-mail. As the Norwegian authorities have confirmed that WMI is a illegal pyramid schemes, what is still missing to make you believe this MLM company is a scam?
I have no interest of PR for myself, my only goal is to tell the truth about WMI and CCP. If the truth is bad PR for these companies, it is not correct to hide the truth just to seem fair.
BTW, I can guarantee that it is a lot more difficult to establish a business in Norway compared to USA.
It is interesting what you write about what good MLM companies tell new people. If most MLM companies are good companies, why is it then so difficult to find them? Please bring examples of “good” MLM companies.
Chris, Carbon Copy Pro does not fit your definition of a “good” company. This is from an e-mail from CEO Jay Kubassek which recently was posted in a Norwegian forum:
“So that folks with ZERO experience can plug right in and
have success in a matter of weeks not years or decades like
in the “old school” M L M model.”
And Mr. Kubassek has no doubts about how successful you will be with CCP:
“Tell your boss at your ‘JOB’ that you may not be needing
him or her much longer. I mean that.”
Read the rest of the BS here:
http://forum.hegnar.no/thread.asp?id=1948693
PS! If you work with online PR and you are the manager of International Association of Home Business Opportunities, why does the homepage look like this: http://www.iaohbo.com ?
@Chris
Uh, who are these companies?
A fair chunk of my research time is sifting through the marketing crap that MLM distributors love to market with;
‘multi-giga-infinity incomes!’
‘2-3 hours a day is all that’s required!’
‘tell your boss to go and get f….ed!’ etc. etc.
Exaggerated yes but I think you’ve got a bit of a naive view on how MLM is marketed these days.
Actually, most of those companies do not have to pass through their state Atty. General’s office. Surprised you don’t know that, since you do online PR and SEO 😛
How does that demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about?
@Chris Molinari — Oh, please. The ONLY relation of a company with Attorney General’s office is a) if you incorporate and you need to report corporation officers to the state or b) you’re getting investigated by the AG.
The former is usually a $25 dollar form to be filed annually. I had to file one just now. Nobody looks at the stuff until someone wants to research you. It’s just public disclosure info, and there are ways to hide even that by going through a proxy that’s incorporated in Nevada.
I know what I am talking about too. And I believe you don’t.
I am wondering why your domain’s whois information is confidential ??
@Raj
Because it’s irrelevant to the information presented on this website. I’m not trying to market or sell you anything.
You have an interesting About section since it has no information about your background (or even your name) and what qualifies you to comment on the MLM industry.
So fess up here dude, what are your qualifications?
The information provided on this website stands on its own, irrespective of my ‘qualifications’ or background.
Apart from my opinion, it’s mostly backed up with cited sources and is credible, but you’re still welcome to refute it.
Who I am or my ‘qualifications’ doesn’t factor into the equation. Moreso when we’re dealing with an industry where it’s touted that qualifications usually don’t matter.
You yourself hold a degree in psychology, surely you can appreciate that that alone doesn’t define who you are or validate your opinion.
Woah, careful there ozsoabox you show yourself to be a true idiot. Qualifications don’t matter???
I am afraid if you chose to comment on any subject as an authority which is what you do with your domain behindmlm you hold yourself out to be an authority. Cited sources? Sorry I am not seeing any authority you have actually cited.
My degree in psychology has nothing to do with my expertise in this industry. I have been in the industry for over 24 year, have been on the presidential advisory boards of multiple MLM’s and have been cited in 4 nationally punished books on MLM and have been a 7 figure earner so I think that gives me more authority than you speak with.
I take real exception to all the internet junk that is generated just to get traffic such as your website
In MLM, no. What qualifications do you have for MLM, where did you get them? Is there a university for MLM I can go do a certified MLM course at?
If anyone believes I’m authority it’s on the basis of the information and opinions I provide and that alone. Qualifications can’t count because I don’t run around the internet telling everyone I have so and so years network marketing experience…
If people read what’s here and conclude I’m an authority, well, I’ll leave you to ponder what that says about the credibility of the information presented here.
You demand authority because you’ve been in the game for X amount of years, I humbly accept it (if at all) based on my work. And I certainly don’t profess to be more authoritable than others simply because I may or may not have been doing MLM for longer than them.
Information is taken directly from the companies I write about or as close to as possible. As with anything published here you’re free to independently verify the information yourself.
My opinions are based on this information and obviously don’t need cited sources as I am the source.
No it doesn’t. As I’ve repeatedly stated, my information stands on its own, irrespective of who I am or my experience.
Attempting to discredit the information here based on who I am and my experience is thus pointless.
Please, don’t even try to group my website into the mountain of trash available on the internet that is nothing more than thinly veiled MLM marketing spin. Websites such as your own which exist only to funnel people into the opportunities you’re in (such as Wealth Masters International and Family IQ, both of which you appear to be involved in (and who knows what else)) are a dime a dozen and people are sick and tired of them.
People marketing the companies they are involved in under the guise of hackjob coaching, such as yourself, are one of the major reasons I started this website and what I believe will hopefully contribute to it’s ongoing success in the long run.
@Marc — claiming the other side is not qualified to comment on MLM smacks of “ad hominem” attack. If you want to attack his opinion, attack his opinion and his evidence backing his opinion, not his qualifications.
Right now, you’re using at least three intellectually dishonest debate tactics:
name-calling — unqualified
claiming membership with audience group — successful in MLM
my resume is bigger than yours — great, so?
cited from http://www.johntreed.com/debate.html
@Marc — clarification, if he is using his qualifications to support his opinion, then yes, you may attack his qualifications. However, he is NOT doing so. Thus, you also qualify for intellectually dishonest debate tactic badge #4 and #5
red herring — attacking other side’s qualifications instead of evidence or logic
changing the subject — ditto
YOU, on the other hand, claims qualifications as if that explains everything. Based on your debate tactics demonstrated thus far, I have some doubts on your qualifications, on what they actually mean (not their validity).
Come to think of it, this is the same Marc Barrett that wrote TVI Express is good opportunity:
http://askmarcbarrett.com/mlm-reviews/tvi-express-fast-lane-or-a-dead-end
Sorry, Marc. Your credibility just evaporated. You can’t recognize a pyramid scheme when you see one. Your 24 years in MLM apparently is full of ****.
Uh lol?
That’s what happens when you’re just out there promoting the various opportunities of the day.
I guess we have to throw him in along with Nettle’s CitizenCorp.
Not quite, unlike Nettle at least Barret, to his credit, isn’t posing as a division of a government organisation claiming to offer impartial advice on ‘top tier’ home business opportunities.
But did you read Barrett’s website? He reviews “top tier” MLMs too. To him, MLMs that offers BIG ticket items (several thousand USD) are “top tier”, and he claims those are the future of MLM, because you can recruit less people to get paid, unlike “normal” MLMs where you have to recruit like hundreds of people to get paid.
Apparently he considers every MLM he joined as a recruiting game, and that’s where he wants to sell his “Lead Generation System Pro”. It’s mentioned at the bottom of just about every review he did.
The fallacy of big ticket MLMs is that people need to have ‘big money’ to purchase the products. And they don’t have that without succesful jobs.
That and it kills the notion of anyone can succeed in MLM. Nobody with a job that enables them to afford products, services or membership that costs thousands of dollars is going to purchase from someone with literally no money in the bank.
Given Barret’s lack of a reply, I think it’s pretty much safe to say he was just here for some market exposure. I guess even nofollow comment links help in the eyes of some website owners.
1 Marc Barrett did not mention his qualifications; you did OZ > Marc said :’My degree in psychology has nothing to do with my expertise in this industry.” he said his time in the industry did.
You Oz have never been in an MLM compnay. YOu have jsut decided to become the font of all knowledge on MLM companies. But really you are just here to put all MLM companies down: in other words a make wrong machine!
You clearly have never been in business; you set out to ruin people’s businesses with you blatent lies. and no one it appears cna stop you. that is why you remain anonymous. So you cna tbe sued for defamation.
You are happy to put up other people’s addresses and phone numbers ; put up photos of pople’s homes , accuse them of the most usnspeakable t things , make fun of them, abuse them but you are too gutless to put your own detail anywhere! you really are a joke.
You allow others to upload lies about various people in these businesses, not makeing anyqueries to seeif they are true,some of the stuff you and your cohorts write is rubbish and very poisonous but you just don’t care. tha is why you don’t put your own details in. Just hopeless
Ah Susan Susan Susan, still banging the ‘why are you anonymous?’ drum? Careful there, your Beyond Freedom doesn’t seem to be addressing your anger issues.
Sure he did, how else did I find out about them? And Mark very much presented his time in the industry as a certifiable qualification that trumps all else. Despite the obviousness that he was only here to promote his latest companies.
So? Neither have a lot of people looking at MLM companies, are their opinions and concerns any less valid?
Now now, a lot of work and research goes into the information presented here. At least give me a little credit.
If your dodgy business gets ruined, that’s hardly my fault for pointing out it’s a dodgy business.
The first two are only made public to confirm whois records to establish ownership of companies and/or domains. This information is in the public domain and is verifiable by anyone with an internet connection.
Fail Susan, fail.
As for the second two, lol… ad-hominen accusations. The only person I’ve ever put up a photo of a home was of one mr. Colin Greig. This was after he stomped about on here claiming to be living the life and driving his lamborghini about. His address was in the public domain and a quick google maps search revealed he didn’t even have a paved driveway.
After that revelation Mr. Greig mysteriously vanished along with his fictitious claims.
But of course you’d naturally be totally against exposing those being untruthful.
In order to be sued for defamation something has to be published that is false. By all means challenge any of the information presented here. My own research is obviously not infallible but I do the best I can when researching an opportunity – corrections are welcome.
The main reason for this (and you already know this, as it frustrates you to no end and has done so for nearly three years now), is that it detracts from the information presented here.
My details in shape or form alter or have an impact on any of the information presented here. All it would do would provide a means for detractors such as yourself to divert people’s attention away from the information presented here. In the interests of professionalism and keeping this site of interest there is no point in cluttering it up with irrelevant information.
I’ve said it many times now, the information here stands up to scrutiny on its own. Who I am is irrelevant.
Anyone is welcome to challenge anything published here, whether it be by a third party or myself. if you have an issue with a third party, take it up with them.
Apparently his experience led him to conclude an OBVIOUS pyramid scheme, such as TVI Express, is a great opportunity, and will be declared LEGAL, according to his own webpage. See above for the URL.
As he can’t tell a pyramid scheme from a legit MLM, clearly his 24 years of experience is worth nothing.
Which renders the rest of your argument completely moot.
Why is it his fault that here’s so much **** for him to report on?
Now Oz can sue YOU for defamation, since you just accused him of lying. Can you prove he’s lying?
You, Ms. Shaw, have a clear misunderstanding on what supports what.
If Oz used his reputation to make claims (like Mr. Barrett claimed “I am an expert in MLM because I have 24 years of experience”) then his details and his history is then relevant. However, he has NEVER (to my knowledge) used his reputation or history to support his claim.
Thus, trying to attack his reputation or history is a red herring. And that makes YOU, the unethical debater.
On the other hand, Marc Barrett DID claim his reputation of 24 years in MLM made him an expert in MLM. He also claimed to have been in top tier on multiple MLMs, and claimed to be cited on “nationally punished books” (his words, not mine).
However, one only needs to look at ONE example, from his OWN website, to find that his judgement is faulty, and thus, his reputation is clearly worthless. He tried to support his claim with his reputation, and thus, his reputation is open to examination, and what did we find in there? Skeletons!
Thus far you have yet to PROVE any of your points. It’s just one accusation after another.
Did Oz steal your dreams? Is that why you’re so mad?
More than a year late, but here’s a relevant article on Ignite:
Atlanta newspaper ponders whether Ignite is a pyramid scheme or not
http://pyramidschemealert.org/atlanta-newspaper-examines-mlm-scheme-stream-energyignite/
It appears that Marc Barrett has some balls: that TVI Express review he did is STILL up on his website.
Please anybody tell about this company.
http://travistaworldwide.com/
@Hari
I believe it’s better to use the “Contact” button near the upper right corner, and contact Oz via email. Questions asked in this thread are easy to forget.
I had a look at the video presentation. I don’t think this is a real business opportunity, but it may be a short term income opportunity for some (at least for the owner).
I don’t think TravistaWorldwide have any retail sales at all, since I don’t see any relation between the money you have to pay and the service they claim to offer. You don’t pay for any membership in a “travel club” here, you only pay for the opportunity to make money by recruiting others into a scheme. I didn’t do any exact calculations, but most of the money involved seems to be distributed between members (and the company).
RSI Reservation Services International use independent marketers like Travista, according to some BBB-reports I found.
You don’t buy anything (like a travel club membership) from RSI when you buy a membership from Travista. They don’t have any products or services of their own, except for the income opportunity scheme. The so called ‘product’ attached to this scheme isn’t necessary at all (as part of the income opportunity), as far as I can see. It’s only needed to make this opportunity look more like a real business.
First and foremost, this “opportunity” seems more to be an incomesource for the owner of the TravistaWorldwide website, Andrew Zic / Destination Network Int. LLC. I don’t see any reason to pay him any money, unless he is a family member or something? Or unless you really know what you’re doing here, and have tried similar schemes before.
I have one “red flag” if people consider to join this. The video stated “You don’t have to sign any contracts”. Why does a company want to do business without any contracts or written agreements? I don’t see any reasons for a company to avoid written agreements, unless …
The short answer about that company… it’s a TVI Express clone, and TVI Express is an illegal pyramid scheme.
ANOTHER TVI Express clone is getting hammered by critics: Bon Voyage 1000.
http://obtainer.posterous.com/scam-alert-bon-voyage-1000
@Hari
I concur that Travista Worldwide appears to be just another recruitment driven travel club niche MLM that only pays out commissions from membership fees.
Travista Worldwide: A Travel Club Scam
@Kasey Why are they only reviewing Bon Voyage 1000 now? I myself reviewed it over a year ago…
Apparently they only reached Europe relatively recently. Seems previous efforts are mainly aimed at the US market.
Hey Oz,
Have you seen this yet? http://www.EmpowerNetwork.com
100% commissions. Over 11,000 members and $2M of sales generated in 60 days.
Yeah I glossed over the Empower Network a few weeks back. It appeared to be some affiliate type deal combined with blogs?
Didn’t seem like MLM to me at the time (although could be used to market MLM).
@Bill – Oz remembered the Empower Network correctly. It’s not an MLM, but an affiliate program. A massive blog with 11k or 12k members on the same domain. Last I checked their Alexa traffic rank was at 1250 (and at 332 in the US).
They are reporting great SEO ranking when blogging on their platform. I assume if there is any competition for keywords you would still need good on-page SEO and backlinking…not to just post something and expect to get ranked.
They offer a reseller program that looks like an mlm compensation plan when explained, but’s it’s a complicated affiliate structure instead. They let you keep your leads, so it can be used as a front end product to market other things.
I’m starting to experiment with the SEO potential of blogging on the network. That’s where I see the value as a product…and as a potential valuable product for re-sale if it’s effective in getting content ranked.
Do they publish on the same domain or sub-domains?
Free article directories took a massive hit in the last Panda update, I can only imagine that trying to manage 1000+ marketers on the one domain would be a content farm nightmare.
Imagine just fifty of these guys all trying to use Empower to push the same opportunity, it’d be a duplicate content disaster – moreso if they just copy and pasted official marketing spiel.
Empower Network is profiting on the MLM mentality: recruit people to get paid. It’s attracting MLMers like Jon Mroz and many other even shadier characters. You can already find articles on there pushing everything, even Wazzub.
On a completely different topic, JSSTripler, an HYIP, was charged by Italian authorities as an illegal investment scam
http://www.patrickpretty.com/2012/01/27/urgent-moving-bulletin-jss-tripler-promoters-targeted-by-italian-regulator-consob-in-securities-probe/
Given that members appear to be paying for access to the domain (which is useless, seeing as each individual page is ranked individually by search engines), that’s not surprising. They can write whatever they want (assuming it falls within the Empower Network member rules).
Good to see Italy are doing something about the plague of investment schemes going around at the moment. I feel like I’m reveiwing 10 or so of these scams a week and they don’t show any sign of stopping.
What the hell are the US authorities doing? Quite obviously the admins running these things have decided that the big boys (Zeek Rewards, JSS, Ricochet Riches, JBP etc. etc.) haven’t been shut down so there’s enough of the pie left for them to launch their own clones.
MLM backend script + cheap web design + domain = your very own investment scam.
According to PatrickPretty.com, the US Secret Service (who, besides protecting the president and visiting dignitaries, also investigates financial fraud they used to belong to the Treasury Dept) is well aware of HYIPs, and have previously specifically ID’ed MoneyMakerGroup and other HYIP forums as where HYIPs are pushed and spread. They tracked down several Ponzi schemes pushed from those forums, but only the really big boys got nailed. I think eGold got like 30-90 MILLION dollars that was seized.
Seems the small-timers collapse before they attract the attention of the Secret Service, and the individual states don’t see big enough role for themselves to play.
Could you please check this company (investment company MacroTrade suppose to be in London) cause they do not return my e-mail asking about website(password) to see or withdraw my money. Thanks Pete
MacroTrade seem to have a MLM commissions structure so I’ve added them to the list.
Hi Oz,
Thanks for providing this valuable resource on MLM businesses – it has been quite an education for me!
If I may provide a bit of constructive criticism – please hold up on reviewing “investment” scams! I know that there are tons of the damned things out there at the moment, but hopefully regular readers of this blog have now got the message about them!
Your undoubted talents at researching MLM opportunities deserve a wider focus. Apart from that minor niggle, keep up the good work!
Hey David, glad to hear you’re enjoying the site.
Regarding the onslaught of investment schemes, I myself have been wondering what to do about this for a few weeks now.
MLM Investment scams are definitely flavour of the month(s) at the moment and I think will remain so as long as ZR and co. fly under the radar. Realistically after US tax returns are due and the audits begin on ZR members we’re probably not going to see any slowdown in the launch of such schemes.
On one hand my preference of writing about newer opportunities has meant I feel like I’m covering ten or so of these shallow guaranteed return scams a week… and perhaps one or two “meatier” MLM opportunities.
On the other if I ignore them then I feel like I’ve got catching up to do and later down the track backtracking analysis becomes harder. One of the things I look forward to in the longterm is creating a trackable history of opportunities that have come and gone.
Undoubtedly the admins launching dubious opportunities now are mostly the same ones that have been doing it for years and via whatever means possible, if they can be tracked – even if it’s not by name and just similarity in the businesses themselves, I think that’s a valuable asset in the long-term.
I can wholly appreciate BehindMLM reading like a Ponzi scheme directory over the last few months or so though. Believe me as the author of the reviews I myself get tired of reviewing the same old advertising + guaranteed investment returns business model 5-6 times a week.
Not sure what to do about it. I do keep a list of companies to review in the long-term but it’s hard to get through that when I’m kept busy by five to ten shallow MLM scam launches every week.
Any further ideas or suggestions are welcome. I do keep track of what people are reading on here and Zeek Rewards seems to be generating a lot of interest at the moment, so there is some interest in MLM investment schemes – granted Zeek Rewards dresses itself up with more care than the $2 ‘we’re a Ponzi and we’re not even going to try and hide it’ opportunities popping up all over the place of late.
Hey Oz,
Sorry if I’ve missed it, but have you taken a look at Minerva Rewards?
They definitely are incorporating a MLM comp plan.
Seem to be bringing in some big names, thought your readers would find it interesting.
Hey Zac,
I’ve got Minerva Rewards on my to-do list. Will get around to reviewing them eventually. Cheers.
Hi Oz,
You are my first stop when investigating an online “opportunity.” It’s tough to get the real story anywhere else. I’ve recently been asked about Banners Broker, but can’t find a hint of it on your site. Have you looked at it? Thanks
Hi Oz,
I am just new to your site. Do you or anyone over here have any suggestion on KB GOLD, or Karatbars international.
Thanks a lot,
anil
@Jimmy
I’ve had a few requests for Banners Broker, but last I looked at it it was a straight up investment scheme, there was no MLM side to it.
@Anil
I’ve had KB Gold on my list to investigate for a while now, Karat Bars International seems to be an investment opportunity without MLM?
Y haven’t u done an article on jss or Jbp alone
I would like to see
Neither are MLM companies or trying to pass themselves off as one. Both are just straight up Ponzi schemes and are marketed as such.
BehindMLM, it’s more than just a pretty name.
@Pete (March 3rd)
Went to go and have a look at MacroTrade again for a review and it appears they’ve disappeared. I’m guessing restricting access to your account (and others?) was the precursor to the company going bust.
Oz, I’ve started a blog on MLM skepticism (with sidetracks to scam, tactics, and critical thinking). You’re welcome to link to it if you feel like it:
http://amlmskeptic.blogspot.com/
I have posted one comment about KB Gold in June 2010:
I checked them when they first were introduced in the Scandinavian market in Spring 2010, presented in a typical pyramid forum in Norway. They were presented in Talkgold and/or MoneyMakerGroup, too. This happened when they were in a recruitment stage, long before they had drowned the internet with marketing.
The Goldmine they claimed to have was obviously non-existing, when I checked with Google Earth and lots of other sources. They posted a “license” from correct Turkish authorities in TalkGold or MMG, but having a license to look for minerals in an area doesn’t mean you have a goldmine. A license is relatively cheap, $5000 for 2 or 5 years
But they were able to produce lots of photos from goldmines when I pointed this out. They tried to drown internet with “proofs” (videos and pictures).
German reporters tried to check their office in Turkey around the same time, and the office was non-existent. The same reporters didn’t find any vaults used by KB Gold in the St. Gotthard Massif, either.
They had lots of signs of being a scam, but what kind of scam was hard to tell. The local leaders in Norway and Denmark were mostly known for pyramid schemes. But I did also check if it was POSSIBLE to run it legally, focused on buying/selling gold rather than on recruitment, and it was probably possible (enough to earn on the difference between buying price and selling price).
I found lots of other bad signs too, but they were only “signs”, and they created too much “loose ends” rather than clear information. I decided to not waste more time on them.
I have tried to google “KB Gold” one time after 2010, sometimes around August 2011, but then the internet was drowned in marketing (a bad sign in itself).
THE GOLDMINE IN TURKEY
If you like to check for the goldmine in Turkey, using Google Earth or Google maps, the coordinates are:
41.460475°N, 42.039532°E (nortwestern Turkey, close to the border of Georgia. Place/capital/county: Caglayan, Artvin, Borcka).
Check some pictures of a real goldmine first. A goldmine is far more than a hole into a mountain. 🙂 3-4 grams of gold per tons of stone will leave lots of signs in an area near the goldmine.
Check the terrain too, and compare it to the “proofs” from KB Gold. I laughed when they produced the first pictures of the goldmine, with trucks and workers nicely lined up in a FLAT terrain.
CONCLUSION?
* As a business opportunity? I don’t know, I was mostly checking for signs of a possible scam, and I found more than enough red flags.
* Buying gold from them? Probably safe enough, but it’s probably safer to buy from a more established company. The price was a bit too high, too.
* Having a gold investment agreement with them? I would certainly NOT let them take care of my money or my gold. I wouldn’t feel very safe receiving a KB Gold “Certificate” produced by themselves, claiming to have stored some gold for me in the St. Gotthard Massif.
@Kasey
Looks like the “theory” section I’ve set up here! I’ll be penning similar articles at some point.
For now I’ve decided a priority is getting through the long list of companies I’ve had requests to review over the last few years. Then I’ll start to work on the other areas of the site.
Still, any awareness is welcome – good luck!
I read so many comments on the various articles on Zeek, that I lost the big picture, which is written in the “about” section of the homepage:
I have found this forum very insightful, but filled with more speculation than facts. The vast majority of comments are from the same handful of critics; the few defenders use little factual evidence, but often instead cry hope based refutes that have become cult like talking points.
Until the company can prove that bids or subscriptions are actually purchased in a viable and sustainable ratio to affiliate growth, the naysayers of Zeek express valid points, and anyone that cannot recognize this critical red flag is foolish.
However until Zeek’s model is proven to not be working, or until a proper authority says it is not compliant, this forum is simply an examination of possibilities.
@Daniel Claiborne — you are absolutely correct, however, I’d like to point out that hands of justice move slowly. By the time you get a definitive answer on compliance, or the company already imploded, it’s too late for all the victims.
“I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.” — Morpheus, The Matrix (1999)
“It is more essential to learn how to believe than to learn what to believe. …Truth is in the least danger of being lost when free examination is allowed.”
–ca 1789, Rev. John Leland, Virginia abolitionist pastor who lobbied James Madison for passage of the Bill of Rights
Interesting hate mail received by PatrickPretty.com… a troll send him hatemail that claimed death of Patrick’s dog is a sign from God telling Patrick to stop exposing Ponzi and other scams.
WTF?! :facepalm:
Because Ponzi schemes have the divine right to have nothing negative about them in the Internet
The Verge did a LONG story on Internet Scams (disguised as Internet Marketing). It’s a FASCINATING read:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/10/2984893/scamworld-get-rich-quick-schemes-mutate-into-an-online-monster
I’m researching about Banners Broker, but can’t find a hint of it on your site. Have you looked at it? Is there any independent reviews of Banners Broker?
Thanks.
Banners Broker doesn’t have a MLM component to it, it’s just an investment scheme and falls outside the scope of BehindMLM.
100% of the revenue they pay out in returns however is generated by members – that’s something to think about.
I’ve been reading throughout your site for some time now and I think that you’re doing a wonderful job.
I agree w/ much of what you have written and the results are based on solid evidence. Keep up the good work. I will be looking in from time to time. 🙂
You guys are doing an amazing job!! It’s great to see people come and try to defend themselves but never bring any proof to back it up.
You guys need more exposure to help all the poor suckers getting fooled into joining these scams!
Hi…if I missed it, I appolagize, but was hoping to read your take on the MLM I have recently become involved with. The company is Nucerity.
I’ve researched to the best of my ability on the past backgrounds of the founders, the product ingredients, and the overall structure of the pay tree.
I’m satisfied with the company background, fine with the ingredients of the products, and convinced of the results proven by use of the main product, Skincerity….basically I do believe in the product.
I was also very comfortable with the MLM structure being branched out by just 2 direct recruits under myself and then needing to move down from there rather than across further, allowing for more opportunity for our entire team to work together and all benefit together.
I guess what I’m saying is I’m comfortable and a believer in this company….yet if you had told me a few months ago that I would have been involved in any MLM, I would have told you “no way, never in my life”, so the skeptic in me is still looking for validation or any negatives.
I would value your opinion as a non-biased source of information. Any thoughts?
I’ll add Nucerity to my review list Marilee, no timeline on when I’ll get around to it though.
Thanks for reading!
I had a reader put in a request for numbered comments and after tinkering around with it for a while I think I’ve worked out suitable code for it.
I’ve implemented them site wide so let me know if there’s any problems.
I know the preview comment always shows ‘#1’ but seeing as the preview plugin has no idea how many comments have been published on the article that I can’t do anything about.
That reader was ME, because of the SugarMums/Mannatech thread in late 2010. 🙂
After a while I didn’t try to answer the posts anymore, it was easier just to COUNT them and make some statistics out of them — “Most active near full moon and new moon, just like werewolves” and “Rapidly increasing activity, indicating it has become a habit or a lifestyle”.
Numbered comments is a solution when you want to tell other readers appr. WHERE in a thread they can find something they ask for, so they don’t have to read through a full thread to find the specific posts they’re interested in.
It can save some crosslinks between threads when you can tell about the posts rather than link to them.
The current solution seems to work smoothly.
The solution can also be user-friendly for new readers, making notes about the comments of specific interest they want to return to later, when they’re browsing through a thread.
People will probably need some time before they starts to refer to comment numbers. A typical example for use will probably be something like this: “The tax discussions about Zeek can be found in thread ‘A’, in comments around number nnn”.
Two years ago? I may or may not have gotten distracted with other areas of the blog since then… but I finally got around to it! :).
This was actually a request a few days ago, in order to keep track of new comments left on an article since they’d last read.
I hope to get comment guidelines and and possibly a FAQ up in August sometime. Comment guidelines in particular as I’m getting rather tired of sending “I’m getting paid, how can it be a scam?” type posts to the spam bin.
Although I suppose the existance of comment guidelines and a faq doesn’t necessarily mean people are going to read them…
Respected Sir,
A company named Profit Zone Edutech Pvt. Ltd. (profitzone.co.in) is cheating to Indian public by its Business Plan. Its indian customers joining other people and pay their commission/incentive by cheque.
they are commit people to pay 20% monthly throw it’s business plan and the are also distributing money like a mlm company, as we already cheated by this type of company like max forex, stock guru, money mantra, florenza, b.k house, speak asia, goldsukh …ect.
The company’s m.d Mohan Chauhan is already jailed in uttrakhand for another fraud smart link a survey base company was not registered in India. All mlm leaders beware from this company he will be again cheat we all. go and launch FIR against him, we at maharashtra already launch a FIR against him today. He is a fraud be careful.
Hey RK,
Forex investment schemes fall outside the scope of BehindMLM, in that they’re not MLM.
Just found your site and have really enjoyed reading the articles!
Is there any chance you can review what I think is a great MLM company: Numis Network?
Thanks,
Scott
I’ve looked around your site and cannot find any mention of MyVideoTalk. (MVT)
I was involved with Zeek till today and now I am moving on as I need to find some stellar company to hitch my banner to.
Thanks in advance
I have looked for information on Coastal Vacations here, but don’t see anything. Please tell if you have heard of it and your evaluation of it.
Thank you so much
Banners Broker sbuys and sells banner places from the investors money on popular websites, and the profit is shared. i do not know, if this is true.
Bidify is similar to zeek. The system was not bad, if the profit of the auction site was payed to the members.
Wealh4all and just been paid? If not ponzi, how can they prove such a big earnings?
Regards,
Andras Nemeth
Hi,
Thank you for your MLM beginner help.
Could you make a list of credible MLM compagies ?
Regards.
Bozon.
@Bozon
I don’t make MLM company recommendations. I only review and analyse them.
Hi Oz,
Have really enjoyed all the Zeek analysis, extremely professional. I too would like you to add a Company to your list which is Visalus as I did not see any in the search bar.
I’ve checked other sites but it’s the usual back and forth screaming matches both on product and business model whereas I would really like an unbiased comp plan/business model analysis.
I am a customer and the product has worked for me so that’s non-issue for me. I’ve looked at the comp plan as much as a non-expert can. I’m seeing both ends of the spectrum in terms of Promoters as it seems with another other NM Co. – the over zealous and then the rational getting on with it types.
I’m investigating becoming a Promoter with them and I’m also looking at one other Company but haven’t looked at that comp plan in-depth yet.
Would appreciate your examination on them or if anyone has and links to proper third party reviews that would be great.
Thanks once again,
Claire
Just a note to say I’ve added all the companies (except Banners Broker and Just Been Paid) requested above to my review list.
The list is long and I can’t make any guarantees as to when I’ll get a review out.
Banners Broker will not be reviewed here because it’s not marketed as a MLM company but rather a pure investment opportunity.
That said, it’s pretty obvious it fits the Ponzi model (buying advertising space for a ROI? Please.)
Just Been Paid appears to be an even more obvious Ponzi scheme (and thus falls outside the scope of BehindMLM).
Wealth4All has already been reviewed.
Just a further note on JustBeenPaid, in the last 24 hours it’s been announced founder Frederick Mann has abandoned the scheme and has gone into hiding.
They’re now trying to reboot the Ponzi (because it collapsed, as all Ponzi schemes do), under the brand “Profit Clicking”. They have a bunch of testimonials up before the scheme has even launched (profitclicking.com)… and of course none of the information links work on their website.
Make of that what you will.
Oz…you might think about a ponzi section…or HYIP, (like you dont have enough to do).
They seem obvious to a lot of people, especially if you read your website regularly, but they take in so many people that dont know any better and its very hard if not impossible to find real objective reviews, until its close to being over.
For example Banners is getting pretty huge, nothing I can find online right now that would covince someone of what it is. Couple mentions, but not enough.
If anybody has any info on it would appreciate knowing.
Thank you Oz, I do really appreciate that you added it (Visalus) to the list and completely understand no time guarantees.
Agree with Erin (like you don’t have enough to do). Much appreciated.
Thank you Oz..
Thank you for all the work you put into this site. It is really appreciated.
I would like to read review about Banners Broker too.
Some people put e.g. $5000 into program like BB and they would like to know if it is any risk for them to keep money inside the system
Banners Broker isn’t a MLM, it’s a straight up investment scheme.
As for risk, you invest and earn a ROI. There’s no other documented form of company revenue other than member investments. You do the math…
But in BB T&C (which are available on the button on their webpage ) in section H is info like that
So, it looks like BB is not an investment or ROI
How a company defines itself in its Terms and Conditions doesn’t define what it actually is, its business model does.
You put money into BB, sit back and earn a guaranteed ROI over time. Mechanically, regardless of the psuedo linguistic compliance they push, it’s an investment opportunity.
Andy Bowdoin said the same thing about his Ad Surf Daily Ponzi: no use of the word interest (use “rebate”), compounding, investment (use “purchase”), shares (use “ad units”). Didn’t help him when SEC came knocking.
Paul Burks said the same thing about Zeek Ponzi. They had affiliates supposedly recite a long disclaimer at each public meeting: not an investment, you buy bids, blah blah blah. Didn’t help him when SEC came knocking.
So lack of those words doesn’t indicate innocence (or guilt). You need to analyze the business model itself.
It has been confirmed that the more members join Banner Broker though an existing person the faster the ROI becomes. Try studying their business plan Or try to get BB pitch from an existing associate.
Just ask him one thing:
“If I introduce someone to Banner Broker will that help get ROI faster?”
ok Thanks for your answers. It may be a ponzi scheme…
I think the best idea is to withdraw money which you put in after some time and for rest you can ,,play” on your own risk…If the company will colapse you do not loose your money.
@Kris
not participate in Ponzi schemes at all. Period.
Hey Oz, can you review Ambit Energy? It’s been big here in New York for quite a while but never really looked into it.
Thanks.
I’ll add them to the list.
Oz,
I friend just lost money in Zeek, now they are looking at an investment called “Profit Sunrise” anywhere I can find out about it?
I’ll add it to the list.
Profit Sunrise? It’s advertised on some former Zeek sites. It’s an HYIP.
http://www.realscam.com/f10/zeek-members-again-targeted-1586/#post28053
Hi Oz,
Just stumbled upon this site and love the candid and honest comments. Thank you for enligthening me!
Are there any legit internet business out there where you can actually make some money without been ripped off or ripping anyone else off and where you’re not embarrassed to say what you do?
I don’t make MLM business recommendations, I only review them.
Oz may please approve my comment on the tvc/mca matrix thread.
(Ozedit: I read “blahblahblah everyone is biased blahblahblah Avon and Mary Kay” in the first paragraph so it was marked as offtopic spam.
Keep the discussion ontopic and don’t open your comment with “So I’m not going to address anyone’s comment specifically, here’s a mountain of offtopic marketing spam instead”.)
This just came over the airwaves:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/918831-an-investor-s-guide-to-identifying-pyramid-schemes?source=feed
This guy is pretty hard on MLM, and FTC for leaving stuff vague.
smartmediatechnologies.com (the virtual office)
smartmediamagazine.com (the executive summary)
gosmartmedia.com (the silent system)
homepagepays.com (the product)
i would love to get your take on this project…these guys seem to have created something very sweet…have you any thoughts
I’ll add Smart Media Technlogies to the review list ray.
hello mr oz!….i wanted to check check check back with you relative to anything that may have come your way on the SmartMediaMagazine.com, GoSmartMedia.com, SmartMediaTechnologies.com and HomePagePays.com program…..
i am hearing and see a lot of activity here in the OC (southern ca) about the project….anything from you?
It’s still on “the list”.
Due to Christmas coming up and a lack of new launches, I’m hoping to get stuck into the list a bit. KB Gold had been on there for over a year and I only got around to reviewing them yesterday!
hey oz can you check out Viridian Energy and north american power
Do you know anything about Vemma Verve?
Hello,
Was out searching for me today, just like any anonymous person would, who may have met me yesterday, and quite possibly wants to call me tomorrow, once they do any due diligence!
Well that might be good for them and good for me, but just because I am in business off-line and on-line does not mean I am required to, or have to help anyone who asks?
Because I am in business for myself means I determine what work I do, for who and for what! The work I do, primarily involves helping or not helping and staying within my boundaries. If I stray outside out of those boundaries, I risk losing everything today and everything before today!
As far as any business, on the Internet, it is similar to 100 glasses of clear liquid sitting on a table in front of you.
Two of those glasses contain tasty and prosperous liquid, eight of those glasses contain tasty and deadly, instant death liquid and the other ninety have some flavor and will cause you to wander around aimless for a bit, but you’ll be okay in a day, week or month after the dizziness wears off!
There is a reason why your site is ranked within the top 100k on the Internet, many reasons in fact!
Anonymity has it’s advantages, just as well as being the front man! Keep up the excellent work!
An unbiased, non-judgmental perspective is not new but rare these days, and is sometimes hard to maintain, just because facts do matter and opinion does matter! Unfortunately many people accept the latter, without little regard to the former!
Keep up the excellent work!
Hi Oz,
Can you please do a review for Banners Broker? It looks dodgy as all hell and I need some concrete evidence to convince a family member not to get sucked in.
Cheers, and love your work!
Thanks for the encouragement Sal and of course thanks for reading!
Banners Broker is an investment scheme, and an obvious Ponzi at that.
You invest money, do nothing and they pay you a >100% ROI once enough new investments have been made. Your actual invested money is of course instantly used to pay out liabilities to previous investors.
They claim to have advertising networks blahblahblah but nobody in the industry has heard of them, and no evidence of any advertising, beyond some shoddily made websites exists. Yet they claim to be doing hundreds of millions of dollars in business each year.
You know the story… if something doesn’t smell right…
As for a formal review due to the workload in covering the MLM industry I try to keep the focus on MLM only (despite the inherent overlap between investment schemes and MLM at times).
Cheers.
Got a note on MLMWatchdog that Bannerbroker’s office in Goa India got raided by local police. Probably just local rep though.
http://www.mlmwatchdog.com/MLM_Watch_list.html
Hey, I was just wondering if you could please do a formal review on the Ecosway business especially so people can have a simplified version chance to understand the ins & outs of the Ecosway business model.
Thanks 😀
Sure Kari I’ll add them to the review list, cheers.
FYI, FTC just nailed FHTM
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2013/01/fhtm.shtm
On it, cheers Kasey.
Great page with great insite.
Saved me the trouble of going through with World Ventures. My friend claims I should join her “business team” and become a partner. The whole thing didn’t seem right.
I searched but didn’t find anything on Primerica. What’s your take on them?
Hey Darren, thanks for reading.
I’ll add Primerica to the review list.
thanks for being objective….love your insight…..Jay
How aboit Juice Plus, they use people to bring people to they website and people buy from your website and you never see the money because they just give to someone in the top! be real
What can I do to help behindMLM ? ? ?
Can I follow your method and help submit reviews/evaluations…?
Thanks for the enthusaism Ben! Unfortunately though BehindMLM is not accepting guest post submissions at this time.
Thanks for the articles and reviews.
I too would like to read your thoughts on Juice Plus as my parents have begun this Network Marketing business and I am curious about joining them. Is there a difference in a Network Marketing business and a MLM? Curious about the distinction.
Moms at work post on February 13, 2013 comment regarding online purchases and pay out is only true if people do not send potential customers to a distributor site which is personalized. My parents’ up line has been training them to process their customer orders personally through their virtual office, maybe to avoid their leads going to corporate or “someone at the top”?
I did a test order on their site and if I backed out of the order to look at the products again and then attempted to proceed with an order, then the order form no longer auto loaded my parents name as my distributor. Rather it had a question about who sent you to the site or who was your distributor…or some such. Maybe not the best method to ensure your customers be credited to you? I have advised my parents to follow the training of processing orders of their customers from their office to get proper credit for their marketing.
Thanks again, look forward to your future assessments.
Learned a new word today: Misprision (of felony)
Any one who knew that they are participating in a felony (such as fraud), then actively attempt to conceal it (such as filing false documents) can be charged with misprision, a Federal crime.
One woman in New York state got nailed for it:
http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/erie/Woman-sentenced-for-Ponzi-scheme
This is off topic … really wish you had a search function for looking up company reviews that are not listed in the navigation column. 🙂
Uh.. there’s a search box on the top right of every page (under the contact button).
There’s nothing between the contact button and the paragraph “About”. I have searched over and over, side to side, up and down on both the Home and About page and there isn’t a search function. Must be my computer.
Definitely a search button there, try another browser.
In IE9, the “Search” field/button is located on the right side
Home, About
“Subscribe”
“Email RSS”
“Contact”
“Search”
“The Latest”, “Your Feedback”
“Most Wanted (30 days)”, “Archives”
“Navigation”
*********
Some additional hints:
“Navigation” is a company list.
Clicking on a company name there will lead to all articles sorted under that company name, a list in reverse chronological order (newest first).
Clicking on a company name under the headline in an article will lead to the same list. Not all companies are organised under separate names.
It seems misprision of a felony is a misdemeanor. Misprision is not the participation in a felony (which would be a felony) but knowing that a felony was taking place and not reporting it to the proper authorities.
It sounds like something that is charged when there is not enough evidence to support a conviction on the underlying felony itself.
Thanks M_Norway, I sent Oz a screenshot of what I see on my screen, and the search function is not there. But I am using Safari as I have a Mac, so I am going to download Chrome and see if that will work. Thanks! 🙂
I had an idea it could possibly be adblock since that affects google, and I was right. When I clicked “do not run on this page” in my adblock dropdown menu, the little google search box popped right up!!
Mystery solved!
re. Categories, I usually create a company specific one if I find myself writing more than a few articles on the one company. There’s no specific threshold, I just play it by ear.
THere’s no search when using Chrome, latest version.
There has to be, I’m using the latest version of Chrome and it’s there…
When it comes to MLM people seem to ignore all good business sense. Why is that ?
If people applied good business sense to MLM they would have a better than average result than that of what we would call normal business. Which by the way has an equally horrendous failure rate.
The problem with MLM is its “person-to-person” nature, which is both a blessing and a curse.
A blessing because it builds lasting relationship between the seller and customer (if you’re indeed selling something). A curse because it also relies on the worse cognitive biases that people have, where mental tricks like compliance and other techniques can be used.
Found the problem. AdBlock somehow killed your search bar along with that banner ad near the top.
And we’re back.
Apologies over the downtime yesterday. Shortly after I published my Rippln article some injected spam code started to interfere with the sites layout (nothing to do with Rippln, just a co-incidence).
I believe the code had been present for a while but was not showing up for me as I am a “logged in” user. Prior to yesterday the code wasn’t affecting the site’s layout, but I believe it would have been impacting search engine rankings (spam is never good).
I spent 11 hours pulling apart the site until I found the offending code, turns out it was injected into the WP theme I use.
Anyway, long story short I cleaned it up and we should be right now. I’ve checked as a logged in and logged out (what you guys see) user and the payday loan spam is gone.
Please let me know if it resurfaces (if you notice it) as it’s not good for the site.
well now that was dramatic 😀
Sort of FYI, I did a guest blog post about “Cognitive Dissonance, Ponzi Schemes, and Reload Scams”:
http://skepticsonthe.net/cognitive-dissonance-ponzi-schemes-and-reload-scams/
Spotted this briefing by Len Clements, a MLM comp specialist, on how to detect MLM Corp Hype:
I’ve been keeping tabs on Clement’s new video series. I don’t know whether or not he shot them all on the same day or not but he’s always wearing the same purple tshirt!
That video was actually good and informative, and most of his videos are. But I also looked at the “Pyramid – Ponzi – Securities – ZeekRewards” videos, and he makes some fundamental flaws from time to time.
He believes in Paul Burks explanation about “50% revenue share”, and that the reinvestments of “Cash available” actually brought in some money. That flaw is FUNDAMENTAL, and makes his conclusions become way off target.
Zeek had $162 million coming IN from new investors in July.
It paid OUT $160 million to old investors in the same month.
In addition, it had both new and old investors reinvesting “Cash available” during that month, monopoly money not counted in the report. He believes the monopoly money actually generated profit.
Zeekler generated a total of $25 million in revenue from the sale of ordinary bids during its lifetime, so it generated probably around $2 million in July 2012 (money coming IN, but not net profit). It generated around 10 billion monopoly money (VIP Points) during the same lifetime, with around 3 billion still in the system when it was shut down.
He kinda made that audio podcast that explained why he wasn’t so sure about “not a Ponzi” when he saw that Burks video where Burks himself admitted the points will grow out of control. I left him a comment or two. 🙂
Hey, have you ever heard of 5linx? Do you plan on reviewing them?
Hey Darren, 5Linx is on my review list. It has been for some time but I’ll get around to it eventually.
Oz thank you for spending so much time reporting & looking at the many MLM companies that are always popping up all over the internet.
I might not agree with all your opinions about all the companies you review (in fact I don’t think I’ve seen one positive review at all on this website) but at least your out there trying to dig up some hard to find info. (like your recent Rippln articles)
Gushing positive reviews can usually be found on affiliate owned websites. They are of little value information wise and usually serve a sole purpose, to get you to join the opportunity (either immediately or by planting the seed).
Critical analysis requires approaching a review from all sides, and more often than not that means bringing any shortcomings in an MLM business opportunity to the forefront.
Looking at analysis as positive and negative is just a cop out people use to dismiss information they don’t agree with or wish was ignored.
A review is supposed to cover all aspects of the company, positive or negative.
Often, the prospective affiliate have NO IDEA what constitute legal or illegal in a scheme. They would have NEVER heard of Koscot Test or Howey Test, much less Webster vs. Omnitrition and how they defined the MLM industry. They somehow believe that an illegal company cannot be formed or be active, FHTM, Equinox, and Bernie Madoff notwithstanding.
And even if a scheme is legal, there are serious questions on whether they can be made profitable for the average affiliate, given the way most MLM companies issue their income disclosure statements, as they never seem to cover “churn”, “expenses”, or “retail profit”. Basically, they claim ‘that’s why the affiliates are independent contractors, we don’t know and we don’t WANT to know’, and we’ll spin the numbers any way we can to make ourselves look better.
Ever notice that MLM income disclosure statements always say “active affiliates”? They don’t count the people who dropped out and quit, which would really brought down their averages. They don’t tell you the churn rate.
They don’t tell you the customer to affiliate ratio either. Herbalife try to fudge this by extrapolating it from a couple surveys when it tried to rebutt Ackman’s charges.
And despite Koscot and Omnitrition cases that states very clearly they can only pay commission on RETAIL sales, not sales to affiliate, most companies pay on sales to affiliate any way. They simply assume that sales were done by the affiliates.
Don’t YOU want to know how the companies manipulate the numbers to make themselves look better?
I’m moving this discussion here because it doesn’t belong in the company review it was originally published in. But I feel still deserves a response.
@Rick Weston
Please don’t project what you believe BehindMLM to be onto myself and expect me to respond. How you see BehindMLM is entirely up to you.
Ditto claiming I’m this or that. Advocate? Please.
People should try to verify everything they read on this site themselves, and if they can’t then at least ask as many questions as possible until they get satisfactory answers.
I’m just a key with a keyboard and a site with open-book due-diligence. Who said anything about journalism?
Do not blindly trust anything you read on BehindMLM! If nothing else, at least stop and have a think about what you’re reading. If it makes sense then great, if not – have a think about why and address those concerns (either via comment here or elsewhere).
Stay on topic. Do not change the subject, do not introduce strawman arguments into the discussion, do not go on tangents and do not crap on about journalistic standards and what you think they should be (at least not in the company reviews), do not crap on about victimised you are, do not crap on about your perception of bias.
In summary, if you want to publish anything that has nothing to do with the review you are responding to (or someone else’s comment), leave it on Facebook.
If you want to challenge any of the information published here that’s fine. Do it without resorting to “you’re all wrong”, “you just don’t get it” or any other such waste of time arguments.
I only have so many hours in the day and I will make the effort to edit out irrelevant parts of comments, but if it keeps happening things start getting sent to the spam bin in their entirety.
This is nothing personal, it’s a blanket (somewhat fluid) policy I’ve adopted over the years. Readability is important to me and those who read the site so if I see clutter it’s gone.
It’s not perfect but overall it’s worked well over the years and I think that’s reflected in how BehindMLM reads.
You jelly?
Hi,
Coming off the wheels of zeek, a new penny auction just came to my attention called “bidder’s Paradise”, with the MLM part called “Better Living Global Marketing”. Based in Honk Kong.
The sites are:
bp8.hk – Bidder’s Paradise.
blgm.hk – Better Living Global Marketing
ember.blgm.hk – member login
Here’s the presentation that was shared to me:
2ndchancebetterliving.com/sheila-video.php
I’d love to read your review about it when you get the chance.
That’s probably the clearest I’ve seen Better Living’s compensation plan. I had numerous requests for this company back in last year when Zeek crashed but everything was in poorly written Chinglish so I passed on it.
I’ll add Better Living to the review list. In the meantime, regardless of where they’re based – if it’s anything like Zeek Rewards (ie. what attracted you to Zeek Rewards as an affiliate is what attracts you to Better Living), run.
Thanks.
Looking forward.
After the whole zeek fiasco when I hear someone say look at this great penny auction MLM…, the person has to shout the rest since I’m already 20 feet away 🙂
I just read your review about World Ventures and am very impressed with how even-handed and analytic you are. I truly appreciate this service!
Just wondering if you have any feedback on Legal Shield.
Hi Oz,
Could you please add Be Motivated Today to your list of opportunities to investigate? I’d really appreciate your view of them.
Keep up the good work!
@Dan
Looks to be non-MLM motivational crap.
RealScam have a detailed thread on it: http://www.realscam.com/f8/anyone-heard-motivated-today-1335/
(I only glanced over it, I kind of stopped reading when I saw “guaranteed passive income blahblahblah”)
Hi Oz,
The person who contacted me about it assures me that it is MLM, has been going since 2009 and is based in South Africa.
Personally, I’m quite into “motivational crap” :-), but definitely not into pyramid schemes! I was just wondering if it was a real business or (yet another!) scam. The thread on Realscam didn’t seem to help.
I don’t know about scam but I know that legit MLM businesses don’t have tacky sales capture pages that tell you nothing about the mechanics of the business.
From the RealScam thread I saw mention of membership levels, indicating that there’s no retail activity within the company. I also didn’t see any mention of multiple levels either when I glossed over it. I read it as a single level affiliate membership scheme.
If your friend can send you compenstaion plan material for the company you can verify this yourself. If none exists well… I probably wouldn’t waste any more of my time with the company.
Then it will probably be OK to join for you. As long as people are interested in the products / services offered it normally works OK.
Bronze $5 per month equals a retail customer level, e.g. customers on autoship.
Silver, Gold and Platinum are primarily about the income opportunity, but they pay very low amounts on the first 6 or 7 levels. Silver payouts can be defended as “minor incentive” rather than as “payment”.
Gold and Platinum starts to look more like a pyramid scheme. They are PRIMARILY about the income opportunity, and they don’t reflect anything other than the right to earn commissions on additional levels.
I have only watched the video presentation, so my “review” has solely been based on their own presentation. And I’m rather critical by nature.
Red flag:
The compensation plan is designed to mislead people / push money upwards in the system. That isn’t a good sign if he’s trying to sell the idea of “Creating Wealth” as a main idea.
It pays out on 9 levels (for Platinum):
1. 20% (directly recruited)
2. 5%
3. 5%
4. 5%
5. 5%
6. 5%
7. 5%
8. 10%
9. 10%
Down to level 6 or 7, it hardly pays anything at all, it will only cover your own monthly fee (plus some peanuts).
Level 8 and 9 makes the potential payouts look more lucrative than they really are. You will need a huge number of people in downline to make any money here.
If I had been interested in “motivational crap”, I would probably have felt comfortable joining this and recommending it to others. But that guy is clearly not the right “Wealth Creation Advisor”.
@Oz
I simply watched the video found on a replicated / personalized website. I can probably find it if you want to write a review.
Thanks for the replies folks. Apparently you can sign up for a 14 day free trial, so I will probably do that and check out if it looks legit from the inside.
DaleFromChelsea was asking about LegalShield. What did he want to know?
Dale was after general feedback. BehindMLM Legal Shield review: https://behindmlm.com/companies/why-did-prepaid-legal-become-legal-shield/
Try to get some details about the compensation plan, in writing rather than as a “presentation”?
The compensation plan presentation is clearly misleading = a new red flag. He says “You don’t need thousands of members in a downline to make money, only 1022 Platinum members to make $7,184 residual income per month”. But that will require 65,534 people in downline (6 levels in addition to the 9 Platinum levels).
The compensation plan seems to cheat people, e.g. you won’t get paid for level 4 and 5 before you have filled them completely and have been upgraded to Gold. Details like that can be rather unmotivating. 🙂
I can probably add something to the existing thread at realscam.com, rather than here in “About BehindMLM”.
I know it is old but Marc Barrett#24’s comment was the funniest ever. Like many years in MLM, fooling people, would give him credibility. It is obvious that that makes him biased.
Discussing with MLM-people gives you a lot of laughter, that’s for sure. At the same time it makes you sick knowing that some people actually listen to them and get convinced to make that $1000 “investment”.
Digging through the archives revealed a familiar name… Chris Molinari… who was probably working at Zeek Rewards at the time as a “trainer”. Hmmm…
And she was complaining about something as usual?
I didn’t actually need to look at it to guess that, but I did it anyway. “Why are you anonymous?”. “People like you will ruin the reputation of the business!”. “Most losers will lose money because they don’t work hard enough, not because there’s something wrong with the business!”. 🙂
So, what’s the MLM company that I can earn a good money ”doing nothing”? I don’t wanna sell products or invite people to join.
In telexfree I just posted ads and earned $100 a week. Is there any MLM company that I can have similar results?
@Yurik
Ultimately your due diligence is up to you. BehindMLM is an information resource, we don’t make tailored specific company recommendations.
Behind Mlm helped me open up my eyes to all the lies and greed involved in most all the mlm scams out there. Now I can see through all the tactics used by promoters to empty your wallet.
How good does it make you feel that you made a sale when in reality you actually are simply participating in a merry go round of pick pockets.
pokerbyproxy.com appears to be the next big scam
Citron Research slams NuSkin again, cites Chinese reports that NuSkin reps are making completely fraudulent claims of curing cancer, dress up as doctor to trick unwary customers, and use cult brainwashing to keep reps in line with false promises of instant riches enough to live in Dubai (UAE).
http://www.citronresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/nus-update-final.pdf
Actually they slammed USANA back in July, also about China.
http://www.citronresearch.com/creating-a-criminal-conspiracy-out-of-your-own-customers/
Got a news lead: Organo Gold rep caught using School District Work Time and Equipment to plan for pushing the stuff to his underlings in the school district. Even the teacher’s union was appalled.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/front-range/fort-collins/school-district-leader-made-plans-for-personal-profit-through-direct-sales-business
That’s one detailed report there. Hats off to them for doing the leg work. Whether it’s Organo Gold or any other MLM income opportunity, abusing an existing employment position to promote another is just not on.
Hi
I want to draw your attestation about a company which is cheating from last 2 years to us. can any body advise us how we can File a case in USA Courts about this. Most of us are from India, Pakistan, Malaysia. Russia etc. Here is the latest link of that. I personally lost around $2000.
avousa-inc.net
@Meera
It’s probably going to cost you a lot more than $2000 to pursue this. And looking at the website the perps are probably based offshore in anycase.
Rule of thumb, if a scheme offers you something like this:
Run.
For grins: How Cult Sales Is Like the Borg:
http://amlmskeptic.blogspot.com/2013/11/17-signs-that-youre-in-sales-cult-or.html
As to filing a case; there is only ONE correct answer. Contact an attorney in the US.
If your group’s losses are in the millions you might find someone who will take you and many others on for a contingency fee.
That being said I am experienced enough to know that if your total losses are modest no one will take you on as a contingency and you will need to pay as you go.
Civil litigation is incredibly expensive. It can take many years,and there is no guarantee of success.
Generally, if an attorney is not willing to take your case on a contingency your case is not worth much and you should just lick your wounds and learn from your experience.
Post the same type of questions on the REALSCAM.COM forum (start a new thread there). You will find many of the same readers there, but that forum is more specialised in how to handle different types of frauds.
It will also be easier for other readers to find your post in a forum than in a blog. It’s also easier to have dialogues in a forum thread than in a blog, e.g. if anyone want to ask questions about some details.
Those readers who are specialised towards “scam investigation” will typically spend more time there than here. We have a slightly different type of audience (or a wider range of them).
PatrickPretty is citing news from South China Sea Post that a mass recruiting pyramid scheme company was closed in hong kong.
The amazing part is this is no less than Interush Hong Kong, a subsidiary of a company Interush, that was sponsor of NASCAR, indy Car, Rolex 24-hour, and so on.
Searching Youtube for Interrush shows that it is a MLM modeled much like Vemma, with left and right leg, 7 sales each side completes a cycle, and so on and so forth. However, all explanations seem to be in Mandarin (possibly recruiting in Taiwan? and China?)
The similarity of this to WCM777 is amazing, and the fact that Interush had been open for many many years already…
What’s even more interesting is There’s NO COMP PLAN on Interush’s website, and in fact, it doesn’t even mention anything about “affiliates” except in that “news alert” that someone created fake Interush websites in China.
I may have to surf the Taiwan and Hong Kong websites to see if I can find a comp plan that can be translated. I suspect the US operation is completely separate from the Asian operations, compartmentalized and all that.
I wonder how many scams they’re going to let go in Hong Kong before they clamp down. Surely the difference in law there between the mainland doesn’t account for the seemingly sporadic but weak regulation of the current proliferation of schemes?
Actually Hong Kong passed the anti-pyramid selling law in 2012, with fines topping out at 1 million HKD and 7 years in jail. The problem is prosecution.
My short post on Interush is up:
http://amlmskeptic.blogspot.com/2013/11/breaking-news-interush-hong-kong-closed.html
Hello,
a friend of mine just offered me to “invest” or whatever it is in that company: MASSIVE AD (www.massivead.com)
I couldn’t find any review in this website and I would like to know your opinion.
Thank you so much!
@mapageKA21
Just had a quick look at their website, looks to be your standard advertising credit based Ponzi scheme.
Ask your friend where Massive Ad’s ROI money comes from.
Massive’s ad says it operates “faster than the speed of light.”
According to the Theory of Relativity and the Standard Model of Particle Physics this is quite impossible.
Therefore, I would be skeptical of anything Massive says.
wow thanks for your quick reply. I’ve already read you opinion and sure I wont put money on it. My friend says the money comes from the company clients ADIDAS, DELL, AUDI, PEPSI… But of course everything is a scam.
A lot of people here in Spain is into it by the way…
Again, thank you!
@map
What tends to happen is they either just upload logos to their site and claim partnership, or reupload Youtube ads of the various companies and flat out lie about it.
There are scams like that popping up all over the internet each day. Some of them can be profitable for a short period of time if you join them early enough and accept joining a scam (e.g. have friends accepting it too).
But the idea itself isn’t very good, i.e. you can’t rely on ideas like that forever. Individuals can have ideas for how to make it work, but most of them are simply fooling themselves.
I spend some time discussing different ideas from other viewpoints than the ones I’m using here, to be able to separate good ideas from bad ones. There’s very few good ideas, most people are simply fooling themselves.
ENRICH OTHER PEOPLE = NOT THE BEST IDEA
If you join Massive Ad, your friend and his upline will make some money, while you POTENTIALLY can make some. A good idea would be to reverse that idea, making them become the potential ones and making you become the one who LEGALLY makes money from them, e.g. by selling something of value to your entire upline.
If you have a good idea like that (and the talents and skills required), then it suddenly can make some sense joining all sorts of opportunities with a minimum investment. It will simply be a method to meet potential customers for a legitimate business.
I’m a sales man. It WOULD have made some sense for me, if I was selling products designed for a market like that, to join the “systems” where my potential customers can be found. People can have individual ideas like that, and then it suddenly can make some sense.
Most people don’t have individual ideas like that. They will adjust themselves to the scams they’re participating in rather than starting with rational ideas. Most of them will enrich other people rather than legally make money themselves.
Multiple updates: Apparently China declared Interush a pyramid selling scheme back in 2012. And Taiwan’s FTC (fair trade commission) fined them 700000 NTD for failing to issue refunds and recruiting minors.
He has no proof. He “assumed”, and by doing so, he’s making and “ass” out of “u” and “me”. 😉 (though in this case, you and him)
Bad economy makes people jump on anything that *sounds* somewhat legitimate… but are not if you choose to analyze it a bit more clearly.
And a million people were “INTO” Zeek Rewards as well, and we all know how well that turned out, don’t we ??
From what we hear in the media, the Spanish economy is currently in real trouble, perfect conditions for fraud and fraudsters to operate.
Could you do a review on Max International? I have looked all over the site here and find only mention in a Ocean Avenue review.
I’ll add them to the review list.
hi oz , can you please give me your opinion on WORLD GLOBAL NETWORK ?
hi oz , can you please give me your opinion on WORLD GLOBAL NETWORK ?
https://behindmlm.com/companies/global-mobile-network-review/
Search bar is on the top right of every page.
Wow, this is new… Apparently SpeakAsia mastermind Manoj Kumar Sharma is terminally ill in Singapore:
http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=5224F51D-B363-09BA-8F8E24AC3B9DF5B0
Anjali tried to leave that link but I just left it in the spambin.
Reads like an AISPA style fluff piece and leaves a huge question of credibility.
Well, it is his story. 🙂 He gets to tell it any way he wants… and we’ll dump a dumpster full of salt on it. 🙂
Manoj Kumar Sharma forgot a few details, e.g. Mister Colibri in Brazil, Sevenrings International, all his failed explanations about survey clients, money laundering.
It didn’t surprise me that he claimed to be in Singapore, but I had expected him to be in India. “Being in hospital” sounded very plausible, much more plausible than “drinking Margueritas in Dubai”. Hospitals are normally well organized and relatively closed societies = high level of privacy and relatively low risk.
That and he can fob off any extradition requests.
Kumar is India’s own “Christopher Skase”.
Minus the Pixie
Hey OZ.
Why do you give companies crap about not listing any info about themselves?
When we do not know who you are?
Seems kinda one sided? Don’t you think?
If you call folks out for anonymity….and you yourself are anonymous.
Kind of conflict of merits. Don’t you think?
I’ve bolded your answer.
The day BehindMLM becomes an MLM business, feel free to hold it to the same standards I review MLM business opportunities with.
For half a decade I’ve managed to keep MLM information at the forefront of BehindMLM and that’s not going to change anytime soon. I’m not the slightest bit interested in personal branding or selling you anything.
The information, discussion and analysis on BehindMLM stands entirely on its own merit.
Here’s one to keep your eye on. With the MLM industry seeing a lot of negative PR lately, it was only a matter of time before a new MLM would use bitcoin to ride the media wave.
This MLM claims to have 55k members already in 3 weeks. The products look silly – you could save hundreds by reading the wiki. I would have hoped for a little more ingenuity if combining bitcoin with an MLM.
bitcoin-economy [dot] com
@Jimmy
I reviewed Bitcoin Economy on the 7th of Jan – https://behindmlm.com/companies/bitcoin-economy-review-bitcoin-made-simple/
It’s a copy of the Empower Network business model, according to one of the members. They sell “unlock income streams” with some training attached.
Can you please look into Organo Gold? Friend is involved, and keeps insisting to join. I feel that it’s a MLM scheme, and have found good, and bad reviews online.
@Rich
https://behindmlm.com/companies/the-organo-gold-review-ganoderma-mushrooms-and-mlm/
Hey Rich Organo Gold is not a scheme.
That what they ALL say, Thomas.
I joined Organo Gold and at first my friends treated it like a ponzi by just focusing in reclutint people, but then all fell apart and we tried the 4 steps system that they show about getting 50 costumer and we all focused in selling the coffee wich is a great product and now everything is working out great. The residual is growing by the month, but it wasn’t as easy as we thought at the beginning.
The review that Oz posted is very accurate and real. Is a great business if you do a good cosumer based network. If you just recruit and forget the product you will only earn a few bucks for a few weeks.
Ackman got a new Herbalife website up, concentrating on Shawn Dahl’s recruiting empire aka “lead generation” which Herbalife tolerated for 10 years until it became too much of a liability last year.
It seems EVERY (or nearly every) successful herbalife rep has some sort of a lead generation scheme.
I’ve increased the font size site-wide by 1px. Let me know if there’s any issues.
Next up I’ll be tackling HTML in comment subscription emails.
Nice.
Good luck!
🙂
Thanks. This weekend should get around to it.
Somebody needs to start an MLM company that sells time. I’d be their number one customer!
Italy issued 500k Euro fine on Asea, Organo Gold, and Vemma for being pyramid trusts?
http://www.helpconsumatori.it/acquisti/vendite-piramidali-antitrust-decide-multe-per-500-mila-euro/79331
Trying to get on top of reviews at the moment, but I’ll add it to the queue for a look later. Thanks for the heads up.
hello, I’d like you check these two companies who are here in massachusetts. the first clickprime8.com (in Portuguese clickprime8team.com) and the other shopgolden.net. they say that all MLM and are registered and legal, with great gains. I want to know your opinion.
@wayne
Thanks for the heads up, I’ve added both companies to the review list.
Interesting news items from Rod Cook MLM Watchdog
1) Ray Liotta, the actor, sued Nerium for using his likeness without his permission and spread lies Liotta using Nerium skin cream to improve his complexion.
http://bft.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/1435530.pdf
2) Richard Bliss Brooke, the MLM guru you don’t hear about, who spend 30 years in MLM and has his own company OxyFresh, had turned the company into direct sales… NO MORE MLM FOR HIM.
http://prosites-watchdog3.homestead.com/MLM_Oxyfresh_Sad.html
Organo Gold rep who was caught using his day job as School Admin time to do his sales plan, was fired earlier this year by school board. Now he’s suing the school board, claiming his termination was “without cause”.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/fired-executive-director-of-human-resources-chuck-dewayne-sues-poudre-school-district
NuSkin announced that it will likely face fines in China for misconduct:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/18/nuskin-china-idUSL2N0MF1X820140318
I saw the Nuskin fine story. Going to see if they get pinged. I think it’ll be fine + business as usual.
Well, until the peons revolt again.
I would like to know your review on 1clickday.com is literally just like Telexfree. Thank you
Reviews will be behind. Covering TelexFree is taking up a significant amount of my time.
I’ve had a Nerium International review sitting at about 80% completion for a week now. Hope to get back on track when the dust settles on TF.
I see, well i want to thank you for taking the time to respond. I followed all the articles in this site about Telexfree since about 6 months. It really gave me the red flag on telexfree. And it helped me know when it was time for me to back out of it.
One of my friends is now shitting his pants. He was reluctant to listen to me and to read the articles. I would appreciate it so much if 1CLICKDAY be in this site just like TF, wcm777 and Zeekler. I am so sure its a Scam and its using the same method as telexfree.
I even think the same people are behind it as TF. But it might just be my mind, thinking and wondering. Again, Thank you so much.
@Carl — one look at the website and I can tell you it’s bull****. It’s basically Ad Surf Daily, where you pay them first, and maybe you can make your money back if you find a lot of other people.
No contact info, domain reg hidden, no company name, this is a very obvious fraud. Besides, the name is not even grammatical. “Social Advertise” is not proper English. It’s either “Socially Advertise” or “Social Advertisement”.
This is a very obvious fraud, perpetrated by a non-native English speaker.
@ K. Chang
Thank you for taking some of your time to adress my request. Im glad a site on the web like this one exist. Again, Thank You.
To anyone interested …
MKM-thewholetruth.com (Lou Abbott’s website) is up for sale, with the whole content of MLM articles, training & education, etc. (I’m not familiar with the content).
The content is “balanced” between pro MLM and anti MLM, i.e. he has generally balanced his use of sources.
Traffic rank is too low to get reliable data about the market, appr. 600,000 (world rank) and 174,000 (US rank). The primary market seems to be the U.S. and Canada (based on the comments I checked). He probably has some visitors coming in from other MLM review sites, e.g. amlmskeptic.
Production of new articles have been low, the newest article I found was from October or November 2013.
Current bid (according to a Troy Dooly video) is $5,500. If I had been interested, I would have offered an IDEA for how to get the site up&go again rather than offer money.
Who are you Oz?
I am really curious about the people behind this blog. Because you use only “oz” I don’t know if you are a men or girl. Because the time I see when you sleep or wake up, I imagine you are in Australia.
You start running this blog in 2009, and aways use the same “style” to write your text. This is good. Because I always try to create new ideas and in the end, don’t continue any project.
So, if you like to share some information, I will be happy (and can send only to my e-mail).
1- Are you boy or girl?
2- How old are you?
3- Where did you live? Is australia your country?
4- What is your job? Or if you are not working, what was your job?
5- Why do you create this site and why are you running it?
6- Did you win, directly or indirectly, some money for this work?
7- What do you want with this blog? You can’t answer things like make the world better, for something I can’t understand, you spend a lot of hours of your live in it, so you
want something!
This is something I don’t understand about peoples that create and spend a lot of hours in free projects. I have seen a lot of people that write open source code. You understand this because he want to improve his ability and knowledge and than win more money in your work.
So if you say you are a journalist or want to be (or was one) I will understand. Or if you want to write a book. Or maybe if you win money by advertising. But you need to win something!!! 🙂
8- How many hour did you spend in this project everyday? More than write the article, you need to search about it, read comments, etc.. It is a lot of time 😀
9- Can you say how much money you win with advertising? Is is more than you pay for make this site online?
10 – Will you answer it with true answer 😀
I am just curious..
I’m just a guy with a keyboard who finds the stories I cover as interesting as our readers. You can’t fake that for half a decade.
Nothing more, nothing less. BehindMLM isn’t about me, and it works because it’s kept that way.
Those of us who have followed Oz since the LLI days know most of the answers and the questions about Oz’s personal life have no bearing on the contents of this blog.
As for not understanding how someone could spend hours on a project and not wanting “something”, can you explain people who play on-line/computer games for hours upon hours?
I, personally, find this site to be excellent in giving one’s brain a good mental workout through research, analyzing and understanding.
As for making money. While I don’t know about this site in particular, I have known other sites that also use the same type of advertising to help offset the costs of running the site (domain, hosting, etc.) and it usually isn’t enough to cover the basic costs.
Everybody has to have a hobby and blogging is cheaper than stamp collecting and more useful and rewarding than catching butterflies
I’ve gotten into genealogy and am part of an on-line genealogy group. While we are all trying to track down our own family lines, we also help out people we don’t even know with theirs.
We don’t make money off of it and it (usually) doesn’t help with our own research, but we find it interesting and will gladly spend our own time on it for nothing in return other than knowing we have helped others.
It’s called “Altruism”
Unfortunately, you won’t find a great deal of it around the HYIP ponzi scene or in pyramid and get-rich-quick schemes or what passes for MLM these days.
In the TF hoopla we forgot all about Zeek. Receiver has May 1st update: determination letters should all go out by end of month, 90% should have already gone out. They will be suing people outside of US for clawbacks VERY SOON.
Expect a 40% distribution by July-ish with money already reclaimed.
Thanks for the update Kasey. I’ll put out a new article on the situation with Zeek tomorrow (along with a recent development in the Dominican Republic).
Now that Telexfree is almost kaput, I have noticed a new company that is also based in Boston that has opened up in the vacinity of the old TF home office.
The company is called Eternyon. They also have am AMerican and a Brazilian running things, which to me is a very funny coincidence. Anyone heard of it?
Since TelexFree filed for bankruptcy I haven’t been able to put out that many reviews (one or two over the last few weeks).
When things settle down I’ll get back into it.
Hi OZ! I was trying to find a review of Zrii in articles that you have wrote, but i din’t find it. Theres a lot of people talking about Zrii and i want to learn from you cause its the only source of information that i trust in. Regards
Zrii the the drink promoted by Deepak Chopra, which means it’s pseudo-scientific woo. Looks like red Kool-aid in a can.
It stuck around because Deepak Chopra himself stuck around, but it’d been made fun of for many many years. Even Penn and Teller made fun of a seller of Zrii on their show Bull****!, the episode specifically on MLMs. Season 8, episode 5, easy money.
It’s on Youtube, so warning: they like to shock people here and there with some naked bodies (not theirs) and they like to make the subject look ridiculous, but everything they say about the subject is true.
I see a lot of promotion going on for a business called ILN Internet Lifestyle Network, another so called blogging platform running on wordpress. Has anyone heard or reviewed it?
It’s on my radar for a review. Will be published eventually.
Merrill Arrested approx 40 mins ago:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/05/09/telexfree-owner-arrested-worcester/EFuEWcbcvBlvQuCrhtUGdP/story.html
Tide –
Now that Telexfree is almost kaput, I have noticed a new company that is also based in Boston that has opened up in the vacinity of the old TF home office.
The company is called Eternyon. They also have am AMerican and a Brazilian running things, which to me is a very funny coincidence. Anyone heard of it?
I heard on a youtube video Carlos Wanzeler is behind it. CEO Carlos Lima and President Waine Howe are straw-men.
I’ve seen a lot of requests lately for Oz to do reviews on other “businesses” from those who have been following TelexFree. One has to wonder if they are wanting those “opportunities” exposed, or are they considering joining them and wanting his opinion?
Both.
The truth is, there are no-good opportunities out there. At least not to strangers. And most people are too gullible to “friends” and “family” who was already recruited by such.
Look up “Double Shah” in India when you have a chance. He was just a school teacher, no financial training. He went to Dubai (UAE) for a couple months, came back, and claimed he can DOUBLE people’s month in a few days.
And people believed him. And it only takes one or two (his old friends) to get the pyramid started.
Many of the new opportunities are just relaunch of older schemes, albeit with some minor changes. Others are “inspired by” older schemes, often by just swapping out one part (usually the product). Yet others are clearly clones of original schemes, and intended as reload scams aimed at the same victim pool.
And you wonder why so many MLM proponents claim that Oz is a MLM-industry-basher… The truth is there are too many scams that parade themselves as MLM, and when the big names are shady as heck (see Herbalife and Vemma) it’s murky waters indeed.
Hello OZ, can you make a review of Emgoldex? is getting promoted in south america and have been suspended in Colombia.
Thanks
The EmGoldex comp plan makes little sense to me.
Here’s an example:
Sound intentionally confusing, which is probably to hide what otherwise appears to be a pay to play investment scheme (alarm bells should start to go off here).
emgoldex.com/gold/faq.php
Oz, some of the Brazilian leaders from Telexfree are promoting something called Geteasy. Do you know anything about it?
Only that it’s on my review list.
Thanks Oz. I appreciate what you do.
Was researching 1ClickDay today (as per review request by Carl Jhonson in comments #241 and #243), when I realised I’ve already reviewed the company.
https://behindmlm.com/companies/1clickday-review-advertising-package-ponzi-scheme/
They seem to have added another level on the upper end of investment ($1400), but otherwise it looks the same.
Sign up and invest in packages. Can’t confirm if Sann Rodrigues is behind the scheme but it wouldn’t surprise me.
I’ve installed a new comment spam plugin. Let me know if there’s any issues (it might have issues with readers who have disabled javascript).
Reading the FTC website revealed two interesting tidbits:
FTC sued payment processor for helping a bogus payday loan scam, they settled for 1 million+ fine/refund
NOLINK://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2014/06/payment-processor-agrees-give-more-1-million-settle-ftc-charges
I don’t know if it’s laws specific to payday loans (it’s prohibited in some US states). Wonder if it can be applied to Ponzi schemes?
In a separate FTC case, another supplement maker got nailed for making bogus claims… “Brainstrong”. Know any other “brain” supplement makers making similar claims? 🙂
NOLINK://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2014/06/supplement-marketers-settle-ftc-charges-brainstrong-adult-memory
I remember reading the payday story when it broke because I saw “payment processor” and immediately thought they’d nabbed i-Payout.
I think NxPay in Zeek might be a test-case if they ever get around to filing anything. i-Payout are also probably done for after the dust settles on the TelexFree case.
Got another supplement company for you: Trivaren
NOLINK://www.trivaren.com/about.aspx
The guy keeps mumbling about Kingdom this and Jesus that, I thought for a moment I was reading about a Phil Ming Xu venture, but apparently not. 🙂
Citron Research hits USANA again, claims most of its growth is from ILLEGAL pyramid selling in China. In response, a shareholder rights group is suing USANA
NOLINK://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140715-911017.html
The latest Citron press release is here:
http://www.citronresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/usna-july-2014-final.pdf
The two articles they link to appear to be identical. Here’s one:
http://news.cb.com.cn/html/company_11_18978_1.html
From what I can make out they are more exposes than anything else. However I do believe that’s how the NuSkin government investigation kicked off.
Although after a paltry amount of money changed hands and NuSkin promised to clean up their act, fat lot of good that did.
We’ll see if a NuSkin investigation results, but it’s starting to look a bit like the Chinese government looking for red-envelope handouts over any serious regulatory action.
Announce investigation into one company, get paid, move onto the next… with little to nothing getting done. Quite obviously there a loophole with Chinese mainland residents registering virtual addresses in Hong Kong, and the MLM companies turning a blind eye.
The article in Chinese says USANA bought a Chinese company “BaoYing” and is conducting sales through that.
NOLINK://www.baoying.com/
Baoying’s company about_us does not mention USANA at all. Only in “mission statement” was USANA mentioned.
According to the Chinese article, USANA bought out the parent company of Baoying (for 62 million?) and when Baoying got direct sales license it became USANA’s backdoor into China even though USANA itself never received any such license, and may even be on the official government blacklist.
The article covered repeated fibs by USANA Chinese affiliates. One apparently embellished USANA founder as “winner of Einstein Award 2007” when no such thing happened. Another referred to “North American Nutritional Supplement Review and Guide” (not exact title) even though the author, according to Wikipedia, is not even a nutritionist.
Ah here we go. That happened in 2010
NOLINK://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9HKRU300.htm
The two links referred to by Citron are identical… they both reposted an article from “China Retail News (Beijing)”.
This book by MacWilliams may be this one:
NOLINK://www.amazon.com/NutriSearch-Comparative-Nutritional-Supplements-Professional/dp/0981284043/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1K1ZNRR9TR9TRAVXY7F4
I’m linking to the English edition. It’s available in Chinese as well.
USANA founder Dr. Wentz did receive some sort of “Albert Einstein Award” in 2007 or so, but it’s awarded by “Global Capital Associates”, and it’s completely unrelated to the “real” Albert Einstein Award handed out by “Institute of Advanced Study” which has prestige equivalent of Nobel Prize.
Don’t believe anyone else ever received this award. It was apparently made up specifically that year for Wentz. USANA Watchdog website believe that USANA may have bought off Global Capital Associates for a PR prize.
Interesting. I was able to find Global Capital Associate’s website… And they have NO ENTRY for Albert Einstein Award for 2007. Huh? And links goes to Internet Archives Wayback Machine instead of their own website? WTH?
According to an anti-USANA website, MacWilliams was on the medical advisory board of USANA, then resigned because it made him look biased. No mention of his wife who may be making 100K as a distributor.
NOLINK://www.mlmpyramid.com/USANA_Comparative_Guide.html
Correction, his book advisors may have spouses making 100K+ in USANA, even though he represented the book as “independent”.
Hey OZ, thanks for all the information in your website, you are doing an excellent job.
Can you review Swissgolden?, is the Emgoldex clone.
Thanks
Added SwissGolden to the review list.
LifeVantage (maker of Protandim, itself full of controversy) seem to be cleaning house in similar manner of Herbalife in that it has severed ties to a “marketing company” owned by one of its own top affiliates. (reported by Rod Cook)
NOLINK://prosites-watchdog3.homestead.com/mlm_lawsuit_Burke_Hedges_LifeVantage_corp.html
Hello OZ, can you make a review of Global Coin Reserve? (www.globalcoinreserve.com) is getting promoted in Spain and I don’t know if is a legit business.
Thank you so much.
According to Rod “MLMWatchdog” Cook, another “gas MLM scam” just surfaced from the carcass of Fuel Freedom Intl.
http://www.mlmwatchdog.com/mlm_gasoline.html
@map
I’ve added Global Coin Reserve to the review list.
YPRPariah blog, a Vemma critic site, has been closed by owner Revanchist, for reasons unknown.
Sounds like a lawsuit or threat of a lawsuit to me…
That’s what happens when you don’t stand up to the scammers.
He recently made comments that he wasn’t going to add to it very much going forward, mostly just approve comments, so he could spend more time on his job, which requires travel. Perhaps he received a threat from Vemma and decided he didn’t have the time and/or money to fight it.
I’ve updated the sidebar to be hopefully more useful. Got rid of the mountain of monthly archives and replaced it with a snapshot of the most recent news and reviews.
“Latest” covers both, but I figured separating them might be more useful than monthly archives.
There’s currently some reviews showing up in the news section but they’ll disappear going forward.
Wondering is there a site whom lists all the top habitual ponzie recruiters?
If not it might be a good thing in order to expose these fraudsters and help bring more awareness to the general public.
Not that I know of. Follow the industry for long enough and familiar faces continue to pop up though.
A guy who calls himself Lazy Man hates MLM. He writes what he thinks are unbiased reviews of many including MonaVie, Herbalife, and Xocai.
One of his favorite targets is Lifevantage. He is committed to bringing the company down. His rhetoric is so venomous he’s inspired others to create website to refute his assertions and criticism.
He recently posted that an unnamed party threatened his life if he didn’t stop posting about the company. He claims to have gotten the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to investigate these death threats.
Have you heard anything about this?
I hadn’t read about it till you mentioned it.
Butthurt affiliates send crap like this to MLM blogs who don’t just republish spammy press-releases on a frequent enough basis.
I’m thinking the affiliate who sent this particular message probably watched one too many Bond movies prior to putting pen to paper.
There’s a lot of fucked up people out there with too much time on their hands. Stay safe.
Washington Post have a good piece on MXI the chocolate people… and how they ruined one couple (who can’t get away from MLMs).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/08/01/sometimes-life-is-like-a-box-of-cacao-products/
I’ve received at least two threats responding to my investigation of Zeek Rewards. They are even posted in a public forum, told me to be careful as someone may pay me a visit for lying about Zeek.
People desperate to hold on to their dreams will do some crazy things.
I have no opinion on LifeVantage, but it’s likely to be woo like the rest of the “Big Placebo” supplement world. It has no effect until proven otherwise.
Ugh MXI. Their poster boy Adam Green is/was heavily engaged in spammy marketing tactics. He had a whole network of websites going full of useless spun content.
Re. the article,
There’s your problem. Comp plan should not permit this, retail needs to exist.
MXI are just as guilty for letting this happen. It’s likely Enrique was able to advance to Platinum without making a single retail sale.
It’s been far too long since I’ve formally contributed here. I’ve been a big fan of your work Oz for a few years now. Ditto of K. Chang.
Unfortunately the death threats seem to come with the territory of debunking MLM scams. I got one when I wrote about MonaVie as well. It’s a side effect of brainwashing people and basing their business on recruiting others.
When someone pulls back the curtain like in the Wizard of Oz, people can see the scam. I’m betting it isn’t easy to recruit people once those people have seen what’s behind the curtain.
The fix is obviously to run a legitimate business in full transparency. Then there wouldn’t need to be people like me and Oz pulling back the curtain and exposing them.
By the way, while on the topic of MXI/Xocai, let’s remember that there were similar death threats against a blogger exposing them in Norway: http://tjomlid.com/2012/06/28/xocai-the-nasty-tale-of-a-norwegian-chocolate-mafia/.
Kind of a sad world where people are so mentally messed up that they’ll threaten to slaughter and entire family for helping consumers making a buying decision about chocolate/fruit juice/green tea pills.
This should be reason enough to declare MLM illegal under a RICO legislation.
Found a bit of old news from an anonymous tipster… Fraudster in Arizona (who’s slimy enough to make his former daughter-in-law his girlfriend) used Xango to hide his ponzi scheme assets. Xango paid 200K to settle the civil lawsuit.
http://www.maricopacountyattorney.org/newsroom/news-releases/2014/2014-07-24-XANGO-LLC-Reaches-Resolution-with-Maricopa-County-Attorney-in-Civil-Complaint-against-Sherman-E-Unkefer-III.html
I’m sure you can dig up more dirt on this guy with Google. 🙂
I’ve gotten a few comments that the Sherman E. Unkefer III is now in Visi:
http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/visi-scam/comment-page-1/#comment-1237475
Not sure what this is, but I’m going to have to stay up and see if it’s MLM related:
Could be MLM related or could be something else.
Stay tuned… announcement will be made 12pm ET, which is roughly an hour from now.
http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2014/10/ftc-chairwoman-edith-ramirez-join-fcc-chairman-tom-wheeler-state
Edit: Wait the FCC are also involved. Probably not MLM related then. Still I’ll watch the press-release just to be sure. Anyone got any ideas?
but , just yesterday ie 7/oct charlie gasprino of fox reported:
foxbusiness.com/industries/2014/10/07/herbalife-execs-all-but-certain-ftc-wont-shut-down-company/
the company can hardly give out such press , if this is ‘event horizon’ .
unbelievable scary shit !
I removed mention of Herbalife. Don’t think it’s them due to the FCC’s involvement. Probably something telecommunications related.
Boo, it’s about AT&T. Unlawful mobile bills.
Ah well.
bill ackman will weep [AGAIN] tonight. poor billyboy.
Just a heads up re. email. Any email sent to me in the last 24 hours or so (either directly or via the contact form) was not delivered.
Had a problem with the server that I’ve only just fixed. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Oz,
I agree with you, there are many deceitful MLM companies and greedy people in the MLM industry, but that do not make the industry as a whole illegitimate or questionable.
It’s that given the nature and structure of the industry, it’s easy for con men to take advantage of individuals who are not willing to be responsible and do their due diligence, but rather be driven by greed.
It’s no different than religion, though religion in and of itself is not bad, but given the nature and structure of it con men/women posing as preachers can take advantage of the masses, but that’s not the fault of religion, it’s the fault of the imposters posing as men/women of God and the gullible individuals who are susceptible to their message failing to study for themselves.
Percentages of those deceived be it by MLM or religion do not make either entity right or wrong, it just speaks to the number that use it inappropriately. There are successful and upright MLM companies and churches, though the percentages are fewer, this speaks to the nature of human beings not industries.
I have been and am presently associated with very successful MLM or Network/Affiliate Marketing companies. If the industry was so bad, I do not believe that Warren Buffet, Robert Kiosaki or Donald Trump would be involved in it with their own companies. It’s a legitimate structure, many well known companies are opening network/affiliate divisions.
Time, space and prudence will not allow me to go into the nuances of this topic, but suffice me to say this, governments do not give a damn about protecting individuals from ponzi schemes or scammers, they’re only concern is getting their portion via taxes, and if the companies structure complicates this, they shut it down.
Hell, government institutes ponzi schemes, the USA Social Security system is a ponzi scheme and anything that would allow people not to need this system will be scrutinized and legislated out of business>
Governments and the wealthy that control them do not want the masses to prosper, it would ruin the infrastructure that allow them to conceal their robbery of the poor. Sadly, there are individuals in our society who think like government or are just deluded and do not want to see others prosper either for whatever reason.
So, I understand you are just reporting on an industry that is riddled with crooks, but the industry itself is not crooked and you’re trying to protect the gullible and unsuspecting, that’s your platform, but there are those who are saying to you, do not paint the industry with a broad brush, shed some light on the companies that are legitimate.
Finally, everyone has an agenda, that’s why some find it difficult to accept your opinion without an identity attached to it, yes the facts of these companies abuses stand on their own, but why are you the knight in shining armor willing to save the masses from their terror, have you been abused by such companies or by yourself failing to fulfill your responsibility in the process, what’s your ulterior motive? Are you just a nice guy, why?
This is just human nature, why is it so important to you to “point out these big bad companies”? You may say your identity is irrelevant, but it’s not, accusations and opinions are directly associated with the character of the individual who present them.
You my friend could be a pathological liar or just a dream stealer, you may hate to see people succeed or you may be presenting solid truth, nevertheless, it’s not going to received well by most coming from an anonymous source, it just seems to lack credibility, like it or not, that’s just how people feel.
Fact, insight into a person speaks volumes on how and why their opinions are formed. As long as you hide behind the shroud of anonymity your opinions will fall upon deaf ears, well, except for those who are jaded by or share your opinions and this is not saying they are right or wrong.
Good Day!
No, it doesn’t. Not sure where you plucked that idea from but uh, good luck with that.
Re. the “agenda” and usual crap, couldn’t care less. I’ve been writing about the MLM industry coming up on five years now. If there’s a secret agenda masterplan, someone better reveal it to me because it’s eluded and probably will continue to elude me.
I encourage everyone to conduct their own due diligence. That’s pretty much what BehindMLM is, only it’s my own efforts.
By all means verify what’s published here yourselves. Everything published in a BehindMLM is based on facts unless otherwise stated – and that’s rare (and usually in the absence of official information provided by the company itself, which is a typical scam red-flag).
The thousands of people who visit BehindMLM daily would disagree with you. Ditto those who’ve invested in or joined shady schemes only to find BehindMLM after the fact.
My track record speaks for itself, and is available on the pages of this blog for anyone to read. If that makes you butthurt, so be it – but don’t try the old “you must hate MLM” copout.
Every day I wakeup and there’s something interesting to cover, people to connect with, comments to moderate, reviews to research. The MLM industry fascinates me.
You try write almost daily on a topic you don’t have a genuine interest in and see how long you last.
Hmmm, you left out that I said “I agree with you” and I posed some questions to you for consideration where people mindset may be, whether 1 or 1,000,000 people visit your site or agree with me proves nothing.
I did not say you “hate” the industry, those are your words, but if the industry has not work for millions that’s sad, but it’s not my overall experience. I have had bad experiences but my success has far outweighed them.
So uh,
Do you run around the internet creating statements you acknowledge are false and then proceed to base entire walloftext discussion points around them? Or was this a once-off?
It wasn’t cited to prove anything to you. It just makes your statement about deaf ears look rather silly.
Ah, well your personal experience means dick. We analyze the industry here, not your bank account.
Telexfree update: (Ozedit: see here – https://behindmlm.com/companies/telexfree/telexfree-trustee-hunting-down-insider-funds/#comment-326718)
Fraudster scammed celebrities of 5 mil, can’t even suicide properly
http://gawker.com/fraudsters-suicide-confession-attempt-goes-even-worse-t-1670769969
Big expose on “Wake Up Now” by “This American Life” of NPR
thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/543/wake-up-now
Lol, WakeUpNow videos/conferences sound utterly ridiculous in audio only.
AFAIK, that’s what most motivational meetings sound like.
FYI, just got a G+ post, that Kevin Grimes has joined KT at Thompson Burton.
You’re talking about the former US soccer player and not the disgraced attorney right?
they seem to be slow adding his name to their website.
Made a short note of it here – https://behindmlm.com/mlm/kevin-grimes-fired-from-rr-law-formerly-grimes-reese/#comment-328873
TelexFree still affecting worldwide economy. 9 bank employees in Ghana at a bank that lost 1.2M GHS (360K USD) providing loans to people joining TelexFree were fired, and now alleged there’s a coverup and they were scapegoats of mismanagement.
NOLINK://www.spyghana.com/opportunity-savings-loans-sacks-9-workers/
I posted a comment / offered some information there, after I had checked a few things first.
He only had one TelexFree related story, so I only offered some sources, “in case any of his readers could be interested”, or “if he knew any TelexFree victims, or knew where to find them online”.
Thanks for the heads up Kasey.
Affinity24, in pre-launch, is being headed up by many of the former Flexkom America scam leaders.
These shysters were promoting and collecting thousands of dollars from people to buy positions even though the Europeans had already shown Flexkom to be a scam.
Do not trust them and Affinity24 with your money. I have started a thread on realscam.com
Many of the Banners Broker scammers moved on to Flexkom – One big happy ponzi family.
Ugh, not another ecommerce company.
I’ve added Affinity24 to the review list, thanks for the heads up.
Re. Affinity24, I began research on them today and realized their compensation plan doesn’t appear to be public.
Doesn’t seem to be going anywhere at the moment.
FYI, MyCoin Bitcoin-related pyramid scheme yielded arrests in Hong Kong. Apparently the perps got away with 8 million, nowhere close to Mt.Gox, but it’s still bad.
But really, “Bitcoin Contracts” that pays 100% return in 4 months? It’s HYIP, pure and simple.
NOLINK://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-scam-mycoin-investigation-yields-multiple-arrests-hong-kong/
Can you check out Jeunesse
Jeunesse are on my review list. It’s a long list though so I can’t say when a review will be written.
Jeunesse is coming in Brazil.
Can you please look into Influencie…Rawlinson Souza and Roger Robles.
They are at the Innovation Hub at the University of Florida and have refused to pay the affiliates the earned incomes as we well as their commissions.
We started off with traditional online advertising through our social networks. Then their website went down for 7 weeks and when it surfaced again it was a totally different setup and they are refusing to pay anyone.
We didn’t have to recruit and now it’s mandatory. They owe us thousands of dollars and refuse to pay. Please…don’t let these guys get away with this. I have screen shots of everything as proof. Thank you.
Hi Cristina, I’ve added Inflencie to the review list. Will probably be some time before a review is written though.
My guess is that the comp plan always relied on recruitment. Without it being mandatory though people weren’t recruiting.
So they eventually ran out of funds and/or stalled and have relaunched with “enhancements” to the comp plan (mandatory recruitment).
As an Influencie affiliate, did you make any retail sales?
German news joins Vemma expose team:
stern.de/tv/sterntv/truegerisches-provisionsversprechen-von-vemma-2186199.html
Oh, here’s a fun bit of news… WorldVentures got banned in Malaysia: did not apply for DirectSales license.
ch.therakyatpost.com/?s=worldventure
Thanks for digging that up.
Gotta love how it was never reported in English…
Argh, should have wrote “did not apply for TOURISM license”.
But really, if WV claims to be direct sales via lotions and t-shirts, it’d be really f***ing hilarious. And the way it flaunts local laws by claiming they are transacting under US authority is… troubling. Don’t know if it’s illegal (probably not), but unethical.
Hi Guys,
Company has Real Product, Real Services. Company has No Business Startup Kit purchase , NO monthly membership Fee.
Customers will use the services and they will get paid for 9 level depth only for UNILEVEL Commissions. One requirement is they have to be ACTIVE.
Active means they are using that services every month for example $100. That monthly spending requirement makes that ILLEGAL?
For example Organo Gold requires 100PV each month to be active to get commissions. So each month you have to drink or sell $120 worth Coffee.
No retail sales? Chain recruitment.
Mandatory autoship = pay to play.
These sales are retail (services) sales . Real service. If they wants that service they order when ever they wants. No monthly mandatory autoship or chain recruitment involved
They are getting commissions from their downlines When they have $100 purchase of services ( means Active)
Thnx
@Looking
Affiliate purchase != retail sale. It has nothing to do with service.
Then that’s chain recruitment. Otherwise known as a pyramid scheme – with no retail activity taking place.
And that’s pay to play, with mandatory autoship.
Any problem any legal issues here thn?
Well pay to play and chain recruitment are legally frowned upon in the US and elsewhere.
Is Nuviza on your radar, Oz? Ted Nuyten conducted an interview with the young CEO recently. It’s a health and wellness company based out of NY, USA.
Added to the review list. Will be some time before one is written (I’m looking to balance traditional reviews with the MLM underbelly better in the second half of 2015).
I want you to please help me review and investigate the activity of this company called Profits25.
Thanks for the heads up Tommy, added to the review list.
How should I email you? Contact us page keep showing “Message suspected as spam. Please try again later or leave a comment on BehindMLM’s “About” page.”
You can try stripping any links in the email (removing http so they aren’t clickable), or leaving the email as a comment here.
I would like to see Plexus Worldwide reviewed. I shared my experience on my blog, but there really needs to be more out there exposing the REAL truth of this company.
Plexus Worldwide was not the first scam I danced with, but it is the last. I hope to see your review in the near future.
Hi Oz, what is ur comments on the Ufun IPO?
My friend still promoting ufun despite the legal action taken by Thailand on them, they even promote the Ufun IPO.
Why they still business as usual since Ufun currently facing the legal action?
There is none.
living a lie. Nobody has been officially paid for ages now.
Oz, I’d like to offer a suggestion you may or may not have thought about…
I believe a lot of your readers would appreciate a link to a “sticky” report on how to recognize the common characteristics of pyramid and ponzi schemes and how to investigate them.
For example, it would include common delay tactics and excuses ponzi operators use to keep participants hooked on the scheme until it collapses or is shut down.
You might add a link/tab to it at the beginning of each of your reviews/exposes.
Thanks for all you and the helpful contributors to this site do to keep us all informed here.
@David Thanks for the suggestion. I do have a theory category but it’s well-neglected.
I’m closing in on getting up to date with the newer opportunities, with the end-goal seeing me publish a mixture of news, reviews of both newer and established opportunities and some broader MLM topics.
This is what I’m working towards at the moment, with a running list of topics and opportunities to cover once I’m up to date.
They are delusional. Daniel Tay is taking their money and “donating” it to Malaysian politician, i.e. Sec of Interior, when he could be paying everybody $$$.
@Oz Thanks again. Looking forward to your updates.
Ok guys, I read a lot of posts from this website and that’s good to be prevented. BUT what businesses DO work and are honest and worth?
Nobody here is going to pitch you, that’s what makes BehindMLM different.
Your own due diligence is ultimately up to you.
Kairos kairosplanet.com
It seems like a new ponzi. Maybe you write an article about that.
According to the Kairos “partnership program”:
Not MLM.
Hello OZ, can you make a review of this company Galaxy-Secret?
I think it’s a big scam and I’d like to know your opinion.
Thank you so much!
No comp plan on the website…
And doesn’t sound like MLM (not enough information on the website to make a conclusive determination).
Edit: Various YT videos show a comp plan, but nothing in English as of the 8th of August. They seem to only be targeting French, Spanish and Russian-speaking markets.
From what I can make it’s 95 EUR to join and then 45 EUR a month – you get paid to recruit new affiliates.
The “events” are online puzzles, offering hundreds of thousands in EUR in prizes (funds are sourced from where???).
Looks pretty suspect to me.
Now they are in a “pre launch” phase until 26th september, when it’s supposed to be the official launch date.
There are two ways to become a member:
As a player (45€/year) you just can play the games (one per month). As an affiliate you can play the games and recruit new affiliate or players. It costs 95€/month.
I don’t have the compensation plan yet, but I will send it to you asap.
95€/year, not month.
I’ve streamlined the sidebar a bit and drawn some attention to search.
Hopefully that cuts down on some of the questions I get about opportunities that have already been covered.
boss, why are you saying ‘looking for another opportunity’
shouldn’t you say ‘looking for another MLM’
because, most of what you cover here, are the underbelly ponzi/pyramid schemes, and why should YOU qualify these as an ‘opportunity’?
I do classify them as opportunities, but not in the sense of recommendations.
I might change it to “company” at some point. Spent enough time on site design today…
I’ll revisit the search banner at some point. Still attached to an uncluttered sidebar so I’ve reverted for now.
Us DOJ. Going after white collar criminals. And corporate offenders nyti.ms/1L31J0b
Yeah, but it’s Wall Street. I suppose they might go after MLM executives…
…but let’s see if they go after bank execs first hey.
Kairos… site kairosplanet.com
Oz, I think it is MLM. They have very vague public description of the compensations for affiliates:
see nolink://kairosplanet.com/files/Kairos-PartnershipAgreement_en.pdf
“Participant is being paid
– for lease of spare computing resources depending on the purchased Package ofKairos Products and actual amount of leased resources.
– Participant receives payment amounting to 15% of the price of a new purchase made with his/her referral code.
– By fulfilling certain marketing plans, a Participant may receive additional payments amounting from 3% to
30% of the price of new purchases.”
I guess, more detailed compensation plan is for registered members only.
Third condition seems to be a ground for some compensation based on “the structure depth”.
I have also some signals from local affiliates from Slovakia and Czech Republic that there are commissions coming from the structure. But the main lure here is “a passive income” coming from the lease of affiliate’s computer resources.
Strange thing is… affiliates have to pay first to lease their computer storage space and bandwidth!
What makes me even more suspicious is their (very likely) virtual office in London. And some (unverified) claims made by affiliates: They claim Kairos is making money on providing services to corporate clients like Bosch, Sony Playstation, Nissan Motors, Hamé etc., but these claims are not proved and partnership with these companies is not announced on Kairos web site.
Moreover, I cannot see much effort of Kairos to target corporations with an offer of their services and products. BTW, Hamé (Czech food producer) denies this partnership.
I think, now you have enough clues to look into this shady business, Oz! 😉
Second condition isn’t MLM and third condition is too vague to assume MLM.
Unless I see a copy of this “additional payment structure” I can’t make a solid call either way. This was the problem I had when others asked me to review Kairos Planet in the past.
Bottom line: If you have to work this hard to work out a basic comp plan, there’s a good chance something shifty is going on.
Yes, you are right Oz.
Second rule is for affiliate marketing and third rule is too vague. I tried to get more detailed info from project participants, but I guess there are not much chances to get it.
Anyway, they act like MLM project participants (the way how they promote this scam… eh, sorry, project).
It seems Kairos is getting popular in Slovakia and Russia.
Update – I found something. Kairos is definitely MLM:
nolink://youtu.be/Kibo5iIXMxs?t=11m42s
They call it MLM (or Network Marketing) in their presentation and comp plan explained later has clear MLM features. Start at 13:30.
Alright, now that’s enough for me to put a review together from. Added Kairos to the review list.
Bitcoin Ponzi operarator pled guilty in Federal Court:
theverge.com/2015/9/21/9367707/bitcoin-ponzi-scheme-operator-pleads-guilty
Must have been single-level, the name doesn’t ring a bell.
Still, this is where these Ponzi points MLM schemes are headed… I’m expecting a complaint filed against them sometime over the next year.
Seems JusticeAlwaysLate has retired, or got hit by a takedown notice too many.
Damn. One of the reasons BehindMLM has no social media presence (the other being time).
Lot of butthurt scammers out there.
Uh, last post on JAL was 16 hrs ago?
Never mind. It’s back. Weird outage this morning.
Aha, he was indeed out for 3 days for posting something sharp about that Buddhist cult in Malaysia
I don’t know where this one belongs …
I didn’t find “Roca Labs, Inc.” or “Roca Labs Nutraceutical USA, Inc.” in any of the articles here, but Kevin Thompson saw it as relevant enough to post a link on his Facebook page.
Roca labs tangled with Tracy coenen of sequence Inc last year and lost. It’s a shady company.
Is there any followup to your April 15th article about WorldVentures operations in Malaysia?
Do you know if they complied with the MoTC and are now licensed?
Thank you!
AFAIK World Ventures are not licensed. They just ignored the Malaysian action.
Noticed this bit about SEC was going after shady “cryptomining” companies such as GAW Miners back in August. They subpoenaed owner’s brother, who basically came, and answered “I don’t know” to everything, and produced none of the documents subpoenaed, and now SEC wants the guy to cough up or go to jail for contempt.
NOLINK://www.coindesk.com/sec-files-suit-against-brother-of-gaw-miners-ceo-amid-investigation/
They basically suspect that GAW Mining is a ponzi scheme, and little to no mining is done.
WV’s posture in every Asian country thus far, including Malaysia, Taiwan, and so on is “we don’t actually sell travel in that country, all transactions are done on the Internet with our US office, thus we don’t need a license.”
If WV has an office in-country, it’s only to pass out brochures and sell some travel related items like sunscreen and those annoying blue cushions. They may even apply for direct sales license if required, but they never bother with travel seller’s permit.
There was a Taiwan travel industry protest recently that wants a crackdown on WV in Taiwan by the authorities.
FYI, half of Vanuatu’s government is going to jail. That may explain why UFUN claimed to have ties there, eh?
boingboing.net/2015/10/22/half-of-vanuatus-government.html
Lol, smooth.
Oz,
If you haven’t already done so, could you add Bemer America for review.
Ex-FlexKom pumpers are involved – Red Flag! The price: $4,000 +
(Ozedit: snip)
@MLM
Uh, this is an MLM opportunity? There’s no mention of one on the Bemer website. The links you provided were product reviews.
There’s mention of becoming a Bemer distributor, but nothing suggesting it’s anything more than a single-level comp plan (non-MLM).
Newsflash from Brazil… one of the prosecutors on the TelexFree case in Bukhari was found dead in her apartment of a gunshot wound.
@Oz
Even though they are going after known MLM types, it does appear their marketing plan is more of an Direct Sales type model, as you indicated.
Thanks for taking the time to check it out.
Feds sue another “Bitcoin Mining Company” for being a Ponzi
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/12/feds-sue-yet-another-cryptocurrency-startup-alleging-19m-ponzi-scheme/
Correction, same one they subpoenaed in August, and I mentioned in October.
there have been a couple of arrests in the Banners Brokers scam which operated out of canada:
ctvnews.ca/canada/canadians-arrested-in-us-93m-pyramid-scheme-1.2693136
Saw that yesterday. BB was HYIP though, hence the lack of coverage here.
Cheers, Oz.
I didn’t find it in the archives, but thought you might want to write a review of top 5Linx distributor Barry Donalson’s video testimony about why he left the company to join Paycation. Quite the revealing testimony he gave.
Hint: Bad comp plan… Downline couldn’t do what he did.
He is one of several top distributors who jumped ship.
Happy and safe holidays to you and yours.
Cheers!
https://youtu.be/sdj09wcyF2I
Read Ted’s coverage on Vemma… Vemma posts 2 million sales despite challenges.
*shakes head sadly*
Once a newsspinner, there’s no going back
TLS team webinar done around the time infinity launched springboard.
tlemontsilver.leadpages.co/ayp-365-infinii-training/
Thought you may find this interesting. Get good at 9 minute mark.
T LeMont Silver is attracted to a very specific type of MLM opportunity.
That he’s on board with Infinii should be cause for concern.
Thank you for this site! I had a certain gut feeling about MLMs, but wasn´t sure about the facts before visiting here.
I have a question: A good friend of mine has been brainwashed into sinking thousands into Onecoin, now wants to sink thousands more and start recruiting heavily. I think he may bankrupt himself and hurt a few others in the process. Any advice?
Ask him what is his “plan B” should this thing fail. Insist that he must have one. You have to prod his self-preservation instincts, rather than attack OneCoin directly.
He’s been brainwashed into believing OneCoin almost like those ISIS suicide bombers believe in ‘the cause’, so a frontal assault with facts won’t work. Peer pressure is the best prevention, but it doesn’t work well once they’re already in.
Ask him how it worked the last time he followed an idea like that? 🙂
The general rule is that you can’t change other people and how they see things. If he already have accepted some ideas then he will only put up resistance against conflicting ideas.
We didn’t change how you saw OneCoin. You were already looking for counter arguments against that opportunity. That’s why you searched on the internet.
OneCoin attracts specific types of people. They join because they’re excited about it themselves, and they believe other people will be just as excited as they are.
They usually “envision” themselves making money. You will only be accused of being a “dream stealer” if you try logical arguments.
hello, i joined btc2x, i invested 0.047 BTC that supposed to get doubled after 100 hrs.
100 hrs is passed and another 48 hrs and i still dont have the 0.094 amount on my wallet. kindly review this scam site. thank you.
@rod
BTC2x is a HYIP (single-level referral commissions). It’s not an MLM opportunity.
Since Bannersbroker has been mentioned, there is a little more information on Patrick pretty’s site. The identity of Chris Smith and a stock photo is interesting.
http://bit.ly/1YF15xY (Shortened link)
K Chang: I pretty much know what his plan B is: Borrowing money from me to save his business. (He has a business of his own which is entirely legit and moderately successful.)
Because he is an experienced entrepreneur, he erroneously believes he also has sound judgement as an investor. He doesn´t realize this is something different.
For example, I do not think he has ever heard of the term “issuer risk”. The first thing an investor with even a little knowledge and experience would have realized is this Rujatova woman is issuer risk on two legs.
M Norway: In all fairness, to my knowledge he has so far never followed an idea that was *that* stupid. 🙂
And you guys *did* change my opinion somewhat: I realized that this is even worse than I thought.
We can discuss it in a OneCoin thread. Example:
behindmlm.com/companies/onecoin/onecoin-change-banks-again-now-using-a-us-bank/
The general rule is that you can’t change how other people see things. They will need to change it themselves, and most people won’t do that.
I can show you examples where people still believe an opportunity wasn’t fraudulent 10 months after it was shut down by SEC — based on ideas that “it paid in time” and “it didn’t feel fraudulent”.
For a bit of amusement: Chinese anti-pyramid-scheme squad surrounded a beach being used to hold a public recruiting event. They surrounded the area with rope and took groups off at a time, rope around their waist almost like kindergarten kids being lead off.
Over 300 were taken in. Individuals are required to register to be released and required to take deprogramming class, and core members are taken in for further questioning.
NOLINK://xw.qq.com/a/NEW/20151225053868/NEW2015122505386802
This is the text that accompanied the pictures
NOLINK://bbs.tianya.cn/post-funinfo-6789157-1.shtml
In psychology terms, this is known as self-bias (my estimate of my own ability is higher than it actually is), and “domain transfer” (I think my ability in one area can apply to a different area).
So he thinks that he “can’t lose” with OneCoin? That he never considered the possibility that losing that much would not only cause him to lose money, but much face as well? *sigh*
@K Chang
I invited Carneades over to a OneCoin thread. Post #94.
behindmlm.com/companies/onecoin/onecoin-change-banks-again-now-using-a-us-bank/#comment-352757
Dear Admin,
please contact me on my email. Tried to mail you from ‘contact’ page, but was not possible.
The contact form is working, because I’m still getting emails through it.
Only spam is blocked, and I’m not interested in receiving spam (or contacting you to receive it).
OZ, I am trying to send you a private message but it says it is suspected of being spam…..
Remove http from links and make sure it doesn’t read like advertising.
I dont have any links and it still rejected 🙁
I have a request is all, but it has to be for your eyes only.
I just need a post edited is all 🙂
I sent an email to your comment email. I’ll let you know why it was blocked.
Why no search feature in your reviews? I’d like to find info on a particular company, and can’t find any way to do so simply…
Upper right corner. If you use Adblocker you can’t see it.
Not quite MLM, but Scam related… 73-yr old John Beck vanished on day he’s due in court facing a 113 million judgment from FTC for scamming people into paying for his courses and coaching on buying government tax lien sale properties for pennies on the dollar.
In reality, such properties are only sold to pre-vetted institutions and investors. FTC sued him in 2009 and won in 2012. He had managed to delay paying till now.
sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Missing-Alameda-man-owes-113-million-in-federal-6828027.php
please. see univerteam is it ponzi?
It’s a MultiClick reload scam, of course it’s a Ponzi scheme.
https://behindmlm.com/companies/univerteam-compensation-plan-v2-0-review/
(search bar is on the top right of every page)
Oz, can you check out “Open Jacket Network”? It’s all over YouTube.
Open Jacket isn’t all that new
You join for free and they will want you and people you recruit to upgrade soon after you join.
Making you feel like you will be losing income if you don’t as those that do upgrade if you do not – that income goes to your upline.
You do get to use the system for free to promote your program of choice in the system to your direct downline.
This is just a feeder for “the lead system network”.
In the end you will be contacted by phone by the owner so you feel great about upgrading or using their other services they have.
Using it as your business leads and income source.
The name rings a bell. If it’s just a feeder program then that’s why I didn’t review it at the time.
What about the world global network and fabio galdi ? The mcell 5G ??
See here – https://behindmlm.com/companies/global-mobile-network-review/
Oz there’s been a lengthy report submitted on My Advertising Pays in Businessforhome.org. 3/2016.
No linkbusinessforhome.org/2016/03/my-advertising-pays-maps-review/
It’s a “To set the record straight once and for all on MAP” article.
It addresses concerns of skeptics, doubters, and naysayers.
Would like to have you share your thoughts on it.
Cheers!
Oh for fucks sake Ted, stop accepting money from Ponzi scam artists.
You invest $49.99 into MAPS on the promise of a $60 ROI, paid out of subsequently invested funds. That’s it, that’s all they do.
The whole “review” is written on the premise of people not understanding MAPs business model, which is a load of shit.
Quite interestingly, I noticed no comparisons were made to similar ponzis which have been shut down by the feds.
The information that you do publish is not always correct. The article and info on our company EVO MEDIA is NOT-CORRECT.
I would welcome you to call me and do an Interview with me. That would be worth your time and all interested parties and MLMers.
Thanks in Advance
MIKE HAGEN
Evo Media Group
Seeing as the review is based on information provided on your website, how is the review “not correct” Mike?
Why? Is the information on the EVO Media Group website incorrect?
Oh, great, here comes the “OMG why did you give us a negative review without talking to us” complaints.
FYI, Mr. Hagen… Oz researches your company as someone starting from scratch. Not like a certain “advocate” who values his “insider access”.
If you have information for the public, put it out in the public. All this “talk to me if you want the ‘real info'” is just marketing word soup. We frequent visitors are immune to that sort of talk by now.
The only thing many of us would be interested in knowing is if your boxes are pretty much the same as the ones sold on Amazon.com for 80-90% less than what your distributors sell them for.
In the name of ‘transparency’, What could possibly be wrong with Oz’s review that the independent researcher might not understand?
Can you, Mr. Hagen, set the record straight here in public thereby saving many people a little research time?
Oz, looks like you may have ruffled a few feathers over at businessforhome.org.
Its a shame he’s not allowing comments as he may be well aware a multitude of folks from around the world will defend your blog and appreciate the unbiased reviews you provide.
Maybe its just me, but it’s nice to be able to read the pros and cons of the “amazing” opportunities out there today, and not just the glowing reviews and testimonies of companies and products.
The entire MLM industry has been irked at Oz for YEARS, because it had so much underbelly to expose.
It doesn’t help when Ted there ignored Zeek scam, but instead did a indepth interview and profile on Dawn and let the Zeekheads stuff the ballots and voted her CEO of the Year. Imagine the eggs on his face when Zeek got nailed by the Feds.
But there are rumors that the interview and such are actually paid (by Zeek) fluff pieces, much like our friendly MLM Advocate admit he was PAID by Zeek to denigrate / minimize the “negative news” about it.
We suspected and later confirmed that Keith Laggos’s magazine was paid a hefty sum (and Laggo got positions in Zeek) for his glowing coverage of Zeek. Given the way MLM industry works, it’s almost certain that BFH got a similar deal for European coverage. But he’s not in the US.
So what’s the best way to distract the sheeple? “Hey puppies!” or in this case “Hey, haterz!”
It wasn’t the first time people decided to randomly name people claiming they’re their nameless nemesis either. Back when I was busting TVI Express scam I got a couple idiots thinking I’m one of the critics from India (TVI Express started in India by an Indian dude Tarun Trikha) and threaten to visit me in a certain village and put some Indian instrument up my backend if I don’t shut up. I just chuckled.
Nuyten initially did allow comments but then, like on the OneCoin paid advertorials he publishes, he disabled them.
He also shared the post on his personal Facebook page. But then when a multitude of people demanded evidence and called him out, removed the article.
I could go into the history of how this all started up, it’s a bit sad and a bit comical… but BehindMLM’s never been about me. Time management is pretty critical for me and I’d rather be putting together the best possible MLM related content for my readers I can.
BusinessForHome used to be about MLM, now it’s just Nuyten chasing a dollar. He’ll promote anything if the price is right.
I sort of view where BFH and Nuyten are at now as pre-Zeek Rewards shutdown Troy Dooly. To his credit, Dooly had the professionalism to not let criticism of his promotion of Ponzi schemes for money get personal.
If you look at some of the rhetoric Nuyten has published, it’s the same claims we’ve seen from Ponzi proponents for years.
In effect, Nuyten has gone full Ponzi. Never go full Ponzi.
Edit: Oh I see there’s a new article up now. Ah well, Nuyten’s obviously got nothing better to do. I suppose if all you’re doing is republishing press-releases verbatim these days then that comes with the territory.
The research behind the post is certainly amusing. Concrete stuff. Irony aside, I don’t think Nuyten quite understands what a blogroll is.
It’s almost as if who puts together BehindMLM matters to Ted. The information published here does and always has stood on its own.
For what it’s worth, OSB has been in maintenance mode for a year or so now. Anyway, the cat and mouse game invites a process of elimination – which I’m not interested in getting into.
yeah, if this is the level of research ted nuyten puts behind his other ‘articles’, his paying reading public should seriously reconsider relying on ted for any expert advice on MLM. bah.
meanwhile ken labine, the onecoin ponzi pusher from canada, is simply ecstatic with ted nuytens ‘expose’. here’s hoping he doesn’t keel over with excitement [and/or a coronary].
calm down labine, you have be around to show us the 500,000 onecoin accepting merchants who are going to pop up out of the blue in april 2016. stay calm, stay alive.
Alerta: Paydiamond promete ganhos superiores a 100% (PT-PT)
deco.proteste.pt/investe/alerta-paydiamond-promete-ganhos-superiores-a-100-s5113714.htm
PayDiamond é uma FRAUDE – Golpe dos Diamantes (PT-PT)
fraude.pt/paydiamond-fraude-golpe-diamantes/
tenhodividas.com/?s=paydiamond&submit=Procurar
PayDiamond seem to solely target Brazilian and Spanish communities.
No English compensation plan on their website.
Business Plan. Presentation in English:
paydiamond.com/novo/files/APN_PAYDIAMOND_20_01_16B_INGLES.pps
paydiamond.com/novo/downloads
Looks pretty Ponzi to me. Leave it with me, I’ll have a review up soon.
Knowledge of E-dinar? (I could not find an article)
facebook.com/E-Dinar-Cryptocurrency-Investments-1513850958927729/timeline?ref=page_internal
On it, thanks for the heads up.
US Pro Wrestler Jeff Jarrett apparently has hooked up with KaratBars and the wrestling fandom is in an uproar.
NOLINK://www.sescoops.com/jeff-jarrett-using-global-force-brand-to-try-to-sell-gold-to-fans/
Onecoin in Austria is crumbling…
I tried to leave a message through your contact, but it didn’t work.
I found this browsing the internet:
The Chamber of Labour (Das Arbeitskammer) warned on the 11th of April on their news website about Onecoin.
translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=da&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kleinezeitung.at%2Fk%2Fwirtschaft%2F4964708%2FArbeiterkammer_PseudoWaehrung-Onecoin_Warnung-vor-SchneeballSystem&edit-text=&act=url
But they did already warned about this a year ago on the 11th April 2016
The Austrian Onecoin website onecoin-austria.at/ as been down since the 10th of April.
The Austrian Radio (Der Österreichische Rundfunk) ORF’s biggest local radiostation also published above findings, where also a local bitcoin-dealer states his judgement on onecoin.
translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=da&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsteiermark.orf.at%2Fnews%2Fstories%2F2767892%2F&edit-text=&act=url
Keep up the good work!
@Kasey
Thanks for the tipoff. Some wrestler dude investing in Karatbars though, don’t think there’s much of a story though.
Thanks for the support, see here – https://behindmlm.com/companies/onecoin/onecoin-warning-issued-by-austrian-consumer-protection/
Onecoin articel in the swedish Wasabladet. Interesting that the investor is not able to change password to his account, – only his upline can….
i.imgur.com/T1rb8ZY.jpg
online.vasabladet.fi/Artikel/Visa/99154?shareID=158079-caa1520ddf
It’d be nice to say I’m surprised more people aren’t complaining about the withdrawal problems (requests to convert OneCoin Ponzi points into cash), however such is the nature of the scheme that most continue to invest and hold.
Dollar for dollar it’s mathematically impossible for each OneCoin to be converted into cash, so the whole points system is built on nothing.
Shame the poor guy in Finland just realized that.
Mike & Sahi Hernandez Paydiamond (USA)
facebook.com/adriano.mendesdiamondvalle/videos/1712165185689724/
Huh?
Mike e Sahi Hernandez (Monavie Black Diamond, Mommy´s Club and Módere) announced in the video that are now part of Paydiamond.
Hi all,
Completely new to the idea of MLM and stumbled across this website purely by accident. Have spent the last 2 hours reading through it and have had my knowledge vastly expanded – Oz, thank you for your immense contribution to the unknowledgeable such as my self.
Now, at the risk of sounding like a complete tool, are there any MLM companies that aren’t scams and could be successfully operated by a pleb such as myself?
So long as you keep retail front and center, sure. We don’t give out personal MLM opportunity recommendations here though.
Breaking news: Phil Ming Xu may have been arrested in China. It is clear that China had smashed a 2nd run of his scam which only died in the US. It’s is unclear if he was caught, but there are good indications that he was indeed. Call it “unconfirmed”.
patrickpretty.com/2016/05/16/developing-story-ming-xu-wcm777-may-arrest-china
Gotta love Patrick Pretty, he casts his net far and wide.
How’s that Nexxus University review coming along? 🙂
On list. Will come up eventually.
It’s been a big month for news and new launches, so the established company list will be neglected for a bit.
QNET arrests in India
NOLINK://www.mid-day.com/articles/mumbai-crime-3-held-for-selling-banned-qnet-schemes/17285157
I’ve got to get around to reviewing Qnet. Seen a few arrests in India over it.
Hey, Do you have anything about wealth generators company? link me. Your blog has million posts.
Search bar is on the top right of every page.
Can’t see it? Disable any adblockers you’re running.
Working thanks.
Do you have any info on lifetreeworld?
Thanks
Never heard of it.
I don’t know if you’ve come across Powerhashing dot com yet Oz, another MLM Bitcoin mining fantasy, this time out of India.
I’ll be nailing together a post on BCT soon about them, as I did recently for the Indian/Singaporean Gainbitcoin. If you want to have a look that’s here:
bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1440600.0
Been a busy time in Bitcoinland, the HashOcean ponzi and some satellites just crashed and burned (blaming hackers lol) taking millions.
Will people never learn?
Do you have anything regarding any of these:
(Ozedit: Search bar is on the top right of every page)
@tmfp
Power Hashing doesn’t seem to be MLM.
If you sign up with a throwaway at the “Start Mining Today” button you get directed to a Youtube vid youtu.be/17HJcu64K7U of the unilevel compensation plan, with a “Hashing Bucket” bonus nailed on the top of it.
And the guy who made/presents that vid Kartike Kanwar, has got scam MLM form as long as a long thing,i.e. Quanta and Empower.
Thanks for that tmfp. Nothing screams legitimacy more than a robot-voice YT video.
Hi friend a lot great information here on your site,I can see and understand that there are lot un etical companies out there as well as a lot scams as well BUT,what I would like to know is this have you ever featured any mlm company that did pass your test,another word is there any mlm company that you have given clean bill,one that is not either pyramid or a scam?Since I am interested in Network marketing program,I would like to see review of a couple of mlm companies who are in your review clear of any ilegalities,pyramid or scam scheme.I hope that there got to be a few such companies out there.Look forward to hear from you,thanks
Hi ivan
I’m sure Oz will answer for himself, but my personal take on MLM is that it is a very expensive overhead for a legitimate product to bear, and in these days of Internet direct contact a completely unnecessary one.
If your mindset accepts “networking” for its own sake, then I guess there is money to be made, although only for a very few and then in nothing like the amounts they love to brag about.
Hello, what you think of MyG21?
Can’t see a comp plan on their website. Sure it’s MLM?
Hi, do you have anything on RedeX? redex.red
Pretty much anything Russian + bitcoin = scam.
That said there’s no comp plan on that website, other than:
Smells like Ponzi to me.
MyG21 is a social shopping.
Marketing plan:
partners.myg21.com/export/sites/default/g21/downloads/piano-guadagni-EN.pdf
Thanks for that, I’ll add MyG21 to the review list.
Another coin has popped up, this time HabCoin.com from Italy. Anyone anything about it?
Complete joke.
Hello,
I have some questions about compensation plans and their legitimacy.
In a compensation plan, does the number of levels determinate if it’s a pyramid scheme or can it have as much levels as the CEO wants?
For exemple, a compensation plan of eleven positions is illegal or legal?
And last question, if you are paid for your downline’s work on how many levels is it still legal? 1? 2?
Thank you for your answers and for your awesome work.
Best regards, Thea
No, it’s whether or not you are getting paid to recruit affiliates (irrespective of whether products are attached to the recruitment or not).
Some recruitment is ok to build a downline but if that’s all you’re pretty much doing (and those you recruit are doing), you’re in a pyramid scheme.
OZ thanks for your quick answer.
For me everything is clear now. If anyone is paid on recruitement, it’s clearly a pyramid scheme irrespective to how many levels is in the compensation plan.
But obviously, a website called “mlm-thetruth.com” doesn’t agree with your definition: http://mlm-thetruth.com/5-stepdo-it-yourselfevaluation/step5-too-many-levels/
For them, too many levels is a red flag for a product-based pyramid scheme.
I don’t know their legitimacy or if they are affiliated to somebody since i’m new in this mlm thing.
So are they wrong about this red flag?
I really appreciate all your hard work.
The actual levels has nothing to do with whether the comp plan indicates a pyramid scheme or not. The actual definition of pyramid scheme specifies nothing about levels (see FTC vs. Koscot decision), i.e. “Koscot Test”. At best, the number of levels is a SECONDARY sign.
I know MLM-thetruth website. It’s run by Dr. Jon M. Taylor who was previously a victim of MLM. He and Robert Fitzpatrick had been at this for a long time, longer than even Oz, but I don’t agree with everything he wrote.
Kacey, thanks for your quick answer!
I just want you to know that i’m a big fan of your blog!
All these informations are going to help me a lot to warn my family from these scammers. So thank you really much.
More about Jeunesse pyramid:
in Usa:
truthinadvertising.org/jeunesse-top-distributors-face-pyramid-scheme-racketeering-allegations/
In peru:
sbs.gob.pe/principal/noticias/noticia/esquemas-de-captacion-de-dinero-no-autorizados/221
Thanks for the heads up Conan!
Hey OZ can you check out my24hourincome.com… Drew Burton is the owner who was heavily involved with Zukul earlier this year (since left and disowned them).
It is an ad credit ponzi by all accounts but looks like he is getting into affiliate/mlm territory to try and create external income. Cheers.
Not MLM.
Dear Sir, i am missing a search tool at your website…
Search bar is on top right. Any adblocker plugin will disable it.
Dear Lady & Gentleman,
Now UFUN case is going on court procedure and on Trial, on October 2016 the court had set the date for trial as the following 10,11,12,13,14,25,26,27, and 28, the trial took place at Court Room Number 701 Floor 7 at Criminal Court (ศาลอาญา รัชดา) If any one wished to know THE FACTS you can find out over there.
If you knew the FACTS you will got the NIGHTMARE DREAM!!!
Lawyer Sirichai (phone number removed)
เรียน ท่านสุภาพสตรีและท่านสุภาพบุรุษ,
ขณะนี้คดี ยูฟัน กำลังอยู่ในระหว่างดำเนินกระบวนพิจารณาคดี ในเดือนพฤศจิกายน 2559 ศาลอาญา ได้กำหนดวันนัดพิจารณาคดีไว้ตามวันดังต่อไปนี้ 10,11,12,13,14,25,26,27, และ 28 ตุลาคม 2559 ที่ห้องพิจารณาคดีที่ 701 ชั้น 7 ของศาลอาญา รัชดา ซึ่งหากท่านใดต้องการทราบความจริงในคดีนี้ ท่านจะต้องไปฟังการพิจารณาคดี ณ สถานที่ที่กล่าวมาตามวันเวลาดังกล่าวมาข้างต้นนี้ หากท่านได้ทราบความจริงแล้ว ท่านอาจจะต้องนอนฝันร้าย!!!
ทนายศิริชัย (phone number removed)
Thanks for the update Sirichai, was wondering what was going on seeing as the initial uFun Club arrests were so long ago.
Will keep an eye out for updates.
howdy Admin, i need ur advice on adpackpro products by onevision-holding.com
is it safe to join in them?
Thx so much & good day.
That OneVision website is a mess. Can’t see an MLM opportunity anywhere.
Ok then so better leave it right. Thx for kind advice Oz. good day 🙂
Btw in ur opinion, how long is the average lifetime of such AdvRev business? I mean if we dare to enter their game + making profit, of course without recruitng people.
Thx again Oz
There is no average. A Ponzi scheme collapses once affiliate recruitment dries up.
Thank You for your job to uncover the lies scammers like OneCoin or DasCoin.
There is no profit without other people joining. No matter what you do, if you got money out of it, it was someone else’s money. Not having personally recruited victims just makes you sleep a little easier at night.
Such adpack ponzis can collapse within a month of launch, or in case of MAPS and Traffic Monsoon, run for years. Trying to time such for your own exit is pointless. You don’t have enough information to make an informed decision. You’re playing someone else’s game, no matter how “trustworthy” they portrayed themselves to be.
Ponzis are not games, they steal money from people and are illegal. Anyone who enters would be participating in that crime and should be punished and/or fined.
is lifestyle galaxy – bitcoin a scam?
thank you
Website just has some marketing courses. A recruitment event was held back in September with the following spiel:
1. There’s nothing about this on the Lifestyle Galaxy website, which means they’re hiding it.
2. It’s obviously a security, and I’d be willing to bet the “reputable company in the United States” is not registered with the SEC.
Is there a Wor(l)d Global Network review coming soon?
Already published – https://behindmlm.com/companies/global-mobile-network-review/
They’ve changed the attached product but as far as I know the comp plan is still the same.
US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted class action status to RICO Suit against Stream/Ignite.
(Ozedit: covered here – https://behindmlm.com/companies/class-certification-in-texas-stream-pyramid-lawsuit-upheld/)
This has the potential of being bigger case than herbalife, because RICO, i.e. racketeering if applied to MLM, is going to fundamentally change the industry.
Already covered. Will give you some time to see this then delete.
Any info on recyclix?
Reviewed back in Feb, search bar is on the top right of every page.
Hi Admin,
have you reviewed pays4ever?
can you give me link? how to search?
If not already reviewed can you review it?
regards, sunil
Reviewed back in August. Search bar is on the top right of every page.
I have yet to see you assess any MLM that fits these criteria which I am quoting from you on your website:
Have I missed any and if so could you point them out? Otherwise isn’t it true then that you are opposed to any and all MLM plans as being untenable and unsustainable or simply unethical?
Wouldn’t it be easier to simply point out the flaws in the MLM model in general and be done with it?
Eagerly I await your reply to know which, if any, MLM passes muster in your opinion.
Sincerely
Raan
I don’t make personal MLM recommendations. If you’re finding the companies you’re looking up are scams, stop looking up scams.
And that quote isn’t from BehindMLM, it’s a quote off the AllInOneProfits website. If you’re interested in cash gifting schemes that explains why you’re running into problems.
I am NOT interested in Cash Gifting schemes and to insinuate that I am, shows the calibre of your reasoning and critical skills.
I did not ask you to recommend any company either. You critique pretty much every Multi Level Marketing plan out there, and the ones to you don;t are in most cases arguably identical to ones you do, and all of them you decide are pyramid schemes.
Your view is obviously and evidently biased against the MLM business and should be discounted as such, and definitely not a reliable resource for assessing any such opportunity at all.
Again, would it not be easier (and more forthright and honest) to simply point out the flaws (as you see them) in the MLM business model in general and be done with it?
Seriously anyone can knock anything down with a negative bias but that is not criticism. It’s just prejudice.
I will not longer be looking to this site as a source for any kind of reliable balanced objective assessment of anything at all. And your insulting smug condescending attitude only reaffirms it.
One day you will cross the line if you have not already and be facing libel and defamation charges. I look forward to that though I imagine no one of importance in the industry cares at all what you think. Good day.
Raan, rather full of yourself?
Oz does an excellent job of highlighting what is wrong with schemes.
It is not in his remit to explain, which ones are good, that is for you to do your own due diligence.
I use this website as a reference point when something turns up in one of my many Facebook groups, and have saved lots of people from losing money.
In addition, I find Oz spots things I do not and that is reassuring.
Two new ones have turned up recently in my groups, and once I have more information, I will share with Oz and encourage him to do an investigation.
Finally, MLM is not flawed, but often people running them have a different agenda to the rest of us, plus there are schemes hidden behind auto-ship, which are just Pyramids dressed up as MLM.
So why were you looking at a review for one?
This is false.
Understandable. It’s far easier to scam people using only confirmation bias riddled sources like Facebook.
The truth of what you’re doing to people weighs on one’s conscience.
Raan Joseph…
Considering your very public “like” for thepiratebay.se in 2014 and your promotion of Wazzub, that sounds fishy to me.
There are already websites that address the MLM business model. Two notable ones that go into great detail are:
Pyramidschemealert.org
financialindustryscam.com/mlm.htm
IMO, Oz reporting on individual MLMs is a complement to the big picture. Many people aren’t able to recognize that a MLM by any other name is just that – an MLM. They will mistakenly only search for the name of the company. Enter Behindmlm.
Isn’t that what you are doing now?
Surely you have not read all the reviews on this site to come to that conclusion.
Hi,
love reading your reviews .As I am new to mlm I have found your articles and replies a great source of information.
I am a novice at trying to find the right mlm to join and to be honest its made me want to dig deeper into what companies are offering, which is obviously a good thing.
Thanks for the support John!
Well I read through these reply Oz. I’m new to your sight so I’m feeling things out, get a better understanding, etc. My feeling on your sight? I’m a guest here, so I obey by the house rules, like any guest if I don’t like, it’s up to me pack my bags and get a hotel. 😉 Tony
I like to think I run a pretty fair ship. 500 comments or so off 100,000 comments site wide so there’s plenty of discussion going on.
We deal with a lot of scammers and spammers though so they’re always going to whinge about being hard done by.
One day I’ll have time to put up a FAQ (incl comments).
Oz. So far I like what I see, you seem to present the issues and facts! Tony
I find this interesting – The comments below seem to contradict the nature of your own recommendations. I have read on many of your articles:
Who is to say you aren’t someone for hire to target MLM companies that you or someone else takes issue with?
I do appreciate someone is out there trying to help people with information regarding MLM companies however it seems like you don’t comply to your own standards.
While no one here is directly giving you money, I have seen comments where you tell people to stop the ad blocker they have. Having ads tied to the search bar to generate revenue is basically people giving you money because of their traffic.
Again – it seems unfair to be “analysing” other companies without offering yourself the same opportunity to your readers.
My standards for reviewing MLM companies apply to MLM companies.
Neither myself or BehindMLM are an MLM company.
The only time I’ll ever mention this is if someone asks why I don’t have a search bar. It’s got nothing to do with revenue, readers can’t see the search bar if they have an AdBlocker on.
Hi Oz, your contact form is blocking me as spam, just wanted to let you know about this: ethanvanderbuilt.com/2017/05/08/paypal-sued-for-role-in-traffic-monsoon-scam/
Thanks for that. Not sure if it’s wort covering though.
Pretty sure the SEC will move to stay the litigation if it goes anywhere (that’s what they did in Zeek/TF).
Yep.
May I ask what uncompensated work you do for a living?
SD
Oz’s body of work, going back 8 years, speaks for itself. Some companies have 200+ articles. This is much different than some random Yelp review or post on realscam.com criticizing a company. Plus, anyone can reply in the comments on any topic and debate the merits of the issue.
The search bar itself doesn’t generate any revenue. And it’s just an embedded Google search bar, which anyone can simply do “site:behindmlm.com ” in any browser or on Google and get the same results.
The few Adsense ads that you do see is very tastefully distributed and I doubt Oz makes much income from the ads. At best, it might pay for his hosting bill.
In fact, an even more important reason to disable the ad blocker is to get the live comment preview. Ad blockers tend to block javascript. And you can customize your ad blocker to block whatever you want (e.g. just Adsense) if the advertising bothers you that much.
This is a BRAND new scam started by the famous danish boy Peter Lexander who scam serveral hondred thousand in the Big Big Botanoo scam few years ago.
domain pandomission.com
Peter Lexander always hide him self behind another Norwegian idiot Arne C Olsen… smart guy.
Make sure people see this.
Thanks for the heads up, added to the review list.
Thanks for your email.
I’m still trying to understand the Java bean comp plan. If someone goes in at 499 are the commissions not the same if you go in at 999 which is more expensive because you get the Jim britt motivational nonsense?
Commission rates are the same.
PS. If you have any more questions leave a comment on the Vitae Global review page.
New Scam started in Mexico called Sii Global
siiglobal.net
siiglobal.net/pdfs/SIIGLOBAL-EN.pdf (Check compensation plan)
This is a CryptoMining Scam combined with MLM and Trading and the MLM leaders are doing an aggressive recruitment with High ROI from new people, they are offering “guarantee” daily returns.
Right now it’s in a Pre-Launch status started May 12th 2017 and the official launch will be in July 2017
Maybe you can do a review, thanks!
Thanks for the heads up John, added to the review list!
have you heard of (Ozedit: Downline builders aren’t MLM opportunities. Marketing spam removed.)
Hear there is a new kid on the block just wondering if you have heard of them Royal Dragon Traders. Would love to know your thoughts before they launch July 1st.
Royal Dragon Traders review published on June 5th: https://behindmlm.com/mlm-reviews/royal-dragon-traders-review-198-bitcoin-roi-in-90-days/
Search bar is on the top right of every page.
Hello oz,
Do you have any information on the operations of D9 Clube. Its operating in Africa and i hear it is headquartered in Singapore or Hongkong.
Please advise is it a legitimate multilevel sports company or just another pyramid scheme.
Thanx
I reviewed D9 Clube in August, 2016. Search bar is on the top right of every page.
General news: Pyramid scheme Shanxinhui (kind heart exchange) in China got busted, tens of thousands protest in Beijing wanting the scheme reopened, causing Beijing police to close roads
scmp.com/news/china/money-wealth/article/2103929/beijing-closes-major-road-over-rare-protest-triggered
@ Oz
Could you do a review on Ormeus Global?
https://behindmlm.com/mlm-reviews/ormeus-global-prelaunch-review-160-roi-b2x89-trading-bot/
@Kasey
Sounds like a bunch of MMM Global clones (“peer to peer lending company”). And that Ezubao scam lifted $7.4 billion USD. Bloody hell.
@Kasey
Sounds like a bunch of MMM Global clones (“peer to peer lending company”). And that Ezubao scam lifted $7.4 billion USD. Bloody hell.
Hi, Oz! Please review on tractoventure & tracto. Thank you.
Added to the review list, thanks for the heads up!
This is new scam bit90x is copying the scam method of Gladiacoin.
Thanks for the heads up, added to the review list.
Thanks Chris Bailey!
Found this article, sounds interesting, the TIENS TCM pyramid scheme proliferating in Uganda
africanarguments.org/2017/01/31/get-rich-or-die-trying-the-chinese-multinational-scamming-millions-from-ugandans/
Malaysian authorities took down “Bookcoins” ponzi point scheme:
thesundaily.my/news/2017/08/09/bookcoin-scam-busted
Glen Smith from One Coin and Gladicoin is scamming thousands of people again. We are amazed, you have not featured Glenn Smith, that massive scammer.
He is Smashing People’s Account with coinxl and Still Scamming people in One Coin and he brags about it all the time.
Please, do some research and out this scum bag. He is also working on another massive scam Ormeus Coin or some shit like that also. Thank you, for everything you do, out these crooks….
Thanks for the support but be advised we don’t look into individuals unless they’re of significance within a company.
There was a bit of news about how London police broke up a boilerroom call center pitching people into buying “fake cybercurrency”.
Unfortunately, all of the news are written off the London Police press release and thus the scam’s name wasn’t mentioned.
I think Wealth Generators are now marketing and recruiting in México and LatinAmerica with a new name GEM (Global Entrepeneur Movement)
This is the new site… gem.life
and the founder is Julian Kuschner, here is a pic in Guadalajara, Mexico
facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10212117158020693&set=a.3540727633366.2159959.1127682669&type=3&theater
a lot of young people here in México are crazy with this “MLM Forex opportunity” thinking this is new.
I told them this is the same Scam as Wealth Generators and same WakeUpNow modus operandi, but they don’t listen, they are brainwashed now.
Thanks for the heads up. I’ve added GEM to the review list.
Apparently some victims of Saivian have complained to Malaysian police, according to JusticeAlwaysLate.
Not completely related, but it seems someone collected all written orders and opinions in PACER, so no more $$$ needed, except for new developements:
http://boingboing.net/2017/08/15/the-public-law.html?utm_source=moreatbb&utm_medium=nextpost&utm_campaign=nextpostthumbnails
This is sorta related to us critic/review sites:
A Youtube critic who used segments of the video they are reviewing was sued by the video owner for “copyright infringement”.
US District Court Judge just cleared them of the entire case in summary judgment. While this does not clear “all” reaction videos, it’s a good precedent to counter any such claims of “copyright” to silence criticism, such as how Zeek attempted to silence my review, or similar claims against Oz.
NOLINKS://techcrunch.com/2017/08/23/judge-sides-with-youtubers-ethan-and-hila-klein-in-copyright-lawsuit/
Yeah saw the H3h3 win. Reckons it cost over a hundred thousand to win though… and that was through summary judgment!
Check this out, it could be possible that Onecoin is behind the BitConnect (BCC) cryptocurrency, the next video show the connections…. youtu.be/y2ttuaAk9VE
I tried to contact you through the Contact page but it kicked back my message. Please let me know how I can contact you. I’ve got info on some known MLM scammers.
Something is up with the site email at the moment. Happened last week too and I thought I’d fixed it.
Getting a bit sick of it. Worked fine all week and then literally just randomly stopped working ~14 hrs ago.
Apologies on my end. I’ll leave it another 12 hrs or so and then file a support ticket.
WordPress email issues are beyond frustrating.
Why not say what mlm stands for? Thanks.
MLM stands for “Multi-level marketing”. Surely you’d have to have some notion of that if you’ve managed to find your way to BehindMLM?
LuLaRoe seems to be opting for counter productive MLM damage control option A, instead of fixing problems they can no longer pretend do not exist just sue some people to try and make them shut up about them.
inc.com/suzanne-lucas/lularoe-sues-blogger-to-force-her-to-identify-sources.html
Thanks for the heads up Glim. MLM chilling effects at its finest.
Do a review on the MLM Yota, it is becoming popular and makes big claims.
Added Yota to the review list.
Incloude is another glossy looking scheme that looks very suspicious.
Hello, BehindMLM.com…
I am what you consider an online netizen that loves the thrill of debate. I happen to stumble across your website by happenstance.
Although I know next to nothing about MLM’s only other than they are ‘get rich quick’ schemes. I however have thoroughly enjoyed reading through your responses to those that disagree with what you are trying to accomolish.
I value debate and the mental combat of opposing ideas. While I may not know a great deal about this subject, I do appreciate the way you combat those who come to this site trying to mince words with you.
You ship em up and send them home. You have proper debate technique for an online setting. Your ‘quotation’ to response set-up is classic, and a style I myself have incorporated over the years.
I tend to go further with actually pointing out what type of fallacious arguments they use to end the argument completely. But still your set-up is golden.
If I were to describe my debating style, it would be a mixture of you and Chang (he recognises the fallacious arguments and points them out).
Now you have been doing this since ’10, which easily puts you at master level. I started online debates around late ’14. But I feel the only the best ideas can suceed in society is to openly encourage debate. Otherwise we end up with a monopoly of fascistic idealogues which control every facet of our life.
Upon visiting this page I saw how you handle Chris Molinari, Susan and Garret. You made them concede because they were unable to challenge you in free form debate.
As a university student, this type of interaction has become so integral indaily life, I can’t help but commend others on successfully defending their viewpoints from criticism, while delivering their arguments in a logical way.
Again, I have no knowledge on this subject, my area of expertise are more in the area of politics and economics [because what else does a university student debate?], leaning more towards the Milton Friedman side of the aisle. Still I know talent when I see it.
I know this is off-topic and whatever, but I thought I commend you on this website which has existed since I was in Highschool, which means you must have done something right. The shelf life for most of these MLM’s aren’t even 1/4th as long. Cheers
Thanks mate, appreciate the support. Good luck with your studies.
Just a heads up, removed the Live Comment Preview plugin today.
It has a reported security vulnerability in it. Not aware of an alternative 🙁
awww. im gonna miss that. keep getting my blockquoting wrong! 😉
No biggie, it hasn’t worked for me for months, anyway.
Yeah I think it got broke a few WordPress versions back. Worked intermittently (no idea why) so I left it on.
The vulnerability I can’t ignore and seeing as the plugin has been abandoned by the author there won’t be a fix.
For some reason nobody else has coded a comment preview plugin unfortunately.
It was a nice little plugin that doesn’t seem to have any alternatives.
I use wordpress.org/plugins/wpdiscuz/ on a couple sites, which has some cool features, although no preview option. It does give the option to let users edit their comment for as little as 15 minutes.
wordpress.org/plugins/simple-comment-editing/ seems like a nice little plugin that gives users a five minute edit window.
I know they aren’t preview plugins but a short edit window might help anjali’s blockquoting issues and Tim’s many autocorrect issues where he asks you to delete. 🙂
Ah, the joys of the behind the scenes activity no one ever sees.
Thanks for the suggestion Chris, looks promising. Will check it out tomorrow.
Also at almost 600 comments, reckon it’s time I went through this feed and nuked all the old review requests hey!
Added the comment edit plugin. Tested it and seems to be working.
Not the prettiest but there’s no design config options for me to play with so have to run default. Seems to get the job done though.
Cool.
Looks like when they said simple, they meant it. 🙂
not working for me boss!
test some more! 🙂
ok, its an edit function not preview. fine. will do.
Btw this might be the oldest and most active comment section I have ever seen. Good props on that… 7 years old and I see people here that were commenting on the very first posts.
Vida Divina may be selling stuff illegally in Europe as VD products are not ceritified or labelled for EU sales.
NOLINK://botwatch.blog/2017/09/17/vida-divina-breaks-the-law/
Hey BehindMLM. You might want to look into this one. (Ozedit: Link removed, see below)
@Scott Not seeing an MLM opportunity there.
Randy Gage, noted MLM pusher, just published an essay calling for death of MLM, due to the amount of recruiting, BDA, and crypto ponzi schemes claiming to be MLM.
He basically pointed fingers at WorldGN and OneCoin without naming names. It’s a “we have to kill it to save (core of) it” kinda essay. Long, but pretty good, as he didn’t pull any punches.
NOLINK://medium.com/entrepreneurial-thinking/r-i-p-mlm-a-manifesto-586279bff5e1
What killed it for me was the marketing pitch at the end.
Not so much a “I genuinely care about the industry” manifesto as it is a marketing strategy for Leveraged Marketing.
True, but it *does* contain good info.
at the end of the article randy gage provides a link to his leveraged sales website offering training and his services as a speaker at MLM events.
his leveraged sales website says:
i thought after earning millions of dollars teaching MLM recruitment, he has now shunned MLM and adopted ‘leveraged sales’ which is based on a building a ‘customer’ base?
from his website:
at first glance, his leveraged sales website has nothing to say about acquiring ‘customers’, but is all about how to ‘recruit’ and make millions.
old wine in a new bottle randy? rename MLM as ‘leveraged sales’ and pretend you’ve hit some new secret formula for success?
and why the hell did he mention this in his article?:
randy waited for his mother to be 70 frigging years old before helping her financially when he was a frigging millionaire himself? and he uses language like ‘she was going on my payroll’?
shows^^ him in poor light and i cant believe he’s added it to his article to project himself as a hero, because it does just the opposite.
Yeah. Appreciate the sentiment but the package just didn’t smell right.
Working for me – nice little plugin.
Thank you Oz.
Hey Oz? What about “Wealth Generators?” And the team of #OccupyWealth? It seems like these guys are also profiting from others investing.
Is this set up like USI Tech?
facebook.com/randywschrum/videos/10157058058436110/
Please review zozocoin pond.
Doesn’t seem to be MLM?
Someone was promoting something called “Star Global Coin” in China and almost got busted by local government workers.
Article in Chinese: cj.sina.com.cn/article/detail/5889910890/552045
According to Chinese news, John Wuo tried to get himself removed from the class action lawsuit against Gemcoin, but the judge disallowed that.
epochtimes.com/b5/17/12/29/n10003524.htm
Sad… Ad Surf Daily clone called QianBaoWang busted in China, except this one lasted four years, and may involve 50 BILLION dollars, making it only second to the ezuBao Ponzi in China that was busted last year.
Chinese news: epochtimes.com/gb/17/12/31/n10010825.htm
Lol @ “Star Globa Coin” with the Superman logo.
Was wondering why the class-action wasn’t showing up, was filed in LA Superior Court.
They want $1 just to search for the case lolololol. Downloading case files, if even possible, probably requires a bank loan.
Just contact the lawyer directly. LonLaw or something like that?
Will wait and see if it goes anywhere first. Doubt it considering there’s a Receivership.
I can not search for any sites, companies like I could before. What happened?
Nothing changed on my end. If you’re running any type of script-blocking browser plugin though that’ll also stop search from working.
BancDeBinaries reload scam: SEC won in 2016 and the entity paid 11 million in fines. But fake SEC employees conned US victims into coughing up fees to “reclaim losses”.
NOLINKS://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2018-01-23/us-charges-two-over-fraud-featuring-bogus-sec-employees
CFTC went after another kleptocurrrency… MyBigCoinPays charged with running a Ponzi scheme.
NOLINKs://www.engadget.com/2018/01/24/us-charges-cryptocurrency-creators-over-scam/
Oz, here is another pyramid to your collection stepiumusa.com . It is a classical financial pyramid based on ethereum crypto currency. Will you review that?
Hi Oz,
This one may also be of interest to you: SwissCryp
They try to sell themselves as a cryptocoin mining operation, and claim that they will give you a good return in coins on your investment. But the whole thing smells fishy.
Not in the least place because you have to buy mining packages up to 500.000 euro, and it is started by Bing Voorham (Onecoin / Organo Gold).
Added Stepium to the review list, thanks for the heads up!
@Bonkey I had a look at SwissCryp and couldn’t find specifics on their affiliate program. It does mention single-level commissions and vaguely suggests MLM, however I couldn’t find anything specific.
Alright, thanks for looking into it. If I find more info I will let you know.
Here’s another Bitcoin scam starting up, Oz.
instagram.com/giftingcoins
giftingcoins.com
giftingcoins.us
They laughably claim that they are legal because only Bitcoin is being used. Somehow, I cannot see that applying anywhere. Oh, their mailing address claims to be in The Netherlands and the blurb I got for their Feb. 6th webinar boasted of someone named Coscu speaking at it.
Only the Instagram link worked for me?
Hello Oz. I have been seeing this message today:
I would not even bother you for this as I can use Tor to read the site like I am doing right now, but I prefer warning you in case the same misconfiguration affected other readers as well.
The last byte of my client IPv4 address, static for all practical purposes, is 93 in decimal.
Regards.
I can confirm that. I often have the same problems today.