10LevelRiches: William Pattison’s new matrix scam
When I sat down to research 10 Level Riches, it wasn’t long before the name William Pattison popped up.
William Pattison, now where have I heard that name before…?
A quick Google search led me back to BehindMLM and an opportunity that I’d reviewed back in March this year, The Final Matrix.
In short, the Final Matrix is an MLM opportunity that pays out commissions solely on the recruitment of others and offers members the opportunity to publish text and banner ads to their fellow members, along with the standard trashy ebook downloads downloadable training tools usually made available with such schemes.
In other words you can completely ignore the Final Matrix’s products and just recruit people to earn money… and we all know what that is.
Turns out The Final Matrix wasn’t so final after all and Pattison is back with yet another matrix based opportunity. Is 10 Level Riches any more legit than The Final Matrix was?
Let’s find out.
The Company
Unlike The Final Matrix which was a co-partnership between William (also known as Bill) Pattison and Trevor Hovick, 10 Level Riches appears to be a sole venture by Pattison (photo right) alone.
Launched in July 2011, 10 Level Riches is merely a website front for yet another matrix based MLM opportunity launched by Pattison.
Due to the unsustainable nature of these schemes in the long term, it appears that Pattison has to start a new one every few months to sustain his income.
Rather than fill the need within the MLM industry, consumers or it’s members, 10 Level Riches rather exists solely to fill the pockets of its founder, Pattison.
10 Level Riches’ Product Line
10 Level Riches itself doesn’t have a product line. Instead, as you fill up your matrix with new recruits you’re given various ‘software downloads”.
These software downloads are all marketing based and appear to be third party affiliate offers that have nothing to do with Pattison or 10 Level Riches itself. They may or may not be relevant to 10 Level Riches, but they certainly aren’t custom designed to fit the opportunity itself.
Pattison himself no doubt is registered as an affiliate for each of the products and for each copy downloaded most likely receives an affiliate commission on the download itself (double dipping anyone?).
Continuing the product irrelevancy theme found in The Final Matrix, it begs the obvious question; do you really need training materials to understand that all that is required of you to earn money in 10 Level Riches is to recruit other people to the scheme?
There’s 10 levels within the 10 Level Riches compensation plan and as such 10 software downloads offered by the company. You are unable to purchase any of the products separately (unless you google the software titles and purchase them from other affiliates yourself).
The 10 Level Riches Compensation Plan
At the heart of the 10 Level Riches compensation plan is a, not surprisingly, a 10 x 3 forced matrix that houses a maximum of 88,573 members (78,732 of which are on levels 9 and 10 of the pyramid scheme matrix).
After paying your $20 buy in to participate in 10 Level Riches, of which $5 goes to the company and $15 to your upline, you then have to go out and recruit people. You are not paid a cent until you recruit 3 other people to 10 Level Riches and ‘upgrade’ yourself to level 2 (topaz) of the matrix.
Pattison claims that he pays out 90% of membership money to members whilst retaining 10% for himself, but without knowing exactly what his affiliate program costs via the software downloads, or AlertPay network fees are on the surface it’s a gross 25% (he keeps $5 of all $15 buy ins).
Note that there is also a 10% withdrawal fee on your earnings, this again goes directly to Pattison.
The basic idea is that for each person you directly refer, you make $15 out of their $20 buy in. This repeats itself until you’ve filled your 88,573 member matrix (which is never supposed to happen).
As each level of the matrix is split with a token gemstone or mineral name (cubic zirconia, topaz, citrine, peridot, amethyst, onyx, sapphire, emeraly, ruby and diamond), your first $15 at each level is paid out to the company.
Pattison calls this an ‘upgrade’ fee but with zero admin costs (the entire system is automated) the only reason this exists is to keep the pyramid scheme going.
Finally members are also able to buy positions within their own matrix an infinite time (remembering of course that you don’t get paid anything until each account has 3 new members under it).
This is yet another sign that the products are completely irrelevant and a mere front for legality (does anyone really need multiple copies of the same marketing material?)
Conclusion
In my mind there’s absolutely no question that 10 Level Riches is a pyramid scheme and Pattison himself agrees. In the ‘details’ section of the company website, here’s how Pattison himself describes the opportunity;
3×10 Forced Matrix? – Cycler? – 1 UP? – 2 UP? – 10 UP? – Cash Leveraging? – Gifting?
ALL OF THE ABOVE!
The x-up programs are usually of dubious legality but ‘gifting’ explicitly refers to ‘cash gifting’ which is just another name for a pyramid scheme – and is an illegal business model in the US.
What we have with 10 Level Riches is a blatant pyramid scheme that is self perpetuating and pays out existing members purely on the membership fees of new members brought into the company.
As long as existing members are out there recruiting new members, comissions are paid out and Pattison walks away with a 25% cut (minus operating expenses).
The products are irrelevant affiliate downloads and the 10 Level Riches compensation plan pays out solely on the basis of recruitment. There is no retail side to the program and I cannot purchase anything from the company as a pure retail customer.
All of this adds up to yet another blatant pyramid scheme started up by Pattison after his last one, The Final Matrix, dried up. No doubt 10 Level Riches will also stall in a few months and with a launch date in July, I imagine that’s not too far around the corner.
At this point I’m sure we’ll see yet another matrix based opportunity launched by Pattison following this very same formula.
Till then…
“You are not paid a cent until you recruit 3 other people to 10 Level Riches”
You write and article and don’t even know the details of what you’re writing about.
I paid $20 and was paid $15 on my VERY FIRST RECRUIT. Then another $15 on my third recruit. It was only the second one that upgraded me to the next level, just as it is on all levels.
Also, you don’t seem to be aware of products being available without being part of the matrix. A major part of any business NOT seen as a pyramid scheme.
Where did you do your research? Obviously very flawed.
Look, schemes are schemes and there are obviously some bad ones out there, but I am sick and tired of watching you “scambuster” attacking everything you see without really checking your facts.
@Gerry
So you were still down $5, or in other words had not been paid a cent until your third recruit.
Sure I can purchase the products from third party sources (as they are just generic affiliate products on offer), but as I see it you cannot purchase the products via the 10 Level Riches opportunity as a retail customer.
You have to join the company do you not?
Straight from the horse’s mouth. I try to conduct all research as close to official company sources as possible.
Agreed, and 10 Level Riches is definitely one of them.
@Gerry — the idea of tying product sales to membership makes it illegal in many jurisdictions. Basically it’s an attempt to “game” the current laws, which prohibits pay on recruit, but does permit pay on sales (See Amway decision circa 1979).
So they come up with these various schemes like “autoship” and “required automatic purchases” and claim ‘we really pay on sales, not recruiting’. However, when one is tied into the other directly, sales is a DISGUISE.
What you got here is 100% SELF-CONSUMPTION, ZERO RETAIL SALES, which is an artificial (almost fraudulent) way to prop up sales numbers to look legitimate.
Noted scam TVI Express operates the same way: all sales (of trips) are to members, and is used to justify its supposed legitimacy “we have a product!” But when its own FAQ, for two years, claimed “you don’t have to sell any products”, that’s about as obvious pyramid scheme as it can be.
This statement makes it very clear that the criticism is absolutely baseless and not worthy anybody’s time. I have been a member for just one month, and was paid $15 with my very 2nd downline, as per the marketing plan; so far i have earned $195 (within 1month).
Besides, the products are fantastic, to say the least. Here we learn how to create own blogs, squeeze pages, (if the critic knows what that is) free ebook downloads etc.
I have tried many MLM programs since 1996 when i was still employed in the banking industry, and have one thing to say: William Pattison’s MLM, 10levelriches is “The best of the best”. Thank you Billy for a wonderful program and timely SUPPORT.
Spillover or spillunder is still people being recruited and placed into your matrix.
Oh really? So out of curiosity, did you earn your $195 selling products or company membership (recruiting)?
Whether you recruit people personally or have someone else recruit them, people are recruited. You seem to think that just because not everybody have to personally recruit some people, it’s not a recruit scam. You are quite mistaken, because if you don’t, someone else have to recruit more to make up for you. The net effect is the same.
In Pyramid scheme, people in it always justify it by “I only personally recruited two people!” In “spillover”, the excuse morphed into “I don’t *have* to recruit anybody.” Neither bothered to add the corollary: “but someone else did it for me to fill up the matrix/board/whatever”.
I Don’t agree this is a pyramid. You only earn when u sell the service. No sales, no earning.
If you have a personal problem with william, thats up to you. But let those who earn get it. Besides, what does one stand to loose, 20 bucks? I blew 100 in a club last weekend!
When “the service” is membership, it’s a pyramid scheme.
Not gunna work here son… it’s all in the business model.
Irrelevant.
Selling membership is recruiting. You recruiting, no earning. Pyramid scheme.
Ah, the “what’s your beef” fallacy, another version of “ad hominem”.
But you had a good time at the club, right? Did you have a good time putting in $20 here? Did you have even 1/5 as much of a good time? Don’t lie to me now…
Personally, I believe Pattison has been Transparent in describing exactly how his program works. I really can’t see where he is trying to scam me! I understand this risks and I know where the money goes.
I realise I may lose my money and the program will eventually stall at some point. I get a product and/or products for my payment.
Hmmmm….. From a legal stand point he seems to be ticking the boxes of legality and and I can’t see hoards of people investing into garage loads of product. This is a money game and no secret as been made of that fact.
You’re kidding right?
What you do with your money is irrelevant. Pyramid schemes that rely on new recruits are scams because inevitably you wind up running out of new schmucks to sign up.
No products are sold, other than membership to the scheme itself which is not a product – regardless of what it’s bundled with.