Hidden Hunger Int’l Review: Micronutrient Packs?
Hidden Hunger International launched in mid 2013, operating out of the US state of Texas.
Hidden Hunder International (HHI) is headed up by founders Ruel and Angel Morton. According to the Morten’s HHI corporate bio:
Ruel and Angel have been together for almost 20 years and have 3 children; 2 daughters and a son. Together they have worked in several companies over the past 20 years.
Ruel Morton’s biggest success in the MLM industry appears to have been as an affiliate with Fortune High-Tech Marketing (FHTM), in which he credited himself as ‘the #1 Top Money Earner‘.
Morton regularly appeared in official corporate FHTM marketing material (right), in which he was credited as a “Presidential Ambassador” of the company.
Fortune High Tech Marketing was shutdown earlier this year by the FTC and three US State Attorney-Generals for being a pyramid scheme.
The FTC and attorneys general for the states of Illinois, Kentucky, and North Carolina have moved against Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing (FHTM), alleging it is a pyramid scheme.
A federal judge in the Northern District of Illinois has appointed a receiver and ordered an asset freeze.
“This is the beginning of the end for one of the most prolific pyramid schemes operating in North America,” said Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway.
“This is a classic pyramid scheme in every sense of the word. The vast majority of people, more than 90 percent, who bought in to FHTM lost their money.”
A top FTC official called FHTM a “rigged game.”
At a FHTM conference held just before the company was shut down, Morton declared Fortune High Tech to be
the most lucrative financial opportunity in the history of the country.
Following the closure of FHTM I did read some chatter that Morton moved onto Shaklee (health, nutrition, personal care and weight loss), however I was unable to confirm this information.
Read on for a full review of the Hidden Hunger International MLM business opportunity.
The Hidden Hunger International Product Line
Hidden Hunger International has no retailable products or services. Instead, affiliates join HHI and then purchase “Child Micronutrient Packs” for $9.90.
Hidden Hunger International claim that they use ‘30 cents on the dollar to fuel the cause‘. Somewhat ironically, “the cause” mentioned in the compensation plan refers to HHI’s commission payouts, with the remaining 70 cents in every dollar being purportedly spent ‘for the CHILDREN’.
The Hidden Hunger International Compensation Plan
The Hidden Hunger International compensation plan revolves around affiliates joining the company and then purchasing Child Micronutrient Packs for $9.90 each.
HHI members can earn 5% to 25% on every Child Micronutrient Pack.
Commissions in HHI are paid out using what appears to be a unilevel style compensation structure. A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1).
If any level 1 affiliates go on to recruit new affiliates of their own, they are then placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team. If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretically infinite number of levels.
Commissions are paid out using the above unilevel compensation structure as a percentage of the money each affiliate in a unilevel team pays each month for Child Micronutrient Packs.
How much of a percentage of each affiliate’s monthly spend is paid out depends on a HHI affiliate’s membership rank:
- HHI Member (buy 10 Child Micronutrient Pack subscriptions and recruit 2 new affiliates who also buy 10 Child Micronutrient Packs) – 5% (49.5 cents per pack)
- 25K World Changer (as above but have a downline that have communally purchased 25 Child Micronutrient Packs) – 10% (99 cents per pack)
- 100K World Changer (buy 15 Child Micronutrient Pack subscriptions, have a downline that have communally purchased 100 packs and have three personally recruited 25k World Changer affiliates in your downline) – 15% ($1.48 per pack)
- 500K World Changer (no qualification criteria provided) – 20% ($1.98 per pack)
- 50,000K World Changer (no qualification criteria provided) – 25% ($2.47 per pack)
Joining Hidden Hunger International
Affiliate membership to Hidden Hunger International appears to be free, however affiliates must purchase Child Micronutrient Packs if they wish to qualify for commissions.
Conclusion
Members sponsor children through the purchase of HHI’s Child Micronutrient Packs and find other people and/or organizations who want to do the same thing.
There’s a reason charity based MLM business opportunities are taboo and it’s because they blur the lines between sales and charitable donations.
Assuming Hidden Hunger International do what they say they do, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking 70 cent donations from affiliates and using it to help kids.
The remaining 30 cents being shuffled around amongst affiliates though? That’s where the problems is.
With no retail activity you can pretty much boil down the commission side of Hidden Hunger International to affiliates buying in at $9.90 per position, and then earning between 5-25% of every buy-in made by recruited affiliates (directly recruited or otherwise).
Combining this with a charitable component does not justify the lack of a retail offering and shuffling around of affiliate money, any moreso than if Hidden Hunger International bundled affiliate buy-ins with another product or service.
Then of course there’s the question of is anything being bought and sold altogether. Affiliate’s supposedly buy micronutrient packs, yet receive nothing for it. The identifiable end-user (those receiving the packs) are receiving them as gifts, which doesn’t translate over too well into MLM where you need to have retail customers purchasing a readily identifiable product and actually using it.
Tax wise I’m not sure what the implications are with HHI’s Micronutrient Packs but that’s something else to consider too.
In summation:
Charity = good. MLM charity that pays out 100% of its commissions with affiliate money = not so good.
This guy should be ashamed of himself and anyone that follows him is a complete idiot.
He knew darn well that FHTM was having trouble, was an illegal pyramid and that the end result was inevitable. YET, he stood onstage and told people that FHTM was going to be bigger than AVON and that it was the “most lucrative plan on the planet, when infact it was the least profitable.
How is 1/4 percent on the profit margin of services greater than 15% of total dollar volume of products, Ill never know.. How can 1 out of 20,000 making a six figure income better than 1 out of 200..
Reul and everyone else that defended this thing to the end are complete, lying, scumbag’s. There hero is a guy who currently reside’s in a box under a bridge and was stripped of any rights do ever work in the networking industry again.
It was blantantly obvious that no products were being sold with FHTM outside of the sales force and it looks like Reul has no problem trying to run a similar scam of his own. Him and everyone like him belongs in Jail.
I 100% agree with the previous poster. Ruel Morton has been sued, and lost, for failing to pay his army of security guards during his tenure with FHTM.
Ruel is running a more blatant scam than FHTM ever did. I’ll bet he hopes that Paul Orberson (FHTM Founder) settles with the FTC soon so they dont come after Ruel and all his ill-gotten gains.
Ruel knew he was screwing tens of thousands of hard working Americans out of their hard earned money so he could support his bogus lifestyle.
He should be sent to prison and if I have my way he will be. The FTC for sure will want to look into this total 100% criminal activity. Beware Morton for you will get yours sooner than you ever thought.
Sounds a lot like a great big money grab and dash scheme.
“We’re not marketing anything, not buying anything, not sellin’ anything. There’s no cost to join. You don’t buy nothin’, you don’t pay for nothin”, you don’t receive any product, you don’t ship any product. You just make a donation of $9.90 to combat world hunger.”
Okay.
My question is why is people still falling for this guy tha has SCAM written all over his forehead, it will be to late when u dumb people realize that u have been used scammed abused manipulated and of the above.
its not if ull find it when u find out. when? A couple dollars a hundred a thousand well its ur call.
he is know trying to hide his hideous plan behind a good call to save the children. come on people dont be fooled by this scammer its all the same as fhtm with the only difference the he now its targeting a good hearted people thats soon will realized ….hey i just got scam.. but i pray everyday that somebody get this scumbag behind bars.
What a joke he cant even pay his workers a couple hundre dollars and u think this scumbag will make u any money..well its not hard to see whats he about just ask the locals and the people around him they r the ones who can see the clearer picture but how clearer can it get ..that my friend its the question…
couple of hundred? try tens of thousands!!!
Is there actual evidence of mr. morton’s transgressions? how much was he “in the know” with FHTM?
What I found out was when ruel was aware of what FHTM was doing behind closed doors, he totally dropped out of FHTM and canceled his association with them. What we think he must have known, as to what he actually knew could be two different things.
I am not defending him, but until you have “exhibit A” as evidence you are at least jumping to conclusions. Unfortunately, in America today, a person is not longer innocent until proven guilty. Especially in the court of public opinion.
Maybe we should sue the networks who charge 60% for every dollar they raise for any charitable group.
Are you asking readers to believe Mr Morton was, in his own words “The #1 Top Money earner” in a pyramid scheme in which, in the words of Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway. “The vast majority of people, more than 90 percent, who bought in to FHTM lost their money.” yet he (Morton) didn’t know.
Nice theory, but sorta stretches the bounds of credulity, doesn’t it ??
You don’t become the number one earner in a pyramid scheme by selling products to retail customers.
So the new company that he has just started, HIDDEN HUNGER GLOBAL, is maybe a spinoff of HIDDEN HUNGER INTERNATIONAL?
I have a lot of friends and associates that are buying into this company! They think they are going to hit the mother load! I am talking about big name Preachers that are introducing this to their congregation!
Looks like a reboot after HHI flopped.
If your friends and associates are dumping large amounts of money into the reboot on the expectation of a >100% ROI, then the business model hasn’t changed at all.
So what you are saying is everyone who makes money in a company that turns out to be illegal is guilty of the transgressions of the company.
Thats like pronouncing a Wal-Mart Regional Store manager guilty of the illegal activity of the cooperate office. Well the Regional Manager had to know what was going on because he/she made good money while they were a part of the company.
Guilty by association???? Does this way of justice validate your credibility “littleroundman?”
Oz aren’t you glad you are not being prosecuted based upon someone else’s assumption of your activity? The fact is: you do not know what Mr. Morton knew and neither do I. Your rush to judgment is not how justice is supposed to work. If the man is guilty then let a court of law determine his guilt.
Due diligence is a personal responsibility.
If corporate gave said manager a gun and told him or her to go off and start shooting random customers in their store – they would be.
In a Ponzi or pyramid scheme, those running it are liable as well as those participating in it. Moreso the top investors/affiliates, as they are obviously in on it.
When it’s as simple as asking yourself “am I selling anything to retail customers?”, there are no excuses.
But please, continue to try to justify your or your BFFs participation in the various scams you’re clearly defensive about.
And by the way, are the any lawsuits that have been brought against Mr. Morton? As the number 1 seller he must have made millions. That sounds like a deep pocket to me, and it is rare when someone does not sue someone with that much assets.
I have checked, and I can find NO lawsuits that are holding Mr. Morton libel for the actions of FHTM. Could it be that the reason why is because they have no evidence to prove Mr. Morton knew what was going on behind the closed doors of FHTM.
Did Mr. Morton sell any products and services to retail customers during his time at FHTM? Was the majority of his income generated in this manner?
Did Mr. Morton promote FHTM despite knowing full well nothing was being sold at a retail level?
Guilty as charged, irrespective of “but the authorities haven’t sued him!” excuses.
There isn’t much retail sales in MOST MLMs.
I’m not defensive as much as I am disappointed in people like yourself that tries to appear that you are in the know, when in fact you don’t know squat about the situation at hand.
Does it every bother you that your useless opinion could be harmful to their children? I sure hope you will never have the opportunity to serve on jury duty, because you don’t need a shred of evidence to come to a conviction.
No, I am saying the self proclaimed #1 money earner IN A DEMONSTRABLY FRAUDULENT MULTI LEVEL MARKETING COMPANY SUCH AS FHTM knew or ought to have known.
He profited directly from recruiting others into the (court determined) illegal scheme.
What a Wal-Mart employee does or doesn’t do is totally irrelevant when discussing FHTM and/or MLM.
@Lynn
This is all that is relevant:
Spare us the sob stories about children.
Pyramid schemes don’t just promote themselves, and claiming that the top income earner of one had no idea it was a pyramid scheme is just too stupid for words.
What actually happen with FHTM Oz? Were you there? Were you an associate with FHTM? You sure sound like one. I am all for anyone who willing deceived people under the motivation for gain. But, I will not listen to a lynch mob mentality like yourself, UNTIL YOU CAN PROVIDE EXHIBIT “A”.
Please provide the evidence or keep your opinion to yourself.
They had little to no retail activity, effectively paying out only on the recruitment of new affiliates (who were the only ones spending money within the scheme). Hur dur.
That’s all the evidence that is required.
Time to pull Morton’s dick out your mouth and accept facts.
(Ozedit: derail attempts removed. If you want your evidence, check out the FHTM business model.
The facts are Ruel Morton was the top scammer in a pyramid scheme scam, we’re done here.)
It has nothing to do with Mr Morton or FHTM individually and EVERYTHING to do with the US laws regarding pyramid schemes.
It is against the law to both promote AND participate in a pyramid scheme, both of which Mr Morton was doing AND profiting from.
The fact Mr Morton was or wasn’t included in the legal action which resulted in the court detrmining FHTM was, in fact, a pyramid scheme is also beside the point.
Lynn, it really doesn’t matter whether they were aware they were participating in a scam or not, the money they earned illegally should be returned in a “claw-back” fashion. Zeek is going through that right now.
WOW my comment was blocked and something else inserted.
(Ozedit: That’ll happen when you drift offtopic. The issue of the top earner in a pyramid scheme being ignorant of the fact that said scheme was a pyramid, is asinine.
Feel free to add anything else but on that particular topic, as others have pointed out, even if Morton had the IQ of a pile of dung and was clueless, he’s still liable for promotion of a pyramid scheme).
Oz….Littleroundman. I have a question….based on the time stamp of my comment, you are currently 6hrs ahead of US Central Time. Therefore, that would put you in London, England. Being that I’m in the United States, I’m very curious as to how you two of you are connected to Ruel?
I assume by your strong convictions, you have met Mr. Ruel? Initially, I must admit I find it very difficult for anyone in another country to know details as you propose or better yet, stay current with fact unless you yourself have been involved in the past together. Please advise!
Excuse me, apparently the time stamp is 13 hrs ahead of CST US, therefore, you are in Indonesia??? Even worse! Now I’m very confused!!! I do hope you two are awake currently to answer the questions!
You don’t need to be “connected” to anyone to accept the fact that Morton was the top income earner of a pyramid scheme.
Really, you’re going to grasp at timezones now to try and explain away Morton sitting at the top of a pyramid scheme?
Oh dear.
The relevant facts are as follows:
1. FHTM was a pyramid scheme
2. Ruel Morton was FHTM’s top recruitment pimp
And you were not in FHTM?
You don’t need to be in FHTM to understand the business model (or read FTC court filings).
http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2013/01/ftc-action-leads-court-halt-alleged-pyramid-scheme
This is starting to sound like an attempt of the “how can you understand the business if you didn’t join” scamster excuse.
And yes, I have issues with facts! You are in Indonesia, I am in the US. You are half way across the globe and the only reply you have is Mr Morton was in FHTM.
Now is your chance to add any further evidence of your accusations or sease to repeat yourself.
Again, timezones and countries have nothing to do with understanding a business model, or that the top earner of a pyramid scheme was in on it.
The relevant facts are as follows:
1. FHTM was a pyramid scheme
2. Ruel Morton was FHTM’s top recruitment pimp
Any further irrelevant comments about timezones will be marked as offtopic spam.
With that sort of logic, it’s no wonder you are having difficulty understanding.
1) Did the FTC shut down FHTM ??
2) Did the court subsequently declare FHTM to be an illegal pyramid scheme ??
3) Is it illegal to promote a pyramid scheme ??
4) Did Ruel Morton promote a pyramid scheme ?
5) Did Ruel Morton, in fact, declare HIMSELF to be the #1 promoter for the court declared pyramid scheme, FHTM ?
Given the answer to all of the above is YES what more needs to be known ?
Cow Patty,
Did you read my note to Lynn?
Most of us have probably noticed that. 🙂
“you are currently 6hrs ahead of US Central Time. Therefore, that would put you in London, England.”
“Excuse me, apparently the time stamp is 13 hrs ahead of CST US, therefore, you are in Indonesia???”
“You are in Indonesia, I am in the US. You are half way across the globe”.