Devide Review: Profit points Ponzi hiding behind brand marketing
Devide provides no information on their website about who owns or runs the business.
The Devide website domain (“devide.com”) was first registered in 2011.
The domain registration was last updated in May, 2018. This is probably around the time the current owners took possession of it.
Further research into Devide reveals a since-deleted “Word From Devide CEO”, dated June 10th.
The email itself is just marketing spam but is signed off on by “Anja Al-Akabi” as “CEO Devide”.
On her LinkedIn profile, Al-Akabi cites her location as Andalusia, Spain.
Altogether Devide seems to be primarily marketed in and targeting Europe.
This is supported by the following paragraph from Al-Akabi’s CEO email;
In case you haven’t heard, we have two events coming up where we show you “Devide the Movie”; one in Oslo on the 16th of June and one in Gothenburg on the 17th of June.
Whatever you do, don’t miss the chance of meeting some of our top Brand Ambassadors in those two cities.
It is also supported by Devide’s use of euro in its compensation plan.
Devide does provide a corporate address in Malta for “Vindorale LTD” on their website.
The address provided actually belongs to Walter Rizzo & Associates, who on their website provide a Maltese Holding Company service.
Thus is appears Vindorale LTD is just a shell company, and Devide has no actual physical business operations in Malta.
According to Al-Akabi’s social media profiles, prior to Devide she was working as CEO of Loft & Roomers, a furniture store in Spain.
Possibly due to language-barriers, I was unable to put together or verify Al-Akabi’s MLM history.
Read on for a full review of the Devide MLM opportunity.
Devide Products
Devide has no retailable products or services, with affiliates only able to market Devide affiliate membership itself.
Devide affiliate membership is bundled with
- a pair of “exclusive sunglasses”;
- an “exclusive wristwatch; and
- a “free gift”
The Devide Compensation Plan
Devide affiliates invest in €1199 EUR “brand box” positions”.
Each brand box positions comes with a set of profit points, which are marketed as having potential future value.
In addition to acquiring profit points through brand box position investment, Devide affiliates can also directly invest in them.
30% of all commissions paid out must also be reinvested back into Profit Points.
Profit points exist only within Devide and hold no value outside of the company itself.
To realize a ROI on profit point investment, Devide affiliates can exchange profit points for real money via an internal exchange.
Devide claim their internal exchange is funded by 50% of company-wide investment volume.
Note that Devide do not publish the current internal value of profit points.
On the MLM side of things, Devide affiliates are paid on the direct and indirect recruitment of new affiliate investors.
Recruitment Commissions
Devide rewards affiliates with a €50 EUR commission on the first three affiliates recruited.
From the fourth, €100 EUR is paid per recruit.
If a Devide affiliate recruits three affiliates within their first month, they also qualify for a €1200 EUR voucher.
Residual Recruitment Commissions
Devide pays residual recruitment commissions via a binary compensation structure.
A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a binary team, split into two sides (left and right):
The first level of the binary team houses two positions. The second level of the binary team is generated by splitting these first two positions into another two positions each (4 positions).
Subsequent levels of the binary team are generated as required, with each new level housing twice as many positions as the previous level.
Positions in the binary team are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of affiliates. Note there is no limit to how deep a binary team can grow.
Residual recruitment commissions are calculated off of brand box investment.
Investment in a brand box by a Devide affiliate generates 500 points on whichever side of the binary team that affiliate was placed.
At the end of each week Devide tallies up new points on both sides of the binary team.
Affiliates are paid €0.1 EUR per point of matched volume.
To qualify for residual recruitment commissions, a Devide affiliate must recruit at least two affiliates (one placed on either side of the binary team).
If the affiliate recruits two affiliates on both sides of the binary team, their residual recruitment commission rate is doubled (€0.2 EUR paid out per matched point).
Leftover volume on the stronger binary side is carried over but only retained for up to six months.
Note that residual recruitment commissions are capped per affiliate at €75,000 EUR a week.
Matching Bonus
Devide pay a Matching Bonus on residual commissions earned by personally recruited affiliates (level 1) and affiliates they recruit (level 2).
- recruit and maintain four affiliates and receive a 10% matching bonus
- recruit and maintain eight affiliates and receive a 20% matching bonus
- recruit and maintain twelve affiliates and receive a 20 matching bonus and 10% on level 2 affiliates
Lifetime Bonus
Upon generating 2,000,000 points or more in accumulated volume across the binary team in a year (Jan-Dec), a Devide affiliate qualifies for the Lifetime Bonus.
The Lifetime Bonus is made up of 10% of Devide’s company-wide investment volume.
- affiliates with 2,000,000 binary team points receive one share of the Lifetime Bonus
- affiliates with 4,000,000 binary team points receive two shares of the Lifetime Bonus
- affiliates with 8,000,000 binary points receive three shares of the Lifetime Bonus
Reward Program
Devide rewards affiliates with profit points and Lifetime Bonus shares, based on the following rank-based qualification criteria:
- generate 10,000 points in binary team volume and receive €100 EUR worth of profit points
- generate 20,000 points in binary team volume and receive €200 EUR worth of profit points
- generate 50,000 points in binary team volume and receive €400 EUR worth of profit points
- generate 100,000 points in binary team volume and receive €800 EUR worth of profit points
- generate 250,000 points in binary team volume and receive €1500 EUR worth of profit points
- generate 500,000 points in binary team volume and receive €3000 EUR worth of profit points
- generate 1,000,000 points in binary team volume and receive €6000 EUR worth of profit points
- generate 2,000,000 points in binary team volume and receive one additional Lifetime Bonus share
- generate 4,000,000 points in binary team volume and receive two additional Lifetime Bonus shares
- generate 8,000,000 points in binary team volume and receive three additional Lifetime Bonus shares
- generate 16,000,000 points in binary team volume and receive four additional Lifetime Bonus shares
- generate 32,000,000 points in binary team volume and receive five additional Lifetime Bonus shares
Note that at least 50% of required points need to be generated within a single month, the rest is accumulated point volume.
Joining Devide
Devide affiliate membership costs €1199 EUR.
Additional investment in profit points is an option beyond an initial affiliate position.
Conclusion
Devide cloaks a typical Ponzi points business model behind social media “influencer” culture.
We think it is unfair that only people with broad networks, a large number of followers on social media and huge bloggers always get the opportunities to get lifestyle products for free or with a heavy discount just to promote the products in their channels.
No matter the size of network or the number of followers on social media we think that you should have the same opportunity.
Considering Devide affiliates invest in profit points and get paid to recruit others who do the same, the marketing pitch makes little sense.
Any products or services attached to Devide’s primary investment vehicle are incidental.
Devide’s profit points are just renamed Ponzi points. Affiliates invest in them and cash out via an internal exchange, which is funded by subsequent investment.
There’s some malarkey about selling Saint Roches sunglasses and Haugher watches to customers, however you can visit the Devide website and verify yourself this doesn’t exist.
As it stands Devide is operating as a Ponzi scheme, and has done so since it surfaced approximately three months ago.
In addition to stealing from those who invest after you via the exchange, the only other way to recoup Devide losses is through recruitment.
This makes Devide a hybrid Ponzi pyramid scheme.
As with all MLM Ponzi schemes, once affiliate recruitment dies down so too will new investment.
This will see the internal value of profit points plummet, coinciding with a collapse.
On the backend real money is handed over to Anja Al-Akabi and other Devide executives, in exchange for worthless Ponzi points.
Regardless of what happens to the internal value of profit points, Al-Akabi and the rest of Devide keep what they don’t pay out through the exchange.
Other than a few early adopters, the math behind a Ponzi scheme guarantees the majority of Devide affiliates will lose money.
Its amazing to see experts in mlm posts negative information, about a company they doesnt know anything about.
How can anyone with iq above 30, Even take this site seriously???
I think this article is orderered by ZInzino or Eqology, who now is struggeling because their top leaders, working 10-20 years in their company, now joining this Inovative, fresh, and amazing business oportunity.
Keep up your bad work, and let smart people create good business opportunities.
Anytime we get some dumbass with a comment like this ^^, take it as confirmation we nailed it.
Otherwise they’d have actually published facts to counter their exposed Ponzi scheme. Instead we get a loony conspiracy theory.
According to an entry on a Swedish message board (which I had to translate into English because I don’t understand that language) Anja Al-Akabi was running the operations of The Cobra Group in Sweden from 2006 onwards.
An article on Wikipedia alleges that Cobra are a pyramid scheme and a cult whose followers sell products door-to-door.
I can’t find any evidence that Al-Akabi was CEO of Loft & Roomers. An endorsement on Trust Pilot gives the impression that she was a shop assistant in their store.
DevideAmbassador: It is not hard to see that this is just another terrible Ponzi like Onecoin.
What is mutual for all «brand ambassadors» and «sales consultants» is that you guys are in complete denial. Of course everyone else are wrong when you have sunk some of your savings into a scam like this. Of course.
Please let me remind you that i’ve seen the crappy watches you guys are trying to sell to people. «Luxury watches» with a $20 Ronda quarz movement, that you are trying to resell for $1600. It is so sad and pathetic.
It’s also funny how the people behind Devide and Hauger blocks people and deletes comments from their Facebook and Instagram pages.
The only uplifting comments there, are from «brand ambassadors» themselves. Keep up the good work!
Well, maby before jugding products people should take the time and get to know them.
The designer is well known Swedish designer:
scandinavianman.com/news/frank-dandy-and-roshults-founder-tobias-lindberg-about-starting-two-new-brands-in-just-a-few-months
Devide is a Ponzi scheme. Who designed the products bundled with investment fraud is irrelevant.
An internet search does not support the claim that this Tobias Lindberg person is a well-known designer at all. He seems to be non-existent outside publicity material from small companies he’s set up. He also doesn’t seem to be a designer at all.
Even in the article you link to he’s only a “designer” in the headline, not in the actual text, and he doesn’t describe himself as such on his own LinkedIn page. He’s a manager / “serial entrepreneur” type.
In the paid-for puff piece you link to, he does say something interesting about his watches:
Since every new affiliate of Devide gets one, that must mean it’s a tiny MLM, whose growth is inherently limited by how many of these extremely rare watches they can get their hands on. It seems a strange business model.
Alas, the notion of exclusivity is soon shown to be a transparent marketing lie by a quick look at the company’s website.
The “only 100” turns out to mean “100 to 300 pieces” per model, but more importantly: they list no less than 120 “models” (which are actually the same few models in different colors and with different straps).
Their design is wholly unremarkable, BTW, and the movements by their own admission are bog-standard OEM ones, from ETA and Ronda.
Price point: such things start at under $10 for a Ronda quartz movement, at about $40 for an ETA mechanical one.
Amusing fact: the brand is so obscure, and so deliberately named to be confused with a well-known one, that when I searched for “Hauger watch”, Google thought I might have mistyped, and wanted to search for “Heuer watch” instead.
I got the same offer, to be their brand ambassador, first I thought it was a job offer, then the guy where tried to avoid telling me about the company.
Instead he kept sending me videos about the idea. So my MLM alarm start tingling..
He also used the name of this Swedish guy.. Lindberg – and the name sounded familiar.. But only because there’s a real designer called the same. But they are not the same person.
Luckely I sad no thanks to the guy.. And reported his ass.