NeedsLike Review: Social media rigging and MLM?

There is no information on the NeedsLike website indicating who owns or runs the business.

We, NEEDS GLOBAL, INC. is a leader in online Forex trading since Dec 2004.

We do provide services including Bank Guarantee (BG), Stand-By Letter of Credit and Medium Term Notes (MTN).

We are having highly experienced staff of 25 Social Media Experts that provide on demand, instant and convenient way to deliver solutions to your social needs. Also we are making sure your orders are processed perfectly.

The language above (grammar) suggests NeedsLike is likely run by Indians.

The NeedsLike website domain (“needslike.com”) was registered on the 26th of September 2014 and lists a “Melissa Medina” from “Needs Global INC” as the owner. An address in Panama is also provided.

The address provided for Needs Global is “The Century Tower Building Ricardo J Alfaro Street, Panama”. Research reveals other business supplying floor and suite numbers in this building, indicating that NeedsLike is not actually based at this address.

Furthermore the name “Melissa Medina” does not appear anywhere on the internet in conjunction with NeedsLike or Needs Global INC, save for the registration of the NeedsLike website domain.

Alexa also currently estimates that 38.5% of all traffic to the NeedsLike website is from India.

Promotional material from NeedsLike affiliates reveals Indian names being used to push the scheme, with at least one affiliate comparing the company to Speak Asia:

Speak Asia was one of India’s largest MLM Ponzi schemes to date. The multi-million dollar fraud was shut down by Indian regulators back in 2011.

Given all of the above, it’s highly probable that Melissa Medina doesn’t exist, along with NeedsLike’s purported office in Panama.

NeedsLike is being run out of India by Indians who, for reasons known only unto themselves, do not want you to know who they are.

As always, if a MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money.

The NeedsLike Product Line

Before you can use our Services you need to register (for free) on our site. On registration you may provide an email and password, keep this safe at all times and do not disclose it to anybody.

Once you have submitted your registration request you will receive an e-mail from us (if your email is valid) acknowledging that we have received your personal information and setting out your account status.

Our Services are listed on our site. If you wish to order our Services then you must follow the instructions on our site to order our Services. Your order constitutes an offer to us to subscribe to our Services.

Without signing up as an affiliate, visitors to the NeedsLike website domain are provided no information about the business and are required to provide the company personal contact details in order to continue.

Bypassing NeedsLike’s capture page with a Google search reveals the company selling “training” positions which are bundled with social media interactions (Facebook likes, Google +1s, twitter followers, YouTube views etc.).

These services are available for purchase separately ($25 to $8000), with those not paying the $25 affiliate “training” fee counted as retail customers.

The NeedsLike Compensation Plan

Under the guise of selling “training packages” to affiliates, the NeedsLike compensation plan uses new affiliate funds and pays off those who joined earlier.

To participate in the NeedsLike compensation, affiliates are charged $25.

Training Packages

NeedsLike offer affiliates four training packages:

• SMTP01 – $25
• SMTP03 – $75
• SMTP07 – $175
• SMTP15 – $375

Each position is bundled with Facebook likes and a 6 month subscription to NeedsLike’s “social media e-megazine (sic)”.

Training Package ROI

When a NeedsLike affiliate purchases a training package, the company pays them a 6 week ROI as follows:

• SMTP01 – $60 ($10 a week)
• SMTP03 – $180 ($30 a week)
• SMTP07 – $420 ($70 a week)
• SMTP15 – $900 ($150 a week)

This ROI is paid out via an inhouse virtual currency NeedsLike call “gold coins” (10 gold coins = $1).

Referral commissions are paid out when recruiting affiliates purchase training packages.

NeedsLike pay out referral commissions down five levels of recruitment as follows:

• level 1 (personal recruits) – 40 cents a position
• levels 2 to 5 – 10 cents a position

Note that referral commissions are paid at the end of 6 weeks from the time of position purchase. Also which position is purchased doesn’t appear to have any impact on how much of a referral commission is paid out.

Binary Commissions

Residual commissions in NeedsLike are paid out using a binary compensation structure.

A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a binary team, with two sides directly under them (left and right):

The purchase of training packages are tracked along a NeedsLike affiliate’s downline, with packages assigned to following “Business Volume” points (BV):

• SMTP01 – 1 BV
• SMTP03 – 3 BV
• SMTP07 – 7 BV
• SMTP15 – 15 BV

BV is tracked on either side of the binary and matched according to a 1:1 ratio of 10 BV (10 BV on either side of the binary).

For each 10 BV matched pair of volume, a NeedsLike affiliate is paid $25. Used volume is flushed, with the system calculating and trying to match new volume daily.

Note that binary earnings are capped at 12 pairs a day ($300).

Binary Pair Bonuses

Upon reaching certain binary pair milestones, NeedsLike reward their affiliates with the following bonuses:

• 10 matched pairs = a “laptop”
• 20 matched pairs = “international tour with couple”
• 100 matched pairs = “car”
• 500 matched pairs = “Nissan” (car)
• 1500 matched pairs = “Audi” (car)
• 5000 matched pairs = “villa”

Mandatory Reinvestment

NeedsLike record commissions owed as RP points, with 1 RP point equal to $1.

Whenever a NeedsLike affiliate makes a withdrawal request (minimum $20, maximum $5000), 70% is paid out with the remaining 30% required to be reinvested back into training positions.

Joining NeedsLike

Affiliate membership with NeedsLike is $25.

Investment into a training package is required to participate in the NeedsLike compensation plan, adding an additional $25 to $375 to this cost.

Conclusion

Under the guise of rigging social media, NeedsLike present the familiar Ponzi scheme frontend with a binary backend.

Despite the professing that the company offers legitimate social media rigging, the reality is this is done by bots. You “purchase” your social media rigging and they set their botnet to work, with scripts providing the fake views, likes, followers etc.

Your basically paying NeedsLike for runtime on their computers.

That said, aside from breaking every social network or platform’s terms and conditions, I don’t think there’s a problem with the company selling their services. Without affiliate membership they can be purchased and that would constitute a retail sale.

The likelihood of this happening though? Considering all this stuff is readily available on sites like Fiver for peanuts, I’d say it’s pretty much guaranteed retail activity is not going to exist.

What you’ve got are affiliates signing up, paying their $25 participation fee and then investing in “training packages” on the expectation of an advertised 6-week >100% ROI.

The binary and referral commissions serve as a recruitment incentive, adding an additional pyramid scheme layer to the opportunity.

As with all Ponzi schemes, once new affiliate funds dry up NeedsLike will find itself unable to meet it’s 6 week ROI liabilities. Ditto referral commissions and binary bonuses.

The mandatory 30% reinvestment will serve to stretch out NeedsLike’s collapse, but ultimately the scheme will still run out of money.

Simply put you can’t pay out more than you bring in, and with NeedsLike doing just this every 6 weeks – a collapse is inevitable.

What happens then?

Well the anonymous admins have probably preloaded the crap out of the opportunity with positions for them and their buddies. By the time new sucker money dries up they’d have already withdrawn the lion’s share of funds entering the system (without the 30% re-investment to be sure).

Anyone who at that point hasn’t withdrawn more than they put in at that point (most people participating), loses out.

I don’t fancy the odds of anyone recovering your money from a person who doesn’t exist at a fictional office in Panama…