The Four Percent Group launched in mid 2016 and operate in the online marketing MLM niche.

The company is based out of the US state of South Dakota and is headed up by Founder and CEO, Vick Strizheus (actual name Vitaliy Strizheus).

According to his The Four Percent Group corporate bio, Strizheus (right) “started from zero back in 2006”.

Strizheus’ journey “from zero” in 2006 saw him arrested for insurance fraud in 2007. Prosecutors trying the case referred to Strizheus as a “con man”.

Strizheus plead guilty to one count of grant theft and was sentenced to 90 days in prison, commuted to time served on weekends because of his wife and three children.

Strizheus was also sentenced to five years supervised probation, after which he joined Empower Network in 2012.

Strizheus built his Empower Network business under “Big Idea Mastermind” branding.

As of 2014, Big Idea Mastermind was the largest downline team in Empower Network.

In May 2014 Strizheus abruptly announced he was leaving Empower Network and Big Idea Mastermind.

The details of Strizheus’ departure are still shrouded in mystery. In a video message Strizheus hinted at regulatory problems in South Dakota, however this was never elaborated on.

Outside of Empower Network, Big Idea Mastermind had its own products and services ($47 to $50,000) – complete with a single-level compensation plan.

For all intents and purposes, Big Idea Mastermind was Strizheus’ foundation for The Four Percent Group.

Read on for a full review of The Four Percent Group MLM opportunity.

The Four Percent Group Products

The Four Percent Group is rooted in online marketing training – with a particular focus on traffic generation.

Products featured on The Four Percent Group website include:

  • Operation 100K
  • Your Credit Blueprint
  • Engagement Secrets
  • PowerDay
  • SEO Mastery
  • Insta Traffic Mastery
  • Advanced Video Secrets
  • Email Traffic Mastery
  • Content Traffic Mastery
  • Display Traffic Mastery
  • Facebook Traffic Mastery
  • Influencer Traffic Mastery
  • List Building Secrets
  • Mobile Traffic Mastery
  • PPC Traffic Mastery
  • Retargeting Traffic Mastery
  • Systems Traffic Mastery
  • Traffic Locator Secrets
  • Twitter Traffic Mastery
  • YouTube Traffic Mastery

The Four Percent Group claims their ‘programs will help you become the most powerful, influential and dominant figure in your space.‘

No retail pricing or product information is provided on The Four Percent Group website.

The company demands people join The Four Percent Group before providing even basic information about their programs.

Access to The Four Percent Group is available at three membership tiers:

  • Lite – $7 a month
  • Pro – $49 a month (annual option also available, cost not disclosed)
  • Pro Elite – $5000 a year

Some products are bundled with these membership options, otherwise an affiliate must purchase a product before they earn commissions on it.

I’ve seen the total cost of The Four Percent Group’s products pegged at upwards of $12,000 ($1000 a month in expenses alone).

Given the lack of official information provided however I haven’t been able to verify that figure.

The Four Percent Group Compensation Plan

The Four Percent Group pay commissions down three levels of recruitment (unilevel):

  • level 1 (personally recruited affiliates) – 40%
  • levels 2 and 3 – 10%

Joining The Four Percent Group

The Four Percent Group affiliate membership is $197.

There also appears to be a $49 monthly option for some reason.

Commission qualification for all of The Four Percent Group’s products appears to cost an additional $12,000 or so with about $1000 in ongoing monthly fees.

Conclusion

The Four Percent Group is basically a marketing funnel you pay thousands of dollars to access, with potential earnings if you manage to sell the funnel to others.

That’s pretty much it.

In the aftermath of the recent FTC shutdowns of Digital Altitude and MOBE, requests for a The Four Percent Group review came flooding in.

I had looked at The Four Percent Group around the time at launch, however at the time it wasn’t paying tiered commissions (ie. it wasn’t MLM).

That’s to the best of my knowledge, as information presented on The Four Percent Group website is intentionally sparse.

That’s because the aim is to get you to sign up before they divulge anything significant – The Four Percent Group is after all a marketing funnel.

A key area the FTC went after Digital Altitude and MOBE was fraudulent income representations.

In Digital Altitude you had a “step by step roadmap to climb the (income) mountain). In MOBE it was a 21 step system.

In The Four Percent Group it’s a bunch of challenges, each pegged to a specific dollar amount ($10,000, $100,000 and $1,000,000).

The Four Percent Group’s regulatory litmus test would be whether a significant number of affiliates and customers are reaching touted income amounts.

Here, for example, is actual marketing copy from the Four Percent Group website;

Imagine getting coached directly by an 8-figure internet entrepreneur on exactly how to go from zero to your first $10,000… $100,000… and even $1,000,000 – step-by-step, day-by-day in a “look-over-the-shoulder” format.

No matter what it is you’re promoting or selling, if you dare to take The Challenge, you will rise yourself head and shoulders above everybody else in your space, multiply your results, and become UNSTOPPABLE.

This wasn’t the case in Digital Altitude or MOBE, and realistically probably isn’t the case in The Four Percent Group either.

Just from the name of the products, they exist solely to “teach” subscribers how to promote The Four Percent Group.

That’s only going to generate so much income for a small number of affiliates, with all but the tiniest percentage generating anywhere near one million dollars.

The Four Percent Group fail to provide any sort of income disclosure statement, meaning who’s making what is a total mystery.

The Four Percent Group do claim on their website that they have 300,000+ members and 100,000+ affiliates.

Whether “members” includes ex-affiliates is unclear.

Either way, the intention behind providing these figures is to create the impression of strong retail sales.

In reality, given how little The Four Percent Group disclose on their websites, it’s improbable that there’s any significant retail activity going on.

Even if we take the 300,000 vs. 100,000 figures at face value, revenue wise you’re going to have affiliates buying the more pricey products – simply because if they don’t then they don’t earn on them when those recruited buy them.

That alone puts a big question mark on the intent behind the majority of product purchases, and drags The Four Percent Group into potential pyramid scheme territory.

Especially when one of the touted benefits of The Four Percent Group membership is the ability to “earn commissions from membership referrals”.

With respect to the FTC, an investigation would likely reveal only material differences between The Four Percent Group, Digital Altitude and MOBE.

In fact given the similarities and the FTC’s current interest in big-ticket MLM companies, I’d be very surprised if there wasn’t an open The Four Percent Group investigation.

In the meantime as an existing The Four Percent Group affiliate, look at what’s touted and what you’re actually or potentially actually going to earn.

Challenges and automation are all very well, but if you’re just pumping money into an automated system to earn when others pump money into the same automated system – it’s the marketing funnel you’re actually paying for.

Another angle to consider is whether you, as a visitor to The Four Percent Group website, would consider purchasing anything based solely on the information provided and without the attached income opportunity.

That is of course a rhetorical question because we both already know the answer.

 

Update 25th September 2021 – As per reader comments below (#10), sometime after this review was published The Cour Percent Group abandoned its MLM compensation model.

The Four Percent Group does not provide compensation details on its website.

From what I’ve been able to gather, affiliates earn 30% on the personal sale of Four Percent Group products. These sales can be to recruited affiliates or retail customers.

MLM or not, The Four Percent Group failing to disclose affiliate costs and commissions on their website is a potential violation of the FTC Act.