BehindMLM’s State of the Scam [2023]
Today on April 10th, 2023, BehindMLM turned thirteen.
For too many years I’ve been wanting to put out an annual post discussing where the MLM industry is at.
I last did this in 2015 but since then one thing or another has come up around this time of year. Typically, if there’s no news to cover I look at my review list and have decided to focus on that instead.
This year there’s about three companies on my shorter review list. I tend to get through these before tackling larger reviews.
I can’t remember every year but, due to the explosion of MLM crypto fraud, typically my shorter review list has had anywhere between fifteen to thirty companies to review.
No matter how quickly I got through reviews though, there was always more companies being added.
The reason things are different this year is simple: following the Terra/Luna collapse in May 2022, crypto is general has nosedived.
The decline of MLM crypto fraud
It took a while for this to translate across to MLM related crypto fraud but, slowly but surely, overall MLM crypto launches are way down. Existing MLM crypto companies are struggling to stay afloat – if they haven’t already collapsed.
As far as I can tell, the pool of new victims entering MLM crypto schemes has declined dramatically. This started around August 2022 and began to peak running into Christmas.
In early 2023 I noted a number of schemes launched with domains registered pre May 2022. There seems to have been a pause on a number of launches following Terra/Luna.
Universally these schemes failed to gain any traction. Simply put: the MLM crypto climate isn’t any better today than it was throughout Q3 and Q4 2022.
Hopefully the MLM crypto fraud space continues to decline. This will have a lot to do with crypto in general though.
US authorities are spearheading efforts to tackle cryptocurrency in general (we’re past the point of pretending it has any legitimate use-case).
Do Kwon, the guy who ran Terra/Luna, was recently arrested trying to board a flight from Montenegro to Dubai.
Sam Bankman-Fried, who ran the collapsed FTX exchange Ponzi scheme, was criminally charged and arrested back in January.
The SEC filed securities fraud civil charges against Justin Sun and TRON on March 22nd.
The CFTC filed commodities fraud civil charges against Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and Binance on March 27th.
Criminal charges against both Sun and CZ are likely pending.
If you look at bitcoin you might be wondering why, in spite of these events, it’s currently sitting at ~$28,000.
This is mostly due to the tether pump and dumpers (push button on laptop, generate billion tether on demand, sell tether for USD, use USD to buy and pump bitcoin, repeat).
Look for legal action against tether and its operators after criminal charges against Sun and CZ have dropped – possibly earlier depending on what’s going on behind the scenes.
In between the cases above, there have been multiple crypto exchange Ponzi schemes retreating from the US, and/or shutting down and/or collapsing.
There’s also the issue of banking offramps disappearing (e.g. Signature Bank, Silvergate), making it harder for crypto investors to cash out.
One could make the argument that AI might resurrect the crypto grifts now that NFTs and the metaverse are completely dead, but I think that’s unlikely.
AI is, for the most part, progressing as a stand-alone emerging industry (the AI industry has been around for years but has only recently really taken off).
I’m sure blockchain AI grifters out there trying to piggyback but, at least as far as I’m aware, nobody is paying them much attention.
MLM fraud geography
Dubai remains the epicenter of MLM related fraud. Authorities there are unreliable if not outright deceptive, and this extends well beyond MLM related fraud to fraud in general.
Just a few days ago a Dubai court denied extradition of the Gupta Brothers from Dubai to South Africa.
A United Arab Emirates court has dismissed South Africa’s request to extradite Atul and Rajesh Gupta, brothers who face charges of political corruption, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said on Friday.
The court had ruled that the UAE had jurisdiction to prosecute the Guptas for money-laundering offences alleged to have been committed in the UAE and South Africa, Lamola said.
He added that South Africa would “promptly appeal” the decision, which he said “flies in the face of assurances given by the UAE authorities”.
The UAE ratified an extradition treaty with South Africa in April 2021, a move South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government had hoped would lead to the return of the Guptas to face charges.
The UAE obviously has no standing to prosecute the Guptas. What they likely want though is a cut of the $32 billion the Guptas stole before they fled.
On the victim side of things hotspots I noticed over the last year include Colombia and France. To a lesser extent neighbouring countries too (especially in South America).
The US and Canada of course had their usual fair share of exposure to scams – but for the most part recruitment emphasis was on third-world countries.
For most of 2023 thus far I haven’t really noticed any obvious geographical trends.
Rise of the YouTube scamfluencer and Telegram scam groups
Traditional MLM fraud entry ramps, like FaceBook, isn’t really being used by anyone over 50. That’s reflective of FaceBook in general. While there is a lot of crypto chatter on Twitter, it’s not really being used to market MLM schemes.
This shift has given rise to the “investment fraud” YouTuber. These people openly promote scams on YouTube and can usually be identified by the catchphrase “this is not financial advice” (which legally doesn’t count for anything).
Promotion of fraudulent MLM schemes on YouTube typically funnels victims toward shady Telegram groups. Perhaps WhatsApp too if you’re in India and/or south-east Asia.
Authorities and regulators typically don’t go after communication platforms. Whether YouTube itself does something is hard to predict.
Don’t expect anything from Telegram; it’s owned by Russians, operated through a BVI shell company and headquartered in Dubai.
If YouTube does decide to tackle fraud promo videos it probably won’t be any time soon. YouTube can’t seem to do anything about hijacked channels streaming recycled Elon Musk webinar footage, with disabled comments and crypto scam links in the stream chatbox.
I saw a few Andrew Tate ones pop up on my YouTube home screen as soon as recent news of his release broke too.
The broader MLM industry
A general trend I’ve seen emerge over the last year or so is established MLM companies being sold off.
This is a combination of
- older company owners wanting out;
- economies around the world struggling (less money for people to spend on MLM); and
- MLM companies failing to recover from COVID-19 economic conditions (and then getting walloped by the current economic climate).
There haven’t been many launches over the past year (April to April). And the companies that have launched haven’t really taken off after their initial launch hype. Elomir and Awakend come to mind as two prominent examples.
One stand out is LiveGood – although from what I’ve seen it’s unfortunately just being promoted as a product-based pyramid scheme.
With the decline in MLM crypto schemes popping up, I’m really hoping to be able to redirect focus on the broader MLM industry. I’m not as tuned in on what’s happening as much as I’d like to be.
I also have some wider MLM content ideas I’d like to explore at some point but haven’t had time for.
MLM regulation
The SEC and DOJ remain at the forefront of regulation of MLM related fraud. We haven’t really seen anything substantial from the FTC in a while.
Decisions in the FTC’s Success by Health and Neora cases remain pending. These decisions are long overdue and have been dragging on for months. The Neora and Success by Health trials wrapped up last October and this February respectively.
FTC actions against MLM companies have been dogged by uncertainty created by the Supreme Court’s AMG decision in 2021.
The FTC worked around the AMG decision in both the SBH and Neora cases but, pending published orders, things remain in limbo.
I don’t think we’ll see anything substantial till both cases are resolved. And if the FTC loses either case, there’s likely to be further delays in regulation as the impact of the orders is interpreted with respect to MLM regulation going forward.
The FTC was pushing for Congress to resolve the issue but I haven’t seen anything recent on that.
BehindMLM itself
BehindMLM is in a pretty good place at the moment. I’ve obviously had to adjust down a bit as living costs have increased but for the most part I’ve got what I need to work.
Obviously after 14 years my routine is pretty well established, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.
With respect to BehindMLM’s site design I like where it’s at. Functional and information first. I know the overall design is dated but this doesn’t bother me.
I will have to do something when WordPress’ “Classic Editor” plugin is retired – but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it (the plugin was originally meant to be retired in 2021).
A FAQ and some additional enhancements remain pending (comment guidelines and somewhere I can leave a quick note to readers if I need to). These are things I’ve been wanting to get to for years, but I always prioritize content first.
As I look back on my 2015 “State of the Industry Address” (I think “State of the Scam” is a bit more catchy), not a lot has changed with respect to my editorial philosophy.
I’ve published an additional 6000+ articles since the 2015 update. It’s reassuring to know, in retrospect, that I was on the right track all those years ago.
Once I’ve freed up a bit more time towards the end of this year and I’ve got time to explore topics in more detail, I’m looking forward to expanding our coverage into the more theoretical arena too. This includes opinion pieces and more exploratory articles.
Right now I’m sort of in a news/review lockdown, which can get a bit stale.
Some things however haven’t changed.
It’ll probably take a few months yet to fully hit but I’m hoping the decline of MLM crypto fraud gives me a bit more downtime. It hasn’t been unusual for me to work seven days a week since crypto fraud really took off circa 2017 or so.
I enjoy what I do so this isn’t a complaint. There’s something uniquely satisfying about researching a scheme, covering it as it inevitably collapses, following up when authorities catch up, and tracking proceedings till someone’s fined and/or winds up in prison.
It’s an itch I don’t think I’d be able to scratch in too many other professions.
My mind definitely needs a rest though. Running BehindMLM can be very mentally taxing. It’s not one thing in particular but rather all the aspects of operation combined.
I’m acutely aware BehindMLM is the largest repository of MLM related research and information that exists anywhere, and that’s sometimes daunting to comprehend.
Overall I wouldn’t say I’m burnt out but I’m perhaps occasionally “simmered out”. Things tend to pile up around you if you remain hyper focused on one aspect of your life over an extended period of time.
Certainly my dedication to BehindMLM has cost me dearly in some aspect of my life. This is glaringly obvious as I look back on the years since my 2015 update.
Waking up every day and going toe to toe with criminals, often for years before authorities catch up, takes its toll. But it’s a price I’ve been willing to pay (at least where I’ve had a choice).
If I can make even a small positive difference in people’s lives through awareness and education, I think that’s a worthwhile endeavour to pursue.
And after all these years and when all is said and done, I draw comfort in knowing I’ll have left my mark on the world in my own way.
These principles always have and will continue to guide BehindMLM’s editorial process. That and the popcorn laughs, which I can seemingly never get enough of.
As always, thanks for reading. I do intend to keep up with “State of the Scam” annually, so look out for another update on April 10th next year.
Keep up the good work!
You have saved me a lot of money with your reviews. Some say you are just negative. I say you have been spot on sincce 99.9 percent of the ops out there are scams.
Thanks for all your hard work!
Well done Oz.
You provide a great service that pisses off the scammers 24/7.
Keep it up.
Oz, I have no idea how you do it! I don’t always like what you publish, but that’s actually to your credit – for the most part, the truth hurts and you are an equal opportunity offender.
I keep coming back for more because you don’t tend to pull any punches, and your analysis of each company/situation is extensive and insightful.
Keeping up with the Crypto scams alone is more than a full-time proposition – I’m relieved that they are at last starting to wane.
We’re all scrapping for crumbs these days, and as our industry continues to consolidate and “right size”, I for one would gladly pay a nominal subscription fee to keep you supported on top of things!
Thanks for doing a great job. It is greatly appreciated.
Happy birthday! And thanks for all you do.
Thank you for your service Oz. The truth is vital and important in this day and age because people need to know.
So even if most won’t accept it, some will give you that respect for saving them time, money and energy.
If you keep posting, I’ll keep reading my friend.
And happy 13th birthday to you!
Keep up the good fight, Oz.
Just touching on a few points. South Africa is a hotspot for all sorts of fraud, especially affinity fraud within the conservative Afrikaans community.
These are people who like to think of themselves as fairly intellegent, use all sorts of religious justifications to get involved, and yet constantly find themselves at the center of all sorts of schemes.
Social media is such a crap pool with hoe it allows these schemes to spread. No matter how many times I keep reporting obvious schemes, FB just keeps coming back with “although this post doesn’t go against our community standards….”, and yet it very clearly does go against it.
Ineffective, horribly, horribly ineffective.
I’ve been following behindmlm since the start and you do an amazing job at not only exposing but explaining these scams..
I couldn’t imagine fighting the good fight without behindmlm…
Keep up the great work Oz..
Oz.. anytime I cross paths with a prospect who happens to be with a particular company, Behind MLM is my go to source for getting a good look at their “opportunity.” So, thank you and do keep up the good work.
Thank you for your amazing work. Can’t imagine a life without a good Oz review at my breakfast table.
Take good care of yourself and your love ones.
Ps. I wouldn’t mind to contribute monthly.
Thanks for the work you do. You’ve undoubtedly saved researches tens of millions and cost the scammers even more. Keep patrolling!
There are another scammers who just robbed gullible investors – Aleno.
sorry for the typo – it was Alenol
Thanks for everything you do!
Thanks for your work Oz, and congratulations.
You’re a hero!
<3
Re. financial assistance; Thanks. If BehindMLM was ever under financial threat I'd let the community know before making any drastic decisions.
@Rebecca
Whatever Alenol was it's website is now down. Not much point covering a company after the fact. I haven't looked into whether Alenol was even MLM.
Happy Birthday to behindMLM and congratulations and blessings Oz in all you do for all of us.
A bright shining light illuninating the darkness of criminals. A beacon of truth to all who will listen. Here’s to many more great years.
You do a great job. For my research and reporting on OneCoin, Ruja Ignatova and her lovers, I heavily relied and will rely on BehindMLM. Thanks a lot.
By the way, I found a new friend via behind MLM: “Melanie from Germany”. Thank you OZ.
Congratulations Oz!
BehindMLM became my favorite resource when I had to argue with CryptoScam fans. If my interlocutor keeps insisting on the legality and good intentions of this “business opportunity” after sharing a BehindMLM article I know I’m dealing with a blatant scammer.
As talking about South America being a target of crypto scams, I want to point out that there are several factors that made it possible:
– Dolarized economies (Panama, Ecuador, and de facto Venezuela)
– A second “black” economy (Argentina and its several “dollars” exchange rates is a perfect example)
– Lots of money of shady business (Colombia, Peru, Brazil) from drugtrafficking
– High poverty and mistrust in authorities.
– And countries like Panama and Uruguay that are basically (or try to be) tax havens
And regarding MLM promotion, please do not forget about the role of Instagram played in promoting Shitcoins and CryptoGurus that nowadays are rushing to deleting all posts in which they showed “how successful they were while partying in Dubai, Maldives or Panama with other people’s money”
I’ll be looking forward to reading about SBF and CZ’s future excuses.
This is a thoughtful look back at the state of the profession (and all the parasites surrounding it) for the last year. Appreciate your work. -RG
Thank you so much for everything you have done, its helped me massively. I also hope you are doing well, good Oz.
Thanks Oz, for all your work. The review is thoughtful stuff. And I found your insights into the future of the ‘industry’ really interesting.
I found your review of the WeWe/Lyopay/LyoFI scam very helpful in dealing with the people around me that have bought into it. Stay safe!
Great job, Oz. I appreciate all the pertinent information you uncovered and provided to us. I look forward to your emails all the time. Please keep up the good work.
CONGRATS for all OZ!
Alessandro from Italy
After closure of WWSN, I switched my allegiance to this website, and on the rare occasions, I have been able to add knowledge of your already well researched posts has been good for all.
Excellent work as always Oz and very well done – please do continue simmering – a great place to be.
As a person who runs many (too many!) Facebook groups, I still see lots of scams, presently around Binance. A great worry.
Happy Birthday Behind MLM! It’s a real pleasure reading these comments, as the appreciation is well deserved. I’ve understood crypto scams early on (having been a huge proponent of bitcoin for the past decade), but always struggled with understanding the structure of MLM related scams.
The combined knowledge of both is a discipline you quickly picked up on and have helped many also readily recognize more clearly.
Here’s to your good health and longevity. It would be amazing if it were possible to quantify the amount of heartache, broken marriages and families, let alone the money(!!!), which you’ve saved potential victims (and even victims) who found BMLM or were referred to it through the smallest bit of Due Diligence!
The dollar amount would certainly exceed the GDP of some countries! Lol! Thanks you for all your good work.
Even though i disagree with a lot of your biased opinions, i do admit BehindMLM is my #1 go to place, when it comes to getting some briefs on the ponzi playa’s & Boris CEO’s.
Most CRA’s organisations charge $100’s for access to info like you have.
M
And I’m sure that they will arrest and charge the owners of the LiveGood Company because not only is it a enticement of guaranteeing people $2047.50 for doing nothing, but it also fits your description of crypto scams.
That’s how they are growing so fast because they’re allowing people from Third World and scam countries that cannot receive product to still purchase using crypto.
??? SOP? OR the start of something new; ie, “exit”?
Binance has been juggling stablecoins for a while. Looks like it’s bleeding into the rest too.
Number only goes up if the bots are left to wash trade. Bagholders withdrawing has too much of an impact with negligible new money coming in, so here come withdrawal delays/restrictions.
Same as any Ponzi scheme, only one reason to stop paying out.
I’m hear to learn more about crypto scams.
It has been very useful years of exposing Ponzis. Keep up the good work.
keep up the good work @Oz!
just out of curiosity, what was the first crypto MLM reviewed on BehindMLM?
Happy Birthday!!
I feel that you are a great contributor to the people and even the profession of MLM. I may not agree with some of your views sometime but without doubt, your contribution has been very valuable.
I feel that the crypto mlm explosion is similar to when we had an explosion of sales of gold and silver deals in the 90’s. Sadly, intentional or not all of them cross the grey line of legitimacy.
Another big explosion happening in the MLM scamming list are many of them dealing in the forex field, forex is a commodity, it is subject to regulations and licensing, therefore, unless the companies are properly registered, most of them will be illegal, and most of the illegal ones will be purposely run by scammers.
most of those companies are registered overseas. I think it is going to be as bad as crypto.
Thanks for the kind words.
I wrote this just after the ~$16,000-$17,000 lull. Although the future of cryptocurrency is more uncertain than ever, on the MLM side the scams have ramped back up.
Binance is resorting to football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo’s fame to launch NFTs
youtube.com/watch?v=GA_0qvv9lCM
Are NFTs still a thing?
ibb.co/0rPdyyQ
Is this a sign of despair?
NFTs are indeed dead and CZ has been sued by the SEC with a criminal indictment likely pending.
Just a matter of when they pick him up or the SEC’s case renders Binance’s operation untenable.
Thanks for all your hard work. For years I was taken in by the fraud of Stemtech’s head man – Ray Carter Jr. I drank the koolaid and believed all his propaganda around the bankruptcy his incompetency caused, even in the face of your reports.
Eventually the liquidation and trustee suit against him for mismanagement proved your reporting accurate.
It also came to light that Mr. Carter served time in federal prison for trafficking cocaine around the country – so I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that a zebra can’t change his stripes.
He further proved this when he tries to sabotage his own company after they were willing to keep him on after the reorganization.
He was actively recruiting us to a new company – Stemsation – while claiming to work for their best interests. Stemtech’s lawsuit against him clearly outlines this.
What is sad, a search of his court records show he has now turned his despicable ways against his former wife.
My God help that woman, as his court cases in Oregon, Texas, Delaware, and Florida all show time and again the man can’t help but lie and try to cause harm. I’m sure he’s doing that there too, and I think they have kids.
Maybe you should do a follow up on him? As he is still actively trying to use Stemsation Holding Corp to attack his “enemies”.
The man needs to be stopped, or at least prevented from furthering his criminal ways.
BehindMLM tracks MLM companies, not individuals.
Obviously individuals are part of our MLM coverage but we don’t do “follow ups on individuals” outside of MLM so to speak.
Hi Oz,
As you probably know, I’m trying to keep up with Lyopay etc. Today I googled Lyopay and came up with Danny De Hek’s site. In the comments underneath his stuff, there is a comment by Danny about a Press Release, saying Wewe globalscheme collapses, leaving 300,000 investers devistated.
There is also more detail. The comment by Danny is ‘a day ago’ i.e.13 July.
Is this true? Can you verify Danny’s comment?
Keep safe!
DY
I didn’t see anything on DeHek’s website but did find a press-release announcing WeWe Global’s collapse on his YouTube channel.
Underneath it is this:
Great job man. This is the most accurate source of information on current and past scams.
Thanks Oz, for your reply. Perhaps it was a bit naughty of Danny to put the disclaimer at the bottom! Perhaps as well I got too excited by the “press release’!
DY
Oz, please look into and report on (Ozedit: link removed, see below)
BitSports.AI – AI for sports trading arbitrage. Their 8 minute video has all the classic markings of a full-blown MLM scam based in Dubai (of course).
The key players are:
Hugo Rodriguez, CEO
Carlos Sarmiento, COO
Denisse Salas, PR Coordinator
Matt WL Noronha is the mouth piece/promoter appearing in the video.
Please help protect.
You and BehindMLM are doing a great job and service to the industry.
Best regards,
Dick Reed, Minnesota
Thanks for the support!
BitSports AI has already been reviewed. Search bar is on the top right of every page.