Myanmar bans MLM outright, affiliates face prison time
Myanmar, a nation in south-east Asia, has banned multilevel marketing completely.
On September 18th the Ministry of Commerce issued notification 46/2018, which prohibits operation and promotion of MLM companies in Myanmar.
Any MLM companies found operating in Myanmar after September 18th risk further action. Individuals running or promoting MLM companies risk a six month to three-year prison sentence and a fine of up to K500,000 ($315 USD).
Speaking to local media, Zayar Swe, Deputy Director of the Consumer Affairs Department, stated;
The department has received many complaints about the MLM. We could do nothing as we received no order to deal with these complaints.
Now the Consumer Affairs Department has been tasked with doing it.
The department will take legal action against MLM when it receives complaints.
Personally I’m not aware of any MLM companies with strong affiliate-bases in Myanmar.
Neighboring Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia however are hotbeds for MLM cryptocurrency fraud, so perhaps that spurred the MoC into action.
MLM companies are unlikely to have actual business operations in Myanmar, leaving authorities only able to go after local promoters.
It seems the Ministry of Commerce has decided it’s easier to just ban the entire MLM industry.
Read more on:
frontiermyanmar.net/en/anti-mlm-activist-on-66d-charge-appears-in-court
All countries should do the same and ban MLM. No one, except the very top uplines, ever make any significant money from MLM.
I’ve met dozens of MLMers over the past 20 years who claimed they were making good money, but it turned out to be exaggeration, false belief or just plain lies.
The best way to earn money online is to become an honest affiliate of a good product or service. So you just get paid a regular commission for retail product/service sales (no upline or downline BS).
The Assistant Secretary General of the SEC in Thailand has come out at a recent blockchain conference, addressing ICO’s, stating that Onecoin is a simple ponzi scheme…
SOURCE: siamblockchain.com/2018/09/20/onecoin-just-ponzi/
@James Nicol
Agreed! That is also my opinion.
In Germany, I observe that the importance of MLM and Network is decreasing dramatically. Here is a clear example:
In 2004, the German MLM Forum mlm-infos.com was founded. Total registered members: 20,529
But who writes or advertises in this forum today? The right column is interesting in the following screenshot, which shows how many comments have been written since July 1:
NOLINK://share-your-photo.com/a50a936201
For comparison: 10 years ago, more posts were written in one day than today in two and a half months! There used to be several moderators in the forum, but what are they supposed to do today? If you look at it realistically, MLM and Network in Germany is almost dead.
MLM seems to be losing steam in North America and Western Europe. Soon the rest of the developing world will know this is crap.
When a bank robber uses a getaway car, it’s not the car that’s the problem, it’s the bank robber.
It’s the same for MLM. MLM is simply a marketing vehicle. It’s not MLM that’s the problem. It’s fraud that’s the problem.
The reason so many fraudsters use MLM is that it’s very effective.
The solution is very simple: Ban any compensation plan that pays out according to personal consumption i.e. make all affiliate positions available at zero cost.
Great, sign me up. No point in paying retail, as a customer, when I don’t have to.
For the recruiting affiliate, I think I’ll create some fake customers and order under them.
I agree with the notion, but merely pointing out the inherent flaw with MLM. It is what it is and can’t be fixed – or it wouldn’t be MLM. Perhaps this is why it’s been operating the way it has. Slaps forehead.