It’s no secret that India has become an MLM legitimacy warzone over the past decade or so. Legitimate MLM companies fight for market share in an industry space increasingly dominated by recruitment scams and dodgy investment schemes.

Whereas five or ten years ago these scams were low-key startups that usually had the rug pulled from under them before they gained any traction, as the market evolved these scams became increasingly sophisticated and widespread.

Here at BehindMLM I frequently receive requests from Indian readers wanting me to look into the multitude of scams running in their area. Unfortunately most of these are either not in English or don’t have a significant online presence for me to conduct any research into them.

They’re designed for a local Indian consumption, primarily targeting those who are in all likelihood ignorant of the main types of scams those following the MLM industry see around today.

Today the biggest Indian MLM scams involve hundreds of millions of dollars and swallow up ever-increasing numbers of the Indian general public. Figures that haven’t escaped the attention of the government.

The proliferation of scams in India operating within the MLM industry is the overall lack of enforcement and applicable laws to deal with large-scale scams. Currently any scam in India using an MLM compensation plan falls under the “Prize, Chits and Money Circulation Scheme (Banning) Act”.

The problem?

The Act was passed into law way back in 1978 and is woefully ill-equipped to deal with today’s scams. [Continue reading…]

iClubBiz was launched in April 2013 and operates in the travel club MLM niche.

The company is based in the US state of Iowa and is headed up by owner Jeffrey Evers (also known as Jeff Evers).

On the “about us” page Evers claims to have ‘been working on the iClubBiz program for over 10 years‘.

We launched a member benefit company in 2007, a nutraceutical company in 2009 and a travel company in 2010.

No further information is provided.

Read on for a full review of the iClubBiz MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the Rocket Cash Cycler website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Rocket Cash Cycler website domain (“rocketcashcycler.com”) was registered on the 12th of October 2012, however the domain registration is set to private. It’s additionally noted that the Rocket Cash Cycler website is hosted in Belize, a known tax haven.

Marketing videos on the Rocket Cash Cycler website were uploaded to a YouTube account owned by a “Daniel Butts”:

Butts isn’t credited as the owner of Rocket Cash Cycler anywhere on the company website, however another YouTube video names him as co-founder of the company:

Previously uploaded videos on Butts’ YouTube channel market another opportunity called “EZ Wealth Formula”. EZ Wealth Formula launched in mid 2012, costs $84 to join and pays affiliates to recruit new affiliates.

Butts’ videos appear on the official EZ Wealth Formula website, with the company’s domain (“ezwealthformula.com”) listing Daniel Butts as the domain owner. The EZ Wealth Formula domain registration also indicates Butts is operating out of British Columbia in Canada.

Read on for a full review of the Rocket Cash Cycler MLM opportunity. [Continue reading…]

The Rippln website contains no information about who owns or runs the business and only provides visitors with the following message:

Stay tuned for more updates about the release.

The Rippln website domain (“rippln.com”) was registered on the 23rd of September 2012, however the domain registration information is set to private.

On the Rippln Facebook page, a “Brian Underwood” is named as company CEO:

Underwood (photo right) describes himself as a “serial entrepreneur” and “global innovator” on his personal blog and claims to have been “building companies over 20 years”.

Underwood’s previous endeavours in the MLM industry include the creation of iZigg, which he served as CEO of.

iZigg was an opportunity that launched in 2010 and revolved around SMS and advertising. Here’s what fellow MLM blogger Ty Tribble over at MLM Blog had to say about iZigg shortly after launch:

iZigg Scam: Will The FTC Step In And File A Lawsuit To Shut This Down?

iZigg is a new MLM company that promises wealth based on text message advertising. This is a classic “lots of hype” money game that will not last.

Tribble names Underwood as having previously been involved in BurnLounge as a master-distributor and the National Sales Director of LocalAdLink.

BurnLounge was launched in April 2007 and by June the same year the FTC had filed a lawsuit alleging the company to be a pyramid scheme. The case concluded in January 2012 with a judge declaring BurnLounge to indeed be an illegal pyramid scheme.

Tribble claims Local Ad Link was also a “scam” and that it ‘had people paying a bunch of money to get listed on Google‘.

Read on for a full review of the Rippln MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

Ads Profit Reward was launched in late 2012 with the company claiming to be ‘managed by a team of international marketers with over 50 years of proven experience‘.

Tatiana Toganel, Miriam Bello, Victor Rival, Munir Jannedy and LeAndra Hammond are all named as being part of the Ads Profit Reward “team”, however specifics of the company’s executive management structure are not disclosed.

Out of the above names Tatiana Toganel has previously popped up on my radar as having been involved in Huge Yield and Ultamex.

Huge Yield was a short-lived recruitment driven pyramid scheme that no longer exists. Ultamex too relies on constant recruitment to pay out commissions but appears to still be operational.

Read on for a full review of the Ads Profit Rewards MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

The Yotta Money Hybrid domain (“yottamoneyhybrid.com”) was registered on the 10th of March 2013 but the domain registration information is set to private.

On the company’s website however an “Arindam Yinh” appears to be the owner. Further research reveals Yinh allegedly operating out of Mumbai in India.

When queried about past MLM ventures, Yinh replied

Its my first. Trying my luck…

Read on for a full review of the Yotta Money Hybrid business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

Team National is ‘a multi-million dollar, debt free, direct sales company’ operating out of the US state of Florida.

Team National was founded by Richard (Dick) Loehr in 1997 and eventually launched as a standalone MLM company in 1999, selling discount memberships.

Sadly after battling cancer for a decade, Loehr passed away in 2008, however company ownership was retained by the Loehr family.

Today Team National is managed by his daughter, Angela Loehr Chrysler (photo right), who serves as the company’s CEO and President. Loehr’s husband, Phil Chrysler serves as Team National’s Executive Vice-President.

Loehr Chrysler’s background is in medical and automotive sales (non-MLM), which she then left in 2000 to work with her father at Team National.

Angela left medical sales in September 2000, to work with Team National and was instrumental in launching National Travel Services, which she ran for two years.

In the next several years, she became more involved with all aspects of marketing and launching products and services for the Team National membership.

In 2002, Angela became Executive Vice President of Team National. She worked closely with her father, Dick Loehr.

In October 2005, Angela became President of Team National. Angela worked closely with the sales field committees and began overseeing operations with Dick mentoring her.

In October 2007, Dick stepped back from overseeing the company; he passed the torch to Angela, making her CEO.

Loehr Chrysler also holds positions in the Direct Selling Association’s Communications and Strategic Planning Committees and Family Owned Council.

Read on for a full review of the Team National MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

Gas Club of America was launched in late 2012 and is owned by parent company “Dream Starters LLC”.

Dream Starters LLC and Gas Club of America are based in the US state of Texas and are headed up by CEO and President, Troy Mason.

This appears to be Mason’s first MLM venture, although he has launched several non-MLM companies since the conception of Dream Starters LLC back in 1997.

A marketing video on Gas Club of America’s website goes into more detail.

Read on for a full review of the Gas Club of America MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

There is no information on the Daily Turbo Pay website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Daily Turbo Pay website domain was registered on the 22nd of January 2013 but the domain registration information is set to private.

Splattered all over the Daily Turbo Pay website however are a series of marketing videos featuring the Incredible Hulk David Dubbs (photo right).

Dubb’s describes himself as ‘a guy who’s gone out there and made a ton of money on the internet‘ and claims Daily Turbo Pay was ‘two years in the making‘.

In researching David Dubb’s MLM history I found involvement in several low-key opportunities, spanning back as far as 2007 (something called “EDC Gold”, which doesn’t exist anymore).

Listing Dubb’s involvement in various schemes is somewhat of an arduous task, so instead I’ll simply reproduce a quote from Warrior Forum’s “Loren Woirhaye” (2009):

He was very active with direct selling programs like EasyDailyCash and the 1-Step System – both defunct – he would jump into a new program every few months and customers who could afford to get into the new plan would follow.

There are re-curring patterns with all programs of this nature which lack a physical product. They generally fold after 6-24 months, leaving distributors out in the cold.

Read on for a full review of the Daily Turbo Pay MLM business opportunity. [Continue reading…]

Behind the VOIP mask, e-commerce programs, hotels and whatever else TelexFree attach themselves to is a simple MLM compensation structure:

Affiliates pay TelexFree $299 for an AdCentral account and TelexFree in turn pay that affiliate $20 a week for 52 weeks. These AdCentral accounts can be bought in bulk, which then increases the $20 a week payout.

Additionally, those that recruit new affiliates who buy these AdCentral accounts earn a $20 commission, or $100 if they purchase a bulk lot (referred to as an “AdCentral Family” account).

Where do these $20 a week payments come from?

That much should be obvious…

Meanwhile one would think that offering a $20 payment for a week would constitute a guaranteed payment, however that isn’t the case and there seems to be some confusion on the matter [Continue reading…]