How to Combat Falsehoods: It's NOT a matter of opinion or being neutral!

As a skeptic, it is often troubling to see the amount of bogosity available in public, much less the Internet, where anyone with some free time can offer advice, and many people just eat them up, with absolutely zero due diligence about the veracity of the information received. It doesn't help when social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and so on help (inadvertently) spread the misinformation.

Recently, a post on Slate documented how the subreddit /r/askHistorians struggle to control the deliberate misinformation campaign by Holocaust deniers, and how social media, afraid of lawsuits, basically left them to say ANYTHING they wanted. Fortunately, that subreddit has a crew of volunteer moderators that use the banhammer when it was called for.

And what they found about Holocaust deniers applies to ALL sorts of deniers, such as antivaxxers, pyramid scheme and ponzi scheme proponents, and so on. You should go read the article yourself, as I will only be discussing their findings.  Deniers generally use these tactics:

1) Cite bogus experts who are proven to have ignored facts that did not fit their narrative, or experts who had nothing to do with their field, but merely sympathetic to their field.

Holocaust deniers cite David Irving and Fred Leuchter

Antivaxxers cite Andrew Wakefield, Bob Sears, and Mercola.

Scam proponents cite their own leader(s) or uplines

2) Cite minor mistakes in citings and frame it as "Just Asking Questions"

Otherwise known as "JAQing off", this technique requires a lot of effort to dispell since there are an infinite amount of details they can focus on while sounding earnest, usually by leaving out the context of the question.

Holocaust deniers deny fundamental facts about the Holocaust, such as the number of deaths, whether Nazis have a campaign of extermination, and so on.

Antivaxxers are well known to deny that vaccines work at all, whether vaccines have eradicated most infectious diseases, and even deny that some infectious diseases are deadly.

Scam proponents are well known to deny their scheme is a scam, often even AFTER the scam had been shut down by authorities. They will often deny pyramid scheme by obfuscating-conflating it with "pyramid organization".

Attempting to engage them by doing the research does not appease them, but instead, waste a TON of time. They are NOT interested in the facts. Their questions, seemingly innocent, casts doubt on the facts: "if they didn't get this 100% right, what else did they get wrong?"

Scam Psychology: Theory on Stupidity, Scam, ponzi, and pyramid schemes

Ever heard of Professor Cipolla's theory on stupidity? Neither have I until recently, but it explains quite clearly how the world works, esp. scams.

According to professor Cipolla, you can measure a person by 2 axis: benefit derived from their own actions... and benefit to others because of their own actions

It roughly goes like this:

Cipolla's theory on stupidity, summarized

How to be a cranky troll: Guide to IGNORE all useful feedback

(Author's note: This is written as a contrarian piece... The advice is BAD for you, and you are meant to do exactly opposite of all this. Got that? Okay, enjoy.)

Do you have absolute belief in yourself, that you can do no wrong, therefore, everybody else must be wrong? Are you surrounded by people who intend to change your mind even though you know YOU are right and they are wrong, despite all evidence pointing to the contrary?

Here are six tips to help you silence the world and live only within your head where you are always right:


1. Reinterpret specific advice to be personal attack on you, your business, your "family"

Any and all advice that you don't like is obviously an attack on you, your "family", your business, and your way of life, no matter where it came from, including your dear mama. They obviously... "don't understand" about how you work, how you think, how you live and therefore they have no business giving you advice!  In fact, anything other than "great job" is an attack on your beliefs!


2. Ignore advice until they are no longer relevant, then rant about how the advice is useless

Ignore all advice until it becomes "overtaken by events"... i.e. completely useless, then claim the advice is useless. Go ahead and insult the advice giver as useless and worthless, never mind you never took the advice any way. That's merely some inconvenient truth to be swept under the carpet.

Mythbusting: The Trump University is based on (some) bogus research

Trump University was in the news a lot, and it seems it may be the only thing that really got Trump riled up, as it's something he can't deny or denigrate... since it's his own. So instead, he denigrated everybody else... including the judge, which lead to furious denunciation by Republican leadership, who are put between the rock and the hard place of "supporting" their presumptive nominee WHILE wondering WTF happened that lead to this guy winning. The furor was so loud even Trump himself furiously backpedaled, claiming his comments were "misconstrued".

But we know EXACTLY what you mean, Mr. Trump.

In digging through some info about the Trump University, I came across its sales playbook dug up by Politico a while back. And it has some interesting information in it. Basically, they don't talk to the media, they don't let the lecturers over promise (any such incidents are reported to main office), and they will use psychological pressure to push you into buying their more expensive courses...

Including a bogus urban myth, such as "most persuasive words... from Yale University"

On page 99 of the document, you can find this:

Trump University Playbook, as posted by Politico.com, see URL on top

The important part says:

The most persuasive words in the English language according to a study by the Psychology Department of Yale University are:  You, New, Money, Easy, Discovery, Free, Results, Health, Save, Proven, Guarantee, and Love

Except there was no such study. This is an urban legend.

MLM Basics: Is there such thing as "good MLM"?

The MLM Skeptic has been asked repeatedly, "is _____ a good MLM?"

The short answer is: I don't know.

The longer answer is: I don't know. I can't do your due diligence for you, as I am not you.

But perhaps here's a more philosophical question... Is there such as thing as a "good MLM"?

Almost every MLM claimed they are good, and some may go as far as point out a few "bad apples" that had been stopped by government action, but they won't name a running company, unless the company's so egregious nobody is surprised they got shut down, such as Monavie head outright stated that Zeek Rewards is a ponzi scheme.

But first, we have to answer the question...

"What is a 'good mlm'?"

Good for the participant, good for the society, or good for the owner(s)?

I am going to assume that by asking this question, the asker is looking for the right company to participate in, and therefore, 'good mlm' means a company that justly compensates the participant for the effort put in. The other two factors (good for owner, good for society) are not really relevant for the participant, but they'd be nice to have.

But what exactly means "justly compensates participant for the effort put in?" While it may be "obvious" to everyone that one wants to be paid the maximum amount for doing minimal work, the real world is exactly the opposite... companies want you to do the maximum work for the minimum pay. The actual amount of work and pay is somewhere in between... at least, that's what's supposed to happen in a real job. Nobody want to be paid peanuts for hard labor, and no company will pay 1M a year for doing something that can be done in a few minutes with minimum skills.

The next question we have to answer: in MLM, are you rewarded for your own efforts?

But you're only PARTIALLY rewarded for your own efforts. Depending on how many levels of downlines you've developed (and how well they sell), you may make practically nothing based on your own efforts (your PV, personal volume is bare minimum), and you live mostly on the commission based on your group volume (GV) generated by your downlines.

In other words, the longer you spend in the business, the more you're rewarded for OTHER PEOPLE'S EFFORTS, as you build up your team. In fact, many MLM participants only knows how to recruit downlines. They can't sell the products they are supposed to be selling, and just buy the products themselves for self-consumption just enough to qualify for commission based on group volume.

And that's assuming you are in a real MLM selling real products

Keep in mind those "real product" MLMs can be illegal too. Just look at FHTM and Vemma.

Stop Believing Bull****; Follow This Guide! (Bonus "Food Babe" debunking)

The following guide was found on io9 via The Last Word on Nothing.

It is easy to stop believing in bull****. After all, bull**** doesn't spread by itself. Someone have to believe the bull**** to pass it on. I've slightly reworded the original

0. Assuming anything any one told you is bull**** unless disproven (by following)
1. Who is telling me "this"?
2. How does s/he know "this"?
3. Given #1 and #2, could s/he be wrong?
4. If yes, maybe, or "I dunno", find UNRELATED source that says the same thing, then apply the SAME TEST  (Go to 1)
5. If you got here, answer to 3 must be "pretty f***ing unlikely". 

Congratulations. You now have something that may not be bull****.

----------

Remember: just because someone says something that "makes sense" doesn't mean it's true.

Let us take a recent example... Vani Hari, i.e. "Food Babe" rant about some chemical that she claims was used to make yoga mats. That's NOT TRUE. The chemical, which makes harmless bubbles, *can also be used* to make yoga matts, which is bubble foam. She knows nothing about science or food safety. She's selling her looks (calling herself "Food Babe", eh) and trying to parlay her followers into spreading misinformation. That is just plain STUPID.

Let's apply the test... Should you believe Food Babe's warning about azodicarbonimide in Subway's sandwich bread?

Scam Psychology: What Are YOUR Communication Vulnerabilities?

Scammers are often very good communicators. They can tailor their message for a wide variety of audiences and they are quick in recognizing your particular communication vulnerabilities, and thus, exploit you using those vulnerabilities. To counteract this, you need to know what type of communication vulnerabilities do you have. These are four questions you need to ask. Are you:

• Idea or evidence?
• Direct or diplomatic?
• Think about it or go all in? 
• Accept a map or blaze your own trail? 

Each of these questions may indicate a communication vulnerability. If you have more than one, you need to beware. If you have 3 or 4 you may be especially vulnerable. You may want to keep score for yourself. 

Are you an Idea person or Evidence person?

Some people are caught up in ideas. As long as they like the idea they could care less about the evidence. It's much like ideology, or as Stephen Colbert put it "Truthiness". Others are more about the evidence, and refuse to commit to an idea until they see enough.

In general, scammers prefer "idea person" as they are much easier to sell to. Once they sell the "idea",  the "idea person" will look for evidence to convince him- or herself.

Scams often involve a nebulous high concept (the "idea") that sounds logical and feasible, but in reality have tons of complexities that most people are not aware of or are impossible to research without being a professional.  The evidence people would want more evidence, while idea people would just accept the idea without further proof.

If you're an "idea" person, add 1 to your score.


Are you a direct person or a diplomatic person? 

Do you prefer cutting straight to the point, or do you prefer a bit more socialization?

Scammers prefer those of you who socialized, as they want to hit you with (real or fake) social proof and exploit various cognitive biases that all people have. They can also distract you with fancy displays and language, bandwagon effect, crowd hysteria, shilling, and other tricks.

Scammers also don't want any "direct" person to ask questions about more evidence. If you are too diplomatic you may never get any evidence, or just enough to convince yourself.

Scams often involve fancy events, elaborate presentations, exotic locations, and so on, where you mingle with people who were already convinced of the "idea" (see above).

If you're a diplomatic person, add 1.

Scam Psychology: Charlie Munger on How You Screw Up: Part 3 of 6

Charlie Munger (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You may have heard of Charlie Munger. But if you haven't, you should have heard of his partner: Warren Buffet, one of the 5 richest man in the world.  In 1995, Charlie Munger gave a speech at Harvard... about how people misjudge things. Here's my personal interpretation of his lessons, as applied to network marketing. You can read the full speech.  Please also check out the previous sections 1-4, and 5-8

----------

In the speech given at Harvard in 1995, Charlie Munger identified what he called "24 standard causes of human misjudgment." What he really meant is "24 reasons why you screw up".  Here is 9 through 12

9) Failure to Recognize Contrast Bias

Contrast bias is simple to explain... If I give you one item and ask you to rate it, you will give your honest opinion. However, if I have you rate that item, plus an HORRIBLE item, that original item will be rated higher, on the average, because there's a contrasting item.

Here's a simple experiment by Professor Cialdini. Two buckets of water, one quite cold, one quite hot (neither will actually harm). Volunteers are asked to put one hand in hot water and one hand in cold water for 5-10 seconds. Then both are removed and placed in the same bucket of water. The hand what was in hot water now feels cold, and the hand what was in cold water now feels warm/hot, but they are feeling the SAME bucket of water. It's the contrast that makes the water feel hot or cold.

And this experience shows up everywhere. It's often recommended in some pickup artistry books that you bring along an ugly friend or two to make yourself look better. This is the same idea: contrast.

A somewhat anecdotal and apocryphal real estate sales technique if you want to get rid of a not-so-good property is you show the prospects two really awful properties, have them go tsk-tsk and shake their head, then you take them to this "better" property, and they'll probably bite.

On the flip side, without a contrast or a measure against a neutral background (control group), you may not be aware of creeping changes. This can be termed "anti-contrast bias".

Then there's the "boiled frog" urban legend, where the claim is if you put a frog in a pot of water, but you cook it VERY VERY slowly, the frog will never jump out. It's not true, but it's an interesting legend and illustrates this point. You can "creep" in changes and if the movement is small enough it may escape notice.

So beware of this being used on you... Either a special contrast example is used to make a position to look better or worse than it really is... this coercing a bias, or someone tried to "creep" in some changes and rely on your momentum bias to say nothing.

BREAKING NEWS: TelexFree Sheeple Turned Lion, "occupied" TelexFree until police showed up

According to various Youtube videos, all published today, a bunch of Telexfree sheeple apparently grew spines and decided to occupy Telexfree office, much like they did a few weeks ago, when Steve Labriola basically told them to leave, and back then they did. This time they won't take no for an answer, and Labriola apparently was not able to control the crowd. Police was called and there was no violence, but basically all TelexFree folks hid in the backoffice and left police, outside, who told people to get organized, and hire a lawyer, and complain to attorney general and state senators and reps and congresspeople.

Thanks for BehindMLM for the coverage, where you can also see the videos.

This is how sheeple no longer be sheeple, folks... by asking real questions and demand real answers, instead of PR fluff.

Related articles

• Bad Propaganda: How TelexFree just made a liar out of itself... and all if its affiliates
• Scam Absurdities: What Sann Rodrigues of TelexFree do NOT want you to know about his past
• BREAKING NEWS: TelexFree cancels recruitment seminar on Jersey
• TelexFree just gotten even more bizarre... to the observers

Guest Post: Vemma and Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich", part 4 of 6

Previously we had SlayerofScams, a fellow scambuster on IGN, posting his essay on how people misconstrue Napoleon Hill's advice to coerce the weak-minded sheeple.  Here is part 4 of 6.

 ----------

SlayerOfScams, January 8, 2014

Round Four of Napoleon Hill's Smackdown of Vemma/Verve From Beyond the Grave

Hill says that to become successful or rich, one must perform an annual self-analysis/self-inventory. With the New Year just starting, what better time for the Verve reps to do that?

Here are some questions from Hill's self-inventory that are especially pertinent to Vemma reps:

25. If I had been the purchaser of my own services for the year, would I be satisfied with my purchase? 
...
27. Has the purchaser of my services been satisfied with the service I have rendered, and if not, why not?

To help you consider the correct answers, ask yourself: are you happy with having lost and continuing to lose $150+ USD per month in order to buy cans of Verve that you do not want and cannot sell, in the false hopes that Vemma will pay you fat commission checks for the rest of your life off of the recruitment and purchases made by your fictitious, non-existent downline victims - fictitious and non-existent, of course, because real people (other than, perhaps, a few odd exceptions) are not actually stupid enough to sign up for this scam underneath you?

Next, ask yourself if any of the few downline victim suckers who you may have been lucky enough to dupe into the Vemma pyramid scam underneath yourself, and who are (like yourself) inevitably losing money every month to Verve, would be satisfied if they asked themselves the same questions given above.

Scam Psychology: Charlie Munger on How You Screw Up, Part 2 of 6

You may have heard of Charlie Munger. But if you haven't, you should have heard of his partner: Warren Buffet, one of the 5 richest man in the world.  In 1995, Charlie Munger gave a speech at Harvard... about how people misjudge things. Here's my personal interpretation of his lessons, as applied to network marketing. You can read the full speech.

----------

In the speech given at Harvard in 1995, Charlie Munger identified what he called "24 standard causes of human misjudgment." What he really meant is "24 reasons why you screw up".  Read 1 through 4 here. Here is 5 through 8.


5) Not Understanding momentum bias and its causes

You are under the influence of other people every day, much like the dogs in Pavlov's famous experiment, so you have learned to associate two completely unrelated events, like the dogs salivate at the ringing of a bell, after they've been conditioned to associate bell with food. And you will continue to recognize the unrelated events as being related when they are not, and base your decisions on factors that were never relevant, or are no longer relevant. You have momentum bias.

Momentum bias is basically... that's the way it's always done... why change? Though there are some additional factors such a s Pavlovian association and how your mind looks in your memory and tries to find correlations... even when those aren't really applicable.

My dad once fixed a transmission problem by replacing the battery in a vehicle. Apparently the bad battery is confusing the computer and causing it to shift improperly. It is a very rare circumstance. However, ever since, my dad advocates "swap the battery" for all transmission problems even when it makes no sense. He has momentum bias. 

In terms of network marketing, you are trained early on that company = success and leaders = success, even though that may not be the case, and if you took that attitude with you to the next opportunity where it no longer applies, you have a momentum bias.

Learn to detect momentum bias in yourself and others. Do things because they are the proper decision for the time based on available evidence, not because "that's the way things are around here".

Scam Psychology: Charlie Munger on How You Screw Up, Part 1 of 6

You may have heard of Charlie Munger. But if you haven't, you should have heard of his partner: Warren Buffet, one of the 5 richest man in the world.  In 1995, Charlie Munger gave a speech at Harvard... about how people misjudge things. Here's my personal interpretation of his lessons, as applied to network marketing. You can read the full speech.

----------

In the speech given at Harvard in 1995, Charlie Munger identified what he called "24 standard causes of human misjudgment." I call it "24 reasons why you screw up".  Here is 1 through 4.

1) Not understanding power of incentives

Incentives is the standard way if you want to influence someone's behavior. If you are not getting the results you want, you are probably using the wrong incentives. And if you don't understand how incentives work, you won't get the full use out of them (or understand how they're used on you)

One of the most direct ways network marketing company influences its affiliates is the compensation package, also known as the comp plan. And comp plan is the best indication how serious the network marketing company about retail is how it structures its comp plan. If the comp plan rewards self-consumption by tying commission to your downline's self-consumption, you have a pyramid scheme, as little if any product is actually being retailed. By studying how the incentives are actually applied, you can see which way the company wants the affiliates to jump. And if that doesn't match what they say they are, perhaps the business is not what it appears to be.

Another way incentives play into network marketing is not realizing the way incentive actually works, generally by overestimating one type of incentive vs. another kind. One of the most frequently used rebuttals in network marketing "So-and-so is famous and works with MLM X. So-and-so can't POSSIBLY work for a scam as it would ruin his reputation, so MLM X can't be a scam." This argument basically postulates that Incentive A: MLM X paid So-and-So 75K for a special appearance at a convention for a speech is NOT sufficient to overcome Incentive B: Negative reputation due to MLM X may be a scam. However, when you think about it, this makes absolutely no sense at all. Plenty of celebrities have pitched for scam at one time or another. Snooki had shilled for Zantrex the super-caffeinated diet pill that was called out as bunk by doctors. Bob Eubanks was once tricked into making a test show which was then used as "pilot" to scam investors into funding a show that doesn't exist.  Celebrities are people too. They can be tricked, or they simply don't care as you're more focused on his/her celebrity status rather than what s/he endorses. The negative incentive is nowhere as big as the rebuttal claimed to be.

By not understanding the power of incentives (even negative incentives), some people came to the wrong conclusion.

MLM Absurdities: The "Big Placebo" industry that markets nutritional supplement woo

Dietary supplements Do they actually improve your health?
(Photo credit: Andrei Z)

In studying the network marketing industry, MLM Skeptic had come to a conclusion that most network marketing companies deal with nutritional supplements and skin care, or as the somewhat pejorative slang goes: "lotions and potions".

The "potions and lotions" often promise some very vague and generalized health effects, with weasel descriptions such as:

• Support your "stem cell physiology" (Huh? What does that mean?)
• Leading expert on importance of brain health (a chiropractor)

Recently I came upon a quote by Richard Dawkins, and found it very applicable here:

If any remedy is tested under controlled scientific conditions and proved to be effective, it will cease to be alternative and will simply become medicine. So-called alternative medicine either hasn't been tested or it has failed its tests. 

The same applies to any sort of nutritional supplement, really. If any nutritional supplement is properly scientifically tested and proved to be effective, it will be adopted as national or even global nutritional standard. And it's clear that except for a few select examples, most nutritional supplements on the market are just woo, as they have not been tested properly, or have failed its tests to be effective in something.

So why do these nutritional supplements proliferate, and can be found in supermarkets and pharmacies and more?

The reason is quite troubling, as this has to do with growing scientific IGNORANCE and science denial.

Bad Propaganda: Found and Lost on Oprah's Website

Given the amount of woo that had been pushed by Oprah and her various spawns like Dr. Oz, it's very ironic that her own quiz of what's a scam and what's a cure, is no longer available.

Wonder if it hit a bit close to home?

MLM Absurdities: MLM may be a Cult... revisited. Why Do Herbalifers get Tattoos?

Previously, MLM Skeptic has discussed how often MLM resembles a cult (of money/greed), where members are to worship their upline and their company, any dissent is stamped out with shame, any defectors ridiculed and denounced, any critics ignored.

Today we will discuss a different part of cult behavior... identifying marks... such as tattoos.

Michael Burton
showing off his Herbalife
tattoo at an Herbalife event
in Serbia 2012

Tattoos used to belong to the realm of gangs and religious cults. It is only in recent years that the more elaborate tattoos have made the transition to "fine art".

Think about it. Tattoos are semi-permanent. It's on your body. It is intensely personal. It is extremely difficult to remove (often costs thousands of dollars), so you are REALLY showing your commitment if you choose to get one.

No wonder gangs often have gang tattoos, so much so, law enforcement have gang tattoo databases to readily identify gang affiliations.

And religious cults often have tattoos, special signs or greetings, and such.

But tattoos for a company? Really?

Back in 2013, a real estate company in New York offered 15% pay raise if its employees get a company tattoo. Owner said he was inspired by one employee who got a tattoo just for the heck of it, and the owner offered him a raise, and from there he decided to go for broke.

Putting a company tattoo on yourself just for the heck of it? That takes some dedication... Or mental illness.

Meet Michael Burton... member of (cult of) Herbalife.

Here's Michael Burton, showing off his Herbalife tattoo. He said he used to be a flabby used car salesman and went backrupt, so he went into Herbalife (at insistence of his in-laws) and became so fit, he competed in those fitness competitions.

Then he went bankrupt. And he owes tons of people money. And he has almost nothing left. Except his passion for Herbalife and his Herbalife tattoo.

But he's hardly the only one with Herbalife tattoos.

Scam and MLM Absurdities: Why do Scams and MLMs do "Same Wine, New Bottle"?

Looking at history of network marketing, and scams and an interesting pattern emerged.

Most people who start network marketing companies were former grunts in network marketing... And sometimes, these alleged network marketing companies turned out to be outright scams.

First, let's get the more legitimate (compared to the scams) folks listed...

• Cambridge Diet top distributor Sandra Tillotson went on to co-start NuSkin
• Natural Health Trend's high-ranker Terry LaCore went on to start bHIP (and later, Rippln)
• Herbalife member Roger Daley went on to start Omnitrition International

Given that NuSkin is in trouble in China, Mr. LaCore had a run-in with the SEC, and Roger Daley's Omnitrition was slapped down by 9th Circuit Court of Appeals... Well, let's just say they are NOT egregious scams (except maybe NuSkin in China)

Then there are the outright scams... Where participants of MLM or scams went on to start and/or continue to participate in scams.

Scam Absurdities: When You Say You're Not a Scam, Don't STEAL the Explanation! (Vemma thieves beware!)

It's surprising how many people PRETEND to have ethics, but in reality, shows a complete lack of ethics, and how many of them ended up in MLM. Today, the sterling example of such hypocrisy is... Quinn, who works for Vemma selling Verve (energy drink) even though he calls himself an 'entrepreneur', and claims to work for himself.

In an article on his website, Quinn goes on to "prove" that network marketing / MLM has a reputation tarnished by some people who are not suited for it, failed, and create a 'bad rap' for the system. As I have no desire to give him "linkjuice" I am NOT linking it. However, here's a screenshot of his website.

Quinn's "explanation" why Vemma's not a scam,
but did he write it? 

The problem is the ENTIRE article did not mention Vemma even once. Furthermore, the style of prose is very different from the rest of his website. Yet there is no "by", and thus implying Quinn wrote this.

Highlighting a couple words and search via Google revealed that this is actually PLAGIARIZED from about.com. Not a single word had been changed, but title was changed, and author's name was removed.

Can you say... THIEF?

Guest Post: Vemma and Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich", Part 2 of 6

Previously we had SlayerofScams, a fellow scambuster on IGN, posting his essay on how people misconstrue Napoleon Hill's advice to coerce the weak-minded sheeple. [ Part 1 of 6 ]

Here's part 2.

----------

SlayerOfScams, Dec 30, 2013

Here is some more wisdom from Napoleon Hill to Vemma victims. This is one of Hill's thirty causes for failure at life:

29. GUESSING INSTEAD OF THINKING. Most people are too indifferent or lazy to acquire FACTS with which to THINK ACCURATELY. They prefer to act on "opinions" created by guesswork or snap-judgments.

Where have we seen that before in relation to Verve? I can think of at least two places.

First, in Post #940 (link to IGN board), where we see Darik Alexander saying: "Don't even entertain the notion [that Vemma is a pyramid scheme] because you know it is not...and if you don't even entertain the notion, they [potential new recruits] will just be like, 'Oh damn, I feel like an idiot for even saying that question."

Second, in Post #944 (link to IGN board) where we see Darik Alexander saying: "The only way you are going to know if what I am telling you is really real is if you trust me."

So, to paraphrase those above quotations, we have Hill saying: don't be an idiot - don't rush into irrational decisions, and don't form irresponsible opinions without first doing research and educating yourself with the necessary facts.

Next, we have Alexander saying: don't even bother thinking about whether Verve is a pyramid scheme or not because the subject is not even open for discussion and you should feel stupid for even wondering about it. Further, we also have Alexander saying to trust him just because he said he should be trusted. No thinking is required, on the part of you, the Verve victim. From you nothing is required except for blind faith in the scammer who wants to take your money.

And most damning of all, on top of all that, we have Alexander (again in post #940) saying at about the 10:00 mark of his "home event" video: "Don't overcomplicate it. We got really rich because we didn't overcomplicate it. Tell everyone you know to come to the next event...Don't say 'Vemma.' Don't say 'Verve.' Say: 'This is going to change your freakin' life' - because it actually will, and I will guarantee that. You make sure they show up, I make sure they sign-up."

Translation from SlayerOfScams [what Alexander's words really mean]: "Successful professional scam artists like myself do not mention the words Vemma or Verve to potential new victims, because to do that would give them the power to research Vemma/Verve and realize that it is a scam and illegal pyramid scheme before we have had a chance to brainwash them at one of our events. Therefore, sell to everyone you know nothing but the dream of riches. Get them to come to one of our Vemma party events, and I will do the heavy-lifting to make sure that they become fully brainwashed and join the Vemma/Verve pyramid before they have had any chance to research or to think about it."

Guest Post: Vemma and Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" Part 1 of 6

Cover via Amazon

Many self-proclaimed financial gurus are fond of quoting Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich". I have that book around here somewhere, along with Dale Carnegie's "How to Gain Friends and Influence People". Those two books, along with "Rich Dad Poor Dad" sort of became must-have books in recent years, for income seekers.

However, it appears that many people have been quoting Napoleon Hill out of context.

"SlayerofScams", a fellow scambuster on IGN, had this to say about people who wrongly applied the sound advice of Napoleon Hill. Here is part 1 of 6 of his "Napoleon Hill, from beyond the grave", which is reposted with his permission. Content's unchanged except a few bits of editor's note, and slight formatting changes.

----------

SlayerofScams / Dec 30, 2013.

I have discovered that Bob Proctor is one of Vemma's most notable shills and that his wife, Linda Proctor, has been given a prominent position within the Vemma pyramid. Proctor disgraces his former good name and defecates all over whatever legacy he might have otherwise had by promoting the illegal pyramid scheme that is Vemma. Because of that foolish decision, Bob Proctor will now forever be remembered in history as nothing other than a lowdown dirty scammer.

(editor's note: Bob's daughter Colleen Filicetti, has the same Vemma rank as her stepmom, Linda: Ambassador, making about 15000 per month.)

Over the weekend, I was watching an old Proctor seminar video (it looked to be from the late 1980's although I am not sure exactly when it was released), in which he basically paraphrases the 1937 book by Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich, along with a few other books. In that seminar Proctor appears to be a respectable guy. That seminar presents some good ideas (although Proctor admits that the ideas are not his own).

Then I watched a video of Proctor shilling at a Vemma convention from 2013, and presenting those same ideas that he presented in the old seminar, in order to justify Vemma as a great company, and to justify all of Vemma's victims as winners.

Proctor was one of the people behind The Secret which was big about 6 years ago. The Secret is basically a plagiarization of Hill's book, albeit The Secret also cuts out a vast majority of the sensible advice that Hill claims (many times!) to be mandatory parts of his book. That is why reasonable people usually condemn The Secret as crazy rubbish, whereas Hill's book remains famous and popular to this day.

In Proctor's seminar and in his Vemma convention shilling, Proctor directly gives credit to Hill and Hill's book, professes his undying love for Hill's book, and tells all his fellow Vemma shills that they too should get and read Hill's book.

All of that has led me to start to read Hill's book.

Here is some good news: Hill's book is in the public domain and so it is legally free for anyone to get and read. Here is a link to it:

https://archive.org/stream/Think_and_Grow_Rich/think-and-grow-rich-napoleon-hill_djvu.txt

To address the sane readers of this thread: for personal interest, you might want to read that book for some sensible advice on how someone, maybe yourself, might possibly get rich (of course, no guarantees exist). I am sure many of you have read it already. To give a brief summary of Hill's book: Hill interviewed Andrew Carnegie, and Carnegie introduced Hill to most of the richest men in America during Hill's lifetime. Hill spent 25 years interviewing them in order to learn their secrets and find out what they had in common, so that he could present to his readers a sound theory about how someone might get rich.

For the remainder of this post, I will address not the sane readers, but rather, the Vemma shills/victims.

Wall Street Runs on Greed... And Conspiracies (so Don't Trust Them)

English: Wall Street sign
on Wall Street
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Previously, MLM Skeptic had pointed out the futility of using stock price as a measure of the company's "legitimacy". Wall Street will drive the stock prices higher as long as the company remains profitable, no matter how many people it screwed over.

However, Wall Street also runs on fear. Merely mention of Senator Markey's letter to SEC and FTC asking for an investigation into Herbalife dropped its stock price down more than 10% in a day.

And this fear had turned some stock analysts into conspiracy theorists, looking for someone to blame, and who better than the ultimate stock market boogeyman, and Herbalife "nemesis" Bill Ackman?

Brian Bolan published an essay on Zachs that claimed not only is Herbalife a good bet, he outright accused Senator Markey of colluding (perhaps unwittingly) with Bill Ackman to drive down Herbalife stock price to help with Ackman's epic short that started back at the end of 2012!