Scam Hilarity: How Gemcoin Scammer "Interprets" the American Justice System (HINT: It's VERY hilarious)

In the interest of all Gemcoin sheeple or perp, Chinese or otherwise, this post will be bilingual.

爲了大家的利益，珍寶幣是真是賤，讀者在中國或外國，以下中英雙文對比．

Recently there were a post on Sina blog (PDF linked) that claimed "there was no FBI raid" at USFIA and "SEC was just doing routine inspection". I took a look. It's hilarious. This clearly written by someone with "motivated reasoning".

最近有在新浪博客的一篇文章 (PDF) 聲稱美國富豪USFIA “沒有被FBI調查”和“美國證券交易委員會只是做例行檢查”。我親自看一看。它真的好笑。這顯然是“有動機推理”的人寫的。

Due to size constraints, I'll just explain the important parts. I don't quote out of context.

由於尺寸的限制，我選重要部份解釋。我不斷章取義。

What he wrote will be in blue.

他寫的用藍色

First, the title:

第一，文章標題

＂受联合国70周年大会邀请AFG公司副总裁等8人参加了联合国成立70周年大会＂

UN 70th anniversary celebration invited AFG VP et al 8 people to attend

Anyone can take a photo in front of the UN building. There are even shops inside the UN building. These photos of Leonard S. Johnson and two unidentified individuals can only prove they were in New York recently.　It has no other value.

任何人都可以在聯合國大廈前拍照。聯合國大樓內甚至有商店。照片只可以證明Leonard S. Johnson 和兩個身份不明的人最近去過紐約。沒有其他價值．

（FBI的战士们英姿飒爽哦，这张图片被媒体刊登在报端网络，渲染AFG公司被查封。可是，去过美国AFG公司的人一眼就能看出，这显然不是美国AFG公司背景的照片，媒体用好莱坞拍电影常用的移花接木、蒙太奇手法进行创作，实在让我们见识了美国的言论自由）

Translated; FBI Warriors, so fierce, so cool! This photo was published by media, claiming AFG was closed. However, those that went to AFG can see that this is not at AFG. Media use Hollywood fast cut to create false impressions, such as freedom of press in America. 

This photo is of FBI agents assisting in the Boston Marathon bombing in May 2013, when they searched Norfolk St. in Cambridge area of Great Boston.  The actual title of the photo is fbi-norfolk-street-cambridge.jpg  I have seen no American media use this photo with the Gemcoin story. If there is, please point me at the article. Otherwise, I must conclude that the blogger was the one who falsely inserted a photo, exactly what he's accusing "American media" of doing.

這張照片是聯邦調查局探員協助2013年5月波士頓馬拉松爆炸案，他們在搜查諾福克(Norfolk) 街在大波士頓的劍橋(Cambridge)地區。照片的實際名稱是FBI-norfolk-street-cambridge.jpg 我沒有看到任何美國媒體使用這張照片在珍寶幣故事上。如果有請指點我文章在哪。不然我必須定論這位珍寶幣博客才是插入不相干照片捏做新聞用來反指責“美國媒體”捏做新聞。（惡人先告狀）

（这张图片被媒体刊登在报端网络，渲染AFG公司被查封，但这显然不是美国AFG公司背景的照片，媒体用好莱坞拍电影常用的移花接木、蒙太奇手法进行创作，实在让我们见识了美国的言论自由。无怪乎刘因全之流可以肆无忌惮的拼接各种图片在媒体攻击AFG公司。美国报纸竟然和大陆文革中的大字报十分相似可以随便造谣惑众）

Translation: This photo was published by the media claiming AFG was closed by law. This is clearly not AFG in the background. Media use Hollywood special effects creatively and we have witnessed American freedom of press. How dare "Michael Liu" and his ilk publish all sort of photos to attack AFG. American newspapers are much like the hated paper in the Culture Revolution to spread rumors and lies. 

Those of you who can use Google image search will quickly realize this is a photo of the deputies in Lee County Florida. Again, I have not seen this photo in relation with Gemcoin, and again, I have to conclude that this Gemcoin blogger is the one who inserted irrelevant photos to accuse "american Media" of making up news.

那些會用谷歌圖片搜索的會發現這是佛羅里達州李縣(Lee County) 警長部 (Sheriff's Department) 的照片。同樣，我沒有看過此照片與珍寶幣報導有關，再次我必須做結論，這位珍寶幣博客才是插入了不相干照片捏做新聞用來反指責“美國媒體”捏做新聞。（惡人先告狀）

Here comes the hilarious part!

現在才是滑稽的料到了！

Scam Tactics: Two-Face, revisited

Previously MLMSkeptic has covered "two-face", i.e. present two separate distinctive personalities to different audiences, as an Herbalife tactic.  Tell government and Wall Street 72% of participants do NOT want income, while holding a convention cheering on those who did profit and entice those who haven't joined with prospects of income.

But there is an even simpler version of two-face... present someone NOT as who they are, by simply dressing them up as something else.

And there's an update later about how Gemcoin / USFIA is being condemned in Vietnam... but first...

Those of you who keep up with the USFIA / Gemcoin developments should recognize this guy (photo from May 29th 2015 USFIA event):

Live ammo shooting coach Security Guard Chang (Zhang, actually) Right 5, photo with fans

With a bit of help from the newspaper ChineseDailyUSA (owned by Sho Tay of Arcadia, BTW) we've determined the guard's surname is Zhang (yes, I misspelled it in the translation).

And with a different photo, where the guard is now... "international jewelry appraiser", was identified as John Zhang.

Life412.com / Professional Gem Appraiser John Zhang (Right 2), Company VP Leonard S. Johnson (Right 3)
international market president Alicia Gesier (Right 4)  and Toronto International Market President eric Wu (Right 7)

If you're wondering why did the translation differ... I'm just going with original material, man.

But recently I came across a different coverage of the same Toronto event...

torcn.com / USFIA VP Leonard S. Johnson announcing USFIA Currency Fund Gemcoin's formal release and introducing
Alliance Financial Group (AFG) background and its affiliate USFIA Currency Fund
the guy on the right is, according to placard: John Zhang, international jewelry appraiser

So we have his full name, "John Zhang", and a search at Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, who licenses security guards and investigators, and you get "ZHANG JOHN BAO PING" of West Covina, CA.

The logical conclusion is the "jewelry appraiser" and "security guard" are the same person: the security guard was dressed up as "jewelry appraiser" for the Toronto event, and possibly for the other events in various Chinatowns as well.

That is two-face, at its most basic: present one face, the guard face, to the locals, then at where people don't know you, you can be other people, like "appraiser".

And the Toronto event and its coverage belies the recent "denial" of USFIA, where they claimed they don't even operate Gemcoin.

Scam Tactic: Speak in Half-truths, or how Vemma is trying to create value out of bull****.

Speaking in half truths is the best way to scam. You sound as if you are telling the truth, esp. if that's all the truth you know. You can't be lying if you don't even know the other half, right?

That's why you should fact-check any PR claims, esp. those without any links for you to verify the claims, and if the evidence themselves need to be fact-checked.

Let's take one recent example, when a Vemma fan (what I'd refer to as a Vembot) posted basically a cut-n-paste PR speech "how dare you compare Verve to Red Bull". Okay, I made up that title, but that is accurate.  His words in blue, my comment will be in red.

For those trying to do a cost comparison with Red Bull, you are obviously missing the entire concept of Vemma.

Oh, I think we understand you all too well. It is you who don't understand Vemma... 

The clinically studied nutritional supplement Vemma cost about $2.00 per serving, if you purchased the stand alone Vemma product. 

But did you actually read the two "clinical studies"? (NOTE 1)

Verve has the same 2 ounces of Vemma, plus the components of the energy drink. Yes the price is about $2.80 a can, but $2.00 is the Vemma supplement. So the energy drink component is really only $.83.

You set your own prices. You can say it's worth $1000 if you'd like. There's nothing to compare it to. In fact, there's not even any proof that mangosteen has any benefit on the body. But more on that later. (NOTE 2)

You show me where red bull has 12 vitamins, 63 minerals, mangosteen, aloe vera and green tea. Show me where Red Bull paid 250000 to run full clinical studies to see exactly what happened in your blood after drinking it.

You show me what those "63 minerals" are, and what effect they have on the body. Show me how ECGC is not harmful to the body. Show me how two little studies in China, on self-reported results prove "what happened in blood". (NOTE 3 again)  

Until you can show me that trying to compare the to is like comparing a Ford Fiesta to a Ford Mustang. They are both Fords (energy drinks), but they are not the same thing and they dont cost the same thing.

Vemma is no-name energy drink with an unproven secret ingredient. The analogy is bull****. 

Now let's look at the footnotes...

Scam Tactics: Using Cultural Preconceptions and Stereotypes for Affinity Scam

As the Gemcoin scam reached national stage, a video surfaced recently of Steve Chen and company throwing some sort of USFIA Club party at a McMansion owned by one of his real estate companies (AHome) ostensibly as some sort of reward for "top performing" USFIA participants.

During the event, Steve Chen was wearing a light blue polo with some sort of a badge on left breast, a photo badge clipped on the right breast, and was wearing a gunbelt with holster (and gun), with some sort of shield/badge on the belt in public display. The caption identified him as chairman, USFIA club.  (lit: US Royal Club)

Vidcap from video, red caption by Oz, BehindMLM.com
white caption says: USFIA Club Chairman

A later picture shows the gun and the rest, belt shield, shoulder patch, and photo ID badge and its close-up, where it clearly says: GREAT WALL, photo, badge, name, number, date, and "Public Safety".

Photo of Steve Chen cutting ribbon of his own place, close up of badge
brown and green markup by Oz, behindmlm.com,
Steve Chen is obviously dressed as security guard, ID'ed so by badge

Search of LA Area for "Great Wall" yielded a company called Great Wall Security Training Center, in San Gabriel, CA, not far from Arcadia.

Great Wall Security Training Center banner from their own website

Where, as you can guess, they train security guards, including armed guards, gun permits, pepper spray permits, billy club permits, body guard permit, concealed carry permit, and other related stuff.

Why did a chairman demote himself to security guard just to carry a gun around? On a grand-opening ceremony of his own club? For that, you have to understand Chinese culture.

Scam Tactics: How Do Scammers Identify What You Need?

How does a conman pick up on what does the victim needs, and thus, tailor the scam to fit?  There are five different techniques. If you are aware of these techniques, then you can watch out for when they are used on you.  Let MLMSkeptic explain the five techniques.

The techniques are:

1) Pre-screening

2) Probing questions

3) The tease

4) The Please

5) Trial Close / Seize


Pre-Screening

Your identity is known on the internet. Somebody out there has a profile on you, more than one if you have used multiple names and/or multiple identities. Credit agencies definitely have one on you (and there are several of them). If you're a professional you have professional profiles somewhere. And those can be accessed. That's just your public profile.

Then there's your "hidden profile". Your behavior online is part of your profile. If you give out your name and email address at capture pages that goes into a profile somewhere, and shady businesses will share that info (even if they promise never to do so) with other shady businesses and that's a part of your profile.

If you ever applied for a loan you will get solicitations for loan offers for MONTHS. They shared your info. And they're legit. Imagine what the ILLEGITIMATE scammers and conman will do...

If you ever asked for more info on suspicious "make money fast" type schemes, or clicked on teaser videos that says "sign up for my ____ for more info" and entered your email for "more info", your name is now on a "sucker list" to be marketed with more **** in a similar genre, because you have shown a preference for such topics. 

Scammers (and legitimate salespeople) pay $$$ to buy leads that may be interested in such things, and the lead list is pre-screened for people who are at least interested to whatever s/he's trying to sell. As the joke goes, you don't sell ice to Eskimos or sand to Arabs. By pre-screening the prospects, conversion is much easier.

The prospect generally doesn't see this step, as it's done long before the scammer meets the prospect. To counter this, simply don't be surprised when you got invited / solicited for sales pitch which seems to be exactly what you want. People already "know" you.

Probing Questions

Probing questions are pretty easy... Ask them what *do* they want. Due to pre-screening, you already have a decent idea on WHAT they want. However, there can be a little distance between what they say they want, vs. what they will settle for now. And asking questions will clarify that. 

If the presentation is pretty much a monologue, then the salesperson will be asking rhetorical questions, like "Are you looking for financial security in an insecure world?" "Are you looking toward better health?" then answer them him- or herself, "the answer is ________!"    And scammer will watch the reactions and see if s/he needs to change the speech. 

The salesperson will almost always frame the question so the answer is "yes". By answering things in the affirmative, prospect will have influenced him- or herself to answer "yes" later. 

The prospect should remain neutral for this part, not only to deny the presenter any clues on how to proceed, but to remain neutral mentally rather than "psyched up", in order to evaluate facts rather than emotions.

The Tease

The tease require a bit of mystery, and a commitment from the prospect to find out more. A "capture page" where the prospect watch a video and enter their info is such a tease if there's no details. The idea is to pique your interest, without telling you much. 

Tease works on relatively naive people who are not used to the various sales techniques, but not on veterans. Veterans will simply demand the information they need to make the decision, and will not waste time waiting for your "big reveal". 

The prospect should again, remain neutral when confronted with the tease. You are after facts, not teases with no solid info.

The Real Motivation: It's Magical Thinking

Motivation is a form of magical thinking in which you imagine that
your words can turn useless people into high achievers. 

http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-08-07

HUMOR: Suspect Credential Translator

A lot of scams misrepresent their "credentials" by inflating what they do, piling on euphemisms, and stretching the definition of the term to be something that's barely relevant.

MLMSkeptic has compiled the following terms and show you the real meaning behind the fancy terms.


They say: US based company!

Reality Says: I registered this online in Nevada (or Delaware) for $149 (or less)!


They say: Renowned Investment Group!

Reality says: I registered more than one companies online!


They say: International Conglomerate!

Reality says: I registered companies online in more than one country / continent!


They say: Decades of experience in the industry!

Reality says: I spent decades amounting to nothing (which is why I'm STILL at it!)


They say: Internet advertising platform!

Reality says: I know how to deploy a free banner rotation script!


They say: We have investments in biotech!

Reality says: I sell some nutritional supplements I got from some no-name factory in Asia!


They say: Experienced Internet entrepreneur!

Reality says:  I launched multiple failed schemes one after another!

They say: We have signed contract, making everybody a ton of money!

Reality says: A memorandum of understanding... i.e. "intent", not a contract, can be backed out at any time. 

They say: We have resort on _____!

Reality says:  We have a piece of rocky beach that nobody would bother build a resort on.


They say: We have a golf course!

Reality says: We have a CLOSED golf course we *want* to redevelop! 

Scam Tactics: Two-face... being very different things to different people

One of the most memorable villains to Batman is Two-face, formerly district attorney Harvey Dent. After a severe injury that left him scarred on half of his face, he developed full blown schizophrenia: two completely personalities depending on which side is talking to you.

And guess what company is acting like Two-Face? Herbalife. To lawmakers, it's presenting itself as a company that's changing lives, and it's FLYING IN members from across the country to show them off in Washington D.C. to, quote, "talk about the benefits of Herbalife's science-based nutrition products. Members will also be sharing their own experiences and the income-generating opportunities available to Herbalife members through hard-work and dedication", as per Herbalife's own press release.

Why are a bunch of distributors talking "science-based nutrition", not scientists and nutritionists?

Furthermore, why are these 12 members talking about "income-generating opportunities available to Herbalife members" when Herbalife itself stated that 73% of members did NOT join Herbalife for income as a primary reason? Are 9 of these 12 NOT going to talk about the opportunities, as Herbalife itself claimed?

Herbalife rebuttal slide, page 91, circa 2014

Of course not. Herbalife flew these 12 in because they are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed enthusiastic distributors (sheeple?) properly trained in Herbalife's alternate reality. They may be telling the truth as they know it, but it's not "the" truth, and they sure do NOT represent the rank and file as Herbalife want Congress to believe.

In the meanwhile, Herbalife is hiring as many high-level government people as it can, as well as lobbyists. But that's not the other face. The other face is the Herbalife convention in St. Louis.

Scam Tactic: Gaslighting (indignant denial)

English: This bright gas lamp has three mantles in UK
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ever heard of "gaslighting"?

From Wikipedia: Gas-lighting (or gaslighting) is a form of mental abuse in which information is twisted or spun, selectively omitted to favor the abuser, or false information is presented with the intent of making victims doubt their own memory, perception, and sanity.

Scammers LOVE gaslighting, because they need to destroy victim's sense of reality, so they can substitute their own alternate reality, where selling is buying, black is white, and profit is loss.

Scammers deny facts that they don't want to explain (i.e. inconvenient truth). They will insist that the victims remembered it wrong. It wasn't like that. If victim is already weak-willed, victim will question his or her own reality... Did it happened the way I remembered it, or did I just imagined it? Was the way I learned selling really what selling means?

Scam victims who complained are dismissed as "whiners" and shouted down by shills, denigrated as "unbelievers" who "do not share the vision". Often, there are outright threats, from threats to cancel membership (triggering FOMO, fear of missing out), to verbal abuse to threats of physical abuse to legal threats (Cease and Desist orders) to even death threats. The victims were ostracized and put down emotionally, manipulated into believing it was their own fault for failing, that the system worked for everybody else, thus it must be the victim's own fault. Any one who failed is automatically weak, unbelieving, and sometimes, traitors who want to blame their own failings on the organization, and so on.

Pyramid schemes are very good at that. If one wins, the system gets credit as "the system works!" Individuals get no recognition unless some are needed to be shown in award ceremonies, but only to entice people who are on the fence. If one does NOT win one is blamed for the failings, as in "You must have screwed up! It worked for everybody else!"

USFIA update: Who is Leonard S. Johnson and was he really invited to Dubai to speak about alternative currencies such as Gemcoin? (Hint: No)

One of the most interesting (yet ridiculous) HYIPs based out of the US is USFIA, i.e. "American Mining" 美洲矿业, which was apparently kicked out of China in 2014. USFIA claimed to be a part of AFG (Alliance Financial Group USA) and controlled by UCCA, headed by Mr. Steve Chen.

Leonard S. Johnson
as shown on aimcongress.com

One of the frequent faces for USFIA is Mr. Leonard S. Johnson, who were mentioned multiple times as a stand-in for the head of USFIA Steven Chen at various seminars in Chinese-heavy cities such as SF Bay Area, Toronto, and so on.

There are various posts touting him being "invited to Dubai in UAE to attend AIM Congress, a gathering of the world's top economists, investors, and money big shots, and to speak there."

Is this real, or merely someone embellishing the facts? Let's find out.

If you search for Leonard S. Johnson Dubai, you will come across this page under aimcongress.com:

Which appears to be legitimate, until you realize it never said anything about what he will be speaking about. Indeed, there's no listing for him to speak AT ALL under "Speakers and Partners' contribution"    Searching the website for Leonard brought up that exact profile page, and nothing more. He's not listed on any sort of itinerary, speaker schedule, and so on. He's certainly not in the "Conference Programme" which lists every event, or in the brochure either.

If we search for AFG, we find a listing for GEMCOIN even though the profile is for AFG and USFIA. Even the website link goes to AFGroupUS.com.

There are two more mentions of AFG besides Leonard's profile and Gemcoin page though.

Scam Psychology: Know Just Enough to be Dangerous (to yourself and others)

Do you know just enough to be dangerous? You don't think so?

You are probably wrong, as scientists have LONG documented "Dunning-Kruger Effect". Basically, for a given skill, incompetent people will

• fail to recognize their own lack of skill
• fail to recognize genuine skill in others
• fail to recognize extremity of their inadequacy

Basically, you are so incompetent, you don't even recognize that you ARE incompetent. It's be like a person born and grew up near-sighted, that he thinks the world really is slightly blurry, and didn't even realize he needed glasses. 

This is related to, but is not the same as overconfidence effect, in that a person always thinks his confidence in his or her judgments is greater than the ACCURACY of those judgments. This is especially true when the confidence is high. People who were 100% sure of their answer in a certain test that turned out to be only 80% right are guilty of such overconfidence.

This is very common in scams, where the victims were recruited to be a co-conspirator, (i.e. to also recruit, for pyramid and Ponzi schemes, and/or to act as "anecdote witnesses", promoters, and so on), where the victim, overconfident in his or her skills to spot a scam (often armed with such myths as "we have a product, thus we can't be a pyramid scheme", or "I got paid, thus it can't be a scam"), failed to even realize s/he is not competent to even recognize his/her incompetence and failed to recognize proper advice from others.

The scammers are experts in making you believe you made the right decision(s) all along by give you the mushroom treatment, through "learned optimism", except they do it through lie and deceit.

Scam Tactics: Evolution of a Scam, from Proto-Share to Investment Fund to Cryptocurrency

A scam, like a specie, must evolve in face of pressure, such as law enforcement, spreading information about how scammy it was, and so on. To this end, it will often adopt the following tactics:

• Language barrier -- spread to an area that speaks a very different language, like from US to Asia

• Jargon barrier -- adopt modern buzzwords and drop buzzwords out of favor 

• Obfuscation barrier -- have multiple company names, then intentionally mistranslate them to create even more confusion. 

Today, we will document one such scam, chronologically, including various names and translations, to show you how a scam evolved.

The scam went by various names. In China it is best known as American Continental Mining Industries 美洲矿业, but it's known elsewhere as USFIA

In November 2014, Chinese media covered that several scammers were extradited from Thailand that were scammers of something called 美洲矿业 that scammed people in Changde 常德, a city in Hunan province, China, as a part of International Fugitive Apprehension program known as "Operation Foxhunt 2014 獵狐2014". Changde police after receiving word that many downlines of the scam is traveling to Thailand for a special promo event, also travelled to Thailand and received cooperation from Thai police. Changde police then infiltrated the event on October 29th, 2014 in Thailand and filmed various promoters attending and speaking at the event, all talking about earn kaboodles of money without doing anything (if you invest now). After gathering the evidence, which was handed to Thai police, Thai police then made the arrests and handed two suspects over to Chinese police who brought them back to China. 

Just to break down the title:

美洲 -- American Continent
矿业 -- Mining Industry

So again, the name of the scam is American Continental Mining Industries 美洲矿业 Searching for this term on Chinese media yielded various newspaper reports, as well as Chinese affiliate promotional material. Another Chinese coverage stated:

今年5月13日，常德市民刘某来到公安机关报案，称将32500元作为会费缴纳给“美洲矿业”公司，参与所谓的琥珀期权、原始股的投资，但过了很长时间，没见任何回报，意识到受骗了。

(2014) May 13th, Mr. Liu of Changde reported he was victim of a scam. He handed 32500 RMB to "American Continental Mining Industries" to participate in supposedly Amber fund and proto-share investment. However, after a long time, there was no returns, and realized he had been scammed. 

接到报警后，常德市公安局立案调查。这个组织对外谎称由“中美政治协商促进会”创办，已获国家商务部的直销牌照，在山东、辽宁、浙江、广东、广西、云南、河南、湖南等10多个省份开展传销活动，还多次以“美洲矿业”之名在中国举办传销宣传聚会。

After receiving the report, Changde MinSec started its investigation. This (criminal) organization claimed to be started by a "China US Political Consultive Promotional Committee" and holds a Chinese "direct sales" license, and engaged in pyramid sales activities in Shandong, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Henan, Hunan, and various provinces, and many times using the name "American Continental Mining Industries" to hold several promotional meetings in China. 

截至2014年6月，该犯罪团伙在中国发展会员180余层级共8万余人，非法收取会费近10亿人民币。

Up to June 2014, this criminal group has developed over 180 levels of downlines of over 80000 members, and illegally solicited funds of nearly 1 billion RMB (~161 million USD)

This news item explained that 2 members, a Mr. Chen (陈某) and a Mr. Lu (陆某) left the country before the police swept up the organization and arrested 22 leaders. Mr. Lu apparently changed the organization name to American Continental Amber (美洲琥) and continue to "remote" manage from afar. As two were arrested in Thailand, we assume both were extradited back to China, but that's not the end of this scam.

Also keep in mind that the Chinese equivalent of Senate is called Chinese People's Political Consultive Conference 中国人民政治协商会议 and scam's parent organization (中美政治协商促进会) may have been picked to be a soundalike and official-sounding.

So here we have the following events:

2014 -- scam started as American Continental Mining Industries 美洲矿业

2013-2014: American Continental Mining Industries 美洲矿业 Searching for this term on Chinese media yielded various newspaper reports, as well as Chinese affiliate promotional material. Another Chinese coverage stated:

2014 June -- arrests in Changde, China related to 美洲矿业, leader escaped (to Thailand? US?) and renamed operation to American Continental Amber 美洲琥

2014 October -- arrests in Thailand in cooperation between Thai and Chinese police related to 美洲矿业, subjects extradited to China


From here, the scam went quiet in China... Because it was apparently relaunched in the US.

Scam Tactic: Redefine Common Words / Doublespeak

The term doublespeak was introduced to the world by George Orwell's book "Nineteen Eighty-Four", where it was defined as "using language to introduce ambiguity and confusion to block out facts and aims that does not fit in the program." (slightly paraphrased)  It is no surprise that it is among the arsenal of the scammers.

One such example of doublespeak is the appropriation of the term "sharing" to mean promoting / selling, and "selling" as buying.

According to the Vemma promotional material updated in late 2013, members are no longer representing the brand as "brand ambassadors". Members are instead, "affiliates" in affiliate marketing where member affiliates refer customers to the company, and earn some commission for sales they brought in. And affiliates are encouraged to buy some products as "some to enjoy and some to share". There are special bonuses for those who buy large starter packs.  The following screencap is how it was explained on most Vemma affiliate sites:

Screen cap from a Vemma "affiliate" website explaining what you need to do to get paid: BUY STUFF FIRST!

Did you see the problem yet?

HINT: Your upline (who recruited you) gets commission for the stuff YOU buy, both the starter pack, and the monthly autoship.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Fiverr is the Goto Place for Shill Testimonials

Fiverr is a site where people put themselves out to do small jobs for $5.00 USD (thus the name) and recently, a LOT of scams needing "testimonials" from people decided to employ amateurs off Fiverr in hopes that people won't recognize them as shills.

Too bad, here's MyFlexJob getting caught using Fiverr folks for "realistic" testimonials.

Here's a "Mr. Alexander Herring" (Does he go by "Red"?) claiming to have realistic testimonials:

It's realistic, but not real, since she'll do it for anybody for $5!

But wait, there's more!

(Humor) Classifying the Different Types of Network Marketing Douchebags

Let's face the reality: Network Marketing has always had an image problem. It's a thin blurry line away from an illegal pyramid scheme. Even the so-called "legitimate" companies now admit they sell more opportunities than products. Different companies are getting slammed around the world for being a pyramid scheme, esp. in Asia and Europe. AND they have a penchant for pushing woo on the unsuspecting public.

Therefore it is no surprise that network marketing attracts a LOT of douchebags who have somehow latched onto MLM as their ticket to success. This is my attempt to classify the douchebag traits. If you spot a trait you think isn't on this list, let me know via the comments and we can discuss them!

NOTE: It is possible for a douchebag to hold more than one (or even, ALL) of these traits

The Evangelist

The "evangelist" want to tell people that MLM (and their product, sometimes) is the greatest thing ever much like a preacher preaches religion. They are armed generally with propaganda (i.e. myths) instead of facts. They are very excited to tell you about the industry and their products, but their primary concern is sign you up as their downline. In general, they are all about the positive.

Subtype A: the Firebrand

The firebrand is an evangelist who has pure HATRED of any one who refused to be preached to or don't agree with their view (MLM is the greatest!)  Any disagreement will be pinned on "they don't understand", "they are doomed as wage slaves in a deadend J-O-B", or even "it's a conspiracy against _____".

Subtype B: the Fluffer

The fluffer is an evangelist who will also fluff you up (and only you) to be aroused to his or her ideas, so much so they are nuts about positivity. They'll tell you that you can be or already are special, you have potential, blah blah blah. The fluffier you are, the easier you are to pluck later, after getting your ego stroked (in more ways than one).

Subtype C: the Fear-Monger

The fear-monger is an evangelist selling fear. Actually they sell "solutions" to relieve people of their fear (that they caused) and their money.  They will preach to your existing fears (you'll die broke in a ditch, you'll amount to nothing in a dead-end minimum wage job, you'll die of broken health...) and they'll pitch you a solution (income opportunity or woo supplements) that will solve the fear they caused in you.

Subtype D: the Bling-Flasher

The Bling-Flasher is an evangelist who show the world the amount of bling (jewelry, fancy watch, fancy car, fancy house, etc.) s/he can afford and "share" this abundance with you through his/her gospel of prosperity. Car may even have vinyl wrap proclaiming their affiliation (Vemma logo cars like BMW, or the infamous Mary Kay pink cars) and generally talks about opportunities (and selling such) instead of selling products.  What they don't tell you is how many products they sold, or how much did they spend traveling around "inspiring" people (i.e. recruiting).



The Defender

The defender is out to "defend" his faith... uh his scheme against any sort of criticism or even doubt against critics or even members whose faith had been shaken by variou scandals or bad news. They fall into several types (though some defenders can exhibit multiple traits)  Defenders can be noobs or seasoned veterans.

Subtype A: The Credentialist

The credentialists want to show the world how "smart" they are by flashing their credentials around. Their message is "trust me" because "I was rank X in Y different MLMs", "I had bazillion downlines", "Acme MLM asked me to consult with them", or even "I wrote about / teach MLM at _____".  However, if you dig a little deeper you may find that a good portion of their credentials are made up or exaggerated, such as "a dozen years of network marketing experience" actually meant "jumped ship every year, amounted to nothing". Will often turn indignant when confronted.    (Also see Pseudo-Intellectual, Indignant)

Subtype B: The Pseudo-Intellectual

The pseudo-intellectual reacts to criticism such as "Scheme X may be a pyramid scheme" with neutral or condescending (you don't know what you're talking about, you can't talk about things you haven't tried...) wall-of-text, often copied from their upline's bogus explanations or Wikipedia without understanding what they posted. Generally they resort to bogus explanations like "all companies are pyramid-shaped", "pyramid schemes don't have products", and so on.   Their long-winded responses are filled with fallacies and bad arguments, instead of properly formulated reasoning or evidence. They usually don't even know what laws define a pyramid scheme in their own jurisdiction.  When confronted with their ignorance, they generally turn indignant or tried to flash their credentials to validate their view. (Also see "The Indignant" and The Credentialist)

Subtype C: The Indignant

The Indignant can be recognized by their indignant attitude, such as "how DARE you criticize my pet scheme?!?!"  They usually respond with ad hominem insults "whoever wrote the criticism must have a bug up their ***" or some such rather than pseudo-intellectual or credential responses. Also see "The Loan Shark".

More after this page break...

Scam Tactic: Love Bombing

Sun Myung Moon
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is the start of a new subtopic called "Scam Tactics" where I attempt to document certain approaches used by unscrupulous people on unsuspecting victims.

Today's topic: Love Bombing

The term "love bombing" originated in the 1970's from the "Unification Church" lead by Sun Myung Moon. If you don't recall the name, you may have heard of the Moonies cult. In a speech in July 23, 1978, Moon gave a speech, which is transcribed and translated below:

Unification Church members are smiling all of the time, even at four in the morning. The man who is full of love must live that way. When you go out witnessing you can caress the wall and say that it can expect you to witness well and be smiling when you return. What face could better represent love than a smiling face? This is why we talk about love bomb; Moonies have that kind of happy problem.

It sounds simple, but the way it works is a bit more insidious. As explained by professor Margaret Singer, a cult expert:

As soon as any interest is shown by the recruits, they may be love bombed by the recruiter or other cult members. This process of feigning friendship and interest in the recruit was originally associated with one of the early youth cults, but soon it was taken up by a number of groups as part of their program for luring people in. Love bombing is a coordinated effort, usually under the direction of leadership, that involves long-term members' flooding recruits and newer members with flattery, verbal seduction, affectionate but usually nonsexual touching, and lots of attention to their every remark. Love bombing - or the offer of instant companionship - is a deceptive ploy accounting for many successful recruitment drives.

Basically, the members fluff up your self-esteem by paying very close attention to your every action and appearance, and only give you positive feedback.