Would You Pay Someone to Commit Suicide? 13000 People did. Really.

According to a recently published paper, 13000 people paid over 1.4 million dollars to help 200 people commit suicide. Except they thought they were paying for zero-evidence treatment for desperate cancer patients. In other words, these so-called do-gooders paid scammer quacks to help sick people commit suicide by paying huge amounts of money for water... i.e. homeopathic cancer treatments.

That's 1.4 million bucks raised to pay for some VERY expensive water proven to do nothing, that could have been used for palliative care or other purposes that may have made final moments of life more bearable. 1.4 million bucks could have paid for a lot of weed or even more powerful opioids or whatever the cancer patients needed to spend the final days in peace, and leave some for their family to cover other expenses.

Instead, the money is going to cancer quacks, doing NOTHING for the actual patients, who have to live their final days with treatment proven to do NOTHING, see their hopes dashed and pain unmanaged.

Basically, the 1.4 million bucks paid for suicide by water and pain.

An LED light that cleans air? Nope, just marked up 10X LED bulbs

A company called "Pure-Light" claimed their TiO2 coated bulbs will clean the air...

...of these bacteria, viruses, mold, and pollutants. The air also gets deodorized as well since almost all odors are an organic compound. There is also a secondary PURE-LIGHT effect on the surfaces of items near the light bulb, such as kitchen/bathroom counters, dishes, stoves, cutting boards, door knobs, etc.  

But what is this "PURE-LIGHT effect"? It was never defined. It got only worse from there.

The two special super oxygen molecules Pure-Light bulbs produce are called SUPEROXIDE (O-2) and HYDROXYL ION (HO). These two super oxygen molecules provide a triple "action"... two actions against viruses and bacteria, and another "action" against VOCs.

Uh... O2 is just "oxygen". Calling it "superoxide" is just using bogus jargon. What's worse, their own diagram called it something else: "super oxygen" (right below the word "how")

There is no such thing as "super oxygen". The only place you'll find the term used frequently is at woo news sites such as "naturalnews" where the term is often used to refer to ozone (O3) as if it is better than oxygen.

Indeed, Pure-Light claimed that white blood cell works... by feeding bad things extra oxygen... which is NONSENSE!

SUPEROXIDE (O-2), or SUPER OXYGEN, is actually produced in the human body in large quantities by White Blood cells and is used by the immune system to kill invading microorganisms. ​Superoxide (O-2) inside the body, or in the air, combines with a microorganism giving it essentially a boost of oxygen. Good cells thrive with the extra oxygen while viruses and bacteria are killed by the extra oxygen. Superoxides are also used in firefighters' oxygen tanks and divers rebreather systems in order to provide a readily available source of oxygen.

White blood cells actually ingest the bad cells through a process called phagocytosis, and once the cells and virus are "eaten", they are digested with enzymes. Oxygen had nothing to do with it!

Scam Hilarity: Suspect ponzi claims to be mining bitcoin w/ perpetual motion engine

Woo, short for woo-woo, is a term used to describe something that is completely implausible, yet explained with pseudo-scientific and potentially-plausible jargon that can fool innocent sheeple. You can encounter woo in all sorts of places, and most of the time they do no harm. However, when they show up in medicine and finance, they can do quite a bit of harm indeed. And today, we'll discuss the a new wrinkle... physical woo on top of financial woo.

But let me start from the beginning.

HYIP, or "high yield investment program" is a form of ponzi scheme that promised impossibly high yields. Claimed returns like 1% per day is not uncommon.

Some of them are pretty transparent in being a scheme, while others may adopt weasel language like "crowdfunding" or "charity". Yet others turn to woo explanations for their ability to pay such high yields that makes absolutely no sense when examined in detail. Frankly, it failed to pass the smell test... If they have techniques that can reliably generate such income, just put down a mortgage or borrow X dollars from credit card or bank, and they'll make it back in no time. Right? Yet there have been, for decades, schemes that attempt to explain their ability to generate such returns, with bogus excuses such as "bridge loans" [DOJ], "P2P lending" [CNBC], "forex" [DOJ], "arbitrage" [wikipedia], "penny auctions" [CBSnews], "prime bank" [SEC] and so on.

The latest buzzword is cryptocurrency, and it's no wonder ponzi schemes have latched onto it as the latest craze, by incorporating something people who have heard of, but do not understand, as their woo. Some launch their own cryptocurrency (that nobody would ever use), yet others latch onto the idea of cryptomining, the idea that you can "mine" bitcoin and other currencies.

While cryptomining is real, it is hard to make money in such because the hardware to mine and the electricity to run them, not to mention cooling, are expensive as well. It may be possible to run such in China and Eastern Europe, where electricity is cheap (by government mandate) and hardware and labor are cheap, esp. if one exploit scale by running massive crypto-mine.

So the latest crypto-woo is launched by a company called USI-Tech, which used to be Forex HYIP (see above), but they've since switched to Cryptomining as their new woo. Recently in London, they've shown their latest "innovation"... they can create "virtually FREE energy" to run their cryptomining machines.

USI-Tech claims they can create "virtually free energy",
but they only want to run cryptomining rigs with it

Perpetual motion machine doesn't exist, as it violates law of thermodynamics. Yet there are plenty of kooks who claim they made one, or claim the knowledge was suppressed by the evil government or energy consortiums or something. Though you had to admit, using one to power cryptomining is rather cute.

But what does this thing look like?

Breaking News / Woo Files: Nu Skin Taiwan head accused of illegally importing medical devices

News from Taiwan via Malaysia, original Chinese and English translation provided. (Thanks to JusticeAlwaysLate for spreading this bit of news)

台灣．新北市18日訊）在馬來西亞、新加坡和汶萊都設有分公司的著名直銷公司美商如新華茂（NU SKIN）台灣總裁姜惠琳與多名幹部、高階直銷商，涉嫌明知產品“BODY SPA機”是未獲衛生機關核准輸入的醫療器材，仍在2012年間從香港帶1萬多套回台販售，獲利約1600多萬元台幣（下同．約210萬令吉）。新北地檢署昨依違反《藥事法》等罪嫌，起訴姜女等31人。

(Taiwan, Taipei Dec 18th) Well-known direct selling US company Nu Skin, with branches in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei, has its Taiwan CEO Huilin Jiang, along with several officers and high level members accused of knowing that the product "Body Spa machine" is an "not permitted as import" medical device, yet brought back over 10000 kits from Hong Kong for sale in Taiwan, profited over 16 million NTD (almost $500000 USD). Taipei Public Prosecutor's Office has now officially charged 31 people, including Ms. Jiang, with violations of "Drug Regulation Act". 

美商如新集團1984年在美國創立，以直銷方式銷售、製造美妝保養品，至今已跨足全球54個市場，1992年設立台灣分公司，2007年由姜惠琳接任台總裁，還曾贊助2013年的台北101跨年煙火。

Nu Skin is founded in the US in 1984 and operates via direct sales of cosmetics, and is now in 54 markets around the world. Taiwan branch was established in 1992, and Ms. Jiang took over as CEO in 2007. Nu Skin Taiwan was a sponsor of the 101 building New Years Fireworks and festivities 2013. 

全案起因於前年，一名林姓賣家在網路上販售號稱能緊緻肌膚的“BODY SPA機”，被檢舉未經核准，林到案供稱是向如新直銷商購買後，獲緩起訴。

The case started three years ago. A "Lin" advertised a machine online for sale called "Body Spa" that claimed to tighten muscle tone, and was investigated as the device is not legally permitted for sale without Taiwan FDA approval. Lin cooperated with investigators and said he got the machine from Nu Skin reps and had his case continued. 

不過檢調追查，發現衛生署早在2011年，就曾以未附安全證明文件等理由，禁止如新進口“臉部SPA機”，但姜惠琳仍在同年底，未申請主管機關核准，就另外核可BODY SPA機行銷策略，由如新的寰宇領袖、藍鑽級主任等高階直銷商，向下線會員推銷，稱可向海外預購BODY SPA機，然後趁集團在香港舉辦大中華區年會時領貨。

Further investigations show that the Taiwan FDA had denied Nu Skin's import of Body Spa back in 2011, due to various reasons including "no safety documents included". However, Ms. Jiang went ahead, later in 2011, and approved sales strategy of Body Spa kits by (Cosmo?) leaders, Blue Diamond level execs, and such highest level members to be promoted to lower level members, claiming that the high level execs can pre-pay for these new machines and stock them overseas, and everybody can pick up their stock when Nu Skin held their convention in Hong Kong later. 

Commentary: How MLM affects the current presidential campaigns

While politics is usually quite far from the world of multi-level marketing, presidential campaign is big enough that anything anybody ever did figures into the equation, and in this case, two of the presidential candidates have direct ties to MLM... Donald Trump, and Ben Carson.

Those of you who had watched "Celebrity Apprentice" should recall that ACN, the MLM telephone company, was featured on the show... twice.  And Donald Trump even had his own MLM, "Trump Network", which nobody hears about any more.

What you may not remember is Ben Carson previously offered testimonial that Mannatech stuff helped him in his battle with prostate cancer... since 2004.

And let's not forget how big some of these MLM businesses are... and they donated HEAVILY to Republican candidates of all levels. It's already documented that co-founder of Amway, Richard DeVos and two family members donated 25K per person to Scott Walker's campaign AND unknown amounts to Jeb Bush's campaign. When Mitt Romney ran he had support of Amway, NuSkin, and Xango, all big name MLMs.

So, what are some facts about ACN and Mannatech, and perhaps, related to Donald Trump and Ben Carson, that you don't know, but should?

Let's start with ACN and Trump

ACN / Trump

Did you know that in 2010, the average ACN Canada participant takes home about $41.00 per month? That's directly off their website:

"The average ACN Canada active IBO in 2010 earned approximately $500." -- ACN Canada website 

As it is 2015, and there is no update, clearly the figure had not risen (and may even have FALLEN!)


Did you know that despite ACN having sponsored Celebrity Apprentice twice, Donald Trump was quoted by Wall Street Journal of saying, "I (Trump) know nothing about the company (ACN) other than the people who run the company, I’m not familiar with what they (ACN) do or how they go about doing it, and I make that clear in my speeches."

This is also interesting considering that Trump allegedly boasted to WSJ that for a speech at an ACN event he got $2.5 million back in 2008, and pocketed another $1.3 million for 3 more recent (and presumably shorter) talks at ACN events.

(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...

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: What They Don't Want You To Know About Ganoderma "Healthy Coffee"

In the past several years, a plethora (plague?) of "healthy coffee" companies appeared on the market. They bear names such as "Gano Excel", "Organo Gold", "Vidacup", "SereniGy", and so on. And they claim to bring you coffee, but with some magical healthy ingredient added to make you healthier, like ganoderma mushrooms and/or some other magical herbs. Sounds enticing, but here's what they don't want you to know.

1) Lousy coffee beans are used to make flavored coffee.

Traditionally, there are good coffee beans... and bad coffee beans. People would buy the good ones for a premium. So what do they do with the not so good ones?

They make flavored coffee with them. The added flavor (and smell) made the bad coffee more palatable.

Coffee geeks would never desecrate good coffee with flavors, even good flavors.

2) How are flavored coffees made any way? 

Modern flavored coffee is made by adding flavored oil to whole roasted beans, before they are grounded. Generally, 3% flavor oil (i.e. 3 pounds of flavor oil for 100 pound of beans) is added. Then the whole thing is sent through a mixer so the oil coats the beans (which can mess up your grinders)

Flavor oil on coffee. Hmmm...  So how did they get Lingzhi flavor onto coffee, if it's generally water extracted?  (see 4)

3) Generally there are only 4 camps of flavored coffee (no mushrooms)

Coffee dated back hundreds of years from Africa when the inhabitants of present-day Yemen drank coffee flavored with nuts. Later, fruits, chocolate, and such flavors are added. Foodeditorials wrote:

Generally speaking, there are four categories of this type of coffee. The first category includes flavors based upon spices such as clove, cinnamon, anise, and cardamom. Next, there are also some coffee flavors that are based upon fruits such as coconut or raspberry. Chocolate based flavors are the next type with the most common being chocolate mint. Lastly, some flavors are based upon nuts like vanilla, hazelnut or macadamia nuts. Crème coffees also have their share of followers; these include flavors such as Irish Creme or French Vanilla coffee.

To recap, that's spice, fruits, chocolate, and nuts. For hundreds of years, these are the four main categories of flavored coffee.

No mushrooms. Ever wonder why?

BREAKING NEWS: Herbalife may also be under investigation in China

When reports of NuSkin representative's alleged misconduct surfaced in Chinese media back in June and July 2013 in China it received little western media attention. However, when the Chinese Communist Party media People's Daily repeated the allegations, and called for local authorities to investigate and stamp out pyramid schemes and pyramid selling, western media noticed, and NuSkin stock took a dive, and Herbalife stock also took a dive because it's already under attack in the US. 

Turns out, Herbalife may be under more direct threat than people realized, as NYPost managed to find a report in August 2013 in First Financial Daily (of China) that Herbalife reps in China encouraged front-loading and thus is in violation of anti-pyramid-selling laws in China, among other potential law-breaking.  Quoting from the report... 

Recently, First Financial Daily discovered through private investigation that, while Herbalife is fast growing in the China market, its sales model is suspicious in five respects: collection of "recruitment fees" in disguised form, suspected exaggeration of  product effects, possible windfall profit derived from products, fast growing clubs absent of strict supervision and control, and product purchase overly dependent on sales representatives or potential sales representatives…… A series of issues have deviated the direct selling model of this company, and have contradicted with certain provisions in the "Regulations on the Prohibition of Pyramid Selling" promulgated and implemented by the State Council in 2005. As a result, suspicion has been brought up that Herbalife's sales model is a pyramid scheme. 

The specific offense mentioned first in the report is reps are required to buy $2000 USD worth of Herbalife products to join. They're told that 1) it's easy to sell, 2) it demonstrates that they are serious about this opportunity, and 3) there are plenty of people who want to join and only limited positions available.

There's a lot more.

MLM Mythbusting: Does Having a real product prove business is not a pyramid scheme?

One of the most often repeated myths spoken in the network marketing industry is "we have a product, therefore we are not a pyramid scheme". In fact, this position had apparently been adopted by Direct Selling Association itself. Here's one example:

Is this myth confirmed, plausible, or busted? Let's examine a few things:

• Is there an example (or more) where a proven pyramid scheme (closed by FTC or other authorities) have real, actual, non-woo products? 
• Does the definition of pyramid scheme precludes the existence of real non-woo products? 

Let's get started.

MLM Absurdities: Due Diligence is NOT Analysis Paralysis!

One of the more subtle reality inversion techniques used by scammers (and unethical sales people), and cloned by clueless MLM noobs, is misrepresenting "due diligence" as "analysis paralysis". 

Analysis paralysis usually refers to an organization attempting to analyze a certain proposed project or change and the effect it would have, but so much time and resource was spent on the analysis that the project never was actually adopted.  For an individual, it could be that s/he is attempting to reach a decision, but that decision has so many factors s/he was overwhelmed by combination of scope and interactions and end up making no decision at all.

However, a decision to "not participate because I clearly have no idea what I am getting into" is a decision, and reaching that conclusion is NOT analysis paralysis.

Yet many MLM veterans and noobs will mischaracterize their moment of commitment as "overcoming analysis paralysis". Here is one example from MLMBlonde(dot)com:

Or they may have been polite but also declined and you were crushed
SO you went into what I call "Analysis Paralysis".
You began to question if this could work for you. You start to analyze
your decision.
YOU FREEZE. You begin to think something may be WRONG with you
or you made a bad decision, after all, if those closest to you don't "GET
IT", how you possible speak to a stranger.
You sit back and think and think , and then you just NEVER
get up the nerve to move forward. You lose your excitement. You
just DO NOTHING. 

The problem is MLMblonde had NOT described analysis paralysis. She described "self-doubt paralysis", but slapped the "analysis paralysis" label on it. 

And she's not alone in doing so. Many MLM noobs seem to think any sort of doubt is analysis paralysis, even a full on analysis (i.e. "trust, but verify"). 

And due diligence is NOT doubt. 

Scam Psychology: Why Do People Believe Celebrity Endorsement of Woo Products?

English: Jenny McCarthy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Celebrities pushing bad science and bad medicine is nothing new.

Jenny McCarthy -- Playboy model, actress, "celebrity", "former" anti-vaxxer, pusher of various bogus autism "treatments" (basically told parents "try anything (whatever it costs)")  [ see wikipedia entry ]

Suzanne Summers -- actress, singer, celebrity, and promoter of "Wiley Protocol", a hormonal replacement therapy that was NEVER proven with scientific study and may be dangerous, among other things. [ see wikipedia entry ]

English: Lisa Oz and Mehmet Oz at the 2010 Time 100. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And let's not forget the Oprah spawned... Mehmet Oz, i.e. "Doctor Oz"...  who seems to often fail basic grasp of science despite his medical training, as he had featured such pseudoscience on his show as homeopathy, Reiki (his wife's a Reiki master), bogus report of arsenic in apple juice, bogus "magic" ingredient of weight loss, and "curing homosexuality" among many others. [ see wikipedia entry ]

People who follow these and many other celebrities out there giving BAD ADVICE are very likely to take these people's BAD ADVICE seriously... JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE CELEBRITIES. 

And their reasoning process is virtually the SAME as people who got scammed out of money.

MLM Absurdities: Once a Woo Peddler, Always a Woo Peddler?

Penta Water: proven woo on multiple contients (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was just reading a review of "Nature's Sunshine" nutritional supplement MLM on Oz's BehindMLM when I spotted a name I never thought I'd see again: Penta Water.

For those of you who don't know, Penta Water is woo... it claims to be ultrapure water that somehow is "better" for you, with some buzzwords like "improved cell survivability" and other random junk jargon, coupled with WTF? claims like "using these in medical tests improves test accuracy"... But they'll gladly sell you bottles of it for you to drink (at a premium, of course, at prices higher than even Evian water). It was so bull****, the British ad supervisory agency shut them down for making false claims.  It's so notorious, it has its own Wikipedia page.

James Randi (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And in the US, it attracted the attention of no less than James Randi, probably the best known skeptic in the world, and the entire skeptic community in debunking their bull****. James Randi has long offered a prize of $1 million dollars of any evidence of paranormal supernatural, or occult occurances, abilities, or products... under proper observing conditions (i.e. reproducible). To date it had NOT been claimed even once. Penta Water was at one time announced that they will try for the prize, then wiffle-waffled, then tried t
o stipulate that they want to use their machine, which JREF said fine, as long as you can detect 37 out of 50 random users that drank your Penta Water. Then after a while, Penta Water stopped responding altogether, claiming it can't find a representative to oversee the test.

And the head of Penta Water was Gregory L. Probert.

Apparently, Mr. Probert had been pushing woo for a while, as he's now head of "Nature's Sunshine", after Penta Water went... down the drain (so to speak).

Kevin Trudeau Will Face Jail for Lying on TV... AND Stiffing the Court of Penalties

Kevin Trudeau
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Kevin Trudeau is a master salesman. Unfortunately, his early exposure to MLM seem to have lead him down a dark path, and he became a scammer instead. And now he's really going to pay the price... in jail. Following is a short history of Kevin Trudeau.

----------

Kevin Trudeau apparently was a real go-getter even when he was young. He was voted "most likely to succeed" by his high school graduating class. However, he refused to go to college. He claimed he went to an Amway meeting at 15 and have wanted to be financially free ever since. He claim to have started a mail order company before he was 18. However, after high school he tried selling cars for a while, found it boring, then went on the seminar circuit, peddling one thing after another, like "super memory!" around the nation. Apparently that was not challenging or lucrative enough, as he went into fraud.

Apparently around 1990 he impersonated a doctor when meeting with bank officials to open accounts, then wrote 80000 worth of bad checks. He apparently also fraudulently obtained 11 credit cards (identify theft) and spent them. For the first crime he spent maybe a month in jail as the judge gave him a soft sentence for first time offender. A year later, when he got caught for the credit card fraud, he spent almost two years in a Federal prison.

When interviewed by Washington Post in 2005, Trudeau blamed "math error" and "overzealous bank officials" for his rap sheet. For the fraudulent credit cards, he said he was unfairly penalized for paying late one time his AMEX card which resulting in him not being able to get any card, and he had no choice but to apply with fake social security numbers.

He just cannot admit that he did anything wrong. Such narcissistic behavior is indicative of sociopathic personalities.

The prison stay did not stop his criminal behavior at all. It only make him even MORE determined to make his money... through any means possible. He also met up with a guy named Jules Leib (to whom he gave a Tony Robbins self-help book while in prison), and when they got out, they teamed up to make money... through MLM.

Woo Most Bizarre: Fake "Device" Sold by Now Transvestite Singer Fugitive

It is quite often that the MLM Skeptic encountered woo, but this one is far more bizarre than most. In fact, this may be the most bizarre woo that I have ever encountered (even including "cans of air certified to do nothing" and "fuel additive that violates laws of thermodynamics")

This woo is called QXCI, but it is also known as EPFX, or even SCIO. What the letters stand for is not important (it'll be listed at the end).

It roughly looks like this (laptop not included):

QXCI (everything except the laptop), picture courtesy of
http://www.badscience.net/2008/08/bill-nelson-wins-the-internet/

The important part is they are just random jumble of buzzwords. It's a machine that claims to be woo for all seasons... it is  (I am quoting from a website pushing such)

"... is an incredibly acurate (sic) biofeedback stress reduction system, combining the best of biofeedback, stress reduction, Rife machines, homeopathic medicine, bioresonance, electro-acupuncture, computer technology and quantum physics”.

And the operating principle of this device is based on...

"the following modalities: naturopathy, homeopathy, acupuncture, chiropractic, energetic medicine, psychology, aromatherapy, reflexology, colour therapy, Neuro- Linguistic Programming, biofeedback and Rife Resonator. It also incorporates knowledge of metaphysical subjects to bring a unique synergistic perspective to natural healing."

In other words, this is every quack woo lover naturopath dream machine!

But you'd never guess who invented this... and what happened to him...

More Hilarious Woo Endorsements: Having a Chiropractor as your "Chief Science Officer"

Folks, I have no problem with you buying woo, as long as you UNDERSTAND it's woo, that any claims to benefit are merely CLAIMs, for worse, UNPROVEN claims. 

However, the marketers of woo should at least pick REPUTABLE and SCIENTIFIC people to be their advisors, to look legitimate. 

Previously, MLM Skeptic have pointed out some other woo products (a patch that claims to affect accupressure points through 'wireless communication', sea 'scum' dried and packed into pills as ULTIMATE nutrition, and a product that's based on assuming that the seller's hypothetical position paper about stem cells is true) MLM Skeptic now must add another item to the list of woo: a Chiropractor selling brain supplements as co-founder and "chief science officer". 

First, before the "haterz" (a term I borrow from my, well.. haterz)  jump all over me, I have nothing against chiropractors... other than they shouldn't pretend to know stuff they know nothing about... same as anyone else. There are special chiropractors, such as Ted Carrick, who may have invented something called Chiropractic Neurology. On the other hand, there are also chiropractors who want to be family M.D. can't get the degree, but want the job any way. 

So what's wrong with this guy? Let's start with the premise: brain supplement. I.e. nutritional supplement that helps your brain, with 14 important ingredients! What are they? They ain't telling. 

The company is called Brain Abundance, where they claimed the following:

In fact, thanks to our Co-founder Dr. Pejman Behrouzi, along with our team of top experts in the fields of neuroscience, nutrition, medical science, and product formulation Brain Fuel PLUS is the most complete supplement for your brain ever created!

On a different page Dr. Pejman Behrouzi is listed as "chief science officer" along with head of the company. 

Notice the word "neuromusculoskeletal"? That's codeword for "chiropractor". 

Coalition Petitions FTC to Fully Investigate Herbalife, includes dozens of experts on various subjects

This just came up on my news alert: Coalition Petitions FTC to fully investigate Herbalife.

Among the names you'll find some familiar names if you are attuned to the MLM "controversy"

• Robert Fitzpatrick of pyramidschemealert.org, long-time opponent of MLM model, believes all MLMs are effectively pyramid schemes. I agree with him 90%. 
• Dr. Jon M. Taylor, who cooperated with Fitzpatrick on many of the papers, but also has his own anti-MLM website
• David Brear, another long-time vocal opponent of MLM, who also believes that all MLMs are pyramid schemes, albeit disguised. He and I have butted heads despite we agree 90% of the time. His blog is at mlmtheamericannightmare.blogspot.com (I may have misspelled that)
• Shyam Sundar, David Brear's counterpart in India, runs corporatefraudswatch.blogspot.com and covers mainly Indian scams, but also reposts Brear's blogposts
• Doug Brooks, who had started multiple class-action lawsuits against multiple MLM companies

Some notable anti-scam bloggers are there:

• Jason Jones, aka Salty Droid, whose stance on scams and pyramid schemes are well known and he considers MLMs in the same arena. He can be found at saltydroid.info
• Omri Shabat, of glancingweb. Omri had been writing superbly sarcastic and caustic blog posts about various Internet marketers and small time scammers, the type that was covered in The Verge's "Scamworld" series, for years

MLM Woo: Marine Phytoplankton and Rose As Nutritional Supplement

Simple question: Do you eat algae?

Of course not. Waterborne insects, small fish and crustaceans, and amphibians like frogs eat algae. Remember those aquarium mini catfish that sucks the bottom and the sides? They're eating algae.

In large bunches, fresh water algae is also known as "pond scum".

How about marine phytoplanktons? That's just microscopic algae that live on the ocean. It's "sea scum" (instead of pond scum!)  Whales and some other cetaceans eat them. Crustaceans like shrimp and zooplanktons (micro-shrimp and others) eat them too. Marine invertebrates like sea stars, sea cucumbers, and so on also eat marine phytoplanktons.

Would you eat marine phytoplanktons? I don't see why you would when you won't eat algae. Clearly, fruits and vegetables are much more delicious for us land lubbers.

Or to put it even more plainly... Do you prefer eating this:

Or this?

The choice is clear, isn't it? You'd choose the latter.

So why is "marine phytoplankton" being marketed as some sort of super food?

Think about it, folks. Why would a LAND animal, such as human, achieve full absorption of MARINE phytoplankton? When there are plenty of LAND phytonutrients available as fruits and vegetables?

Or put it another way, why would any one pay to eat sea equivalent of pond scum, when there's plenty of delicious fruits and vegetables prepared any way you like?

And how much do you actually get any way?

Bad Argument: "You are biased!" (with bonus Vemma debunking)

A couple months back, I documented the bad argument "Demand for Parity", where defenders of a suspect scheme often react to "negative" information about their scheme with "I demand you cover some POSITIVE aspects of our scheme!"  I have already explained that "demand for parity" is an unethical debate tactic, as there is no proof that the two sides are equal, thus there is no "parity" to be sought. However, recently I ran into a variant of this bad argument, which I'll summarize as "You are biased!" bad argument.

It generally go like this:

A: Magazine _____ has published an article that states MLM ____ may be a pyramid scheme. 

B: That is a biased article! Don't believe them! MLM _____  is not a scam!  I am proof! It paid me! 

Somehow, in B's mind, being biased is mutually exclusive from being true. If it's biased, it cannot be true. That clearly can't be right. He believes that MLM is not a scam. Is his opinion biased? Of course it is! Thus, by his own standard, it can't be true! And of course, he used "it paid me" bad argument to justify his position, which is, of course, false proof.

A biased article can be absolutely true. It just may not be the complete truth. 

What's hilarious (or disturbing) is B then usually launches into a tirade of bad arguments that proves he's far more biased (albeit of a supporting nature) than whoever s/he had charged of being biased. The difference however, is that the defender often end up using various fallacies as defense.

Now let's get to a real example:

Alarms Raised at Colleges Over Pyramid Allegations of MLM Vemma

Vemma Product Photography and Ad
(Photo credit: themichaelminer)

Vemma is a potions company that two years ago created "Verve" energy drink and came up with a strategy to get college kids (and for a while, high school kids) to promote it as brand partners, which is just another fancy name for affiliate (i.e. consultant / distributor / member / whatever). However, they need to buy a case, then try to sell it.  And they're lured in with promise of "easy sell, everybody needs energy drinks" and rewards such as "free car" (with a lot of fine print).

Energy drinks are not what they cracked up to be, and Vemma reps are making a LOT of potentially misleading claims, like their Verve is "healthy" (and other energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster are not). It's been analyzed that they contain roughly the same amount of caffeine, the primary active ingredient, so any claim that Vemma's drinks are healthy(-ier?) is unfounded. Caffeine can kill people, and proliferation of energy drinks made that even more widespread.

Previously MLM Skeptic have covered the energy drink market, and found it to be in a world already saturated with conventionally marketed products (namely Red Bull, Rockstar, Monster, etc.) and thus viability is in doubt.

Now we find Verve pushers basically making up bull**** about how *their* drink is healthier than other drinks when it contains the same active ingredients, in the same portions and thus is just as dangerous.

But Vemma's Verve is doing something else: burning through participant's pocketbooks. And most participants are college kids (who have little enough money as is)