IPro Network (IPN) and the MLM Game of Telephone: garble up the message to sound better

Recently I came across a comment about IPro Network on BehindMLM.

First, what is iPro Network? Some generic discount network based on some generic altcoin they are billing as some fantastic e-commerce opportunity, you should buy into the currency despite there's no proof that it was widely adopted (since there are tons of altcoins out there). It's so fantastic, there is absolutely NO TRACE of the CEO on the internet (other than on their own website), who wears a clearly wrong size shirt (he can't even button his collar), despite claiming "15 years experience".

Anyway, here's the comment about why is the review so hard on a "legitimate" opportunity.

"Bill Antonio": "Oz I appreciate you trying to protect marketers from scams but why is it that you seem to criticise every business opportunity and preventing people from making money online from legit companies. IPN has been endorsed by Scott Warren a most sought after MLM Lawyer as IPN has met all the compliance guidelines and has also being endorsed by well-known entrepreneur Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank who is highly respected in the business world.They also have sought after motivational speaker Jay Abraham who is in the same league as Anthony Robbins. These people will never be involved in any scams.

Okay, there are a couple things to note:

1) Did Scott Warren, an MLM lawyer, "endorse" IPro Network?

2) Did Kevin Harrington (Shark Tank) endorse IPro Network?

3) Does Jay Abraham work for IPro Network?

Not surprisingly, the answer is "no proof of such" in each and every case.

This is like the game of telephone, where somehow message was distorted into whatever the promoter wanted to say, instead of the REAL content.

So what is the truth? Let MLMSkeptic lead you to some discovery.

Why should you trust your upline if s/he is making money off of you whether you fail or succeed?

From when you're but a wee little toddler, you've probably been taught some (or all of the following):

• Don't take candy from creepy people
• Don't take health advice from tobacco company
• Don't take money advice from loan company
• Don't take ethical advice from the Devil

So why do so many MLMers take business and money advice from their upline?

Think about it, In each of the scenarios above, it's basically inmates running the prison, or fox guarding the henhouse... There's an ETHICAL conflict in the scenario.

But, but you say, my upline *wants* me to succeed because if I succeed, s/he earns more, and so do I! How can this be an ethical conflict?

But that's because you fail to see the situation from your upline's perspective, but rather, from the MLM myth it perpetuates about itself.

Let's see it from your upline's perspective....

Scam Tactics: The Galileo Gambit

Does everyone remember who Galileo Galilei is? He's the one who taught heliocentrism (the sun is the center, not Earth) and was persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church because heliocentrism ran counter to the Biblical literalism of the time (that Earth is the center and everything revolves around Earth).

So what is Galileo Gambit? An argument tactic that combines three separate fallacies (appeal to minority, appeal to authority, conditional fallacy) in one concise package. 

They made fun of Galileo, and he was right

They make fun of me, therefore I am right.

Galileo Gambit is generally used to dismiss the "widely held truth". Creationists and Climate change deniers often use Galileo Gambit and claiming persecution. (Indeed, Rick Perry sparked controversy when he claimed that science on climate change was 'not settled yet' in 2011 and added "Galileo got outvoted for a spell")

There is a variation called Semmelweis Gambit that was often used by "alternative medicine", or otherwise known by its less complimentary acronym, SCAM (supplemental, complementary, and alternative medicine).  Ignaz Semmelweis was a doctor that provided the start of germ theory in 1800's Vienna, but his views were not accepted during his time and he died a broken man, with his views only came into acceptance after his death.

Another variation is known as "Three Stages of Truth" often misattributed to Arthur Schopenhauer (who never wrote such a thing). Let us look at an example:

Here is one form of it used in a recent... suspect scheme (that had since collapsed.)

What is Business Porn, and Why Is It Bad For You?

Ever wonder who writes those books about MLMs? Or "how to become a millionaire" type books?

Probably nobody you ever heard of.

G.K. Chesterton once wrote in his essay The Fallacy of Success,  "...On every bookstall, in every magazine, you may find works telling people how to succeed. They are books showing men how to succeed in everything; they are written by men who cannot even succeed in writing books. To begin with, of course, there is no such thing as Success. Or, if you like to put it so, there is nothing that is not successful. That a thing is successful merely means that it is; a millionaire is successful in being a millionaire and a donkey in being a donkey."

Don't get me started on Robert "Rich Dad" Kiyosaki... As I've written about his bargain with MLM, and how his success is due to selling to MLM, not due to his own success. He had f***ed over at least two of his partners. His advice on MLM doesn't even fit his own quadrant system. And he doesn't understand what Ponzi is but managed to write about it any way for Yahoo Finance.

Yet people seem to regard him as some sort of financial genius. Why?

Frankly, Kiyosaki, and many of these so-called business advice writers, write "business porn".

Do you know what is business porn? No? Do you know what regular porn is? It's sex, with the boring parts edited out and dressed up to look the most exciting that few if any sane people would f*** that way.

Porn is fake. It's a SIMULATION of sex. Business porn is the same... books that explain to you the bloody obvious: making money is good. Stock photos that you wish your office look like, and so on. It's NOT REAL.

People who buy these books think there's "that one thing" they will "realize / get" to suddenly turn failure into "success". Often it's something about "attitude" (or mindset), or "gadget" or tool or system, or certain behavioral gimmicks that somehow symbolizes "leadership". They put up the stock photos that their business would never look like, or sprout cliche slogans like "you have to fake it to make it".

But just as porn is not real sex, business porn is not real business advice, even though they sure sound like real advice.

Scam and Religion: What does Islam Say About Scammers (and MLM?)

Ban_pyra.gif (No to network marketing). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Previously, MLMSkeptic has covered how the Christian Bible has prohibitions against scams. Then a reader asked, what about Islam?

Good question! Some research is required to answer this, and one of the best resource is Islamqa.info (however, it is also known for issuing its own fatwas, something frowned upon in Saudi Arabia, but that's something else entirely). In it, we were able to locate Fatwa 42579 as issued by the Standing Committee as established by the Sovereign of Saudi Arabia to be the definitely authority for all Sunni Islamic matters.

To make a long story short... Network Marketing is PROHIBITED under shariah law. It is haram.

Why? Here's my summary, but you can read the full decision.

1)  If you have to buy a product / kit to join, and you earn "commission" by recruiting others who also buy the kit, you have engaged in two forms of riba, aka usury / interest, and riba is considered haram. Specifically, riba al-fadl (exchange of goods of same type but different quantity) and riba al-nasi'ah (deferred payment of larger amount than if paid immediately, i.e. get 10 now, or 12 later). The product / kit purchased is considered a smokescreen for the riba.

2) If you are promised pay for recruiting X number of people, it is considered gharar, or "ambiguous transaction", also forbidden, because there is a chance you will be unable to recruit the number of people needed to be paid.

3) The transactions are fundamentally insincere and thus, forbidden, as the transaction benefits primarily the company and some participants encouraged to misrepresent the true nature of transaction.

4) The transaction itself also involves lying and cheating by promising participant wealth they do not usually earn.

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