REMINDER: FINAL DEADLINE to file ZeekRewards claims is September 5th, 2013!

If you believe ZeekRewards owe you money, you need to file your claim before September 5th, 2013! That's only 2 weeks left!

After that it's "lights out"!

Over 350 million of claims had been filed, according to the receiver. There should be more of you out there!

And for the net winners... Your time is running out too. Soon the receiver is going to SUE you all!

Will You Be The Greater Fool in MLM?

Sell eBooks to riches? Don't be so sure. It may be
Great Fool instead. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the stock market there is this theory called "the greater fool" theory. Its believers state that many questionable stocks are worth buying, not because the stocks themselves are worth the price, but because s/he can convince a "greater fool" to buy them at an even higher price than they paid.

It seems quite a few shady businesses work the same way, esp. those that promise easy riches through selling eBooks and whatnot. One eBook author claimed she was sucked in by such a scheme, which promised easy money by selling eBooks. Turns out what she had to do was spam Craigslist with "income opportunity" ads just like the one that sucked her in (and those are flagged and removed as soon as they're found, so it's a constant cat and mouse game, as she had to constantly create new blogs, websites, URLs, capture pages, and disposable email addresses as they keep getting banned) just so that she can recruit other people to do the SAME THING. And what does she sell? The same thing that she "bought" from whoever sucked her in: an eBook that described and explained how to do what she's doing: spam the net to sell itself.

It's like a f***ing meme that won't die but should have long time ago. It self replicates, feeding on greed.

And a lot of MLMs that were recruitment heavy work the same way: by looking for "greater fools".

Scammers Will Fake Anything and Everything

Let me show you this little "certificate" here, plastered all over the shady corners of the Internet called we critics call "the great fool pool", otherwise known as HYIP forums. HYIP, or "high yield investment programs", are basically Internet Ponzi schemes and/or ponzi/pyramid hybrid schemes where you are paid commission if you brought in people who pay into the program, and you get get extra money out of the program after X days, with promises of 1 to 2% interest per DAY.

Any way, here's the "certificate"

Notice anything wrong with it?

How about... Everything?

Will John Peterson's Suicide Save Herbalife, or Doom it?

John Peterson, a Herbalife Millionaire who climbed his way (some say over his downlines' backs) to Herbalife "Founder's Cicle", the highest grade of salesperson rank possible, has just put a bullet in his own brain. Herbalife put out a press release calling it a tragic accident, but clearly, putting a bullet in one's brain while sitting in an old pickup is not an accident at all.

So who is John Peterson? As mentioned before, he's one of the top salesperson in Herbalife, claims to earn 3 million a year from commission, apparently brought Herbalife to Mexico (and from there backfilled into US Latino communities), and has properties in Brazil, Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. He's so rich, he had 3 kids, divorced his blonde trophy wife, and traded up to a Mexican bonita by the name of Fernanda.

His rise to top of Herbalife is a bit controversial, as he rose through one of this schemes called "Work from Home Inc."  Basically, it's the same model that another Founder's Circle member "Shawn Dahl" used: create a recruiting firm, that sends out these "business opportunity kits" that is basically a teaser DVD for $50 (though you'll advertise it as $10, but only if you return it in 14 days). The DVD comes with a form you can fill out and send back and someone will call you to enroll you with their support system and take your money, which is usually DOUBLE what it normally costs to join Herbalife (the extra goes into his pocket for some lame webpage and some brochures), but that's only if you're really enthusiastic. If you're a bit hesitant or did not actually mail back the form yet, your name will be sold to someone who already joined and is eager to "buy leads".

Through this sort of borderline scheme (not quite a scam, but shady as heck) Peterson and Dahl and others clawed their way up the Herbalife affiliate human ladder to the very top, over other affiliates' backs, and is raking in the money to the tunes of millions per year, while the average Herbalife affiliate earns HUNDREDS per year (not counting expenses).

One then speculates what was would cause him to take his own life, and what effect would this have on Herbalife?

How Modelling Scam Works

While Modelling Scam is not MLM, some of the marketing tactics are remarkably similar: they involve selling your own dreams to you.

http://kschang.hubpages.com/hub/Modelling-Agency-Scam-How-it-Works-and-How-to-Avoid-it

Why do Some MLMers expect other people to take them seriously, when they do NOT take other people seriously?

English: Different customer loyalty cards (airlines, car rental companies, hotels etc.) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In life, "fairness" is often expected. You do something for me, I do something for you.

So why is it different in the MLM world?

A common theme that often emerges in discussion of a particular opportunity's legality is the promoter wants you (the critic) and anybody else to take what they say seriously, while they discount everything YOU wrote/discussed/pointed out as utter garbage to be ignored. Indeed, much of this blog covers such excuses used by such promoters to dismiss criticisms.

Recently, the discussion was rehashed about the opportunity called Lyoness.

Lyoness is a strange hybrid of a shopping loyalty program where you can earn shopping credits (funded by merchant contributions based on your purchase and purchases of those you recruited). However, it also has this potentially illegal component where you can purchase account units (normally generated through shopping) directly, bypass all the shopping, and get money THAT way. Some MLM experts (not me, really) have pointed out this is basically a Ponzi scheme.

Troy Dooly published a blogpost on July 22nd 2013 titled" Lyoness America Violating Pyramid, Ponzi, Securities, and Business Opportunities regulations?"  And the **** really hit the fan. Mr. Dooly lost a bit of credibility when he practically endorsed the ponzi scheme Zeek Rewards, but he was willing to admit his mistakes and learned from it. Now, after being advised by one of his close friends and MLM analyst, he decided to put the information he got out there.

A month later, he was invited down to Miami to talk with Lyoness American leadership and legal counsel in what is pretty obviously a damage control spin attempt by Lyoness.

So what do Lyoness supporters have to say about Lyoness itself, while ignoring its critics?

UNCONFIRMED: Is Brazilian Prosecutor Asking for US Cooperation to Shutdown TelexFree here too?

According to Brazilian Media, as reported by PatrickPretty.com, Brazilian prosecutor is asking US prosecutors (which state or Federal agency?) to help it shut down TelexFree

This cannot be confirmed as no specific agency or official was named and thus impossible to corroborate.

http://www.patrickpretty.com/2013/08/12/unconfirmed-report-in-brazil-says-prosecutors-have-asked-u-s-court-to-block-telexfree-accounts-new-signups-unconfirmed/