Is "Wake Up Now" heading for eternal slumber?

After that "This American Life" expose on Wake Up Now, it seems there's an internal revolt going on, and the company had ground to a halt, if you believe the postings from various WUN affiliates. Highlights include:

• Eric "Seemore Green" Turner claimed WUN owe him $300K and he hadn't been paid since August 2014.  (You'll recall Eric was heavily mentioned in the TAL episode)
• Another affiliate, Logan Shippy, uploaded an video claiming the company had "let you guys down", "burned so much trust with so many people", and he's not going down with the ship. 

Previous reports stated that WUN had lost 8 million in 2012 and 2013. 

Any one can be conned: 5 rules of recognizing a con

One of the most frustrating aspects of being a skeptic is the utter... "faith" a victim has in his/her ability to recognize a con, i.e. "it can't be a con... I'd know if it is a con"  usually followed by "I met the owner / officer / vendors and they are sincere and smart people, and answered my questions." then even more social proof ("_____ vouched for him/her/it").

Social proof can be faked, folks. In fact, here are 5 rules of recognizing a con. I've seen the 5 rules before, but never in a single place. This may be as well a time to mention them.


Rule #1: EVERYBODY can be conned.

Sure, people who are naive are considered gullible, but the exceptionally bright are also gullible. The moment you consider yourself immune to cons, you are vulnerable. The EASIEST victims to con are the ones who considered themselves too smart and too knowledgeable to be conned. They are too proud to admit they can be conned.

"I'm sorry I said you were proud. Just stop!" / (c) 2012 Kevin Spear

Is that you, too proud to look down?


Rule #2: You will probably be conned in your area of expertise

Yes, you'll be conned in what you know. Why? Because con-men target those who "know". Your mind, being familiar with the area, automatically fill in the details, and that saved the conmen work. Furthermore, you also feel invincible in your area of knowledge, further increasing your vulnerability. The really smart people know a lot of different things and know enough to be skeptical and cautious as they can't be experts in everything. Remember, most of Bernie Madoff's victims are other money managers who thought they knew what Madoff's doing.

I am an NMR expert. To save time, let's just assume that I am never wrong. (source: Zazzle.com)

Will you have faith in your knowledge of the field, and thus, not ask the questions?

BREAKING NEWS: India FINALLY moved against SpeakAsia Ponzi, SIX ARRESTED

Those in the US never heard much about SpeakAsia, because it was a hybrid pyramid/Ponzi scheme in India. And it ensnared a LOT of people and money back in 2011.  The current estimate was the SpeakAsia involved 2276 crore Rs (366.5 million USD) and 24 lakh (2.4 million) victims. 

The scheme had collapsed years before, and its head Manoj Kumar had fled the country and is believed to have died in a hospital in Singapore in January 2014. However, the wheels of justice turns slowly in India, and it was just announced that 6 arrests have been made involving this case in India on Feb 1, 2015. 

(A crore is 10 million, so you're looking a 22760 million, or 22.76 billion Rupees, roughly 366.5 million USD in today's exchange rate. And a lakh is 100000, so 24 lakh is 2.4 million)

SpeakAsia started operation in 2010, and claimed to be a 'survey organization' that were recruiting "panelists" for their opinion that can be sold to large companies for huge profit, but they need the panelists to put in money, usually explained as "tests and qualifications" and "e-newsletter subscription", and are encouraged to purchase "additional panels", up to 9.  "Panelists" are paid on the surveys they completed and on recruiting additional panelists. In fact, recruiting ONE panelist is worth 10 "reward points", while completing one week's survey only earns 7 reward points. This was clearly a pyramid/Ponzi hybrid scheme with the money cycled out to pay members who got in early. 

The scheme quickly spread from India into neighboring countries like Bangledesh, Malaysia, and so on. 

BREAKING NEWS: Coverup in Ghana? Bank employees claimed they've been duped to provide TelexFree loans then fired to cover up management incompetence

Nine workers of "Opportunity Savings and Loans" in Ghana are threatening to sue the S&L for wrongful dismissal. The S&L apparently started providing loans to people for purchasing TelexFree positions in December 2013. Within months, the complainers claimed, questions started to arise as rules, such as residency check, were not followed, but apparently team leaders took responsibility. Then loans were issued without issuer's knowledge (i.e. wrongly attributed loans) and never corrected. In the end, the bank lost 1.2 million GHS (roughly 362000 USD) and fired the nine workers.

Now the nine workers are alleging that they were following orders, the branch leaders knew exactly what happened, all correspondences were copied and concerns brought up and dismissed by the said leaders, who were apparently not fired. Now the company president has fired the nine instead to cover up mismanagement.

The bank president dismissed the charges and said the case had been referred to the Police and he fired the employees who broke the rules, and he has no further comment.

See SpyGhana article.   http://www.spyghana.com/opportunity-savings-loans-sacks-9-workers/

Murder Linked to WCM777 Ponzi, Arrests Made

According to Press Democrat news of Napa County, California, an arrest on 15-JAN-2015 was made related to a murder in 2014 of a Santa Rosa businessman. The murder is related to losses related to the WCM777 ponzi scheme shut down by SEC in 2014.

Napa County Sheriff's Department arrested Angela Martinez Arias, 41, of Petaluma at her place of business in Rohnert Park. She is being charged along with three others (one of whom died in confrontation with SWAT) for murder of Reynaldo Pacheco, 44, of Santa Rosa.  Pacheco was reported missing in March 2014, and 9 days later his body was found. He had been bludgeoned to death with a rock.

Detectives now believe that Arias have lured Pacheco to her location to discuss losses suffered in the WCM777 ponzi scheme, which was shut down by SEC on March 28, 2014. Upon arrival, Pacheco was kidnapped by her three co-conspirators, transported to neighboring Napa county and killed.

This is the first documented murder linked to the WCM777 Ponzi scheme.

You can find all WCM777 coverage on this blog by following this link:

http://amlmskeptic.blogspot.com/search/label/WCM777

Thanks to PatrickPretty.com for the initial link to article.

(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.