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Beware of MLM Schemes and Products!

Multi Level Marketing or Network marketing / Chain marketing is a very familiar word now a days.  Hundreds of new MLM companies are schemes are introduing every month. By the time you might be also introduced in to many of such schemes by some of your friends/co-workers/relatives or so called your neighbor ‘MLM Millionaire’!

Thousands of people are joined in different Multi Level Marketing Schemes, as so called ‘independent distributors’ for many products ranging from household, health products or even ‘Gold coins’.

In many of such schemes Products sold in this fashion must be overpriced to finance the greedy profits promised to distributors. Some companies are selling low quality handy vacuum cleaner for Rs.7,000/-, and its original prices may be less than Rs.1,000/-. they are also offering some watches, energy savers, and other consumer goods for really high prices.   health products like Vitamins, weight loss formulas, and fiber supplements are ordinary items readily available in retail stores. Exaggerated claims are generally needed to justify extraordinary prices for these ordinary items. Herbal supplements may contain potent drugs naturally or by adulteration. Herbal supplements are not manufactured or labeled according to the high standards as consumers have come to expect. Salespeople, with little more than company training and subjective personal experience, may be misrepresented as “health counselors” when their real goal is to sell products and/or sign-up distributors. Selling health products one recommends poses a serious conflict-of-interest even when sellers are qualified and products worthwhile.

False Claims and dream of success

Many of us are joining in such Multi level marketing schemes either because of the pressure of our close friends, relatives or thinking like ‘ I can earn some extra income every month’. But does it really happen? Absolutely NO!. MLMs are driven largely by greed. The idea of working hard for a while, building up a substantial down-line sales system, and watching the money roll in, is appealing, but is “too good to be true.”. Many MLM companies claims that you can earn thousands every month, or even in a week. but the truth is 98% of the distributors will not get even the money which they are invested in the scheme. yes, it is the truth!.Even the well-established Amway company has not been able to deliver on the sweet dream for most of its people.

illegal pyramid schemes

All MLM schemes are working as pyramid schemes. or binary tree schemes. A focus upon new distributor recruitment in hopes of sharing in their commissions can cause multilevel marketing programs to become illegal pyramid schemes. An important legal criterion is that in pyramid schemes, most of the products become inventory in the hands of hopeful distributors instead of being bought and used by consumers. Thus, the unwitting, hopeful distributor may be victimized twice. First as one stuck with goods that have little chance of being sold, and second, as one stigmatized by having been a part of an illegal business operation. It is similar to the old ‘Money chain’ concept, and it is the old wine in new bottle!

You may pay a high social price.

This is very important!!!. people may start hate you and they will avoid you every possible occasion.Because multilevel marketing is aimed at friends, relatives and neighbors, a distributor can easily become persona non grata. Before becoming involved in multilevel marketing, you should consider how much value you place upon your good name. A short-term financial gain may not be worth what it cost in long-term loss of social status.

So when someone approaches you next time with some sweet offers and XYZ Multi Level Marketing Business, just remember all these things, and decide wisely. Remember,  There are no shortcut to success, and such MLM schemes are playing on your greed and urge to make money very quickly,  and they are using you to market their schemes and make money for someone who created the business. So Think twice before you take a decision.

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29 comments

  1. very true. now a days everyone is the independent distributors for so called MLM schemes. Many MLM companies are there like RMP,Gold Quest,NanoExcel which uses people to get more business by their greed.

    It really spoils the friendship and other relations. and the primary preys of such so called distributors are friends and family members and relatives. how many times you can resist is some of your close friends is asking for join such a scheme, and offering some 1,00,000,0000 in 6 months!

    MLM is a scam, almost 98% of people lost their money, time and even friendship through such schemes. thanks technoparktoday for a timely article on this. all the best

  2. That’s very much true !! Almost 98% of people have lost money. Just because they were not born entrepreneurs. They had no prior experience in running a business. They were not ready to learn from the leaders who have originally done that. They don’t know how to run a business and they just know how to be part of a business.. They Work like a donkey for 30 years with no pension… All the money that is saved is just enough to match inflation. The 2 crores savings after 30 years is equivalent to 10 lakhs now.

    How many people who have lost money know the risk involved in starting a new company ? How many of these 98% have the discipline required to run a start-up company effectively ? ‘Technoparktoday’ should also write about few other scams as well like :

    1. Pyramid schemes in Companies. Only one out of Thousands will make it to the chair of CEO, CIO, or COO.

    2. Pyramid schemes in Politics. Only one out of thousands of politicians or leaders will make it to the chair of the Prime Minister.

    3. Pyramid schemes in Civil Services Examination. Only 400 out of 3 Lakh will make it to the Civil Services.

    4. Pyramid schemes like CAT exam. Only a few hundreds out of lakhs will make it to IIMs.

    MLM is not a scam, there are companies who are abusing this concept. MLM is just another business concept which is providing hopes to many people. Those who are in will know… !!

  3. raghu, it seems you are an agent of some of MLM companies. well, can you say that any of the MLM business running on market ( except amway ) is legitimate? do they have any business ethics or quality products?

    They are same as the old money chain, but only difference is t hey are offering some products to get protection from the anti money chain laws. other than that everything is simply money chain and people are adding up more people and transferring money in a most illegal way.

    lol, your comparison with other things are really funny. everyone knows there is only one CEO is possible in a company. Companies wont offer every employee to give them a CEO position if they join more people in to that organization, and they never tell the employees that if you refer more of your friends and relatives, we will give you the percentage of their salary everymonth.

    anyway, i like to support this article, whoever joined in the MLM scheme, lost their money and time, they went desperate, and more than they they spoiled their good name among their friends and even relatives.

  4. very true, there is a very popular money chain called RMP ( resource money power) . they are giving very cheap products and their main business is joining new member and getting money out of that. who cares about those products? they will offer you big dreams and photocopied cheques before you join, and once you join, the pressure is upon you to join more members. they will bug you for that every day and you will be forced to approach new people, and the easy targets are your close friends and relatives.

    It will spoil the relationships, and i’m a victim of that.

  5. santosh,
    really glad that you agree that there is atleast one legitimate company…

    About the misconceptions that you might have heard… Just search in google for ‘Mother Teresa’ you would find many articles defaming her than praising her… so, people can say anything… Those who have faith are always rewarded…

    About force-selling to relatives or friends, what’s harm in recommending quality products at an economic cost per use ? I can always do that when I know that by doing so , i am sharing the benefits.. If I had started a company, wouldn’t I let them know that I am manufacturing quality products ? I don’t force sell, I just share the benefits..

    The beauty of MLM can be outlined as
    1. You need not invest on factories to start a business.
    2., You could even start a business without having any showroom space.
    3. You could counsel with a person who is successful in that business so that you could know what you should do to be like him or go beyond.
    4. Once you are successful, you could enjoy having royalty income. A million or more every year as Pension… !!
    5. Get out of the vicious circle of going to a job and spending.. You could own a ‘money-making machine’ rather than yourself becoming a ‘money making machine’.

    For those who have ‘lost money’, i don’t know that there is much money involved in any MLM company… Yet, if they have lost, it should be something in their character, that they never wanted to correct. Should have tried the legitimate companies in the industry, or should have assessed his partner very well before joining with him…

    Please don’t throw mud unless you understand all the facts !!!

  6. Ram,

    Can you point out any MLM company( other than amway) who is selling such quality products?

    They are selling really crappy products for 10x times of actual cost.

  7. Raghu and Ram are MLM promoters or owners. Look at Raghu’s article, just like Brutus’s speech.

  8. siju, I don’t know about any other company which is legitimate than Amway… And i really agree with your second statement…

    Since, this forum is not intended to promote any company or business, I am unable to disclose my company name any better than this… 🙂

    Suresh, sorry if I sounded harsh but for me this article seemed very illogical… You can’t blame an industry just because there are a few bad players… You can’t blame all Govt servants just because there are a few corrupt ones.

  9. MLM is a good concept. But it becomes bad when the technique is used to force people to buy crap.

    Dont say Amway got quality products. Also, I do not think ordinary people will buy a soap for Rs. 200/-.

    MLM works with relationships rather than their product quality. I will join as your download because you are my friend and I cannot say ‘no’ to you. But the truth is MLM is one of the best techniques to break relationships.

    Yes, piramid system … it gives us a the idea more visually. Only guys on top gains something.

  10. so the question is, when someone is approach you to introduce the business or a MLM product, do u need to buy his words? absolutely No! any person with average commonsense can understand that those are only figures and they are making everyone as a desperate salesmen so that they will drive the business by the greed and over confidence of their success. but poor fellows never understand that it never comes.

    I bet you that there are hundreds of techies in technopark who lost their money through such schemes. and new MLM systems are coming up everyday.

  11. …coming up everyday… false. Most people are aware of the risks so MLMs face difficulty in growing.

  12. Do you know what is the biggest risk in your life ? Being a loyal employee (as loyal as a dog) hoping that your employer will take care of you when you go old..
    I don’t have any serious dislike towards being an employee, but as many of you might have thought, being an employee is not the ultimate objective of your life… If some one dares to run an extra mile and is trying to secure his family’s future by trying to generate an extra income, what’s harm in it… If you don’t like selling its your problem, he knows and he might be able to sell… I would say, selling is not a necessary skill to be successful in Amway, in fact the products speaks for themselves…

  13. raghu, whatever you said about the job is true. but why you are relating it with the scams like MLM products and schemes? Why people need to join such things and loose their money, Why you guys are doing business out of greed and false hopes?

    Being independence doesnot mean you have to join MLM. rather they can invest in some other things which is legal and legitimate. instead of short time income, let them to do something genuine and ethical. They can start even a small ‘groundnut selling shops’ which is more legal and trustworthy.

    people like to make use of some generic principles stated in famous books like ‘Rich dad poor dad’ to impress people. you are using that as a marketing technique to attract the people, and giving a very false hope. it is a poor cheat.

    Now tell me what are the MLM companies giving the products which worth the money people are giving? They are using such low quality products to mask the eyes of the laws in our country. money chain is banned in india. so you cant buy money giving promises, but you can sell products and get the price.
    so you people are taking advantage of that loophole to join more people in to it, and getting 10 times of money of the actual product, and ultimately its a MONEY CHAIN…yes MLM products are kind of MONEY CHAIN.

  14. Praveen,
    I agree with your statement that when a person is forcing people to buy ‘crap’.
    No one on this earth would buy a soap for Rs.200/-. Amway doesn’t have soap priced at Rs.200/-… Amway has got more than 25 products priced below Rs. 200/-
    About the quality of the products from Amway, I know that better as I have been using them for a pretty long time…You’ll know only when you try it at least once..

    Would you believe ‘Sachin Tendulkar’ saying ‘Boost is the secret of my energy’ ? I would rather believe my friend / relative who is sharing the benefits of the products from his own experience..

    Please don’t throw mud unless you know all the facts.

    I have met genuine people from IITs, IIMs, and other institutions and have really
    understood the beauty of MLM and knows which company is the best to begin with…

    I agree with you when you say that MLM works with relationships.. We build relationships with new people whom you feel have similar dreams and aspirations as we have in life…

    We make new friends every day…If anyone had relationships broken for this cause, it could be because they failed to understand the real beauty of the business and they failed to understand why they have started this business at the first place.

    About pyramid system, Pyramid is one of the most stable structures in the World…

    Just have a look at the organisational chart of your company, does it look like a pyramid ?
    Look at the organisational chart of our government, does it look like a pyramid ?
    Look at the hirearchy of different organisations, does it look like a pyramid ?

    In fact, MLM just provides equal opportunity for every one in the pyramid… As
    mentioned earlier, ‘everyone knows that there can only be one CEO for a company’… But, being an employee you don’t have a chance to become a CEO, where as in an MLM, if you could be that smart, you can definitely earn more than the person who is at the top of the pyramid….

    You won’t realize facts unless you try to understand.. Being open minded means being unbiased and if you are unbiased, you will have the real picture…

    Sajith, MLM is ethical and legitimate provided the company you are associating is legitimate. Also, MLM doesn’t provide short time income… It helps you have a passive income… Almost, every business man wants to have passive income…
    I don’t know how many books you have read… I have read six of the ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’series by Robert T Kiyosaki and have tried to understand the rest as well.. From his own words, there is no better business opportunity that you could excel provided you are ready to learn. About other investment opportunities, everything comes along with risk and apparently there is no risk in an MLM provided you know with which team and with which company you are associating with…

    About the ‘groundnut selling shop’. Do you know what’s the minimum investment for that ? It would require at least Rs. 5000/- as investment and if you are selling at the Kovalam beach, you could get a maximum of Rs. 500/- on a daily basis. And is there any guarantee that you will get money if you are sick for 2 days ? There are no “Sick Leaves” in an Self-employed business.
    MLM has some beauty in it… Especially when there is a team working with you…

    Enough said about MONEY CHAIN, even supreme court agreed that the MLM concept is NOT ‘Money chain’. .
    There is an organization of these MLM companies called ‘Indian Direct Selling Association’ for which we have the Mumbai High court justice as the ombudsman… Understanding the beauty of this concept, Indian Government is planning to have regulations in place preventing other (bad) companies from playing with the hopes of thousands…

    About those hundred techies who have lost money… Let me ask you, have they invested in a legitimate company ?
    If they have invested in a legitimate one, do you know how many have invested time or effort building that business ? I know the explanation for this would vary from person to person, yet I can guarantee that I have an answer…

    I know only about the company I’m associating with, I don’t know about other 200+ MLM companies operating in India… Let me tell out of these only 15 are members of IDSA…

    Please grow up to understand that this is just another beautiful business concept… You may not find it befitting your taste, that doesn’t mean, someone else should not…. Does the author of this Post / article have anything to say ?

  15. >> Please don’t throw mud unless you know all the facts.

    I usually throw mud, only if I know the facts. I used some of Amways’ products long back which was gifted by a friend, who was forced to buy those ‘crap’ from his in-law.

    I used to have quality of products with my brother is US and he said Amway’s products are one of the most ignored ones there.

    >> I have met genuine people from IITs, IIMs, and other institutions and have really
    understood the beauty of MLM and knows which company is the best to begin with…

    Nobody is against MLM. Poison is also good, if you do not use it for ‘bad’.

    As an IT person, I got opportunities to make two platforms for two MLM providers. One was foolproof, and the other was full of tricks which makes the owners steal money.

    >> If anyone had relationships broken for this cause, it could be because they failed to understand the real beauty of the business and they failed to understand why they have started this business at the first place.

    Best advice to you will be ‘grow up’. The society have all kinds of people and do not underestimate anybody. “You do not know anything about MLM” friend.

    For most of the MLM workflows, you wont get anything if your downlines does not work. You might be successful in helping up to 5-6 downlevels of you but when the network grows, you are dead!

    When you market a product what you say? – “You just need to make two people join” (or similar) and sitback and collect money. What happends if those two people stop working? If you are dedicated, then you will work for them to “find four people” …

    >> Pyramid system
    How can you compare organization chart with MLML pyramid? think think think.
    You answered yourself – >> In fact, MLM just provides equal opportunity for every one in the pyramid…

  16. Assume, in a shop, you have two SOAP choices.

    LUX = Rs. 15/-
    KUTTAPPAN = Rs. 17/- + a toothbrush FREE + Rs. 1/- off.

    Which one you will choose? Same happends here also. If you look for quality, you will choose LUX, and will go for some KUTTAPPAN brand if you expect benifits.

  17. Dear Praveen,
    >>I used to have quality of products with my brother is US and he said Amway’s products are one of the most ignored ones there. <>As an IT person, I got opportunities to make two platforms for two MLM providers. One was foolproof, and the other was full of tricks which makes the owners steal money.<>Best advice to you will be ‘grow up’. The society have all kinds of people and do not underestimate anybody. “You do not know anything about MLM” friend.<>For most of the MLM workflows, you wont get anything if your downlines does not work. You might be successful in helping up to 5-6 downlevels of you but when the network grows, you are dead!<>When you market a product what you say? – “You just need to make two people join” (or similar) and sitback and collect money. What happends if those two people stop working? If you are dedicated, then you will work for them to “find four people” … <>How can you compare organization chart with MLML pyramid?<<

    What is most important factor for a company or organization which would ensure perfect functioning other than its hirearchy or structure ?

    Who is your reporting manager ?
    Does he have a reporting manager ?
    Does that reporting manager have a reporting manager ?
    which ultimately takes up to the CEO of the company… Isn't this a pyramid ??
    think think think !!!

    I don't know about your current designation but I can assure you that can never be the CEO of your company by increasing the business for your company… You don't even own the computer or chair that you are using (assuming you are a techie)… Well, in the case of Amway, you also stand a chance to be one of the 'Board of Directors' of the company.

    About the soaps,
    "LUX = Rs. 15/- "
    "KUTTAPPAN = Rs. 17/- + a toothbrush FREE + Rs. 1/- off. "

    I can't find any relevance of the topic we were discussing with this comparison. Yet, as I have to answer, I would go for quality and as far as I know, Amway products are way beyond comparison to any other product available in the market.

  18. Will you ignore “dell” laptops in US ? Will you ignore “sony” products in US ? Will you ignore “Puma” products in US ?
    Well, these are the few brands which had tied up with Amway in US.. Amway Just has 450 own products in US and 2 million products of 6000 other companies, marketed through the Amway network in US.

  19. I see, you are in to Amway. Since you got some marketing talents, you will keep on talking about anything 🙂 Good Luck.

    I have seen many disappointed people (same time, I have not seen any happy people – other than its promoters like you) because of MLMs which includes Amway. So I cannot support this kind of business.

    Let others continue discussion.

  20. People should realise the Mathematical impossibility of Amway scheme

    URL: http://corporatefraudswatch.blogspot.com/2009/03/people-should-realise-mathematical.html

    It is the ‘mathematical impossibility’ that the Supreme Court of India recently commented upon while delivering a judgement in a similar case that of Amway. In the historical judgement, the Supreme Court stressed that it is outright cheating people in the name of pyramidical structure business and naturally attracts the provisions of Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code. The Supreme Court pointed out that the organisers of such schemes know well that it is not going to work forever and they also know that the chain is going break soon. Still, they induce the gullible to join the scheme with the promise of easy and quick rich.
    The judgement was delivered on September 15, 2008 in a writ petition from the State of Kerala in India.
    Referring to the mathematical impossibility, the Supreme Court of India pointed out that joining people in the chain schemes is cheating because the chain is going to break soon and the organisers of such schemes know it well. In the Amway scheme too people have to join 101 people in one leg to complete one chain and at the 13th level the whole population would exhaust and where would they go to recruit more people in the chain.
    It is high time, people realised the pitfalls of such schemes and whenever they feel they are cheated they should immediately lodge a complaint with the police. Now if it is Andhra Pradesh it is to file a criminal case against such companies since the DGP issued instructions to all police stations to that effect. If anybody faces problems, they can contact Corporate Frauds Watch for help. They need not worry of filing criminal cases against their friends and relatives who got them joined in the scheme. They could directly face criminal cases against the companies for inducing them with false promises.

  21. Thank you that you have said I’ve got Marketing talents… I was struggling on having this skill for the past few years…
    At the same time, I was just sharing the facts..

    I feel really sorry for those who were dissappointed after associating with Amway…

    I feel also sorry for those
    – who never got the engineering degree despite enrolling in an University.
    – who never completed the graduation just because they didn’t like the curriculum.
    – who failed to make it to the IIMs and had to settle with third tier MBA schools.
    – who failed to make it to the civil services despite spending 4 years in one of the coaching institutes in Delhi…

    And the commisions for an Amway distributor is purely based upon the TURNOVER that his team is going to generate for the company.. It just doesn’t matter whether he has 10 distributors with him or 10,000.

    About the “Mathematical Impossibility”, Supreme court verdict was true for “Money Chain”.. If it had been against Amway, do you think Amway will still register a decent growth last year ?

    Let’s assume that the company ‘Apple’ is adopting an MLM strategy… On January 1st 2020, all the households in this World is going to have the latest iPad… The very next day, there would be million new houses where a newly married couple will be settling in and would be checking with their friends on the iPad that they are going to buy..
    You need not be an IIT professor to understand this.. Just should have a little commonsense… People are going to mate and the population will continue to grow as long as Man is going to walk on this earth… When there are no men on earth, then you need not bother as you won’t be alive..

    About the criminal case in AP, it was when a distributor man-handled a potential customer to join Amway… There can be
    many reasons for a crime like that to happen… If you have a criminal in your locality, does that mean you are also a
    Criminal… ??

  22. I’m stopping with this last comment…

    If you have any concern, file a suit in Kerala High court… Amway will be able to appoint a panel of legal advisors and you could follow up with them… I don’t have much time to devote to this absolutely unproductive activity…

    None cannot belittle a company with more than $9 billion annual sales turnover saying its a scam.. If so, how would it remain for 50 years ? .. How would it be in 90+ countries ?? A few people can be fooled for few years… None can fool that many people for 50 years… Still bothered and irritated, then you could call me at 9846410247.

  23. Good.

    Btw, this thread was not specific to Amway, but to all MLMs. This thread is meant for meant for the awareness that ‘think twice before join’.

    Again, for me this is some kind of force-selling and not by people’s interest. Since I got trapped, I need to force somebody to join my downlines as I need to get my money back…. which constitutes the $9 billion annual sales.

  24. I think Raghu has a good knowledge about MLM. And for others, I want to tell you a story..
    There were four blind people.. All the four were trying to explain about elephant. The one who touched the tail said that this elephant is like a rope… One who touched the leg said elephant is a pillar… One who touched its stomach commented that elephant is like a big rock.. One who touched the trunk said that elephant is like a big snake… And they argued vehemently.

    About force-selling, if a shop owner has bought goods from a wholesale dealer, he has to sell them all in order to have profit or at least to be in a break-even state. This same business principle applies across retail domain…

  25. Have you thought about adding some differing opinions to the article? I think it will really enhance everyone’s understanding.

  26. ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    There is another MLM money chain company popped up from nowhere. and they are doing some extensive marketing. Beware of them, and thats an absolute MONEY CHAIN.

    read the frauds of Nano excel Here:

    http://www.consumercomplaints.in/complaints/nano-excel-c280705.html

  27. thamann coorg spet

    hi ram,
    Great job.I am sure you have made people to know the fact.mlm is the best of the best.i am an rmpian and i believe completely my company.only thing is there is a need of dedication,sincerity, commitment for this business.to earn thousands we work day and night,then just imagine lakhs crores,how much effort we need to put.Its not a joke,take it seriously and if you really want to win in your own life,then understand mlm and join and work until you reach the goal.you can win.whoever thinks like that.whatever i have typed in here is all because of the power of my great company,my life company,one and only RMP.thank you.

  28. Come on, RMP is a kind of company which works in the same way as money chain, which is banned in India. They are make using the loopholes of the law by providing the cheap products for the unrealistic prices for this business. and they are saying they are product selling company. – Anybody joined in RMP is really using those products, or at least they think the products are worth for money? …Give me a breaaaaaaaak….

    This is something like you are giving hopes to people. means FALSE HOPE to people. you are just recruiting people, and getting money from them and commpelling them to get more people under them and get more money out of them. other than that, what kind of value additions are RMP doing with their customers or or so called distributors? Just tell me. absolutely nothing.

    Thousands of normal people are spending their hard earned money in to this, and what kind of dedication you are expecting? just bugging people to join in the system and looting money from their wallet?

    MLM is a good concept, when it comes when the products are worthy and the network’s ultimate aim is to sell quality products or services for people, at the same time enabling them to earn something out of that. here the primary aim is the money ( the joining fee) from people and thats how the network of RMP and other such networks like NANO EXCEL is growing.

    The supporters of such chains are just paid people to post the GOOD WORDS about the business in forums and other discussion groups.

  29. ..and one more thing to be added. The only MLM network with some ethics and giving value services to its customers is Amway. I agree that, rest of the MLMs are kind of fake coins, and they are just building the network based on money, not the products.