[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

... Today I spoke to them and they have lost close to 3 lakhs.

3 lakhs per person? Wasn't each person supposed to invest only Rs 57000?

A news article on Hindustan Times states that they stopped paying money that was promised to the investors. I am not sure why they did that, when they were making such a lot of money. So this is a case of Section 420 it seems and nothing to do with a flaw in MLM, correct?

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by S_U_N

3 lakhs per person? Wasn't each person supposed to invest only Rs 57000?

A news article on Hindustan Times states that they stopped paying money that was promised to the investors. I am not sure why they did that, when they were making such a lot of money. So this is a case of Section 420 it seems and nothing to do with a flaw in MLM, correct?

Actually I meant to say that both my friends together have lost around 3lakhs. yes they had to invest 57000 per person. But they also enrolled their spouse as well as their siblings in the scheme.

I think the scheme works as long as you get more capital coming in from new people joining in. Once the number starts to dwindle the payout also starts to reduce. But there are lot of supporters for this scheme still and one of my friend who has lost money is still supporting him. It seems that the guy, Mr.Mittal has said that he will come back strong and there is nothing wrong in what he is doing.

[Chetan_Rao]

The lure of a quick buck is as old as humanity, impossible to cure.

Plenty of acquaintances and extended family are neck deep in one or the other of these 'get rich without moving an inch' schemes. My stance is simple, they're welcome as long as they leave their 'this is a swell business' rhetoric outside the door. Some good relationships ruined, but it's upto people to prioritize what they'd rather have, a friend/relative or a sucker for their 'network'.

[bluevolt]

And as if it was bound to happen.

I raised concern about Social Trade thing on team-bhp just a few days back by raising a new thread which got merged with this one.

I am happy that I didn't fell for this scheme suggested by a friend to invest 57,000 INR!

[maddy42]

Anyone from Kerala here can shed light on the real estate scheme which lost a lot, something called Apple a day or something. They promised apartments which were sea facing and had a lot of nris invest and turned out they didn't even own the land they promised to build these apartments on. Be careful folks, for every 1000 innocent folks, there is atleast one scammer.

[daretodream]

Thanks to the over friendliness of the Amway folks, I have transformed into a person who would avoid talking to strangers in public place!

Some scenarios over last 1 year:
1. Nandini milk parlour in HSR Layout: I have having coffee and browsing team-bhp and one person asks me directions to Electronic City- saying he is new to Bangalore and has to go to pickup his wife. I give him detailed explanation - genuinely trying to help him. We introduce each other and he said he works in Container Corporation. When came to know that I am an MBA, he asks for my number as he needs some career advise- I give it unsuspectingly. The magic begins - every 3 days he will call ~8PM- and talk about - entrepreneurship, professional circle and some meeting happening in weekend for guidance which will liberate me of all my day jobs. I had to block his number.

2. A LinkedIn connection request from some one who is an IIT Alum and works in General Electric. He pitched me that he is running a startup in mineral processing area and I'd some expertise and he wanted to get guidance. I agreed. We met in Adyar Anand Bhavan. He said he has another startup where he wants me to be a partner. It was about 'Make it big in 5 years', 'retire in luxury in 5 years', 'liberation from day job', 'stop working for others'. I asked whether it is Amway, and he said yes. I'd to foot bill for him as he said he doesn't have cash.

3. I was taking a walk in the Agara Lake Trail last weekend morning. One person stopped me saying he is part of a start-up focussing on health and fitness and wants my responses to 5 questions. I agreed. Then he said his startup also gives advise on fitness and nutrition in 1-many and 1-1 basis. He asked for my number and said he will coordinate this we can achieve 'financial freedom'. I was like NOT AGAIN! I gave him a wrong phone number (Changed some digits) and left. I saw him doing the same to other unsuspecting morning walkers for next 3 days.

4. I was at bank depositing Cheque. A man in nice english requests me for pen. While we wait in queue, he talks how he returned from Dubai and he was brought-up in Dubai. He has returned to help his sister and brother in law for business. He then pesters me for my number so that he can catchup later. I politely asked has he got something to do with Amway - he was shaken up but admitted yes. I said I am sorry.

I have changed as a person I am now ever so cautious of any one approaching me - smiling/friendly face in a public place or social media trying to fleece me whether its LinkedIn or Public Transport or Public Place.

I hate you Amway for misleading folks in name of startup, professional circle, business opportunity.. etc etc.

[Sherlocked]

Had my first experience yesterday with a MLM representative.

He came in the form of an over friendly individual who just happened to be sitting alone in a cafe and came to me for some talks. Introduced himself, asked me what I do, bla bla and suddenly started talking about Financial freedom and how instead of working for money, some people make the money work for them. I let him finish first and then asked him which other books of Robert Kiyosaki has he read?
With a sheepish smile, he continued his presentation and even took out a pen and a note book. By now, I knew he wants to sell me something, only wondered what.

Then he started making a pyramid and saying I bring two guys, those two guys bring two each and then voila, we all will be driving an Audi someday.
I felt sorry for the chap that he fell victim of this MLM plot and now wasting his time duping others.

This guy was from a company called Ebiz and they are selling IT courses, some 100 plus maybe. Told me, sir, you can learn HTML and various other things from this and then one day when you'll start your business, you can make your website by yourself. I asked him, isn't it better that I let some IT company to work on my website so that I could focus better on my business.

He wasn't done yet. Begged me to attend their seminar on the coming Sunday. Somehow, I managed to escape from that place and last night searched the web about this company.

I was shocked how so many have been a victim of this Ebiz scam. Worst thing is, they still think it will make them rich and are blindly following their seniors.
Yes it will make you a better sales person and improve your soft skills. But can't you see, more than eighty percent of the money is going to the founder. Saw a video on YouTube in which the Ebiz founder, Pawan Malhan came on stage and how students in thousands, all raised both their hands as if they have seen some God! This led me to a question- How gullible can some people be!

[honeybee]

Had a brush with Swadeshi, the desi flavour of Amway.

I was fresh out of college and one of my dad's acquaintances convinced him for me to join.

I attended a couple of their meetings, even a big celebration type where several of their top leaders came and spoke about how it has transformed their lives.

We had a guy in our town, known through another acquaintance, working in a big IT company who won a car and quit his day job to work full-time for Swadeshi.

I was never a salesman, but the manner in which these guys expected us to rope in all our relatives, even those we hadn't seen in ages, so that we could get to that magic number of 10.

As friends and relatives started avoiding, either because they too had enrolled and had looked at me as a potential step in their pyramid or because they wanted nothing to do with it, I realized the social cost would be too high. For the economic benefit of earning a few hundred or more bucks every month, Iran the risk of being cut off from my entire social circle.

Plus the possibility that I could always earn many times more by focussing that same time on a regular job.

After quitting it, in a couple of years I heard the guy who had quit his day job after winning the car had started looking for a day job again.

[ksameer1234]

Originally Posted by Sherlocked

This guy was from a company called Ebiz and they are selling IT courses, some 100 plus maybe.

Wow! Looks like this Ebiz stuff is still active! It was quite a rage a decade ago and their modus operandi was to look for gullible college students. Also, since the business plan was centered around IT, it was easy convince young kids that this is the future. I find it surprising that it survives today.

[hrman]

Anyone has heard or know someone into Qnet? I came across someone after many years who did not disclose what scheme he was into, but I could gather it was Qnet. (selling vacation packages and multitude of other services and products , getting more clicks to the website, purchase only through reference etc). My feelers pointed to another Ponzi scheme like Amway or the likes.

[Sherlocked]

Originally Posted by ksameer1234

Wow! Looks like this Ebiz stuff is still active!

Yes, they are very much active. The 'tout' who tried to lure me yesterday had his team of four people roaming in that area to look for possible targets.
Also, along with IT, they have added one language learning course. Guess which one. It's Punjabi.

Also I heard the IT courses they teach are very old and not even updated to today's standards. Plus, the certificate they give have no recognition or affiliation.

Definitely scamsters. They look for youths particularly from poor economic background who dream about becoming rich quickly.

[Gansan]

There is one thing to be said about MLM, which is your friends and even relatives will start avoiding you. They will even avoid attending your phone calls. This applies to life insurance advisers too.

I joined Amway a few years back due to a friend who was already in. Not because I wanted to make huge money, but because some of their products were good -though expensive-and I wanted to get them at 20% discount. I was buying and using them only for myself. I also gave some of them as free samples to a few close friends and relatives, whom I thought may be interested in such products, and told them they are available with me in case they were interested. That was it, no demo, no hard selling.

I continued to use them for a while. A few friends who used the samples gave a few orders for a while. Gradually it petered out. Then there was some problem with my login password, and I could not order online. Despite several requests it was not fixed. I could go to their store and pick up the things, but I was not inclined. I left it at that.

[Samurai]

Assets worth over ₹ 757 crore belonging to direct-selling consumer goods company Amway India have been attached under the anti-money laundering law, the Enforcement Directorate said on Monday.
The provisionally attached properties of Amway India Enterprises Pvt Ltd. include land and factory building at Dindigul district in Tamil Nadu, plant and machinery, vehicles, bank accounts and fixed deposits, it said in a statement.

Attaching a property means it cannot be transferred, converted or moved.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/amwa...torate-2897579

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by Samurai

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/amwa...torate-2897579

Amway always had a multi-level marketing model and had managed to penetrate well into the market/society. I often wondered how legal they were and today, I wonder why did the law catch up with them (after all these years).

Has there been any recent development that has triggered this action?

[fhdowntheline]

I remember one such scheme which was being aggressively promoted by a couple of my colleagues back in the US back in early 2000s. A lot of desi IT folks were into it, so much so that they used to take leaves from client work to go to some MLM convention in some fancy hotels. I was told that out there, some of these so-called friends and colleagues used to fight over who should get the right to control the next person below who may have been introduced, and it was ugly. I saw some of the glossy marketing literature and the glib talk by marketing executives on freely supplied CDs. It was amazing how some of my colleagues who were otherwise hard nosed, well-grounded people, were enamoured by these ideas. A few years later, again in US, a Pakistani lady befriended my wife (who was unware of this pyramid business at the time) at a neighbourhood library, and thankfully my wife told me about it. I told my wife that she could be friendly but not take up any requests, as I found out that that lady's husband worked for the same client as I did, so we had to remain polite. She tried a few times, and then gave up.