376. Fleecing pensioners through MLM
A pensioner that I know has been talking about their latest “business venture” for more than a year. In my opinion they are being taken for a ride, so today when they brought it up again I dug a little deeper into what it actually is.
Initially they told me they were learning how to set up a website to sell digital products such as e-books online. Today I asked how I could buy one of their products from them and they said that I first needed to become an affiliate member.
I commented that it sounded like some sort of MLM (which is exactly what it is but I was trying to break it to them gently).
The response that I received was:
“It’s not MLM, it’s an affiliate programme. This is why people need to attend the introductory workshops, they just don’t get it. It’s definitely not MLM.”
This person has attended the free introductory workshop and has been doing this for more than a year. They have mentioned that their commission is minimum USD1,250 yet they are yet to generate any revenue from it at all.
To make things worse they have already paid for to attend some kind of booster conference in Singapore later this month.
Now I know that sometimes we have to “speculate to accumulate” but for me this is a clear con-job MLM.
I’m not totally against MLM — I know another person who is doing very well selling make-up via MLM, but make-up is a real product that people will actually buy and use (I’m not by anyway endorsing the product).
Yet whatever it is that this person today is selling isn’t even clear. To be honest I don’t think they really understand what’s going on and that’s what frustrates me the most.
Somebody is clearly taking advantage of a vulnerable pensioner and they seem to be able to do so with little or no remorse. I have tried talking to my pensioner friend but they refuse to listen to reason. They are so focused on the USD1,250 commission they can’t see anything else — the fact that this is one massive con-job.

