MLM/Affiliate Marketing
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! This is our first installment of a new weekly posting that I've dubbed: Fraud Friday! Come back after each Friday to learn about a scam a week! Today, we are talking about Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) or Affiliate Marketing Scams. MLMs are a type of employment scam. You apply for a vague job listing for 'sales' on craigslist. Maybe an old friend from high school adds you on Facebook and says they have an amazing business opportunity for you. Maybe the well-dressed guy who's always interviewing people in the Starbucks that you work at asks if you really want to be slinging coffee the rest of your life.
The scam: MLMs are little more than pyramid schemes. They involve buying some sort of product (usually snake oil health products like body wraps or supplements) and shilling them to your friends and family. They claim that the real money is in recruiting people underneath you who give you a slice of whatever they sell. If those people underneath you recruit more people, you get a piece of their sales. Ideally, if you have a big enough pyramid underneath you the money will roll in without any work on your part. Failure to see any profit will be your fault for not "wanting it enough." The companies will claim that you need to buy their extra training modules or webinars to really start selling. In reality, the vast majority of people who buy into an MLM won't see a cent. At the end of the day, all you'll be doing is annoying your friends and family with your constant recruitment efforts.
What to look out for: Recruiters love to be vague. They won't tell you the name of the company or what exactly the job will entail. They'll pump you up with promises of a "self-generating income," "being your own boss," and "owning your own company." They might ask you to read books about success and entrepreneurs. They're hoping you buy into the dream first.
If you get approached via social media, check their timelines. MLMs will often instruct their victims to pretend that they've already made it. They'll constantly post about how they're hustling and making the big bucks and linking to YouTube videos about success. Again, all very vague about what their job actually entails. If you think you're being recruited: Ask them what exactly the job is. If they can't answer, it's probably an MLM. Just walk away.
https://consumer.ftc.gov/arti.../what-do-if-you-were-scammed
Come back next Friday for another dose of knowledge!