Multilevel Marketing Scams: $15K lost w/ Herbalife

[The Giant Noodle]

Herbalife, Amway..... all scams. If you join all youre doing is to screw the NEXT person down the line. Its unethical and disgusting. Their products? They only HIDE what they do and how they exist.

Many of the people interviewed discovered that selling the products was harder than they thought. After hitting up family and friends to buy products, sellers often resorted to spending hundreds and even thousands of dollars buying sales leads, which sometimes led nowhere.
The real money, they found, is in recruiting others to sell the product, creating what's known as a "down-line" of distributors. The more distributors they recruit, the more money they are likely to make, based in part on a combination of bonuses and commissions. And the higher a distributor is in the pecking order, based on his or her purchases, the more likely he or she is to get a share of the profits.

For many Herbalife recruits,*lost money and dashed dreams - Business on NBCNews.com

 

[Fisher]

It is more or less what schools and various clubs therein participate in with the crap kids are forced to try to sell to raise money for whatever it is they are raising money for.

 

[joko104]

Whenever the school pressured our daughter to sell candy bars for the school, I would buy one box (12) off her and tell her don't worry about selling more.

It was amazing how MUCH pressure they would put on the kids to sell candy - even promising cool prizes if they leaned on lots and lots of people to buy it. Even given extra grades for it.

My daughter's sharp. one time when asked why she wasn't trying sell more (she said she wouldn't in class), she replied "I think it discriminates against diabetics. I have friends who are diabetic. I'm not even sure this is legal. I read the guidelines about school food and... " They got off her case.

 

[specklebang]

I'm surprised that all these MLM operations get new victims. Doesn't everybody know by now? I feel bad for the harm they do.

 

[sangha]

I'm surprised that all these MLM operations get new victims. Doesn't everybody know by now?

There's an old saying "You can't scam an honest man"

All of these suckers were looking for an easy path to riches. Their greed did them in.

 

[specklebang]

I don't agree with you. Naivete and The American Dream seduces people who don't understand what it is they're getting into. They don't understand business well enough to recognize the elaborate construction.

You certainly can scam an honest man. Maybe you cant con an honest man but you definitely can scam them. They're the easiest actually, people who trust because they themselves are trustworthy and can't adequately visualize what a bunch of Piranhas humans are.

There's an old saying "You can't scam an honest man"

All of these suckers were looking for an easy path to riches. Their greed did them in.

 

[sangha]

I don't agree with you. Naivete and The American Dream seduces people who don't understand what it is they're getting into. They don't understand business well enough to recognize the elaborate construction.

You certainly can scam an honest man. Maybe you cant con an honest man but you definitely can scam them. They're the easiest actually, people who trust because they themselves are trustworthy and can't adequately visualize what a bunch of Piranhas humans are.

While there is definitely a lot of naivete involved, getting involved in such a business isn't motivated by naivete. It's motivated by the desire to make easy money. These MLM scams are always promoted with testimonials from people who claim they are making $$$$$$/week, often times without having to leave their homes.

And since honest doesn't mean naive, or stupid, or trusting, or less aware of human nature, I disagree that honest people are the easiest to scam (which to me means the same as con)

 

[RDS]

The bottom line here is to make money. Amway has offices in 80 countries. If you can scam a bunch of people and make some grands just do it.

 

[Helix]

There's an old saying "You can't scam an honest man"

All of these suckers were looking for an easy path to riches. Their greed did them in.

it's largely the desperate who get taken. the real greedy ones get out before the scheme collapses. but when you're out of a job for a long time, the "how in the world are you, work from home for big cash" scams gain traction.

i also hate the shady insurance companies who troll careerbuilder. they cold call you, promise the world, and then you end up working 80 hour weeks to build "your own business" with ****ty pay and no benefits before losing your ass. the only way not to lose your ass is to scam a bunch of old people and desperate jobseekers on careerbuilder. it really pisses me off when an out of work friend comes to me delighted that she finally has a job, i look up the company, and it's one of these ****ty MLMs. they even had her using her facebook account to try to con friends into buying the ****ty insurance. luckily, she got out.

 

[Guy Incognito]

The bottom line here is to make money. Amway has offices in 80 countries. If you can scam a bunch of people and make some grands just do it.

Precisely. There is no fraud here, these people knew exactly what they were getting themselves into. I don't care if they are honest or greedy or whatever other sappy emotionalist excuse you want to make for them. If they were truly honest they would suck it up an abide by the terms of the contract.

 

[tech30528]

The bottom line here is to make money. Amway has offices in 80 countries. If you can scam a bunch of people and make some grands just do it.

No, don't do it. We all know right from wrong, knowingly getting in on the scam to get a piece of it is dishonest, adds to the problem and shows your contempt for your fellow man as equals.

 

[nota bene]

Whenever the school pressured our daughter to sell candy bars for the school, I would buy one box (12) off her and tell her don't worry about selling more.

It was amazing how MUCH pressure they would put on the kids to sell candy - even promising cool prizes if they leaned on lots and lots of people to buy it. Even given extra grades for it.

My daughter's sharp. one time when asked why she wasn't trying sell more (she said she wouldn't in class), she replied "I think it discriminates against diabetics. I have friends who are diabetic. I'm not even sure this is legal. I read the guidelines about school food and... " They got off her case.

I'll bet they did.

The pressure wasn't too bad, but the prices were always excessive. I remain bitter that my hoped-for quid pro quo buying other parents' kids crap earlier didn't pay off because my neighbors moved. The nerve. On the plus side, I still have a couple of obscenely expensive little tins and a pretty candle-holder. :mrgreen:

BTW, the Girl Scout Cookies are coming.

 

[The Giant Noodle]

The bottom line here is to make money. Amway has offices in 80 countries. If you can scam a bunch of people and make some grands just do it.

F THAT! You do NOT screw over people. The people that gain wealth by screw others should be shot in their reproductive organs plus have EVERYTHING taken away from them and spend the rest of their life in a cold prison cell with hungrgy rodents!!! :2mad:

 

[winston53660]

Hedge Fund Titans Bet Billions On Success Or Failure Of 'Herbalife'

 

[RDS]

F THAT! You do NOT screw over people. The people that gain wealth by screw others should be shot in their reproductive organs plus have EVERYTHING taken away from them and spend the rest of their life in a cold prison cell with hungrgy rodents!!! :2mad:

I will do a Madoff or Lehman Brothers if I can.

 

[Green Balls]

In the 90's, I was propositioned by a millionaire who was in Amway. He kept bugging me for weeks until I finally went to his house to hear his spiel. I enjoyed the snacks and coffee, didn't enjoy the couple hours of BS. It was all worth it to see the look on his face when I told him I wasn't interested.

In 2000, I was approached about selling Herbalife. Once I found out it was just like Amway, I lost interest. Thankfully I kept my money in my pocket and wasn't dashed by the "dream" they were trying to sell me.