Gullible MLM junkies. SOS

[JEdwards]

wow... 600 million bucks. in a year and a half.. wow.. Lot of crazy people out there.

 

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[amgchristian]

We had only put down the amount of money we can afford to lose. Good thing is, they are giving back refunds. I'm assuming it may take a while but so what. We are not going to mourn for our losses. Yes it does suck that it's being shut down but I guess I've proven a point to my parents that MLM's are not reliable nor am I going to allow them to join any other MLM's in the future. Keep in mind I discovered this forum 2 weeks after Zeek. Imagine what would have happened if I didn't come across this site? I was planning to put a percentage of my check each month to Zeek as I 'kind of' fell for it. Glad it never happened.

 

[JEdwards]

We had only put down the amount of money we can afford to lose. Good thing is, they are giving back refunds. I'm assuming it may take a while but so what. We are not going to mourn for our losses. Yes it does suck that it's being shut down but I guess I've proven a point to my parents that MLM's are not reliable nor am I going to allow them to join any other MLM's in the future. Keep in mind I discovered this forum 2 weeks after Zeek. Imagine what would have happened if I didn't come across this site? I was planning to put a percentage of my check each month to Zeek as I 'kind of' fell for it. Glad it never happened.

1. Glad you only put down the money you could afford to lose, my bet a lot of people put down much, much, much more than they can afford to lose. No company (scam) grosses 600 million without someone getting hurt.

2. You will never, ever, ever, and I mean ever get a refund. No matter what people tell you, it will never happen.

3. I hope your parents learned their lesson.

 

[amgchristian]

2. You will never, ever, ever, and I mean ever get a refund. No matter what people tell you, it will never happen.

I'm hoping that's not true but if that's the case, oh well. What can I do? People are so hyped up about "making money quick" it's so ridiculous and often times ... bogus!

 

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[mayana]

We had only put down the amount of money we can afford to lose. Good thing is, they are giving back refunds. I'm assuming it may take a while but so what. We are not going to mourn for our losses. Yes it does suck that it's being shut down but I guess I've proven a point to my parents that MLM's are not reliable nor am I going to allow them to join any other MLM's in the future. Keep in mind I discovered this forum 2 weeks after Zeek. Imagine what would have happened if I didn't come across this site? I was planning to put a percentage of my check each month to Zeek as I 'kind of' fell for it. Glad it never happened.

I am glad that you found this forum and that your parents won't be too financially hurt by this... You have a good perspective, keep it up!

 

[Yussef]

The snake oil salesmen have evolved. I can't believe this scam still works. I know people want to believe in something but the first question should always be "does this make sense?" If Zeek, or anyone for that matter could make a consistent and garunteed rate of return high enough that they could give you 50% of their profits, to get in on a real opportunity like that (if they even let you) you would have to probably invest a minimum of 10 to 20 million and still you would have to know the right people to get you in. Think Hedge Funds (not fund of funds).

Hell an accredited investor has to have a net worth of at least one million US dollars, not including the value of one's primary residence or have made at least $200,000 each year for the last two years (or $300,000 together with his or her spouse if married) and have the expectation to make the same amount this year. And that's just to get in on oil drilling projects and things with no determined outcome.

 

[oddball]

I'm hoping that's not true but if that's the case, oh well. What can I do? People are so hyped up about "making money quick" it's so ridiculous and often times ... bogus!

I'd agree with Jack on this, if you even did get a refund, it'd be pennys on the dollar. If you watch American Greed, you see that people never get much if anything back. All that 600mil has already been spent, whether is was paying out a little bit as they went along or luxury items for the people who ran the scam. Money is gone.

 

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[Yussef]

1. Glad you only put down the money you could afford to lose, my bet a lot of people put down much, much, much more than they can afford to lose. No company (scam) grosses 600 million without someone getting hurt.

2. You will never, ever, ever, and I mean ever get a refund. No matter what people tell you, it will never happen.

3. I hope your parents learned their lesson.

Jack I almost said this exact same thing about getting their money back in an earlier post but I didn't want to be the barer of bad news. The SEC basically broke it down when they said “The obligations to investors drastically exceed the company’s cash on hand, which is why we need to step in quickly, salvage whatever funds remain and ensure an orderly and fair payout to investors,”

also "Approximately 98% of ZeekRewards’ total revenues, and correspondingly the purported share of “net profits” paid to current investors, are comprised of funds received from new investors."

Here is a link to the actual pdf criminal complaint filed in federal court.

www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2012/comp-pr2012-160.pdf

P.S. The IRS agents are warming up their cars.

 

[Rawr]

You guys want to see this on the next level?

MMM (Ponzi scheme company) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

МММ was a Russian company that perpetrated one of the world's largest Ponzi schemes of all time, in the 1990s.[1][2] By different estimates from 5 to 40 million people lost up to $10 billion. The exact figures are not known even to the founders.

After the huge scandal, millions of people losing their butts, main guy going to jail... after all that, in 2011 they rolled out MMM - we are back, and improved. And again people put the money in. And, you can guess what happened next.

 

[Skys]

This was posted on Facebook today by a guy who used to be my best friend. I haven't talked to him in over a year. If you only count non-ACN conversations, I haven't talked to him in three years.

View attachment 3437

What has this to do with MLM?

 

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[wade1mil]

What has this to do with MLM?

Read the part in yellow. ACN = MLM

 

[JEdwards]

Here is a link to the actual pdf criminal complaint filed in federal court.

www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2012/comp-pr2012-160.pdf

P.S. The IRS agents are warming up their cars.

From the complaint "Defendants currently hold approximately $225 million in investor
funds in approximately 15 foreign and domestic financial institutions"

Wow, I said it would get shut down and have a few 100 million in the bank... Sometimes I got smarts real good.

Is there anyway to fastlane a Fortune Tellers online site? Maybe I should start one...

Wait, never mind. Miss Cleo Settles for $500 Million

1 billion in sales.

 

[andviv]

Miss Cleo Settles for $500 Million

1 billion in sales.

Sweet deal!

You "sell" 1B in services, return back 0.5B in settlement?

Where do I sign?

 

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[JEdwards]

Sweet deal!

You "sell" 1B in services, return back 0.5B in settlement?

Where do I sign?

The key is not going to jail, if you look at the complaint for zeek, one person is named Burk?? He is the one that is going to do some jail time.. No one else.

All the other people are right now trying to figure out what they are going to open next week.

This whole scam was 1 year and a half. he didn't even have time to enjoy the money. Sad.

I find this stuff fascinating.

 

[wade1mil]

Wow, I said it would get shut down and have a few 100 million in the bank... Sometimes I got smarts real good.

I think you also mentioned Groupon not selling might be the biggest business mistake ever. Toot toot :coolgleamA:

 

[JEdwards]

I think you also mentioned Groupon not selling might be the biggest business mistake ever. Toot toot :coolgleamA:

Don't want to take credit for that one.. Yet.

 

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[Skys]

Read the part in yellow. ACN = MLM

Thank you.

 

[andviv]

What has this to do with MLM?

Read the part in yellow. ACN = MLM

One of the biggest selling point for MLM is to tell you that you are an entrepreneur, a business owner. That you control your time and the effort you can put into it.

Charts like this are commonly used to hook young people that has note decided whether to go to college as they can't afford it.

Other charts talk about time, and this is great for stay-at-home moms and pops.... as they don't have the time to work full time, this is a great hook.

I am kinda the exception here. I don't consider MLM a bad thing. The problem is, as with many things, the wrong expectations.

I know lots of people that have a good revenue from it.

Problem is, most people get into it as 'the' way to make millions. Usually, that is not how it works.

If you take the time to study their materials, you will learn a lot about sales systems, sales pitches/scripts, marketing material, how to 'hire' for your downline, etc etc.

But again, it all depends on understanding what you are doing there and what are you trying to learn.

I mean, where else can you get hours and hours of sales training for just a couple of hundreds that you need to invest to become an affiliate?

Don't drink the kool-aid, open you eyes, ears and brain, and spend a couple of months learning a lot.

P.S. I am talking about the once that sell legitimate products, like Primerica, Avon, etc; not about the scammers like zeek.

 

[Rawr]

Jack, I think we have to give more credit to anyone who knows how to pull 100 mil. Burk can be the hired gun for that purpose specifically.



Andviv, respectfully there is sales and there is calling up people who've trusted you for years and PUSH. Unfortunately in my experience the latter is the method most employed and hence insinuated by the managers. Everyone finds their way, but it's hard to imagine "never settle for less than 3 rejections" without being pushy. If you can, do share.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

wow... 600 million bucks. in a year and a half.. wow.. Lot of crazy people out there.

I wouldn't call them crazy, just desperate and believers in the easy money fairy tale.

I suggest people to DVR the television show American Greed - you'll learn to spot the scams a mile away.

 

[oddball]

I wouldn't call them crazy, just desperate and believers in the easy money fairy tale.

I suggest people to DVR the television show American Greed - you'll learn to spot the scams a mile away.

I watch that show a lot. After seeing most of the episodes are the same thing just different places, I wonder how people can't see this coming? Then they are surprised they won't get any money back.

 

[mlcmartin]

My whole family including myself is on Zeek Rewards. For the record - it's not a scam. They actually do pay out. I discovered the fast lane forum & book a few weeks after Zeek and realized what crazy move my family made. To be honest, it's not that crazy. It's def. slow lane and just one of our "side" things.

That's because they want to make you believe it works.. haven't you heard of the Mavrodi scam that sucked millions upon millions of russian pension money out of russian people in the mid 90s? They had to ship the money out of the building in 17 huge trucks. Most of the money was later never recovered. And the people still believe it would have worked if the government didn't intervene.. lol. There was so much money there that the government was supposedly also a little afraid that he would buy half the country.

 

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[mlcmartin]

"Zeek Rewards is currently unavailable. More information will be available shortly on this website."

The snake went under ground.. lol.

 

[UsmaanJ]

Just dug out this thread as I knew I had seen it previously.

So ACN has landed here in the UK. Well it landed here a few years back but I only discovered it back in October 2013.
My close friends from college all joined. And apparently they are all making £2/3k plus a month.

Apparently one of them is making about £5k a month and one of their friends who is a level above them is making £12k a month.

I was the only one to hold back because I want to create MY OWN FASTLANE business.

However now seeing them make that kind of money is kind of shocking. Some of them have even left their full time jobs to focus more on this.
The way I see it is that the day a partnership breaks between the service providers that ACN use and ACN; the commission my friends make will disappear before they know. When they run out of people to sign up to the scheme their earning will drop (they believe you'll always have people signing up under you because of the pyramid system).

I know the figures of £2/5k a month is not anything near mind-blowing; however over the space of just 2/3 months it isn't a bad revenue.

What do you guys make of this? I'd love to hear your opinions.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

However now seeing them make that kind of money is kind of shocking.

But it doesn't change the dynamics of the "business" and I use the term "business" very loosely.

I was the only one to hold back because I want to create MY OWN FASTLANE business.

There's no rule saying that you couldn't do both. I'm sure your friends are learning quite a few things, including the most important thing of all... SALES. If you have any future intention on OWNING an MLM, then join one and see how one of the big one operates.

 

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[UsmaanJ]

There's no rule saying that you couldn't do both. I'm sure your friends are learning quite a few things, including the most important thing of all... SALES. If you have any future intention on OWNING an MLM, then join one and see how one of the big one operates.

The business ethics I see behind the success of these people doesn't really appeal to me. Basically trying to convince people people they will be millionaires and making them cough out their hard earned money so you can have a piece of it. Not good business in my eyes. Yeah you can make money from it, but whilst making that money you loose all self respect (I know I would if I knew I was benefiting myself by making others worse off).

Is that what it is or have I misjudged something?

 

[Simon Ashari]

It may be a limiting belief, but I will never see MLM as legitimate.

I think because I have seen friends (whom I love very much) waste their time, with no return. It actually makes my blood boil.

I wouldn't mind seeing the concept without the 'multiple levels'. In other words, if it was just an affiliate relationship I would be cool with it.

Most MLM (at least from what I can see) concentrate on selling the 'business' rather than the product that is supposed to be sold. If it was 100% about the product, I would see it as a good training ground for sales.

 

[CommonCents]

I like the direct selling party plan model. Just have good products/services, something consumable is best for repeat orders and provide a good value to consumer and PT/FT income opportunities. The key sustainable part is in the product/service being a value, not the recruitment and biz opp fee. When companies value proposition is mostly just recruiting and splitting the bizop fee is where you get into pyramids and unsustainability. You have to provide value to the consumer and that will drive the rest. The biz model is agnostic but gets a bad rap, there are good ones and shady ones and we hear a lot about the shady ones. They are just bad businesses like any other no matter if its an online biz, shady retail biz, scammers etc...

Direct selling is just another way to go to market. Not having to have sales people, manage brokers/mfg reps to sell to wholesalers and distributors all taking a cut, then retailers doubling the price frees up commissions of 25% and more in various compensation to the sales org.

Buffett bought Pampered Chef doing 750million a year, debt free, positive cash flow i think about 10 yrs ago. That company grew fast, 200+% a year for several years. Don't know where it is now. Kitchen gadgets aren't exactly consumable so I'd say they have had lots of turnover once a person sells gadgets to their circle of friends/family.

Look at the newer ones who grew like mad. Nerium, Isagenix etc... I also think Herbalife gets somewhat of a bad rap, they've been around for 30 yrs. Mary Kay another long term direct sales org. etc...

With todays technology and especially the fulfillment and direct distribution options (amazon, ups, fedx, fulfillment houses, supply chain applications) it makes it much much easier to go to market direct vs. the traditional wholesale distribution retailer route if one chooses to.

For people on this forum who are entrepreneurial, joining one will generally not get you too far unless you are a super recruiter and bust your butt, but if you can do that, you might as well start your own and build your own equity.

 

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[parkerscott]

It may be a limiting belief, but I will never see MLM as legitimate.

I think because I have seen friends (whom I love very much) waste their time, with no return. It actually makes my blood boil.

I wouldn't mind seeing the concept without the 'multiple levels'. In other words, if it was just an affiliate relationship I would be cool with it.

Most MLM (at least from what I can see) concentrate on selling the 'business' rather than the product that is supposed to be sold. If it was 100% about the product, I would see it as a good training ground for sales.

I second this. I was talking to an mlm promoter the other day and, i didnt hear one word about the product. He through out a number that was 603% success rate (wtf does that even mean?) Anyways he was talking about how businesses like proctor and gamble are pyramid schemes too because the structure goes boss,manager,supervisor,employee. He also said that even giants like blockbuster fail but (wakeupnow) will never fail. His entire pitch was based off the failure of other legitimate businesses and, how in his MLM everyone is apart of a team. I decided to look up the company to get a good laugh and, in the intro to the video it shows people driving in a lamborghini. The guy was obviously delusional if he thinks blockbuster was a failure, they had their run and, viacom is still making tons of money. MLMs just sell a dream rather than a product and, the people promoting them have a cult mentality because they pay 500$ to join and, their success is contingent on signing other people up under a dream.

 

[andviv]

Are you sure they are making what they say they are making?

I know lots of mlm'ers who "know of their boss making $10K a week" but they won't show you. And you don't see their expenses either.

How much they say they make and what they really make varies greatly.