Friday, September 10, 2010

College Students: Look Out for Marketing Scams!

I felt necessitated to post this article on modernized, classic marketing scams by the fact that three of my friends have each attempted to recruit me within the pass month to promote one of three completely different, yet equally "ground-breaking", health supplements. 


My hope is for this article to serve as a straight-forward and relevant "heads-up" for ambitious, young, and aspiring business people in Hawaii. 

 

As information continues to flow more freely across the globe, novel business models are formulated to adapt. In turn, it is often difficult for a consumer or young entrepreneur to distinguish between legitimate business models and unsustainable ones amidst the 21st century's myriad of adaptive business models. 

The classic pyramid scheme may very well be the most well-known and looked-out-for marketing scam. But despite its notoriety, pyramid schemes continue to exploit young entrepreneur today due to clever disguises and references to pop-culture or technological trends. 

How does a modern pyramid scheme work?
- Money earned and gaining promotion within the scheme comes primarily from recruiting new people to the scheme (resell of product is secondary)
- Those new people are conscripted to recruit more people into the scheme, and these new people must recruit more people, etc., and so on
- The pyramid (illegitimate multi-level marketing) scheme will ultimately, inevitably collapse, due to mathematic infeasibility of profits (not enough people in world to meet recruiting requirements after a certain number of levels) or economic improbability (even after 3 or 4 levels, only the members on top of the pyramid will most likely profit) 

 

As an undergraduate, I admit to being at least intrigued by some of the pitches pyramid con-artists presented me, which led to me to understand how vulnerable, starving college students could be sucked in.
Here are some red flags that I picked up of the classic pyramid (illegal multi-level marketing) schemes as adapted to today's society: 

Beware of unsustainable business plans: 

- Some sort of buy-in or "investment" is required to get started 

- The incentive for recruitment is greater than the incentive for sales 

- "Investors" receive benefits later from "investments" made by others. 

- You earn or are promised to earn more compensation than the revenue you bring in 

Other red flags: 

- Younger business people are the primary demographic 

- The target is encouraged to sell to and recruit friends and family 

- You will be promoting a "revolutionary" product or service that you haven't hard of 

- The use of celebrities or corporate identities that you haven't before seen associated with the product or service 

There are a number of actions you can take to prevent being exploited:


First, study the company’s track record; ask questions when you are unclear about restrictions, duties, or compensation; and learn about the product. Asking your recruiter how much money he makes and how often does he work is often a great start. 

You already know that this model is different than the majority of successful businesses; ask yourself: WHY? And be sure to talk to a friend before getting involved and take your time with any decisions or investments. 

Googling "Is X company a scam?" is NOT sufficient research since the internet review sites and forums are flooded with paid marketers posing as unbiased consumers. On the other hand, the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org) is a great resource for information on scams and how to prevent being exploited. 

Keep in mind that some multi-level marketing businesses are legitimate, such as "Primerica Financial Services", (which received an “A+” in the BBB’s 2009 report). Use this checklist to distinguish between a legitimate MLM business and a pyramid scam: http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/pyramidschemes_checklist.htm 

[caption id="attachment_912" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A legitimate multi-level-marketing company. Recieved an "A+" on the BBB's 2009 annual ethics report."][/caption]

A basic rule of thumb is to ensure that your recruiter has a vested interest in your success and that no more than three levels are above you. 

Finally, consider the reason why you were approached. Unless you are not an all-star salesperson with 15 years of experience, ask yourself why your recruiter isn't looking for that guy. Why is recruiting you so important? Does this business match your talents, skills, or interest? If not, don't do it!

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Possible scams in Hawaii:

Acai Health Supplements - http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/b/2009/05/24/beware-of-acai-supplement-scams.htm

Blastoff Network - http://www.ripoffreport.com/Internet-Marketing-Companies/BLASTOFF-NETWORK/blastoff-network-blastoff-jus-42fbf.htm

Black Diamond Builder (MonaVie)- http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/monavie-scam-was-my-wife-recruited-sell-snake-oil/ - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MonaVie

Pre-paid legal services, inc. - http://www.expertlaw.com/library/consumer/prepaid_legal.html

6 comments:

  1. good post...i know three people that have fallen for these...i even warned one of them that they were in one and they were just unfortunately oblivious/optimistic...

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  2. this is totally perfect for the bs that's flying around campus right now. watch yourselves kids! stay safe.

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  3. yeah 5-linx was a big one 2 years ago before it collapsed.. my roomate tried to recruit me...

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  4. You will want to visit the site of CrimeBustersNow that routinely exposes frauds, their organizers, corrupt lawyers etc, driving them out of "business."

    As president of CBNow I survived a $10,000,000 libel suit instituted by a 24 lawyer law firm reputedly one of the best in the field of "MLM" "Net Work Marketing" and without legal representation, destroyed them in court. The Superior Court Judge in his ruling wrote that these two "companies" were at least prima facia, violations of both the Canadian Criminal Code and the Federal Competition Act and further wrote at ....

    [35] In the absence of evidence that even begins to rebut the assertions made by, Thornton...

    The decision is downloadable from our site.

    These scams we expose and destroy are well masked and targeting not only university and college students, but reprehensibly even kids in high school.

    Check us out and follow our effectiveness worldwide; the latest from the Solomon Islands where the Central Bank, on the revelations of CBNow, has closed down Canadian Diamond Traders International massive world-wide pyramid fraud that has scammed students all over North America; pathetically even scamming deaf students at Gallaudet University and worldwide with their strong affiliation.

    It is “Affinity Fraud” at its worst... That’s the truth... that is the reality.

    David J. Thornton
    President
    CrimeBustersNow
    crimebustersnow.org

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  5. Great post! I am glad you also mentioned that there are good MLMs out there. I know a Primerica representative and they market pre-paid legal services inc products and services. I think your link was talking in general about the industry and not company specific.

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  6. Most of the times i visit a blog I notice that most blogs are amateurish.On the other hand,I have to say that you have done a good job here.

    ReplyDelete