kamalktk said:RationalCrust said:
Interestingly, another MLM that pushes blueberry juice has recruited him with lots of $$$.
goji juice?

No, a different juice.

I had never heard of goji juice until I just Googled it.

Another juice with extraordinary claims. Oh goody.

ArbolLoco said:RationalCrust said:He drives an incredibly nice car (I think it's called a Maybach -- or something like that)Fatwallet Rule 269: Just because someone drives a car, doesn't mean they can afford it.

Ain't that the truth -- especially in MLM's where 'fake it till you make it' is standard operating procedure.

In the case of my relative, I know him well enough to know that he is no longer faking it. He makes legitimate big $$$.

-------

About a lifetime ago I was sucked into a MLM called USA (United Sciences of America)...it had Joe Montana, Chris Evert, William Shatner, a bunch of PhD's and other big names involved... at the time, it was very convincing. It crashed and burned..

http://www.mlmwatch.org/04C/USA/usa.html

But I digress.

"hope" is the kind interpretation, lazy and greedy the less charitable.

Legitimate separates scam from scheme, but the product is *always* overpriced, or just plain crap.

GreatestGambler said:

From there on if anybody I meet in some Mall or in FRY’s starts talking about making extra money in spare time, I just say ‘have good day sir’ and start walking.

I just like the way you talk to random people at the Mall and FRY's. I usually don't talk to anybody.

retire35 said:GreatestGambler said:

From there on if anybody I meet in some Mall or in FRY’s starts talking about making extra money in spare time, I just say ‘have good day sir’ and start walking.

I just like the way you talk to random people at the Mall and FRY's. I usually don't talk to anybody.

Almost every time the other person starts conversation. Probably 'they' are always looking for somebody to sell their scheme.

RationalCrust said:ArbolLoco said:RationalCrust said:He drives an incredibly nice car (I think it's called a Maybach -- or something like that)Fatwallet Rule 269: Just because someone drives a car, doesn't mean they can afford it.


Ain't that the truth -- especially in MLM's where 'fake it till you make it' is standard operating procedure.

In the case of my relative, I know him well enough to know that he is no longer faking it. He makes legitimate big $$$.
No doubt, those at the top of the MLM pyramid make great money.

The "fake it till you make it"mentality is actually what gets a LOT of the non-top-tier MLM recruits in trouble. They run out and lease BMWs and Mercedes and try to give the APPEARANCE they are doing well, when reality is they are drowning in MLM-related debt.

A Maybach is certainly a nice car, and also an easy way to "fake" extreme wealth - If he was making just $6-10k/month in the MLM, a $3000/month lease for a ultraluxury car is not out of the ordinary to project his wealth toward others -isnt much more than any other marketing expense. They spend a huge % of their MLM money on marketing.

*science* PhD's who get into MLMs ? Hard to believe.

Anyone have info on E.Excel? My parents have been buying their products for me and I'd hate it if they are wasting money on some over-hyped pseudo-scientific rubbish.

cola262 said:sensia said:Trinidon2k said:My brother has a PhD and he does that Market America bullcrap. He pretty much made it his full time job. I can't have friends or family come to the house without him trying to sell them crap or get them to be his business partner.

It's sad that someone so smart can be so foolish.
PhD is not equal to smartness. I wish a PhD boss be a smart person (I mean, who is not street smart but think smart), alas, it is not!
On a side note, always stay away from any freindly indian guy in a mall. Every tiem, I tried to be a friendly person, I was drawn into the B'crap of business proposal. Now, I always hand them my Stanaphone number.
Back in grad school, we had friend that everyone wants to avoid becuase he was doing that quick* thingy that time. It was miserable to even have a drink with him without listening to the greatness of his company's great bosses.

Maybe PhD's are especially susceptable to these schemes because they are smart and hence have smart friends who went into more lucrative professions while they spent their past 5 years or so earning a meager stipend.

I don't think any of the other people at that "speaker presentation" were well-educated at all; leave alone having PhD degrees. Some of them even looked like they might easily have been working as restaurant waiters, gas-station attendants, or suchlike. No disrespect intended for the latter.

The young white guy (late 20's, early 30's) seemed very smart and well-educated from his responses (to the speaker who was constantly asking biased and one-sided leading questions trying to get people to answer in ways that would help his "case"); all the rest seemed naive, fearful, easily over-awed, and impressionable. None of those are qualities one develops by getting educated.

Most of the people seemed college students or people currently in not-too-good financial circumstances seeking better opportunities. They are being recruited to make Quixtar founders and top-level honchos rich by selling overpriced and crap shampoos and soap to their friends and family.

They were obviously targeting vulnerable people. I would like to see the people behind Quixtar and similar MLM scams go to jail. Unfortunately they may never be made to pay, as their immoral activities are unfortunately not illegal. Legality is always an approximation to morality.

Anakin

PS: some quotes:
speaker: "each friend you recruit is worth half a million dollars to you. i will show this with math. but first, can you name people you know you could recruit for your team?"

he asked people randomly and each provided a name. I was hoping he wouldn't ask me, but he did. I said point-blank "I usually don't involve people I know into something I don't know yet." [this was before he had said anything about the "business opportunity"; not mentioned Quixtar yet.] Everybody laughed and the speaker tried to ignore the comment and move on.

Another time he asked me "Is Google a search engine or a research engine?" implying that we should not search for Quixtar on google and see the negative comments on it. He asked me, expecting I'd say "search engine", so he could then say that we shouldn't research Quixtar with Google.

I said "depends on how you use it."

He never got the answers he was looking for from me.

By the end of the "presentation" I was feeling rather pissed off.

When my "sponsor" told me "this is a job that does not require any skills and you can make so much money", I said "if it does not require any skills why would the guy flipping burgers at McDonald's be any worse than you at this?"

he was stumped.

Then he said I could save 80 bucks a month by getting 32% Quixtar IBO (independent business owner) discount on the $250 I "would spend on household items anyway". I then asked him why Wal-Mart Target and Costco would be willing to lose sales to Quixtar and not lower their own prices to compete.

He could not answer.

But he still did not wake up. He's either really stupid, or really invested in this.

Quixtar was mentioned at the very end, and very defensively. We were asked repeatedly to "keep an open mind" and "not talk to anybody", "not use google", and "make our own decision" using only the material they would provide to us.

This seems to indicate that the scam is almost ending. They are running out of fresh people wjp haven't heard of Quixtar. Quixtar has already decided to phase out the Quixtar name and resurrect the Amway name in America.

Amway has been banned in China. Amway offices have been raided and shut down in several states of India.

But will they go to jail?

Edit: added details.