"Three Days, Three People, Retire in 30 days!A Pyramid By Any Other Name 2002
Elena Fawkner"Three Days, Three People, Retire in 30 days!Make no mistake,
People will start BEGGING you to sponsor them in!Take a look at this Income
Projection Chart:Level | # of Days | # Benefactored | Income Projection 1 3 3
$70 2 6 9 $130 3 9 27 $290 4 12 81 $660 5 15 243 $1520 6 18 729 $3520 7 21
2,187 $8160 8 24 6,561 $18,880 9 27 19,683 $43,520 10 30 59,049 $99,840 11
33 177,147 $227,840 12 36 531,441 $517,120 13 39 1,594,323 $1,167,360Days add
up in a hurry and so does your downline!"OK people ... I know how tempting this
looks but REALITY check time. This is but one example of a number of "wealth
generation programs" recently touted online. The idea is that you must find
three people who want to join this program, you pay $20 to "benefactor" each of
them into the program (for a total "investment" of $60) and you're set for
life. Oh, and you have to do it in three days. Each of your three, if they are
to remain in the game and thereby derive the same wondrous riches from the
program as you, must also find three people, benefactor them into the program
(again within three days) and their three must find their three in three days
and so on.And, because non-performers are booted from the program, so the
theory goes, the only people getting paid are the ones actively benefactoring
in their own recruits, each of whom down the line contributes their
"investment" of $60.THE "PRODUCT"The product each person gets for their $60
(because this is NOT, of course, a PYRAMID SCHEME) is:"Software entitled
"Building an MLM Empire using the Internet", in which you Own Full Licensed
Retail Rights to Market the software. Retail Value $29.95 All Sales Are
Final-No Refunds!"OK, three points on the "product".First, your investment is
$60. The product is worth (let's give them the benefit of the doubt) $29.95.
HELLO!? But you get RESELL RIGHTS!, I hear you protest. That makes it more
valuable than just the purchase price of the product itself. Oh yeah? Well, you
HAVE to be able to sell the product otherwise the whole scheme ... er ...
program would be nothing more than a wealth distribution arrangement wouldn't
it? And that's against the law, and we couldn't have that.Second, this is not
"software", it's an e-Book.Third, the title of the e-Book deviously and
insidiously implies a relationship between this "wealth creation program" and
MLM (multi-level marketing). MLM is a different thing altogether.For a more
detailed explanation of what MLM is and what it is not, read "Not MLM! ... Why
ever not?" at http://www.ahbbo.com/notmlm.html .'WEALTH CREATION' PROGRAMSOK,
so what about these "wealth creation programs" then? Sounds like a great idea,
right? Everybody wins! Well, think about this ... if everyone goes out and gets
three people who each have to throw $60 into the pot for their three, everybody
up and down the line has effectively contributed $60 and that's all there is
in the pot. How do you get more than your $60 back?Ahah! you cleverly point
out, those who don't recruit ... er ... "benefactor in" ... er ... SELL (yeah,
that's it, SELL) the "product" to their three gets dropped, don't they, so now
the $20 their benefactor contributed for them to join the program is still in
the pot but they're not. They've forfeited their investment. THAT'S how we
make money.OK! Very good. I can see you're paying attention.Just one, teensy
little problem with this brilliant plan. It's B.S.. It's a pyramid scheme and
it's ILLEGAL.PYRAMID SCHEMES VS. LEGITIMATE MLMIn her prepared statement to the
International Monetary Fund's seminar on "Current Legal Issues Affecting
Central Banks" in May 1998, Debra Valentine, General Counsel for the U.S.
Federal Trade Commission, had this to say about pyramid schemes: "What is
striking about these schemes is that while they are very old forms of fraud,
modern technology has vastly multiplied their potential for harming our
citizens. The Internet in particular offers pyramid builders a multi-lane
highway to world-wide recruits in virtually no time."What is a Pyramid Scheme
and What is Legitimate Marketing? "Pyramid Schemes now come in so many forms
that they may be difficult to recognize immediately. However, they all share
one overriding characteristic. They promise consumers or investors large
profits based primarily on recruiting others to join their program, not based
on profits from any real investment or real sale of goods to the public. Some
schemes may purport to sell a product, but they often simply use the product
to hide their pyramid structure. There are two tell- tale signs that a product
is simply being used to disguise a pyramid scheme: inventory loading [recruits
are forced to buy more product than they could possibly sell] and a lack of
retail sales [sales are made only between people inside the pyramid, not to the
public in general - sound familiar?]. ... "[P]yramids are quite seductive
because they may be able to deliver a high rate of return to a few early
investors for a short period of time. Yet, .. pyramid .. schemes are illegal
because they inevitably must fall apart. No program can recruit new members
forever. Every pyramid .. scheme collapses because it cannot expand beyond the
size of the earth's population. [Footnote 3: "Assume a pyramid scheme in which
each person recruits 10 new people. There would be one person at the top, 10
beneath her, 100 beneath them and so forth. The pyramid would involve everyone
on earth in just 10 layers of people with one con artist on top. The bottom
layer would have more than 4.5 billion people."] When the scheme collapses,
most investors find themselves at the bottom, unable to recoup their
losses."Some people confuse pyramid .. schemes with multilevel marketing. ...
[U]nlike pyramid .. schemes, MLM's have a real product to sell. More
importantly, MLM's actually sell their product to members of the general
public, without requiring these consumers to pay anything extra or to join the
MLM system. MLM's may pay commissions to a long string of distributors, but
these commissions are paid for real retail sales, not for new recruits."Now
consider how our "wealth distribution program" above works. Which is it, do you
think? Pyramid scheme or MLM? Bzzzz ... time's up. All who think it's a classic
pyramid go to the top of the class.FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION GUIDELINESNot
surprisingly, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") pays close attention to
so-called MLM's that are, in reality, nothing more than pyramid schemes. It
regularly prosecutes the promoters of such schemes, obtaining injunctions and
orders freezing the assets of the promoters to be applied in redress of
victims. If you knowingly participate in a pyramid scheme, you too can be named
as a defendant in such an action.Bear in mind that as a distributor (whether
you're participating in a legitimate MLM program or an illegal pyramid scheme),
you're legally responsible for the claims you make about the company, its
products and business opportunities. It is no defense that you're merely
rehashing the same old representations made to you by the company. The FTC can
require you to verify the research behind any claims you make.For more on the
subject of representations and your obligation to be able to back them up, read
"Not Just Six Lines ... 65 Characters" at http://www.ahbbo.com/adsftc.html . In
addition, if you solicit new distributors, heed the FTC's warning in its
Consumer Alert, "The Bottom Line About Multilevel Marketing Plans": "You are
responsible for the claims you make about a distributor's earnings potential.
Be sure to represent the opportunity honestly and avoid making unrealistic
promises. If those promises fall through, remember that you could be held
liable."Finally, here's the FTC's tips for evaluating a multilevel marketing
opportunity:"1. Avoid any plan that includes commissions for recruiting
additional distributors. It may be an illegal pyramid. [And, by the way,
calling it "benefactoring" won't help. Just a handy hint ...]"2. Beware of
plans that ask new distributors to purchase expensive products and marketing
materials. These plans may be pyramids in disguise."3. Be cautious of plans
that claim you will make money through continued growth of your downline, that
is, the number of distributors you recruit. [Don't take this tip out of
context - by definition, the more people you have in your downline, the more
you'll legitimately make in MLM. What the FTC is saying here is to watch out if
the plan rewards you for recruiting per se, rather than paying you a
commission on sales of product to the general public generated by your
downline.]"4. Beware of plans that claim to sell miracle products or promise
enormous earnings. Ask the promoter to substantiate claims."5. Beware of shills
- "decoy" references paid by a plan's promoter to lie about their earnings
through the plan."6. Don't pay or sign any contracts in an "opportunity
meeting" or any other pressure-filled situation. Insist on taking your time to
think over your decision. Talk it over with a family member, friend, accountant
or lawyer."7. Do your homework! Check with your local Better Business Bureau
and State Attorney General about any plan you're considering - especially when
the claims about the product or your potential earnings seem too good to be
true. [Don't rely too much on the BBB though - companies pay to be listed with
them so they're not as authoritative and independent as they seem. Asking
whether they have complaints on file about your particular program is
worthwhile, however.]"8. Remember that no matter how good a product and how
solid a multilevel marketing plan may be, you'll need to invest sweat equity as
well as dollars for your investment to pay off."By testing any opportunity
against the above tips, you'll go a long way to ensuring that what you're
getting yourself into is a legitimate MLM program and not an illegal
pyramid.Probably the best gut check of them all though is the good old "if it
sounds too good to be true, it probably is". Hmm ... $1.1m in 39 days for an
investment of $60 ... somehow, I JUST don't think so ...------** Reprinting of
this article is welcome! ** This article may be freely reproduced provided
that: (1) you include the following resource box; and (2) you only mail to a
100% opt-in list.Here's the resource box to use if reprinting this
article:------Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ...
practical business ideas, opportunities and solutions for the work-from-home
entrepreneur. http://www.ahbbo.comAbout the AuthorElena Fawkner is editor of
the award-winning weekly ezine, A Home-Based Business Online, a down-to-earth
publication containing practical home-based and online business ideas,
telecommuting job listings, original articles, free e-books and much more. She
also runs the A Home-Based Business Online website at at http://www.ahbbo.com
You can subscribe to her newsletter at the site.
You may view the latest post at
http://www.richproject.co.cc/?p=3414
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
admin
k_malee@hotmail.com
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น