'MLM income opportunity' racketeers have been buying stupid, and/or lazy, and/or corrupt, legislators for decades

Shyam

Your free-thinking readers (including some honest, senior law enforcement agents), know that, for more than half a century, 'Amway' has been the thought-stopping title for a pernicious/criminogenic cultic organization (i.e. 'Amway' hides a self-perpetuating, non-rational, totalitarian belief system instigated for the clandestine purpose of human exploitation). They are also aware that 'Amway' has generated such vast profits for its greedy bosses, that it has been copied by countless greedy racketeers. We now have a tidal wave of essentially-identical, parasites and parasitic organizations - a criminogenic cancer consuming the unprotected population and quietly multiplying, and gnawing, its way into the democratic process and rule of law in every country it visits. Meanwhile legislators have remained too stupid, and/or lazy, and/or corrupt, to identify, let alone cut out, this malignant disease, whilst the mainstream media (with a few notable exceptions) has concentrated its attention in other more-marketable directions.

When is the wider-world finally going to face up to the ugly reality that, for decades, the secret goal of 'MLM income opportunity' racketeers has been to introduce, their own thought-stopping jargon into legislation around the world, subverting the democratic process and, thus, obtaining a corrupt license to reap billions of dollars from the rest of us, by running dissimulated money circulation schemes and related advance fee frauds, on an unprecedented scale, but without any risk of being held to account for these titanic crimes. Although it remains very difficult for many people to accept, the plain truth is, that these absurd, but nonetheless dangerous, cultic gangsters disguised as 'pious and philanthropic capitalists,' have infiltrated traditional culture and have effectively legalized a particularly cruel type of mass-theft by deception, which traditional culture has (to-date) failed to identify accurately as being just another form of closed-market swindle, or money circulation scheme.

Closed-market swindles dissimulated as 'MLM income opportunities' are always essentially the same false beacon of hope which can lure their most vulnerable victims into a delusional, self-destructive state, akin to a chronic gambling addiction. In reality, no matter how they are disguised, closed-market swindles only enrich their instigators and a few early recruits, with their latest victims' money, but since (by definition) a closed-market has no real external revenue, the latest victims are, in turn, promised the same chance or right to be paid from future victims, ad infinitum. Thus, closed-market swindles dissimulated as 'MLM income opportunities,' propagate the malicious false promise that endless-chain recruitment + endless contributions by the recruits = endless profits for all contributing recruits. Self-evidently, by design, this economic Utopia cannot be fulfilled, but the cruel illusion has been sustained simply by hiding its catastrophic results. Thus, preventing its victims from complaining. Consequently, although all 'MLM income opportunity' rackets have secretly produced loss/drop-out rates of effectively 100% (other than for their instigators and earliest recruits), they have continued to function, because this key-information has been deliberately withheld from the wider-world by criminals. Indeed, the act of occulting this information, has itself been fraudulent.

'MLM income opportunity' racketeers have sought to prevent prosecution of endless-chain recruitment schemes by laundering most of these schemes' unlawful internal transactions through what they have arbitrarily defined, in their thought-stopping jargon, as 'product purchases.' Each smokescreen 'purchase' has included at least 40-50% margin for apparent 'profit payments' collectively, to persons arbitrarily defined as 'Distributors' or 'Business Owners' , but who have actually been insolvent victims of a closed -market swindle - temporary de facto slave recruiters, doomed to failure. This 40-50% has been apportioned according to an incremental percentage-formula based on the victims' position in the endless-recruitment chain above the latest victims. Thus, any payments to the instigators and to the earliest recruits have been the product of fraud, whilst the remaining payments going to the so-called 'MLM' companies from the smoke-screen 'purchases' of the latest victims, were also the product of fraud.

In the USA, various court decisions, and some State laws, specify that any payments apportioned to the participants in a multi-tiered sales organization (ignoring the fact that these organizations, have all been criminogenic) must derive from outside of the sales organization and be the result of genuine retail sales to the public, not from smokescreen 'purchases' made by the recruits themselves. However, to avoid court rulings in the USA that might identify, and outlaw, closed-market swindles dissimulated as 'MLM income opportunities,' their instigators infiltrated and subverted an existing, US-registered, corporate structure known as the 'Direct Selling Association,' to acquire influence over legislators in more than a dozen States. Thus, existing US anti-pyramid laws were rewritten in precise, but essentially meaningless, terms (like 'anyone' , 'products', 'consumers', etc.) to exempt closed-market swindles in which the revenue is secretly derived from smokescreen transactions arbitrarily defined as 'product purchases,' thereby illegally  removing the key-distinction as to whether the participants are actually making authentic retail sales to the public. Using these subversive tactics, closed-market swindles dissimulated as 'MLM income opportunities' have been effectively legalized in the USA (and in various other countries), but the false promise that endless-chain recruitment + endless contributions by the recruits = endless profits for all contributing recruits, upon which all 'MLM income opportunities' have been based, remains intrinsically fraudulent under universal criminal laws which define theft by deception.

Corporate Frauds Watch has recently uncovered these same subversive tactics evidently being pursued in the Indian State of Kerala, where the de facto agents of the'Amway' bosses (i.e. the officers of the 'Indian Direct Selling Association') have also been attempting effectively to legalize dissimulated money  schemes which launder illegal internal payments through smokescreen transactions arbitrarily defined as  'product/service purchases'.  Stupid, and/or Lazy, and/or corrupt Kerala officials have recently been caught red handed trying to redefine traditional direct selling in the familiar, effectively meaningless terms, to include the unlawful continuous-recruiting of insolvent victims (arbitrarily defined as 'direct sellers'),who illogically will not be obliged to sell anything directly to the public, by fake corporate structures (arbitrarily defined as 'direct selling' companies), which illogically will be allowed to derive the overwhelming majority their revenue from their victims, who merely make smokescreen 'purchases' under the delusion that eventually, by exactly duplicating a plan of recruitment and self-consumption, ad infinitum, they will be able to retire and receive reward in perpetuity. However, all such closed, money circulation schemes are already banned by existing, Indian, criminal legislation. 

Readers of CFW should be aware that the subversion of the democratic process and the rule of law in the USA by 'MLM income opportunity' racketeers, included a proposed Bill, HR1220, in the US Congress. This shameful document was written by officers of the so-called 'Direct Selling Association' and it was introduced into the US House of Representatives by a traitor to the American Republic, who, ironically, was an elected Republican Member for Texas, Joe Barton. Co-traitors, included a small flock of apparently pious Republican/Christian Congressmen/women whose political campaigns had been largely-funded by money produced by 'MLM income opportunity' fraud. In simple terms, these legislators had been bribed with stolen cash, but they have not yet been held to account. The corrupt Bill they proposed, would have created a federal law, maliciously designed effectively to legalize 'MLM income opportunity' fraud throughout the USA, and to override common-sense federal court decisions which had previously served as the guide in all other federal court cases dealing with the 'MLM' question. However (probably due to the invasion of Iraq in 2003), the law was never passed.

Jack Abramoff has recently admitted that he was part of an extensive, corrupt 'lobbying' system in Washington which has been partially exposed, but not halted. Abramoff has confessed that he was paid millions of dollars to bribe stupid, and/or lazy, and/or corrupt, US federal legislators to conceal modifications in federal legislation which were secretly of great financial benefit to his clients, and against the interests of the people. These modifications were the product of crime. They were written in precise, but incomprehensible, terms often referencing (but not explaining) previous laws or obscure sub-sections of previous laws. Similarly, 'MLM income opportunity' racketeers have used corrupt 'lobbyists' to cloak their own modifications to legislation in thought-stopping, apparently pious terms like, 'reform' , 'updating', 'anti-pyramid,' etc. To casual observers, terms like,  'anyone',  'consumer' , 'product', etc.  can appear quite harmless. However, to intellectually-rigorous observers, this obvious subversion of the democratic process and the rule of law by the manipulation of language, is revealed as a co-ordinated devious campaign launched by cultic gangsters, to redefine traditional direct selling, and thus, include, and effectively legalize, the cancer of 'MLM income opportunity' fraud (which has no real connection with traditional direct selling), from which these parasites continue to reap billions of dollars from countless millions of their constantly-churning victims. 

David Brear (copyright 2011)

Amway suddenly posing as a pious woman

Amway, nowadays, is heavily advertising throughout India spending several millions of rupees. What happened to its principle of no advertisement all these years.

An adage in Sanskrit says, "vriddha naari pativrataa". Suddenly this aged prostitute is posing as a pious woman. It says that there is no entry fee to become a distributor and there is no compulsion to purchase products at entry level. In the headlines of the Advertisement itself Amway says that it is regularizing its business activities. That effectively means it has been illegally and irregularly doing business all these years spanning over a decade. What is the punishment for Amway's illegal business activities all these years and what happened to the stolen money from the gullible all over India and the rest of the countries.

However, its business model is still enrollment which is a banned activity under the provisions of Prize Chits &; Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978. Amway's website states that if a Distributor sells Amway products along with his 'GROUP' they are entitled commission ranging from 6 % to 21 %. From where does this group emerge without enrollment. That is the crux of the racket Amway is indulging in.

Moreover, the price of these products is so exorbitant that no sane person would buy these products unless he is promised with huge returns by way of enrollment.

For instance, the price of Glister toothpaste ranges from Rs. 125 to Rs. 199. No fool would buy these products at such exorbitant price. A 250 ml coconut oil bottle is sold at Rs. 109, a toothbrush for Rs. 116, a 

250 ml shampoo for Rs. 379, one litre Dish washing liquid for Rs. 519. These are only samples. There are more.
Amway also states in its website the Distributor should give a hand written receipt to the purchaser while selling products. Is there any sanctity to the hand written receipt? Who would recognise it? IF there is any patent or latent defect in the product, will the consumer forum recognise it as an authentic receipt? 

The main issue is the money circulation scheme camouflaged with sale of products and services. If Amway believes  its products are of great value, it could sell them in the open market. Anyway, it is advertising heavily spending millions and there is now no justification for its camouflaged activity. It is high time, people realised its nefarious activities and throw Amway out.

Kerala officials have been caught red handed helping 'MLM' racketeers

Shyam

The bosses of the 'Amway' mob continue to behave as though the rest of the world is  too stupid, and/or lazy, and/or corrupt, to work out how their insidious racket functions.

The ongoing, extensive 'payment for legislation' racket that Jack Abramoff has admitted once being a part of  in Washington, and which he lately-condemns, is exactly the same as the one which is now evidently appearing in the Indian State of Kerala.

Abramoff has described how, just by introducing precise, but essentially meaningless, language into US federal legislation, it was possible to subvert the democratic process to the financial advantage of anyone who supplied him with piles of loot to bribe greedy US politicians and key members of their advisory staff, with valuable gifts and highly-paid job offers. These traitors to the American Republic, then unlawfully gave Abramoff a free-hand to write the legislation. Abramoff does not hide the alarming fact that he had significant influence in the offices of around one hundred key Washington legislators, and that his ambition had been to own all of them.

The available evidence strongly suggests that the 'Amway' bosses are currently attempting to buy  stupid, and/or lazy, and/or corrupt, key legislators in Kerala in order to try to continue to commit the same fraud which they have already paid stupid, and/or lazy, and/or corrupt, key Washington legislators to ignore.

The size, and duration, of this (still-largely hidden) scandal is absolutely without precedent, but where the Hell is the mainstream media?

Some more of the obvious questions I have, are:

-  What are the names of the Kerala officials who claim to have written the 'direct selling guidelines,'  but who obviously haven't written them at all?

-  What has been the exact nature of the relationship between these Kerala officials and persons representing 'Amway India Enterprises' from the so called 'Indian Direct Selling Association'  who have been allowed to draft these precise, but essentially meaningless,  'direct selling guidelines' to the financial advantage of the billionaire 'Amway' bosses in the USA?

- How can we get a rigorous corruption investigation started in Kerala? 

David Brear (copyright 2011)

Have Kerala government officials made a public confession of guilt?

Shyam

Years ago I was advised by an American academic not to accuse government officials of being stupid, and/or lazy, and/or corrupt, to their faces, because this is counter-productive. Regular readers of Corporate Frauds Watch will know that I didn't follow that timid advice. Indeed, judging by their intellectually-feeble content, perhaps the stupid, and/or lazy, and/or corrupt, Kerala government officials who recently came up with these so-called 'Direct Selling Guidelines,' were drunk at the time? Self-evidently, they have allowed this essentially-meaningless document to be written by the de facto agents of US-based 'MLM income opportunity' racketeers; for it is certainly against the interests of the people of Kerala.

The blatantly-obvious point which these stupid, and/or lazy, and/or corrupt, Kerala government officials have completely missed, is that, when rigorously-investigated, in all so-called 'MLM income opportunities,' lawful direct selling to the public of goods, and/or services, which these 'Direct Selling Guidelines' seem to describe in theory, cannot be proved to have occurred in practice. However, notice how these 'Guidelines' deliberately use the ambiguous and inaccurate term, 'the consumers,' and not the unambiguous and accurate term, 'the public.'

Thus, if these Kerala government officials had not been stupid, and/or lazy, and/or corrupt, their description of direct selling would have read as follows: 

'Lawful Direct Selling' means any viable system of economic exchange, in which it can be proved by independent quantifiable evidence (in the form of audited accounts) that a significant percentage of non-salaried commission agents under contract to an individual or to a commercial company, have regularly retailed significant quantities of consumer goods, and/or services, directly to the public for a profit outside of traditional fixed retail outlets, usually through explanation, and/or demonstration of the goods, and/or services, by the commission agents.

If these Kerala government officials want to prove their intelligence, diligence and honesty to the readers of Corporate Frauds Watch, then all they have to do is make the neccessary amendments to their essentially-meaningless 'Direct Selling Guidelines' without further delay. Indeed, I have kindly done their job for them, and I will take their failure to act on my common sense advice, as a public confession of guilt. Perhaps they will be frightened that I might send them a bill? 

David Brear (copyright 2011)

Kerala bureaucrats copy & paste IDSA definition of direct selling

The Kerala police has taken initiative to curb the activities of an international crook who has been bleeding the Indian economy by closing down the operations of Amway India. In fact, it is a bold step on the part of the police to stop these fraudulent persons with honesty and integrity. However, the Kerala bureaucrats reversed the hard work done by the police by simply handing over the cheating business back to the crooks.
Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA) in its website http://www.idsa.co.in/Faqs.html describes What is direct selling?
Direct Selling means the marketing of consumer products/services directly to the consumers generally in their homes or the homes of others, at their workplace and other places away from permanent retail locations, usually through explanation or demonstration of the products by a direct seller.
Now let us take a look at what the Kerala Government said in its guidelines to regulate the direct selling.
Definition:
1. Direct selling
Direct selling means marketing of consumer products/services directly to the consumers generally in their homes or homes of others, at their work place and other places away from the permanent retail locations, usually through explanation or demonstration of the products by a direct seller or by mail order sales.
Here it is amply clear that the bureaucrats who prepared the guidelines are highly influenced by the IDSA that is Amway India. The whole issue is stinking and one can imagine what actually influenced the bureaucrats to prepare such guidelines. I don't believe that it is coincidence and intellectuals thinking alike.
In this backdrop, how could anybody stop these crooks from looting our country.

Weak leadership is allowing the rise of corporate-Fascism

Shyam

It has been suggested to me that I have recently blamed the democratically-elected government of Kerala for 'MLM income opportunity' frauds.

What I actually said was :

 

'Based on their largely-irrelevant content, the persons who drew up these so-called 'direct selling guidelines' for the Kerala government, have demonstrated that they remain at a pitifully low-level of understanding of how pernicious "MLM income opportunity" frauds have functioned.' 

 

Obviously, in the final analysis, the narcissistic corporate racketeers who have pocketed most of the cash, are to blame for 'MLM income opportunity' frauds. However, all over the world, elected-leaders have taken their own lead from intellectually, and morally, bankrupt American politicians, and turned a blind-eye to 'MLM' charlatans - allowing them not only to operate without regulation, but also effectively to draft their own irrelevant 'direct selling regulations.'  Yet, it was weak leadership that led to the rise of Fascism in Europe in the aftermath of WWI and the 'Great Depression,' and it is weak leadership that is allowing the rise of corporate-Fascism today.

Despite the fact that the USA is supposed to be a republic, there exists an army of American citizens known as 'lobbyists' whose job it has been to 'influence' federal government policy. I believe that there are currently around 40 000 of these largely-amoral creatures officially-listed in Washington DC. In reality, this anti-democratic system has been operating exactly like a Royal Court. Indeed, certain insightful commentators have compared Washington in the 21st. century to Versailles in the 18th. century. What have laughably been referred to as  'Lobbying' and 'campaign donations,'  have permitted all-manner of criminals to buy political protection, and to acquire vast fortunes illegally without any risk of being held to account. Latter-day, posturing-courtiers known as 'lobbyists' have effectively drafted federal legislation which should have prevented their wealthy patrons' crimes.

In theory, in any republic, government is of the people, by the people and for the people. Due their amoral nature, no American 'lobbyist' is ever going to come out and openly-confess that he/she has been a loathsome intellectual-prostitute - a traitor to the American Republic, paid to execute a corporate coup d'etat  in which government has secretly become that of racketeers, by racketeers and for racketeers.

Sadly, this is exactly what generations of weak American leadership has produced.

David Brear (copyright 2011)

The Kerala government has attempted to regulate traditional peddling, not 'MLM income opportunity' fraud

Shyam

What the Kerala government is actually attempting to regulate in its 'guidelines' for so-called 'direct selling,' is only peddling with a fancy name.

However, peddling (i.e. the traditional commercial practice of independent small businessmen/women going door to door, retailing goods directly to the public for a straight profit , or non-salaried commission agents going door to door, retailing goods directly to the public on behalf of another business, for a percentage of an overall profit ) has effectively died out.

As has been previously pointed out on Corporate Frauds Watch, many years ago, it was possible to scrape a living as a peddler, provided what was being peddled was of good value and the peddler didn't have too much competition. Today, in the USA and Europe, the average person's experience is that traditional, door-to-door sellers simply do not exist. The reasons for this being that supermarkets, and the Internet, offer an endless variety of choice, and quality, at prices which have effectively destroyed all traditional retail competitors, whilst few people are at home during the day and most people do not wish to receive unsolicited callers during the evening.

Thus, the Kerala government has drawn up 'guidelines' to regulate a traditional commercial practice which (at worst) no longer exists, or (at best) is on the point of vanishing. Self-evidently, what is now commonly referred to as 'direct selling,' most-certainly does not fit the description of traditional peddling contained in the Kerala government's 'guidelines.' Indeed, Corporate Frauds Watch challenges any so-called 'direct selling' company to produce the audited accounts (particularly, income-tax receipts) of a significant group of its so-called 'direct sellers' which would prove that these latter-day peddlers (with fancy names) have made net-profits by regularly retailing goods, and/or services, directly to the public. 

In the adult world of quantifiable reality, the tax-record proves beyond all reasonable doubt that there are gangs of corporate thieves whose wealthy bosses have steadfastly pretended to be the sponsors of lawful direct selling schemes, but who have actually been operating, and hiding the results of, illegal money circulation schemes and secondary advanced fee frauds. These racketeers have recruited endless-chains of constantly-churning, ill-informed, insolvent victims whom they have arbitrarily defined as 'direct sellers', but who have actually been induced to hand over their money in exchange for effectively-unsaleable wampum, and to try to recruit their friends and relations to perpetuate the same economically-unviable scheme, in the false belief that this is a proven, and legal, plan to achieve 'total financial freedom.' 

Based on their largely-irrelevant content, the persons who drew up these so-called 'direct selling guidelines' for the Kerala government, have demonstrated that they remain at a pitifully low-level of understanding of how pernicious 'MLM income opportunity' frauds have functioned. 

David Brear (copyright 2011)

Kerala Govt sets guidelines for direct selling

The following guidelines were set by the Kerala State Government to regulate sale of goods and services outside of retail establishments known as 'direct selling' and to provide for protection of the consumers who purchase goods and services from direct sellers.
These guidelines will remain in force till an appropriate legislation is enacted for the said purpose.

Definition:
1. Direct selling
Direct selling means marketing of consumer products/services directly to the consumers generally in their homes or homes of others, at their work place and other places away from the permanent retail locations, usually through explanation or demonstration of the products by a direct seller or by mail order sales.
2. Direct selling Entity:
Direct selling Entity means a business entity which sells or markets products with its trademark or services mark or nay other identifying mark through a direct selling individual or organisation .
3. Direct seller
Direct seller means a person who is a member of a distribution system of the direct selling entity engaged in direct selling.
4. Mail order sales
Mail order sales means sale of goods and services which a person conducts either by himself or through any person authorised by him, by receiving an offer for a sale contract by mail.
5. Pyramid schemes/money change scheme is a scheme ;or arrangement which also includes any money circulation scheme as defined within the meaning of the Section 2 (c) and 2 (e) of the Prize Chits & Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978, involving sale of goods and services, where a person for a consideration acquires the opportunity to receive a pecuniary benefit which is not dependent on the volume of goods or services sold or distributed but is based wholly or partly upon the inducement of additional persons to participate in such a scheme or arrangement.
6. Consumer
Consumer means any person who buys or agrees to buy goods from a direct seller for a consideration.
I. Conditions for a valid direct selling
The following conditions are to be complied with by the Direct Selling entities and Direct Sellers.
a) The Direct Selling Entity should be a legal entity authorised to conduct business in India and which files all returns as mandated by law.
b) The direct selling entity should be a valid licensee or a permitted user of a registered trademark which identifies the promoter, goods or services distributed.
c) The Direct selling entities should main websites with complete details of their products/services, terms and conditions, price, details of direct sellers and all relevant information about the company and business. The websites shall be updated regularly and shall furnish all necessary information required by the District Industries Centre.
d) The Direct Selling Entity shall not require a direct seller to purchase any product or collect any membership fee as a condition precedent for enrollment.
e) The compensation to direct sellers shall  only be based on the quantum of sale of goods and servcies.
f) The Direct selling entity should ensure that a consumer purchasing goods or services from a direct seller shall have at leat thirty days from the date of delivery of such goods and services to return the same and to receive full refund.
g) A Direct selling entity shall require direct sellers to provide the following information to the consumers at the time of the sale.
    i. Name, address and telephone number of the direct seller and direct selling entity.
    ii. The direct selling entity shall display details of their direct sellers on their websites.
    iii The Direct seller entity/Direct sellers or their representatives shall at all times carry identity proof of their      
       respective companies along with any photo IDs issued by any Government agency.
   iv A description of the goods or services to be suplied.
   v The order date, the total amount to be paid by the consumer along with the bill and receipt
   vi Time and place for inspec;tio ofthe sample and delivery of goods.
   vii A notice to the consumer of the consumer's rights to cancel the order and to receive a full refund
      of sums paid.
   viii Details regarding the complaint redressal mechanism of the Direct Selling entity.
h) The Direct sellers/Direct selling entities who call at any premises of the customers for the purpose of negotiating direct sales shall take prior permission of appointment immediately indicate the purpose of the visit before entering the premises, identity himself/herself with credentials and shall leave the premises at the request of the occupier of the premises or any person acting with the actual or implied authority of the occupier.
II The sale activities not following the above guidelines shall not be considered as Direct selling and would be dealt appropriately under relevant provisions.

Direct selling aka network marketing recession-proof! My foot!

Unemployment is rising. Loans are hard to get. Foreclosures are skyrocketing; small business owners are closing their doors. Into this sad situation comes multi-level marketing (MLM), claiming to offer consumers a "fall back" or rescue. They call it "direct selling" and they claim it is "recession-proof."

The problem is, the "income opportunity" peddled by most multi-level marketing companies is not direct selling. Direct selling during a Recession is a possible income opportunity, but it is certainly not a safe haven. It is not recession proof. In fact, it is among the hardest jobs in the world, with huge turnover and very little profit potential. What product would people need to buy from a friend or neighbor - at higher prices - than they can readily buy in stores or online? And how much does it cost in time and money to do the marketing, selling, delivering, and servicing?In reality, the "direct selling" offered as "network marketing" is just the age old "endless chain" trick. You pay money to the MLM for the right to sell the MLM opportunity to others who pay money for the opportunity sell the MLM opportunity to others who will pay money to do the same. What is the opportunity, you ask? It's the opportunity to sell the opportunity! Get it?To make a profit each person needs many more people below them. This is also called a pyramid scheme. Later investors pay earlier ones, with each level growing geometrically. The pyramid money is disguised as fees, marketing and sometimes inventory. In nearly all cases, the "inventory" is higher priced than similar goods in stores, yet the direct selling industry claims consumers will buy more when the economy goes down!

In fact, they claim people make money in direct selling when times are good and when times are bad! This may sound familiar. It is exactly the same claim made by billion-dollar-fraudster, Bernard Madoff. He too said his investors would profit from his scheme, in good times or bad.The fact is that the true "product" that is being purchased in most direct selling schemes is the right to sell the opportunity to others. The opportunity to sell the opportunity!

As to the clam that the money is really for "products" and "business costs", not just the opportunity to sell the opportunity, the question must be asked: why would unemployed people, who may be facing home foreclosures, buy expensive and relatively unknown products during a Recession? And, as to why "direct selling" increases during a Recession, the related question must be asked: why would consumers buy more of these higher priced products during a downturn?

Unemployed consumers can be persuaded to buy high priced products ranging from weight loss pills to chocolate - if they are told they will get all their money back plus a big profit when they recruit others to do the same! In other words, this is a classic money transfer dressed up to look like a business. The money a few will get comes from the losses of many others "below" them.

At the end will be the vast majority who will not - and cannot - find enough new "buyers." The promise that everyone can find a "safe haven" in this money transfer scheme is a cruel lie.The result of falling prey to an "endless chain" recruitment scheme will be even greater losses for thousands of people who spend their remaining savings, or take on more debt, to join a MLM scheme.

The Direct Selling Association (DSA) has been selling the bogus idea of a "safe haven" and recession-proof business to the media. Some journalists have bitten the hook. Recently the New York Times took the bait and reported bogus figures about "median income" levels of MLM participants. However, it did at least include a warning about recruitment schemes and included the Pyramid Scheme Alert website as a resource.

However, the New York Times refused to correct the mistaken numbers about "median income". The Times defended the figure on the grounds that it accurately reported what the Direct Selling Association told them!The DSA is not a government agency. It is a lobbyist and PR promoter of multi-level marketing.

The article stated, "The barriers to entry (in direct selling) are fairly minimal. Start-up kits - required by most companies - cost about $99 on average... The median income from direct selling is $2,400 annually, according to the (Direct Selling) association, but those who recruit and manage others can earn significantly more."These two figures - $99 "on average" to start up and a "median income" of $2,400 - are spectacularly misleading. --True start-up costs (the fee is just the first cost) can be in the thousands and may require monthly inventory purchases and even more costs for "marketing and motivation."--As for income, 99% of all MLM participants lose money. The $2,400 figure of "median income" (half of all MLMers would make more if that is the "median") is pure fiction. -- For half of all direct sellers to earn $2,400 (median income), as the DSA told the NY Times, the total sales of direct sellers would have to be far more than $100 billion! And, all the MLMers would have to be retailing all their products!-- The DSA misleads with numbers about "retail" sales, but almost any number used would be fake. Most its members do not track retail sales. This is because most MLMers don't make retail sales! They only recruit other "direct sellers."

The direct selling claim is just a camouflage for recruitment scams. Far from providing a safe haven during a Recession, MLM schemes actually widen the wealth gap; they sap resources from most people who invest and siphon the money to a small group of promoters; they entice people to try to make money off their friends' and family's losses. In the midst of a Recession, MLM has found a great new market - unemployed people, desperate for income. Other industries are also profiting - gambling, lotteries, payday loans, and bankruptcy lawyers.

No More Silence: Take Action
Over the last eight years, Pyramid and Ponzi schemes have grown and spread. The Internet is now choked with "cash gifting" scams and "matrix selling" frauds. Pyramid selling scams have multiplied and now boast that the Recession will bring them more desperate "recruits." The false promise of income from an "endless chain" recruitment scheme is the lure of these multi-level marketing scams. Many of the "job" and "business opportunity" solicitations on the internet are nothing more than pyramid schemes, flim-flam frauds. Consumers now have a way to fight back.

Spreading canards through newspapers by Direct selling companies

An article published on May 14 in the Business Line daily newspaper, published from the stable of the Hindu Group of Publications revealed how newspapers could be utilised to spread canards to the advantage of the Direct selling racketeers. A press meet showering lavishing gifts on the reporters would help these fraudulent companies to get whatever they want published.

The article with the headline 'Direct selling on the go' by Tunia Cherian reveals how best an article could be written hiding the facts between the lines. Indian Direct Selling Association's projection of 20 per cent growth in 2008-09 is highlighted in the article. But the reporter hastily adds that the actual figures will be released only after its annual survey is formally released in July. Lies, lies and more lies, nothing but lies. The journos are generally carried away by the statements of these companies' public relation officers. They never care to check and cross-check to know whether what these people are saying true or not.

Interestingly, there are more than one interviews clubbed together. The statements by the heads of Tupperware, Hindustan Unilever Network, Amway India and the comments of secretary general of IDSA are also included in the story. Interestingly, the direct selling industry claims an increase of turnoever to Rs. 2,851 crore in 2007-08, as against the Rs. 2,522 crore in 2006-07. They never say whether the subscription amount from the new members and renewal fee from the existing distributors also included in the turnover. In fact, that is the biggest racket indulged in by all these companies.

The article also highlights the exorbitant price of these products. However, people who afford them are only buying these products, it is justified.

Readers who go through this article may assume that direct selling is a great idea and they may try their hand to burn their fingers.

Hence, my fellow countrymen, do not fall for the sweet talk of these fraudsters through the columns of newspapers and lose your hard-earned money. Save it for your children or at least enjoy it. Do not help these fraudsters to line their pockets with your money.