Wednesday 6 October 2010

Irish News Media Probes USA-Export: Multi-level Marketing; Government Warns Irish Consumers


A few years back, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and several US states shut down a USA-based multi-level marketing company, operating in many countries. It was called SkyBiz. The FTC said the MLM was a pyramid scheme. In addition to being prosecuted in the US, at least four other countries, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Malaysia, arrested distributors, launched investigations or issued warnings to consumers regarding the scheme. The FTC estimated that more than one million people were tricked into investing in the Sky Biz business.

It turns out that millions of SkyBiz' ill-gotten dollars that the government seized to refund consumers were harbored in a bank in Dublin, Ireland. Now, another American MLM is in Ireland - hyped by a former SkyBiz promoter. The ex-SkyBiz promoter is in the country to recruit Irish citizens into a "magical" pay plan of a new USA company called called MyShoppingGenie. MyShoppingGenie promoters are claiming participants can gain up to one million dollars in the first year, with just a $199 initial investment and payment of $29 a month fee. They just have to recruit a few other salespeople and let the recruitment process continue. The Irish news media noted the connection between a top SkyBiz recruiter from Canada and his recruiter role in this new business. The company urges consumers to join up and then start giving away software that supposedly searches the Internet for the best shopping deals.
According to an article in the Irish newspaper, The Independent, "The company was co-founded by Bruce Bise and David Freed. Bise had been sentenced to seven years in jail in the US for felony forgery and fraudulent schemes artifice. When he got out of jail he became involved in a series of multi-level marketing schemes such as Celebrity Galleries International, My Hand PC and Get Moving Today, which filed for Chapter 11 (bankruptcy protection) leaving thousands of investors stranded. David Freed was the international marketing manager of that company."

Investigative reporter, Rory Egan of the
Independent worked with the Irish television documentary show, PrimeTime, taking hidden cameras into MyShoppingGenie meeting, signing up as rep to hear the full presentation, fact-checking the effectiveness of the product, and then consulting with experts and government regulators about the scheme's legality. His conclusion: the company has the hallmarks of a pyramid scheme and he asked the government to investigate. See the PrimeTime report.

The National Consumer Agency of Ireland is now calling on consumers to be very wary of any get-rich-quick schemes, particularly involving pyramid selling.

8 comments:

dtytrivedi said...

Irish law clearly differentiates mlm vs pyramid schemes.

when u open ur eyes and check European union,US, Canada, Singapore,
China, Australia, UK and many such countries. Unlike India, they have separate laws which differentiates mlm and pyramid schemes.

let me know if u want to know some laws.

So silly of u

dtytrivedi said...

http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/Hot_Topics/Scams/Pyramid%20Schemes/

check this out.

Shyam Sundar said...

Nitwit tends to forget the multilevel marketing has been recently termed as a vicious circle by the Andhra Pradesh High Court while disposing of the writ petitions by an mlm company Gemini Techno Services and others. It is nothing but cheating and all MLMs are nothing but pyramid schemes.

dtytrivedi said...

Dear shyam I give full respect to you regarding ur work to create awareness for the people.

The point i am making is mlm is not pyramid scheme, infact many companies claim that they are doing mlm but they are not.

The answer is simple and clear our people don't know what is mlm and what is pyramid scheme.

And dear shyam just go through laws of those 30 countries (and many of them i have mentioned) they have clear yardstick.

In India any one can fool people under the guise of mlm. If people don't know what is mlm and pyramid scheme, then how they can be differentiated.

the problem becomes even more difficult when the law like Price and cheat fund act treats mlm and pyramid scheme as same.

dtytrivedi said...

and by the way shyam, how can u be so sure that the company named "mlm company Gemini Techno Services" is really mlm ?

I can give u many names of such companies which are really doing pyramid selling but they are telling that they are mlm company.

dtytrivedi said...

one more embarrassing thing which i felt for you that do you even read the link which you are posting?

the link which u posted was

"http://www.independent.ie/national-news/theres-usually-a-catch-or-two-in-getting-rich-quick-2353434.html"

And now just read last two lines of that article
"I am forwarding on my findings to John Shine of the National Consumer Agency, who featured on the Prime Time programme."

and the link which i showed was of National Consumer agency.

And when i show the proof then u tell me nitwit.

Shyam its better that from now onwards stop showing the links regarding pyramid selling which is happening other than India.

Because you don't know the basics.
u don't know what is right and what is wrong.

A news which mentions the agency which is best to judge regarding this case, and if i show that their justification regarding mlm and pyramid scheme you again go back to andhra high court.

if u are so sure about andhra high court then why u post the news of the other countries.

dtytrivedi said...

shyam did u read ur last 3 lines of ur post

"The National Consumer Agency of Ireland is now calling on consumers to be very wary of any get-rich-quick schemes, particularly involving pyramid selling."

And here is the reply
http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/Hot_Topics/Scams/Pyramid%20Schemes/

its from national consumer agency.

read it again. And please before arguing do your homework first please

Shyam Sundar said...

Trivedi conveniently forgets the topic of Amway India which is the crux of the issue. He did not make any comment on the post where I mentioned the business model of Amway India which is nothing but pyramid scheme - the notorious 6-4-3 business model. He is talking about something else. Yes he is right. Anyone could fool easy in India in the MLM and direct selling. That is what Amway is doing for the last one decade. Now it is facing criminal case.