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Enough is Enough! It's Time for Action!
No more denial, shame or embarrassment. No more confusion. No more blaming the victim. No more resignation. And absolutely no more fear.
Pyramid Scheme Alert is the first consumer organization to confront the abuses and trickery of pyramid scheme perpetrators.
Pyramid Scheme Alert is a non-profit, privately supported (by memberships and donations), all-volunteer, and totally independent consumer campaign. Pyramid Scheme Alert is about ACTION -- coordinated, informed, professional, and effective citizen/consumer action.
Millions of people have been harmed. Enough!
Families and friends have been divided, communities disrupted. Enough!
Billions of dollars in savings have been lost. Enough!
Misleading product claims, deceptive income promises, lawsuits, protest website -- we have seen enough, learned enough, and tried enough on our own. It is time for people to come together to expose and prevent one of the most pervasive frauds and ethical abuses of our times.
We invite you to peruse this website, study the articles, laugh at the illustrations, examine the analyses and reports, read the news -- and then take the next step. Support PSA.
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PLEASE NOTE:
Pyramid Scheme Alert offers information about the deception and harm of multi-level marketing (MLM) pyramid schemes. We enable consumers to identify, avoid or escape pyramid scams. Hundreds of MLM scams operate openly. 99% of all consumers who join the schemes never earn a profit. Many suffer devastating financial losses. Only the top perpetrators make money -- off the losses of all the others.
State and federal Govt officials receive millions in campaign contributions from product based pyramid scheme companies and lobby groups. PSA has been formed to counter this imbalance at the national and state level, and to educate consumers directly of the fraud and abuse of MLM. If you want to do something to help others from falling into the trap of MLM, educate yourself with our resources and consider supporting PSA.
You can email us at info@pyramidschemealert.org
or Write us at:
Pyramid Scheme Alert
1800 Camden Rd.
Ste. 107 #101
Charlotte, NC 28203
USA
IMPORTANT NEWS AND DEVELOPMENTS
(See Further News under the "News" Tab)
CANADIAN PONZI SCHEME FRAUD COLLAPSES; FARMERS RUINED; REGULATORS IN USA AND CANADA STAND BY AND WATCH
June, 2008
The Ponzi scheme disguised as a pigeon breeding business, called Pigeon King International, is now finished, bankrupt and closed. As many as 1,000 family farmers in Canada and the USA were lured in. Many are financially ruined. Hundreds of thousands of pigeons are at risk of neglect, and the Canadian government has still not taken action. More…
HERBALIFE CHARGED WTIH FRAUDULENT MARKETINGS, HYPED STOCK, PHONY LEAD SCHEME, HEALTH RISKS (UPDATE: HERBALIFE PRESIDENT RESIGNS OVER DECEPTION)
April, 2008
Herbalife, one of the largest America-based multi-level marketing schemes is, once again, charged with fraud and deception. As evidence of deception became publicized, the president of Herbalife resigned when it was revealed he had falsified his own resumé.
The current charges target the scheme's business model, its recruitment practices, its legality and potential health risks of its products. Herbalife promotes weight loss herbs and markets its products by selling "distributorships" in a multi-level marketing model. More…
HERBALIFE UPDATE: NEW EVIDENCE PRESENTED TO CONGRESS AND FDA OF HEALTH RISKS FROM TOXIC LEVELS OF LEAD FOUND IN HERBALIFE PRODUCTS.
May, 2008
An FDA-certified laboratory has verified toxic levels of lead in Herbalife products. The findings have been submitted to Congress. The full report is now public. More…
MLM SCHEME, PRE-PAID LEGAL, CHARGED WITH OPERATING A PYRAMID SCHEME AND SELLING A WORTHLESS "INSURANCE."
April, 2008
The MLM scheme, Pre-Paid Legal, is the targe of a new investigative report that reveals the scheme's pyramid recruitment is declining as the scheme moves toward an eventual collapse. Additionally the Pre-Paid Legal product – a form of insurance – is being labelled worthless and misleadingly represented to consumers. More…
BANNED IN SRI LANKA, INDONESIA AND THE PHILLIPINES, MLM SCHEME, GOLD QUEST (ALIAS QUEST NET) IS NOW PROSECUTED IN INDIA; THOUSANDS LOSE THEIR SAVINGS
May, 2008
Police in India have arrested leaders of the Hong Kong-based multi-level marketing scheme, Gold Quest. Consumer complaints and reports of life savings lost pour in More…
UPDATE: PYRAMID SCHEME CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST WOLRD'S LARGEST MLM SCHEME, AMWAY/QUIXTAR TO GO FORWARD
April, 2008
Amway has lost its legal effort to stop the largest and potentially most damaging class action lawsuit ever brought against the multi-level marketing scheme from going forward. A federal judge has ruled that Amway's rules for settling disputes are "unconscionable" and unenforceable. He denied Amway's defense. The case will now proceed. More…
TRAVEL AGENTS SAY MLM TRAVEL SCHEME – YTB – AND OTHERS LIKE IT, ARE CORRUPTING THEIR PROFESSION, CHEATING VENDORS AND TRICKING CONSUMERS.
May, 2008
According to the MLM company, YTB (Your Travel Business), anyone can become a real travel agent just by paying the company about $500 up front and then $50 a month. You don't need training and you don't even need customers. At YTB, you can make "unlimited" income by just recruiting other "travel agents."
However, 2,300 actual travel agents – the ones that are trained and have real customers – are petitioning travel vendors to stop honoring the YTB "card." The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), the main Trade association of real travel agents, has published a consumer warning about YTB and other similar schemes. An analysis of YTB reveals that it gets nearly all its money from fees paid by the reps, not from selling travel. Additionally, almost no YTB reps ever earn a profit. More…
UPDATE ON CANADIA PIGEON SCHEME: CANADIAN REGULATORS FAIL TO INVESTIGATE; TWO US ATTORNEYS GENERAL TAKE ACTION
March, 2008
Consumer demands for an investigation of an apparent ponzi scheme aimed at family farms are growing in urgency. Family farm magazines have researched the scheme, called Pigeon King International (PKI), and have sounded the fraud alarm. An inside whistle blower has provided damning evidence that PKI is perpetrating an investment scam – paying earlier breeder/investors with funds gained from later ones. Now , two state Attorneys General the USA – Iowa and Washington – have warned consumers of the Ponzi and have prevented the scheme from operating in those states. More…
ENGLAND WANTS TO KICK AMWAY(QUIXTAR) OUT OF THE COUNTRY
December, 2007
The largest and oldest of US-based MLMs, Amway/Quixtar, is on trial now in the UK for operating a deceptive fraud. A Michigan newspaper where Amway is based wrote that the UK fraud prosecution "could be felt globally" in Amway's business. Amway said it also is conducting a major review of its practices worldwide and has sped up a planned reorganization of its operations. The Times of London reported government findings that 71% of Amway's UK salespeople earned no commissions at all; of the 30% that earned some commission, 2/3rds of them earned on average just $27 (£13.53) a year. The government claims Amway's recruitment program is based on deception and should be shut down "in the public interest" More…
WHY THE FTC ALLOWS MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING TO RUN WILD IN AMERICA
December, 2007
There has been a seven-year silence in law enforcement on multi-level marketing. This is despite lawsuits, television exposés, consumer complaints, and prosecutions in other countries (Amway is on trial now in England.)
"MLM is operating fraudulently! So, why doesn't the government do something about it?" readers and financial analysts often ask.
The recent lack of law enforcement has misled many consumers by giving MLM a new aura of legitimacy. Few people are aware of the powerful political influence of the MLM industry. Recently, the political influence of the Amway Corporation, the largest and most politically connected MLM, has gained notoriety. It involves speaker fees to prominent Republican politicians, the Amway yacht as political meeting place, funds directed to key "527" political groups that support favorable lawmakers, millions in campaign contribution to Republican candidates, family ties to military contractor "Blackwater", political appointees in the FTC and tax breaks. Only the tobacco industry has as much at stake in its political lobbying and its public marketing campaign. More…
EVIDENCE OF LARGE-SCALE FRAUD AGAINST MLM – USANA – MOUNTS
August, 2007
Forbes magazine now reports that the FBI has begun a criminal investigation of the MLM, Usana Health Sciences. This news follows a long list of research, analysis, SEC investigations, lawsuits and news reports, all indicating that Usana is a largescale fraud. More…
MLM REALITY: AN INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT FITZPATRICK
On December, 4, 2006, Robert FitzPatrick, Co-author of the book, False Profits, and the founder of Pyramid Scheme Alert, was interviewed on public radio, WFAE, Charlotte, NC. The 55-minute interview covers many aspects of multi-level marketing. For consumers interested in an overview of the scams, tricks and myths surrounding multi-level marketing, this interview provides a good primer course. -- MP3 Recording
PSA RESEARCH REVEALS 99% LOSS RATE AMONG MAJOR MLMs
A Special Consumer Report: PDF Download Available
January, 2006
Data supplied by MLM companies reveal that tens of billions in consumer losses are caused annually by MLM Recruitment Schemes as 99+% of all participants "fail" each year in these "business opportunity" scams.
* Before you join an MLM, read this document.
* If you have a question about an MLM you are already in, read this document.
* If you are concerned about a friend or relative who has joined an MLM, read this document. More. . .
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- The most comprehensive and easily understood analysis of Multi-level Marketing
- The true facts about MLM income promises and claims.
- Eleven (11) MLMs Analyzed with Income Data
- Charts on each MLM with Summaries and Explanation
Read before you invest… Read if your friends or family want you to join an MLM… Read to understand why and how money is made and lost in MLM.
MLM REALITY: An Interview with Pyramid Scheme Alert President on Public Radio
On December, 4, 2006, Robert FitzPatrick, Co-author of the book, False Profits, and the founder of Pyramid Scheme Alert, was interviewed on public radio, WFAE, Charlotte, NC. The 55-minute interview covers many aspects of multi-level marketing. For consumers this interview provides a good primer course. -- MP3 Recording
Hear a Speech to Goverment Regulators and Private Investigators about MLM Frauds
In 2006, Robert L. FitzPatrick, President of Pyramid Scheme Alert and author of False Profits, was a featured speaker at the annual meeting of the Association of Certified Fraud Specialists in San Francisco. The presentation is 50 minutes in length. MP3
Support Pyramid Scheme Alert
If you have ever
- been fleeced in an MLM and then been categorized as a 'loser'
- discovered your upline's income really came from selling you tapes, seminars and false hopes
- been concerned at what this US 'export' does in third world countries
please support PSA. Your contributions will help us to maintain this website, and continue our research, our lobbying efforts, and our programs to educate consumers and regulators about pyramid scheme fraud.
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