From all over the world, the people who visit the Pyramid Scheme Alert website ask the same two specific questions more often than they do all others. (1) What about this MLM (fill in the MLM name), legitimate or scam? and (2) Are all MLMs bogus income opportunities?
We address that first question about specific MLM with audio and text resources. Thousands of people have downloaded them and told us they benefitted and were able to avoid various MLM “income opportunity” scams. See “What About This One?”
The second question is the harder one. Could all MLMs be financial traps? Are any of them legitimate direct selling businesses? The question is also the most common question from journalists.
We have received reports of people joining and then quitting dozens of MLMs over a 2-decade period. Looking for the “good” MLM has become the modern day search for the Holy Grail in America. Millions do it every year and lose billions in their quest. One reason is simply the related belief that if many or most MLMs were pyramid recruitment schemes, the government would close them down. Unfortunately, this is not true. Our government regulators look the other way as pyramid schemes hijack the American Dream.
An article in the January 2014 Email Update of Pyramid Scheme Alert laid out the criteria for answering that question about “all” MLMs. It received a lot of response and so we are now posting it on the PSA website for permanent reference.
