Amway pyramid is crumbling

Amway pyramid is crumbling
Here is the summary prepared by Pyramid Scheme Alert for 2009 reproduced to inform our readers.
Thirty years ago, Amway narrowly escaped an FTC prosecution to shut it down for pyramid fraud. Since then, it has been a rogue corporation on a global rampage, fleecing tens of millions with its hallmark "endless chain" income promise. Amway is the largest multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme in the world, and the prototype of nearly all the others. Signs compellingly point toward its end time and threaten the future of all other "endless chain" fraudsters. In the latest developments, the publication of Eric Scheibeler's first-person account of business opportunity fraud at Amway, Merchants of Deception has prompted Pyramid Scheme Alert to ask the Direct Selling Association to investigate its largest member. The DSA has referred it to its "Code of Ethics Administrator" who in turn wrote that he has referred to it Amway's own "Code of Ethics Administrator." Referencing the material in Merchants of Deception, Pyramid Scheme Alert also asked the US Attorney General, Eric Holder, to open an investigation. Some highlights of Amway's long rap sheet are summarized:
· Amway received a huge fine for tax fraud in Canada, the largest ever levied at that time.
· CBS 60 Minutes and NBC Dateline have done devastating exposés of Amway-related deception in recruitment and income promises.
·One state in India has brought criminal fraud case against Amway.
· Prosecutors in England came within a hair of driving Amway out of the UK. A judge decided to allow it to continue to operate, but he imposed two fatal restrictions on it: lowered prices and no more "tools" business. Price gouging and foisting phony "motivation" CDs and seminars on new recruits to fund the "Top Guns" are pillars of Amway's model.
·In the USA, Amway was prosecuted by the State of Wisconsin that found that 99% of all distributors were losing money. This is exactly the same loss rate the UK officials calculated that English consumers suffered every year for 30 years!
·In North America today Amway is the target of large class action cases brought by distributors in the US, charging that Amway is a fraud. A second similar case has been brought in Canada.
·Despite threats and lawsuits, consumers have published multiple websites detailing deception, false income claims, bogus testimonials, and massive consumer losses.
·Amway's extensive political lobbying and influence-buying, especially its close ties to the Bush Administration, and the conflicts of interest with officials have been exposed.
·Amway is in multiple litigations to stop its distributors from moving to other MLMs. The MLM scheme, Monavie, has pulled away thousands of former Amway distributors, including a number of top gun recruiters.
·Some of Amway's former "top gun" distributors have gone public and admitted in court cases that Amway is an illegal pyramid scheme, with a near 100% dropout rate, and that less than 5% of its products are ever retailed. This means that Amway's profits come directly and almost totally from the lost investments of the salespeople, not from sales to the public. They also admit that the high incomes and lavish lifestyles of the upline that are paraded in front of new recruits to demonstrate that Amway "works" are in fact a fraud. The money actually comes from selling the recruits "motivation and training" tools, not from earning commissions on Amway sales.
·Amway's multi-tiered business model has now been banned in China, closing off its last geographic market to continue the pyramid expansion.
Amway has taken extreme, evasive maneuvers, to cloud the truth and throw regulators, the media and consumer activists off its track.
·It has massively recruited outside the USA where regulations in some countries don't exist, are poorly enforced, or will not outlaw a US-based scheme for political reasons.
·It has also aggressively attacked whistle blowers with lawsuits. It has sued even small-time distributors who dared to leave and try to work for other MLMs.
·Amway changed its name to Quixtar, which it said was a a subsidiary of another new name, "Alticor." Many consumers unwittingly joined the "new" company not realizing it was still just Amway.
·Now, in yet another evasive maneuver, the company has yet another new name, Amway Global, and is running TV ads claiming to be "household name" and a "direct seller." In fact virtually no consumers buy Amway products other than the salespeople, and those purchases are not driven by demand or even brand awareness but rather are tied to Amway's misleading income promises.
Despite the diversions, escapes and disguises, the truth keeps doggedly following Amway. Now, the most famous Amway whistle blower - Eric Scheibeler - survived Amway's lawsuits and has told his inside story in a full length book, which is attracting media attention.
Based on the revelations in Scheibeler's book, Pyramid Scheme Alert has sent formal requests to the president of the Direct Selling and its Ethics Division asking for an investigation of Amway. The DSA has responded that it is taking the matter up with Amway.
A formal request has also been sent to the Attorney General, Eric Holder, asking for federal inquiry into the facts and allegations in the book. FTC officials have also been asked to investigate.Pyramid Scheme Alert will maintain its "Amway Watch" in 2010, and will report on responses of the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, legal actions in India, enforcement in England, class action suits in the USA and Canada, the Direct Selling Association's actions, and media investigations.


Amway's business model is illegal
Here is an e-mail reproduced here for the benefit of our valued readers.

"I too was brainwashed and lied to for two years. I lost many friends, some that I had known my whole life. I accumulated a mass amount of debt that I would tell myself would be paid when I went Diamond. Needless to say, I filed bankruptcy and my credit was screwed for several years. Financially, my life has never been the same. Before AMWAY, I was a 25-year old single dad earning handsome salary. Today I make just enough to get by and live a very simple life. My sponsor was a childhood friend who I still keep in touch with. Other Friendships were not so fortunate.
I would estimate that the whole Amway experience cost me several thousands in two years. Not to mentiion, the money I blew to try to impress people that I was on my way to financial freedom. What a joke! I applaud you for what you are doing!"
Amway apologists might say that he was a loser. But they refuse to accept that they are also losers. Like Teacher Nirmala's husband they too strongly believe that they are going to become rich even though they did not make any money since the beginning and nothing in near future.
Amway's business model is a money circulation scheme disguised in the name of selling products. It's a pyramid structure sales model which had already left several millions all over India and other countries penniless. But many victims prefer to remain silent for obvious reasons. That is the forte of this monster.
My appeal to fellow humans all over world is not to fall prey to the scheming business model of Amway.

IBOFB part of Amway's racketeering activities
Shyam
We have here on your Blog the extraordinary Xmas spectacle of the masked 'Amway' Lord Haw Haw, Mr. Steadson (who finds himself unable deny that, for 50 years, virtually no 'Amway' products have been sold to persons who are not agents of 'Amway' and that, as a result , the overwhelming majority of 'Amway' agents have not made a profit out of 'Amway,' because this was a mathematical impossibility), reciting the latest chapter of the 'Amway' fairy-tale to the ever-changing flock of wide-eyed 'Amway' believers.
Steadson now steadfastly pretends that the overwhelming majority of insolvent 'Amway' commission agents who were arbitrarily defined by their annual 'Amway' contracts as 'Independent Business Owners,' were actually only retail customers of 'Amway' who weren't participating in the 'Amway Business' at all. Unfortunately for Steadson, for decades, 'Amway's' own propaganda has boasted completely the reverse.
I don't know about you, Shyam, but I have been given unlimited access to piles of unwanted 'Amway' wampum by various destitute adherents. One former 'Emerald' had an entire garage full of it (which he'd acquired over a period of 10 years). Another former UK distributor had stock-piled 'Nutrilite' vitimins which she'd forked-out about $50 per jar for. Then, of course, there are all those people with their $1000 sets of ridiculous 'Amway' cooking pans. The Internet (particularly, e-bay) is constantly infested with former 'Amway' adherents trying to unload all this (effectively) unsaleabe junk at a fraction of the fixed-price they originally paid for it. Yet, tellingly, according to 'Amway's' reality-inverting propaganda all products have a 'money-back guarantee.'
The point is that, since the original 'MLM' scam, 'Nutrilite,' was first challenged in the USA, the banal products which 'MLM' victims pay through the nose to acquire (in the deluded belief that 'buying and recruiting is the proven plan for success'), are merely an elaborate diversion. The 'MLM' scam remains essentially the same; diguise illegal internal payments as 'sales' and, in return, supply the victims with some neatly-packaged (but cheaply-produced) merchandise, or service, which doesn't obviously fall foul of laws concerning misbranding. This is how the perpetrators of these frauds have camouflged their crimes for more than half a century.
The 'Amway' Lord Haw Haw's filthy little role in all of this, comprises attempting to character-assassinate free-thinking individuals like you, me, Robert Fitzpatrick, Eric Scheibeler, Scott Larsen, etc., (who are trying to stop the spread of this type of fraud). He is also attempting to prevent existing 'Amway' victims, like Trivedi, from confronting external reality and approaching law enforcement agents, legislators, journalists, with complaint.
Steadson is knowingly participating in a pattern of major racketeering activity as defined by the US Federal Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970 and clarified by various US Supreme Court judgements.
David Brear


IBOFB bids to hide behind his dear old mother
Shyam
I observe that the 'Amway' Lord Haw Haw, Mr. Steadson, has again opened his fat beak to squawk and put his foot in it.
Despite what he claims not to have said, the gormless twit has previously broadcast to the world that the overwhelming majority of insolvent 'Amway' commission agents who are arbitrarily defined in their comic-book 'Amway Distributor Contracts' as 'Independent Business Owners' are 'retail customers of Amway' as well. So, by the same absurd logic, the overwhelming majority of people whom Steadson now steadfastly pretends to be 'retail customers of Amway' are also insolvent commission agents of 'Amway'. Apparently, 'Amway UK Ltd.' (on the advice of its lawyers) has now officially redefined its insolvent commission agents as 'customers' to avoid the possibility of criminal investigation and prosecution for having fronted a pyramid scam (with insufficient external revenue) for 34 years. Thus, when Steadson says he has 'dozens of customers' what he's really saying is, that he has recruited more 'Amway' adherents. However, we only have his word for that.
Who the hell does Steadson think he's fooling with all this mind-numbing, puerile drivel?
In the adult world of quantifiable reality, it doesn't matter in the slightest what reality-inverting title the bosses of the 'Amway' mob hang round the necks of their victims. The tens of millions of people who have signed contracts with 'Amway' down the years, and abandoned the organization, have all lost money in a premeditated closed-market swindle which has generated billions of dollars for a handful of racketeers and served as the gateway to an even larger advanced fee fraud.
Steadson's latest intellectually-feeble post, in which he attempts to hide behind a typically wholesome 'Amway' image of his dear old 'mother' - a shining example of a satisfied 'Amway' customer of 30 years standing - is laughable.
David Brear
Posted by Shyam Sundar at 20:57
6 comments:
IBOFB said...
Brear's getting a little testy .... not one to celebrate Christmas huh David?

So let's see what "redefinition" is going on here .... all I'm doing is calling people who buy products for their own personal use "retail customers" ... exactly the same definition pretty much any tax authority in the world uses!

I'm also saying that someone who is simply buying products, is not selling them, and is not trying to recruit people ... is nothing more than a customer!

Oh yeah, that's just crazy thinking! :-/

And when I said personal customers I explictly meant people who bought from me, not from Amway. They have signed no contract with anyone. Does that make them "Amway adherents"? Sure - they love the products from Amway.

Of course, in Brearyland that automatically makes them suspect.

But I notice neither Brear nor Shyam actually answered the question I posed (Surprise!)

What Amway products have you actually tried, Brear, Shyam?

Thursday, December 24, 2009 12:43:00 AM
Tex said...
ibofb,

Not one to celebrate Christmas?

Look in the mirror, you're an atheist! LOL

And your name is also David!LOL

AND Jesus came from "The House of David!" LOL

You also ignored my post on the previous thread that shows how weak your argument is, as usual.

Thursday, December 24, 2009 9:30:00 AM
dtytrivedi said...
i know they have not even tried. they know the price of the glister and at max they consider andhra food state lab results as conclusion that nutrilite is selling products at exorbitant price with no value.

Thursday, December 24, 2009 10:07:00 AM
dtytrivedi said...
these people don't understand that amway gave 30% of its sales revenue on the basis of the business structure and business volume.

And in the next post brear write

"tens of millions) did not receive an overall profit from the operation of a so-called 'Amway Business', because this was a mathematical impossibility"

they think that becoming amway distributor means buying the shares of amway!!!

very silly isn't it.

yet after saying this; these guys will not answer, instead they will nickname me like lobster, spineliness creature and tell some behavioral and psychological symptoms like "castrated mind ", "ego-inflating and reality-inverting".

there is no or little reply regarding the point and these guys will keep on writing biography on me and other amway supporters.

well, that doesn't make any sense.

if i am wrong then check the next reply or post from these guys u will notice the same sort of reply.

Amway has been lining its own pocket with its schemes
Let us have a glance at a part of the Andhra Pradesh High Court's judgement:
As is evident from the contentions advanced on behalf of the petitioners as noted earlier, the petitioners have taken the stand that there is no quick or easy money involved in the scheme and that the money which the sponsor member gets does not depend on any event or contingency relative or applicable to the enrollment of the members into the scheme. But on a careful analysis of the true nature of the scheme as explained above, it is quite apparent that one of the components of the income earned by a sponsor member is the commission which is calculated not only on the personal PV of the sponsor member, but also from the PV earned by all the remaining 102 members falling within his group. There is, therefore, no gainsaying that a substantial part of the income which the first sponsor member of the group gets depends on the event or contingency relative or applicable to the enrollment of members into the scheme. This conclusion can be tested by a further analysis of the income figures given in the earlier paragraph. Supposing the sponsor member at the top does not introduce any member and if he merely sells the products given to him, he gets an income of Rs.12,420/-. If he sponsors only six people and they in turn do not sponsor any member, then he will get an additional income of Rs.23,760/-. If those six members whom he sponsored again sponsor four members each, he will get a further income of Rs.1,14,480/- and if the 24 members sponsor three members each, he will get a further sum of Rs.6,83,300/-. Thus the money which the member at the top of the line gets depends upon the members whom he enrolls or the members enrolled by him enroll. (Para 28).
From the aforementioned discussion, it is proved that the scheme provides for easy/quick money to its distributors. The first ingredient is thus satisfied (Para 30).
When it is crystal clear that it is money circulation scheme and is out to cheat my fellow humans all over world, how can anyone remain passive not to tell everyone about the cheating of this fraudulent company. That is why I appeal people all over world not to fall prey to the pyramid schemes or money circulation schemes of the companies like Amway, Herbalife, Hindustan Unionlever Network, Forever Living Products, Tupperware and others.
Posted by Shyam Sundar at 22:07
10 comments:
dtytrivedi said...
u know shyam, the main thing is 'if'

which u don't understand if doesnot mean that one is compelled to do the business in the same way it is proposed.

i can also prove my point by putting if.

like the sponsor does not do 100 pv. or if sponsor is not able to sponsor 6 people

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 11:51:00 PM
dtytrivedi said...
the main thing is if, through this if i can prove anything right and any thing wrong.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 11:52:00 PM
dtytrivedi said...
This post has been removed by the author.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009 12:12:00 AM
dtytrivedi said...
when shyam says that examples are meant be followed.

A joke comes to my mind often when i read this. But today i couldn't myself to share with u all.

there was a guy who followed the same way of thinking of what shyam was following. One day he had an interview

Interviewer :For proving that u have good vocabulary,give me the opposite words for instance. (for e.g and there he followed the same policy, examples are meant to be strictly followed case)

guy : Ok
Interviewer : Made in India
guy : Destroyed in Pakistan
Interviewer : Good… Keep it Up
guy : Bad…. Put it Down
Interviewer : Maxi-Mum
guy : Mini Dad
Interviewer : Enough! Take your Seat (example is over)
guy : Insufficient! Don’t take my seat
Interviewer : Idiot! Take your seat
guy : Clever! Don’t take my seat
Interviewer : I say you get out!
guy : You didn’t say I come in
Interviewer : I reject you!
guy : You appoint me


Amway's retail/wholesale price list maliciously fabricated
Shyam
I observe that the poor little lobster, Trivedi, is still happily basking in the initial warmth of the 'Amway' cooking pot. However, the previously unquestioning creature has now posed a question, albeit it written in thought-stopping 'Amspeak' .
Roughly translated into plain English, Trivedi wants to know :
Why, if no 'Amway' products have ever been sold to non-'Amway' agents, have the 'Amway' bosses introduced a range of different prices for their products to 'Amway' agents and to non-'Amway' agents?
The simple answer to Trivedi's question is:
Reality-inverting documents like 'Amway's Retail/Wholesale Price List' have been maliciously fabricated by the bosses of a major organized crime group to contininue to deceive their victims (like you) and casual observers (like journalists, legislators and regulators) into believing that 'Multilevel Marketing' has authentic external retail customers and is, therefore, economically viable for its participants, when all the independent quantifiable evidence proves so-called 'MLM Schemes' to be premeditated closed-market swindles in heavy disguise!


No Amway products sold to persons who are not agents
Shyam
Interesting isn't it, that no one (not even the 'Amway' Lord Haw Haw, Mr. Steadson) refutes the simple facts that for more than 50 years virtually no 'Amway' products have been sold to persons who are not agents of the organization and that, as a result, virtually no 'Amway' agent has received an overall profit from the operation of a so-called 'Amway Business,' because this was a mathematical impossibility. Yet, the essential defining characteristic of an illegal money circulation scheme, or pyramid scam, is that it has insufficient external revenue to pay the overwhelming majority of its contributing participants a profit.
Trying to save young Trivedi from himself is a pretty thankless task. The inflexible boy is like a cold and lonely little lobster that has been invited to join a group of friendly lobsters basking in a bath of pleasantly-warm, lightly-salted water. Unfortunately, the poor creatures don't possess the intellectual capacity to realize that they are actually in a cooking pot on a stove, or that they have absolutely no control over the future temperature of the water. For unless they climb out of their welcoming 'bath,' the heat is going to be gradually increased until they are all boiled alive and served up as more nourishment for a party of obese and insatiable American diners .
According to his ego-inflating and reality-inverting 'Amway Distributor Contract', Trivedi is an 'Independent Business Owner.' However, according to Lord Haw Haw Steadson, the overwhelming majority of all the tens of millions of individuals who, down the years, have signed one of these comic-book 'Amway' documents and lost money, haven't acually been in business at all, they were only 'customers.'
In the adult world of quantifiable reality, Trivedi and his self-deluding 'Amway' associates are the equivalent of brainless crustacea ignorant of the truth that they are on a rich man's menu.
I believe that it was Samuel Butler who wrote:
'Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.'